Steam Summer Sale: Hidden Gem/ Recommendations thread

EXAPUNK - 50% - 96% Positive

If you like old time puzzle games, and have a pinch for programming, then you will love this. In this game you control bots by creating algorithms to extract data and other challenges. The cool part is you must study the game language and learn the lore from manuals and magazines that the game provides.

SHENZHEN I/O - 50% - 93% Positive

From the same creator of EXAPUNK, only the thematic here is electronics.

Road 96 - 50% 91% Positive

Summer 1996, Today is the day! You hit the road. Adventure. Freedom. Escape. Run. Flee the Regime. Try to survive.

On this risky road trip to the border, you’ll meet incredible characters, and discover their intertwined stories and secrets in an ever-evolving adventure. But every mile opens up a choice to make. Your decisions will change your adventure, change the people you meet, maybe even change the world.

Huh. Didn't realize it started today. Will have to check my wishlist.

Anyway, recs in no particular order:

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a lovely little game. Some great East Asian influences, and a really great art style. Combat is sometimes surprisingly difficult. Some fun puzzles and platforming make up a lot of the game.
• Death and Taxes is a short and darkly humorous game where you take on the role of the Grim Reaper and decide who lives and who dies in an workplace-like fashion. If you're a fan of the web series, Purgatony, this might remind you of that. It's got a touch of satire to it as well, but not super pronounced. Mostly in the details and consequences of who you let live and who you let die (and there are consequences, some very significant).
• Heaven's Vault is a narrative game that takes place in space. Linguistics (or rather translating text) plays a role in the game and it's got a hand drawn, cel-shaded kind of art style.
• A Story About My Uncle is a first person, narrative driven, and entirely nonviolent game, with a bunch of cool swingy mechanics (so lots of gameplay, just not shooty bang stuff) and a fairly sweet story. You meet all sorts of fantastic, alien creatures on your adventure, platforming through a strange and beautiful world. Art direction is lovely, honestly.
• ABZÛ is just straight up awesome relaxation (with a few less relaxing points every so often) from some of the devs who brought you Journey and Flower. This time, it's all about diving and swimming through fascinating locations that vary from colorful reefs to areas reminiscent of long forgotten temple ruins (the name comes from the Sumerian and Akkadian word referring to underground aquifers that played an important part in some Babylonian mythology).
• Quantum Conundrum - Do you like Portal but wish it had a little John DeLancie commenting on your actions? Then this is for you! A fun puzzle game heavily inspired by Portal (the lead dev worked on the original Portal, if I recall). It's aimed at a slightly younger audience, but I think it works for everyone. Good vibes all around.
• Jade Empire is another great East Asian-influenced RPG developed by BioWare back in the day. It's basically KOTOR, but with real time combat heavily inspired by various martial arts and the odd bit of mythology here and there. If you like movies like Crouching Tiger, you may enjoy this. Actually, if you enjoy RPGs in general, you might like this.
• Blacktail is a game I haven't finished yet, but it's an interesting retelling of the old Baba Yaga myths and tales. Main character is voiced by the same actress who voiced Meg in Hades. A lovely, husky voice if ever there was one.

These next few are very hit or miss and some may find them either unpolished or just not that enjoyable. I'm listing them because they've got either an interesting story, or interesting mechanics. You'll notice that two have a "mixed" rating, so this is more about "if you like the idea, maybe try it".

• The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is a narrative game that puts you in the shoes of a blind princess. It was made to be a game that blind people can enjoy, and the controls and mechanics are fairly basic (and it's keyboard only as far as I remember, but there might be controller support, I don't know), but the audio design is fantastic (for obvious reasons). There's some very basic combat, and it's all about timing and listening for cues. I honestly think it's a fantastic game, but it's not for everyone. Good news is that it has a demo! Try it out first. Also, WEAR HEADPHONES. It's actually a necessity here. Binaural recording and object placement is entirely dependent on your ability to hear things (since you can't see anything, though it's got some pleasant screensaver-type visuals which do fit the theme of the area you're in).
• eXperience112 is a bit of a weird game. It's kind of a point and click adventure, but you don't control the main character. It takes place on an ocean vessel where something's gone wrong. You essentially play a camera operator and what seems to be the only survivor speaks to you directly so you can point her in the right direction. Also, she remembers when you last saved. If you don't play for a while, she'll comment on the fact that you left her alone for a while. It's buggy and got some jank, but it's got some interesting ideas.
• Republique is pretty similar to the above game in that you take the role of a camera operator helping out the main character by being her eyes. Instead of it being more of an adventure game, it leans heavily into stealth and takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk type setting. Also, it's FREE, which I only just discovered. Apparently they just straight up made it free last year, so no need to worry about wasting your money if you don't like it. And no need to rush before it goes off sale either.
• The Occupation is kind of the middle ground between a walking sim and immersive sim, which sounds like a weird description. It has narrative and some gameplay elements that you'd find in immersive sims (open-ish levels, multiple characters to speak to and ways to complete a level, some stealth, etc.), and every level takes place in real time, which is important because you'll have scheduled appointments for interviews and you'll be gathering evidence before that time is up, so you'll be looking at your in-game watch often. That watch is the reason I find it gets into walking sim territory, because you're kind of restricted by it and it sometimes makes things feel a little "on-rails". The whole thing takes place after some terrorist event killed someone close to the main character, set in a kind of dystopian London, but with a very '70s/'80s vibe in aesthetics. It has a demo, so try that first. If you don't like it at all, you won't like the game. If you find it intriguing, later levels get more intense, so you might be interested in buying the full game. If you like the demo, then yeah, maybe buy it. It's not too long to complete.
• (Note: I initially had this up in the regular recommendations, but thinking it over, this is pretty hit or miss for various reasons.) Not a hidden gem exactly, but if you like space, No Man's Sky isn't the disappointing game it was on release. I'd urge anyone who likes space and exploration to at least give it a shot. You can turn on creative mode and not worry about any survival elements as well. It's got a bit of a plot to get you used to the galaxy (and also explain some of the lore), but you can just do whatever you want and ignore that. There are three major alien races and you can learn words from their language by interacting with them or interacting with pillars on various planets that will teach you a word. I like this part of the game a lot for some reason. There's some other lore hidden around as well, but it's really up to you if you want to discover it or not. The reason I'm putting it down here instead of with the others at the top is that they've actually added so much content that it may be a bit overwhelming. I'd focus on a few aspects you like and ignore the rest if you do end up playing it.

Most of the games I listed aren't too long or time-consuming. The only significant exceptions are Kena, Jade Empire, and No Man's Sky. The rest can be generally completed in a few hours or a couple of days. Kena isn't super long either, but it does require a bit more of a commitment than the others.

Edit: I somehow managed to accidentally delete this comment and wasn't quick enough to restore it in its original form, but managed to have most of it all in my clipboard, thankfully.

Should mostly be fixed.

I'll just go through my library and pick out the ones that I don't think are very well-known or might have been missed by anyone who got into gaming more recently.

Demon Truck is a devilishly arcadey game, and at 90% off it is fifty cents so you are legally required to buy it right now. Once you play it for a few minutes, you'll want the BANGER soundtrack too, which was done by Zircon, costs $3, and is worth every penny. Here's a sample on YouTube if Bandcamp doesn't work for you. Game is a 40 megabyte download. What are you waiting for?

Approaching Infinity - What if No Man's Sky was a turn-based roguelike with retro tile-based sprite graphics? If that appeals to you, give it a look. The developer also has a more fantasy-oriented game called The Curse of Yendor.

Devil Daggers is worth trying if you enjoy fiendishly hard FPS games with pixel graphics.

Bots Are Stupid - it's a tight platformer where you control the character by writing a script to control its actions down to the individual frame if necessary. It has a level creator as well. If you've ever seen tool-assisted speedruns (TAS), this game is basically creating a TAS for something like Super Meat Boy.

If you have PCVR, give Ancient Dungeon a look. It's early access, but it already has that particular spark that tends to (and did) hook me, and it does a number of things phenomenally well, such as knife-throwing. In lists of top VR games, however, I rarely see it get a mention.

Distance is a racing game with where your car can jump, do flips, fly, stick to walls or the ceiling, and potentially get cut in half by the road hazards. It's by the same developers and is the successor to the equally fun and completely free Nitronic Rush.

It's not on sale, but at $5, Noitu Love 2: Devolution doesn't need a sale to be well-worth the price.

Lastly, Timespinner is a pixel-art metroidvania with time travel. I thought it was pretty fun.

ITT: not hidden gems

I highly recommend CrossCode, currently only costs $6 (It also has a free demo if you want to try it first). It’s a really well polished game with a great story, and the action is amazing too. It also includes difficulty settings you can change if you feel yourself getting too frustrated (as I did sometimes). This video also sums it up pretty well. Hope you enjoy!

Hidden Gem you say? (obligatory)

1. Roadwarden($7.36) - A text based RPG wherein you play as a roadwarden and influence the future of the land with a 40 day time limit. Good story

2. Fear and Hunger 1 & 2($5.59 & $9.59) -The dark souls of rpgmaker games. Loot is randomized for each playthrough. There's a dismemberment system that also applies to you. You lose your legs, it's gone for good the entire playthrough.

3. Frostpunk($5.99) - You manage the last city on earth in the middle of the eternal frost.

4. FTL: Faster than light($2.49) - 2d Spaceship simulation rougelike with randomized map. Your goal is to reach the last star sector and defeat the mother ship.

5. Fran Bow ($3.74) - 2d Point and click psychological horror where you play a young girl with an unfair destiny

just grabbed god of war, disco elysium, and hellblade senuas sacrifice...

as far as recommendations go, Mass Effect legendary edition and dragon age are very enjoyable if you like RPG with a focus on lore, story and characters. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a wonder and a steal at $20. Witcher 3 for $12. Horizon Zero Dawn for $16.50