under the radar games that I think you wingnuts might like

Jdawg

Commodore
I have decided to start a new thread, where I will talk about smaller games that I think yall might like give you a quick review of them, and maybe a video. this thread will get updated when I play something that falls into this category.

First game up, is called technobabylon and it is a point and click adventure with a scifi cyber punk theme. this game was made with the adventure game studio engine, so it has pixel art and that oldschool monkey island feel. this game is made by indie developer wadjet eye games, here is a quick review from me

finally talked myself into getting this game today. I spent all day on the game and just beat it, ten hrs in and what a ride. I really enjoyed the puzzles and several puzzles had multiply solutions that all made logical sense. love how they incorporated the trance aka the matrix and the real world (this game is obviously influenced by blade runner, and the matrix, but it also draws a lot of inspairation from a game like shadowrun too). general score is like a 9/10 to me.

here is trailer for the game, if you have any questions about the game or just want to talk about it, dont be shy.

 
the next game that looks interesting to me is kathy rain it is coming out may 5th and here is the trailer and to me it looks very interesting. it is modeled after lucas arts games of the mid 90s like full throttle and even though it is not a wadjet eye game; dave gilbert is handling the voice acting duties for the game. here is the trailer for the game.



 
Both are good trailers, Kathy Rain really does stand out. The TV flicking reminds me of the opening of the original Command & Conquer.

I did something similar on another forum. So here is a direct C&P for Starscape:

Released in 2003 by small indie dev studio Moonpod (http://www.moonpod.com/), Starscape is a 2D arcade style shoot-em-up in sandbox form with features you would not traditionally expect.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/20700/

I picked this up back around 2005 and was taken away with just how addictive and fun it's gameplay mechanics are. It has a storyline worth visting the once and an awesome pumping soundtrack to go with it. Given the 2D art style it still looks graphically pretty today and has some brilliant particle effects. You are easily going to spend 8+ hours in the game, especially if you are new to the game, split up in to 5 sectors to explore, facing a wide range of enemies, whilst you research and build new equipment for your starbase and ship.

While the 2D character art may not be AAA standard, they have put a lot of effort in to them by adding simple animations to the talking heads you encounter to provide a range of facial expressions to match the of the text based dialogue. While there is joypad support, you will more likely feel comfortable using the keyboard, as it lacks a sensitivity option (so you'll probably want to adjust the drivers with you chosen analogue device if you intend to use one).

The developers went on to make a couple of other games, both puzzle types, one of which you control a robot aboard a space ship. See: http://store.steampowered.com/app/20710/

I can heartily recommend picking up Starscape for a measily £5.99. It's a blast and if you are still on the fence there is a free demo. Forget waiting for a Steam sale, it's well worth the paltry price they are asking for how much gameplay there is to get out of it.
 
Both are good trailers, Kathy Rain really does stand out. The TV flicking reminds me of the opening of the original Command & Conquer.

I did something similar on another forum. So here is a direct C&P for Starscape:

thats awesome man, so many great games go under the radar. for any of those who are interested in kathy rain, a demo went up today on steam as well as gog. here is my quick review of the demo

just finished the demo
I really liked it a lot, gave off a combo vibe of full throttle meets gabriel knight one, especially the attic scene with grandma and with a decesead grandpa leaving behind some type of mystery; that is straight outta gabriel knight. its obvious the devs are paying homage.

the story has me intrigued and the devs nailed the right voice actress for kathy, I also liked the priest VO as well as grandma, but on the other hand I thought lenny the guard and the sheriff as well as the bum all came across as cheesy, but not in a good way.

as far as the puzzles go, all pretty easy except the last puzzle involving a briefcase. MINOR SPOILERS INCOMING!!!

I knew it had something to do with both the book and tape recorder, but I was trying to do some complicated math in in my head, when the answer was literally right in my face. I thought the game does a great job of nudging you in the right direction without giving the answer away. great job of dropping subtle hints.

I also love the art direction and the fact the devs gives you the option of showing hotspots.

overall for the demo I give it an 8/10 and probably will be a day one purchase for me.
 
for those that miss FMV games and want a good adventure detective game check out contradiction, spot the liar

 
Hi Jawdg,

thanks for sharing. I am a big SciFi and Point Click Adventure Fan - so technobabylon is right up my alley.
 
Looks like Gibbous is still in development but from what I have seen they have some cool dialogues and characters - especially the cat :D

Another fun point and click adventure I can recommend (mostly for the dark humor, dialogues and characters not so much the puzzles) is "Randals Monday".
You can find a free Demo on Steam.

When it comes to funny and mean dialogues you can also play Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2 :D
 
Looks like Gibbous is still in development but from what I have seen they have some cool dialogues and characters - especially the cat :D

Another fun point and click adventure I can recommend (mostly for the dark humor, dialogues and characters not so much the puzzles) is "Randals Monday".
You can find a free Demo on Steam.

When it comes to funny and mean dialogues you can also play Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2 :D
it is but I played the demo and can tell its is right up my alley
 
Ive just started another game, that I think you wingnuts will like, its a JRPG called Persona 5. It is a life sim game, mixed with a dungeon crawler. You are a highschool student in Japan who at night enters terrible peoples "minds" and change their heart, by stealing their treasures aka "desires." For instance mild spoiler (this is the first mission) your gym teacher is a monster, he abuses the volleyball players and sexually assaults the female teenage students (this game deals with some very serious real life issues), after confronting him in the real world he threatens to exspell you, and you have 14 days to change his heart or get expelled. The game is a mix of decision making and time management during the day of going to school, hanging with friends, working a job, studying, etc.... The game is hard to describe bc it is a mix of pokemon, the sims, the movie inception, and something like psychonauts. It is a huge game aound 100 hrs to complete. Here is a trailer ps the trailer is in japenese but the release of the game has an english voice dub and it actually is quite good the cast is excellent for the most part.

 
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I started an older jrpg that came out for the playstation 2 near the end if its life cycle and I think it is pretty awesome. It combines star wars and skies of arcadia (my fav jrpg of all time). It is called rouge galaxy. the game is full of cliches and a battle system that is real time mixed with turn based kind of like kingdom hearts. the game was made by level 5 aka the people who did dragon quest 8 and dark cloud 2 Anyway here is a trailer for the game

 
next on my list is a new adventure game from an indy developer. the game is called whispers of a machine. its cyberpunk mixed with blade runner. You are a detective sent to a small Swedish town to investigate a murder. This is after all machines in the world have been wiped out. anything with an AI is gone, but what is interesting is that human police can have cybernetics. There are dialogue options that occur and you will unlock new enhancements for the detective, depending on your response. So what that means is while I might answer one way and open x ray vision, you might answer a different way and get a different power. What this allows is the game's puzzles to be solved in varying ways. Each puzzle usually has 2 to 3 options to solve it. The story is good, I love the voice work and the characters. Plus Im a huge blade runner videogame fan, so this scratches a nice itch for me. The ending is a lil rushed and the game only last about 6 to 8 hrs, but with the different augs you can unlock, you can replay the game 3 times to get different puzzles and endings. here is the launch trailer and a review.


review:

https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/37574
 
Im buying judgement today for the ps4, it is made by the yakuza guys. So it is a mix of beat em up and solving crimes. You are a private detective on the trail of a serial killer. Think yakuza meets la noire meets ace attorney lol. I will let yall know what i think as i play it. Might be slow going as im also playing toonstruck, whispers, and god of war. But im a sucker for detective stories.
 
Just completed a fun little adventure game in the vein of broken sword called the hand of glory. The game is not perfect by any means, but as a first ever effort the devs show huge potential.

 
It takes two

Wife and I are almost done with it takes two, I believe we’re on chapter 7, and the game has 9 total chapters.

I can’t tell you how great this game is, you can tell a lot of love and energy was poured into the gameplay and the world that it builds. The game play Loop really is amazing because it’s constantly evolving or changing every hour or so out of the 12-hour experience. The game just knows when to move on to something new, the game never over stays its welcome.

The one negative I have is the story, it could have been great but what’s there is just ok, you really do grow to hate the two main characters. I see nothing redeeming about them. And no matter what they do in the end I don’t think anything will change my mind. The story is serviceable I just don’t like the main characters. Some of the side characters you meet though are wonderful and entertaining.

Overall if you got 10 to 12 hours to spare and somebody to play with I highly highly recommend this game, it will definitely be in my top five of the year
 
On a whim about I bought Sleeping Dogs The Definitive Edition for the PS4 for five bucks and I'm loving it. The game takes the Grand Theft Auto formula and sort of turns it on his head just enough to make it unique and interesting.
 
long time no post, I recently beat syberia 4. I played it on the PlayStation 4 and it definitely had issues running on that platform, so I would recommend playing it on a more high-end computer. But the game itself was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

 
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