Completely Non-Standard Games You Play

[lacktheknack]

Recently, I've been tossing myself into the Indie game section of my local Steam client, as well as playing the Humble Bundles and generally searching for something new, as I don't particularly care for what I view to be stagnation in the high-budget area of games. What I've found has been very interesting, indeed.

This is not a thread for War Shooter 50394. It's not for popular RPGs or unpopular ones. It's not for point-and-click adventure, classic turnbased strategy, economic strategy, or simple hybrids of popular genres.

No, this is a thread of games that are just plain old difficult to describe and truly unique.

This is a thread for the likes of <spoiler=Uplink>http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/screenshots/nakatomi1.gif an example of nigh-perfect immersion that's best described as "Hollywood Hacking 101",

<spoiler=The Binding of Isaac>http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/8/86192/1847565-the_binding_of_isaac_pc_1311672393_008_super.jpg a dungeon crawler with main themes and elements that vary from "hilariously weird" to "sleep-wreckingly screwed up",

<spoiler=Darwinia>http://techreport.com/r.x/toshiba-t235-1345/games-darwinia.jpg which is a sort of terrifying cross between RTS, simulator, economic strategy, computer landscape and the holocaust, and

<spoiler=Colobot>http://images7.gry-online.pl/galeria/galeria_duze3/953572265.jpg a basic planet-colonizing game that focuses on an entire in-game programming language to manipulate all the colonization robots.

I guarantee that you'll never encounter any other games quite like these. Anyone else have other truly original and unique games that you enjoy?

 

[Antitonic]

Again, I can only recommend "Comic Book Hero: The Greatest Cape". It's a text-based simulation about superheroes. There's nothing I can really add that hasn't been covered in my review [http://new.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.331893-Comic-Book-Hero-The-Greatest-Cape-An-Anti-Review][footnote]Shameless Plug[/footnote].

If you like to make your own story in a game, I suggest you give it a try.

 

[DustyDrB]

I thought long and hard and had to accept the fact that I'm a boring mainstream gamer and can't offer up a single title in this thread.
But I'll enjoy sitting back and observing the weirdness that comes up here.

 

[Frybird]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

 

[Sacman]

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!

A Reckless Disregard For Gravity...

The most fun I've ever had with an indie game... damn fun with tones of style...<.<

 

[lacktheknack]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

Dungeons of Dredmore is a stretch for "Unique"... it's exactly as if Nethack knocked up Torchlight and had Derek Yu make the baby's clothes. Also, you're supposed to suck at it.

 

[iFail69]

Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing.

I don't know why I do, but it's so damn funny.

Also the Touhou series of games. I need some way of making myself feel overwhelmed by difficulty.

 

[Frybird]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

Dungeons of Dredmore is a stretch for "Unique"... it's exactly as if Nethack knocked up Torchlight and had Derek Yu make the baby's clothes. Also, you're supposed to suck at it.

It's a stretch, maybe, but so is Uplink (there are TONS of Hacking Simulators out there) and The Binding of Isaac (Basically Nethack meets Zelda with Attitude).

Let's not go there.

 

[lacktheknack]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

Dungeons of Dredmore is a stretch for "Unique"... it's exactly as if Nethack knocked up Torchlight and had Derek Yu make the baby's clothes. Also, you're supposed to suck at it.

It's a stretch, maybe, but so is Uplink (there are TONS of Hacking Simulators out there) and The Binding of Isaac (Basically Nethack meets Zelda with Attitude).

Let's not go there.

Tons of hacking simulators? I'm not challenging you, I'm genuinely interested. I did a basic search at one point, but turned up nothing. What games are you talking about?

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I thought long and hard and had to accept the fact that I'm a boring mainstream gamer and can't offer up a single title in this thread.
But I'll enjoy sitting back and observing the weirdness that comes up here.

Ditto here. And I thought I had a bunch of weird indie games, but all of them, upon reflection, play like something else...I suppose the closest thing I have to the thread parameters is Aquaria, which plays pretty much like the bastard child of Super Metroid and Ecco the Dolphin. I haven't actually played it that much, but I guess I was just too overwhelmed by how little a frame of reference I had for it, and you can take that for what little it's worth.

Also the Touhou series of games. I need some way of making myself feel overwhelmed by difficulty.

There's a lot of games out there that play a lot like Touhou, and even a few I can think of off the top of my head that are a lot easier to find outside Japan (Deathsmiles for IOS and Gundemonium for PSN/Steam, and maybe also Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun on XBLA if you don't mind spaceships instead of anime girls.) Unique, it ain't - not even in terms of soul-crushing difficulty in "current-gen" gaming.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Tons of hacking simulators? I'm not challenging you, I'm genuinely interested. I did a basic search at one point, but turned up nothing. What games are you talking about?

You could start with Hacker Evolution: Duality.

 

[Frybird]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

Dungeons of Dredmore is a stretch for "Unique"... it's exactly as if Nethack knocked up Torchlight and had Derek Yu make the baby's clothes. Also, you're supposed to suck at it.

It's a stretch, maybe, but so is Uplink (there are TONS of Hacking Simulators out there) and The Binding of Isaac (Basically Nethack meets Zelda with Attitude).

Let's not go there.

Tons of hacking simulators? I'm not challenging you, I'm genuinely interested. I did a basic search at one point, but turned up nothing. What games are you talking about?

Games like "Hacker Evolution", "Mindlink 2005" and "Digital Hazard"...and there are games that predate Uplink that, admittedly, barely qualify as similar because they are essentially "real" Hacking Simulators (read: basically text-adventures) that only use a command-line Interface.

Anyway, i'm just saying don't get started to argue over what Indie (!) Games are "unique" and wich aren't unless you want to turn the thread into a dick-measuring contest.

 

[lacktheknack]

With friends, i currently mostly play Frozen Synapse and Defcon online, even though i suck in both.

I'm also playing Dungeons of Dredmore solo and...well, lets say for me personally non-standard games translates to "games i suck at"

Dungeons of Dredmore is a stretch for "Unique"... it's exactly as if Nethack knocked up Torchlight and had Derek Yu make the baby's clothes. Also, you're supposed to suck at it.

It's a stretch, maybe, but so is Uplink (there are TONS of Hacking Simulators out there) and The Binding of Isaac (Basically Nethack meets Zelda with Attitude).

Let's not go there.

Tons of hacking simulators? I'm not challenging you, I'm genuinely interested. I did a basic search at one point, but turned up nothing. What games are you talking about?

Games like "Hacker Evolution", "Mindlink 2005" and "Digital Hazard"...and there are games that predate Uplink that, admittedly, barely qualify as similar because they are essentially "real" Hacking Simulators (read: basically text-adventures) that only use a command-line Interface.

Anyway, i'm just saying don't get started to argue over what Indie (!) Games are "unique" and wich aren't unless you want to turn the thread into a dick-measuring contest.

Noooo thank you.

 

[Retal19]

The most I can offer is Metro 2033. A Shooter with near 0 HUD, only a few different mostly handmade weapons, a ton of weird mutants, Nazis and Communists in all-out war, all set beneath Moscow after an Apocalypse. It's like the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, except you aren't fiddling around with ammunition because your Makarov takes 9x18mm and not 9x19mm and you screwed the two up and have to fight with your fists. EDIT: Also, it has a lot more character than your standard Shooter. you play a Russian, so that's already a point towards 'more character'. He doesn't talk much, and other characters point this out, but when he does talk its either a muttered swear in Russian at misfortune, or something actually quite soulful, like the Good End. (Haven't seen the Bad End, can't actually bring myself to do it.) He also talks during loading screens to give background on his feelings and emotions as he's going through all this.

Oh, or Elona. Freeware Roguelike RPG. I don't think its being updated anymore, but there's still people playing it and it is good fun to play once you get into it. Like an old Final Fantasy, but more confusing and with weird mutations and stuff. http://homepage3.nifty.com/rfish/index_e.html
It's only 27MB, and worth a try.

 

[Haz88]

My gaming budget is kind of small so most of what I play are older titles or indie games. Lately I've been hooked on Eufloria, Bit. Trip Runner and Sanctum.

Eufloria is a kind of a drag-n-drop strategy game where you send seeds from asteroid to asteroid fighting other colonies of seeds. It's easy to get the hang of, and the game is relaxing with a slow pace. Pity that it is a bit too easy to outnumber the opponents.
Bit.Trip Runner is really a rythm game, but feels like a platformer because you make the character dodge obstacles, by jumping, kicking and skating. The soundtrack is really neat too.
A game of Sanctum is divided into two parts, one where you place blocks and towers to defend your core, and another where you in first person kill aliens before they get to the end. The art style is bright and colourful, and the aliens are really varied so that tactics have to be thought a bit out through the game. It's best in co-op, but it lacks replayabilty a bit. When you've cleared a stage there's not really any reason to do it again.

 

[Tallim]

Spacechem - Really good but tough puzzle game.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth - Oh what to say about this. It's a reverse tower defence game where you control a free roaming commander who can alter the routes your units take on the fly and use special abilities, and it looks gorgeous. Er trailer probably demonstrates better than screenshot would.


Couple of (old) retro remakes that I really like:

Total Eclipse - 3D adventure/puzzle game.

Cholo - Kind of hard to describe, you play a slowly evolving AI that has to open the bunkers in a city where the citizens have been sealed for hundreds of years. You have to do that by commandeering (and surviving) the droids around the city. Part puzzle game part fps.

Ugh I have a load more but don't have time right now. Big fan of indie games. They tend to last me much longer than big budget titles.

 

[Dandark]

Best thing I can offer up is Section 8. A shooter where you respawn by dropping through the planets orbit and smashing into the ground, crushing anything unlucky enough to be where you decided to spawn.

 

[Herbert_v1legacy]

The void

Spoiler

is VERY different from anything that I have ever played. In this game you are stuck in some kind of limbo. In this limbo colour is life, it is power, and it is what you need. So what you do is that you grow colour on trees, in order to get more colour (you need to give colour to get colour), and the colour that you harvest from these trees can be used to fuel your powers (which can do a whole slew of things), or to feed or kill the "sisters" (beings who inhabits the world, who themselves need colour to survive) and possibly fight the "brothers" (horribly disfigured creatures who rule the world). The game is like nothing that has been done before or since. Some might call it art, some might call it an experience, some might just give up because they can't wrap their head around it.

Frozen synapse

Spoiler

Frozen synapse takes some of the concepts found in Combat Mission and runs with it. It has a very different take on turn based, one that works incredibly well. You give orders to your soliders at the same time as your opponent gives orders to his/her soldiers and then things play out. This results in a very intense and challenging game.

Frayed Knights

Spoiler

Frayed knights is different in a rather retro kind of way. Imagine Wizardry or Might & Magic, in a slightly humorous setting (with a style of humor that should appeal to RPG-veterans). Challenging, fun and funny. Unique? Not if you look at the entire life span of computers RPGs, but if you look at what has been released during the last few years, it is.

Dwarf Fortress

Spoiler

Probably the most complex game you will ever play (Battlecruiser 3000AD & Victoria: An empire under the sun, you have long since been bested). This is a dwarf fortress building game. You start with a few immigrants, who you get to choose what skills they have, and you also get to pick what you will start your journey with. Then the rest is up to you. Ideally you should start building a home for your dwarfs. You can give your dwarfs jobs that they should do, and they will usually do the jobs you tell them (but if they have multiple jobs, they will do the one they want to do). New immigrants will start arriving, and you need to find work and a place to live for those as well (and what exactly will you do with that 4th soap maker anyway?). Dwarfs will get better at what they do, and what they see others do, and grow more skilled and powerful as they go along. What exactly makes this game so unique is a bit hard to explain, it needs to be experienced. Just be prepared for things to go very wrong when dwarfs start to go mad, when stray capybaras chew the legs of your soldiers, when undead trolls splash the elven caravans into tiny bloody peaces, when elephants decide they want to live outside your fort, when dwarfs make imp skin boots that lights anyone who wears them on fire (and dwarfs love new boots, so when someone dies, they will try to pick up the now ownerless boots!), when you fail to construct the pumping system right and you flood the entire fort with lava.. the list can go on. Because loosing is fun!
(Get this game, it is free. You will either not understand a thing of whats going on, or lose several days of your life trying to tend to your dwarfs)

The path

Spoiler

More art than game, the path takes the classic fairytale of the red riding hood and gives it a new and interesting twist. The goal is to reach the end of the path, the joy is to explore outside of it.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Bloodbowl counts, I think. A dice roll-based, turn-based American Football game set in the Warhammer universe. It's crazy fun, but pretty damn hard. I also played AI War: Fleet Command a bit, a very hard and very different kind of RTS. I suppose Katamari Forever counts as well. Can't think of any other game like it. And of course Dwarf Fortress.

Other than that, nothing that hasn't been named here already. Bit Trip Runner, AAaaaAAAAaaAAAA, etc.