Hello Lemmings!
I’ve recently finished the whole Xenosaga series and was impressed by it. Even more than by FF 16 (which was… cutscenes and a few good boss fights). This got me thinking: what else are old games that don’t get enough recognition? I’m not talking about the Oceanhorns (which was boring tbh) or Hollow Knifhts, which everyone knows about. More like hidden gems you picked up “because” and liked it. In my case this was Blue Fire, a platformer that mixes Celeste’s movement and 3D space. Other games I really enjoyed were
Valiant Hearts (WWI point and click)
Light Matter (3D puzzle game)
Cloudbuilt (a fast mirrors edge)
I’m more than happy to read some of your recommendations!
Recettear had me glued to my screen out of nowhere, very interesting genre mix
Oh shit! I loved Recettear! I think it’d be a perfect steam deck game but I highly doubt they’ll do the work to make it functional
ProtonDB claims that it works with proton-ge. I may have to give it a try sometime soon. It was my 2nd game on Steam (after Terraria).
Crosscode! To me it’s the ultimate hidden gem, as I hardly see people talking about it but most of the people who do play it go on to rate it as one of their favorite games. Especially if you like story focussed action-rpgs, I bet you’ll dig it. It’s also got somewhat of a zelda element with puzzles and dungeons
My favourite game!
I played it on gamepass, then bought the Collector’s Edition simply because I wanted to give some money to the devs, and then bought it again on Xbox with the DLC just to have an excuse to play it again.
It’s a wonderful game choke full of content (especially if you like the collect-a-thon aspect of the game), the combat system is amazing, and there are tons of skills available across four different branches for each of the four+1 elements, which means it never overstays its welcome because there’s always something new to unlock and play with. But most of all, I loved having a game that isn’t afraid of giving you hard puzzles without a companion or an annoying thinking voice explaining everything to you before you even had a chance to look at the damn thing.
It immediately became one of my favourite games ever, and it’s a shame that not enough people even know of its existence.
It’s also got somewhat of a zelda element with puzzles
Bit of an understatement. The game has a LOT of puzzles. A bit too many of them IMO, most of which are not optional and bring the game to a halt. The rest of the game is S tier but I could never bring myself to play hours of back-to-back puzzles in dungeons.
Old games? Let me throw Final Fantasy Tactics in the mix. Easily my favorite game of all time and one of the only ones I consistently come back to, despite releasing in 1997.
If you’re not familiar, FFT is a turn-based tactics game which is very different from other mainline FF games in a lot of ways. The story is one of the best, if not the best, in the FF series. For gameplay, you recruit and manage soldiers which progress using a fairly in-depth job system which is also pretty easy to pick up.
I’m sure you could find a PSX emulator of the original but, honestly, I really recommend the updated War of the Lions edition they did for the PSP. It’s been ported to mobile and is actually a great port. My one tip for anyone who tries it is to make multiple save slots in case you find yourself overwhelmed in a story dungeon/encounter.
FFT is probably my all time favorite as well.
The tone, setting, story, art style has remained unmatched in my mind.
Tons have tried to replicate the tactics combat stuff and plenty have succeeded and improved or changed upon that formula, but I don’t think any of them have had that feel to it. Even the other FFT games.
I recently picked up Midnight Suns which, to be very clear is not FFT. However, I will say despite the kind of bad story and corny aspects of it, the actual turn based combat is excellent. I thought I would hate it being card-based but it really grew on me a lot. Definitely scratched the FFT itch.
Really? I always thought of FFT as an inferior Fire Emblem - glad to hear that! I’m definitely gonna give it a go!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/219890/Antichamber/ is a puzzle game that does an amazing job of letting you figure out the weirdest stuff purely by experimentation and interaction.
+1 for Recettear, mentioned in another comment
https://store.steampowered.com/app/530320/Wandersong/ is a game that while not super challenging, does storytelling beautifully. Coping with the world ending by looking despair straight in the eye and remaining whimsical. Not because the character is stupid, but because that is his tool of spreading hope.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/362960/Tyranny/ is a CRPG with genuine hard choices with moral dillemmas and consequences.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/31270/Puzzle_Agent/ has clever puzzles, good art style, and good point-and-click style humor.
From what I’ve read, wandersong and puzzle agent definitely got my attention!
Oh hey, a fellow Cloudbuilt fan. I didn’t try the new version (Super Cloudbuilt) but I enjoyed playing the original.
Asura’s Wrath gets my vote as a great underlooked/underrated game. It got miffed reviews on release and is unfortunately only exclusive to PS3. It’s essentially a playable anime with ridiculously fun and over the top fights.
I actually played Asura’s wrath back on the days! I’ve yet to try Super Cloudbuilt - didn’t know that even existed!
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (Part 1 + 2) are really the first ones that come to mind for me. They reignited some of the feeling of excitement I have for JRPGs, where you become deeply invested in the struggles of the characters and enjoy every last “Big damn heroes” moment and sudden twist they pull out. The villains in those games are pathetically irredeemable, a far cry from some of the better written ones, but their amazing quality is in forcing out the most dramatic possible circumstances from the characters. Combat keeps its pace and was generally enjoyable for me, plus it had an XP catchup/slowdown system that stopped the game from ever feeling too grindy.
Funny thing is, I personally bear no recommendations for any games in that series beyond those two. They are, to my mind, a testament to good singular stories that leave the opportunity for future ones - even if those follow-ons didn’t click with me.
For Metroidvania style, Aquaria is one I don’t see mentioned much. I got it in one of the classic Humble Bundles, and it had a LOT more content than I was expecting for an indie game. Many different abilities to gather, a soundtrack and appearance that all blended together so well, and even optional bosses hidden in the waters.
And then, it comes up every so often to divisive opinions, but there’s plenty of shooter players that still need to try Spec Ops: The Line. It’s not terribly well-done in terms of gameplay, but tells a very compelling story about heroism and violence - even if it is NOT the one you hope to see. Much of the controversy over the game’s ranking has to do with how much it offers freedom of choice - but I’ve always felt that freedom of choice starts in the type of adventures you choose to play. You see the assault rifles on the cover. You’re planning for this.
Trails in the Sky‘s story is so goated, it‘s in my top 5 favorite stories. The combat wasn‘t my cup of tea, but I managed to get through without any bigger problems, I forgot how though lol
Xenosaga 2 was the first game I went to GameStop and bought on release day. It wasn’t big enough for a midnight release so I just got there at opening. I still think about that game often and would love a remake. KOSMOS was a great character and the antagonists were great across the board.
The game for me that I loved but never hear about is the 2d platformer Thomas Was Alone. Really fun gameplay and a fun little story that was gripping, especially considering you’re just playing a bunch of different shapes.
Dragon Age: Origin Ultimate Edition: My personal favorite game of all time. Got me into the dark fantasy genre and RPGs in general. A simple story that has so much replay value based on the various decisions you can make with an amazing cast of characters. The rest of the series has been steadily going downhill since, unfortunately (in my opinion, at least).
Celeste: Best platformer ever. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into it, and ever since I discovered there was an active modding community (seriously, the modding tools are so good now) I’ve been going through modded community expansions.
Slay The Spire: The most fun I’ve had playing a card game. It’s extremely challenging, but very well balanced, and there’s nothing else quite like it.
These are what I consider “forgotten gems”. Most of them are pretty old, some decades old, but all of them have small passionate playerbases that have stuck with them because they are good games.
Brigador - isometric blow shit up in a cyberpunk dystopia with a huge array of tanks, mechs and hovercraft. Nearly a perfect experience especially in conjunction with its banger soundtrack by Makeup And Vanity Set.
Eador Genesis (with New Horizons mod optionally) -. Like Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 with tactical turn based combat like Kings Bounty. The game is TIGHT though and very hard and a campaign consists of many shorter games instead of one long slog which is way more fun in my opinion. Hard to learn because manuals and info is sometimes sparse but well worth it. There are newer Eador games but honestly I LOVE the retro graphics of Genesis, it makes the game simple and clear to read at a glance.
Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead - Simply put the best realistic apocalyptic zombie game in existence. So much mechanical depth and breadth it honestly makes it hard to return to a game like Project Zomboid because Cataclysm allows you to be so creative in your approach to situations and the enemy variety is super high. In continuous development in so many simultaneous directions it will make your head spin. Try the Sky Islands mod/mode if you want a more focused survival experience instead of a sandbox.
Winspww2 or Winspmbt - A decades long continuation of Steel Panthers 2, a tactical turn based war game. The once and future king of turn based tactics games of any genre. It is difficult to google stuff about these games because not a lot of people play them anymore and they are ancient software, but they are just such damn good turn based games with so many deep mechanics (especially scouting, artillery, speed based vulnerability and morale) that they are really in a league of their own compared to other turn based tactics games in general, not just realistic military simulators. I recommend Winspww2 because I think ww2 is more fun and suited to turn based combat but either is good.
Xonotic - another oldie, renamed from Nexuiz a couple of years ago, Xonotic runs on a heavily modded Darkplaces engine which is the original Quake engine at its heart. Xonotic is FOSS and plays like Quake but with Unreal Tournament style guns all with fun alt fires. Xonotic is a superb game, is super easy and fast to install and is an absolute blast. Try watching some high level duel videos in Xonotic, the speed and flow are incredible. Also Xonotic has hands down the best rocket launcher in multiplayer video games, no contest.
Beyond All Reason - BAR itself isn’t that old but it the latest in a long line of mods inspired by the rts Total Annihilation (which itself could arguably be on this list) and running on the open source Spring Engine (released in 2007) that have all cross pollinated ideas and balance tweaks over the years. There have been TA like games on the Spring engine for years and years but BAR is really a step up in polish both gameplay and UI wise. The AI is pretty damn smart too. One really fun addition to the TA formula is totally destructible terrain, it doesn’t wildly change the gameplay but heavily fought battlefields become more and more difficult to pass through at bottlenecks and it just adds to the atmosphere.
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance Forever - Another rts inspired by TA, though this game has battles on a way bigger scale. Aircraft fly like planes, they don’t just act like a hovering land units, serious artillery can send shells halfway across the map and battles are HUGE. Forged Alliance Forever is a community project to maintain Supreme Commander. Supreme Commander 2 might as well be in a different genre, it shouldn’t have the same name.
Remnants Of The Precursor - a fanmade remake of the original Masters Of Orion, the original space 4x game. This remake has a much better UI than the classic and has many subtle tweaks that have come out of the wisdom of fans playing MOO over and over again and knowing what should be changed and shouldn’t.
Panzer Marshal - a fanmade remake of Panzer General II, this is a turn based ww2 tactical game. It is MUCH simpler and more chill than Steel Panthers/Winspww2. This game is a blast and actually can run in a web browser (https://panzermarshal.com/). Also it has a touch interface, runs on Android and iOS and I think would be a blast on a tablet.
Forgotten Hope 2 - An old Battlefield 2 mod with fairly realistic ww2 combat that has very detailed and historically researched scenarios. Somehow, this mod is still in active development after all these years and at this point it is a damn good multiplayer shooter with vehicles.
Transcendence - An open world 2d top down space exploration game with a fleshed out world with factions, quests and a main story to pursue. I think it was released in 1996 so this game is pretty old but it is STILL in active development. Not very well known, but very well loved by people that know it.
Rain World - An utterly unique sidescrolling survival game where the enemies are driven by sophisticated AI protocols. Enemies just don’t sit there, doing nothing but patrolling a set path and waiting to fight you, they migrate across the map searching for food and fighting rivals. This means that sometimes you get VERY unlucky and open a door into a room with a bunch of tough monsters right in front of you and die, but the game doesn’t punish dying much really and the overall atmosphere of the game is incredible. This game is starting to receive more critical attention but it is criminally under appreciated for being so arrestingly unique.
Vintage Story - Not that old, but worth a mention for the fact that Minecraft is a gargantuan phenomena without really any other games trying to genuinely walk down the same path… except Vintage Story. Vintage Story started out as a survival focused modpack, focused on working through the stone and iron age, but eventually jumped ship from Minecraft and became its own game. One of my favorite parts of Vintage Story is the chiseling mechanic. Cosmetic blocks (about the same size as minecraft blocks) can be cosmetically chipped away so that they still are just a normal block to the game engine, but visually can become virtually any shape/pattern players want. It makes building so much more fun. I am very thankful Vintage Story exists as a Minecraft-like that isn’t controlled by a huge company like Microsoft.
The Original Peggle and Peggle Nights - Popcap ceased to exist the moment EA bought them, fuck EA, but all of Popcaps original games before they had their spinal cord harvested and extracted by EA execs are amazing, Peggle perhaps being the best. I feel like they should have this game running in hospital waiting rooms because it is such a calming experience to play Peggle. It is like a slot machine except if the slot machine loved you and didn’t want to hurt you or take your money.
Farm Together - Not old, but demands a spot on this list for being so underrated. Farm Together is a perfect co-op splitscreen arcadey faming game. Everyone always recommends Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing but Farm Together is a much more focused game on farming. There isn’t a story, tutorial, energy levels or anything else to get between the player and farming. You just pick the game up, start planting stuff and go which makes it VERY successful at roping reluctant co-op gamers in to play. What makes the game such a gem is that at no point is the game ever interested in stressing you out or punishing you and yet there is still a very real challenge to building out your farm in the most profitable way possible. Crops take real time to grow, so it plays a little bit like Farmville… except Farm Together wasn’t designed like a toxic addictive drug. If your crops finish, they just wait until you harvest them, they don’t go bad. Very underrated and easy to pass over because the graphics make the game look far more generic and half-assed than it is.
I had some good times with FH2 and I’ve just seen it is still getting updates over on MODDB. It still looks amazing.
For me, it has been and probably always will be Azure Dreams on PS1. An early mystery dungeon with elements of monster catcher, town builder, and dating simulator. Had a decent amount of replayability due to exclusive romance paths and procedurally generated dungeons.
The only way to play it nowadays is using an emulator, as it was a rare find even in its heyday.
Some games that have stuck with me over the years. Not quite masterpieces but in my opinion are great games that don’t get enough recognition.
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Devil Dice, puzzle game for the PS1.
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Hotel Dusk Room 215, adventure game for the Nintendo DS.
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Red Steel & Red Steel 2, Wii games that used the motion controls. RS2 was especially fun and absolutely nailed the controls with the motion+ upgrade.
I played Red Steel for the first time recently, it was not good. I can see how the motion controls would have been really cool as a lot of people’s first ever experience of them, but yeah, it hadn’t aged well!
I haven’t played the first game for a long long time so I might be off on that one but RS2 was everything the Wii was supposed to be.
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Painkiller. To quote Yahtzee Croshaw:
“All I really need to tell you is that one of the weapons shoots shurikens and lightning. I wish I had made that up. It shoots shurikens and lightning! This gun could only be cooler if it had tits and was on fire.”
It’s a cheesy Doom-like game from the Quake 2/3 era
Xenogears
