For me, it was the freebie RPG Maker classic, Yume Nikki, which is a weird dream-exploration game (its name literally means "Dream Diary") with visuals resembling a SNES JRPG. I'm not really a fan of RPGs, and though this is far from a traditional JRPG and I had absorbed plenty of information about it before deciding to try it for myself, I just didn't know what to expect from it. Though the game is originally from 2004, I only played it for the first time last year. It works pretty much perfectly through Proton.

!Yume Nikki

What I got was a really unique experience where the gameplay isn't the focus, and where examining the visuals and speculating about what the intended narrative and lore might be are the point, instead. By the very nature of how we all interpret things differently, the game is naturally a different experience for everyone who plays it. I played it as a dip-in/dip-out slow-burn title alongside other games over the course of several months, and I loved it.

I was charmed so much that I then went and bought some of the official merchandise from Fangamer, as well as the later (paid) 3D reimagining, YUMENIKKI -DREAM DIARY- (which is more of a cinematic-platformer than an RPG), so as to show support for the developer, since I got so much entertainment out of the freebie original.

Last edited by Pengling on 24 May 2023 at 4:32 am UTC

The puzzle game Altered. Found it in a sale earlier this year and picked it up because it had a native Linux version. With it staying hidden for two years and having very few reviews, you don't have too many expectations. But it turned out to be really good and played through the entire thing.

This is actually a really good question...... Two that spring to mind straight away are......

!link
Mighty Final Fight (1993 Capcom) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Beat 'em up

I was expecting nothing out of this game when I played it for the first time the other week when going through the Final Fight series.......

It turned out to be the best game in the series.......

The fast paced beat 'em up action....... The cute chibi art style....... The really nice chip tunes......
All combines into a damn awesome game.....


!link
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (1990 Sega) - Sega Mega Drive - Platformer

As someone who HATES Disney...... I never had any intention of playing Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse...... It was recommended by a fiend...... So I had to play it or my house would get blown up....... She plays a lot of bomber man...... She knows how to do it.....

Turns out it was a fantastic game that I really enjoyed playing...... Fantastic colourful art work and animations with excellent music that works to the strengths of the Mega Drive sound chip......

Both are excellent games are well worth a play through......

Last edited by StoneColdSpider on 24 May 2023 at 7:54 am UTC

For me, it was the freebie RPG Maker classic, Yume Nikki,

Alright gotta admit I felt a bit uneasy just by watching the trailer
Which means I should probably play it, seems interesting enough, even tho the RPGmaker vibe is off putting to me, gotta submit to the reviews ( which are 93% good!)

Mighty Final Fight

Played that back in the day on NES


Last edited by FSFmember on 24 May 2023 at 10:58 am UTC

Which means I should probably play it, seems interesting enough, even tho the RPGmaker vibe is off putting to me, gotta submit to the reviews ( which are 93% good!)

RPG Maker is just a means to an end, in this case - Yume Nikki is kind of like the originator of "walking simulators".

Anyway, it's a rabbit-hole - there's a big fan wiki and everything!

STALKER (1-3). I'm not much of an FPS and really avoided a lot of them. I'm also not into horror. But the idea seemed compelling. Explore a slightly fantasy(?) horror version of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

But... I really liked it. It felt like a really good mix of FPS with some RPG elements that made the world compelling and exciting to explore. Each game in the series got better and better (although I think the story in 1 was the best)

STALKER (1-3).
But... I really liked it. It felt like a really good mix of FPS with some RPG elements that made the world compelling and exciting to explore.

Reminds me slightly of Metro Exodus - quality game. Maybe I should also check Stalker out... or rather wait for the new one, lately I like to let old games sleep in favor of new ones, as one can't play everything all the time.

STALKER (1-3).
But... I really liked it. It felt like a really good mix of FPS with some RPG elements that made the world compelling and exciting to explore.

Reminds me slightly of Metro Exodus - quality game. Maybe I should also check Stalker out... or rather wait for the new one, lately I like to let old games sleep in favor of new ones, as one can't play everything all the time.

Playing Stalker led me to play Metro ( I owned the first 2, don't own Exodus)... Thematically, they were very similar in some respects. The metro
games were more linear (but had a lot of world building depth) stalker was little more open, but both had amazing atmosphere.

If you don't own any of the stalker series, I'd wait for the new one. If it's bad, you can always get the older ones!!

Reminds me slightly of Metro Exodus

Playing Stalker led me to play Metro

Continuing with the Metro theme....... I highly recommend the books that the games are based on..... Metro 2033 and Metro 2034 by Dmitry Glukhovsky....... The translation into English is not the best..... But it still has the same great atmosphere as the games...... And well worth a read if you like the games......
There is also a Metro 2035 book by the same author but I have not read that yet......

Skeletal Avenger turned out to be quite enjoyable and easy to get into. I have no idea where I got it from, probably a bundle somewhere.
Normal price at 16€ is fair for this roguelite dungeon crawler action game. Ultrawide supported, new game+, local coop, remote play together. Worth a look.

Beat Invaders. Basically just a juiced up version of space invaders but it's loads of fun somehow.

What a great idea for a thread!

Pretty much everything I've covered in my short Play it Now series.

Also:
A Short Hike [Steam] - Heart warming, simple and great gameplay.
Tesla vs Lovecraft [Steam] - Brilliant fun. Great twin-stick, albeit quite short (3 hours).
Manaspark [Steam] - did this inspire Children of Morta? Nah, they came out within months of each other, but it's a superb, less narative-driven, graphically simplistic version of that game.
Reassembly [Steam] - Steepish learning curve, but still the daddy (for me) of all the 2D spaceship builders.
MO:Astray [Steam] - Beautiful, satisfying gameplay.
Mr. Shifty [Steam] - low expectations and absolutely stunning gameplay shocked me. Short at 4 hours. Like Hotline Miami, but I never found that game fun. Mr Shifty is.
and finally...
Wildfire [Steam] - 12 of the best gaming hours at about £1/hour.

And so many more - Mothergunship, Wandersong (so sweet!), Tangledeep, Signal from Tolva and probably a tonne more I haven't played in ages.

I had zero expectation from any of these and they all surprised me by being awesome.

I bought the Etrian Odyssey bundle on Switch (that had a discount at the time) as I wanted a classic RPG style game to play. I'm still on just the first game in the bundle, but for some reason the simple gameplay style feels good. Though the battle system is very similar to what you would see in RPG Maker (enemy portraits up front, player character stats on the bottom, turn-based), I don't mind it. Also the music is pretty good. Dungeon exploration has the quirk of requiring the player to "map out" the dungeon's floors as you progress (I think this was originally a DS game, but they made it work on the Switch in one screen), so that was an interesting surprise. I'm not sure how they handle the dungeon exploration mapping on Steam, but I expect it to utilize the mouse to make it easier to handle. At first, the dungeon-mapping seemed tedious, but when you revisit explored sections of the dungeon, there is this feeling of satisfaction of knowing, "hey, I mapped this out and now I know for sure where everything is here". The game feels good as a classic-style dungeon exploration RPG.

I played one Etrian Odyssey (Millennium Girl) on the 3DS. It was great. The 3D was very nice for the environments and mapping out the dungeon on the bottom screen was good fun. When the 3DS store was closing another one got heavily discounted (to like 5 dollars) and it seemed rude not to pick it up. I'm not sure I'll get around to it before I die, but I'm happy I have it for my grid-based dungeon crawling fix.

I'm not sure I'll get around to it before I die, but I'm happy

Okay then.

I'm not easily surprised (though I've been surprised at the gall of some crap) so it took me a while to even think of something to share here. Kona fits this topic for me.

Kona
https://store.steampowered.com/app/365160/Kona/

I initially bought that just because it had a Linux port (Unity). I wasn't terribly interested in a another sleuthing, walking simulator. I couldn't get it to work at all, never got past the main menu. It was pretty horrid and didn't respond to typical mesa gl override variables (didn't help I mean). So I sent it back.

A few years later, there's a Kona II Brume demo, that worked perfectly and looked nice. I was enjoying the wintery walk and examining artifacts in the mansion before the demo ended.

Time to try the first Kona game again, maybe things have changed. So I bought it again and nope... same bad behaviour. Dagnabbit, I wanted to see this game, so I switched it over to Proton where it worked well.

I ended up absolutely loving that game far more than my expectations and I've been through it several times. It's not exciting, but immersive to me.

The first thing that got me, was how well this guy captured wintery hell. Driving on country roads you shouldn't be on in snowing/blowing conditions, gave me the same feeling of dread. Similarly, getting out of the truck and trudging through calf deep snow. It made me glad that it wasn't me... that I don't do things like that anymore.

I enjoyed uncovering the story with my sleuthing (and some supernatural interludes taking place) too, but of course I already know it on subsequent replays. Still, I enjoy the immersion.

This game is also rich with mock brands of products. Stubby Canadian beer bottles with similar logos from my youth, "LeBrun 60" instead of Labatts 50 and "Apple Jacques" cereal boxes rofl!

Alright, fast forward again, Kona stops working for me through Proton. I tried different Protons etc. but before I gave up I tried the native Linux version again. Wouldn't you know (I didn't at that point), they fixed that up for the Steam Deck and it works very nicely on Linux now (at least for me). That was another nice surprise. So now all is right with this game for me.

P.S. I'm eagerly awaiting Kona II Brume, I hope development is going well.

Last edited by Grogan on 15 Jun 2023 at 7:57 pm UTC

Battlebit Remastered. i thought it was going to be a low poly Battlefield turns out it is a more hardcore massive milshooter. Works great on the steam deck. Thanks to the community for making great controller configurations. And its only 12 quid. Makes me regret dropping 60 on Bf2042.

The Last Sovereign I download it on itch first as I was sorting all the itch adult games after itch start itching (hihi) towards making it more difficult to adult game.

I don't know why I downloaded it, the description was snobby and the image not very beautiful but I did and started playing it.

At first it seems like another adult game on RPG maker, but the writing had something, and the point of view was intriguing, so I kept playing.

At one point I switch to steam which has the last version for free and proton is, well, far more efficient than wine.

The gameplay of the game was expanding, the usual JRPG gameplay was soon joined by economic investment, high level politics, intrigue, and battles, even war mainly decided by them. Never a game has makes me feel more like a stakeholder of the world and never a game has manage choice & consequence this successfully.

I hope that future game trying to do choice and consequence will look at this game. He does it particularly right.

Another one I can mention, Escape Dead Island

A rather fun and short game set in the Dead Island universe. An action adventure zombie killing romp with entertaining story that goes a bit mental, worth a second playthrough which was unexpected. Many people hate on this game and much of it came from a rough launch, but the game is solid today with the Underwater Labs DLC adding a good chunk of extra content. Runs easily on Deck with 60 fps and it looks pretty good to boot.

It's on sale almost always, even now I can find it for less than 3 €. I spent ~18 hours over 2 playthroughs, had a blast the entire time. Definitely a worthy purchase, ignore the haters. I will say the ending fight section is quite annoying, you can't really skip anything in cutscenes, and if you want all the achievements you will need a guide because sections close off permanently as you progress.

Most of all I like card games, because I am a very gambling person. Of the latest gaming platforms I played on, I can mention Galactic Wins Casino, which I learned about from the review of the best Mastercard casinos online in Canada 2023 review at https://leafletcasino.com/casino-payment/mastercard/. I also tried other options from this category and I can say that in general these casinos offer smooth and secure transactions using a reliable network, which is very important in today's world. Such casinos provide a wide range of gaming options, reliable customer support and fast deposits, so I recommend that you learn more about them.

Last edited by Persay11 on 23 Aug 2023 at 6:57 pm UTC