Game you might not(but definitely should) know about

[Twigglish]

I've posted on a few forums and have compiled a list of games you may not know about but definitely should check out. Some might be pretty popular but didn't get the amount of press they should have. Most are, but not all are old games.
I tried to link all the games to their own webpages, and also provide a link to some screen shots/trailers/gameplay video. Also threw in a short paragraph about the game.
If you think something should be added, just post below. This whole list is up to the public opinion.

Enjoy
Penumbra: Collection
site - screens - video 1 - video 2

Leave the safety of your hiding place and enter the horror odyssey of Penumbra Collection. This horror game pack includes Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague together with the puzzle oriented expansion pack Requiem.

The critically acclaimed survival horror series Penumbra puts an emphasis on challenging problem solving and survival, offers players an unparalleled psychological thrill. The horror experience is enhanced by the unique physics system that allows the gamer to interact with nearly every object, which gives a vivid and intense feeling of involvement.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
site - screens - video 1

Awake...
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, a first person survival horror. A game about immersion, discovery and living through a nightmare. An experience that will chill you to the core.
You stumble through the narrow corridors as the distant cry is heard.
It is getting closer.

Explore...
Amnesia: The Dark Descent puts you in the shoes of Daniel as he wakes up in a desolate castle, barely remembering anything about his past. Exploring the eerie pathways, you must also take part of Daniel's troubled memories. The horror does not only come from the outside, but from the inside as well. A disturbing odyssey into the dark corners of the human mind awaits.

King Arthur
site - screens - video

King Arthur is an empire-building strategy game set in a medieval, mystical Britain where you will play the role of legendary Arthur, the Once and Future King. You build Camelot, enlist the Knights of the Round Table, unite the country and ultimately challenge the powers threatening the essence of all their previous endeavors. You choose their own path, be it the way of virtuous glory, the might of the Sidhe or your wish to succumb to the dark powers.

Mount & Blade: Warband
site - screens - video

In a land torn asunder by incessant warfare, it is time to assemble your own band of hardened warriors and enter the fray. Lead your men into battle, expand your realm, and claim the ultimate prize: the throne of Calradia.

In a genre all its own, come experience The one and only Medieval combat /kingdom building sandbox game.
Mount and Blade Warband is a unique blend of intense strategic fighting, real time army command, and deep kingdom management.

Shadow Warrior: Lo Wang
site

Say sayonara to all the Ninja wannabees that have gone before and strap on your combat sandals.. Lo Wang is coming to the Land of the Rising Sun to turn out the lights. If you can't touch, kill, or drive something, than blow it away! Enter the world's most interactive 3D environment, and cut yourself some sushi!

Cryostasis
site - screens - video

Cryostasis takes place in 1981 on a nuclear ice breaker called the North Wind, which has become shipwrecked near the North Pole. The main character, Alexander Nesterov is a Russian meteorologist who must investigate what happened onboard the ship.

But he’s not alone and the North Wind is now plagued by dead crewmen who have undergone a bizarre metamorphosis due to the effects of the incredibly cold climate. Alexander must try to unravel the mystery of the ship captain’s death and discover whether it was the cold or, possibly, something far more sinister...

Space Ranger 2
site - screens - video

Space Rangers 2 is set in the year 3300. Sentient combat robots known as Dominators are attacking the five civilizations of the Coalition: the humans, the Maloqs, the Pelengs, the Faeyans, and the Gaalians. There are three Dominator types, each at war with each other: the Blazeroids, the Kelleroids, and the Terranoids. The player begins the game as a trainee member of the Space Rangers – a corps of pilots charged with defending the galaxy from the Dominators.

Crayon Physics
site - screens - video

A 2D physics puzzle / sandbox game, in which you get to experience what it would be like if your drawings would be magically transformed into real physical objects. Solve puzzles with your artistic vision and creative use of physics.

Stronghold II
site - screens - video

"The impressive quantity of buildings have something to watch. Zoom in close, and you'll notice a wheat farmer tending his crops, a fletcher taking a new bow to the armory, or a citizen being hauled off to the dungeon."

"With two single-player campaigns (one focusing on economic development and one on military tactics), a skirmish mode, a set of pre-generated historic castle maps to siege or defend, a free build mode, and multiplayer, there's plenty here to keep gamers busy for months."

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
site - screens - video

The game emphasizes environmental combat, by way of using scripted traps or terrain features. Actions include cutting ropes to release heavy objects, kicking enemies over a cliff or into a bed of spikes, and breaking support beams to collapse a structure and crush enemies underneath.

Enemies are generally difficult to kill in straightforward combat, although characters developed for this purpose may have an easier time. Characters with high stealth can sneak up behind enemies and perform a lethal backstab maneuver, while players skilled with a bow can use it to snipe enemies from a distance.

Magic spells can be used to damage the enemy, heal the player, or serve a number of utility purposes.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto
site - screens - video

In the game, players take control of a single character from one of three humanoid races to complete the story or to challenge other players in online multiplayer matches. They can select heavily armed Meccaryns equipped with jet packs, or amphibious spellcasting Sea Reapers. The game's subtitle "Citizen Kabuto" refers to the last selectable race, a thundering behemoth who can execute earthshaking professional wrestling attacks to pulverize its enemies. The single-player mode is framed as a sequential story, putting the player through a series of missions, several of which test the player's reflexes in action game-like puzzles.

Starscape
site - screens

Starscape is a 2D space combat shoot 'em up game developed by Moonpod games and published in 2003 as shareware. The plot provides a framework for the action: The player is the sole remaining fighter pilot on the space station Aegis after its warp drive is influenced by aliens, ripping it into another dimension. The objective is naturally to survive and to return.

Psychonauts
site - screens - video

Psychonauts is based on the exploits of Raz, a young boy gifted with psychic abilities who runs away from the circus to try to sneak into a summer camp for those with similar powers in order to become a "Psychonaut". He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring at the camp that only he can stop from happening. The game is centered on the widely strange and imaginative minds of various characters that Raz enters as a Psychonaut-in-training in order to help them overcome their fears or memories of their past, so as to gain their help and progress in the game. Raz gains use of several psychic abilities during the game that are used for both attacking foes and solving puzzles.

Postal 2
site - screens - video

The player takes on the role of 'The Postal Dude' (all evidence given in-game indicates that the character's full legal name actually is "The Postal Dude, Jr.": his father's tombstone reads "T. Dude Sr."; characters constantly call him "Mr. The Dude" and a package for him is addressed to "P. Dude"), a tall thin man with a goatee, sunglasses, a blue alien t-shirt, and a long black leather coat. The Postal Dude also wears a Happy Smiley pin on his right lapel and a cross pin on his left one. 'The Postal Dude' lives in a trailer park with his nagging wife (only identified in the credits as 'Postal Dude's *****') in the town of Paradise, Arizona (there was, in fact, a real-life Arizona mining town called Paradise, which failed in the early 20th century, but there's no indication in the game of any intentional connection).

Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines
site - screens - video

The game begins with the creation of a male or female vampire character of one of seven Camarilla clans. Players can choose to manually pick the clan their character will join and their character's stats, or they can answer a series of questions to be assigned stats. Once a character has been created, the introductory sequence begins with an in-game cinematic of a lascivious vampire Sire 'Embracing' the player's character; draining the character of blood, and beginning the player's transformation into a vampire. Shortly after the Embrace, both the player and his or her Sire are captured by the Los Angeles Camarilla for what is revealed to have been an unauthorized act, violating the organization's strict rules on vampire creation. The player's Sire is executed at the order of the Prince, Sebastian LaCroix, who is the leader of the Camarilla in Los Angeles. The player is spared a similar fate when Nines Rodriguez, a brujah who was in the audience as a representative of the Anarch community, jumps up and calls out the Prince, who then relents.

Recently Added
Cave Story
site - screens

The main character awakens in an underground cavern with no memory of how he came to be there. He finds a village populated by rabbit-like creatures called Mimigas, who are being persecuted by the Doctor. Two of the Doctor's servants, Misery and Balrog, are looking for a Mimiga named Sue, but mistakenly abduct a Mimiga named Toroko. The player's main quest is to rescue Sue, save the Mimigas from the Doctor, and escape the floating island on which the game is set. There are three different endings: a good ending (naturally the hardest to get, involving a very difficult final stage and two extra bosses, including a multi-phase final boss), a normal ending, and a bad ending (which occurs about halfway through the game and requires little effort to get). The endings are based on the player finding various secret items.

Sid Meier's Pirates
site - screens - video

Pirates! is a single-player game. The player receives a letter of marque authorizing service as a privateer for Spain, the Dutch Republic, England, or France in the Caribbean. The player's loyalties may change over the course of the game; he may also hold rank with multiple countries and may turn to piracy at any time. Gameplay is open-ended; the player may choose to attack enemy ships or towns, hunt pirates, seek buried treasure, rescue long-lost family members, or even avoid violence altogether and seek to increase his wealth through trade. The game also has no predetermined end, although as time goes on, it becomes more difficult to recruit crew members. Also, as the player character ages, fighting becomes more difficult, and deteriorating health will eventually force the character into retirement. The game ends when the player retires, at which point he is given a position in his future life, from beggar to King's adviser, based on accumulated wealth, land, rank, marital status, and other accomplishments.

Plants VS Zombies
site - screens - video

Plants vs. Zombies sees players placing different types of plants and fungi, such as Potato Mines, Peashooters, Cattails, Hypno-shrooms, Cabbage-pults and Melon-pults, Planterns and many others, each with their own unique offensive or defensive capabilities, across the front lawn, back lawn, and roof of a house in order to stop a horde of zombies from devouring the brains of the residents. The playing field is divided into a number of horizontal tracks, and in general, although there are exceptions (such as when the garlic plant is used), a zombie will only move towards the player's house along one track, and most plants can only attack or defend against zombies in the track they are planted in. In the game's initial levels, if the zombie reaches the player's house, a one-shot tool (a lawn mower or pool cleaner) can be used to completely wipe out zombies in that track, but the tool will not be restored until the next level. In later levels, players have to purchase upgrades so as to adapt their lawn-mower to new environments like pools or rooftops. Zombies, except in special cases, will start to devour any plant in their way before continuing towards the house.

 

[tinymouse2]

Mount & Blade: Warband
...
No

Terrible game
Agreeing with most of the other games though.

 

[Twigglish]

I haven't personally played Warband, but I liked the original. I only added the games that at least 2 people suggested.
I know that seems to counter looking for the truly obscure games, but it helped keep out complete crap games that a certain person only loved for who knows what reason.

 

[Hardin]

I don't know what the beef is with Warband, but Mount & Blade is a pretty good game. The graphics suck, but Warband has improved them a lot. I like the freedom that Mount & Blade offers.

 

[PhysX]

my sons will love Crayon Physics

 

[Twigglish]

I don't know what the beef is with Warband, but Mount & Blade is a pretty good game. The graphics suck, but Warband has improved them a lot. I like the freedom that Mount & Blade offers.

Well, it seems Warband has just improved upon everything. I'm playing it right now and I must say, it's a step up from the original.

PhysX, you can use your son as an excuse but it's ok. You can admit you want Crayon Physics for yourself

 

[WonderingSoul]

Gary's Mod.

I bet a lot of people have heard of it... But you really need to play it to apreciate its brilliance.

 

[SteveLord]

my sons will love Crayon Physics

Never heard of this one. And since its on Steam, it looks like a winner for my kids.

 

[rumbl3]

cave story

 

[burningcpu]

Oh yeah, your kids will love Crayon physics. I even get it out during get togethers at my house. It is a fun drunk game for a bunch of people to do.

 

[tinymouse2]

The controls on M&B are terrible! Just a very difficult game to play

Also totally agreeing with Crayon physics. Was a fan right from the start of production (from times of the initial alpha version), was quite fun to see how it evolved

 

[Firey_chasm]

nice list twig sounds fun to work through them

 

[shadin]

The controls on M&B are terrible! Just a very difficult game to play

Also totally agreeing with Crayon physics. Was a fan right from the start of production (from times of the initial alpha version), was quite fun to see how it evolved

The controls in M&B is what makes it genius. It's probably the best medieval combat simulator I've ever played. You can't just waltz in spamming your mouse button and expect to win, you actually have to learn how to fight in the game.

 

[Twigglish]

The controls in M&B is what makes it genius. It's probably the best medieval combat simulator I've ever played. You can't just waltz in spamming your mouse button and expect to win, you actually have to learn how to fight in the game.

Agreed. You have to block and counter attack. For such a low budget game, they put in some really good stuff.

 

[ratbuddy]

I just put up a thread for it, but Master of Magic definitely deserves a mention here as well. Best game ever. It came out 16 years ago so some of our younger members may not have heard of it, the poor lil fellas.

 

[tinymouse2]

The controls in M&B is what makes it genius. It's probably the best medieval combat simulator I've ever played. You can't just waltz in spamming your mouse button and expect to win, you actually have to learn how to fight in the game.

Edited

 

[Aynjell]

Disagreeing
Any game that you can just spam the crap out of any system is a fail in my books.

By your own definition you are failing right now. Read the posts you're replying to, because without doing so all you're doing is mindlessly spamming the crap out of the forum system.



I also want to make a point that spam games are fun, depending on how it is. I personally got a kick out of spamming wii tennis on my girlfriend. She'd get all into it, but I'd just shake the controller and watch her reaction to my constantly beating her.

 

[WonderingSoul]

Disagreeing
Any game that you can just spam the crap out of any system is a fail in my books.

It seems that every thread I read in the Games forum, you always have to tell everyone your opinion whether they wanted to hear it or not.

So for my sanity and everyone else's on this forum, think before you post.

 

[tinymouse2]

By your own definition you are failing right now. Read the posts you're replying to, because without doing so all you're doing is mindlessly spamming the crap out of the forum system.



I also want to make a point that spam games are fun, depending on how it is. I personally got a kick out of spamming wii tennis on my girlfriend. She'd get all into it, but I'd just shake the controller and watch her reaction to my constantly beating her.

It seems that every thread I read in the Games forum, you always have to tell everyone your opinion whether they wanted to hear it or not.

So for my sanity and everyone else's on this forum, think before you post.

Point taken.

 

[SteveLord]

Plants VS Zombies

Sid Meiers Pirates



I know...I saw em a lot.