Just scouring a list of games that launched this year with nearly-perfect Steam user ratings so far, and there are SO MANY that I've heard nothing of at all. There's so many cool games out there that missing gems is inevitable.

Here's a thread of a few that just caught my eye: Garbanzo Quest - a cute, silly looking platformer that has 100% positive reviews so far. Looks goofy, creative, and has co-op!

store.steampowered.com/app/2105910/Ga…

This isn't a referral link thing, just a recommendation - Fanatical have got a whole TON of great pick n' mix bundles going on. Some of my favorite indie (and even mainstream) games for a dollar or two.

Spend a AAA $70's worth here and you'll be laughing

fanatical.com/en/bundle Case in point, for $8 in the Play On The Go bundle:

Fight 'n Rage (One of the best brawlers EVER)
Amid Evil (One of the best boomer shooters)
Mind Scanners (sci-fi Papers Please with great UI)
Gear Shifters (modernized Spy Hunter)
A Juggler's Tale (gorgeous narrative platformer)

At my keyboard, so I can do this justice now:

373 games (195 for Windows, plus tabletop stuff) for a minimum of $8, raising money for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

It's running for just over a week. Spread the word. In this thread, I'll highlight some of the best games

https://twitter.com/vgforpalestine/status/1781601822622253372

ZeroRanger - Legit one of the best shmups ever made, full of surprises and twists. The tiny two-person studio has since gone on to make Void Stranger, one of the best puzzle games ever made, too.

Don't worry about trying to 1cc this. Continues are part of the experience.

Having played and slept on it, here's my take on Palworld:

The dollar-store Pokemon aesthetic & memetic value of a teen fanfic edgy world got its foot in the door.

But user reviews have been VERY positive, because it's a very polished take on the Ark-style survival sandbox. Just look at the recent Ark remaster. Pretty low user reviews because it's still a very rough experience. Janky performance, awkward UI, generally still spiteful game design. Very little fixed from the original, which was loved for its ambition but boy, you gotta overlook a LOT.

Hahah. I have actually lost followers over Palworld discourse.

People are losing their minds over this game and getting SO angry and I'm just... confused. I have honestly never seen so much anger and paranoia happen so quickly over a videogame. Wilder still that it's a goofy Pokemon parody from a small independent studio.

The latest talking point is they 'took the money and ran' on their previous early access game, Craftopia:

It's MEGATHREAD time, celebrating Doom's 30th anniversary.

A timeless game, now more relevant than ever as it becomes an indie dev platform.

Here, we're going to list and share a few thoughts on every standalone game using the Doom engine. There's a lot. Many free. Buckle up.





Doom - id Software

The shareware version released when I was just ten years old. I never would have imagined that I'd still be playing it at forty. Scary, dark, fast, and now well-maintained by Bethesda, with a fresh port that showcases many classic mods

store.steampowered.com/app/2280/DOOM_…

I've been hooting about the best of the best games, but honestly, some of the most fun I've had in years has been with games with seriously rough edges. So here's a tweet (twixt?)-thread about some stranger, more offbeat games you might dig in the sale. As mentioned earlier today, Astlibra is a gem but it also sometimes looks hilariously amateurish. Almost all the art in there is stock RPG maker stuff never meant to be used in a platformer, giving it an unhinged photo-collage aesthetic in places.

https://twitter.com/DominicTarason/status/1727348551108497470

Videogames as a whole is now such a mindbogglingly huge field that just a little shift in perspective can show you a completely different world.

It's easy to feel like games are more disposable than ever, but also more are becoming timeless, self-sustaining scenes every year. 2023 is the year Quake 2 (a game from 1997) finally achieved its full potential. It was the year the Doom (1993) mod scene produced its single largest community jam, with tons of new talent. It was the year Myhouse.wad reached audiences of *many millions* via streamers & youtube.

Steam sale ends July 13th, so I'm here to obliterate wallets & devour your free time by introducing you to obscure, discounted indie games, starting with my current & past PC Gamer Steam Sale roundups.

Then, we go Deeper.

Links begin in the next tweet due to Algorithm nonsense.





But first... my curator page! It's a bit out of date (I'll be updating it ASAP), but features most of my indie picks.



I've also got lists specifically for free games, especially obscure titles, indie must-haves & moddables.

Now HERE WE GO!

[2/Lots]store.steampowered.com/curator/431355…

Yessssss. Great to see a larger youtuber take a look at Fear & Hunger.

The most fascinatingly horrible of all dungeon crawls. And the sequel's pretty rad too, and still being expanded for free.

https://twitter.com/EyePatchWolf/status/1654833395845976066

I covered Fear & Hunger briefly back in early 2019. Most people I recommended it to hated it and told me that my opinions are bad and I should stop talking about games.

Opinion seems to have come around a bit since then.

rockpapershotgun.com/fear-and-hunge…

Confession time: I've never really liked any Pokemon game. Cute monster designs, but the series never fundamentally vibed with me.

So, it's very high praise when I say that I REALLY dig Cassette Beasts. It just engages me more. It's a little more grown-up, but still kid friendly Also not seen many people mention that it's quite overtly leftist. The game's Team Rocket is a faction of grey-skinned, fanged, vampiric creatures of the night: LANDLORDS.

They will suck the world dry by buying up all your property and charging exorbitant rent.

Beat em' up.

Its been a while since I played Generation Zero, and a lot has changed. Lots of radio chatter and more overt story stuff now! I remember when it first released and the game was just absolutely desolate aside from your squad.

70% off right now, too.

store.steampowered.com/app/704270/Gen… When it launched back in 2019, Generation Zero was a bare skeleton of a game. They've been layering meat onto its bones ever since

I really want to get together a few to start a fresh campaign. They've overhauled the early game a lot, so it leads into resistance bases & building

So, out of my whole 'recommend an obscure game that's special to you' thread, THIS one has gotten the most recommendations BY FAR. 5-6 people at least.

Played a bit of it last night and yep, it seems a bit special. Some cool immersive sim vibes to the physics'y puzzles too.

https://twitter.com/sanctumsys/status/1654201787229048833

The developers clearly anticipated players galaxy-braining themselves into solutions that can't be escaped from, because treasure rooms often have some kind of secondary escape route built in.

Videogames discourse has got me feeling sad this week. Let's share some good vibes.

Share with me (and the internet at large) a lesser-known indie game that you *love*.

Something obscure that just holds a place in your heart. Doesn't have to be recent either. I'll start with Horace. Tragically undersold, despite being on just about all platforms now.

It's an absolutely enormous narrative platformer (with a whole mess of minigames) about an android's extremely British sitcom-esque life through the apocalypse.

store.steampowered.com/app/629090/Hor…

It feels like donations are coming in *slow* for that SGDQ Five Nights At Freddy's bonus run.

I wonder if folks are holding off on that in particular because the whole Scott Cawthon debacle is fresh in people's minds. Unless things improve soon, they might really fall short on the FNAF goal at SGDQ.

Might not have been the best choice to showcase a series from an unapologetic Christian republican donor at a heavily LGBTQ+ friendly event.

I've got the next week off and SGDQ is running, so... Alright, here's a big thread of Steam sale stocking-stuffers which I'll be updating over the next few days. Nothing over £5 unless it's an absolute must-have.

Expect many obscure indie goodies, because it's me.

1/Lots $4 - Monolith is one of the tightest, most satisfying roguelike/shmup hybrids. While there's random maps & loot, skill is far more of a deciding factor than chance.

If you dig it, the expansion is 100% worth it too, and a free update is apparently coming

store.steampowered.com/app/603960/Mon…

With Elden Ring out, the 'Git Gud' crowd are back in force.

New players: Don't listen to them. Get cheap. Start out as the Vagabond and tank through most fights with a big shield and safe counters. Buy a bow and snipe stuff at range. Summon ghost wolves on anything menacing. In Elden Ring it's okay to run away from big enemies and look for goblins to bully.

You don't need to memorize attack timings for parries. I'm over 20 hours in and have successfully parried *twice*.

Don't get greedy. Fast-travel to safety if you earned enough runes for a level.

I try to avoid screencap-dunking, but I feel this one deserves a special exception.

Corporate worship and IP protection above all artistic concerns are extremely bad. Also, mods, hacks and fan-works are great. Don't be this guy. I also find it extremely weird that voice synthesis is where THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN.

Since the dawn of spoken dialogue in games, mods have been improvising new voiced lines by stitching together fragments of audio. There's a ton of it in Half-Life Alyx mods right now, even.

Looking at the new Resident Evil 8 footage (it literally has VIII highlighted in the logo, let's not beat around the bush), it occurs to me that Capcom have always been into comicbook style escalation in their settings. Their worlds only get bigger and weirder. Resident Evil 1: There's a mansion researching a zombie virus.

Resident Evil 8: There's whole monster-run nation-states with casually transforming hammer horror weirdoes running the show.

For once the YouTube algorithm works. It just served me up this Doom mod trailer.



I have gotta try this one out. Okay, after a quick play, that Doom mod - Siren - feels pretty great. Feels like a halfway point between a modern tactical shooter and Doom, with a bit of System Shock.

As well as an assortment of demons, there's a cloud of screaming, invincible, hungry black fog prowling around