Hey all. Always enjoyed reading everyone’s suggestions on more unknown games available during big steam sales.
I’ll start off with one that I have been a fan of for a long time: Death Road to Canada
This game is like a zombie action Oregon Trail like game, where you manage supplies and fight through hordes of zombies on your way to the safe haven of Canada. Only US$3.74 right now and well worth it imo!
Ok, not so much as hidden, but also not super known:
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. A tactical stealth game (think commandos saga back in the day) is 90%
Technobabylon. A pixelated point & click adventure with some cyberpunk themes at 70%
Return of the Obra Dinn. Probably the best detective/deduction game that I’ve played, at 40%
Prey. One of the best immersive sims, at 75%
The Case of the Golden Idol. Is not as good as Obra Dinn in my opinion, but it’s super good none the less, at 30%
Antichamber. Super good puzzle game, at 75%
The Age of Decadence. Ultra hardcore RPG set in ancient Rome, 60%
Tametsi. Is like minesweeper but good, 67% (and only 0.77€)Have just bought Shadow Tactics and Tametsi based on this. I used to love Commandos (and even better - Desperados).
The same devs have also desperados 3, and it’s also super good (it’s on gamepass also if I recall correctly). It’s at 50% now: Desperados III
It’s wild how many people seem to have slept on Prey. It’s an amazing game.
Also +1 on Antichamber. Portal-like but with some very unusual and fun mechanics.
I fell in love with Submerged when I played it. It’s an exploration game set in a flooded city, where you play a young girl looking for supplies for her injured brother. Lots of navigating between buildings in a little boat, climbing around, and taking in the scenery. Incredibly relaxing to play.
How can it be relaxing if your brother is injured and needs the supplies? I’m just wondering if I wouldn’t feel urged to get him back to health as soon as possible.
I’m a heartless monster who forgot about my brother so I could sit in my boat and gawk at my surroundings at sunset. Mileage may vary.
It does have moments that stressed me out, but since I spent so much time exploring and taking screenshots, they’re not what left the strongest memory.
I feel obligated to recommend a Steam Deck if you have interest in one and can afford it.
We have 2 and I would get a 3rd if I could lol (with a bulky protective case etc. so I can be less careful)
The most cost efficient way to go is buy the cheapest version and then put something like this in it https://www.westerndigital.com/en-il/products/internal-drives/pc-sn740-ssd#SDDPTQD-256G
IMPORTANT NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU GET A 2230 SIZED NVME DRIVE. 2280 drives will NOT fit.
Even besides playing video games it’s an awesome little mini pc. Not perfect but awesome, and an amazing value at $359.
I concur. It changed the way I play games, especially last gen and indies.
Wait does the 64GB option support M.2 NVMe? I thought it only supports eMMC and that you can’t swap with a different NVMe drive, but maybe I’m wrong?
The 64GB emmc drive in the Deck uses the m.2 expansion slot, so you can pop out the emmc drive and swap in a 2230 form factor nvme drive and be gtg after reinstalling SteamOS.
I myself went from a 256GB drive to a 1TB drive, and this weekend, I’ll be popping in a 2TB drive I just received in the mail.
Yes, exactly what I did. You can just buy a 2230 nvme ssd and slap it in. Process is pretty painless (just remember to take any micro SD card out before you take the shell off or there’s a chance you’ll snap it)
The hardest part for me was finding a usb-c to usb-a converter so I could plug in a usb stick to reinstall the OS.
as someone with a 64gb deck with a 512gb drive swapped in I can confirm it works!
I had heard that swapping the ssd yourself voids warranty, is that true? Or is it only if you swap more stuff
No that is not true. Also even if you drop it they have a repair center you can ship to that charges fair prices. They have a very positive reputation about this kind of thing (also RMAs, which I went through personally)
You can swap the ssd! Why are they charging so much to upgrade to only 256gb of Nvme storage?
Probably because they’re losing money on the cheapest one
Yo Valve can you please sell them where I live already so that I don’t have to pay some shitty eBay scalper or overpriced reshipped?
Do you know how much it would cost to cost to ship from the US?
ITT: not hidden gems
Dude, you were quick to forget about the reddit threads of “hidden gems”, where the top voted answers were Skyrim, Witcher 3 and RDR2.
This is a gold mine in comparison…
There’s this sweet rarely known game where you punch trees and build stuff but you’ve probably never heard of it
Ark?
Needs more celeste
I really hoped we’d leave this cynical garbage on Reddit. The top comments in this post are mostly listing hidden gems.
Have you guys heard of SKYRIM?
What the shit. How did I accidentally delete this? Thankfully I’ve got some stuff in my clipboard. Fixing now, will be back to normal soon.
+1 for Heaven’s Vault. Really excellent indie gem, and a fun spin on the detective game.
Another +1 for heavens vault. I usually hate narrative games, but I found it very well written and interactive.
I loved Heaven’s Vault, it hit all the things I love: detective/mystery novel, rich dialogue trees, languages. The only problem is when it’s over there aren’t any other games like it.
OMG I played eXperience112 like 15 years ago and couldn’t find it again because I forgot the name, I’m buying it right now, thank you!
No prob! It’s still got a lot of jank to it, but I find the concept interesting enough to hold my attention.
Actually, if you like that, there’s a very similar game that was initially only on mobile, but made its way to PC a few years back called Republique, which I’m now learning is just straight up a free game.
More of a stealth game, but similar element of you being a camera operator and helping out someone relying on your eyes to guide them. Got dystopian cyberpunk feel to it, actually.
I feel like over time No Man’s Sky feels increasingly like I have too many mods installed. Every update felt like it had its own hub and NPCs and progress track that didn’t interact with any of the others. The game is still huge and it has turned into the game everyone was disappointed it wasn’t at launch, but I felt overwhelmed on which things were part of the core story I needed to complete and which parts were rabbit holes that wouldn’t connect to that.
Yeah. I think the issue in NMS is that they keep adding new systems (good) that do the same things as other systems (hmm) and can’t interface with those systems (bad). Like, why is town building not at all like base building? Why does base building have its own rudimentary town building part, but it kinda just stops? Why do they have beautifully realized frigates in space, and crashed frigates ont he ground, but no relationship between the two?
I really want to love it, it contains essentially everything I like in a game, but it just constantly falls short on depth each time. I’m due to go back and sink another few hours into it but I also feel pretty confident that I’ll finish off again feeling the ache of missed opportunity.
All that, and also I just think the writing in the game is phenomenally bland. It’s not bad at all, it just never captures my interest in the slightest. I’d love to get my hands on the basic framework of the story and totally rewrite it.
Oh, shit. I forgot about settlements. That whole mechanic suuuuuuucks to me. I had to just ignore it.
And yeah, plot’s paper thin. Mainly there to just edge you in the right direction with learning mechanics and whatnot, but I still find some of it interesting, mostly in theory. Maybe because I just fill in the gaps with my own headcanon, I guess.
Not that there’s much canon to be had, but there is at least some lore to be discovered relating to how certain races came to be and the whole Atlas and “Traveler” concept essentially being the quick explanation for why literally everyone’s experience is “canon”.
Still, do agree for the most part. Also, I must admit that my recommendation was based on my time with it a few updates ago. Played it recently and there’s definitely a lot more, some interesting, some “too much” (like settlements).
Might move it down into my “maybe” category because it probably fits better there.
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Roadwarden($7.36) - A text based RPG wherein you play as a roadwarden and influence the future of the land with a 3 day time limit. Good story
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Fear and Hunger 1 & 2($5.59 & $9.59) -The dark souls of rpgmaker games. Loot is randomized for each playthrough. There’s a dismemberment system that also applies to you. You lose your legs, it’s gone for good the entire playthrough.
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Frostpunk($5.99) - You manage the last city on earth in the middle of the eternal frost.
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FTL: Faster than light($2.49) - 2d Spaceship simulation rougelike with randomized map. Your goal is to reach the last star sector and defeat the mother ship.
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Fran Bow ($3.74) - 2d Point and click psychological horror where you play a young girl with an unfair destiny
FTL is a rabbit hole in the best way. It just sucks you in for longer playthroughs, and all the mechanics stack in a really interesting way. The spacebar is also bound to pause if you had any doubts about the games pacing.
From the same people as FTL, Into The Breach is one of the only games I consider a “perfect game” — there is almost nothing about it that could be improved without it just being a different game. I 100%'ed that game 1.5 times and it’s absolutely amazing.
It’s a turn-based tactics game with absolutely perfect interface (the way they went about its design is a whole interesting thing in itself); like chess but you only need to think 1.5 moves into the future.
Looove Roadwarden, that game is such a gem!
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- Shakedown: Hawaii - 80% off at 3,99€ - Think GTA for the 16-bit era.
- 2Dark - 90% off at 2,49€ - Think Alone in the Dark but top-down and in retro/voxel style, from the original creator of Alone in the Dark.
- UnderRail - 60% off at 5,67€ - Hidden or not, this one can’t be recommended enough to fans of the original Fallout (1 & 2, isometric) games.
- Space Haven - 60% off at 8,79€ - In-depth colony/spaceship building & management sim with cozy graphics.
- Crystal Caves HD - 60% off at 2,63€ - A true testament to how to faithfully bring an old platformer into HD, while also innovating on the original. Also contains a lot of hidden gems.
- Supraland Complete Edition - 54% off at 15,71€ - First-Person-Metroidvania in a literal sandbox, lots of freedom, lots of puzzles and exploring. Contains the DLC. Get this to gear up for the eventual release of the sequel Supraworld. The standalone Supraland Six Inches Under is also worth getting, but is “only” at 45% off, which is still great.
Donut County is only $3.89. It’s a short, funny, cute puzzle game where you make everything fall in a hole. Really good.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth is $12.49 and a much better 80hr RPG then it has any right to be. And I never even touched the second game in the collection!
Donut County was so quirky and fun.
Inscryption is REALLY GOOD. If you enjoyed MTG / strategy / board games. DO NOT READ ABOUT IT. Spoilers will ruin it. tl;dr it’s a horror-based card game.
Bayonetta I am also really really enjoying. I actually feel betrayed that no one recommended this to me before. It’s perfect so far. Super fun fast paced skill based combat with a badass chick. It’s just 11/10 over the top all the time.
Here’s a list of my favorite games on Steam. I highly recommend the Steam Deck as well. Most games run well on it.
- Satisfactory
- My Time At Portia
- My Time At Sandrock
- Vampire Survivors
- Titan Quest
- Grim Dawn
- Skyrim
- Graveyard Keeper
- Coral Island
- Terra Nil
- Core Keeper
- Sun Haven
- Monster Sanctuary
- Travellers Rest
- Forager
- Stray
- Exiled Kingdoms
- Dungeonmans
- Roots of Pacha
- Monster Crown
- Streets of Rage 4
- Disaster Band
- Halls of Torment
- Trombone Champ
- Katamari Damacy REROLL
- We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie
My Time at Portia (farming / exploring), Coral Island (farming / exploring), Monster Sanctuary (catching monsters / exploring), and Travellers Rest (manage a bar, and there’s co-op) are so good.
for me, I’m really fixated on Cassette Beasts, because Pokemon has been disappointing for me for a long while now. I keep debating on whether I buy it now, or wait until they implement the online multiplayer they just announced.
“Path of Achra” for a pretty traditional roguelike that focuses on short runs and setting up “broken builds”. Highly rated and pretty cheap.
“Halls of Torment” It’s vampire survivors x diablo. My favorite of the genre beside the “original”. Not sure how hidden it is though.
“Stone Story RPG” Not really sure how to describe this one. ASCII art sorta-idle game?
“Siralim Ultimate” mystery dungeon type monster rearing rpg with some wild synergies and buildcrafting. Tonnes of ways to “break the game”
I don’t hear much about Kenshi except for within folks who already play and let’s players on YouTube, but it’s one of my all time favorites. Can be hard to get into but watching a beginner video or reading some wiki will let you get into this massive, strange world. Currently only 13.50, which I think works out to like 2 cents an hour for me.
I can second Kenshi even if I’ve never been able to go too far into the game. However it is really a gem and I hope I’ll find the time to get back to it
I don’t have any games to recommend but I wanted to thank people here for some actually good suggestions. I feel like I’ve been taken for a bit of a ride at that other place by shills in similar threads compared to this.
It’s not super niche, or super on sale, but I’m really enjoying Chained Echos so far.
Hot take: Chained Echoes is a much better game than Octopath Traveler 2.
Man, Octopath Traveler was such a letdown. The total lack of character interactions with other character’s stories made protagonist selection feel pointless and the story felt even more shallow than it was. Just… so meh. I couldn’t talk myself into picking up the second one.
