Favorite Games of the DY Community

[snaiil]

this is a real golden era huh

Yeah, the approx. period 1996-2006 between frontrunner studios being 20 cracked out nerds making stuff like this and them evolving into proper AAA studios gave me my best fun it seems, since then they have not made them how they used to 

[snaiil]

Already posted once to the thread, but I thought I could share some lesser-known, rather short indie titles of the past few years that have stuck to me:

https://rubeki.itch.io/kill-the-koth
3D climbing-based platformer. This game has really excellent dialogue and though the developer to my understanding sort of just put it out, for some reason I can come back and ruminate on this game much more than many others. It's some combination of the desolate, alienating feeling of the game itself and the abstract metaphor that it seems to represent, so if you have a penchant for the mildly arthouse this might be for you. Try not to miss the scrolls throughout, of which there are three.

https://cathroon.itch.io/the-devil
Short Silent Hill/Resident Evil-inspired game. Maximal use of the PSX aesthetic, but the gameplay is what is really top-notch; there is nothing very special about the most basic mechanics, but the world layout comes to play a key role. There is something very compelling to me about the delivery of the game's story and events as well, that to me is somehow both more chilling and endearing than I can piece together from the actual moment-to-moment detail. It feels as if it should be generic, but it isn't.

https://aslakkh.itch.io/that-which-gave-chase
First person horror adventure game. What sets it apart, besides successfully being a proper indie adventure game (as in, the gameplay is diversified by the plot), is the really excellent plot presentation. It's weird and slow, just kind of pours down the back of your shirt as you step deeper into the thick of it, and really impresses the sensation of being fucked by lack of alternatives in a situation whose scope you can't really perceive.

https://zykoveddy.itch.io/electric-highways
3D walking simulator through surreal environments. Purportedly started as an attempt to make the "concept album videogame", i.e. each level is a setting paired to the track playing therein. The environments traversed are weirdly anachronistic and slightly ugly, yet surreal and ethereal in a very sincere way; together, this creates a certain kind of perfect atmosphere for me. In my opinion, this is the actual closest I have felt to playing Yume Nikki in another videogame, including fangames, in an essential sense.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287790/Tide_Girl_Phenomena/
A visual novel. What sets it apart from many other visual novels I find is the artstyle (whilst in the domain of anime trappings) and more importantly, the entire tone of the game. I would describe it as distinguished by being depressive but also unsympathetic in its presentation not as a matter of coldness, but as a matter of that just being the way the situation presented realistically feels. I don't like visual novels or anime at large, so I was quite surprised to enjoy it. The translation is off, and Japanese characters (I do not understand) make a prominent appearance, but it is imo not deeply hindered by this.


edit: I remembered some games that in hindsight I would be amiss to:

https://nizakashii.itch.io/rmgd
Shmup. I don't really like shmups but this one is kind of interesting to me because it's a touch abstract. Your ship is slow ad you die in one hit, but most of the bosses have some kind of weakness that you would want to exploit to build a strategy to be able to kill them. For some this is more obvious than for others, and some of the bosses definitely still require a light twitch reflex, but it's cool. This dev also has a lot of other shmups.
https://droqen.itch.io/yrkkeys-paradise
2D platformer + walking sim + meta-puzzle??? genre. I'm at a loss to sell it because what makes the game special to me eludes me in moment detail; all of the game is very simple in that you build things, walk around, interact with some stuff, you play a fake mmo, you can go outside, &c. The game really never puts a stone wall in your way, but perhaps the challenge is in that it never hands over its nonlinearity. But I feel like by playing what is in many ways a cute simulation of what is at the same time an inoffensively reductive portrayal of both sides of the "go outside vs. stay inside and play your video games" dilemma lets you feel less inclined to be barbarically over the fence on the question, i.e. neither of the opinion that video games are outrageously stupid and that is obvious that one should go outside or that there is nothing to do outside and one is stupid for not admitting there is nothing to do but play video games. I feel like this game points out that there is something special about the fact that we can do "both at once".

[Sticki]

I havent played itchio games in years, gonna give these a shot

[1]

ive never played everlasting summer. should i?

If you are a homosexual then yes

[zod]

these two games are absolute gems of platforming that are too overlooked. phantasy reverie series gave them some new fans but they're the inferior versions of these games. currently my favorites. love klonoa sm

other games i love:


there's plenty more ofc these are just some of em

[grungor]

If you are a homosexual then yes

does this apply to homosexual women?

[1]

does this apply to homosexual women?

Yes

[grungor]

Yes

hell yeah. ill check it out then