Hey all. Always enjoyed reading everyone’s suggestions on more unknown games available during big steam sales.

I’ll start off with one that I have been a fan of for a long time: Death Road to Canada

This game is like a zombie action Oregon Trail like game, where you manage supplies and fight through hordes of zombies on your way to the safe haven of Canada. Only US$3.74 right now and well worth it imo!

  • Pixelologist@beehaw.org
    7·
    1 year ago

    I feel obligated to recommend a Steam Deck if you have interest in one and can afford it.

    We have 2 and I would get a 3rd if I could lol (with a bulky protective case etc. so I can be less careful)

    The most cost efficient way to go is buy the cheapest version and then put something like this in it https://www.westerndigital.com/en-il/products/internal-drives/pc-sn740-ssd#SDDPTQD-256G

    IMPORTANT NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU GET A 2230 SIZED NVME DRIVE. 2280 drives will NOT fit.

    If you don’t want to do that you can alternatively just get a big micro SD card and save the SSD swap for later For best speeds you want it to say A2 and a 3 inside a U.

    Even besides playing video games it’s an awesome little mini pc. Not perfect but awesome, and an amazing value at $359.

    • Bumblefumble@beehaw.org
      1·
      1 year ago

      Wait does the 64GB option support M.2 NVMe? I thought it only supports eMMC and that you can’t swap with a different NVMe drive, but maybe I’m wrong?

      • dan@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        Yes, exactly what I did. You can just buy a 2230 nvme ssd and slap it in. Process is pretty painless (just remember to take any micro SD card out before you take the shell off or there’s a chance you’ll snap it)

        The hardest part for me was finding a usb-c to usb-a converter so I could plug in a usb stick to reinstall the OS.

        • Pixelologist@beehaw.org
          1·
          1 year ago

          Luckily I already had some of that stuff from my switch. I do hope v2 steamdeck has a USB-A port (And I wouldn’t mind a second USB-C on the bottom)

    • Xathonn@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      I had heard that swapping the ssd yourself voids warranty, is that true? Or is it only if you swap more stuff

      • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        In the US, that’s illegal (Magnuson Moss warranty act). In a lot of the rest of the first world, there are similar laws. But regardless, Valve hasn’t shown any of the patterns some do of ignoring the law and forcing you to jump through hoops to exercise your rights, and there were a decent number of stories on Reddit of them fixing clear customer damage under warranty.

    • Catch42@kbin.social
      0·
      1 year ago

      You can swap the ssd! Why are they charging so much to upgrade to only 256gb of Nvme storage?

  • Rin@beehaw.org
    6·
    1 year ago

    for me, I’m really fixated on Cassette Beasts, because Pokemon has been disappointing for me for a long while now. I keep debating on whether I buy it now, or wait until they implement the online multiplayer they just announced.

  • somefool@beehaw.org
    6·
    1 year ago

    I fell in love with Submerged when I played it. It’s an exploration game set in a flooded city, where you play a young girl looking for supplies for her injured brother. Lots of navigating between buildings in a little boat, climbing around, and taking in the scenery. Incredibly relaxing to play.

  • Zebrazilla@kbin.social
    4·
    1 year ago
    • Shakedown: Hawaii - 80% off at 3,99€ - Think GTA for the 16-bit era.
    • 2Dark - 90% off at 2,49€ - Think Alone in the Dark but top-down and in retro/voxel style, from the original creator of Alone in the Dark.
    • UnderRail - 60% off at 5,67€ - Hidden or not, this one can’t be recommended enough to fans of the original Fallout (1 & 2, isometric) games.
    • Space Haven - 60% off at 8,79€ - In-depth colony/spaceship building & management sim with cozy graphics.
    • Crystal Caves HD - 60% off at 2,63€ - A true testament to how to faithfully bring an old platformer into HD, while also innovating on the original. Also contains a lot of hidden gems.
    • Supraland Complete Edition - 54% off at 15,71€ - First-Person-Metroidvania in a literal sandbox, lots of freedom, lots of puzzles and exploring. Contains the DLC. Get this to gear up for the eventual release of the sequel Supraworld. The standalone Supraland Six Inches Under is also worth getting, but is “only” at 45% off, which is still great.
  • shapesandstuff@feddit.de
    4·
    1 year ago

    Risk of Rain 2 - 50% 12.49€ 96% positive
    Action rogue lite hero 3rd person shooter thingy - My absolute favourite game in recent memory.
    Not sure if this counts as hidden but many fans of the genre don’t know it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Insanely good soundtrack, cool artstyle, creative characters with very diverse abilities and gameplay, plenty of enemies and bosses, hidden features, locations, items, bosses, c̴͕͎͚̗̥̀̃̓h̴̘̯̎͗ȧ̶͕̤̪̦̺̂̕r̷͚͑̔͒̃͝a̵̖̩̣̍̂̈́̎̿c̷̱͓̪͖̈́ṫ̵̯̈͂̚e̷̺͓̙̥͆̓ŗ̷̢̻̺̞͠s̸̩̍̍̀?̴̼̘̱̗̯̈̋̄
    You know how some rogue lites make sure items stop stacking so they don’t break the run?
    Yeah that’s not one of these. Go nuts, break the game, fly through the map, just to get too cocky and lose it all in the blink of an eye.
    The original Risk of Rain is also a banger, currently 80% off at 1.99€. Same concept but 2D sidescroller with pixel graphics. Incredibly sweet game.

    Art of Rally - 45% 13.74€ 92% positive
    Challenging game with arcadey look and sim-ish feel.
    Beautiful visuals and a chill soundtrack. Great for white knuckled time attack or hours of zen drifting in freeroam.

    Devil Daggers - 50% 3.99€ 96% positive
    Highscore based retro arena shooter bullet hell kinda deal. PSX era 3D look, one weapon with two modes, surprisingly interesting movement (think b-hops, rocket jumps).
    Every run is mostly identical. Enemies always spawn at specific times, but in random locations of the claustrophobic empty map. The longer you survive, the higher the score.
    Also fantastic sound design!

    Hyper Demon - 33% 8.36€ 95% positive
    Sequel to Devil Daggers. Turns everything to 11. Complete fever dream. Adds an absolutely psychotic rear view mechanic, where close enemies outside your FOV appear mirrored in red colour on your screen.
    Adds several movement and combat mechanics, while still keeping the weapon very simple.
    Different score system while keeping the timed spawns. Killing in rapid succession increases your score, just scraping by drops it over time.

    Lethal League Blaze - 35% 12.99€ 97% positive
    Projectile Fighting Game with saturday morning cartoon style 3D visuals. There’s a ball in the middle, whoever touched it last “owns” it. If you get hit by the ball, you take damage. If you hit it back, you own it and it speeds up. And you build special meter for absurd special moves.
    Turns into a mind melting firework of on screen effects the faster the ball gets.
    Has a decent campaign to learn the game and fight bots. Bangin soundtrack
    Up to 4 players, local and online play.
    The original, Lethal League is also on sale for like 5.99€. Fully 2D visuals, also very charming. iirc slightly lower health and no campaign.

    Nidhogg - 60% 3.99€ 90% positive
    If you don’t know Nidhogg go play Nidhogg. Bring a friend.
    Low-Fi 2D fighting game.
    You can run, you can jump, you can duck, you can stab. 4 Maps to utterly cover in pixel blodd.
    That’s about it.
    It opens up more the better you get, but just go play it, folks.
    Win against your buddies by getting through 3 screens in a tug-o-war kind of system and prove your worth by sacrificing yourself to the Nidhogg.
    Tournament mode available.
    Nidhogg 2 is also on sale for 5.99€ 81% positive at like 800 reviews.
    They got budget for graphics that time which… they used.
    Different weapons add a rock paper scissors dynamic to the game, everything else is mostly the same! Good stuff.

    Post Void - 20% 2.39€ 97% positive
    A wild ride of a psychedelci action rogue like? No meta progression from what I could tell, which is why I’d be hesitant to call it a rogue lite.
    Basically run based randomly generated doom while your ego melts away after a heroic dose of psychoactives.
    Health literally runs out (of the head you carry) over time. Kill to heal, don’t get hit.
    DO NOT TOUCH IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED PHOTOSENSITIVE EPILEPSY BEFORE.

    Redout - 75% 4.99€ 87% positive
    The quintessential zero-G racer for PC.
    Very similar to the classics like Wipeout, but innovating on the formula. You’ll need a controller!
    Left stick steers as you’d expect, right stick points the nose of your racer to compensate for tight turns and to prevent blackout / redout during high-G maneuvers.
    A classic campaign mode lets you unlock several classes of racers, two handsfull of upgrades let you adjust how you play.
    Sweet thumpin soundtrack Online play supports up to 12 players though I’d be a bit surprised if you find that many on the servers :D
    Split Screen mode available!
    The Sequel Redout 2 is also on sale at 14.99€ but it has even fewer reviews, fans of the games seem to favour it for longer tracks, deeper customization and improved gameplay. I haven’t tried it yet though.

    Heat Signature - 50% 6.49€ 94% positive
    If Hotline Miami was set in space. And a rogue lite.
    Pull off crazy heists aboard enemy ships to liberate the galaxy from authoritarian empires, each faction generally having some specializations when it comes to gadgets and tech which you get to unlock for your runs.
    Can be frustrating at times but on the flipside a close save get so much more intense. Also you usually get several chances to save your skin - if you’re captured you get thrown out an airlock and take control of your escape pod to fish your body out of hard vacuum.
    Generally there are so many cool mechanics, I’m having a hard time to pick highlights.

    • evilgiraffe666@ttrpg.network
      1·
      1 year ago

      Heat signature is fantastic, contender for my GOTY in whichever year I discovered it.

      The ability to pause and look around sometimes turns it into a puzzle game, either to save your skin or just reach the objective. Throw everything.

    • oranwolf@pawb.social
      0·
      1 year ago

      I wanted to chime in and say that no one should sleep on Risk of Rain 2, it’s a fantastic game and easily worth the $12.49. Nice list you put together!

      • MuffinMangler@beehaw.org
        1·
        1 year ago

        I was initially put off by the art style of Risk of Rain 2, but once I started playing I found that it gelled really well with the game. I’m really happy my friend convinced me to play it.

        Andto parrot everyone else, the soundtrack is killer.

  • TXinTXe@lemmy.ml
    4·
    1 year ago

    Ok, not so much as hidden, but also not super known:
    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. A tactical stealth game (think commandos saga back in the day) is 90%
    Technobabylon. A pixelated point & click adventure with some cyberpunk themes at 70%
    Return of the Obra Dinn. Probably the best detective/deduction game that I’ve played, at 40%
    Prey. One of the best immersive sims, at 75%
    The Case of the Golden Idol. Is not as good as Obra Dinn in my opinion, but it’s super good none the less, at 30%
    Antichamber. Super good puzzle game, at 75%
    The Age of Decadence. Ultra hardcore RPG set in ancient Rome, 60%
    Tametsi. Is like minesweeper but good, 67% (and only 0.77€)

    • Sev@pawb.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      It’s wild how many people seem to have slept on Prey. It’s an amazing game.

      Also +1 on Antichamber. Portal-like but with some very unusual and fun mechanics.

      • liminis@beehaw.org
        3·
        1 year ago

        Absolute gem of a game, shame Bethesda forced them to use the Prey branding; a lot of fans of the original wrote it off because it has nothing to do with the original. One can’t help but wonder if we would’ve had such a disaster as Redfall if Colantonio hadn’t left as a result of all that.

        Underrated even among Prey fans is Mooncrash, easily the best roguelite experience from a AAA studio, and just a great experience all around for anyone who wants ‘more Prey’.

    • lotanis@discuss.tchncs.de
      1·
      1 year ago

      Have just bought Shadow Tactics and Tametsi based on this. I used to love Commandos (and even better - Desperados).

  • eldrichhydralisk@lemmy.sdf.org
    4·
    1 year ago

    Donut County is only $3.89. It’s a short, funny, cute puzzle game where you make everything fall in a hole. Really good.

    Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth is $12.49 and a much better 80hr RPG then it has any right to be. And I never even touched the second game in the collection!

  • jemikwa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    3·
    1 year ago

    I have to recommend my favorite game of the last few years - CrossCode
    It has everything. Snappy combat, build diversity, varying enemies, incredible story and characters, beautiful pixel art, and unique puzzles.

    The combat is fantastic. It’s very responsive and has so much diversity in each element you obtain. The gear has so much variety to augment your builds.
    I love a great story in games. I adore the story in this game. Lea is a compelling main character while being one of few words (literally). Her friends she makes along the way are charming and frustrating but in a redeeming way. The universe has so much lore to discover in every facet, and the real-life MMO setting is captivating to explore. If you aren’t a fan of puzzles, you can reduce the timing of elements of those puzzles to make them easier to solve/execute. A good handful are time-based execution ones, so this feature is very helpful if you’re ever having a hard time pulling off one or two puzzles.

      • phosphorik@kbin.social
        2·
        1 year ago

        Man, Octopath Traveler was such a letdown. The total lack of character interactions with other character’s stories made protagonist selection feel pointless and the story felt even more shallow than it was. Just… so meh. I couldn’t talk myself into picking up the second one.

  • ColonelSanders@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    I suppose it depends on what a person considers a hidden gem because everyone’s tastes are different. I’ll list a few categories and at least 1-2 of my favorites in those categories that I’ve found on Steam and are currently on sale:

    Exploration/Base-Building:

    • Grounded
    • Raft
    • Rimworld
    • Subnautica/Subnautica: Below Zero

    Story based/Farming/Romance:

    • My Time at Portia*
    • My Time at Sandrock

    Visual Novels:

    • Basically anything made by PixelFade (Ace Academy, Ethereal Enigma, Crystalline). One of the few English-based VNs that are fully voiced in English and have a pretty decent plot/story. Interactive with different choices affecting different outcomes and even some minigames at least in EE.
    • _Nekop-_er Hush Hush. Ok, listen. I’ll admit there IS an 18+ DLC for this but it’s not necessary to enjoy the game. It honestly has a pretty interesting story/premise and I did get pretty heavily emotionally invested in the characters.

    *Note that MTAP has been fraught with issues. Although these issues don’t necessarily make the game unplayable, and it’s still enjoyable, be aware that it is was Pathea’s (the studio) first such attempt and as such they were still learning. Their second game Sandrock has solved a lot of the issues and it’s not necessary to play the first one

  • vanquesse@kbin.social
    2·
    1 year ago

    “Path of Achra” for a pretty traditional roguelike that focuses on short runs and setting up “broken builds”. Highly rated and pretty cheap.

    “Halls of Torment” It’s vampire survivors x diablo. My favorite of the genre beside the “original”. Not sure how hidden it is though.

    “Stone Story RPG” Not really sure how to describe this one. ASCII art sorta-idle game?

    “Siralim Ultimate” mystery dungeon type monster rearing rpg with some wild synergies and buildcrafting. Tonnes of ways to “break the game”