Oh god, I could post on this thread for hours. I'll just list a few:
Sword of the Stars: The PitThis peculiar spinoff of the Sword of the Stars space strategy series is a fantastic "rogue-like", with completely randomly generated levels populated with a great array of interesting traps, enemies, and treasures. I really can't recommend this game enough; it has unbelievably deep crafting and cooking systems, and players have to contend with both bodily health (as in, not getting shot) and food to stay alive. One of the only roguelikes I've ever played with a heavy focus on ranged attacks!
It's available for $9.99 on Steam.Rusty HeartsRusty Hearts is a free-to-play dungeon crawler developed by Windyzone in Korea and distributed in the US by Perfect World. This game has been continually ignored and underrated since its release, which is a darn shame, because it's probably the very best game of its type. Fantastic self-aware and tongue-in-cheek dialogue tell a story that's really better than it needed to be, given the intense, combo-focused nature of the gameplay that by itself is enough to earn this game a recommendation. You can pick it up at
the official site, or on Steam.
Blacklight: RetributionAnother Perfect World-distributed game, this time developed by ZOMBIE Studios. A follow-up to the poorly-received Blacklight: Tango Down, this free-to-play online FPS is quite different from its predecessor. Retribution is primarily a competitive multiplayer-focused game with a wide variety of game modes and
completely customizable weapons and armor loadouts, not to mention mecha, airstrikes, wave survival, and more! The game has no glaring or serious flaws, representing what I consider to be the current state-of-the-art in competitive online FPS games, and it features stellar DX11 graphics courtesy of the latest Unreal Engine 3.5. It's free to play, and you can pick it up at
the official site, or on Steam.
Mars: War LogsThis came-out-of-nowhere game from French developer Spiders: Game Weavers is easily overlooked, due to the vague title and unconvincing screenshots on Steam. Don't make that mistake! This game is $20 full price, and having gotten it for that price, it feels like I've gotten away with something. It's an action RPG not unlike Mass Effect or similar games, with an engrossing, branching storyline, deep, timing-based combat (think Assassin's Creed or the "Arkham" Batman games), and gorgeous graphics that highlight stellar character design. The cyberpunk-on-Mars aesthetic is NOT to be missed.
Pick it up on Steam now for just $20!ChanteliseChantelise is a GREAT little 3D platforming action game by EasyGameStation, the makers of the much more popular
Recettear. While Recettear was primarily a shop-running simulation, Chantelise is more familiar to most gamers, with relatively simplistic graphics and gameplay. One of the main draws, for both games, is the wonderful storytelling, with a surprising amount of drama for a game with such a silly premise and lighthearted visual style. Chantelise is often overlooked among a sea of similar games, and that's a shame, because it's quite unique under the surface.
It's only $10 on Steam, and you can often pick it up even cheaper as a package with Recettear. Notably, it runs smoothly even on netbook-class hardware, so pick it up as a backup game on those long plane flights.