Video Games What's the most obscure game you play?

[Morris]

PC gamer here. Let me just dump these:

Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes


While the KUF franchise may not be that obscure in- and of itself, I barely know anyone who knows or remembers that this title - a strategy/RPG hybrid - was what started it all. The gameplay and graphics were nothing spectacular, but the art style, voice acting and soundtrack were oddly captivating when I first played it.

Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader


Probably the least well-known of Black Isle's games, this gem was a Diablo-esque hack'n'slash RPG with a fairly unique alternative history setting. Last chapters were a bitch though.

GROM: Terror in Tibet


Probably the most obscure item on my list. A Polish ex-soldier pairs up with a smuggler to get away from the war in Europe, all the way to India, then Nazies show up and things escalate beyond rational measure. Including yeties, demons, aliens, Buddha himself, and semi-magical flying saucers. I ain't kidding. Everything was bizarre about this game, from controls to style to story, and it should have by all means been off-putting. But I guess I just have a thing for grotesque games, since I kept it for pretty long.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura


Perhaps more of a cult game than an entirely obscure one, made by the late Troika Games. Seldom can one find a more unique blending of steampunk and high fantasy with such immense replay value. That said, it can get pretty tedious at points.

 

[Windsock]

Children of a dead earth.

 

[Cavil]

This game series is probably the best of its kind (yes better than Pokemon). It was arguably the most innovative of its time. I loved it.

 

[Abendrot]

Anyone ever heard of Exanima? It's a dungeon crawler which aims to have realistic combat. Surprisingly fun.

 

[JustAlexandra]

Hmm...well I play this fun game called Viridi. I don't know and have never met anyone who has even heard of it. It's a meditative game about plants and gardening.

I've heard of it! I played it for a very short time 

 

[Aya Takamitsu]

I play a lot of obscure titles, I feel XD The two most prominently unknown would likely be Recettear and Hacknet.





In Recettear, you play as Recette, a lone little girl who opens an item shop in order to pay a debt in place of her father, who perished after leaving on an adventure. You have a month to pay off the debt, where payments are made weekly and in increasing amounts. If you miss a payment, Tear, your companion who works for the collection agency and was sent to ensure Recette was able to find a good way to pay off the debt, will be forced to take her house as collateral to pay off the rest. So, as an item shop, you sell things to civilians and adventurers - The kind of things that a normal RPG item shop would have in stock. You can also go on adventures with the adventurers, which is a really good way to get a bunch of free stuff to sell.





In Hacknet, you play as... Well, yourself. After having obtained a specialized OS in a mysterious fashion, automated messages from its creator (And presumably the guy who sent it to you) tell you about how the system works, as well as A) Inform you that he's very likely dead by now, and B) Direct you to a small hacking group who can help you get you on your feet. Using various tools you find along the way, Hacknet is about using programs coupled with Hacknet's unique PortHack function to break into systems, complete good-willed jobs from the group you're working for, and find out what happened to Bit, the guy who introduced you to the system. One really neat feature is that the names of certain systems and the IP addresses of everything are procedurally generated, so you'll never find the same IP addresses between any two games. Not to mention the creator of the game also takes realism seriously, as every IP address generated falls within the parameters for an actual, real IP, while the ports you hack into are actual port numbers, actually used by the services the game tells you (HTTP Web Servers will always run on port 80, for example)

how have i never heard of this "Hacknet"? Thank you for posting about it, and I shall start looking for a place where I can get it asap, as it sounds quite intriguing.

 

[Aya Takamitsu]

This game series is probably the best of its kind (yes better than Pokemon). It was arguably the most innovative of its time. I loved it.

Oh my god, I remember the monster rancher games! I loved the hell out of them when I was younger...i should download emulations of them...relive my past and all...

 

[Proletariat]

Europa Universalis 4: The real strategy game that weeds out the casuals like the filthy scum they are.


Age of Hegemony III: The ancient civilization simulator that forces you to acknowledge how useful slavery is.


10/10 this series is better than pokemon, demand revive

This game series is probably the best of its kind (yes better than Pokemon). It was arguably the most innovative of its time. I loved it.

 

[TheMadHatter44]

I'm not sure how many of you heard of The X series, but they are feather fun if you like things like Eve online or rogue galaxy. as a connoisseur of space games I think the X series is probably the best space exploration game series on the market. the newest installment of the series which came out last is absolutely astounding. X Rebirth Is the title and it's a complete overhaul from the older games in the series.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

Probably RPG Maker series, VX Ace at the moment. If  '95 hadn't been available at my local rental store back in like '99, I probably wouldn't know the series exists. They  make developing your own entire JRPG surprisingly comprehensive, easy, and fun.

How can you not rent it? This game cost me so much in late fees.

 

[TheMadHatter44]

Probably RPG Maker series, VX Ace at the moment. If  '95 hadn't been available at my local rental store back in like '99, I probably wouldn't know the series exists. They  make developing your own entire JRPG surprisingly comprehensive, easy, and fun.

How can you not rent it? This game cost me so much in late fees.

@Loco Mofo This was a cool series fo. Sony to have, the one for the PS2 was boss.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

@Loco Mofo This was a cool series fo. Sony to have, the one for the PS2 was boss.

the latest ones run on Ruby code, so it's vastly more powerful in the sense users can write their own scripts for mind-boggling features and simply add the code to the scripts module with copy & paste. You don't even have to be a coder, hundreds of scripts are available for non-commercial use, because devs do have RM-made commercial games on Steam right now, lol. The RM community is still thriving, just a little more low-key now that he bars have been raised. It's not enough to make a stock game with stock graphics and features anymore.


Actually the latest VM runs on Pearl code, which is even more powerful.                 


Ogre Battle style "Unit" character treatment and menu.

Some epic Skyrim style Lockpicking & Menu UI scripts were released.

It's pretty amazing how far the series has come on the PC end. I think the reason the PC series kept their RTP graphics 2D with option to use custom graphics is because if you went 3D, you'd almost exclusively see stock RTP graphics, the good free resources, and a lo of bad 3D custom work, which would devalue RM games.  2D still has a huge following for JRPs. 

 

[Midnightchan123]

skyborn, squishy the suicidal pig, Violett, boson x goocublets, ichi

 

[Collidias Rex]

Well, excluding games that I probably shouldn't go into detail about on these kinds of forums ...

 
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EYE: Divine Cybermancy. It's like a twisted mash-up of Deus Ex and Warhammer 40k - but with Russians and samurai all over the place.


Absolute treasure of a game - just a shame that the campaign is so short and the multiplayer is dead as a doorknoob. Doesn't look too pretty, but the game mechanics are really unique and fun.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

Ooh, I have some. I like to dig deep.  : P


The most obscure game I've ever played...are games that aren't finished count? I've been keeping my eye on this game called World of Horror, a sort of lo-bit card-based rpg that combines elements of H.P. Lovecraft with Junji Ito. You basically have to solve a series of (fucked up) mysteries in order to beat an elder god before you either go insane, die, or the end times come.

It's pretty broken in its current state, but I'm excited to see where it goes.

 

[Beebasaur]

I used to play a game called pulseman

 

[Ratatoskr]

Active Worlds. It's also one of the oldest still running 3D online games, though the community is very small. I've been on Active Worlds since 2007. Also Vinny from Vinesauce did a video on Active Worlds, but the stuff he explored was an EXTREMELY small portion of what Active Worlds has to offer, even today.

 

[Some1]

OFF

Frickin weird game. I love it.


You play as the batter, whose sole purpose in life is to "purify" the world.


It was made by a french guy using RPG maker, and it's free to download, so if you have nothing better to do I recommend you try it. You should be able to find an English translation of it with a quick google search. I can't remember the exact website I went to, but I remember that I didn't look for long.


But It's a JRPG, so some parts may drag on. The guy who made it added an auto-battle function if you get bored of pressing attack over and over again, which is nice.

 

[Epilogue]

This is my favorite nostalgia game.  I played the hell out of this as a child. Once in a blue moon I'll see someone else on the web reference this game—it has a small community following—but it doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves imo.