Octopus Overlords

GoG and Epic have summer sales. Sony's got Day's of Play. Microsoft has Deals Unlocked. I'm sure the Steam summer sale will start sometime this month. I thought it might be nice to have a thread where highlight games that might be overlooked. It's great if they're on sale, but don't let that limit you.

Games that my kids are loving right now:

Stardew Valley
Minecraft
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Luigi's Mansion 3
TomoDachi Life
Ultimate Chicken Horse
Totally Acurate Battle Simulator

Coop play with my son on Luigi's Mansion 3 is better than I thought.

Here are some games I've been playing:

Rebel Galaxy -- I enjoyed it more than Outlaw
Pinball FX3 -- Still playing years later. Some of the Williams tables are impressive even if I do turn off the special effects.
Nier Automata -- Not exactly hidden, but it may have fallen off your radar
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak -- I thought the campaign was great even if the multiplayer didn't do anything for me.
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising -- I always try to get people to play this classic. The Tom Baker narration gets me every time.

Mostly, I have been playing some not so hidden gems: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Control, Death Stranding, and Mafia 3 Definitive Edition.

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 4:13 pm
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

i introduced my son to this and it may have been a mistake. it's all he wants to play when he comes over.

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 4:13 pm
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising -- I always try to get people to play this classic. The Tom Baker narration gets me every time.

I've been singing its praises for years. One of my favorites.

To add to the list. I've spent far too long with the games below which have joined my evergreen list of things to play when I can't think of a game I want to play. While not free with the right sale you can get them cheaply
Sunless Skies
Don't Starve
This War of Mine

I tried out Nier: Automata on xBox Game Pass. Played through the intro to get to the ship.

I didn't like it much, the camera, controls, sound just didn't grab me at all. It had some moments, but ultimately I didn't feel like playing through a game with all those weird camera shifts to different types of battles - I really didn't like the pseudo side-scroller/top down segments at all. YMMV

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:07 pm - I really didn't like the pseudo side-scroller/top down segments at all. YMMV

FYI, Those are only a small part of the game. I didn't like the intro at all either but ended up loving the game.

EzeKieL wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:20 pm

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:07 pm - I really didn't like the pseudo side-scroller/top down segments at all. YMMV

FYI, Those are only a small part of the game. I didn't like the intro at all either but ended up loving the game.

Interesting, maybe I'll pick it back up again, but right now, I've been playing the heck out of Horizon Zero Dawn (after finishing the main campaign of Spider-Man) on the PS4 Pro I got myself for xMas. Also have God of War as the third pack-in it came with...

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 8:24 pm Horizon Zero Dawn

not going to happen, but this really needs a PC port....

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Mon Jun 08, 2020 9:10 pm not going to happen, but this really needs a PC port....

Confirmed a a few months ago, in the before times.

"Yes, I can confirm that Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC this summer….

On topic: Great idea for a thread

Nintendo has started their summer sale. It's nice to see Nintendo embracing indie devs this generation.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Golf Story seem like good deals I can endorse.

Not on sale, but Murder By Numbers is a cool puzzle/detective game I've been playing recently. I'm not normally one for puzzle games, but the story, setting and pacing have got me hooked. And to my surprise I find I'm actually good at solving the puzzles.

The game setting has you start out as an actress in a 90's TV Detective show. A murder at the studio has you doing some actual detective investigation, in which you are aided by a floating drone/robot called SCOUT that is missing its memories and has latched on to you because it thinks you're a real detective. The game is similar to "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" in that you have to investigate locations and question suspects. While questioning them you can present them with evidence that may open up new conversation choices or new leads. There is no spoken dialogue, it is all text. There is background music and some sound effects.

The game is somewhat linear in that it will let you know when you have found all possible pieces of evidence at a given location. SCOUT helps by scanning the location and when you find something it opens up the puzzle aspect of the game. The puzzles themselves are like a mix of minesweeper and sudoku. There is a grid and arranged around the grid are numbers that tell you the number of grid cells that must be adjacent in that given row or column. The grid represents a low-res picture of the evidence you find and is explained way by the drone not having full access to its image recognition system.

The story is interesting enough that I have solved 2 cases so far, and plan on getting through to the end. Apparently there is a bonus story that let's you explore the SCOUT's origin.

Playstation has their mid year sale. Not too many of these are hidden, but definitely gems:

Middle Earth: Shadow of War $10
Elite: Dangerous $12
Control $12 Also the season pass is on sale
The Outer Wilds $17

Also Bill Harris took a look back at Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. If he convinced you, it's only $.99 on sale.

Several people in the video games randomness thread have recommended Valley $3.

I miss when there were titles/deals to truly get excited about during the big sales. I know why it stopped, but it used to be a thrill to refresh the store each day. Of course, most of the games I've purchased during sales over the past decade I still haven't played.

Hrothgar wrote: ↑Wed Jul 01, 2020 11:46 pm Playstation has their mid year sale. Not too many of these are hidden, but definitely gems:

Middle Earth: Shadow of War $10
Elite: Dangerous $12
Control $12 Also the season pass is on sale
The Outer Wilds $17

Also Bill Harris took a look back at Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. If he convinced you, it's only $.99 on sale.

Several people in the video games randomness thread have recommended Valley $3.

Is Control still showing as $12 for you? I see it at $20

I'm seeing $20 now. I'm going to guess that was an error on my part and not a glitch in the system.

I think this qualifies as an overlooked gem for anyone that may have previously enjoyed hacking games like Uplink and Hacknet in the past:


If the idea of Alternate Reality Games appeal to you (think the Dispatches from Elsewhere TV series or the Michael Douglas & Sean Penn movie, The Game), their other games are also worthy of consideration:

Never had Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising but have played what it was based on..Carrier Command Gaea. Well I think it was based on Carrier Command but I only have the newer Gaea.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:13 pm I think this qualifies as an overlooked gem for anyone that may have previously enjoyed hacking games like Uplink and Hacknet in the past:

Just picked that up myself and did some of the training. Looks really promising; an updated version of Uplink is most welcome!

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:20 pm Never had Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising but have played what it was based on..Carrier Command Gaea. Well I think it was based on Carrier Command but I only have the newer Gaea.

I've played Gaea and Anteaus, but not the original.

I find Gaea's island upgrading procedure unexplained and the campaign ending relatively stupid.

I do believe I wrote an FAQ for both of them.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:13 pm

Hadn't heard of this. Thanks!

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 12:50 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:20 pm Never had Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising but have played what it was based on..Carrier Command Gaea. Well I think it was based on Carrier Command but I only have the newer Gaea.

I've played Gaea and Anteaus, but not the original.

I find Gaea's island upgrading procedure unexplained and the campaign ending relatively stupid.

I do believe I wrote an FAQ for both of them.

I played the original Carrier Command so long ago it was on a monochrome monitor. I believe it was a Hercules graphics card connected to an amber monitor. I looked up Carrier Command on Mobygames and was surprised it had colors. It's all sepia to me.

Last chance for the Steam sale. Thought I'd throw a few more oldies out there.

Defense Grid and Defense Grid 2 -- Exactly what I want from a tower defense game (they don't seem to be on sale at the moment)
War for the Overworld -- It's not a new Dungeon Keeper, but it's as close as any of the inspired by games
Mad Max -- Way better than it has any right to be
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition -- Still more fun to me than Age of Empires

Some Pinball FX packs I endorse:

Star Wars Pinball
Star Wars Pinball: Heroes Within
Marvel Pinball: Marvel Legends Pack

I ended up with Dicey Dungeons (not nearly as fun as I had hoped), Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Final Cut (a descent enough Diablo clone), Galaxy of Pen & Paper (haven't played yet, but I quite enjoyed both Knights of Pen & Paper games), and Dragon Age Origins. Played it through twice already, but it's been years. Kinda in the mood for something Tolkein-ish like that.

Also picked up Zone of the Enders Remaster on the current PSN sale.

EDIT: Well, scratch Dragon Age Origins off the list. Couldn't get the resolution to go past 1280x720, and got a message saying that all the DLC had to be "verified" by a website outside of steam before it could be used...and the site is inactive. Requested a refund.

Ok, my recent hiddem gem is an rpg called Exiled Kingdoms. Some of you might have already bought it in the form of a mobile game, but it's recently come to PC, and at $9, how could you go wrong?

This is a great game, and particularly impressive given the one-man effort. Admittedly, it's rather crude and dated looking especially as a release on the PC where some things appear low-res, but I'm rather impressed at the world that's been created. It's an action-rpg with an open-world, that reminds me a lot of Dink Smallwood, if anyone remembers that one, and the world is a large one. It's also got a well-developed Wiki with full map and quest list.

https://www.exiledkingdoms.com/wiki/ind ... =Main_Page

https://www.gog.com/game/exiled_kingdoms