Mine is the Army Men series. Objectively mediocre games at best but the concept of toy soldiers fighting over our yards and rooms has always been cool to me
Maybe not an unpopular game, but my unpopular game opinion is that I prefer Fallout 3 to Fallout New Vegas. Both are fantastic games, but I prefer the more bleak and desolate Capital Wasteland to the more lived in Mojave Wasteland. Plus I kinda liked the karma system of fo3.
I like both, but Fallout 3 is my favourite as well. I really enjoyed the aesthetic, the music, everything. It was my first game and got me obsessed with the universe.
They have such different atmospheres you can enjoy both the same. I really had fun roaming around the sewers and ruins of DC in 3, while the more pure RPG aspects of New Vegas are great in 3D.
Creeper World. It’s like an RTS/TD type game that uses fluid dynamics that is always fun to go back to. The campaign writing and UI are just terrible but the gameplay is great and there are plenty of good community made maps to try.
Oh god the music loops forever and gets stuck in your brain. I haven’t played the 4th game in a couple of years and the score is still regularly stuck in my head.
Their space version of the game, Particle Fleet Emergence, is my most played game in my Steam library.
This game series is the best. Somebody suggested the 3rd one to me when I was looking for a game which simulated the feeling of moving across the map with a seige tank line in StarCraft. It was perfect. The move th 3d in the 4th one worked very well too. Excited for the wide scrolling looking one they have coming out next too
I second creeper World. awful title for a game, but I’ve played the shit out of all of them. I got hooked on the old Kongregate flash version of the original.
I have so many fond memories of the game, but I keep forgetting the name. Thank you for the reminder, maybe this time I’ll remember to try and emulate it.
If you’re looking for a modern (only in the sense that it released in the past decade) game heavily inspired by Azure Dreams, check out Dungeon Dreams on Steam. It’s an RPG Maker love letter to Azure Dreams.
Heyy, very cool! Thanks for the recommendation! I gotta keep this one in mind, after I get through Fear&Hunger. It’s pretty brutal, but god I love the pixel art.
I would say Rebel Galaxy and especially Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, which reminds me of Wing Commander: Privateer for the “Good game with little recognition”.
For the “Objectively bad but I still love it” type, Lichdom: Battlemage and Technomancer are deeply flawed but wonderfully fun gems that require you to ignore some pretty big problems to find your enjoyment in them. Same with DarkStar One and the Starpoint Gemini series.
I was genuinely unaware for a long time that P.N. 03 on the Gamecube was pretty strongly disliked, and now seemingly forgotten.
I love everything about this damn game - the ridiculous “inside a macbook” looking aesthetic, the Drum n Bass-esque soundtrack, the fact that it’s a game based on getting a high score (which is probably the one game mechanic I miss the most in a lot of more modern games), what more could you want?!
It would probably have to be Sniper Ghost Warrior 3. Bad game, poor reviews, overall considered to be a flop, but I still had a ton of fun with it and played the heck out of it a few years back. It would be hard for me to recommend it honestly, but if you could get it for free or super cheap and you’re looking for a sniper game where you don’t have to think about a story (since it’s bad and doesn’t really make much sense), I’d say it doesn’t hurt to try. I had a lot of fun with it, so maybe you could have fun with it too. If my very mediocre review has somehow convinced you to try it, I do believe it’s currently on sale on steam for a couple bucks
Disc Space. A small 3v3 ultimate frisbee game built in the Unity engine. It’s silly and not realistic at all. But had just right amount of learning curve with a high ceiling. Had a little player surge during covid and promptly died. It is what actually led me to playing Rocket League
The most unpopular/niche game series I’ve really liked is the Princess Maker series. Japanese games which only received official English translations recently, niche genre (life raising sim), some silly fanservicey elements… but it reminded me of playing with dolls when I was younger, and in some ways the Sims series also.
Another series I liked which is much more well known but still has a small presence in the gaming consciousness is Star Fox. Character cameos in the Super Smash Bros series don’t count.
Daaaaaamn, I found a copy of Princess Maker 2 on the internet all the way back in 2002 or so, only years later I found out about the original translation and failed attempt to release it in the USA. I personally love PM2 and should play 3 sometime properly.
The Princess Maker series are now officially available on Steam! Unfortunately the translation quality is quite poor and the unofficial DOS copy of 2 is much better in that regard, but it’s nice to have access to multiple entries in the series now.
New Super Mario Bros U. Many people may hate it for being the same as the others NSMB games but it was the first Mario game I played and I very much enjoyed it. I revisit it to collect all the star coins.
The New Super Mario Bros. series is far from the first Mario games I played seeing as I was born in the 80’s - but damnit they are all among my favorites. File this in the category of “I had no idea people didn’t love these as much as I do” up until only a handful of years ago when I started spending more time on online video game communities.
I’ll argue that New Super Mario Bros. wii is my favorite of the bunch, but U is also wonderful!
I also think the wii version was better than the switch version but they’re both awesome games. I also had no idea people didn’t like NSMB for switch until the announcement trailer for Wonder dropped. But for someone who’s first Mario game was Super Mario Bros 3, that whole series/style of gameplay will forever be what Mario is to me.
Does Diablo 3 count? It got panned at launch and I do understand why. The story was predictable and dumb. Making the whole game revolve around a damn auction house made it unsatisfying. But man, the game itself played so well - I loved smashing my way through a dungeon as fast as I could wiping whole screens at a time. And they did do “loot 2.0” with the expansion, which killed the auction house and made the gear you picked up actually worthwhile sometimes.
A fantastic pair of games which died too quickly because everyone saw the power armor and thought it was going to be a standard run and gun Halo style game. When in fact it had a mechanic that required dropping shields with certain types of weapons before you could then use other types to penetrate the armor. It also had a power management mechanic allowing you to move faster or use other abilities if you had the power remaining to do so.
As a result all the Halo/COD bro’s bounced off the game because the few of us who took the time to understand and master those mechanics would just absolute wreck their faces. This unfortunately also included many critics/reviewers. Which results in a whole lot of “this game sucks”. In this case the bliss of ignorance killed both games.
I enjoyed them immensely if briefly. They died too soon.
I remember playing at least the first one back in the day. It was a solid shooter for sure. The problem now is that the video game market is so huge that unless you are providing a quality product which is being constantly updated people will move onto the next big thing.
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A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it’s price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don’t meet the system requirements, or just haven’t had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
Maybe not an unpopular game, but my unpopular game opinion is that I prefer Fallout 3 to Fallout New Vegas. Both are fantastic games, but I prefer the more bleak and desolate Capital Wasteland to the more lived in Mojave Wasteland. Plus I kinda liked the karma system of fo3.
I like both, but Fallout 3 is my favourite as well. I really enjoyed the aesthetic, the music, everything. It was my first game and got me obsessed with the universe.
They have such different atmospheres you can enjoy both the same. I really had fun roaming around the sewers and ruins of DC in 3, while the more pure RPG aspects of New Vegas are great in 3D.
Creeper World. It’s like an RTS/TD type game that uses fluid dynamics that is always fun to go back to. The campaign writing and UI are just terrible but the gameplay is great and there are plenty of good community made maps to try.
Oh god the music loops forever and gets stuck in your brain. I haven’t played the 4th game in a couple of years and the score is still regularly stuck in my head.
Their space version of the game, Particle Fleet Emergence, is my most played game in my Steam library.
I wish more people knew about these games!
Is Particle Fleet similar? I love the Creeper World games but I was always hesitant to drop the cash for Particle Fleet because I just wasn’t sure.
This game series is the best. Somebody suggested the 3rd one to me when I was looking for a game which simulated the feeling of moving across the map with a seige tank line in StarCraft. It was perfect. The move th 3d in the 4th one worked very well too. Excited for the wide scrolling looking one they have coming out next too
I second creeper World. awful title for a game, but I’ve played the shit out of all of them. I got hooked on the old Kongregate flash version of the original.
Azure Dreams. A PS1 Konami game that mixes elements of RPGs, roguelikes, dating sims, and creature collectors.
I’ve never known anyone else IRL who’s heard of it, but it’s always been at the top of my favorite games list.
I have so many fond memories of the game, but I keep forgetting the name. Thank you for the reminder, maybe this time I’ll remember to try and emulate it.
Glad I could help jog your memory!
If you’re looking for a modern (only in the sense that it released in the past decade) game heavily inspired by Azure Dreams, check out Dungeon Dreams on Steam. It’s an RPG Maker love letter to Azure Dreams.
Heyy, very cool! Thanks for the recommendation! I gotta keep this one in mind, after I get through Fear&Hunger. It’s pretty brutal, but god I love the pixel art.
Been playing Hero’s Hour recently from the itch summer bundle. Never played any Civilization style games before but this one is really fun.
I would say Rebel Galaxy and especially Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, which reminds me of Wing Commander: Privateer for the “Good game with little recognition”.
For the “Objectively bad but I still love it” type, Lichdom: Battlemage and Technomancer are deeply flawed but wonderfully fun gems that require you to ignore some pretty big problems to find your enjoyment in them. Same with DarkStar One and the Starpoint Gemini series.
I was genuinely unaware for a long time that P.N. 03 on the Gamecube was pretty strongly disliked, and now seemingly forgotten.
I love everything about this damn game - the ridiculous “inside a macbook” looking aesthetic, the Drum n Bass-esque soundtrack, the fact that it’s a game based on getting a high score (which is probably the one game mechanic I miss the most in a lot of more modern games), what more could you want?!
If you like the toy soldiers idea you may want to check out HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed.
That’s a good one I played it quite a bit!
It would probably have to be Sniper Ghost Warrior 3. Bad game, poor reviews, overall considered to be a flop, but I still had a ton of fun with it and played the heck out of it a few years back. It would be hard for me to recommend it honestly, but if you could get it for free or super cheap and you’re looking for a sniper game where you don’t have to think about a story (since it’s bad and doesn’t really make much sense), I’d say it doesn’t hurt to try. I had a lot of fun with it, so maybe you could have fun with it too. If my very mediocre review has somehow convinced you to try it, I do believe it’s currently on sale on steam for a couple bucks
Disc Space. A small 3v3 ultimate frisbee game built in the Unity engine. It’s silly and not realistic at all. But had just right amount of learning curve with a high ceiling. Had a little player surge during covid and promptly died. It is what actually led me to playing Rocket League
The most unpopular/niche game series I’ve really liked is the Princess Maker series. Japanese games which only received official English translations recently, niche genre (life raising sim), some silly fanservicey elements… but it reminded me of playing with dolls when I was younger, and in some ways the Sims series also.
Another series I liked which is much more well known but still has a small presence in the gaming consciousness is Star Fox. Character cameos in the Super Smash Bros series don’t count.
Daaaaaamn, I found a copy of Princess Maker 2 on the internet all the way back in 2002 or so, only years later I found out about the original translation and failed attempt to release it in the USA. I personally love PM2 and should play 3 sometime properly.
The Princess Maker series are now officially available on Steam! Unfortunately the translation quality is quite poor and the unofficial DOS copy of 2 is much better in that regard, but it’s nice to have access to multiple entries in the series now.
they also cut some content which was against steam rules. (underage nudity and such)
New Super Mario Bros U. Many people may hate it for being the same as the others NSMB games but it was the first Mario game I played and I very much enjoyed it. I revisit it to collect all the star coins.
The New Super Mario Bros. series is far from the first Mario games I played seeing as I was born in the 80’s - but damnit they are all among my favorites. File this in the category of “I had no idea people didn’t love these as much as I do” up until only a handful of years ago when I started spending more time on online video game communities.
I’ll argue that New Super Mario Bros. wii is my favorite of the bunch, but U is also wonderful!
I also think the wii version was better than the switch version but they’re both awesome games. I also had no idea people didn’t like NSMB for switch until the announcement trailer for Wonder dropped. But for someone who’s first Mario game was Super Mario Bros 3, that whole series/style of gameplay will forever be what Mario is to me.
Does Diablo 3 count? It got panned at launch and I do understand why. The story was predictable and dumb. Making the whole game revolve around a damn auction house made it unsatisfying. But man, the game itself played so well - I loved smashing my way through a dungeon as fast as I could wiping whole screens at a time. And they did do “loot 2.0” with the expansion, which killed the auction house and made the gear you picked up actually worthwhile sometimes.
Diablo 4 feels kinda meh to me by comparison.
I made some virtual money selling gems there
Aranock-Online; Still available, but nothing like its earlier days, predictably.
Section 8 and Section 8 Prejudice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_(video_game)
A fantastic pair of games which died too quickly because everyone saw the power armor and thought it was going to be a standard run and gun Halo style game. When in fact it had a mechanic that required dropping shields with certain types of weapons before you could then use other types to penetrate the armor. It also had a power management mechanic allowing you to move faster or use other abilities if you had the power remaining to do so.
As a result all the Halo/COD bro’s bounced off the game because the few of us who took the time to understand and master those mechanics would just absolute wreck their faces. This unfortunately also included many critics/reviewers. Which results in a whole lot of “this game sucks”. In this case the bliss of ignorance killed both games.
I enjoyed them immensely if briefly. They died too soon.
I remember playing at least the first one back in the day. It was a solid shooter for sure. The problem now is that the video game market is so huge that unless you are providing a quality product which is being constantly updated people will move onto the next big thing.
its playerbase fell off so hard, but i still really liked nickelodeon all star brawl. hopefully a sequel comes out sometime