Wake up from cryosleep wearing nothing but a hospital gown, with some hideous monster about to barge through the door. Escape to find a distinct lack of civilization. Learn to appreciate simple things like plastic bags and lighters. Survive, somehow.
NEO Scavenger is now on Humble Weekly sale so go grab it! One dollar is enough! I really recommend it!
From steampunk games, I love games from Final Fantasy series, the absolute favorite is FF6 (you can play it using good SNES emulator). And recently I play Arcanum, also classic one, basically it is something like first Fallout in world where steampunk and magic live along each other.
If you like the style of JRPGs then maybe you should try "Skyborn" It's a Steampunk-JRPG with pretty RPG-Maker Pixel Art and a really nice story. It's on steam for about 14 Euros (16-18 Dollar I guess?)
Skyborn (oh god i nearly typed "skyporn" there) looks neat. I don't really have much of an experience with JRPGS, but I may give it a try.
I've been playing a lot of Don't Starve recently. I like its design a lot, though it still falls short of some kind of ideal survival/building game for me.
a game about ships, Space ships :D its freaking great, originally a one man team ( sound familiar?) it's been in development for quite some time and it's combat is so slick and polished you can practically see your own reflection. Eventually the one man dev picked up an artist and a sound guy, but he still does all the code himself. If you have even a passing interest in space or lasers, or giant cannons, or dog-fighting take a look. ( by dog-fighting i mean between fighters not dogs)
Magicka
For those less sci fi inclined and looking for a more fantasy game i heavily reccomend Magicka and soon Magicka 2, its a game about being a wizard with three other people ( usually friends) except often what happens is your friend will end up standing in front of your spell, oops you crushed him with a giant boulder..... oops.. oh well. I seriously love this game but always have a lack of partners, if you already play it or end up getting it consider looking to see if i'm on, I'll always play magicka, find me on steam as "Dead_videos" ( although a note i'm currently away from my main PC, and this laptop can't run anything overly complicated i'll be back at my main PC march 26th-ish)
4X Stratagy game with magic, knighty Vampaire "Ghostarmor", Creatures bewteen an Insect Hive and an Undead Hord, Diplomatic Dragens and most inportendly SPACE VIKINGS!!!
More titles are required!!! (Hopefully to get this topic going again)
Warning: long descriptions for games with a large learning curve (informal usage of the phrase ''learning curve')
From The Depths (http://fromthedepthsgame.com)
So in a nutshell:
You Play as an (insane robot) lord tasked with taking over a huge world with an army of custom war machines that you hand craft, from hull designs to cannon or custom vehicle AI components you build anything from spacecraft to submarines in a 3D environment, forge alliances or war with 8(or 9?) unique factions that can do everything the player can (aside from custom building units, they have prefabs). This game is very complex, I spent almost about one and a half hours experimenting with laser components for deflecting missiles Deep Water Guard (game faction that likes missiles and boats) navy vessels use, and I enjoyed it!
I don't have much negative to say about it other than there is a massive learning curve, and some enemy vehicles (like the Onyx Watch fortress ships) are almost impossible to fight against if you have little experience and are still very tough fights even with full knowledge of explodey things.
Executive Command
Do stuff! (I will edit a proper description here later, after I get sleep) think of this as Supreme commander plus grid based base building, 200 option tech tree, with assassination the only game mode. But it gets better once you learn that in order to win you need to go INSIDE the fully fleshed interior of the enemy base, fight interior defences in first person mode or with your army in command mode or both (yes, first person mode, control any unit in your army) and take an elevator to kill the enemy CEO (the enemy player character, controlling his army via computer-brain-link-techno-stuff)!
Did I mention every single unit from aircraft to infantry is fully customizable from the tech tree? From weapons to armour to secondary attacks or other things like hacking tools depending on the unit?
Factories can also be told to save multiple loadouts!
If your a fan of 2d games I would strongly recommend looking at Reassembly, SPAZ, Airships Conquer the Skies (oh wait) and maybe take a look at SPAZ2. They are all really different but a good way to sum them up is "you are not the hero/antihero or villain, your just some guy, the AI can do everything you can do so git gud at living",
in Reassembly, though you are some random core in one of five unique factions fighting over plants (that grow resources to make more core ships), reminds me of Shellcore Command.
Spaz is a very well done game with a very unique (and good) storyline, as well as letting you do whatever you want, the 'z' in SPAZ is for Zombie!
Space Pirates and Zombies Two is kinda hard to describe in under a paragraph, just google it you won't be disappointed!
Also has anyone kept track of NEO scavenger lately? I remember a demo a long time ago but not much else..
Also FYI the game is in an early access stage, but it is functional and I have not encountered any glitches so far on my computer from about eight hours of playing it.
An early access space sim where you fly around a single system, consisting of 4 Planets, 50 Dwarf Planets, and 45,000 asteroids. 4 planets may not sound like much, but they're HUGE. The combat is fast-paced and arcady, and the soundtrack is one of the best I've ever heard.
The asteroids are all big enough to walk on, but when you fly away, it looks like the asteroid is turning into a pebble on-screen. The game actually gives you a real sense of scale.
The game is lacking content, but the exploration and combat alone is more fun than many completed gamesinstantly justifiable.
Battle of Empires: 1914-1918 just came out, and if you've played Men of War, it's extremely similar to that (same company made it), although it goes back to a World War I setting as opposed to the franchise's normal World War II or Vietnam based games. It's extremely cheap if you only want the multiplayer version, but the Singleplayer Campaigns are very much worth it!
So, for anybody who has ever wanted to mashup Gunpoint's stealth with Hotline Miami's 2d perspective and put that in a space environment where you are able to board randomly generated spaceships that can be split in half with explosives, this (really, really unfinished) game looks promising!
I used Gunpoint as an example because the guy making HeatSig is the same developer.
I can't believe this one flew under my radar for nearly three years.
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages is an awesome 2D space game with a massive emphasis on ship customization that contains a great 30+ hour story campaign.
(This video will do it more justice than my text ever will.)
It also has a bunch of multiplayer modes as well but a small fan base, which is the only negative thing I can think of about this game.
The small amount of players have been around for a while so it can be difficult to find a versus multiplayer match that is not full of very skilled players, but the developers seemed to have accounted for this problem by having some strong prebuilt ships so newer players aren't outmatched.
You can also get around the above issue by starting a private match for just you and friends.
I strongly recommend you guys at-least look at this title, it is usually on sale around 1.70(?) US dollars and is absolutely awe-inspiring, but it could use many more players.
Exanima
The most realistic medieval combat simulator. Basically what Arma did for shooters, this did for RPGS, while keeping it's own atmosphere and play style. It's incredibly difficult though, so keep that in mind.
Tales of Maj'eyal
This game is also free but of course you lose some features when you get the free version. This is a classic top down turn based RPG dungeon crawler. Sort of like Nethack or Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, although in my opinion far superior to all of them. It's challenging, but fair, and can be played at any difficulty, ranging from Easy Explorer (Infinite lives and super easy, but no achievements) to Madness Roguelike (Why would you do this to yourself?) with dozens of classes and races, and randomly generated dungeons, loot and enemies.
Aviary Attourney
This game is just.. Amazing. It's a sort of pseudo Phoenix wright game, where you collect evidence then complete a court case. Except with anamorphic birds and what not. Each of your actions has consequences, and you can lose cases, quite easily in fact. The characters are extremely enjoyable and there is a good sense of humour throughout the game, although it is not afraid to touch darker subjects and the grayer parts of philosophy. The art style is beautiful, with the game being set in Victorian London and having a pencil-drawn art style sort of like Don't Starve. The gameplay is solid, and the amount of animal puns throughout the thing are, frankly, worth the 15$ (USD, I think. I'm Canadian so I don't know how much it actually is for you all) price of admission on it's own. It's one of the very, very few games I would rate 10/10. I didn't even rate Skyrim t hat highly and I have easily over 2 thousand hours in that on PS3. Highly recommended.
They're both really good. Again though, cannot stress how hard Examina is. It'll take a bit to figure it out, but once you do it's super rewarding, sort of like DS
Aside from pretty much all of these games which are pretty cool(from experience) or look pretty cool, I have to recommend S.T.A.L.K.E.R which is just awesome (especially modded) and Sunless Sea which is just so atmospheric.
Oh and Hammerfight. This last one is a personnal favorite since the game actually isn't all that great, but I just love the gameplay...
Factorio is a industrial based game where you start off on crashed, on a planet. You then have to automate and build factories, while defending from alien attacks. These attacks are caused by the amount of pollution you produce. The more pollution, more attacks. The goal of this game to eventually leave the planet, but first you have to automate. Automate means that you have to set up conveyor chains to take the resource from its production, to the refinery, to make certain materials, to make more materials, and so on. This game is incredibly fun, and you should definitely play it! (also surprised someone said DF. I thought everyone knew about it...)
It honestly sounds like the kind of game I might get stuck into forever. Do you want the next update of Airships or not? :P
I would love a version of Dwarf Fortress that was anywhere near as deep as the original but less incredibly unbalanced / uninformative. I have now reached the level of proficiency at DF where I play with no tileset as a matter of course, but I still run into problems where things magically don't work because I forgot some important part of the soap/lye/ash/fruitbat cycle. OTOH, I've also found that once you know how to play it, it's actually quite easy.
It's really surprising how much of the games I link I can find back on this list.
My preferences would go to Dwarf Fortress (which I consider without a doubt the best indie game ever, sorry Zarkonnen), Cortex Command (which I still play time to time while waiting for the next update), Exanima (it was hard to play, but when I started to get good it became an awesome game), TOME (it was nice, but I kinda dropped out of it after a while) and Ring Runner (I kinda bought it at random and I was pleasantly surprised with what I got). Man, I really play a lot of indie games.
A game I HIGHLY recommand is Sunless Sea. The atmosphere is top notch, the music is haunting and it's just hard enough to feel challenging without being punitive.
Another one is Crypt of the Necrodancer which combine one of the gamestyle I like the most (roguelike)with one I usually don't enjoy (rhythm game) in a very good way. The mechanics are easy to understand, there is some good challenge, and the music... suffice to say it's been composed by Danny Baranowski (the guy who made the musics for Super Meat Boy).
There is also Armello, a board-turned-digital game that is very nice but still in development. That said, you can get the Beta (if I remember correctly) at their site. The general setting is really interesting, the gameplay is refined and very fun to play with 4 players, and the graphics are just gorgeous.
Finally there is Nuclear Throne, by the creator of Luftrauser and Ridiculous Fishing, Vlambeer. God this game is addictive, I keep getting back to it! The music and the graphics honestly are not that impressive, but the gameplay is just so fun!
PS: Darkest Dungeon. Enough said.
PPS: S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat is one of my favorites games of all times. Why? Let's see: Immersive setting and feel, nervous fights (where one bullet can kill you if you are unlucky and three bullet can kill you if you are lucky), a very inclusive upgrade system, an original setting (for once we don't get "Not-Irak") and some very frightening moments. And that's without going into MISERY, a very complete mod that was created for this game.
To be honest, since I'm really into mods, I more or less only play Cortex because the community has come up with some awesome mods that really bump up the content and add a lot of replayability.
For people who REALLY like to design things and conquering the game world with them (i.e anybody who enjoys the campaign in Airships), I would reccomend investigating this one:
From the developer's webpage (because I can't describe it as good):
"Navalia is real-time strategy game where you get to design, build and command entire fleets of space ships. You travel through the galaxy and try to stop the enemy invasion. To achieve this you travel the galaxy and help star systems that are being attacked by enemy forces. Through your journey you earn resources and experience that help you expand your fleet and research new parts.
All the game content is procedurally generated, every new game is different: ship parts, enemy ships, galaxies, star systems etc. You get almost limitless variability.
Enemies evolve throughout the course of each game. The enemy adapts to your play style through genetic algorithms and creates new kinds of enemy units.
Navalia is being developed by just one man (me). I have been working on this game for almost three years."
Yeah, that developer is making a sequel that fully releases in 7 weeks and it looks great.
Also, I know you can't see it in this trailer but the enemy AI is actually really good at being intelligent. AI ships will actually wait until your in a vulnerable position and attack as well as never trying any suicide runs unless necessary. They even use and position decoy ships pretty effectively.
Luftrausers: After hearing about it from firebird, I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I absolutely loved it.
Steambirds: You know that one flash game that some how surpasses the quality of paid games, ooze's style, and is good all around? It's essentially a steam punk reimagining of WWI and II's events with a game that plays, essentially like X-wing (The tabletop game).
Here's another gem for those who like space survival horror done right. It even has a pretty compelling story and some randomly generated elements.
There is even an awesome 'Contamination' system where the infected will actually spread across the map and reproduce instead of just randomly spawning around. Enemies that are contaminated enough will also upgrade themselves too, I was messed around with this by locking a zombie in a lab once but it eventually mutated into something much stronger than me and learned how to open doors.
I really can't say how many times I've opened a door and got spooked by an enemy on the other side, only to fire my gun until it overheats and I drop it on the floor.
Seems interesting enough. Who knows... I might just give it a try! Alright then, so moving back on the territory of relatively unknown games.
Sonny: an absolutely amazing flash game that's very well done. For an rpg, it's definitely one of my favorites even if the story can be a bit cheesy at times.
Dogfight: If I was to be Frank, probably my favorite flash game ever. It's an amazing WWI arcade shooter that plays somewhat similarly to luftrausers. It's has a nice mission/objective variety, a nice enemy variety, an interesting "ace pilot maneuvers" system and has some definite charm to its graphics and sound effects. Sadly, Rock Solid arcade closed in 2012 so the possibility of a dogfight 3 (yes, there is a 2) is extremely unlikely. Sigh... I guess all good things must come to an end...
If you do ever try out Subterrain a pro tip the game never tells you is to barricade your sleeping quarters with a desk or something before you use the bed. The enemies aren't above killing you in your sleep.
As for a sense of what your going to get for that game, so far I've spent about 40 hours into it and haven't gotten close to the 50% done mark, for a sense of scale. Haven't gotten bored yet which is awesome.
Is it illegal to make two posts about one game? Doesn't matter, Subterrain deserves it.
It's a really nice RTS/almost physics based AoE type game where you control little yellow humanoids called brickmen. You order them around to dig/chop wood/man catapults as well as build custom fortresses and installations to defend against an onslaught of enemy corruptrons (as well as lead invasions against them).
The game initially had some bad reviews for lack of content, but the developers were determined enough to more than double that since then as well as improve on almost every aspect of the game. They are still going strong and it is really worth looking at.
This video shows how the gameplay is, as well as the developers dedication to completing it to the best of their ability:
I'd advocate anything on (facebook.com) or (twitter.com) /incisiongames - a lot of the less known indies on this list are promoted there already. Not so much "shameless promotion" as my current list without the flood-post - wont even hotlink, users incentive.
There's other games I like based on design of the engine; but just that. I also promote a smaller array with handpicked rules, the audience is "Battlezone Driven", rare. Always on the lookout for gems.
There's a handful of games on my "to-do" list promoted here, but I can only do so much while toing. I try to verify something is tight before promoting it. Things like "Lets Starve Together" & "Halcyon 6 Starbase Commander" go overlooked due to their arguably AAA reach, not to say they aren't good games.
It's an action platformer with simple, but addictive roguelike gameplay. The top tier music will cuddle you as you become a explosives-packed machine of war. Or promptly die trying.
When folks talk about games that can put you in a Zen-like state, I think of Risk of Rain.
I second that, Risk of Rain also has a great soundtrack.
By the way, when did the word Addictive become a positive descriptor for a game/anything? Maybe it's just my psychology classes/background but I really dislike seeing that as a positive word.
Seeing as how your basically saying "It will give you a medical condition characterized by compulsive engagement in certain stimuli as well as the inability to break from this behavior despite harmful consequences."
Who the [Redacted / intensifier] thinks that is a positive thing?
No offense by the way ,71, this wasn't against you personally or anything but wow the usage of a usually very serious condition like that really bothers me.
Yeah, I have a problem with "addictive" as a positive descriptor too. Especially given that in my experience, games can in fact be addictive while not being actually fun to play. I especially had that experience with Diablo II, which I played for ages while deriving no real enjoyment from it. But the loot drops and quests are so carefully paced that you never really find a place to put down the game. And the loot in fact is basically a slot machine. :(
So I think we can distinguish between a game that is addictive - you keep playing it compulsively despite a lack of enjoyment, and one that gives you a "flow" experience, which is what 71 refers to with Risk of Rain.
Well Risk of Rain is pretty much the same thing over and over and over again (shooting the bad guys, grabbing power-ups) for countless hours on end.
It nonetheless manages to make that tedious and repetitive task feel worthwhile, occasionally to the detriment of other things in your life.
That more-or-less does qualify as "addictive", or something close to it. There is a reason I don't have Steam installed anymore. Many people can roll with that factor, but not everyone.
Sure, addictive is a thing. Both arguably worthless in single player environments, though. I've never played ROR solo or soloed Act I unless already high level.
If you dig those; check out Magicite & Roguelands. I don't see them promoted and they are both pixel. They are similar to Risk Of Rain, not so much A:CTS.
That explains so much. Had odd issues with links; it's because I don't always grab or type the 'http://'. To think; I can link anything now. #woah #respawn
Update on Particle Fleet: Emergence. It's out now, and I strongly recommend it if you were into the first Creeper World games or just really like unique strategy games.
I forgot to mention Infested Planet, holy crap how did this slip my mind?!
Especially now that there is a new expansion coming to the game that adds a whole strategic campaign as well as new units, enemies and better adaptive AI.
Did I mention the AI in this game is able to intelligently select upgrades (called Mutations) to counter you in combat? It is very intelligent.
This is a game that everybody should at-least look at if they like any type of unique/interesting strategy games. (which is all of you, unless you hate Airships but then why are you here?)
Better to watch this than have me explain it. Don't worry if you don't like square/minimalist graphics, they are placeholders since this game is in pre-not-even-in-alpha.
Inside is one of the most beautiful platformers I have ever had the luck to play. With the most WTF story ever conceived in video games and one of the darkest atmospheres ever imagined. Some set piece moments are just genius. And you thought they couldn't top Limbo... They most cleverly devised game I have ever played by far!
OpenTTD started as an open source (GPL License) clone of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and has since been expanded with many new features.
The game has you building a complex transport network using trains, trucks and buses, ships, and airplanes.
Another great thing about the game is that it has a vast library of user-created additions, so-called NewGRFs (for Graphics Resource File).
My favourite is the SBB Set, which contains a ton of Swiss trains from 1902 all the way to the current day.
I also made a playable Switzerland map, to give those trains a suitable home!
Personally I've put hundreds of hours into this game and am still learning new things, and only 1/3 of the map is unlocked as of right now.
The map is 355 square miles, for reference the map in Skyrim is about 14.3 square miles; And it's not one of those big copy/paste worlds with nothing interesting in them either, I've continually found at least 1-2 interesting locations in my immediate area for every minute or two of travel, and the world is populated with lots of interesting factions from racist imperials to cannibals and tech hunters who all react differently to you/each other.
What if Sunless Sea was a 3d/2d hybrid underwater exploraiton game? Now we know:
Sales pitch aside, this came out pretty recently and I can say it's been great playing it (and hunting for every nugget of lore I can find).
They add to the exploration too by removing you and custom way-points from the world map, if you want to go somewhere you better know how to properly navigate!
..Or just ask a merchant for directions, or just follow the rare glowing golden fish that occasionally show up when you are hopelessly lost.
This game can get pretty tense as well, like trying to hide from multiple enemy submarines in a large minefield while simultaneously fighting a strong current kind of tense.
It has great suspenseful moments too; Like when your 1000m down in a dark trench damaged and hiding from pirates, when suddenly you hear a sonar ping go off in the distance. You think your out of range but then then you see the sound wave wash over your sub, you've been spotted on the pirate's radar and suddenly your torpedo proximity alarm goes off!
Secrets of grindea.
(still in EA)
Its a RPG that is a old school based mish mash of retro RPGs,
I can tal about it but there is a free demo on the website
www.secretsofgrindea.com
Its funny, relaxing, can be challanging or easy if you like.
It has character build... 4player multiplayer and a arcade like challange mode. The rest i dont realy know.. because i dont want spoilers before it comes out. but controlls are good.. just play the demo :P
The game is fun but it didn't shatter any dimensions. It's more expansive than it's predecessors; games with Single Screen navigation between two players in a TI-82 experience; Grindea has the scroll and the homages to carry it through. I found the minigames to be in the way, then again I'm tired of SoulReaver'esq problem solving - and that has a deeper meaning. There's no reason to drag 4 players through some loading processes the game might want you to perform to get various unlocks; you will be traveling from *area to *area together solving some of these problems. My experience was multiplayer about 2 years ago, perhaps the conditions have changed.
If you liked "Link To The Past", then look no further for the CO-OP; with experience points.
That's about as truthful and unique a review anyone can offer. Arguably worth $15 if you have friends that also have the title.
I might have to play it through again. While mostly cosmetic, navigation, multiplayer, and other minor fixes took place; large game elements like entire tiers of "powers" have been enabled and balanced, and they completed the map. But I don't imagine huge deviations from core gameplay.
Every early Pixel Game Developer knows about it; although it's not frequently mentioned. You'll find it in a search for GDK's, Game Development Kits. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the Multiplayer Games produced in the Byond framework; and if your interested in game development it's a great place to learn - other than the obvious Unity & Unreal sets of development tools.
Even if you're not a developer it's cool to dink around with even for just a few minutes. I've had it on my system for years, not sure why I didn't throw it down earlier.
AI War: Fleet Command is a very unique strategy title, the AI uses some very intelligent emergent behavior that lets it behave in an unpredictable manner.
It's even capable of realizing that the best choice it can make is not actually the best choice due to being predictable, as well as recognizing player designed choke points and coming up with tactics for evading or outright destroying them.
For example one time a friend and I were fighting a stronger AI personality that liked stealth tactics. During the campaign it eventually figured out my friend was supplying the economy while I was devoted to researching powerful military units, so the AI started ignoring me and started sending stealthy raid ships towards my friends economic star bases. We had no stealth detection so they crippled everything resource wise, the AI's kill/death ratio on that round was something like 9/1 once it finished off our economy.
This is probably one of the very rare strategy games that is actually more about strategies and outsmarting your opponent rather than about clicking speed and memorization as the AI is pretty adaptive and campaigns can last form 6 to 60 hours depending on how sadistic the AI is, how large you set the maps, and how skilled you are.
It's a player vs. AI only game as the AI plays the game asymmetrically to the player. It owns the entire galaxy and outnumbers you 100,000 to 1, your only advantage is that it doesn't see you as threatening.. yet.
Overall I'd strongly recommend AI war, especially with a friend. Try the free demo it has and see for yourself.
I play a lot of games; probably too many. When I first sampled Blackwake, the original Blackwake, it didn't take long to put down. While an interesting game it lacked everything it needed to be what Blackwake is today, how everyone is going to identify Blackwake; the fact it's a revived game will vanish from all written text... already has - this is now Blackwake.
Efforts were made. While captaining my own corsair I had a great many experiences. I also found it shared a lot in common with Battlezone and it shared a great deal with this title... if everyone were forced to control the pixel dudes in this game; that would be Blackwake.
Almost want to design a pixel Blackwake and call it Interstellaria.
My first experience wasn't enough to promote; but this time I felt really satisfied. Really satisfied; wasn't always captain; re-learned everything and accumulated a solid crew. This is a First Person Shooter with Strategy Elements; following the captains orders is key, but the captain just has the best view of the ship and the "unlockable" actions.
It heavily reminded me of Pulsar Lost Colony; except someone you called your crewmmate could be randomly demolished, ragdolled a bloody mess across the entire deck, out the hole, only to get washed away by the rain of the lightning storm you're trying to navigate while dodging little islands and firing upon the enemy.
It isn't a game but A Aeronaut's Windlass is a book incredibly similar to Airships. It's based in a world where the ground is inhabited by incredibly hostile creatures so humans built giant spires into the sky to avoid the ground hazards. They have their own version of suspedium that are used for ships, cannons, and firearms. It's a good read, especially if you would like a story set in a world very similar to Airships.
I cannot recommend Endless War 6 enough! Made by a lone Russian sitting at his computer, it allows you to command super cool tanks from the great Soviet Union! With the T-35, T-28, BT-5, T-26 AA variant, T-26 with phoomf phoomf (flamethrower) T-34/76, T-34/85, IS-2, ISU-152, KV-2 stronk gun, KV-8 with phoomf phoomf, Kayusha BM-13, and probably some other epic stronk tanks! It's a web game, runs fine on potato, and with no bugs I have found yet! Make babushka and papa happy by playing this game.
Ever played Escape Velocity? Endless Sky is quite similar. The developer said he wanted another Escape Velocity, so he made it himself. 2D, space, exploraton, trading, pirates and a bit of stupid AI. The game is open source and has some mods for it. You can also find it on Steam or just download it from Github.
While it is similar to EV, it's easier land and fly your ship and thus also easier to get into. This didn't stop me from spending 10 minutes in the first system trying to find the "jump" button.
Look at Rain World, an interesting game where you play as a predator/prey slug-cat creature in a post apocalyptic jungle.
A main selling point in the game is that the AI creatures have the same amount of agency(independence) as you do and are able to freely move about the map in pursuit of their own goals (which usually eating you so they don't starve to death).
Some of the smarter creatures are capable of remembering interactions with you or other creatures and act accordingly. Sometimes the larger less intelligent creatures will fight each other in a display of what is probably the angriest ball of physics on the internet. Oh yeah, all of the creatures use procedural physics based animation.
The game map is also huge, something like 1600 screen sized rooms all hand made by a level designer.
It's trying really hard to be Starcraft with FPS MOBA-Type. The tutorial had a bug, something I did on purpose thinking nothing would happen. It's alright for a UE4 indie.
The various entries in the Steamworld series are pretty good. You play as steam powered robots in a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Steamworld Tower Defense is the only game in it that I really don't like; the game-play somehow manages to be too demanding and slow at the same time, and the story is essentially non-existent. The idea is that mutant humans are trying to raid cowbot gold mines and you need to stop them.
The other two games are MUCH better though!
Steamworld Dig is a fun little mining game; you play as Rusty, a steambot who has just arrived in the town of Tumbleton, after receiving a letter informing him that he's just inherited a mine from an uncle he never knew he had. The goal is to dig down into the mine to find stations that give Rusty new abilities, and dig up ore to buy upgrades for those abilities. Along the way you'll encounter the dens of mutant animals, fight through the remnants of old humanity, and unearth a strange and ominous location where everything runs off a mysterious power known as 'electricity'...
Steamworld Heist is set in the far future of the setting, after the planet Earth has been shattered into a million pieces. You play as rogue captain Piper Farraday (And her crew of able-bodied steambots), and rather than digging up valuable ore, you're raiding enemy vessels for the most precious resource of all; water (It's precious to steambots anyway). As you do so, you'll have to fight off hoards of enemies. Like the Scrappers; undead steambots created through the dark and evil process of recycling, cobbled together from the remains of their victims. Or the deisel-driven royalists, a group of dieselbots that are immune to the water crisis and taking advantage of it to oppress the steambots of the outskirts. All the while, a cold and alien intellect plots its revenge on steambot-kind, preparing to unleash an ancient electrical horror once again...
Steamworld Dig 2 has also been recently confirmed! You play as a character from the previous game, Dorothy, as she hunts for Rusty, who mysteriously vanished after the events of the first game. Everyone in town believes he perished when his mine collapsed, but Dorothy is certain that her friend is still alive out there somewhere...
4x game, It's pretty cool as all the factions aren't just stats modified versions of each other and have custom behaviors for themselves.
For example: The klingon-like Gremmak will not hate pirates/slavers, but the Humans might fight you over these things. The Phidi leader might lose support for starting a war, while a Gremmak leader will probably gain praise for spontaneous declarations of war.
Each faction leader also has a personality as well that dictates how they act, for example a normally violent race might be friendly if their leader is a pacifist; But if that pacifist leader is from the Gremmak empire, he will probably have his citizens hate him over it, since they detest pacifism.
It also lets you customize all your units similar to the game SPAZ, or Gratuitous Space Battles.
This is one of those skill based "hard but fair games" that will probably have an enemy instantly kill you for button mashing.
The inner game designer in me could compile a 22+ point list of things this game does incredibly well to reinforce that dark souls-ish combat feel.
(Like making all attacks avoidable, shields block all damage but only for half a second then have a small cool down, you need a full second uninterrupted to heal, dodge rolls save lives, enemy attacks are brutally strong, weapons don't swing instantly/have weight, combos and terrain can be utilized, etc)
Since every enemy has the capacity to kill you and there are no checkpoints in between runs it makes every encounter really intense.
It's probably one of the most rewarding things in a video game to be greedy with a bunch of blueprints (items to unlock more gear in future runs) and somehow not die on the way to the end of a level after having run out of healing potions.
SONNY Don't ask me why they didn't simply name it sonny 3 but here it is! The sequel to sonny 2! It's... Well it doesn't scale whatsoever to sonny 2 but it's still good for what it is.
Looks really cool, except for the map design which looks generic and arena-ish. Why not have proper-looking battlefields instead of these mutant chessboards?
TBH haven't tried it. The reviews are positive and anything like FFT is a win for me. Best-Guess Levels were last to go, dev standpoint, grid point assets, etc. Just did the search that revealed the from-scratch engine so...
I imagine the sequel will hit hard.
Probably better than STEAM HAMMER, runs on an old Life Is Feudal Engine, still a couple of years away. At least the Steampunk stands out.
In my first game my hypochondriac security guard Bob Brown thought he was sick from being out in the rain and was attacked because of one fateful sneeze near a zombie infested mall. After throwing himself out of a window and escaping with an arm full of glass shards he found a nice place to put on a bandage made out of an old work shirt which DID get him sick and he died the next week.
At first glance Project Zomboid just seems like another one of those generic survival sims with zombies, but it's probably one of the most detailed and well done ones I've seen which makes it great. It has an immense attention to detail and the psychological aspect of survive the zombie apocalypse. Water and electricity shut off, trees eventually grow on houses, and your can become massively depressed, panicked, or injured for a multitude of different reasons. The health/combat system is also very similar to Rimworld in that each body part can be damaged/infected/etc and that will affect your character.
On a side note it's also fun to mess with zombie settings to make them blind but have superhuman strength/hearing/endurance and name your character Joel.
A paragraph here won't do it justice, so I'd recommend go looking it up on Steam.
Features like local co-op tackled early on helped that games survival in general. There was a production halt oriented around it. While fun it can get bland alone.
Work on the game is still going strong, they added cars on Monday if you go into the beta tab.
There's also some simple Steam Workshop mods that make the game much less bland. One of my favorites is the one that makes zombies try to get out of the rain (and into any buildings like a SWAT team), or the one that makes zombies wander around at night instead of stand around.
Essentially, a game about being a badass space marine doing badass space marine stuff. From being able to blast your enemies apart (Dismemberment) to slowing down time, if you want to feel like Neo and a Jedi all at once, give this one a shot. Something else to note is that while the original game is still floating out there on the internet (And PB 2.5 is currently in development) this is probably the best jumping off point for beginners or newcomers to the series. Unless of course, you're interested in the story in which case, I'll detail it for you here: Following the destruction of your home planet, you (And another space Marine) are sent back in time to deviate the course of events leading up to that point. That is, when an unfortunate mistake leads the time travel sequence to fail leaving you A: In the wrong time and B: place. You also seem to be separated from your ally. After finding your ally captured next to an assault vehicle, you travel to a space ship in the hope that you can still make it to your designated target in time. In a turn of events, your ally is killed at the foot of the shuttle and your left stranded. That's right. You can't beat plasma burst 1. There's no ending. Moving forward a little while and the planet the initially sent is now in full-scale panic and is attempting a mass assault drop. Basically, hundreds of space marines are sent in drop pods in a desperate attempt to find the initial marine from PB 1. And that's where you come in, kicking off the events of Plasma burst 2. Mind you, the game is very subtle about its story and that's only what I could piece together from the sparse dialogue.
Varies on the source of the video. While the site may be formatted for YouTube (where you simply need to post the link), it's not likely compatible with the Steam Platform.
Here's an old one from the long lost age of demos.
--
This one still holds up very well even by today's standards. I still think it's space combat alone is one of the the best RTS experiences around even when compared to modern titles.
On a side note: if anybody out there knows any game with similar space RTS battles PLEASE tell me. I've never seen another game combine hardpoints, reinforcements, resistances/damage bonuses, and abilities the same way as this one did.
--
As a bonus since I'm on a history themed post, here's a cold-war era song for you:
Battlezone is 20 years old and still has an active Facebook community - multiple, 3 actually lol (1, 2, and a Modders). More active than online forums. Groups are quite handy in keeping people connected, never want to restrict yourself to any given platform...
The closest I've seen is Stellaris & Sins of a Solar Empire.
To be honest I hated Empire At War. I almost bought it when it came out, but a friend lent it to me and I was very quick to change my decision. There we're two titles I loved that came out prior to Empire At War...
GALACTIC BATTLEGROUNDS
FORCE COMMANDER
Not to mention FC had some of the coolest CG work for its time. Still easily competes with any title within a decade as far as cinematics go. Galactic Battlegrounds should seem familiar, it runs on the same engine as another AAA strategy title of that decade. Still have all the disks, even the ones my friend lent me.
I believe both dwarfed Empire At War, they had mechanics and gameplay beyond their time.
Galactic Battlegrounds looks suspiciously like Age of Empires. Edit: Oh it's actually the same developers too.
Hey speaking of medieval stuff, has anybody said Exanima yet? I feel like I read it somewhere but couldn't find it.
Anyways, it's a game that throws out animation and hitboxes in favour of an entirely physics based combat and movement system.
It also puts a large amount effort into getting realistic (zombies and ogres aside), the armour and weapons have their proper names and uses as well as good detail on armour (coifs and all that). The fact it's entirely physics based also means you can't really make it have unrealistic combat.
The realism/physics base doesn't detract from the fun in any way as well, which is great since it's the first non-clunky/TABS-like one I've seen.
I've used the words "physics based" a lot, but this is what I mean.
Some fully armoured knights getting tossed around by an ogre.
And the following title has peaked my attention having similarities to my two favorite pir@te games: Blackewake and Assassins Creed 4. But I'm yet to try it and it's AAA, so therefor wont get promoted on my platform nor will it receive a link.
Home wars looks pretty awesome. The art style reminds me so much of early from the depths that I almost wish the game was in early access. Colony Survival is WAY to similar to minecraft for me though...
The Aeronaut's Windlass looks very Airships-y. I may have to acquire it.
I backed Exanima on KS, but as with most KS games I have low expectations of it turning into anything. But perhaps that's unfair.
I saw Colony Survival when it came out, and was really torn between "this looks like my kind of thing" and "oh no, not another Minecraft / Dwarf Fortress mashup".
Hmm. So this thread has amply demonstrated a weakness of this forum software: no pagination in posts. It's taking ages to load. So what I'm going to do for now is lock this thread and start a new one.
Aerial Emperor
NEO Scavenger
Site
Wake up from cryosleep wearing nothing but a hospital gown, with some hideous monster about to barge through the door. Escape to find a distinct lack of civilization. Learn to appreciate simple things like plastic bags and lighters. Survive, somehow.
Armageddon Empires
Site
OK, it's a hex-based turn-based card-based unforgiving wargame. But it's absolutely engrossing once you've read the manual. Trust me.
What are your (perhaps lesser-known) must-play games?
Midshipman
airships is pretty fun, also cortex command
The Site
Aerial Emperor
Oh yes, Cortex Command is definitely in the Big Pot Of Airships Inspirations. :)
Able Airman
NEO Scavenger is now on Humble Weekly sale so go grab it! One dollar is enough! I really recommend it!
From steampunk games, I love games from Final Fantasy series, the absolute favorite is FF6 (you can play it using good SNES emulator). And recently I play Arcanum, also classic one, basically it is something like first Fallout in world where steampunk and magic live along each other.
Aerial Emperor
Ooh, I got Arcanum from a GOG.com sale a while back and haven't actually played it yet.
Able Airman, Engineering Corps
Dwarf Fortress
Site
A fun game of managing a colony of dwarves, but it unfortunately has a learning curve better described as a sheer cliff.
Rimworld
Site
A different type of colony sim, but this one is in SPACE!
Aerial Emperor
MORE FROTHING
Civilization: Beyond Earth looks like it could be brilliant. Or terrible, if they don't pull it off. I feel very conflicted about Civ V, so we'll see.
Warrant Officer
Yeah. I never really liked civ 5. Frozen synapse is on sale over the weekend on steam. I've tried it, and its fun.
Able Airman, Engineering Corps
If Civ: BE is more like Alpha Centauri, then it could be awesome, but I hope it doesn't turn into just another generic space 4x.
Aerial Emperor
On, on the trivial but fun end, try Mini Metro. Transport planning made fun!
Able Airman
If you like the style of JRPGs then maybe you should try "Skyborn" It's a Steampunk-JRPG with pretty RPG-Maker Pixel Art and a really nice story. It's on steam for about 14 Euros (16-18 Dollar I guess?)
Aerial Emperor
Skyborn (oh god i nearly typed "skyporn" there) looks neat. I don't really have much of an experience with JRPGS, but I may give it a try.
I've been playing a lot of Don't Starve recently. I like its design a lot, though it still falls short of some kind of ideal survival/building game for me.
Warrant Officer
Let the Foaming at the mouth commence,
Starsector
a game about ships, Space ships :D its freaking great, originally a one man team ( sound familiar?) it's been in development for quite some time and it's combat is so slick and polished you can practically see your own reflection. Eventually the one man dev picked up an artist and a sound guy, but he still does all the code himself. If you have even a passing interest in space or lasers, or giant cannons, or dog-fighting take a look. ( by dog-fighting i mean between fighters not dogs)
Magicka For those less sci fi inclined and looking for a more fantasy game i heavily reccomend Magicka and soon Magicka 2, its a game about being a wizard with three other people ( usually friends) except often what happens is your friend will end up standing in front of your spell, oops you crushed him with a giant boulder..... oops.. oh well. I seriously love this game but always have a lack of partners, if you already play it or end up getting it consider looking to see if i'm on, I'll always play magicka, find me on steam as "Dead_videos" ( although a note i'm currently away from my main PC, and this laptop can't run anything overly complicated i'll be back at my main PC march 26th-ish)
Commander, Engineering Corps
Endless Legend
4X Stratagy game with magic, knighty Vampaire "Ghostarmor", Creatures bewteen an Insect Hive and an Undead Hord, Diplomatic Dragens and most inportendly SPACE VIKINGS!!!
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
More titles are required!!! (Hopefully to get this topic going again)
Warning: long descriptions for games with a large learning curve (informal usage of the phrase ''learning curve')
From The Depths (http://fromthedepthsgame.com)
So in a nutshell: You Play as an (insane robot) lord tasked with taking over a huge world with an army of custom war machines that you hand craft, from hull designs to cannon or custom vehicle AI components you build anything from spacecraft to submarines in a 3D environment, forge alliances or war with 8(or 9?) unique factions that can do everything the player can (aside from custom building units, they have prefabs). This game is very complex, I spent almost about one and a half hours experimenting with laser components for deflecting missiles Deep Water Guard (game faction that likes missiles and boats) navy vessels use, and I enjoyed it!
I don't have much negative to say about it other than there is a massive learning curve, and some enemy vehicles (like the Onyx Watch fortress ships) are almost impossible to fight against if you have little experience and are still very tough fights even with full knowledge of explodey things.
Executive Command Do stuff! (I will edit a proper description here later, after I get sleep) think of this as Supreme commander plus grid based base building, 200 option tech tree, with assassination the only game mode. But it gets better once you learn that in order to win you need to go INSIDE the fully fleshed interior of the enemy base, fight interior defences in first person mode or with your army in command mode or both (yes, first person mode, control any unit in your army) and take an elevator to kill the enemy CEO (the enemy player character, controlling his army via computer-brain-link-techno-stuff)!
Did I mention every single unit from aircraft to infantry is fully customizable from the tech tree? From weapons to armour to secondary attacks or other things like hacking tools depending on the unit?
Factories can also be told to save multiple loadouts!
Aerial Emperor
That does sound really cool. All of those second-generation fat voxel games are doing some really interesting stuff.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
If your a fan of 2d games I would strongly recommend looking at Reassembly, SPAZ, Airships Conquer the Skies (oh wait) and maybe take a look at SPAZ2. They are all really different but a good way to sum them up is "you are not the hero/antihero or villain, your just some guy, the AI can do everything you can do so git gud at living",
in Reassembly, though you are some random core in one of five unique factions fighting over plants (that grow resources to make more core ships), reminds me of Shellcore Command.
Spaz is a very well done game with a very unique (and good) storyline, as well as letting you do whatever you want, the 'z' in SPAZ is for Zombie!
Space Pirates and Zombies Two is kinda hard to describe in under a paragraph, just google it you won't be disappointed!
Also has anyone kept track of NEO scavenger lately? I remember a demo a long time ago but not much else..
Commander
Firebird, can I have a link to Executive Command? I can only find this game about being president.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Oh shit I mean Executive Assault sorry!
Also FYI the game is in an early access stage, but it is functional and I have not encountered any glitches so far on my computer from about eight hours of playing it.
Commodore
Rodina.
An early access space sim where you fly around a single system, consisting of 4 Planets, 50 Dwarf Planets, and 45,000 asteroids. 4 planets may not sound like much, but they're HUGE. The combat is fast-paced and arcady, and the soundtrack is one of the best I've ever heard.
The asteroids are all big enough to walk on, but when you fly away, it looks like the asteroid is turning into a pebble on-screen. The game actually gives you a real sense of scale.
The game is lacking content, but the exploration and combat alone is more fun than many completed gamesinstantly justifiable.
Commander
Danke.
Warrant Officer
Battle of Empires: 1914-1918 just came out, and if you've played Men of War, it's extremely similar to that (same company made it), although it goes back to a World War I setting as opposed to the franchise's normal World War II or Vietnam based games. It's extremely cheap if you only want the multiplayer version, but the Singleplayer Campaigns are very much worth it!
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
So, for anybody who has ever wanted to mashup Gunpoint's stealth with Hotline Miami's 2d perspective and put that in a space environment where you are able to board randomly generated spaceships that can be split in half with explosives, this (really, really unfinished) game looks promising!
I used Gunpoint as an example because the guy making HeatSig is the same developer.
Midshipman
from the depths, kinda like space engineers, but a lot more combat focused.
site: http://fromthedepthsgame.com/
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
How is From The Depths anything like Space Engineers?
Midshipman
well both are block based building games. and currenty that is pretty much what space engineers is :P.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Everspace! Any GOFI or II fans will immediately love this , it is even made by the same team who made the Galaxy On Fire series
Commodore
I loved Galaxy on Fire 2, and that looks great. It also looks a bit like Star Citizen to me.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Chris Roberts actually referred Everspace to the Star Citizen community saying it looked like it could compete with No Mans Sky.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I can't believe this one flew under my radar for nearly three years.
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages is an awesome 2D space game with a massive emphasis on ship customization that contains a great 30+ hour story campaign.
(This video will do it more justice than my text ever will.)It also has a bunch of multiplayer modes as well but a small fan base, which is the only negative thing I can think of about this game.
The small amount of players have been around for a while so it can be difficult to find a versus multiplayer match that is not full of very skilled players, but the developers seemed to have accounted for this problem by having some strong prebuilt ships so newer players aren't outmatched.
You can also get around the above issue by starting a private match for just you and friends.
I strongly recommend you guys at-least look at this title, it is usually on sale around 1.70(?) US dollars and is absolutely awe-inspiring, but it could use many more players.
Lieutenant, Engineering Corps
Exanima The most realistic medieval combat simulator. Basically what Arma did for shooters, this did for RPGS, while keeping it's own atmosphere and play style. It's incredibly difficult though, so keep that in mind.
Tales of Maj'eyal This game is also free but of course you lose some features when you get the free version. This is a classic top down turn based RPG dungeon crawler. Sort of like Nethack or Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, although in my opinion far superior to all of them. It's challenging, but fair, and can be played at any difficulty, ranging from Easy Explorer (Infinite lives and super easy, but no achievements) to Madness Roguelike (Why would you do this to yourself?) with dozens of classes and races, and randomly generated dungeons, loot and enemies.
Aviary Attourney This game is just.. Amazing. It's a sort of pseudo Phoenix wright game, where you collect evidence then complete a court case. Except with anamorphic birds and what not. Each of your actions has consequences, and you can lose cases, quite easily in fact. The characters are extremely enjoyable and there is a good sense of humour throughout the game, although it is not afraid to touch darker subjects and the grayer parts of philosophy. The art style is beautiful, with the game being set in Victorian London and having a pencil-drawn art style sort of like Don't Starve. The gameplay is solid, and the amount of animal puns throughout the thing are, frankly, worth the 15$ (USD, I think. I'm Canadian so I don't know how much it actually is for you all) price of admission on it's own. It's one of the very, very few games I would rate 10/10. I didn't even rate Skyrim t hat highly and I have easily over 2 thousand hours in that on PS3. Highly recommended.
Lieutenant, Engineering Corps
I did the links wrong, but whatever.
Aerial Emperor
No spaces between the square and round brackets does the trick.
Hmm, I actually backed Exanima and Aviary Attorney on KS. I need to actually set aside the time to play them, though.
Lieutenant, Engineering Corps
They're both really good. Again though, cannot stress how hard Examina is. It'll take a bit to figure it out, but once you do it's super rewarding, sort of like DS
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
All you need to do in Examina is to put a bucket on your head for protection and hope nobody steals your change!
..Oh wait, that's mixing two games..
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Also, Murder Miners
(this game) is getting a sequel this summer called Murder Miners X that's worth checking out!Lieutenant
Aside from pretty much all of these games which are pretty cool(from experience) or look pretty cool, I have to recommend S.T.A.L.K.E.R which is just awesome (especially modded) and Sunless Sea which is just so atmospheric. Oh and Hammerfight. This last one is a personnal favorite since the game actually isn't all that great, but I just love the gameplay...
Aerial Emperor
I have played about 150 hours of Sunless Sea, so yeah, big fan. Really looking forward to the zubmariner expansion, because I want more stuff.
Captain, Engineering Corps
Factorio. Surprised no one has said this.
Factorio is a industrial based game where you start off on crashed, on a planet. You then have to automate and build factories, while defending from alien attacks. These attacks are caused by the amount of pollution you produce. The more pollution, more attacks. The goal of this game to eventually leave the planet, but first you have to automate. Automate means that you have to set up conveyor chains to take the resource from its production, to the refinery, to make certain materials, to make more materials, and so on. This game is incredibly fun, and you should definitely play it! (also surprised someone said DF. I thought everyone knew about it...)
Aerial Emperor
It honestly sounds like the kind of game I might get stuck into forever. Do you want the next update of Airships or not? :P
I would love a version of Dwarf Fortress that was anywhere near as deep as the original but less incredibly unbalanced / uninformative. I have now reached the level of proficiency at DF where I play with no tileset as a matter of course, but I still run into problems where things magically don't work because I forgot some important part of the soap/lye/ash/fruitbat cycle. OTOH, I've also found that once you know how to play it, it's actually quite easy.
Lieutenant
It's really surprising how much of the games I link I can find back on this list. My preferences would go to Dwarf Fortress (which I consider without a doubt the best indie game ever, sorry Zarkonnen), Cortex Command (which I still play time to time while waiting for the next update), Exanima (it was hard to play, but when I started to get good it became an awesome game), TOME (it was nice, but I kinda dropped out of it after a while) and Ring Runner (I kinda bought it at random and I was pleasantly surprised with what I got). Man, I really play a lot of indie games.
A game I HIGHLY recommand is Sunless Sea. The atmosphere is top notch, the music is haunting and it's just hard enough to feel challenging without being punitive. Another one is Crypt of the Necrodancer which combine one of the gamestyle I like the most (roguelike)with one I usually don't enjoy (rhythm game) in a very good way. The mechanics are easy to understand, there is some good challenge, and the music... suffice to say it's been composed by Danny Baranowski (the guy who made the musics for Super Meat Boy).
There is also Armello, a board-turned-digital game that is very nice but still in development. That said, you can get the Beta (if I remember correctly) at their site. The general setting is really interesting, the gameplay is refined and very fun to play with 4 players, and the graphics are just gorgeous.
Finally there is Nuclear Throne, by the creator of Luftrauser and Ridiculous Fishing, Vlambeer. God this game is addictive, I keep getting back to it! The music and the graphics honestly are not that impressive, but the gameplay is just so fun!
PS: Darkest Dungeon. Enough said.
PPS: S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat is one of my favorites games of all times. Why? Let's see: Immersive setting and feel, nervous fights (where one bullet can kill you if you are unlucky and three bullet can kill you if you are lucky), a very inclusive upgrade system, an original setting (for once we don't get "Not-Irak") and some very frightening moments. And that's without going into MISERY, a very complete mod that was created for this game.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I thought cortex command was a dead game? Last time I looked people didn't seem to enjoy it (or did they update the control scheme recently?).
Lieutenant
To be honest, since I'm really into mods, I more or less only play Cortex because the community has come up with some awesome mods that really bump up the content and add a lot of replayability.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
For people who REALLY like to design things and conquering the game world with them (i.e anybody who enjoys the campaign in Airships), I would reccomend investigating this one:
From the developer's webpage (because I can't describe it as good):
"Navalia is real-time strategy game where you get to design, build and command entire fleets of space ships. You travel through the galaxy and try to stop the enemy invasion. To achieve this you travel the galaxy and help star systems that are being attacked by enemy forces. Through your journey you earn resources and experience that help you expand your fleet and research new parts.
All the game content is procedurally generated, every new game is different: ship parts, enemy ships, galaxies, star systems etc. You get almost limitless variability.
Enemies evolve throughout the course of each game. The enemy adapts to your play style through genetic algorithms and creates new kinds of enemy units.
Navalia is being developed by just one man (me). I have been working on this game for almost three years."
Aerial Emperor
Oo, I'll have to check out Navalia. Unsurprisingly this is the kind of game I like. :D
And yes, I have sunk many hours into both Sunless Sea and Necrodancer. Though my current mild obsession is Darkest Dungeon.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Remember SPAZ II?
_-rIzTMIcHoly crap is all I can say.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Oh, and any Galaxy on Fire fans and GOFII fans may be interested in knowing that the Everspace alpha is out now.
Air Admiral
Try Dogfight 2 or Stormwinds! Both are Amazing flash games!
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Storminds the flash game? Man I really loved that game.. Another really good flash one is Shellcore Command.
Here's a really cool hacking game set in an alternate 80's
You actually get to trick security systems with lines of code and even get to use a cute robot drone to do your bidding and it's really cool.
And here's a new DoubleFine Studios production:
Both of these games are over 5+ hours of gameplay, Headlander is double this I believe.
Commander
Never heard of Navalia. Will have to take a look at it. The original SPAZ is in my Steam library and SPAZ II on my wishlist.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Everspace content just doubled as it's in beta now, look at this if your a Galaxy on Fire fan.
Air Admiral
Er, yes, that storwinds firebird. I happen to be naturally attracted to PC games especially really good flash games. :)
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Anybody remember Creeper World?
Yeah, that developer is making a sequel that fully releases in 7 weeks and it looks great.Also, I know you can't see it in this trailer but the enemy AI is actually really good at being intelligent. AI ships will actually wait until your in a vulnerable position and attack as well as never trying any suicide runs unless necessary. They even use and position decoy ships pretty effectively.
Air Admiral
That actually looks really interesting...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Zarkonnen the links are broken! the forum does not support youtube video links with the 'start at time' feature.
Air Admiral
Alright then! Time to revive this thread!
Luftrausers: After hearing about it from firebird, I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I absolutely loved it. Steambirds: You know that one flash game that some how surpasses the quality of paid games, ooze's style, and is good all around? It's essentially a steam punk reimagining of WWI and II's events with a game that plays, essentially like X-wing (The tabletop game).
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's another gem for those who like space survival horror done right. It even has a pretty compelling story and some randomly generated elements.
There is even an awesome 'Contamination' system where the infected will actually spread across the map and reproduce instead of just randomly spawning around. Enemies that are contaminated enough will also upgrade themselves too, I was messed around with this by locking a zombie in a lab once but it eventually mutated into something much stronger than me and learned how to open doors.
I really can't say how many times I've opened a door and got spooked by an enemy on the other side, only to fire my gun until it overheats and I drop it on the floor.
Air Admiral
Seems interesting enough. Who knows... I might just give it a try! Alright then, so moving back on the territory of relatively unknown games.
Sonny: an absolutely amazing flash game that's very well done. For an rpg, it's definitely one of my favorites even if the story can be a bit cheesy at times.
Dogfight: If I was to be Frank, probably my favorite flash game ever. It's an amazing WWI arcade shooter that plays somewhat similarly to luftrausers. It's has a nice mission/objective variety, a nice enemy variety, an interesting "ace pilot maneuvers" system and has some definite charm to its graphics and sound effects. Sadly, Rock Solid arcade closed in 2012 so the possibility of a dogfight 3 (yes, there is a 2) is extremely unlikely. Sigh... I guess all good things must come to an end...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
If you do ever try out Subterrain a pro tip the game never tells you is to barricade your sleeping quarters with a desk or something before you use the bed. The enemies aren't above killing you in your sleep.
As for a sense of what your going to get for that game, so far I've spent about 40 hours into it and haven't gotten close to the 50% done mark, for a sense of scale. Haven't gotten bored yet which is awesome.
Is it illegal to make two posts about one game? Doesn't matter, Subterrain deserves it.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Why have I not said this before: Castle Story!
It's a really nice RTS/almost physics based AoE type game where you control little yellow humanoids called brickmen. You order them around to dig/chop wood/man catapults as well as build custom fortresses and installations to defend against an onslaught of enemy corruptrons (as well as lead invasions against them).
The game initially had some bad reviews for lack of content, but the developers were determined enough to more than double that since then as well as improve on almost every aspect of the game. They are still going strong and it is really worth looking at.
This video shows how the gameplay is, as well as the developers dedication to completing it to the best of their ability:
Air Admiral
Ah yes, that's a good one. Here's another gem:
Battleblock Theater
_By98v638One of the most hilarious game's I have ever played, hands down. And the gameplay isn't too shabby either.
Commodore
I'd advocate anything on (facebook.com) or (twitter.com) /incisiongames - a lot of the less known indies on this list are promoted there already. Not so much "shameless promotion" as my current list without the flood-post - wont even hotlink, users incentive.
There's other games I like based on design of the engine; but just that. I also promote a smaller array with handpicked rules, the audience is "Battlezone Driven", rare. Always on the lookout for gems.
There's a handful of games on my "to-do" list promoted here, but I can only do so much while toing. I try to verify something is tight before promoting it. Things like "Lets Starve Together" & "Halcyon 6 Starbase Commander" go overlooked due to their arguably AAA reach, not to say they aren't good games.
Air Admiral
From The Depths
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7QBne7A_ewE
Pretty damn good game...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Sunless Sea expansion:
Sunless Skies coming soon.
Need I say more?
Air Admiral
No need, friend.
Commander
Risk of Rain definitely deserves a look.
It's an action platformer with simple, but addictive roguelike gameplay. The top tier music will cuddle you as you become a explosives-packed machine of war. Or promptly die trying.
When folks talk about games that can put you in a Zen-like state, I think of Risk of Rain.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I second that, Risk of Rain also has a great soundtrack.
By the way, when did the word Addictive become a positive descriptor for a game/anything? Maybe it's just my psychology classes/background but I really dislike seeing that as a positive word.
Seeing as how your basically saying "It will give you a medical condition characterized by compulsive engagement in certain stimuli as well as the inability to break from this behavior despite harmful consequences."
Who the [Redacted / intensifier] thinks that is a positive thing?
No offense by the way ,71, this wasn't against you personally or anything but wow the usage of a usually very serious condition like that really bothers me.
Aerial Emperor
Yeah, I have a problem with "addictive" as a positive descriptor too. Especially given that in my experience, games can in fact be addictive while not being actually fun to play. I especially had that experience with Diablo II, which I played for ages while deriving no real enjoyment from it. But the loot drops and quests are so carefully paced that you never really find a place to put down the game. And the loot in fact is basically a slot machine. :(
So I think we can distinguish between a game that is addictive - you keep playing it compulsively despite a lack of enjoyment, and one that gives you a "flow" experience, which is what 71 refers to with Risk of Rain.
Commander
Well Risk of Rain is pretty much the same thing over and over and over again (shooting the bad guys, grabbing power-ups) for countless hours on end.
It nonetheless manages to make that tedious and repetitive task feel worthwhile, occasionally to the detriment of other things in your life.
That more-or-less does qualify as "addictive", or something close to it. There is a reason I don't have Steam installed anymore. Many people can roll with that factor, but not everyone.
Yes! Flow! That was the word I wanted!
Commodore
Sure, addictive is a thing. Both arguably worthless in single player environments, though. I've never played ROR solo or soloed Act I unless already high level.
If you dig those; check out Magicite & Roguelands. I don't see them promoted and they are both pixel. They are similar to Risk Of Rain, not so much A:CTS.
Commodore
Wayward Terran Frontier
Raising awareness for this fabulous title.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
If Kerbal Space Program was an RTS:
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Psyringe your link is broken.
Commodore
That explains so much. Had odd issues with links; it's because I don't always grab or type the 'http://'. To think; I can link anything now. #woah #respawn
Anyway. How about Sir, You Are Being Hunted?
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Update on Particle Fleet: Emergence. It's out now, and I strongly recommend it if you were into the first Creeper World games or just really like unique strategy games.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
I forgot to mention Infested Planet, holy crap how did this slip my mind?!
Especially now that there is a new expansion coming to the game that adds a whole strategic campaign as well as new units, enemies and better adaptive AI.
Did I mention the AI in this game is able to intelligently select upgrades (called Mutations) to counter you in combat? It is very intelligent.
This is a game that everybody should at-least look at if they like any type of unique/interesting strategy games. (which is all of you, unless you hate Airships but then why are you here?)
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's an interesting one:
Mild swear warning.
Better to watch this than have me explain it. Don't worry if you don't like square/minimalist graphics, they are placeholders since this game is in pre-not-even-in-alpha.
Air Admiral
INSIDE
Inside is one of the most beautiful platformers I have ever had the luck to play. With the most WTF story ever conceived in video games and one of the darkest atmospheres ever imagined. Some set piece moments are just genius. And you thought they couldn't top Limbo... They most cleverly devised game I have ever played by far!
Lieutenant
Totally my new favourite game
Lieutenant
In more seriousness:
OpenTTD
Website
OpenTTD started as an open source (GPL License) clone of Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and has since been expanded with many new features.
The game has you building a complex transport network using trains, trucks and buses, ships, and airplanes.
Another great thing about the game is that it has a vast library of user-created additions, so-called NewGRFs (for Graphics Resource File).
My favourite is the SBB Set, which contains a ton of Swiss trains from 1902 all the way to the current day.
I also made a playable Switzerland map, to give those trains a suitable home!
Commodore
This indie got by me.
Warfleet
It's like a more simplified version of From The Depths. Probably more of a BZ player thing; but it falls in the cracks...
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's two upcoming games the designers and multiplayer fanatics may be interested in:
I expect the ladder game to become very popular on Youtube for a while once it gets out.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Oh, and here's something great:
Personally I've put hundreds of hours into this game and am still learning new things, and only 1/3 of the map is unlocked as of right now.
The map is 355 square miles, for reference the map in Skyrim is about 14.3 square miles; And it's not one of those big copy/paste worlds with nothing interesting in them either, I've continually found at least 1-2 interesting locations in my immediate area for every minute or two of travel, and the world is populated with lots of interesting factions from racist imperials to cannibals and tech hunters who all react differently to you/each other.
Commodore
In addition to WTFZF, two additional games similar to A:CTS and are extremely fun to play;
Star Command Galaxies
Boss Constructor
Highly recommended; indie and outside the box.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
What if Sunless Sea was a 3d/2d hybrid underwater exploraiton game? Now we know:
Sales pitch aside, this came out pretty recently and I can say it's been great playing it (and hunting for every nugget of lore I can find).
They add to the exploration too by removing you and custom way-points from the world map, if you want to go somewhere you better know how to properly navigate!
..Or just ask a merchant for directions, or just follow the rare glowing golden fish that occasionally show up when you are hopelessly lost.
This game can get pretty tense as well, like trying to hide from multiple enemy submarines in a large minefield while simultaneously fighting a strong current kind of tense.
It has great suspenseful moments too; Like when your 1000m down in a dark trench damaged and hiding from pirates, when suddenly you hear a sonar ping go off in the distance. You think your out of range but then then you see the sound wave wash over your sub, you've been spotted on the pirate's radar and suddenly your torpedo proximity alarm goes off!
Lieutenant
Secrets of grindea. (still in EA) Its a RPG that is a old school based mish mash of retro RPGs, I can tal about it but there is a free demo on the website www.secretsofgrindea.com Its funny, relaxing, can be challanging or easy if you like. It has character build... 4player multiplayer and a arcade like challange mode. The rest i dont realy know.. because i dont want spoilers before it comes out. but controlls are good.. just play the demo :P
Commodore
The game is fun but it didn't shatter any dimensions. It's more expansive than it's predecessors; games with Single Screen navigation between two players in a TI-82 experience; Grindea has the scroll and the homages to carry it through. I found the minigames to be in the way, then again I'm tired of SoulReaver'esq problem solving - and that has a deeper meaning. There's no reason to drag 4 players through some loading processes the game might want you to perform to get various unlocks; you will be traveling from *area to *area together solving some of these problems. My experience was multiplayer about 2 years ago, perhaps the conditions have changed.
If you liked "Link To The Past", then look no further for the CO-OP; with experience points.
That's about as truthful and unique a review anyone can offer. Arguably worth $15 if you have friends that also have the title.
Secrets Of Grindea
I might have to play it through again. While mostly cosmetic, navigation, multiplayer, and other minor fixes took place; large game elements like entire tiers of "powers" have been enabled and balanced, and they completed the map. But I don't imagine huge deviations from core gameplay.
Commodore
Something not promoted but Pixel Driven is Byond.
Byond (FREE)
Every early Pixel Game Developer knows about it; although it's not frequently mentioned. You'll find it in a search for GDK's, Game Development Kits. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the Multiplayer Games produced in the Byond framework; and if your interested in game development it's a great place to learn - other than the obvious Unity & Unreal sets of development tools.
Even if you're not a developer it's cool to dink around with even for just a few minutes. I've had it on my system for years, not sure why I didn't throw it down earlier.
Air Admiral
The program SP 13 uses is it not? No offense directed at you at all, my good sir but hasn't SP 13 been trying to get off that program for years now?
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
AI War: Fleet Command is a very unique strategy title, the AI uses some very intelligent emergent behavior that lets it behave in an unpredictable manner.
It's even capable of realizing that the best choice it can make is not actually the best choice due to being predictable, as well as recognizing player designed choke points and coming up with tactics for evading or outright destroying them.
For example one time a friend and I were fighting a stronger AI personality that liked stealth tactics. During the campaign it eventually figured out my friend was supplying the economy while I was devoted to researching powerful military units, so the AI started ignoring me and started sending stealthy raid ships towards my friends economic star bases. We had no stealth detection so they crippled everything resource wise, the AI's kill/death ratio on that round was something like 9/1 once it finished off our economy.
This is probably one of the very rare strategy games that is actually more about strategies and outsmarting your opponent rather than about clicking speed and memorization as the AI is pretty adaptive and campaigns can last form 6 to 60 hours depending on how sadistic the AI is, how large you set the maps, and how skilled you are.
It's a player vs. AI only game as the AI plays the game asymmetrically to the player. It owns the entire galaxy and outnumbers you 100,000 to 1, your only advantage is that it doesn't see you as threatening.. yet.
Overall I'd strongly recommend AI war, especially with a friend. Try the free demo it has and see for yourself.
Air Admiral
Ah yes, I have heard of this game, it was on kickstater was it not?
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Yes, and it's sequel just finished a Kickstarter campaign a while ago.
Commodore
Formata
Commodore
I play a lot of games; probably too many. When I first sampled Blackwake, the original Blackwake, it didn't take long to put down. While an interesting game it lacked everything it needed to be what Blackwake is today, how everyone is going to identify Blackwake; the fact it's a revived game will vanish from all written text... already has - this is now Blackwake.
Efforts were made. While captaining my own corsair I had a great many experiences. I also found it shared a lot in common with Battlezone and it shared a great deal with this title... if everyone were forced to control the pixel dudes in this game; that would be Blackwake.
Almost want to design a pixel Blackwake and call it Interstellaria.
Blackwake
My first experience wasn't enough to promote; but this time I felt really satisfied. Really satisfied; wasn't always captain; re-learned everything and accumulated a solid crew. This is a First Person Shooter with Strategy Elements; following the captains orders is key, but the captain just has the best view of the ship and the "unlockable" actions.
It heavily reminded me of Pulsar Lost Colony; except someone you called your crewmmate could be randomly demolished, ragdolled a bloody mess across the entire deck, out the hole, only to get washed away by the rain of the lightning storm you're trying to navigate while dodging little islands and firing upon the enemy.
Captain
It isn't a game but A Aeronaut's Windlass is a book incredibly similar to Airships. It's based in a world where the ground is inhabited by incredibly hostile creatures so humans built giant spires into the sky to avoid the ground hazards. They have their own version of suspedium that are used for ships, cannons, and firearms. It's a good read, especially if you would like a story set in a world very similar to Airships.
Commodore
I cannot recommend Endless War 6 enough! Made by a lone Russian sitting at his computer, it allows you to command super cool tanks from the great Soviet Union! With the T-35, T-28, BT-5, T-26 AA variant, T-26 with phoomf phoomf (flamethrower) T-34/76, T-34/85, IS-2, ISU-152, KV-2 stronk gun, KV-8 with phoomf phoomf, Kayusha BM-13, and probably some other epic stronk tanks! It's a web game, runs fine on potato, and with no bugs I have found yet! Make babushka and papa happy by playing this game.
Captain
all the endless war games are pretty great, especially 1-3.
Mud and Blood 2 is a fun and difficult strategy survival game. Takes a lot of time though to get the big achievements to make you stronger.
Commodore
I like the KV-2 in Endless War 6, you?
Air Admiral
I actually remember enjoying the Kayusha...
Commodore
Stronk russian truck that can survive Howitzer? Yesh. Ish fun!
Warrant Officer
Endless Sky (Free)
Ever played Escape Velocity? Endless Sky is quite similar. The developer said he wanted another Escape Velocity, so he made it himself. 2D, space, exploraton, trading, pirates and a bit of stupid AI. The game is open source and has some mods for it. You can also find it on Steam or just download it from Github.
While it is similar to EV, it's easier land and fly your ship and thus also easier to get into. This didn't stop me from spending 10 minutes in the first system trying to find the "jump" button.
Commodore
Istrolid. It's a top-down version of ACTS, but it is about spaceships and slightly different. On steam in early acces, not so developed as ACTS is.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Look at Rain World, an interesting game where you play as a predator/prey slug-cat creature in a post apocalyptic jungle.
A main selling point in the game is that the AI creatures have the same amount of agency(independence) as you do and are able to freely move about the map in pursuit of their own goals (which usually eating you so they don't starve to death).
Some of the smarter creatures are capable of remembering interactions with you or other creatures and act accordingly. Sometimes the larger less intelligent creatures will fight each other in a display of what is probably the angriest ball of physics on the internet. Oh yeah, all of the creatures use procedural physics based animation.
The game map is also huge, something like 1600 screen sized rooms all hand made by a level designer.
Commodore
Looks interesting. Is it on Steam? If so, how much is it?
Commodore
It's trying really hard to be Starcraft with FPS MOBA-Type. The tutorial had a bug, something I did on purpose thinking nothing would happen. It's alright for a UE4 indie.
Abatron
edit Brass Tax I prefer Executive Assault (Unity) but this title might be up to code someday.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Rain world is about 20 american dollars and it is on steam.
Captain
The various entries in the Steamworld series are pretty good. You play as steam powered robots in a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Steamworld Tower Defense is the only game in it that I really don't like; the game-play somehow manages to be too demanding and slow at the same time, and the story is essentially non-existent. The idea is that mutant humans are trying to raid cowbot gold mines and you need to stop them.
The other two games are MUCH better though!
Steamworld Dig is a fun little mining game; you play as Rusty, a steambot who has just arrived in the town of Tumbleton, after receiving a letter informing him that he's just inherited a mine from an uncle he never knew he had. The goal is to dig down into the mine to find stations that give Rusty new abilities, and dig up ore to buy upgrades for those abilities. Along the way you'll encounter the dens of mutant animals, fight through the remnants of old humanity, and unearth a strange and ominous location where everything runs off a mysterious power known as 'electricity'...
Steamworld Heist is set in the far future of the setting, after the planet Earth has been shattered into a million pieces. You play as rogue captain Piper Farraday (And her crew of able-bodied steambots), and rather than digging up valuable ore, you're raiding enemy vessels for the most precious resource of all; water (It's precious to steambots anyway). As you do so, you'll have to fight off hoards of enemies. Like the Scrappers; undead steambots created through the dark and evil process of recycling, cobbled together from the remains of their victims. Or the deisel-driven royalists, a group of dieselbots that are immune to the water crisis and taking advantage of it to oppress the steambots of the outskirts. All the while, a cold and alien intellect plots its revenge on steambot-kind, preparing to unleash an ancient electrical horror once again...
Captain
Steamworld Dig 2 has also been recently confirmed! You play as a character from the previous game, Dorothy, as she hunts for Rusty, who mysteriously vanished after the events of the first game. Everyone in town believes he perished when his mine collapsed, but Dorothy is certain that her friend is still alive out there somewhere...
Commodore
STEAM HAMMER
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's 2 for 4X fans and Dark Souls fans:
4x game, It's pretty cool as all the factions aren't just stats modified versions of each other and have custom behaviors for themselves.For example: The klingon-like Gremmak will not hate pirates/slavers, but the Humans might fight you over these things. The Phidi leader might lose support for starting a war, while a Gremmak leader will probably gain praise for spontaneous declarations of war.
Each faction leader also has a personality as well that dictates how they act, for example a normally violent race might be friendly if their leader is a pacifist; But if that pacifist leader is from the Gremmak empire, he will probably have his citizens hate him over it, since they detest pacifism.
It also lets you customize all your units similar to the game SPAZ, or Gratuitous Space Battles.
This is one of those skill based "hard but fair games" that will probably have an enemy instantly kill you for button mashing.
The inner game designer in me could compile a 22+ point list of things this game does incredibly well to reinforce that dark souls-ish combat feel.
(Like making all attacks avoidable, shields block all damage but only for half a second then have a small cool down, you need a full second uninterrupted to heal, dodge rolls save lives, enemy attacks are brutally strong, weapons don't swing instantly/have weight, combos and terrain can be utilized, etc)
Since every enemy has the capacity to kill you and there are no checkpoints in between runs it makes every encounter really intense.
It's probably one of the most rewarding things in a video game to be greedy with a bunch of blueprints (items to unlock more gear in future runs) and somehow not die on the way to the end of a level after having run out of healing potions.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
For Zarkonnen especially: Navalia is finally due to release on steam, and has an updated trailer showing all of the stuff in better detail.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/551630/Navalia/
Air Admiral
SONNY Don't ask me why they didn't simply name it sonny 3 but here it is! The sequel to sonny 2! It's... Well it doesn't scale whatsoever to sonny 2 but it's still good for what it is.
Air Admiral
Dammit my link is broken! Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
 everyone here probably knows of it
Commodore
Can never be too sure. Avorion had a shout before I saw it.
If you're into it, and you're into Airships, give it a holler.
Commodore
ok then, i present Besiege!
_LXRF0mywAir Lord, Engineering Corps
Be on the lookout for this one when it comes out:
Commodore
Acaratus
Aerial Emperor
Looks really cool, except for the map design which looks generic and arena-ish. Why not have proper-looking battlefields instead of these mutant chessboards?
Commodore
TBH haven't tried it. The reviews are positive and anything like FFT is a win for me. Best-Guess Levels were last to go, dev standpoint, grid point assets, etc. Just did the search that revealed the from-scratch engine so...
I imagine the sequel will hit hard.
Probably better than STEAM HAMMER, runs on an old Life Is Feudal Engine, still a couple of years away. At least the Steampunk stands out.
Commodore
Icarus Starship Command Simulator
Verified awesome.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
In my first game my hypochondriac security guard Bob Brown thought he was sick from being out in the rain and was attacked because of one fateful sneeze near a zombie infested mall. After throwing himself out of a window and escaping with an arm full of glass shards he found a nice place to put on a bandage made out of an old work shirt which DID get him sick and he died the next week.
At first glance Project Zomboid just seems like another one of those generic survival sims with zombies, but it's probably one of the most detailed and well done ones I've seen which makes it great. It has an immense attention to detail and the psychological aspect of survive the zombie apocalypse. Water and electricity shut off, trees eventually grow on houses, and your can become massively depressed, panicked, or injured for a multitude of different reasons. The health/combat system is also very similar to Rimworld in that each body part can be damaged/infected/etc and that will affect your character.
On a side note it's also fun to mess with zombie settings to make them blind but have superhuman strength/hearing/endurance and name your character Joel.
A paragraph here won't do it justice, so I'd recommend go looking it up on Steam.
Commodore
Project Zomboid is verified awesome.
Features like local co-op tackled early on helped that games survival in general. There was a production halt oriented around it. While fun it can get bland alone.
Maybe that has improved. :P
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Work on the game is still going strong, they added cars on Monday if you go into the beta tab.
There's also some simple Steam Workshop mods that make the game much less bland. One of my favorites is the one that makes zombies try to get out of the rain (and into any buildings like a SWAT team), or the one that makes zombies wander around at night instead of stand around.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's a potentially interesting one:
Air Admiral
Plasma Burst 2!
Essentially, a game about being a badass space marine doing badass space marine stuff. From being able to blast your enemies apart (Dismemberment) to slowing down time, if you want to feel like Neo and a Jedi all at once, give this one a shot. Something else to note is that while the original game is still floating out there on the internet (And PB 2.5 is currently in development) this is probably the best jumping off point for beginners or newcomers to the series. Unless of course, you're interested in the story in which case, I'll detail it for you here: Following the destruction of your home planet, you (And another space Marine) are sent back in time to deviate the course of events leading up to that point. That is, when an unfortunate mistake leads the time travel sequence to fail leaving you A: In the wrong time and B: place. You also seem to be separated from your ally. After finding your ally captured next to an assault vehicle, you travel to a space ship in the hope that you can still make it to your designated target in time. In a turn of events, your ally is killed at the foot of the shuttle and your left stranded. That's right. You can't beat plasma burst 1. There's no ending. Moving forward a little while and the planet the initially sent is now in full-scale panic and is attempting a mass assault drop. Basically, hundreds of space marines are sent in drop pods in a desperate attempt to find the initial marine from PB 1. And that's where you come in, kicking off the events of Plasma burst 2. Mind you, the game is very subtle about its story and that's only what I could piece together from the sparse dialogue.
Commodore
found this neat game yeasterday:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/541210/Cold_Waters/
(tried to get the video here, but i couldnt get it to work)
Commodore
Varies on the source of the video. While the site may be formatted for YouTube (where you simply need to post the link), it's not likely compatible with the Steam Platform.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here:
_YCommodore
well, that wasnt the video i was trying to post, but that works too xD
Commodore
Airmen
Next up on the testing block. Interesting things happening on the Steampunk Front. Very... very interesting things.
Commodore
hmm, looks like a mix of guns of icarus, airships, and besige :/
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Here's an old one from the long lost age of demos.
--
This one still holds up very well even by today's standards. I still think it's space combat alone is one of the the best RTS experiences around even when compared to modern titles.
On a side note: if anybody out there knows any game with similar space RTS battles PLEASE tell me. I've never seen another game combine hardpoints, reinforcements, resistances/damage bonuses, and abilities the same way as this one did.
--
As a bonus since I'm on a history themed post, here's a cold-war era song for you:
Commodore
hey, ive actually played Empire at war! would suggest too!
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
It's ten years old now, strangely. Which is pretty old as far as video games go.
Commodore
Battlezone is 20 years old and still has an active Facebook community - multiple, 3 actually lol (1, 2, and a Modders). More active than online forums. Groups are quite handy in keeping people connected, never want to restrict yourself to any given platform...
The closest I've seen is Stellaris & Sins of a Solar Empire.
To be honest I hated Empire At War. I almost bought it when it came out, but a friend lent it to me and I was very quick to change my decision. There we're two titles I loved that came out prior to Empire At War...
GALACTIC BATTLEGROUNDS
FORCE COMMANDER
Not to mention FC had some of the coolest CG work for its time. Still easily competes with any title within a decade as far as cinematics go. Galactic Battlegrounds should seem familiar, it runs on the same engine as another AAA strategy title of that decade. Still have all the disks, even the ones my friend lent me.
I believe both dwarfed Empire At War, they had mechanics and gameplay beyond their time.
Air Lord, Engineering Corps
Galactic Battlegrounds looks suspiciously like Age of Empires. Edit: Oh it's actually the same developers too.
Hey speaking of medieval stuff, has anybody said Exanima yet? I feel like I read it somewhere but couldn't find it.
Anyways, it's a game that throws out animation and hitboxes in favour of an entirely physics based combat and movement system.
It also puts a large amount effort into getting realistic (zombies and ogres aside), the armour and weapons have their proper names and uses as well as good detail on armour (coifs and all that). The fact it's entirely physics based also means you can't really make it have unrealistic combat.
The realism/physics base doesn't detract from the fun in any way as well, which is great since it's the first non-clunky/TABS-like one I've seen.
I've used the words "physics based" a lot, but this is what I mean.
Some fully armoured knights getting tossed around by an ogre.Commodore
Home Wars
Colony Survival
And the following title has peaked my attention having similarities to my two favorite pir@te games: Blackewake and Assassins Creed 4. But I'm yet to try it and it's AAA, so therefor wont get promoted on my platform nor will it receive a link.
Man O' War: Corsair - Warhammer
Commodore
theres also a similar game to empire at war that was called "homeworld" i think it got a remaster recently...
Air Admiral
Home wars looks pretty awesome. The art style reminds me so much of early from the depths that I almost wish the game was in early access. Colony Survival is WAY to similar to minecraft for me though...
Aerial Emperor
Hmm. So this thread has amply demonstrated a weakness of this forum software: no pagination in posts. It's taking ages to load. So what I'm going to do for now is lock this thread and start a new one.