LogFAQs > #976989373

*looks at my game library*
uhhhh all of them?

for this year i'd like to heavily pressure people to pick up these ones especially:

All things considered PARANORMASIGHT has done incredibly well, as a virtually indie vn that Square Enix somehow decided to publish yet didn't even bother marketing. Better than Centennial Case (also underplayed) and also the best game they've released this year tbh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUO4isKRg4Y

Ghostpia Season 1 is an incredible solo-produced full animated visual novel (presented like a tape or dvd of an anime miniseries, basically) that harnesses tonal whiplash very well. It's a game overloaded with personality that is absolutely making my top 5 for this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdAEjRJjZgo

Affogato is a unique mix (or blend, rather) of what should've been fully incompatible gameplay concepts, being somewhere inexplicably in between Cherry Tree High Comedy Club and VA-11 Hall-A, with themes derived from Persona 3/4/5, adapted in a way similar to Anodyne but if it had reverse tower defense elements with card mechanics. Has surprisingly fantastic japanese AND chinese dubs, it actually does have a bit of a following in china itself since it's from a small indie studio helmed by a popular Bilibili-based content creator but it hasn't really had much traction elsewhere. Oh yeah also the soundtrack is super catchy, so much jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptJU98mL7UI

Alice Escaped and Glimmer in Mirror are two metroidvania-lite titles with very vibrant visuals, released around the start of the year. The former's inspired a bit by games like Rabi-Ribi as well as Ice Climbers and has a wonderland-themed setting as you'd expect. Soundtrack's also a bop. The latter is an incredibly beautiful Hollow Knight clone that also, rather clearly, derives some influence from Ori. It's still unfinished but the foundation already puts it on top of countless other clones out there. Neither is really at the level of being worthy of being considered genre-defining but both are very well made given their statuses as near solo developed games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzt7pb_ryV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTtGiW_QUGE

Volcano Princess is NOT an underplayed game objectively, it randomly turned out to be the best selling indie game in china this year. But same as Affogato, I think most gamers anywhere else don't even really know of its existence so I'll count it anyway. It's just a very respectable raising sim, basically, with a lot of features packed into it that you just don't see otherwise in the genre, which has been seeing an unseen renaissance lately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPzzhcQBw9s

Cave Fictions is weird lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WioNWX2d-og

Sailing Era has been kind of successful tbh but i think a lot of people are still unjustly writing it off as an Uncharted Waters ripoff when it is honestly on par with peak uncharted waters, introducing some truly great and innovative features. filled to the brim with deep mechanics, very satisfying gameplay loop, and just really polished in general, it has to be said that this team have really outdone themselves here with their unofficial entry. i've mostly played the switch version and surprisingly not only is performance unexpectedly well optimised, controls are also very straightforward despite the game very much seeming like micromanagement w/menu hell at first glance (and really, it kind of is, that's part of why it appeals to me lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjMy9O8_tSE)

I still haven't gotten onto the full release yet but even then WORLD OF HORROR is already my favourite horror game of the generation. A true old-school masterpiece that is already very acclaimed but I think could still be more than that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8jIwzGp8U

finally, it's not out in english yet and isn't quite dead in the water as of yet, but i want to mention that despite being on mobile, Aster Tatariqus is a literal must-play for fire emblem fans, and is legitimately almost on par with Engage. Featuring an involved storyline, a >200-song soundtrack mostly from Shimomura and just a level of polish totally unseen in mobile srpgs otherwise, i'm really hoping this game doesn't bomb on global https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXxJPv-XURc