We all play the same games most of the time. From the classic FPS grandfather’s to the Point 'n Click adventures that never really got any traction past the 90s.
What are your favorite hidden gems? Games that few people know, but should know?
I’ll start. Ascendency. A strategy space game where you pick an alien race, and try to take over, or befriend, the entire universe. Getting spaceships, going to planets, building bases and diplomacy. The time can be sped up, but do it at your own risk, because the AI does not wait.
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Heretic and Hexen! Not as remembered as Doom but still great.
I love Heretic. I played it at the computer lab while everyone else was playing doom.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_Velocity_(video_game)
Has a bangin soundtrack
Yes!
My babysitter had this when I was 7, I used to play it with her kids.
A handful of DOS games:
Get Lost - a 3D maze game. Played the hell out of the shareware version but it was limited to 15 levels out of 100 or something like that. Haven’t been able to get it to work properly with dosbox.
God of Thunder - people are probably more likely to remember this one. A puzzle game with a Zelda-like viewpoint. Had that graphical feel you can only get from mid 90s DOS, kind of like jazz jackrabbit.
Powball - dos breakout clone with little enemies that fly about. Gotta collect the gems so you can buy your upgrades (lasers etc) between levels. Looked very nice too, that later 90s DOS artstyle, similar to Warheads.
Some Windows ones too:
Blast Doors - an evolution of the old Scorched Earth. A little 3D-like battlefield, half a dozen players. I had a lot of fun with that one.
Death Drome - kind of like Tron light cycles but an open arena with freedom of movement (not locked to a grid), weapon pickups, multi-sectioned arenas, countdown timer that eventually releases a killer force field that closes into the centre until one person left. As far as I can tell, this will not work outside of 16 bit Windows.
Hyperblade - 3D futuristic hockey/lacrosse like game with brutality, including killing off the other team, and taking off an opposing players head which you can then score with.
I really enjoyed the spaceship game Solar Winds, but would occasionally run into a wild bug where rotating the ship to a specific angle would launch it in a negative x direction.
Likewise, I wish another game would work a magic creating/ programming-lite system like Legend/Four Crystals Of Trazere(US). It was way too fun crafting wild magical spells from the basic ingredients.
Solar Winds was my shiiiiiz back in the day! So vast yet so packed with stuff to do!
Thought Ascendancy was pretty known at the time. Anyway, if you’ve missed Dune, it’s quite a fun game.
Gruntz! by Monolyth. ❤️🔥 Also I worked on reimplementation of that game.
Ascendancy? Oh yeah, my favourite wanna be 4X space game; the AI is just superbly stupid. But the Idea of building and outfitting your own ships? Just great.
But on other hidden Gems that few people know about…
How about Anstoss. I really liked how you were a Manager of a football team with the goal to win the UEFA cup. During the 2000s I was a football fan, what can I say :D
Oh and then there was that one strategy game on DOS which involved a europa map, akin to risk. but much more involved with espionage and combat. I am looking for its name and screenshots for quite an eternity now.
There’s an AI patch for ascendency. Supposedly it makes the AI less stupid
jup, so I’ve heard; yet I’ve never tried it. … maybe I should…
Jack the Nipper II.
Red Baron was my favorite flight sim of the era. Crazy advanced, especially compared to what consoles of the time were capable of doing.
I’m not sure how rare Slicks and Slides is, but it feels like a lesser known DOS game. How about Dark Ages (the RPG)?
Two of my favorites are The Ancient Art of War at Sea which I was never able to run on my pc because I only had MCGA, and even with my CGA emulator it was not enough.
The other was Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors. This game really cemented my love for the Elm Street franchise.
Because of the mcga issue, my most played games were ascii games like Hack, Larn, DND, Mines of Moria.
AAoWaS was a gem! It was one of the few games I actually enjoyed when we got a 386 and VGA, and the old IBM with CGA moved into my room.
does The 7th Guest count as forgotten? lol [email protected]
a horror FMV puzzle game, the local theater actors really hammed it up, the soundtrack slaps, and the atmosphere is great
also Tyrian, which is freeware now https://www.gog.com/en/game/tyrian_2000 Not very forgotten either, but at least I’m not saying Doom!
make sure to try the DESTRUCT cheat code https://tyrian.fandom.com/wiki/Cheats#Secret_Gameplay_Modes
Master of magic. War craft 2. Ultimate Doom. Titus the fox. Descent.
I am unsure Warcraft 2 or any Doom title counted as forgotten. Warcraft 2 got a modern release, and doom is always around.
Master of Magic was a great game, I forgot about that one.
I’ve got Master of Magic on steam, I still like it. I gotta go for something other than halfling slingers built near an adamantium source.
There was a PnC adventure game I have vague memories of, it was a kid-friendly game and had reasonably open design… I can’t remember its name to save my life, but I wish I could because I really loved it.
I’d also say that even though it’s not exactly hidden, the original Starship: Tribes was one of the best shooters I’ve ever played. I hate that it was largely forgotten and ignored. I mean, Ascend was a solid game but ruined by microtransactions. That series deserved so much better.
Shazbot! Sadly not a DOS game.
Describe the PNC game, if you’d like. Maybe someone will recognize it.
Ah darn, I didn’t think about that heh. I genuinely can’t recall much about the adventure game, just that it had a city environment (at least for part of it) and cartoonish graphics. I’m pretty sure it was just some low-budget kids’ game but I’d love to revisit it sometime and unlock memories I’ve forgotten haha
