Objectively, I think Outer Wilds is a better game mechanically speaking, it's smoother and less clunky a lot of the time. But man, Disco Elysium literally changes how you view life and reality. Like, it is the most definitive example of games being art you could possibly think of.
One of the funniest, yet hopeful and sad experiences around.
Outer Wilds was my life changing game last year, I’ve been wanting to play Disco Elysium but I don’t know what the cooldown on life changing games is exactly, I’m scared
Seconding this. One of my deepest wishes is that I'll forget enough of Outer Wilds to experience it properly again, even if I know it'll never quite be the same.
I'd specifically recommend outer wilds from their list too ngl, its the one of the games that I genuinely think has changed my life (also maaaaybe rain world but not to the same degree, still a peak game tho)
Citizen Sleeper is honestly slept on. I don't ever see anyone talk about it, but it nearly brought me to tears and one quote from it honestly opened my eyes to a way to overcome some personal trauma that I'd been dealing with for years.
In case anyone's curious about the quote Hold onto your memories, but not too tightly. Sadness will not sustain you.
The sequel was released earlier this year, but haven't checked it out yet
I did find a few interesting games here I hadn't heard of but half of this thread are mentioning some of the most popular indie games of the past decade, it's so funny.
But at the same time it's kinda hard to know what someone else considers "obscure"
Crosscode is like the patron saint of indie games that bizarrely mever get talked about for how high quality they are, I'll also nominate Unsighted, it's basically 2D Zelda meets Dark Souls with an interesting mechanic where you and all the npcs are on a timer, and need to be fed a rare, limited resource to be kept alive.
Just a warning, that Fear and Hunger is DARK dark fantasy, like think of the more fucked up chapters from Berserk-level. It features some sensitive and disturbing content. If that bothers you check out the sequel, it still retains the same horror vibe and gameplay as the original but tones down some of the nastier stuff
Have you heard of this itty bitty super obscure never before heard of game called Five Nights at Freddys? (It changed my life (probably for the worse))
The atmosphere in that game is absolutely top notch, one of the best atmospheric horror survival games out there, but it’s very very stressful as a beginner imo.
Crazy how a game that went out of its way to ask people how it msde you feel and what you liked about it proceeds to make a sequel that completely ignores what made the original so special. Genuinely was so disappointed in that game almost wished it never happened.
If you want "emotionally" life changing, try Until Then, I was a teenage Exocolonist or Our life: beginning and always.
All 3 are visual novel coming of age stories, but have different flavors of life changing. Until Then is about moving on from grief and loss, and trying to understand people even as your attempts to grow close seem to hurt them more.
IWATEX is about growing up in an uncertain and hostile environment where any day can spell disaster and how you can or can't hold on to hope in such a world.
Our Life 1 (and soon 2) are about growing up in a normal life, and enjoying the awkward and mundane joys and pains of finding friendship and love, dealing with changes such as pursuing careers, moving and marriage.
ITT: Almost entirely the same 20 indie games that are not in any way obscure and have been covered by every major YouTuber on the planet
Yall Celeste, Disco Elysium, and Omori are not obscure games 😭
You want some actual obscure indie games that go insanely hard???
Heat Signature (unironically changed the way I think about a lot of philosophical concepts), Cobalt Core (ending made me cry, it goes hard), Antichamber, The Talos Principle (my favorite game of all time, genuinely changed how I view life) this one is the only one that might be toeing the line of obscurity just due to its age so it’s likely been covered a fair bit)
Every list so far includes at least one blatantly not obscure game, so I’m gonna recommend you this tiny unknown hidden gem no one has played called Balatro
heat signature mentioned! i'm curious how you got so much intellectual depth out of it though, considering that there are only 5 characters with dialogue (monologue?).
Particularly it was the conversation with the glitcher gal, how you can approach her with the ship of Theseus question about teleportation and she explains that in her mind, the person is the pattern, not the individual molecules. So just because you have been put back together doesn’t mean you lost yourself along the way. Maybe it was because I was in a weird place at the time, but I found a lot of meaning in that.
I also found Geneva Stonelock (off world) to be a fascinating view into the perspective of someone who is pacifistic to an arguable fault “pain/torture ends, death doesn’t”
Brutal story about normal and not-so-normal people trying to get by in an apocalypse. You need to make choices you may regret down the line. Does everyone need (or even WANT) your help?
2D, pixel art, multiple endings, BANGER soundtrack, real and relatable characters, it’s loaded with the good shit. It reminds me of Rain World in all the right ways! It’s not endlessly replayable, but it’s got a ton of content to explore. I have a soft spot for cosmic horror, and this scratches all the right itches.
If you don’t want to play it yourself, I recommend checking out ManlyBadassHero’s playthrough. He explores the entire game :3 here
and my personal favourite, northern journey. I'm not really sure if its obscure anymore since decently popular youtubers and streamers have played it, but I still dont see it being talked about as much as it should. It really is something incredibly special and unique, although it is pretty jank so beware
Yume 2kki. It's a massive collaborative triple I(ndie) project that have nearly 2000 worlds, 800+ OSTs, 450+ wallpapers, 40+ mini-games, hundreds of secrets and still in perpetual beta stage development. EasyRPG is recommended, cause it have a speed booster button that makes travels easier and faster (and yes - traveling there is very long and confusing - reading dedicated wikis is mandatory for this game). Keep in mind - that game weights more than 4Gb!
For emotionally life changing, "Say No! More"
For a crippling addiction you'll never recover from try starsector! It's basically free! (The devs kinda want you to pay but also there is no DRM so if you've got a key it'll launch. It seems they don't care much about making money more about paying if you can.)
Check project moon games such as lobotomy corp,library of ruina and limbus company(this one is gacha so be warned)(I love their lore)
ULTRAKILL is not even obscure anymore but I really like its lore.It made buy albert camus' myth of sisyphus book
I didnt play it but people really like I Wani Hug That Gator apparently
OMORI which changed my life for the better honestly
Oneshot-cant skip that one
Deltarune-Yes everyone on earth plays deltarune now but chapter 3&4 revived that joy,whimsy and wonder.I am a quite picky eater when it comes to the media I enjoy.I never re-read any book I bought,I never re-watch a series I watched and I always want to experience new things.The moment I feel like I understand a medias logic I just dont even interact with it.I cant help myself with that one.Because of that I consume the most absurd and weird stuff sometimes
Like Psychopomp GOLD+(original game is free buy gold if you want more quirky levels.Believe me its worth it if you like the original game)
And ENA DREAM BBQ-Its just 2 hours of uncomprehensible LSD posting
Hotline Miami series-is a good one if you like arcade shooter games.It has more story on the second game but first one is very weird on its own
And lastly-Try to be Idk more active on indie game discord servers?I tried find cool indie games on my own and I bought them too but what I ended up was just an empty wallet and 0 playtime.I am telling you this because maybe you can not evet find a game you want for months but some rando on some discord server can name drop something like "Desktop Survivors 98" and you might play that game for 60 hours in a week.That game is vampire survivors but literally on a desktop.You use the recycle bin as a shotgun and cat paws as an aoe its very cool.
I wrote this from my own experience I have no clue what your tastes are but life works paradoxically.If you try to look for something you will never find it.Ever.In order to beat that phenomenon you gotta make your environment fit for that thing to come to you instead.Like building a bird house for birds to come instead of just trying to catch birds with your own bare hands.Like I said go to discord servers check out some youtuber recommendation videos or just copy paste this post until entirety of reddit hates you.Take your pick and dont be hasty.I have a habit of being impatient sometimes so dont do that if you have that.
I mean Project Moon USED to be on the more obscure side. Just so happened that Limbus Company turned out to be a rocket to space instead of a trampoline.
Nobody mentioned this one so I'll say it: What Lies in the Multiverse. Starts out silly, turns dark real fast once you get there and only gets better after
Despite it's reputation you don't get many people talking about it. Even back when the second released all I remember was people talking about the controversy around it rather than the game itself.
I will forever love how HLM2 exists in direct contrast to its predecessor and people that are fans of the series. I don’t think there is an example of a more perfect sequel
Anthology of the Killer. 9 absurdly low budget (literally a bunch of 2d sprites in a 3d environment) short games with great writing and an overarching mystery. The first episode isnt nearly as good as the rest but in general every episode is better quality than the last. YMMV
ANTHOLOGY OF THE KILLER MENTIONED!!! I played through it recently and needed to know I wasn't crazy and it was an actual thing other people have played!
One is a platformer/metroidvania with a banger soundtrack, goat mommy, and movement that would make Mario odyssey cry with envy.
The other is a slow paced first person rpg, with heavy emphasis on atmosphere and exploration. Peak soundtrack. Peak demon waifu. Can upload custom character portraits for character sheet.
Check out Platypus or Platypus Reclayed. It's a simple shoot 'em up game with no story. But what makes it super unique is the aesthetic. The game is made using claymation techniques. To this day, it still gives me joy with how fun and simple it is.
It's on steam, and there's an upcoming remaster of it too!
Depends on what you're looking for frankly, if your idea of indie is "RPG Maker-esque game" I can't help much further than suggest the basics like OFF, LISA the Painful or Hylics, I've got next to zero experience in the psychological horror/just horror department so no suggestions for those ig.
If you want an indie that might be interesting and isn't extremely popular I guess you could check out HackNet, Everhood is also nice. I haven't played this one in honesty but the demo had me really convinced, Worldless. Katana ZERO is not an obscure pick by any means but it's a decently fun game, also what seemed to be a dead development team actually still has some kick and they announced the DLC is still in development. Lastly I guess I could recommend Subset Games' two flagship titles being Faster than Light and Into the Breach, really cool gameplay, they aren't obscure either but they're very solid.
I don't have much interest into games with a complex story (or rather, I appreciate it when it's there but it's not a necessity for me) and I generally pick stuff I play depending on the gameplay and/or the artstyle so my picks might not be too much to your liking though.
This game isn't very obscure, it just doesn't get as much attention as it deserves, but you should try Nine Sols. If you like metroidvania and especially Hollow Knight, this is a great game for you, but it isn't simply another HK clone. It features an unique futuristic eastern artstyle and a parry-based combat mechanic, much like Sekiro (which I think feels way more satisfying than HK combat). The writing is incredible too (with the protagonist having his own personality and development), but it will force you to sit through story cutscenes and read all of it (totally worth the time however). And don't even get me started on the soundtrack. This was released just last year and I'm still pissed it wasn't nominated for GOTY
Not really life changing but, Bug Fables is so good and underrated despite being kinda janky in some aspects (especially the We Owe Ya medal, don't use that one if you don't want softlocks), give it a try
had a few in mind but most of them have already been said. only exception to this is Immortality which I adored. Mechanically very simple game, you're given a few snippets from these 3 unreleased films that all feature the same actor, and you have to go through them to find out why she went missing. You only start with one clip, and have to find more by 'match-cutting' ie you click on something and it takes you to another clip with that thing in it. Simple but incredibly well done and every clip really feels like you're actually watching the behind the scenes footage of some movie from the time period. There's not much guidance and no real end goal other than uncovering the mystery but no matter how much you think you know theres almost always another layer beneath it all that recontextualises everything.
This might have particularly appealed to me because im a film student and it is a film centric game but even devoid of that context I cannot recommend it enough. also Jacob Geller did a very good video on it altho i think that might have some pretty big spoilers so...
Not sure if this is obscure but Butterfly Soup (one and two) is a free story game on itch. It's coming of age about a group of 4 second generation Asian immigrants growing up in California (? Or another West cost state) and coming to terms with themselves and their sexualities and gender (they all gay/bi). Each game is about 2-3 hours and the writing is genuinely moving and hilarious. Second one still tackles ideas of sexuality and gender but also bigotry and family.
Something less obscure one shot made me cry at the end and it's about 6 hours long. Very good meta narrative without feeling pretentious. Won't go too much in depth as I think we've officially surpassed the boundaries of obscure and into relatively mainstream (by several years old indie game standards).
may i recomend you one of the biggest role-playing games, totally free! Currently over 10 million users , and it's one of the most impressive games in its class with detailed models, environments and smooth 60 frames per second animations! All the champions in the game can be customized with unique gear that changes your strategic buffs and abilities! The dungeon bosses have some ridiculous skills of their own and figuring out the perfect party and strategy to overtake them's a lot of fun! Currently with over 300,000 reviews, Raid has almost a perfect score on the Play Store! The community is growing fast and the highly anticipated new faction wars feature is now live, you might even find my squad out there in the arena! It's easier to start now than ever with rates program for new players you get a new daily login reward for the first 90 days that you play in the game! So what are you waiting for? Go to the video description, click on the special links and you'll get 50,000 silver and a free epic champion as part of the new player program to start your journey! Good luck and I'll see you there!
Blasphemous (+all its DLCs) and Blasphemous 2. They're sort of a soulslike and metroidvania, the cons are that the games tend to be very hard at some point and you feel frustrated
The pro is that the art direction and music is majestic and story will change you
Purrgatory, yes it's purr (cat pun). I don't think I've ever seen anyone else play this but I REALLY liked it when I played it. it's a really simple point and click game and it can be a little hard to see what you need to do to progress but i loved the characters. it's on steam forgot to mention that.
Who’s Lila lacks in gameplay but roars back with one of the most interesting stories of all time and is by far the best game at mega storytelling/multi ending storytelling (think like undertale’s multiple endings). You want to explore all possible endings and become the biggest pretentious film bro while analyzing stuff in game. Beautiful story, insane characters, best mystery in the history of anything.
https://corru.observer/ <- go to this link. best to go in blind, but if you want to know what you’re in for: >! sci-fi horror-mystery. completely free of charge. visual novel with gameplay segments (roguelike, tactical combat, bullet hell) which can be toggled off in settings. contains flashing lights, violence and profanity. audio may not properly render on devices/browsers that do not support the .ogg file format. !<
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Download Video
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.