Topic: Underrated Gems

Figured it'd be fun to start a little thread to share about some games that deserved, in your opinion, a little bit more love.

Tunic is a fantastic game that wonderfully captures the vibes of OG Zelda via its in-game instruction manual, and its language and gradually unraveling mechanics are immaculately crafted. It got some good recognition at launch, but not nearly as much as I think it deserved. It's really good.

Flat Heroes is a great minimalistic platformer that's pretty polished and great for couch co-op, even if your friends haven't played it before. I think the minimalistic aesthetic made it easy for a lot of people to dismiss it, but it's really good, really cheap, and has a demo you can try to see what it's all about.

BQM: Block Quest Maker is basically "Legend of Zelda Maker." It's got some robust tools for making all sorts of dungeons and puzzles, but it flew under a lot of people's radar and its community is pretty small nowadays. However, there's still a dedicated remanent left making some great levels, and the Japanese side of the playerbase is more active.

What are some games you think are underrated gems?

Little King's Story, more than 15 years later, is still secretly the best Pikmin game.

I'm gonna be that moron and say Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

I have a lot of love for Vostok Inc. It's just an Asteroids clone with a lite sim-management aspect. Basically you're just building to make your space bucks gradually increase. From thousands a second, to tens of thousands a second, to hundreds of thousands a second, to millions a second, and so on and so forth.

Shoot stuff and make-number-go-up. Simple but there's something very zen about watching your stack of cash escalate. You get that hit a dopamine as soon as you get just enough cash to purchase that next building upgrade. Earning you even more moola.

It's a game that's often marked down to $2 and I can't recommend it enough.

I’ll add a couple local multiplayer games

Astro Bears- really fun game. 1-4 players. You play as a bear that leaves a trail where it walks. You move on a small world (sphere). If you bump into your or someone else’s trail, you die. Whoever gets the most points wins!

Heave Ho!- 1-4 players. 2D platformer with a mix of short obstacle stages. You have to get from the start to the goal as quick as possible. Essentially the only controls are to move your arms and grab onto stuff with your hands. You can choose to work together or to sabotage your friends haha. This one has been a hit with non-gamers even in my experience! I also enjoy the 1 player mode on this.

Both games are very cheap and also go on sale frequently enough I believe (but check Deku Deals).

I mean you're technically being smarter since you're actually using the word correctly for games being rated less than you would have instead of a lazy way to say "not popular enough".

By default my underrated games are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and Kirby Air Ride with that in mind, what was wrong with critics those times? Both of these have notably worse ratings than Paper Mario Sticker Star, that's just unacceptable.

Flat Heroes looks kinda intense, but I’ve added it to my wishlist and downloaded the demo; I’m always open to more couch co-op games. Lol

I recommend Lynn, The Girl Drawn On Puzzles, a charming puzzle game with a beautiful Asian aesthetic. The puzzles themselves are really good, having you move the titular Lynn between boxes to get her to the exit of each stage. It definitely gets challenging, but there are in-game hints you can check when you’re stuck. Most of the challenge actually comes from trying to stay within the (optional) number of moves the game gives you to complete each puzzle.

There are a few rough edges, like how the move counter is still written in Korean numbers, the translation can be a bit clumsy, and when cutscenes end, they just kinda linger until you click. But those are really minor, and it’s such a beautiful and charming game. I really recommend it!

For a newer one, despite sticking very much with popular games nowadays (probably because Switch got every game ever ported to it practically), weirdly World of Goo 2 felt like it released with little fanfare.

In a way, I kinda get it because its far from an innovative sequel, its arguably way too samey in enough ways. But its also...more of the best puzzle game I've ever played so I still feel it deserves way more than its gotten, the same way I don't think most Bayonetta 1 fans really cared too much that its sequel was similar. It's also...cleverly samey, like there's story reasons the game is overly familiar (or at least...thematic reasons I guess). Either way, its awesome.

Also in terms of samey sequels to indie games I played on Switch that are better than being samey makes them seem like, considering I think the developer was...shut down or something, Oxenfree 2 was also great but I assume didn't do great. Shame because its a solid follow up whose ending really hit hard for me (or at least the ending I chose).

@Plusle_and_Minun Hope you enjoy Flat Heroes - it looks hectic, but it's pretty intuitive. Also, thanks for the recommendation on Lynn - I'll have to check it out some time!

l feel like Donkey Kong Jungle Beat is pretty underrated. It's immensely satisfying to bash enemies by whaling on your bongo controllers, and the level design is really good.