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Steam hidden gems discovery thread

Let's talk about and recommend games with under or around one to two thousand reviews on steam. There are so many games on stream it boggles the mind, and lots of the lesser known ones are really good.

A good way to find them is to hover over "your store" in steam, click the interactive recommender, then drag "weight by popularity" all the way to niche. Any age is fair game.

For me, three that come to mind are:

Dread delusion: A beautiful and surreal ps1 gfx style kings field type game. Currently in EA. 95% positive in the last 30 days, 93% positive all time.
wGrCPvC.jpg
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Prodigal: A fun GB Zelda style game with waifus. There are only 3 Zelda style "items" but the devs managed to make a whole lot of cool puzzles with them. 96% positive.
ZtMgQM4.jpg
FmXnxHE.jpg


Lunistice: A really cool 3d platformer, reminiscent of sonic adventure. 100% positive last 30 days, 98% positive all time.
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SF Kosmo

The Trigglypuff
Cool thread idea, I'll go.

Moose Life: Trippy abstract shooter that will put you completely in the zone. One of the more underrated games of Jeff Minter and Llamasoft.
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Horizon Vanguard: Retro-90s arcade shooter, but in VR. Mixes light gun shooter, shmup, and rail shooter. Hard as balls, branching paths, great music.
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Andro Dunos 2: Surprisingly excellent sequel to the ancient Neo Geo side-scroller.
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KAMUI: A riff on the classic Layer Section/RayForce formula, this classic early 2000s fan-game is one of the best of all time. Re-released on Steam a few years ago, making it easily available to those outside of Japan for the first time.
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The Interactive Adventures of Dog Mendonça & Pizzaboy: Classic point and click based on a Portugese comic book, with gorgeous 2D art.
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haha I may edit the critieria and bump it up a little bit more. Gnosia looks really cool!
might be pushing the criteria a bit since it has ~1,600 reviews but Gnosia is really good, only released on Switch & PC IIRC

Lunacid looks amazing. Im a huge nerd for KF. I havent played Lunacid yet because I want it to wait for it to get closer to release, but I own it and really REALLY want to play it.
 

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
might be pushing the criteria a bit since it has ~1,600 reviews but Gnosia is really good, only released on Switch & PC IIRC


I liked that game, but little by little I saw that something was wrong... I saw that the video game was very woke... And even a protagonist deceived me because of her appearance. 😶😨🥶

I Leave it in the fourth part of the videogame.
 
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BlakeofT

Member
I added all 3 games in the OP to my wishlist. All very cool! Here're my picks.

Stephen's Sausage Roll: Pretty tough, but very doable puzzle game. One of my all time favorites.

Patrick's Paradox: Another puzzle game. I haven't beaten it yet, but so far not as hard as Stephen, but still very good. Barely fits the requirement of < 2K reviews currently.

Marble It Up!: A marble rolling game. Pretty fun, with tons of user made levels that are worth playing.
 

reksveks

Member

The gameplay isnt anything special (some nice old school mini-games) but the style and story is pretty great.

04Sb7Hg.png
 

old-parts

Member
Pig Eat Ball, kinda hard to describe but something like pac man.

Kero Blaster - 2D pixel art platform game and but with a cool story, you have to play through the game more than once.

Hands of Necromancy - fantasy Heretic/Doom game, yes stuff like this sort of gets made for free but its well made and for anyone who misses old school FPS games worth a go.

Enclosure 3D - a tribute Sierra text parser games, well this is those but made with 3D while keeping the 80's visuals intact

Gunlocked - one of the many vampire survivors clones but still interesting enough with its own take

Annie Last Hope - Resident Evil clone but as third person shooter with voxels.
 

GametimeUK

Member




(Edit) damn I didn't know A Short Hike had so many user reviews. I remember it having next to nothing last time I checked. I'll keep it on the list just because I really recommend it, but 2 of the other games are just over the 2000 mark and 1 is way under. Apologies I should have checked first before going from memory.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Metroidvania with a cat. Short,s weet and somewhat challenging.
A very good JRPG, being less focused on story and much more on free roam exploration. It also has a job system and a very good battle system.
Very cool roguelite game about shooting robots while improving your loadout. Watch Sseths review.
NOT a twin stick shooter, although the devs patched in some alternate controls to make it work like one if you like. It's more of a tank game, with very cool atmosphere, visual design and music.
Haven't really played this one, but it looks cool.
 
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I play this game a lot. I'd only recommend if though if you like idle clickers. It's free and I'm a big fan of the haunted house theme. It does take a while to get set-up but it's really fun/easy to play.

There's a lot of good clicker games for free on Steam, the more popular one is NGU Idle.

 
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more hidden than Clickr is barely possible. Have not read anyone mention it ever anywhere and since it isn't listed on steam itself anymore I don't know if those shops google finds are even legit offerings or this is some kind of abandonware or whatever.
I bought it on steam and I loved it. Not the audiovisual experience Tetris Effect is but imho more fun than Lumines.
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member

Sitting at only 255 reviews on Steam, Fortix 2 is a fun take on Qix that is criminally underrated. You move around a 2D plane, capturing sections of the field by completing a closed line. This can be small, large, and whatever right-angled shape. The challenge is that you are vulnerable when leaving the outline of the playing field. Enemies dash around and shoot projectiles. You can kill them by capturing them with your line. Additional challenges gets added, like sections be guarded by locked entry. It takes a creative spin on the formula. Base price is $2 and it's well worth it. The game also includes all the levels from Fortix 1. It took me about 30 hours to 100%.
OWCEs38.mp4


 
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BlackTron

Member
Threads like this are why I am so grateful for a good gaming forum. Thank you everyone.

Edit: OK I'm actually having a pretty great morning. Just played the demo for Lunistice, it's awesome gotta buy. If you're not sure about the PS1 graphics, at least try the demo if you like platforming with good controls. Tried it with Jill Valentine on my mind from another thread, while smiling over JK Rowling making her attackers want to apologize on Twitter. And it's not even 9AM yet, keep delivering GAF.
 
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Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
Let's talk about and recommend games with under or around one to two thousand reviews on steam. There are so many games on stream it boggles the mind, and lots of the lesser known ones are really good.

A good way to find them is to hover over "your store" in steam, click the interactive recommender, then drag "weight by popularity" all the way to niche. Any age is fair game.

For me, three that come to mind are:

Dread delusion: A beautiful and surreal ps1 gfx style kings field type game. Currently in EA. 95% positive in the last 30 days, 93% positive all time.
wGrCPvC.jpg
4ub2gZX.jpg


Prodigal: A fun GB Zelda style game with waifus. There are only 3 Zelda style "items" but the devs managed to make a whole lot of cool puzzles with them. 96% positive.
ZtMgQM4.jpg
FmXnxHE.jpg


Lunistice: A really cool 3d platformer, reminiscent of sonic adventure. 100% positive last 30 days, 98% positive all time.
9Z1jndZ.jpg
W2Jy9kN.jpg
Dread Delusion looks dope. I wish listed it and I will wait for a sale or for the full release.

Wishlisted!
 

Sitting at only 255 reviews on Steam, Fortix 2 is a fun take on Qix that is criminally underrated. You move around a 2D plane, capturing sections of the field by completing a closed line. This can be small, large, and whatever right-angled shape. The challenge is that you are vulnerable when leaving the outline of the playing field. Enemies dash around and shoot projectiles. You can kill them by capturing them with your line. Additional challenges gets added, like sections be guarded by locked entry. It takes a creative spin on the formula. Base price is $2 and it's well worth it. The game also includes all the levels from Fortix 1. It took me about 30 hours to 100%.
OWCEs38.mp4



That looks super fun. How is it on the deck?
 

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
That looks super fun. How is it on the deck?
Native to Linux but comments on ProtonDB says it doesn't support controller input. They recommend using the windows version w/ Proton to get the gamepad to function. I imagine you could remap the controls in the settings, though. I 100%'d a few years ago so not entirely sure myself.
 

Ishma3L

Member
Seconded for Dread Delusion


Ex-Zodiac - Spiritual Star Fox


Nebulous: Fleet Command - For the 3D space strategy game aficionados among you


HROT - It's a me, SLAV Dusk


Seconded for Samurai Gunn 2


Kosmokrats -It's space Tetris with space ships. Peel potatoes, fly drones, and drink vodka


Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum - Top down immersion sim that needs to be experienced not explained


Neon Struct - It's a neo noir immersive sim in the vein of Deus Ex. Not as robust, but the essentials are there.


ElecHead - Puzzle platformer with a great aesthetic.


Overload - It's Descent in all but name - even created by members of the original Interplay team

 
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Ive wanted to give nebulous a try for a while now, it seems like it is extremely satisfying to learn. The trailer was super cool, and I guess they are putting out a new update soon? Awesome.

Edit: looks like the game is leaning into the Expanse even more heavily than before. Im into it.
 
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Holammer

Member
Super Alloy Ranger - Great Megaman clone.


Souldiers - Metroidvania which suffered from a troubled launch because of insane difficulty. The Steam user score hit rock bottom, but I vouch for it.

 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Souldiers - Metroidvania which suffered from a troubled launch because of insane difficulty. The Steam user score hit rock bottom, but I vouch for it.
Did they fix the problems people were reporting? At a glance it seems like most recent reviews are more positive than previous ones.
 
This one has ~4500 reviews but it's my favorite puzzle platformer and I never hear anyone mention it

A fast paced 2d action platformer with a great grappling hook mechanic


This whole series is great




A fun little adventure game series from telltale back before everything they did was in the Walking Dead style

One of the best soundtracks ever

A cool take on survival horror made in the RPG maker engine
 
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Holammer

Member
Did they fix the problems people were reporting? At a glance it seems like most recent reviews are more positive than previous ones.
The difficultly was pure bullshit, but the patch must've worked. At launch the Steam User Review average dropped below 50% (currently 63%).
It is an 88-92% game IMO and I will never miss a chance to pimp it. Finest pixel art graphics since the 16-32bit era.

(screenshot with ReShade)
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