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Hidden Gems or Underrated Games you played in 2024 (Black Friday Recommendations)

dreamstation

Gold Member
Going to also throw Alaloth in the mix, recently come out of early access and I've heard good things about it but not tried it yet:

Have had this on my wishlist - did the price jump up considerably with full release or am I just imagining it being cheaper before?
 

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
For anyone buying for consoles, check out Deku Deals. I found a shitload of good great games on Switch for insanely cheap.

Some notable ones:
Dusk (Incredible boomer shooter) - $10
Portal 1&2 Collection - $5
Persona 5 Royal - $15
Spiritfarer - $7.50
Disco Elysium - $12
Civ 6 - $3
Golf Story - $4
Cursed to Golf - $4
Puyo Puyo Tetris - $4
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope - $15
Steamworld Dig 2 - $2
A bunch of collections are cheap too (Bioshock, Borderlands, Crash, Ace Attorney, Mega Man Zero, Batman Arkham, Metal Gear, etc)

That’s just Switch. You can also use Deku Deals for Xbox and PS.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
Have not played anything that I would consider a hidden Gem, But I did like this simple little game I got on sale on Steam.
Boxes
It's basically The Room but more of it. If you like simple puzzle manipulation here you go.

 

larrybrady

Neo Member
Probably not a hidden gem for some.but I just discovered the game yesterday,there's a demo too..it a Capcom game called "kunitsu-gami path of the goddess".. action strategy, beautiful animation
 

KàIRóS

Member
I just saw a discount on Lost Eidolons, a really good indie SRPG, it's basically Korean Fire Emblem Three Houses, with an equally good story and the weapon triangle system, also saw the discount on PS5 but I think it's only for PS Plus not totally sure.

 

nnytk

Member
Trails through Daybreak
Ys X: Nordics
I want to love these games but the cutscenes and dialog are so damn "meh" or "mid" to me that I tend to move away from Ys or something like Daybreak. I mean, the gameplay and style look appealing to me (similar with Fate/Remnant). I'm just worried I won't be able to keep my attention or interest due to dull or lame dialog. And these games seem full of it... Sorry, I don't want to sound too harsh here.

I might get Nordics on a deep sale in the future.
 
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kevboard

Member
apparently Prince of Persia Lost Crown is a hidden gem, which is crazy to me...

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but that is absolutely a game anyone who even remotely likes Metroidvanias and/or challenging platforming has to play.

PLAY THIS!
 

PeteBull

Member
Its getting new expansion in 2025 too, looking really good with berserker/shapeshifter class
Here stream with tons of info and new gameplay with production director of the game
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
If you have a Pro, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora is on sale in the PSN Black Friday deal. Ultimate edition that gets you both DLCs is like $50. The Pro upgrade is really impressive compared to the base Performance mode. It runs the Quality settings at 60fps.
 

consoul

Member
If you have a Pro, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora is on sale in the PSN Black Friday deal. Ultimate edition that gets you both DLCs is like $50. The Pro upgrade is really impressive compared to the base Performance mode. It runs the Quality settings at 60fps.
I don't think the Pro patch was well implemented on Avatar. It was a great looking game to begin with and now I honestly think it looks worse, particularly the water.
 

Lunarorbit

Member
Cool, another chance for me to shill Beyond Shadowgate.


Did you play (and love) the NES version of Shadowgate like I did? You need to play this game. It was crafted from design documents that were made 30 years ago when they were planning a sequel to the NES classic, which never materialized... until now. The interface is designed around the old NES game, and the Steam download itself is something like 40MB. Pixel art is great, music is fantastic, puzzles are great (hard, but not too hard). Just an overall great experience that I'm sure I'll be replaying several times.

EDIT: also tons of nostalgia as the game has levels based on Deja Vu and The Uninvited
I bought Shadowgate earlier this year, the remastered version (?). Wasn't a huge fan of it but this looks up my alley.

The one I played felt like an ios game. Plus super unintuitive. I watched AVGN recently as he did deja vu. Fuck me i never got far in that game and there's a reason why
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Alice: Madness Returns seems better than I gave it credit for when I first played it, maybe cos I play with a controller this time. It's fun and decently engaging, not unlike the ancient original (which was tuned for MKB and running on Quake 3 engine back then so quite different in some ways).
Gets the occasional crash and issue, especially if you unlock fps from the intended 30 or whatever but oh well. Also doesn't include the original game/extra content any more, apparently you can get EA version keys that have it but Steam doesn't (if you enable it with ini tweaks it won't work).
 
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grvg

Member
Couple more recommendations:

Cyber Knights - Tactical RPG similar to XCOM but in a Cyberpunk setting. It's in early access but well worth a spin if you're a fan of tactical RPG's:




And two of the previous games from the same developer:



Star Traders is really deep spacefaring RPG/strategy/tactical game, where combat plays out similar to battles in darkest dungeon. At it's current price I'd say it's a must try. If you need a guide refer to this one:





Templar Battleforce:


Can't attest for this one yet but I'll be picking it up this sale.


I've poured a stupid amount of time into star traders on mobile - it is extremely good, though I still have no idea how to actually git gud at it.
 
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