Actual Hidden Gems on Steam

Really enjoyed Heaven's Vault.

Surprised that The Enteral Cylinder only has 300-ish reviews. I remember seeing it all over the new when it launched. How is it?

Adding some from my library

• Dropsy - 1329 Reviews

  • A weird point and click with nice atmosphere. The soundtracks are neat too.

• The Blackwell Legacy - 1122 Reviews

  • The Blackwell series are point and click games about ghosts. It's cool to see familiar characters through out the series and how they change (or unchanged) .

• Railroad Ink Challenge - 65 Reviews

  • It's the digital version of a puzzle board game I highly recommend. High re-play value and fun to play solo or with friends. (The digital version should be solo only but you can compete with online leader boards)

Not sure if I would consider it a gem but this game gave me a good chuckle: Genital Jousting is currently on sale for 69 cents.

ΔV: Rings of Saturn
https://store.steampowered.com/app/846030/V_Rings_of_Saturn

A hard sci-fi 2D space mining sim.
"A physics-based mining sim, set in the thickest debris field in Sol. Every action has a reaction, lasers are invisible without a medium, and your thrust is a potent weapon. Find trade, adapt your equipment to your playstyle, hire a crew to help. Unravel the mysteries of the rings, or just get rich."

One of my personal favorites is still Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages, a 2D spaceflight shooter with text adventure RPG elements. At first it starts of pretty standard but there's such an incredibly wide array of customization options that it's almost daunting. Plus the developers really embrace the comedy over the course of the game to pretty extravagant levels. I mean, you literally fight a boss who manufactures DVORAK keyboards.

The Age of Decadence is CRPG set in a post-apocalypse ish, in which an analogue to the Roman Empire ruled most of the world until the collapse of civilisation, now it’s mostly city states struggling to survive and reclaim the old magitek of the empire.

Underrail: Life on earth’s surface has been made inhospitable ages ago, and the remains of humanity now live in the metro system called underrail and the caverns around it.

Both are isometric, turn based games that focus on combat and exploration. And they are hard. Builds are incredibly important, almost min maxing but they have a wide range of viable builds, especially the first one where you can play the entire game without fighting a single battle, all through alternative solutions and skill checks.

These are some deep cuts right here! Thank you for linking and sharing about them!

I really love sunless sea and sunless skies. They are so beautiful and story rich. Extremely simple game mechanics. You basically explore an unknown map, uncover the story, make choices and allegiances and do your best to survive.

This is a good list! I'll be checking some of these out for sure. I also have some overlooked games of my own I'd like to list. No links since I'm on mobile, but I may edit them in later.

Qbqbqb (30): Simple arcade game with nice animation and catchy music.

Goetia (496): Spooky point-and-click with some very good puzzles in my opinion.

Under Leaves (530): Relaxing hidden object game with a nice art style. Great game to play when you're stressed and want to turn your brain off.

Year Walk (1197): Horror adventure game with an off-putting atmosphere and interesting art style.

The Last Door (1541): Horror point-and-click adventure game with a lovecraftian feel.

Does Cogmind count? Because even when I see people discussing games like it, which are already pretty niche, it never comes up. That's tragic, because oh my god, just read some of these articles. This developer is obsessive and even if you don't get too deep into Cogmind it's an incredible toy to just screw around with and just see what happens.

Thanks for the list, a few games really caught my eye.

Here is my contribution - Tametsi

A minesweeper which has hand-crafted levels so you can always solve it with logic instead of relying on luck when you are out of logical moves.

I can recommend NEO Scavenger (slightly under 4k reviews). It's hardcore survival game in post apocalypse world. I haven't finished it yet, 'cause I always die in the process. Still very enjoyable if you're into post-apo.

Here are two 3D platformers I haven't really heard a lot of but still had very fun with last year.

Demon Turf - 335 Reviews What pulled me in initially was the art syle, the games looks a bit like the cartoons from my childhood. This one got combat, exploration, bosses, collectables. A bit of a problem is that the game tried to do a lot of things at the same time, resulting in a bit uneven quality overall. There are also leaderboards if you into speedrunning.

Demon Turf: Neon Splash - 105 Reviews Some kind of standalone DLC/spinoff to the first game. In this game everything is more streamlined and the design feels more focused. Combat have been cut in order to give the platforming more time to shine and a reason to simplify the controls. The focus is on repeating the same levels for better a time on the leaderboard. Speedrunning is not really my thing but I still found enjoyment in the game. Much cheaper and short than Demon Turf.

English Country Tune (153 reviews)

Fantastic super hard puzzle game from the person who would later create the more well known (and equally amazing) Stephens Sausage Roll (1001 reviews).

Both are graphically very basic but mechanically incredible and really well designed!

I'm just here to +1 Northern Journey. I couldn't put this game down once I started. It's weird AF, and I loved it utterly.

Love this thread, finally some real hidden gems! Gonna check out DIG - Deep in Galaxies and Ctrl Alt Ego.

Creeper World. It’s technically a tower defense, but the enemy is fluid, constantly pouring out of spawn area. And the game has a pretty good story line.

Warsim deserves love. It's a real passion project: a text-based kingdom management sim with lots of things to do and nooks and crannies to explore.

Neodori Forever - 46 reviews (Positive) is also part of the Summer Sale!

I just picked this up and it's a fun and vibrant, pixel graphics, arcade style drifting game. There's a 'story' mode followed by an endless mode to keep you busy and the soundtrack made its way onto my playlist. I don't have a Steam Deck, but it seems like it'd be a good fit.

Love the post, keep it up

This is a great list and these all look amazing. Thank you for taking the time to compile it and share!

Star Valor looks cool as hell. I can't actually run it, since it's Windows-only, but one of y'all might like it. If you liked the classic Escape Velocity games or endless-sky, this looks similar.

If you like choose your adventure games, the game I released in 2016 is on sale. https://store.steampowered.com/app/426290/The_Away_Team_Lost_Exodus/ 58 reviews. Mostly positive.

___ Acid Spy ___

Acid Spy is a first person stealth action game set in a cyberpunk universe. Infiltrate heavily guarded bases and take down your enemies with skill and finesse. Master the art of quick, deadly stealth to become the acid spy.

Anyone got a gem similar to Hypnospace Outlaw? Literally my favorite game since I discovered it.

I'd love to contribute with Vision Soft Reset, with 78 reviews.

A metroidvania with time travel elements, you are a robot that can see the future investigating a planet, every time you save it creates a vertice in a timeline tree where you can jump around. I wish it was more ambitious but with the small team and budget, it did what it wanted pretty well, with my critique being a lack of polish in a few areas.

Thanks for the lists! Seems like whenever someone asks for some lesser-known indie games, people start mentioning ones like Stray and Hades, which are good, but not exactly deep cuts. :)

I looked through my most played and least reviewed indie games on Steam, and found these three. They're super cheap for the summer sale right now, too.

Venineth - 178 reviews - currently $8 - released 2020

• Physics-based 3D puzzle platformer. You play as a ball, with a lot of momentum, that rolls around some amazing looking, mysterious landscapes. Chill ambient music plays in the background. I haven't gotten very far yet; the reviews suggest that it gets harder as it goes on. The first couple hours are very relaxing.

Stealth Bastard Deluxe - 628 reviews - currently $1 - released 2012

• 2D puzzle platformer with the best soundtrack ever (and the soundtrack is 40 cents right now). You need to have very precise jump timing, so it has more difficult platforming than most puzzle platformers. Very replayable with leaderboards, community-made maps, and unlockable new skills that let you solve a level in different ways.

AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - 625 reviews - currently $2 - released 2009

• I stayed up way too late playing this one many years ago, and I can't even explain why it was fun. You just kind of fall downwards, aiming at things as you go down, and trying to find new routes to hit the things you want to hit and avoid the things you don't want to hit. I can't really compare it to anything else, except for maybe some platformers where there's a "falling level." Except this is all falling levels. It's weirdly good. They're working on a new one, although it's very delayed at this point.

I highly highly cannot more highly recommend Observation. It's $7 right now.

It's a unique story game, with an excellent narrative, pace, and conclusion.

PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Shout out to Fishery (309 reviews). It's pretty niche as an aquarium simulator, but very relaxing and well made.

Also, Ozymandias (770 reviews) is a great strategy game that manages to squeeze the feeling of a full game of civilization into less than one hour.

If you're interested in classic board games, The Conquest of Go (397 reviews) is a great entry point into Go, with nice tutorial features and a campaign mode that scales difficulty as you win games.

Boundless

This is probably my favorite game, it's going through a rough patch right now because development had halted for about a year and was then sold to another company last year who are still in the process of transferring everything over. I'm hoping for new development within another year because it's an awesome game, but it's been stagnant for a long time. It's not on sale, but they've discussed a lower price for it openly after they get things rolling. We'll see.

DIG, Deep in Galaxies looks awesome. Thank you!

Treasures of the Aegean looks kind of beautiful in the first trailer. And there's a demo to try? Looks like that's what I'm doing next.

Thanks for the list, very intrigued by Ctrl Alt Ego being an immersive sim fan

Poosh XL 152 reviews. An arcade high score chaser with a neon aesthetic.

My go-tos. Granted, they’re largely city builders, but my main jam is WoW, so city builders “tickles” different part of my brain - my downtime when I need a break from the MMORPG space.

Planetbase - A survival/sim/city builder. Guide a group of space settlers trying to establish a base on a remote planet. Grow food, collect energy, mine resources, survive disasters and build a self-sufficient colony in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Dawn of Man Command a settlement of ancient humans, guide them through the ages in their struggle for survival. Hunt, gather, craft tools, fight, research new techs and face the challenges the environment will throw at you.

The Pale Beyond You didn’t ask to lead this expedition, but here you are. Stuck in the ice, Captain missing, miles from civilisation. Someone has to take charge. Manage your meagre resources, balance safety and morale, make the hard calls, and head in the only direction you can - through The Pale Beyond.

Kingdoms and Castles Kingdoms and Castles is a city-building simulation game about growing a kingdom from a tiny hamlet to a sprawling city and imposing castle. Make trade agreements, alliance, and war with neighboring AI controlled kingdoms. Each villager and resource is individually simulated.

The Wandering Village The Wandering Village is a city-building simulation game on the back of a giant, wandering creature. Build your settlement and form a symbiotic relationship with the colossus. Will you survive together in this hostile, yet beautiful post-apocalyptic world, contaminated by poisonous plants?

Homewind Home Wind is a minimalist, relaxing and cozy city builder about creating large settlements based on proximity tactics. All for free!

Lingo (109 reviews) - A word puzzler with inspirations from Antichamber and The Witness. This has taken several sessions of getting the gang together to work on it, and after 20 hours, we still have more to do!

Space Tyrant is a 4x space conquest game, but it plays like a fast paced solo board game or adventure. Fun balance between strategy and random space goofiness.

Great list thanks.

Two exploration games that I found enjoyable are 廃村巡り | Haisonmeguri and Umurangi Generation.

Haisonmeguri is super short with a few alternate endings, quite janky but the atmosphere and feel of the game are really well done.

Umurangi Generations is more polished and more of an actual game with objectives. I dislike that it's timed, but that's the only big criticism I have.

shipped a local multiplayer naval game Overall Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive (523 reviews) : I had a lot of fun playing this game with my sist er and cousin.
seems like my previous comment didn't get posted

Fotonica definitely deserves more love. A simple adrenaline-rush timing-based running game, but extremely addictive! Good for getting really into that hyperfocus zone.

You know of any other Oregon Trail remixes? Been looking for a game like those ever since I was a little kid.

Survivalist, just check it out, looks janky but is a really fun cool game.

Getting major Exile vibes from Environmental Station Alpha; must check it out.