Fun games to try (those considered hidden gems)

[Clay]

I am not sure if it qualifies as a hidden gem but Spelunky is good. The one that looks more like Super mario(snes or nex) NOT THE 3D LOOKING ONE. You can get it on ps4 actually.. i think.

[Scripten]

I mean both are the same game?

[wildweasel]

I'm guessing it's the difference between Spelunky, the rogue-lite platform action game by Mossmouth, and Spelunker, the 80s platformer that's well known for being stupidly difficult and currently has a modern remake available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

[Clay]

I'm guessing it's the difference between Spelunky, the rogue-lite platform action game by Mossmouth, and Spelunker, the 80s platformer that's well known for being stupidly difficult and currently has a modern remake available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Yeah I think it is called spelunker or spelunker HD. I didn't like that one and couldn't recommend it.

[Clay]

I have to add one. Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen. Story is pretty generic but the game play is AWESOME! FAR BETTER than Elder Scrolls IMHO.

[Reactor]

Ye, it's time to focus my attention on fun games to try. I shall try to introduce games which are more hidden gems then Besides, I still need to complete the Specter of Torment. Alright, here is one that you should give a whirl:



"While scaling the city skyscrapers to rid the city of the evil insect plague, you better shoot well and accurately because the fall is a long way down."

Alas my friends, I'm afraid it has nothing to do with our beloved Doom. Still, it's a very tasty little game. Does its name ring a bell? You betcha! This game is actually a remake of the game with identical title from the abysmal Action 52 cartridge, which is considered to be the absolutely worst game in the known universe and beyond. One of the games on this masterpiece of shit was titled "City of Doom", and as you can expect, it's a horrible, piss-poor attempt to rip off Crazy Climber, which is by all means a much, much, MUCH better game. In the original Action 52 title, a guy had to climb up skyscrapers, avoiding bowling balls, apple pies, hornets, and windows (yes, windows kill you!) while climbing to outer space (!!!) and defeating some giant bird-insect hybrid where the game either crashes or sends you to the next level.

City of Doom was developed by the indie game company Shark Arms Studios 7 years ago, and is superior to the Action 52 version in all and every aspect. The story remained the same - the city has been taken over by horrible alien insects. Your job is to climb the skyscraper and find the source of the infection.

The gameplay is a gazillion times better and more enjoyable than the original. Even though the basic idea remained the same (a vertical scroller shooter), you can actually climb all 4 sides of the skyscraper, there are blocks and grates which can be destroyed, the scenery is excellent, windows are no longer a threat (though you can't climb onto them), and thankfully you can aim your gun in all 8 directions without the necessity of moving. Instead of a can of Black Flag bugspray, you have 3 different weapons: a machinegun which is weak, but has hitscan properties and unlimited range, Bug-Torcher 5000, which has limited range but can mince enemy insects and projectiles too, and Bug-Zooka, a heavy shoulder-mounted missile launcher with a friggin' good firepower!

Even though the game takes place only on 1 skyscraper, it has 3 levels, and it's quite a long trek up to the top, but you're free to start from level 3 if you don't want to climb all the way from the bottom. Needless to say, this'll mean you shall have much less weapons, ammo, and lives, so your task will be a lot harder. Just like in the original, during level 3, you actually climb into outer space on that skyscraper. Oh my, that must be the tallest skyscraper in the history of mankind! You begin your quest with 3 lives, but you can score additional extra lives for every survivor you rescue.

The difficulty is fairly easy, but the 3rd section can hold nasty surprises, especially the bossfights. Different types of evil insects will bug you (ye, pun intended) on different heights. Hoopas, Ovantags and Sliats are more prominent on the bottom and middle regions, whilst Scabroks and Xinafs are very frequent on the higher regions. Most enemies are easy enough to take out even with machinegun, however there are sections where they pour out in unlimited numbers, or team up with other enemies, shootin' from inconvenient places. One hit or touching an enemy will make you lose your grip and fall to you doom.
There are no switches, keys or doors, so there won't be any puzzling around, however,you might encounter fuseboxes which must be destroyed in order to advance. As you can see, it's nowhere near as difficult as the Shovel Knight series, however, I never managed to beat the game without dying once or twice AND rescue all the survivors at the same time, so if you wish to encourage this, be my guest.

Graphics are very akin to Shovel Knight's - it's that old retro Game Boy-ish style, green and black. Love it. There are no graphical errors or flaws, at least I didn't notice, and I could easily recognize stuff by looking at them (albeit those owl decorations looked like decapitated dobermann-heads for me). Music is also very catchy and the author did a good job of remixing the original game's song.

Unfortunately, this game also has its fair share of bugs...outside the enemies, I mean. Sometimes it refuses to run, or crashes right at the start when loading the game, or so I experienced under Windows XP. Interestingly, many enemies don't seem to cause any harm to you. There are locust-like monsters which release some kind of spider-web, both this and the creature is harmless. There are also tiny little bugs - Minuscules - which may appear at the second and third levels, when killing a Hornet or destroying a Hornet Nest. They buzz about you but cause no harm whatsoever, and eventually die all by themselves.

All in all, City of Doom is a very enjoyable,relaxing little game. Not too difficult, exciting and last but not least, totally free. If you're feelin' up for a 1 hour fun, you should certainly take it for a spin!

[Reactor]

The Stalin Subway

As notoriously horrendous and abysmal its sequel is, I always wondered - was the first installation of this is just as bad? Or maybe it's worse? And if yes, how much worse? Today all my questions were answered, when I finally completed this puppy.

Stalin Subway is a Russian-made first person shooter - so it is NOT a Polish game, unlike the sequel - created by Buka Entertainment (albeit if you watch closely, that russian "B" may also well be an "S"..."suka") in 2005. The player takes the role of Gleb Suvorov, a KGB Lieutenant. It is pretty unclear what the story wants to tell us...it's something about Beria is plotting against Stalin, and one of his accomplices steals an atomic bomb to blow up Stalin's bunker. Some stuff about an attempted coup. Main thing is, suddenly, Soviet soldiers and officers turn hostile on ya, and you have to escape constantly, using the metro and underground tunnels, sewers, and such. Everyone is against you: the Soviet army, your former colleagues, and even the Russian mobsters.

[insert random Soviet Russia joke here]

Even though the story is pretty random, the execution is good. Enemies follow the typical Soviet tactic (releasing huge amounts of soldiers on the enemy to overwhelm him by their sheer numbers), the weapons are a good selection and are trademark Soviet firearms from the 1950s - Makarov and Stechkin pistols, Tokurev rifles, PPS, AK, DP, RPG-2 and so on, so don't expect any futuristic Bullshit Rifles that shoot LAZORZ. Pew pew pew! Even though enemy profiles are mostly the same - infantrymen, officers, Specnaz elite force - there is a nice variety of uniforms, and they look authentic indeed.
Most of the levels take place underground - there are only 2 levels out of the 18 which are outdoors - and many places use the same setting (tunnels, metro station, cellar), but there is a variety. Between metro lines, the game offers vehicle levels as well, which are hard as fuck, since there is very limited space, and of course, Soviets attack in alarming numbers (and you can't strafe much - falling off the speeding metro is instant death). And in one part of the game, you can take the role of a female accomplice of the protagonist, with slightly different weapons. And of course, later, she turns out to be a traitor. Another typical gaming cliché is that you get captured, and lose all firearms, and civilian characters who don't really interact with you - they won't even blurt out the evergreen "I'm too busy to talk now" one-liner. Watch out when killing civilians, tho! Kill 3 of them, and you die!
Graphics are nice, and pretty eye candy-ish, items, scenery, and walls are made well, and the water graphics look yummy. There is more than enough supplies, let it be ammunition or medipacks - killed enemies may drop both. Interestingly, there are hardly any armor within the game. In the ENTIRE game, I found only 5 armor pickups (helmet and bulletproof vest), and I looked everywhere...I don't see the reasoning behind this.
Sounds are...well...okay, the music is also pretty fine, though there is a little variety of songs (only 8), there should have been more.
As for secret areas - well, there ARE some, but not too many. At lots of levels, it seemed to me that the designers created them for nothing - they are dead ends, without any purpose. These could have been great secret levels.

Now for the bad news...
Well, for a start, the game's physics can be really nasty sometimes. You can't really jump on model-objects, they'll bounce around like rubber balls, and sometimes if this happens, they can actually kill you! Yesh...at the LIPAN level, I actually got murdered by a...portable bed or a wooden box.
This sounds funny, ye, however, sometimes the model physics can trash up your entire game. Doors refuse to open, you have to noclip thru them to progress. And no matter what you do, if the game loads that way, you'll NEVER get beyond these stuck doors. Ladder climbing is also pretty problematic, sometimes you just jiggle in place, or have to repeatedly jump to get to the top of the ladder. There is also a huge abundance of fake doors, in the later levels, entire floors are "decorated" with these pleasantries, which is yet another gaming cliché. Same goes for padlocks - at some levels, the game allows you to shoot them off, at others, they cannot be shot off. As for cupboards, some of them can be opened, some of them can't...this inconsistency is really annoying after a few levels.
Enemy AI is pretty basic. They CAN be dangerous, as long as you're close enough to them. If you're far, you can shoot them to your hearts' content, they simply won't react, and just stand still, waiting for getting slain. And since headshots are insta-kills, many levels are ridicolously easy if you exploit this bug.
Many levels suffer from tons of invisible walls, which is just pure author lazyness. On vehicle levels, prepare to save in the INSTANT it loads, as these levels are prone to Sudden Death Syndrome - even if nobody shoots at you. Some glitch causes you to fall thru the floor of the metro onto the rails. And on some other levels, there are invulnerable enemies, so you better not wander off the path the developers wanted you to walk. Nasty. Well...a tad better than Sudden Death Syndrome at least...
Weapons are mostly OK, however, none of the rifles has sniper scope, and they're very inaccurate even for greater distances. Guess this is the developers' counter-measure for the chimp AI: if you wanna kill someone from far away, you'll miss a LOT, even if you aiming is perfect. Grenades are almost totally useless, they only kill enemies if they explode DIRECTLY underneath them. In contrast, your own grenade can kill you from 2 kilometres because...it's Soviet Russia, damnit!

I guess that is all you need to know about this game. It's very cheap on Steam, so I'd say go for it. If you can tolerate these silly little mistakes, and maybe replace the sounds and music with something better, like I did, then it's a nice little fun game. MUCH MUCH better than the unplayable shitty God-awful sequel City interactive produced, to say the least. Play THIS, not the sequel!

[R4L]

How about Soldexus? It's a Metroidvania style game that, despite it's graphics, is actually really fun and full of content. Also, Breakdown on the original Xbox is seriously so underrated. I'd give Namco some of my organs to have a sequel. Great graphics, gameplay, and music and voice acting are top notch.

[Reactor]

Alley Cat - Remeow

When talkin' abuot oldies-goldies, the very first computer game I EVER played comes into my mind. The game Alley Cat by Synsoft/IBM. I believe many of the older audience met with the cute little feline who's tryin' to enter a tenement's window, catch mice, hunt for fish, knock down vases, and eventually, find a female cat companion at the last level. Well good news for you, folks - finally the game earned a worthy remake! Alley Cat - Remeow edition!!!

This game is like an Alley Cat goodie-pack for the fans. It includes the original old Alley Cat with original graphics & several different graphic palette changes as well, but obviously, the best part of the game is the full remake. Once again, your job is to guide your cute little black cat into the tenement windows, fulfill a special cat task, then approach & find the female cat the the final stage. Even though 1983 is waaaaaaaay behind us now, the remake's graphics retain that oldschool-feeling very well as well as adding colours, advanced graphics, and even a short animation when you finish a level. This is great. Controls remained the same, however I must admit, this game does move faster than the original, so you'll need even quicker reactions here, as y'll have to move around faster, especially the outside area with the tenement. All previous cat task rooms have been remade with advanced graphics, plus there are a few new ones:
- Magic room with cards and magician hats: find the bunny, but do not touch the evil dog! Catch 4 bunnies to progress.
- The kitchen: break milk bottles, and avoid sparks of fire coming from the oven. For some reason, if the broom throws you upwards out of the screen, you die. This appears to be a glitch.
- The bedroom: Scratch the bed 5 times to finish the level. Avoid the dog which may appear at the bottom.
- The bathroom: This is by far the weirdest. Roll down 5 toilet paper rolls, while avoiding the evil dog, and...a rubber ducky! Yup, in this game, rubber ducks are instant death!
- The balcony: chew up the plants, while avoiding killer bees.

Compared to the 1983 original, there are slight changes in gameplay which you shall eventually note, but since I'm nice, I'll describe those I found so far.
- Mice will not be gradually faster in the giant cheese room as you progress from level to level, they'll dance and disappear-reappear with the same speed as level 1
- The aquarium level gives you a little bit more supply of oxygene when submerging
- In the sleeping dogs' room, a box of milk will appear on later stages, trying to refill the bowls you could not empty completely
- The final level with the hearts don't have the cupids at the edge of the level, they will only show up when they shoot an arrow
- When you finish the 2nd level and other subsequent levels, you won't get little kittens (in the 1983 version, you got more and more kittens at the ending of each level).

Also, there are some good news for people who wanna share the experience of the game with others: Alley Cat Remeow includes multiplayer option as well, up to 4 players with different coloured cats. Of course, this also means the game becomes more challenging: you'll HAVE to race to the open window within 5 seconds an' get all the cats inside, plus the hostile entities within the rooms multiply (i.e. more killer bees, ducks, spiders will appear).
It was so heart-warming to see the very first PC game in my life being re-made, and besides, I love cats. After playing this game, I really feel an irresistable urge to go ahead and pet my sweet little white cat-princess, Sissy. You should give this a whirl, since this game is a pretty good effort, and a must-have for cat-lovers.

[TDRR]

Super Tux Kart is the best Mario Kart knockoff for PC, not really a hidden gem but it's hidden enough to just barely make it here.

Ravenfield is super cool, it's basically CoD but done right. There's also a multiplayer standalone version but currently only testers can get it. (Spoiler: it plays really good)

Commander Keen, while not very obscure, still deserves more attention than what it gets, and maybe the next eclipse i will finally get around to making a fairly comperhensive guide to make the games run on modern operating systems.

EDIT: How did i NOT mention this one before?! The Amazing Frog is an incredibly good indie open-world physics sandbox in the style of GTA including 4 player local multiplayer, and upcoming online multiplayer (whenever they finish the Unity 5 transition)

[JadedLexi]

Throwing CrossCode in here. It's a fantastic Zelda-like RPG.

[wildweasel]

Throwing CrossCode in here. It's a fantastic Zelda-like RPG.

Which I will second, because not only is it quite fun (once you've learned some combat skills that make fighting more fun), the writing is really high quality, and it even manages to justify its near-silent protagonist.