Topic: Post your surprise HIT games in here

I thought Splatoon 2 looked too much like a kids game to be good. Oof! Still has my highest number of playtime hours. I don't think my other games will ever top it. Where the heck is Splatoon 3? 😠🤪

@Burning_Spear Yeah I do have it already and I fully agree! Also I love the colorful design of everything! Truly a gem!

@WoomyNNYes Agreed. I love Splatoon 2 - also didn't think much of it, until I got hooked. Might not have THAT much playtime on it though, but I really enjoy splattering around with paint it seems! Never got out of that phase as a toddler...

@spiderman0616 Ah great to hear, Fire Emblem was the next game I want to pickup - now I guess it will be sooner than later!!

@Scollurio I can second the Three Houses rec. Loved it, as well as Mario + Rabbids and XCOM 2. All great.

re: Surprise hits, I wasn't expecting Bug Fables to be as good / fun as it is. It seemed too much like a re-skin of Paper Mario, and it kind of is, but the lore and writing are really good (so far) to distract you from the mechanical similarities (which are still fun). Also, way more engaging in battle than DQ11.

Yoshi's Crafted World. It is one of the best Yoshi games out there, up there with Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U) and Yoshi's Island (SNES). For being that good, reviews and sales don't do it justice. I completed it 100% and for a Yoshi game it's on the same level as Super Mario Odyssey is for a Mario game and Breath of the Wild is for a Zelda game. From my point of view it's another 10/10.

Undertale. I played tons of RPGs since the 90s. Now, 30 years later, nothing much grabs my attention for long, except the Xenoblade series. Octopath Traveler, Dragon Quest XI S, Trials of Mana, Bravely Default II, I want to like them but I get bored halfway through the demos. But Undertale was a fantastic experience, full of surprises that I've never seen before, probably because there is nothing like it. Can't wait for Deltarune. 10/10. I also wanna try Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Tales of Vesperia - Definitive Edition when I have the time.

I just completed 2 games that I think most people have overlooked and would love to share here!

• Underhero: Really fun 2-D side scroller with a heavy Paper Mario vibe. Fun, rhythm based combat and a ton of secrets and collectables. I bought it on sale after seeing the Steam reviews and would give it a solid 8.5/10. Took me around 12 hours to complete.
• Agent A Puzzle in Disguise: Point and click game set in a 60's spy sort of theme. Basically you are trying to escape an island and stop the bad guy by completing puzzles. I am not usually a big P&C guy, however this one blew me away. I cannot recommend this enough especially as it goes on sale all the time for a couple of bucks. 9/10 and took me around 4 hours to complete.

@Dayton311 Underhero! Great tip thanks!
Also really interesting to read how other people find their gems!

I know by this point it's probably a well known indie classic, but I cannot recommend Into The Breach highly enough. Back when I stumbled over it on Steam on PC, I was completely taken by it. Got it again on Switch and play it occassionally since I got it! Lovely for short bouts.

Battle Chef Brigade - I really had fun with this one. You get ingredients by beating up monsters, you cook your dish by doing a match type puzzle game, and you still have to impress the judges to be declared the victor. Highly recommended.

@Losermagnet lol, sounds like pure fun! Thank you!

Lots of people are mentioning Mario + Rabbids and I agree. On paper it should have been a complete train wreck. It is gonna be a genre neither are known for, Mario is gonna use guns and they are meshing Mario with Rabbids instead of Rayman but it was executed perfectly and it being heavily discounted afterwards allowed the more sceptical towards it to give it a try.

I don't know how I missed the Mario + Rabbids love, but absolutely yes. That is a fantastic game. Love the animation, music, and gameplay.

I'll also recommend Night in the Woods. You play as Mae, a college dropout returning home and resuming a life that continued on without you. It's a narrative driven game with light platforming. Also, everyone is an animal and you poke a severed arm with a stick. It's great!

I bought it for under $20 and tried to start it 3 times, but kept moving to other games and forgetting about it. The 4th time I tried, it stuck. I had nothing else to play so I kept going. I was absolutely hooked after about 4 battles. A lot of people comment that it's a hard game and that the difficulty ramps up too quickly, but I did not find that to be the case necessarily. It does a good job of teaching you all the different techniques at a slow and steady pace, and by the time you get to the late stages you're a force to be reckoned with.

There's some replay value there too--it's fun to run back through all the "worlds" and pick up all the stuff you couldn't get to before as well as try your hand at all the challenges.