2011's hidden gaming gems

[endtherapture]

The Witcher 2 was completely overshadowed by Skyrim. But it deserves just as much praise.

Nonlinear storyline

What?
The Witcher 2 was very linear.
There were splits in the storyline at some points, but that doesn't make it non-linear, maybe multi-linear, but linear no less.
It was just masked with the hub-based side-quest setting with an explorable surrounding.
That's not a bad thing though.
Linearity is superior for telling a good story.
And it's a great game.

Well it's so non-linear you'll need to play through the game like 16 times to get the full experience.

Which is impressive for such a tightly driven game.

 

[spartandude]

neither are really hidden gems but throught out the gaming community are probably over looked

The Witcher 2 (best games ever to be released btw)

and

Dark Souls (also fantastic and addictive)

 

[Fusioncode9]

Ms Splosion Man, Rayman Origins, and Outland haven't been talked about too much but they were all excellent games.

 

[putowtin]

Didnt play many games released this year yet, but out them Infamous 2 is the closest one to being a hidden gem. Haven't seen THAT much talk about it and I found the game to be really great.

Woo Hoo! This was my game of the year, more than any other game in 2011 it was one I wanted to play over and over and over and.... off to play it again now!

 

[Grimfolse]

Well, it technically is a pretty old game, but for me, Beyond Good and Evil getting a PSN release would probably be my choice.

 

[Whodat]

For reatail games: PayDay: The Heist. Great co-op and it's pretty original concept for gaming, not so much in reality, but it's not commonly seen in games.

For indie games: Happy Wheels. I love you, Cr1tiKal

 

[Extragorey]

The Witcher 2 was completely overshadowed by Skyrim. But it deserves just as much praise.

Nonlinear storyline, amazing graphics, a difficulty comparable to Dark Souls, one of the most intriguing plots ever, deep characters? It's everything that Dragon Age 2 should've been.

Precisely this. I love Skyrim too of course (probably put more time into than the Witcher 2 now) but the Witcher 2 definitely deserves more light than it got.

For me... Discounting all the big triple-A games, I'd have to say...
- Minecraft (of course)
- TAGAP 2 - The best freeware game ever made, hands-down. It's so good that the developer was having trouble getting attention for it - everyone wanted to know where the hidden cost was! (www.tagap.net [http://www.tagap.net])
- Cave Story+ - that game is very weird but incredibly cool (part of one of the Humble Indie Bundles)
- Bastion

There's a few others too, but those are good enough for now.

 

[Denamic]

Well it's so non-linear you'll need to play through the game like 16 times to get the full experience.

Which is impressive for such a tightly driven game.

That's not what non-linear means.
Visual novels often have multiple choices branch out the story, so you have to replay multiple times to get the full story, and they are as linear as games get.
If you can even call them games, but that's irrelevant.

 

[LookingGlass]

So hidden that it hasn't even been mentioned on the "hidden gaming gems of 2011" thread after 3 pages, I'm saying indie puzzle game Hamilton's Great Adventure. I got 10+ hours of fun from this and felt bad for only giving them $2.50 (75% off a Steam sale). It has a great balance of thinking up what to do and quickly executing the solution (particularly later on). Knocked it over in a few days because I found it hard to stop playing.


Renegade Ops also seemed to receive little fanfare, but I had a blast with it and I'll pick up the DLC soon and replay the whole thing. Great downloadable title from the Just Cause series developers.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

No Time to Explain. Freaking hilarious, challenging platforming with quick mechanics, and a grand death count. Also, if you pirated it, you got a pirate outfit! Which only made me buy it, oddly enough.

Also, Outland and Terraria. Both weren't exactly widely discussed, though there was plenty of love for them, for the best reasons. If you check out anything of late, check these out.

Anyone have any word on Trine 2?

 

[mental_looney]

Adventures of Shuggy

Really good little platforming and puzzle title with lots of levels but got like 0 publicity and a bad release date

 

[Slash Dementia]

Orcs Must Die is a really good game. I'm not sure how hidden it is, though.

 

[Maddenfreak]

hmmm, well im not sure this counts for a couple reasons. 1, it came out either very late 2011 or very early 2012, so im not sure it qualifies. 2, it's unfinished. the full game is set to be released in two or three years. but anyway a game i found highly entertaining was "Overgrowth" developed by Wolf fire (or something like that). anyway here's a link of some gameplay of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhWHIkvfa90

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Shadow era.

Finally a collectable card game that is affordable.