Hello!
One of the things I really enjoy is unique, interesting or out-of-the box game design. It doesn’t have to be AAA game, it doesn’t have to be a perfect game, it can be pretty rough - but if it has a mechanic or design element that is somehow unique or original, I’m instantly in love with the game.
The problem is that such games do not usually get a lot of exposure, since it is after all a niche. And that is really a shame - in the past few years the most fun had with video-games was playing such smaller and shorter indie games with something unique or pretty clever, where I can obsess over the design and more importantly - get inspired. That leads me to my question - are there any communites or blogs or content curators that are about this kind of smaller, maybe unpolished, but original games? Or what games would you recommend that would fit into this description? I don’t mind if it’s a 5 minute experience. It’s ok if it’s more interactive art than a game.
To better illustrate what I’m looking for, I’d compare it to modern art - the kind where you get a single colored square on a canvas. I never got it, and it always felt just weird - until I had to start doing flyer design and started researching and reading about composition, space and all that stuff. And now I see there’s so much going on even on a picture with a single line, that it’s really interesting to think about why the square is where it is, and what kind of composition rules was he working with.
And I think it’s the same for game design - sometimes you see a clever mechanic or design on otherwise really ugly and unpolished game, and it still gets you inspired and thinking.
I understand that my question is a little bit vague, so I’ll give you a list of some games I consider unique, some of them are well known, some of them not-so-much:
- Immortality - you probably know about this one, but a game where the plot twist is discovering a hidden game mechanic, you could’ve done all the time? And the fact that you watch three movies at once in random scene order is also a really good experience.
- Against the Storm - I really like how they solved the issue with management sims - that they tend to get boring once you set everything up, by making it a roguelike.
- Different Strokes - an online persistent collaborative museum of art, where you can either leave a new painting, or edit someone’s else. Each painting can be edited only once, so there are always two authors of a single piece.
- Sayonara Wild Hearts - I really like the idea of making what’s basically an interactive music album. While the game design isn’t anyting that interresting, the focus on music is cool - there should be more music albums with video-games instead of video-clips.
- Project Forlorn - Again, not really a game - this time I think there’s no actuall gameplay, but it’s the best interactive music album presentation I’ve ever seen. And again - I like the idea of exploring music and games together.
- Playdate - Not exactly a single game, but rather a console - but the idea behind giving you a game per day (which is I think how it started, they may all be available now looking at it) sounds amazing - which I’d also consider a game design (or rather, experience design?).
- Baba is You - Another probably well known game, but the puzzle mechanic is just mindblowing.
- Before Your eyes - In this game, the main mechanic is that you go through the memories of someone who has just passed away, but the time advances every time you blink - physically blink, because the game can use your camera. That is such a clever idea, that it definitely fits onto this list.
- Nerve Damage - This is my favourite recent discovery. The game is trying so hard to be uncomfortable to play, with it’s main design build around just being unplayable. But it somehow works and once you get into the flow, it’s such an unique experience.
So, does anyone has some recommendations about where to look for more experimental games? A curated list, blog would be awesome - since clicking through pages of games on itch.io is pretty hit and miss. Also, feel free to share some of your favourite unique design or experimental experiences and games!
I’d highly recommend Patrick’s Parabox. It’s an incredible little puzzle game that revolves around paradoxical movements of pieces in each puzzle. I don’t know how to adequately describe it, but it was incredibly unique.
Read through some quick replies, I’d recommend Superhot a game where time moves only if you move, highly recommended.
superhot is the most innovative shooter i’ve played in years
superhot is the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years
Hyper Demon - the camera is almost 360 degrees and in the trailers the gameplay seems unintelligible, until you play it for a bit
Not sure about experimental but different game mechanic:
Radio Commander - a RTS that you totally control via the radio, you don’t see anything, you must interact with your deployed units.
Hell Let Loose - Not niche, but very unique in its 50 person radio system, where you must communicate and coordinate with other players. Think of it less as a FPS, and more as a management training simulator.
Majesty - A old game, but you don’t actually control units, you set goals and bounties and the units have their own agency and will accomplish things in their own good time.
The forgotten city - A very cerebral approach to time loops by a indie studio.
Osmos. Become the biggest. Ambient background music, trippy game play, mobile only, AFAIK.
I most certainly played it on PC.
Edit: yes, it’s on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/29180/Osmos/
Thank you, those sound interresting. I have already played The Forgotten City, and it was an amazing experience. Hell Let Loose I never got into, I did try to play it for a while but eventually have up - unfortunately, that’s the kind of game I don’t have friends or dedication for. I imagine it’s similiar to Eve Online, which I did play for a few years and had an amazing time and community in, but it’s one of those games where you really have to invest a lot of time and make the game for other players, because being just a linemember isn’t that interesting. But once you get into higher positions, be it squad leader/fleet commander, that’s where the game really shines. But I’m not assertive or brave enough for that.
But I really fondly remember the experience of being a covops/stealth bomber fleet member in larger Eve Online alliance, and training for a fleet commander. Nothing will ever come close to it, but I’m just not made for leading people. And without it, the experience is not as unique or interresting, since it basically boils down to “simon says”.
Radio Commander and Majesty sounds like fun, I will have to try it.
Your experience is exactly why hell let loose is great. Force yourself into management and you will develop new skills!
I’ve on my way to work but I’m commenting so I can come back and give you a list and see what everyone else suggests.
I’ve been using the save button for that function quite a lot. So when you go to your history you can look at saves. Rather than comments. It helps differentiate between conversations I’ve had and things I want to return to
At least in Voyager app it’s very intuitive. The save buttons right there on every post
Rain World (I love it so much please take it away from me before I lose all of my free time):
- Very fluid procedural movement that takes 300+ hours to learn
- Torturous first 20 hours that most people give up during
I did play it for a while, but as you’ve said - I’ve eventually given up. I did see a few talks/videos about the game, and I really like what they are doing! Which is enough for me to enjoy the game, since I can appreciate a good design in theory. I had exactly the same experience with Pathologic - I’m just not patient enough to finish it, but I really love reading about it’s design and what they are trying to accomplish with it, even though it’s not for me.
yeah, I’ve never heard of anyone that didn’t give up on rain world once.
I personally gave up on it until I found out about a coop mod that you can use to play with a friend, and I played it with my friend (who also gave up on it once) until I got past that 20h that makes the game really fun.
Factorio - the factory sim game part is fairly standard but the pollution mechanic is really neat. The more you build, the more you pollute, which feeds the monsters which attack your factory. It’s self balancing.
Hardspace shipbreaker - the physics are damn close to real, within reason. You have a tractor beam and a laser saw. You break down space ships into salvageable bits. Voice acting is superb.
Terra Nil - most sim factory games have you exploit natural resources to achieve a goal, ruining the area in the process. This is the opposite. You’re planting and reforesting, trying to undo the devastation. It’s the anti Factorio.
Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia 2008 has a unique atmosphere, design, combat, ambience and movement that sadly they did not continue but the game is beautiful at its fullest and really cheap now days
Kinda surprised no one has mentioned Noita yet. Its a roguelike where every pixel is simulated, which lets you do cool things like burning the floor walls to light enemies on fire, then putting it out with some water (and also just makes it look really cool). Also even though its a roguelike the world is still completely, open so you can go back and forth from harder areas to the earlier ones, which i havent really seen before.
I love it so much; it’s wilfully tortuous and obtuse yet it’s those very qualities that make it what it is.
This one seems to make even hardcore gamers hate it with difficulty. Seems similar to rain world a bit? I own rain world but have barely played
Ya its super hard, but I think thats kinda the point. It has a similar feeling to rain world where you are just exploring some world where everything can and will kill you, instead of a more gamey world thats trying to actually be fair and let you win if that makes sense
Here’s one you almost definitely won’t know. Guy made his own game engine to make it work.
Hyperbolica - A whimsical Non-Euclidean adventure with mind-bending worlds full of games, puzzles, mazes, and secrets! Immerse yourself in reality-warping geometries where lines can never be parallel, horizons are curved, and space grows exponentially.
Do you need VR for it, or is it a decent experience on a flat screen?
Unraveled 2 is a beautiful game with unique mechanics. The game is a platformer, but how you get through the levels is unique. You need to play it with another person for it to really shine though.
If you’re looking for “games as art”, I have 3 recommendations:
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Yume Nikki. It’s a classic RPGMaker horror game, which has inspired many Fan Games and even some more modern games, such as Undertale. Definitely at least give it a try and explore a little bit - the game play is minimal but it’s quite an atmospheric experience.
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Disco Elysium. It’s more of a very interactive book than a game, but the writing is just phenomenal. In the game you have 24 skills as your personality traits, and depending which ones you level up, they often come and chime in during conversations, giving funny remarks or advice - I love it.
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Pathologic 2. Can’t really get into its special mechanics without spoilers, but it’s such a gem of a game. I love it.
Does pathologic 2 have the full bachelor playthrough yet? Last I heard they only had the Haruspex and 1 day of the bachelor, and I havent really kept up with its development
Not yet, but the teasers and ARG’s have dropped already. Probably a couple more months?
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I don’t think I see it after a quick skim of the thread but surely Kenshi should be on any list such as this.
Completely bewildering and actually quite hard to describe. If you want uniqueness then I’d say it’s hard to beat. I personally have only started playing recently and the learning curve is a cliff face but it’s compelling and having heard the way others describe it, it sounds to me like it’s worth persevering with.
I would recomend for you Killer 7. It was originally for ps2 but i think it was released on steam for a while now. The gameplay is very weird being kinda like a rail shooter but you can move your character around a fixed path and change your character. The interesting part though is the story or at least how its presented. Best way i can describe it is like a fever dream after a bad trip, and i dont do drugs but after playing it youll feel like you just did. The story itself is better experienced than tolld since it doesnt sound very speciall, but just so that it picks on your interest you play as an assassin with multipple personalities disorder and you are tasked with taking down a cult/terrorist organization known as heavens smile and you are not gonna understeand fuck all at first and it gets very ridicoulous, but it still an extraordinary experimental experience.
I absolutely recommend TUNIC. It’s sort of a combination of a legend of zelda/dark souls gameplay and a really interesting puzzle element. Basically, you are playing this game without the guide or any tutorial, and as you play you pick up pages of the game guide which teach you how to play, but it’s written in a language you can’t read, so you have to piece together the mechanics based on the pictures. The game is absolutely full to bursting with secrets, including a final puzzle that blew my mind when I figured it out. I played it with invincibility on so that I could focus on the puzzle element and not worry about combat so much.
It’s one of those games that you can only play once because you learn so many secrets through playing it, but it’s a truly magical experience.
