LogFAQs > #966104512

--Zero- posted...

Hidden as in not mainstream I suppose? Would PC exclusive fit into that?

I'm going to check out those games you listed. I have only heard of Recettear and thought it was a puzzle or item management sim and am seeing it's a full on RPG so I'll probably get that now, thank you lol.

I guess? The problem is that there are a lot of things that technically aren't mainstream but people who are into gaming communities have heard of them as if they were mainstream. Owlboy is a good example of this as it's really hard to have been around a gaming forum when it came out and not having heard of it, yet it's actually an extremely unheard of title outside of the forums in question.

--Zero- posted...

I went ahead and grabbed it :)

I tried to look up the atelier games on steam and was overwhelmed with a long list of titles.

There was a topic that has purged where I went over them, but in a general sense the games are put into trilogies and the best way to go about it is to get into the series as early as you want to and start from there (the trilogies are basically completely self contained outside of the concept of the "alchemists are basically superheroes" that exists across the board). My recommendation would be to get the bundle for the Dusk Trilogy (Ayesha, Escha & Logy, and Shallie), Mysterious Trilogy (Sophie, Firis, and Lydie & Suelle), or Secret duology (Ryza 1 & 2). The Dusk Trilogy is the oldest and thus has a massive lack in QoL that exists in later titles (and also has notable time limits as a gameplay mechanic, which is a turn off for some) but generally is regarded as having the best writing, the Mysterious trilogy has the most "complex" alchemy in the form of Alchemy Tetris for crafting and is very much a love it or hate it sort of affair (I'm on the "it's really good" camp), and the Secret duology has massive QoL improvements and the overall best game feel to it. If you are fine with some jank + time limits go with Dusk, if you want just a bit of jank + no (real) time limits go with Mysterious, and if you want to just guaranteed like the game go with Ryza.

Also:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/2/5/AAYBCtAADXwN.jpg

Anyways, this list will be a bit biased by my perception of what exactly is "hidden" (I tend to find more action-y games to be anything but niche) but here are some other things you might look into: Hero's Hour, Patrick's Parabox, The Last Remnant (the PC version is a very different game than the console version), Aviary Attorney, Baba Is You, Battle Chef Brigade, Deep Sky Derelicts, Fell Seal, Gamedec, Gato Roboto, Heaven's Vault, LISA, Noita, Offworld Trading Company (if you have friends to play with), Puzzle Agent, The Sexy Brutale, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments (and if you really liked that one, Devil's Daughter is only slightly worse), and Potion Craft.

Those are (mostly) in alphabetic order with a couple of them out of it not because of them being recommended over the others so much as being in a different category in Steam. Generally speaking I feel like all of them did an excellent job in whatever genre they were going for (with ones that are in genres that have consistent AAA/big name alternatives, such as The Last Remnant and Deep Sky Derelicts, having actual reasons why they didn't get big but are still much better than their relatively unheard of status would lead on).