Fair warning, some of the games are porn.

The one of them I've played, the fruit-themed twin-stick rogulike Resistance is Fruitile, is quite charming!

https://hot-soup-studios.itch.io/thehouse
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/witches-and-bandits-and-swords-oh-my
https://kosmocat.itch.io/dont-beg-for-help
https://so-pa.itch.io/the-kitchen-of-sopas
https://l-a-r-i.itch.io/shape-of-the-circle
https://virtuaworlds.itch.io/cthulhu-frozen-nightmare
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/cupid2-0
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/rivet
https://jdmgames.itch.io/bones-in-the-boneyard
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/every-second
https://daddarulekonge.itch.io/the-handheld-game-console-encyclopedia-vol2
https://pizzaandgames.itch.io/horror-fan-house
https://chriv-games-horror.itch.io/6knives-episode1
https://mydogstolemyliver.itch.io/visionsvol4
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/quest-for-the-missing-piece
https://fiveluska.itch.io/second-wind
https://airman4.itch.io/hammertime
https://jarpdzonson.itch.io/mechanical-void
https://projectyaarj.itch.io/solraid
https://projectyaarj.itch.io/tank
https://manstersoft.itch.io/the-mini-game-3-in-1-fun-pak
https://maximilian.itch.io/inertia
https://q-les.itch.io/the-whispersmith
https://kasperv.itch.io/ball-down-hill
https://retrovr.itch.io/spitfire-dogfight-vr
https://xyxitchio.itch.io/flowfall
https://blak-gear.itch.io/uep1
https://teembeerlay.itch.io/erohina-basics
https://hippomobil.itch.io/elastic-egg
https://tonsomo.itch.io/jurl-hd
https://magnus-froelund.itch.io/the-drifters
https://kasperv.itch.io/kasperias-arenas
https://rockodagamer.itch.io/the-decompiled-ultimate-collection
https://tonsomo.itch.io/mille
https://kasperv.itch.io/the-simple-life
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/area-41
https://tailot.itch.io/motorized-cake
https://tailot.itch.io/cube-orange
https://munegames.itch.io/virtual-coloring-book-for-kids
https://rizvn.itch.io/love-is-war-remake
https://tailot.itch.io/dice-soccer
https://snekjar.itch.io/scaffoldedge
https://magnus-froelund.itch.io/5-in-1-retro-games
https://maximilian.itch.io/side-shooter
https://sj-logo-transparent.itch.io/baldis-basics-songkran-in-education-and-learning-x
https://jdmgames.itch.io/expandoscape
https://hoglet.itch.io/river-strike
https://xxerikxx.itch.io/the-higher-society-v013 XXX
https://xxerikxx.itch.io/the-higher-society-v014 XXX
https://iamqqqqqqq.itch.io/classicgame
https://xyxitchio.itch.io/felix-the-toy
https://pinou007.itch.io/application-that-costs-a-lot-for-nothing
https://calmed-by-the-dark-games.itch.io/calmed-by-the-dark-infinity
https://ahsanmakesgames.itch.io/top-down-showdown
https://faustgabor.itch.io/potatoes-corruption
https://automaticgrasshopper.itch.io/alostgirl
https://krabovaypolochka.itch.io/long-forest-old
https://clevertop.itch.io/temple-of-the-silver-dragon
https://maximilian.itch.io/zombie-apocalypse
https://hempuli.itch.io/mobile-suit-baba
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/i-think-i-need-your-help
https://thethil.itch.io/strange-toilet
https://icarus-dev.itch.io/the-present
https://phasepixel.itch.io/resistanceisfruitile
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/a-potion-for-chamomile
https://asa-studio.itch.io/bff-or-die
https://oi01games.itch.io/antonio-anfiloquio
https://thethil.itch.io/strange-toilet-2
https://alexander-wiseman.itch.io/fear-assessment
https://evolvedustry.itch.io/evolvedustry
https://falsevacuum.itch.io/linda-joan-prologue
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/bunny-hill-horror
https://0zanm.itch.io/still-alive
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/potion-commotion
https://virtuaworlds.itch.io/columns
https://nnuk.itch.io/the-weird-gamma
https://distant-dimensions.itch.io/seclusion
https://krunchyfriedgames.itch.io/bunny-hill-horror-bunny-boiler
https://ibar.itch.io/solitude
https://kyaniteheart.itch.io/sunbeams
https://forwardinstinct.itch.io/panchin-is-frustrated
https://littlemuggames.itch.io/rylees-lunchboxes
https://manstersoft.itch.io/chimera-crusader
https://jdmgames.itch.io/orbital-paladin-melchior-y
https://seeone.itch.io/grav
https://shadowglass.itch.io/assassin-at-crimson-keep
https://thearesjej.itch.io/prosignal
https://manstersoft.itch.io/fun-pak
https://pyrthenix.itch.io/the-legend-of-the-hero-of-edoriam XXX
https://lyl-games.itch.io/color-mind
https://dragonaz.itch.io/the-convoy

Reflect on the games you played this year.

Tell us about it.

Important:

• You do not have to limit your discussion only to games released this year. Anything you played this year is fine.
• This thread is much more interesting if you give details and explanations. Please don’t just list titles on their own.

Conversation starters:

None of the below is required, but feel free to use any of it as a jumping off point for what you want to talk about (if needed).

Consider the following categories:

• Your personal Game of the Year
• Highlights
• Hidden gems
• Surprises
• Disappointments
• Outliers (stuff you loved from genres you usually don’t)

Consider the following questions as well:

• What game resonated most strongly with you, and why?
• What did you keep coming back to, and why?
• What games was the most interesting or exciting to you, and why?
• What did your game playing habits say about your year?
• How did you change as a gamer this year?

it's the end of 2023, and I figured it would be fun to put together a list of the games which made the best impressions on me throughout. Post yours! It's cool if it wasn't a game made in 2023; if you found it this year, that's good enough. It's your year, not this year lol.

I've written about most/all of these in longer form here on Tildes. I might end up repeating myself a bit, but if you want a more thorough description they'll be easy to find in my history. Goes without saying I'd recommend any of them. The order here doesn't mean anything.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon - this was my personal game of the year, and one I'll cherish long after. Armored Core has you building, customizing, and then piloting a mech. AC VI took ideas and mechanics from across its series, blended them together into a new framework, and the result is a fast, explosive experience. As it was in the past, the game takes you through first learning the ropes and exploring new parts, then pushes you to get as good as you can with whatever is fun to you. In the best way, it feels like a game from an earlier time in history - its straightforward mission structure makes for a game you can quickly jump into, make a lot of progress, and jump back out of without having to worry about missing much or forgetting what you were doing. Everything about it has been polished, honed to be about as nice as you could reasonably expect. It looks good, plays great, and tells a story that does with mecha what Fromsoft did with AC's mechanics - it's a little bit of everything, elegantly smashed together.

Exanima - This game is perhaps one of the most unique experiences I've yet to see, despite looking like a lot I have already seen. Exanima takes a very detailed, simulation kind of approach to the objective of dungeon crawling. What makes it unique is its physics system. Controlling a character is more like moving a marionette, where you tug the character along to build momentum and aim your swings. Weapons feel significantly different to each other, and heavy armor changes how well you can move. Once you get used to it, the result of working with this system is a dynamic, visceral kind of combat where you may feel confident, but never certain. An errant slash or clumsy step can mean taking a heavy blow, and recovery is not easy. When the game was younger, folks played and loved the combat so much that it inspired an arena mode. The arena is a separate, distinct mode in which you are tasked with building a roster of characters and participating in tournaments. It is a game unto itself. If you're a fan of games with a very high skill ceiling, Exanima is providing you a system that can go really, really far. The game is a project being worked on by a small group of people, already has a lot of content available, and seems poised to continue development practically forever. Don't let "Early Access" put you off, this one is in a state where it's just good to get more of it. What's there is more than worth its price.

Kenshi - I just got into this one and have been blown the hell away by how much there is to it. In Kenshi you take the role of a person dropped into an alien world, and are tasked simply with surviving. How you do that is up to you, and the world is built to notice and react. There is no story, no main quest or objective. Rather, you can learn more about the world by engaging with it, and determine your own goals within it. As you do things like visit new places, eliminate important people, build your own town, etc., the state of the world will change. This can go in many directions, and there are hours upon hours of videos out there of folks pulling off all sorts of wild shit. Truly, it's a game where your playthrough will become a story the further you go. Mechanically, it's like someone combined Morrowind, The Sims, and Neverwinter Nights, with a big coat of Mad Max paint all over it.

Cyberpunk 2077 - I had played this before, when it first released, and though I did like some of what it was trying to do, the gameplay was busted to the point I didn't care to come back. Now that it's had its expansion and a lot of bugfixing, this game stands pretty tall and I was really impressed with it this second time through. Definitely a case of "they fixed it"; they really, actually did. It's not a No Man's Sky-scale redemption arc but a redemption arc nonetheless, I guess. The big ball of stories and systems rolls along and you roll right up in it, with missions playing out similar to an episode of a higher end tv show. They weave and wrap up satisfyingly, and by the end I feel I had a pretty complete experience of having been a Night City mercenary.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn - Tactics Ogre was always one of my favorite tactics games and this remake both ups its presentation and provides a different kind of challenge. Specifically, it eliminates the ability to power-level anyone; your level is capped as you make your way through the story, forcing you to engage with the game's other systems in order to work out an advantage. The best way I can think to put it, is that it goes in a more Chess-like direction, where you need to be carefully considering how your individual pieces work and planning out a sound approach, because you can no longer action-rpg your way out of it by grinding. At least for me, it felt like a fresh take on something I've enjoyed for a long time, and so became the version I most enjoy playing. If you like Final Fantasy Tactics, TO is its precursor. Give it a go and see what you think - at least for me, it won.

Lunacid - Lunacid is a simplistic game that does what it does exceptionally well. Borrowing primarily from King's Field, it's a first person dungeon crawler in which you piece together the weird place you're in by finding stuff and opening up new paths. It's playing the King's Field influence pretty straight; it lives off being spooky and weird, and spruces up combat to suit a more modern sensibility. What impressed me was just how good of an iteration it is; King's Field is a tough series to get into these days and this game feels like a successful effort to bring it back.

Honorable Mention - Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries - this one gets an honorable mention because just to be frank, the base game is kinda mediocre. It's through mods that I had a fantastically good time with it. I was never into Battletech, but did play the old Mechwarrior games, and while I did miss some of the more simulation-ish aspects of the older games, MW5 + the mods I used gave me enough to do and experiment with that it just didn't matter in the end. In particular, Coyote's Mission Pack, vonBiomes, and Yet Another Mechlab added just a ton of stuff, and of course you can go much much further with it if you want. The base game is not bad on its own, it's just easy to see all it has to offer really quickly. The mods primarily add variety, to tasks and options, and it's in that swirl of ideas and systems where I found a lot of the fun I had.

Post your picks! Just about all of this is on sale right now, so hopefully too we'll all find some neat stuff to check out.

Inspired by the recurring topic every Steam sale over at /r/GameDealsMeta:

• What are some lesser-known Steam games that you recommend?

• Are there any genres you’d like hidden gem recommendations for?

There’s no hard requirement for what counts as a “hidden gem.” Any game that you think deserves more attention counts.

For general and popular game recommendations for the sale, please use this topic instead.

Looking for an app/platform for logging and rating the games I've played. I play a lot of classic games (playing Dragon Warrior 2 right now) so something with support for older stuff is a must. Tell me what you use!

Hello, due to some unfortunately circumstances I need to have my left hand in a cast for some time and I'm looking for recommendations for games I could play only using my right hand (so only using the mouse). I have a few in my library that I've already been playing like Super Auto Pets and Let's Revolution, but I'm a bit bored of them. I also tried a tower defense game called Super Sanctuam TD, which was in my library, so I've tried looking for some other TD games but couldn't find anything that caught my eye.

Edit: I only listed what I've played recently, but I don't really want to limit myself to any genre, the only requirement is to be playable only with the mouse.

I just posted this as a comment to someone who mentioned Horizon Zero Dawn, but figured there might be more discussion if I made a new post for it, so here goes:


Are there any games that you have enjoyed playing without the HUD or mini-map? If so, which ones and why?


One of my favorite gaming experiences was playing Zelda BOTW in its entirety without any HUD elements, just using the game's scenery and story to guide me. I loved it so much that I tried doing the same in other massive open-world games like Skyrim, Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, and Assassin's Creed Origins, but found that they relied too much on small details or markers in the minimap. So instead of feeling more immersed and in-tune with the game world, I just felt more frustrated at not knowing exactly where to go or which specific person or item to click on without the game explicitly telling me. I'm sure it can be done, but I found it nowhere near as pleasing as BOTW.

I just recently picked up Horizon Zero Dawn and wondered if it could be played in a similar manner, without the map or other HUD elements, or if I'll end up needing some of them to know where to go or who to talk to.

I'd love to hear any other recommendations or thoughts on this matter.

I've been trying, without success, to find a good video game that is in the D&D/Pathfinder type genre, but without mature content. Some very light profanity would be OK. I really want to avoid games that objectify females, which, unfortunately, a lot of games in this genre does. Preferably something that can be played solo, even if that's in a multi-player environment. I'm good with new games, old games, indy games, high priced games, whatever. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I just got my Spider-Man 2 Platinum trophy and was looking through my trophy list, I wonder how many people will also obsessively chase the 100% or Platinum trophy and under what conditions.

My personal favorite 100% achievements recently and why:
Slay the Spire - I dumped almost 500 hours in this game and finally got Eternal One last year, it was an incredible journey and I definitely feel myself getting better as I play
God of War Ragnorak - I'm a lifelong God of War fan since the originals and getting through this game was definitely a journey. Finishing the final final boss was incredibly satisfying
Resident Evil 4 Remake - Another one of my personal favorite games of all time, I grinded a week for 50 hours to grab this over about 4 or 5 playthroughs
Spider-Man 2 - My fastest platinum, not too difficult but very satisfying (I do love Spider-man though lol)

Here's a first world problem: I work remote and sometimes I get bored during meetings. Wondering if you guys had any game recommendations for games I can play on a second monitor or something while I kill boredom in my meetings. Mouse only is probably the biggest requirement, and also something more "turn based" so if I need to I can still pay attention to the parts that I need to.

Some of my recommendations:
Slay the Spire (+ Downfall) - I "beat" all of it (A20H for all characters) so I wanted to take a break, but I loved it.
Monster Train - I didn't get into it as much as StS tbh, it's fineeee but not my personal favorite
Super Auto Pets - I'm not really an Autobattler kinda guy but the slow pace and the rotating sets make this game kinda perfect for what I'm looking for!
Brotato - I've been playing mouse only, but can't really stop it in the middle of an intense run tbh.

Steam or Android games if possible!

Hello all and welcome to the weekend! We made it. Or if your weekend doesn't begin until later, you'll make it yet!

Let's talk cozy games! You know the ones I'm talking about, Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon. Games we used to call something else before the collective zeitgeist of the Internet decided to lump them all together under (which I'm personally fine with, I mean what do you call Animal Crossing anyway?)

In a stark contrast to my younger and more vulnerable years, I've become much more of "casual" gamer, and I find myself enjoying shorter bouts of play rather than becoming engrossed in the same world or story for hours on end. Games like Animal Crossing are perfect for this, in that I can just pick it up, talk to some villagers and go fishing or whatever, and put it down whenever I please. Not just that though, but I just absolutely love the warm and well, cozy vibe games like these offer. I've best heard them described as a warm mug of tea by a window as it rains outside.

Enough about me, let's talk about you! What "cozy" games do you enjoy? Feel free to lump them all together, who cares, it doesn't matter! We are all cozy games on this day.

11PM - Animal Crossing: Wild World

Completely ignoring gameplay, which game do you think has the most amazing graphics? Which game do you look at and it makes you question how far technology has come? Or maybe which game has such effective art direction it completely sucks you in?

For me, it's Horizon Forbidden West. I just went back to the DLC after taking a break from it. I forgot just how good it looks! I swear it looks like every grain of sand is modeled, and the character models are insane.

So I recently tried to replay Prototype on PC, only to learn that it's essentially incompatible with modern hardware and crashes instantly past the main menu.

I've tried searching other posts on other sites and most people recommend super hero games and Infamous. Well, I don't have a PS, so Infamous is off the table, and super hero games really are not the same. Call me immature, but if I can't massacre civilians in my power fantasy game, it's not really like Prototype.

I've seen pretty much all the AAA games of past and present that get recommended, but I'm wondering if there are any Indie games that aren't at the forefront that I've missed.

For me, it's the intro cinematic to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I never played the defunct 1.0 version of FFXIV, whose final moments are what this cinematic shows if you aren't aware, but there is something about seeing all the bloodshed and destruction while Answers plays in the background that makes an incredibly strong melancholy mood in the trailer and really sells the feeling of this being an end of an era for Final Fantasy XIV, both in-game and in real life. I have to imagine that it's only more poignant if you were one of the people there for the end of 1.0.

As of late, I've decided to introduce my dad to video games. It's his birthday upcoming in a few days, and I'm leaning towards getting an Xbox of some kind. I haven't been in the world of vidya for quite some time, so I'm hoping to lean on other opinions to make the right decision.

The main question I have is: if I'm buying used, is it worth it to try and find a Series S/X or would I be fine at entry level with an Xbox One? I figure I'll get GamePass and figure out what sorts of games he'd like to play before investing. I only really have $200 to spend, which puts a Series more or less out of the question. Would an Xbox One be a decent introduction to gaming for someone who doesn't have much of a standard for graphics / gameplay etc.? Also: what games should I add to the library?

Basically the title. I have seen soundtracks referenced in my searches for ambient music and homework music, but (possibly due to search skills) I didn't find a full discussion focused on this. Thank you.

Now that Baldur's Gate 3 is releasing on PS5, I got to thinking about a pet peeve I have as a gamer: no matter how many choices and freedom a game gives me, I can hardly get myself to replay it after I finish it once.

There are only ever a handful of exceptions - mostly when I want to show my partner some games I loved when growing up.

The best example I have is Skyrim: I absolutely loved the game on launch date, and I was glued to my PC for several weeks. But after I finished it, I could never get back into it.

I guess my question is less about games that are designed to be replayable (strategy, sims, management, multiplayer) and more about titles such as The Witcher, Grand Theft Auto, Red Ded Redemption, Metal Gear Solid, etc.

So, do you replay such "replayable" titles? Why or why not?

I'll go first: turn-based combat.

While not as common as they once were, there are still a lot of games, AAA and indie alike, that get massively popular and are known for their supposedly excellent turn-based combat. Games that are probably what a lot of people who don't care for turn-based combat make an exception for, for one reason or another. Say they really enjoy how Undertale is "the RPG where you don't need to kill anything", or how Persona 5 is "so stylish". Also, there's the classic JRPGs of old, such as the older Final Fantasy games, or these more military grid based kind of games like Fire Emblem.

I just don't "get" any of it. I've never beaten a game featuring turn-based combat from start to finish. Yes, that includes Pokemon games. I don't know what it is specifically. I've beaten games of basically every other genre, but when I start any turn-based game because of some friend recommendation or good reviews, I try it, am genuinely invested for a couple hours, then my interest in the game just dies all of a sudden. I don't think it's any one issue really, probably a lot of different things.

Anyone else never really got into these kinds of games? Or do you have some other game genre that everyone else swears by that you just don't care for?