XLarn
Now - that’s a game I remember from the good old days(80’s) of text-graphic and console-commands to play your game.
XLarn is a nice refresh of the old concept of Larn. Crawl though the dungeon, bash monsters, gather loot, avoid traps other nasty things and and recover the potion to save your daughter and win the game. That’s about it. And ofc. there is perma death and paying taxes - if you succeed and try again ;-)
Graphics are simple tileset’s and sound is non-existing. Which is nice bc. it helps the game to stay true to it’s origin.
– Real player with 132.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Perma Death Games.
If you enjoy Diablo, you’ll probably like XLarn. In essence, Larn is Diablo. So much of the gameplay of Diablo so closely resembles Larn that Blizzard’s game is at least a homage: level layouts randomly selected from a pre-designed list; persistent monsters appearing in random locations when first entering the level; random loot drops; being able to both cast spells and wield weapons (melee and ranged); health and magic that regenerate over time; spam combat that involves repeating basic attacks over and over again with more powerful weapons/spells; distinct, powerful boss monsters at the bottom of the dungeon… A lot of these elements are commonplace now, but they were first brought together in one game in Larn, and didn’t appear together again until Diablo.
– Real player with 36.3 hrs in game
Vulture for NetHack
IMO this is the king of the rouguelikes. There is no question in my mind. The amount of stuff you can do, the amount of careful planning it takes to get far, dying sometimes on your first step of the journey… this is roguelike perfection. This is just an adaptation of the classic NetHack, for the most part it is simply a graphical overhaul, or basically an isometric tileset. However, there are a couple game mechanics that are very slightly different. But for you purists, I really don’t think it affects the gameplay. This is basically classic NetHack but with better graphics than have ever been seen before. Sadly, they are still not very good. I would love to see some really good graphics on NetHack someday, but I’m not sure there is enough interest for that these days. The devs of this game say they have graphical updates coming, and from what I’ve seen they look amazing, but the project seems to have stalled out, so who knows if we’ll actually get them.
– Real player with 164.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Perma Death Games.
I spawned in to my adventure as a Human Tourist. Great start. I then walked into the next room, and found a box on the ground. On inspection, no traps were detected and it was not locked. I opened it, only to find that there really -was- a trap. A giant pillar of flame erupted from the box, killing me as well as my pet. The game made note that I was a sinner, presumably because my pet would not have died if I didn’t set the trap off, Total life time: something like 60 turns. That’s the Nethack we all know and sometimes claim to love.
– Real player with 24.1 hrs in game
Hecaton
A good game, a hidden gem.
I can see the similarities between this game and Risk of Rain 1.
You start with 1 of 8 unlock-able characters and proceed through different platforming maps. Each map places you at the “start” and you need to activate your compass to see where the beacon is. Destroy the beacon and the end-level fight unlocks. Then proceed as quickly as you can to the end-level fight where you beat a swarm of spawning enemies, and after a certain time frame is over, you phase to the boss battle. Beat the boss and you proceed to the next map.
– Real player with 45.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Classic Action Roguelike Games.
A charming rouge lite, plays very similar to Risk of Rain 1.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
UnReal World
This may be the best game I’ve ever played.
You may be wondering why I’m about to give this game such a glowing review when I have under an hour of play time on Steam. That’s because it’s free. It’s been free on the internet for ages. Unreal World, developed by Sami Maaranen, and Erkka Lehmus, is a low fantasy roguelike set in Iron Age Finland. Of course, you know that from the description. To get to know this game, you need to immerse yourself in the world. And it’s a big, complex world. URW has been updated regularly since its release in 1992. That’s 25 years of frequent updates. The most recent version is 3.40, which just left alpha this year. I bought this game to support the devs, and it was worth every penny I paid for it. I’ll do a quick rundown of pros and cons.
– Real player with 776.4 hrs in game
I am absolutely ashamed of myself.
I’ve never considered graphics an issue. Many of my favorite games are pretty old, and I’ve never minded motionless sprites or minimal animation. I played Spiderweb Software’s Exile back in the 90s (and sank countless hours into both of its remakes), along with obscure RPGs like Realmz and TaskMaker, and I enjoyed some truly ancient roguelikes found on shareware CDs that came with magazines. I never had any problems with putting myself into my characters' shoes, graphics notwithstanding. I feel as if the minimal graphics give my imagination more freedom to roam and create on its own, much like reading a book.
– Real player with 588.4 hrs in game
Uplink
Out of a lot of the hacking games I’ve played in my time, this has to have it’s seat right next to Hacknet, as one of my ‘Two best hacking games I’ve played’.
To some extent, it is pretty much an RPG, just for hacking.
You take up a contract - Or a ‘Quest’ - You do what the contract says - Destroy a mainframe, or change a social security record, et cetera - and then you get paid with a handful of credits - Or “Gold” - which you then use to upgrade your system, be it a Gateway upgrade, a new processor, or applications that will further unlock your hacking capabilities. - Or in terms of the RPG comparison here; You level up your character, you get new weapons, and unlock new skills.
– Real player with 269.6 hrs in game
This is really everything I wanted from an indie hacking game. It is a vast and glorious sandbox brimming with opportunity. To tell its tale, let me start the story about twenty-five years ago, with a little gem from Interplay called “Neuromancer.”
Neuromancer was an amazing piece of work, for its time. A point and click adventure game, yes, but with a vast collection of BBS-like “sites” in “cyberspace,” which could be accessed and navigated spatially, a sea of semitransparent polygons on a sprawling grid. They called the book “prophetic” in its vision of what a global computer network might be like, but the game was similarly visionary, in that it offered a classic milestone-and-unlocked-door-driven main story, but with a vast and layered world of enriching side stories and tiny details easily overlooked, that add depth and character to the world in which your character lives. This was a level of detail and nuance and supporting gameworld-enrichment that Bioware would go on to become famous for, in its epic D&D games of the Nineties, and in its later adventure games, but in the Eighties, on computers that were much more limited in resources, this was a bigger feat, and a bigger surprise to the player. You could just play Neuromancer to win it, or you could play it to learn about it, follow the exchanges on the PAX and on private sites, the private message exchanges between AIs. You could learn so much more that way, if you were clever and patient enough to retain it, to piece it together, and to make sense of it all.
– Real player with 109.0 hrs in game
CRUSH
Great game but needs a few things that might and might not make the game better but just before I say them it’s a great shooter I love the retro style I really wish most games that are being made could have an option or be set to retro automatically and you can’t change it
The list
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Multiplayer) any good game needs multiplayer
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savegame option) I would really like to save my game (this might be added without me saying it)
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ther is nothing else lol that’s all I can think of atm solid game
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
The absolute bare bones of an experience are here.
The shooting is alright. There are “power-up” weapons with limited ammo you pick up. They are okay, maybe even kinda cool. The movement feels slow, but that’s mostly an issue when you are running around cleared rooms etc. During combat it works.
As you clear rooms, more enemies start appearing. A bit too many actually. You can get into a situation where there is a horde after you and unless you get lucky with a weapon drop, you’re going to take a hit (because you can’t kill them fast enough and there is no way to kite them).
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is the sort of game that feels like it’s flying apart as you play. It’s an authentically janky experience, filled with rough visuals, rough AI, and rough edges of all sorts… but a surprisingly playable, unique, charming, and fun “janky experience.”
At heart it’s actually a fairly simple FPS–traditional, even, with its backtracking and weapon inventory and twitchy gunplay. You’re tasked with exploring a pseudo-random castle to rescue various family members and deal with the local vampire population. “Deal with” in this case meaning “slaughter.”
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
In the endless search for quality in the bargain bin of the Steam catalog, there lies a special category for games that many have purchased on a whim, but never played. These tend to be older games, created under time crunches or by small studios. They became either punching bags for being mediocre crap, or things that are actually worth talking about, but fly under the radar because everyone’s backlogs are constantly filled with superior products purchased on sale. It’s a shame, as Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is an interesting experience that provides quite a bit of bang for the buck (or 3, if you’re not getting it on sale.)
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
FATE
I played this game when I was a kid and found it again on here years later. It’s still as fun as I remember it being, and I would definitely recommend checking this one out.
– Real player with 41.0 hrs in game
If I had realized that half this game was a fishing simulator, I would have been a lot better at it when I was a kid
– Real player with 20.1 hrs in game
Good Night, Knight
At $15, this game is an excellent alpha title. I’d say it’s better than many beta titles in development. The game is charming, the soundtrack is decent, and I laughed at the light humor sprinkled throughout the game.
This game is similar to many top-down Zelda titles but with a fleshed-out, challenging combat system. The stealth mechanic is handled wonderfully, the equipment system is fun and allows an enormous amount of customization, and there is a shocking level of detail to the game. Grappling enemies adds much needed depth to the combat system and is quite satisfying. See that pot? Pick it up, fill it with water, and huck it at the nearest enemy for a decent chunk of damage. Or skip the pot and grab the enemy, drag them to the water, and casually drown them for extra crafting materials. Not enough? Push them into a bottomless void or throw them into other enemies. The random generation makes levels replayable and interesting. There’s also a multiplayer mode which involves serious cooperation, though it has some bugs for now. I had so much fun with my friend coordinating stealth attacks and accidentally suplexing each other into oblivion.
– Real player with 32.8 hrs in game
I so far have so this to be a tough but fair game with many different types of creatures and obstacles for the player to face. Though I will admit the a good amount of the game for me has been grinding lower floor. The first two bosses are challenging but fair though so far on fighting the third boss that is where the challenge is. Hopefully I’ll be able to defeat the cyclopes soon, but it will be way more challenging then any of the other.
Alright its 6/28/21 found out how to kill the Bug Queen and found a glitch basically when she starts shooting out eggs press rt on an xbox controller to throw it back at her. As for the glitch apparently after giving the shell of one of the bug queens egg to the old man there will be an axe that appearances and his hand and then the whole game will freeze. Seems to be inentional for now.
– Real player with 23.7 hrs in game
Grand Brix Shooter
“A bullet hell game that’s familiar but never experienced before."
+ Point : Instant judgment, fine control, and your luck determine the whole play.
[1] Intro
Grand Brix Shooter. This is a hyper arcade shoot’em up game made by Intragames. The developer, Intragames has been primarily a game publisher so far, but they also have taken part in making the games. so this game is one of their in-house project games. One of the main developers said that his dev team stayed up countless days all night long to bring up the characteristics of original thrilling action arcade scrolling shooter. Developer effort and game fun aren’t necessarily proportional, but let’s take a look at what it is. ;)
– Real player with 10.8 hrs in game
I personally really enjoyed playing it. The game is very direct, simple to understand with a really reasonable price. I would definitely recommend the game to my friends. There is a leaderboard at the end, the scores from other countries can be viewed and that was one thing that made me play over and over again.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game