Why I'll always defend the Steam bargain bin
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Nice post, thanks! Any hidden gems in there with a Diablo-loot “relax while grinding” kind of loop? After playing VR racing and shooters, I like to relax with a podcast and game, and hunt exciting loot like a slotmachine addict
Does Torchlight count as a hidden gem? It is on sale for $3 on Steam right now.
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Nice post, thanks! Any hidden gems in there with a Diablo-loot “relax while grinding” kind of loop? After playing VR racing and shooters, I like to relax with a podcast and game, and hunt exciting loot like a slotmachine addict
not a “hidden gem” either, but I really enjoyed victor vran
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Yesterday, I shared how—this month—I bought 226 PC games for $135. Generally speaking, there were three responses to that post:
- “Wow, that’s a ton of games for so little!”
- “Will you ever actually play all of those?”
- “That’s gotta be pure slop.”
Fair questions. So here’s some context.
Back in 2015, I had a dumb-but-sincere goal: to collect every budget game on Steam. At the time, it felt doable. But then came the deluge—more games releasing every day, plus the rise of asset flips and lazy shovelware. I gave up on the idea and started being… selective-ish.
Still, that reckless phase taught me something valuable: not all budget games are garbage. In fact, some of the best games I’ve ever played came from that experiment. They just never had marketing muscle behind them.
Here are a few that stuck with me:
- Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages. A top-down action RPG, set in space, with some similarities to Escape Velocity but with a more involved story. It also has a killer soundtrack, and a spin-off novel available on Amazon.
- Enemy Mind. A horizontal shooter, with pixel art graphics, where you play a consciousness that can seize and take hold of enemy ships.
- Shadowgrounds. A top-down shooter that takes place in a space colony. Somewhat similar to Alien Breed for Amiga but with even better weapons. Made by Frozenbyte, the same team behind Trine.
- Caster. A low-poly 3rd person shooter where you battle bug-like creatures, featuring lots of terrain deformation.
- AquaNox. An underwater submarine cockpit shooter that merges arcade thrills with a fun post-apocalyptic sci-fi story.
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi. A vampire-themed survival horror and FPS hybrid with the best opening scene I’ve experienced in any video game.
Of course, it wasn’t all hidden gems. 2015 was also the year I was introduced to Hotline Miami, Psychonauts, VVVVVV, Disciples: Sacred Lands, and Savant Ascent. All those games I acquired 10 years ago for less than $1. Good luck convincing me that wasn’t a better use of a dollar than a gas station coffee.
Now, sure—I played some absolute trash. Camera Obscura, Intergalactic Bubbles, Warriors & Castles—all of them unplayable disasters. I ignored the red flags. I thought “it’s only 50 cents.” Rookie mistake.
I have since become pickier.
And I know what you’re thinking: “You bought 226 games this month. That’s you being pickier?”
Yes, I bought 226 games this month. But I’ve become discerning. I avoid anything with reviews below 60% on Steam unless it’s hilariously bad (Daikatana, I’m looking at you). No meme games. No anime titty mahjong. No asset flips with “Simulator” in the title.
Lately, I’ve been diving into Warhammer, Star Wars, Battlefield, Sherlock Holmes, and Men of War titles—all dirt cheap. Finally played Enter the Gungeon, Doom (2016), Skyrim, and Undertale.
And some new-to-me standouts? Try these:
- Another Crusade
- Sundered
- The Ascent
- Andro Dunos 2
- Soulstice
So no, price doesn’t equal quality. If you’re willing to dig through the bargain bin, you’ll find gold. Just wear gloves.
Hello fellow tiny indie enthusiast! Here are a few I hold dear:
Beyond All Reason - FOSS RTS game about robots destroying each other. Pick one of 3 factions and build up your army to crush the opposition. Great for multiplayer co-op or PvP, even has modes to face off against boss factions. Surprisingly robust and balanced.
PictoQuest - Picross is a pretty niche genre, but it’s a very rewarding puzzle system. This title combines the classic puzzles with real-time RPG combat, adding some frantic tension to the puzzle solving.
Smushi Come Home - Crazy cozy platformer about a mushroom dude trying to return to his family. If “Chill Vibes” was a game.
Aquaria - You’ve probably played this one; was a standout indie back in 2008, even getting a crossover in Super Meat Boy. It’s a Metroidvania with fantastic music, unique combat, and a heartfelt story. It perfected leitmotifs years before Undertale.
Miasmata - Survival horror game that focuses on plant sample gathering and cartography. Yes seriously, you literally have to triangulate your position with landmarks to fill out your map! It sounds like work, but it’s actually awesome to experience.
Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor - 3D pixel sci-fi urban sim in which you play a street urchin dreaming of a better life. Its depiction of hope amidst abject poverty is heart wrenching, but the game is absolutely brimming with charm.
The Void - Otherworldly resource management sim from the studio behind Pathologic. You’re a soul in purgatory struggling to remain extant amidst a war between two factions. You have to travel between nodes to collect Color, which is the fuel of survival. Monstrous Brothers roam around stealing all of it they can, and helpless Sisters plead you to offer what you can, with the promise they can help you ascend.
Legend of Grimrock - Oldschool dungeoncrawler RPG. Pick a group of four prisoners chained together and traverse the prison dungeon of Grimrock. Classic hack and slash, sword and sorcery; comes with a map editor and has a lot of community maps.
Knytt Underground - Metroidvania minus the combat. It’s all about exploration, platforming, puzzle solving, and glorious aesthetic. You may have heard of Within A Deep Forest from the same dev.
Honorable mention: Dreamfall Chapters - Not as indie as the others, but not nearly as well known as it deserves. Adventure game set between two worlds - a dystopian fascist sci-fi and… a dystopian fascist fantasy. You swap between worlds discovering not only the secrets destroying these places, but also to learn about your own past. Actually the third title in the series, but acts as a standalone.
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Yesterday, I shared how—this month—I bought 226 PC games for $135. Generally speaking, there were three responses to that post:
- “Wow, that’s a ton of games for so little!”
- “Will you ever actually play all of those?”
- “That’s gotta be pure slop.”
Fair questions. So here’s some context.
Back in 2015, I had a dumb-but-sincere goal: to collect every budget game on Steam. At the time, it felt doable. But then came the deluge—more games releasing every day, plus the rise of asset flips and lazy shovelware. I gave up on the idea and started being… selective-ish.
Still, that reckless phase taught me something valuable: not all budget games are garbage. In fact, some of the best games I’ve ever played came from that experiment. They just never had marketing muscle behind them.
Here are a few that stuck with me:
- Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages. A top-down action RPG, set in space, with some similarities to Escape Velocity but with a more involved story. It also has a killer soundtrack, and a spin-off novel available on Amazon.
- Enemy Mind. A horizontal shooter, with pixel art graphics, where you play a consciousness that can seize and take hold of enemy ships.
- Shadowgrounds. A top-down shooter that takes place in a space colony. Somewhat similar to Alien Breed for Amiga but with even better weapons. Made by Frozenbyte, the same team behind Trine.
- Caster. A low-poly 3rd person shooter where you battle bug-like creatures, featuring lots of terrain deformation.
- AquaNox. An underwater submarine cockpit shooter that merges arcade thrills with a fun post-apocalyptic sci-fi story.
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi. A vampire-themed survival horror and FPS hybrid with the best opening scene I’ve experienced in any video game.
Of course, it wasn’t all hidden gems. 2015 was also the year I was introduced to Hotline Miami, Psychonauts, VVVVVV, Disciples: Sacred Lands, and Savant Ascent. All those games I acquired 10 years ago for less than $1. Good luck convincing me that wasn’t a better use of a dollar than a gas station coffee.
Now, sure—I played some absolute trash. Camera Obscura, Intergalactic Bubbles, Warriors & Castles—all of them unplayable disasters. I ignored the red flags. I thought “it’s only 50 cents.” Rookie mistake.
I have since become pickier.
And I know what you’re thinking: “You bought 226 games this month. That’s you being pickier?”
Yes, I bought 226 games this month. But I’ve become discerning. I avoid anything with reviews below 60% on Steam unless it’s hilariously bad (Daikatana, I’m looking at you). No meme games. No anime titty mahjong. No asset flips with “Simulator” in the title.
Lately, I’ve been diving into Warhammer, Star Wars, Battlefield, Sherlock Holmes, and Men of War titles—all dirt cheap. Finally played Enter the Gungeon, Doom (2016), Skyrim, and Undertale.
And some new-to-me standouts? Try these:
- Another Crusade
- Sundered
- The Ascent
- Andro Dunos 2
- Soulstice
So no, price doesn’t equal quality. If you’re willing to dig through the bargain bin, you’ll find gold. Just wear gloves.
I own both Shadowgrounds and Caster.
Caster is a short, janky, lovable mess. It has real “this is my passion project and first ever video game” vibes.
Shadowgrounds was forgettable, but I vaguely remember enjoying it.
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I own both Shadowgrounds and Caster.
Caster is a short, janky, lovable mess. It has real “this is my passion project and first ever video game” vibes.
Shadowgrounds was forgettable, but I vaguely remember enjoying it.
A few weeks ago, I finally beat Shadowgrounds and talked about it over here:
Shadowgrounds haunted my Steam library for 10 years. Last weekend, I finished it. - Lemmy.World
You know that sensation of seeing something unfinished? I wish there were a word for that. But I bet you know what I’m talking about. When you look over at some IKEA furniture you bought a few years ago—maybe a table—and you haven’t assembled it yet. You want to. Maybe you even opened the box, but never finished it. Or when you see a book on your shelf. You started it, made it to Chapter 6. The old bookmark still pokes out. Every so often, you take it down, glide your hand along the cover, then the spine—but you just don’t have it in you to crack it open and keep reading. Personally, I get that feeling a lot. Looking at my Steam library. Which, by the way, now numbers in the thousands. But when I scroll through it, the same question keeps popping up: Why is it that finishing something so small… often feels so big? I think the answer has less to do with the thing itself—and more to do with what the thing represents. It’s about time. Memory. You started it when you were younger. And for your younger self’s sake, you want to finish it. But time moves on. You’ve got responsibilities. You’ve got to be a grown-up. And yet, these things stick around. They’re like ghosts. Hovering. Whispering. For me, one of those ghosts was a top-down shooter I bought in 2015. That was the year I went full-bore into Steam. I embraced PC gaming with gutso. I went on a buying spree—probably bought too much. Hell, I still do. But back then I definitely did. Because games were dirt cheap. I thought to myself, “It’s never going to get cheaper than this.” You’ve got to understand—before 2015, I was mostly a console gamer. Xbox 360, Wii. But I swore off new consoles. Everything was getting too expensive. And even old consoles felt overpriced at the time. Which is hilarious now. Retro gaming today is a luxury hobby. But PC? On PC, I could get great games for a dollar. Not just shovelware—classics. So I bought every good game I could find around that price. One game stood out. Not because I was new to PC gaming—I wasn’t. I’d done plenty of PC gaming in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And one of my favorite genres was the top-down shooter. I grew up with Alien Syndrome on the Commodore 64. Later, I played it again on the Sega Master System. But the C64 version? Absolutely amazing. In the ‘90s, top-down shooters started picking up serious steam: Catacomb (not 3D, the original), Take No Prisoners, Alien Breed, MageSlayer. There was just something about that genre I loved. Don’t get me wrong—I like run-and-gun games. I like first-person shooters. But top-down shooters? They scratch a different itch. Tactical. Strategic. Like watching four planets at once. That’s why I love them. So in 2015, I saw this top-down shooter going for a dollar. It looked solid. Not amazing, but well above average. It scratched that nostalgic itch. So I bought it. That game was Shadowgrounds. I remember firing it up—and man, it hooked me. The voice acting? Comically bad. The cutscenes? Deep in the uncanny valley. But it had a thing. You’re a maintenance worker on Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons. A human colony, far from Earth. And everything goes wrong. You’ve got a flashlight and a gun. Aliens start attacking—and they’re afraid of the light. At first. So you’re constantly sweeping the flashlight to keep them at bay. But they flank you. From behind. From the sides. It becomes this constant dance: aim the light, shoot, move, aim again. And the enemies escalate—more violent, more grotesque. But you’re collecting weapons too: machine guns, shotguns, grenade launchers. And once you hit the heavy artillery? It’s game on. I loved it. I sank hours into it. But I never made it past level one. Why? The save system was beyond stupid. Level one takes at least half an hour. There are no checkpoints. You can’t save mid-level. The only time the game saves is when you beat a level. And level one on medium difficulty? Hard. Every time I played, I’d sink time into it… then quit. Later I’d try again—on a new machine, a new install, a new Steam Deck. Always restarting. Always back at level one. You get five lives. Die five times? Game over. I didn’t finish it. But it haunted me. Not just because I liked the game—but because I liked the genre. And because, at the time, top-down shooters were making a quiet comeback. Hotline Miami. The Hong Kong Massacre. Redeemer. Even Halo released two top-down shooters—Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. Nobody talks about them, but they exist. And they’re good. Shadowgrounds was an early entry in that revival. It came out in 2005—when top-down shooters weren’t even a blip. Its physical box described it as “Doom 3 meets Smash TV.” Hilarious. Because it’s nothing like either. But I get why they said it: in 2005, people didn’t remember Alien Breed. They needed a frame of reference. Truth is, Shadowgrounds is a spiritual successor to Alien Breed. Even the aliens move similarly. And there’s irony in all this—because the first-person shooter, the juggernaut genre of PC gaming, owes its existence to the top-down shooter. Catacomb 3D—id’s first FPS—was a 3D version of Catacomb, a top-down shooter. Early FPS level design was heavily influenced by top-down layouts. And for good reason. Top-down is tactical. You see everything. FPS is about surprise. Each room is a mystery. But in the '90s, FPS games had one major flaw: the maps. You got lost easily. I remember getting lost in Heretic constantly, opening the map just to navigate—at which point, it basically was a top-down shooter. Eventually, game design improved. But that early influence stuck. By the 2000s, though, 2D was considered outdated. AAA games had to be 3D. On the N64, for example, I can’t recall many 2D games. Maybe a few—but you could count them on one hand. In the early 2000s, 2D existed mostly on handhelds or as low-budget PC games. Shadowgrounds was one of those. A premium budget title. Not AAA, but made with care. It wasn’t 2D either—not exactly. It was 2.5D. Fully polygonal models. 3D character models. But with that classic top-down perspective. You could tell they put love into this thing. The level design, the weapons, even the soundtrack. Speaking of the soundtrack—phenomenal. One of the best I’ve heard from that era. The composer? Ari Pulkkinen. Yeah, the guy who later did Angry Birds and Trine. This was one of his first soundtracks. And the guitars? Played by Amen, the guitarist from Lordi. Which is wild, because Lordi won Eurovision in 2006—the year this game hit its marketing stride. And they barely promoted that connection! They thank Lordi in the credits, but that’s it. Anyway, Shadowgrounds mattered. Not just to me. It helped kick off the top-down revival. Five years later, Team17 brought back Alien Breed with the Alien Breed Trilogy. And they went back to the top-down perspective, even though they’d shifted to first-person years earlier with Alien Breed 3D. Valve got in on it too—with Alien Swarm. Originally using Unreal Engine, then ported to Source. Top-down shooters were back. And for me, the 2010s were defined by them. My favorite game of all time? Hotline Miami. Best soundtrack I’ve ever heard in a game. Incredible story. There are documentaries about it—and rightly so. Other recent favorites: OTXO—brilliant. The Ascent—phenomenal atmosphere. Neon Chrome—oozes that midnight feel. This genre? It keeps delivering. And yet… every time I launch Steam, there it is. Shadowgrounds. Staring me down. Why haven’t you finished me? Like a ghost. Like the Telltale Heart—beating in the floorboards. I must’ve played level one for six, maybe seven hours over the years. Last weekend, I woke up and said: “Today is the day. I’m going to finish this damn game.” I checked online—estimated playtime was six hours. So I fired it up. On Easy mode. I played it slow. One level at a time. Do a chore, come back. Go for a walk, come back. I didn’t finish Saturday. Made it to level 8. The Emicron Research Facility. And I started loving the game. Even the voice acting. Once I realized it wasn’t serious, it became endearing. The main character—a maintenance guy who somehow becomes a badass alien-killer—had real John McClane vibes. The aliens? Unique. One had Gatling guns for arms. Another could cloak but if you shined your flashlight at it—boom, there it was. I love that “alone in space, fighting aliens” trope. It never gets old. Saturday night, right before bed, I told myself: Tomorrow. No excuses. Finish it. Sunday morning, I showered, ate, sat down—and dove in. The final boss? Brutal. Even on Easy. I died on my first attempt. Then I realized: I hadn’t upgraded a single weapon. How did I play this entire game without upgrading once? Because the upgrade system feels hidden. You don’t press Escape or Tab. You press Enter. So I upgraded. Tried again. Got impatient—took too many shortcuts and paid the price. Used up all my lives. Game over. Third time, I played smart. Tactical. Terminator mode. Cleared the level with precision. I made it to the boss room. Both of us had one sliver of health left. Either he died or I died. All it took was one shot. I fired. Bam. Boss died. I won. Trigger the final cutscene which revealed a twist in the story. Then the end credits. And I felt it. Deep in my gut. Ten years. Finally finished. Not a big accomplishment in the grand scheme. I wouldn’t compare it to, say, having a child. But it meant something. It was a gift to my younger self. And to the present me, too. That’s what I love about games like this—single-player campaigns where you’re not competing against someone else. You’re competing against yourself. Outwitting the computer. Pushing through. Growing. When I beat that final boss, I sat back and said out loud, “I really did it.” I tied off an old thread from my past. And now? Shadowgrounds is done. I’m uninstalling it from all my machines. Because I’m finished. And it’s finished, too.
(lemmy.world)
I like this game a great deal.
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A few weeks ago, I finally beat Shadowgrounds and talked about it over here:
Shadowgrounds haunted my Steam library for 10 years. Last weekend, I finished it. - Lemmy.World
You know that sensation of seeing something unfinished? I wish there were a word for that. But I bet you know what I’m talking about. When you look over at some IKEA furniture you bought a few years ago—maybe a table—and you haven’t assembled it yet. You want to. Maybe you even opened the box, but never finished it. Or when you see a book on your shelf. You started it, made it to Chapter 6. The old bookmark still pokes out. Every so often, you take it down, glide your hand along the cover, then the spine—but you just don’t have it in you to crack it open and keep reading. Personally, I get that feeling a lot. Looking at my Steam library. Which, by the way, now numbers in the thousands. But when I scroll through it, the same question keeps popping up: Why is it that finishing something so small… often feels so big? I think the answer has less to do with the thing itself—and more to do with what the thing represents. It’s about time. Memory. You started it when you were younger. And for your younger self’s sake, you want to finish it. But time moves on. You’ve got responsibilities. You’ve got to be a grown-up. And yet, these things stick around. They’re like ghosts. Hovering. Whispering. For me, one of those ghosts was a top-down shooter I bought in 2015. That was the year I went full-bore into Steam. I embraced PC gaming with gutso. I went on a buying spree—probably bought too much. Hell, I still do. But back then I definitely did. Because games were dirt cheap. I thought to myself, “It’s never going to get cheaper than this.” You’ve got to understand—before 2015, I was mostly a console gamer. Xbox 360, Wii. But I swore off new consoles. Everything was getting too expensive. And even old consoles felt overpriced at the time. Which is hilarious now. Retro gaming today is a luxury hobby. But PC? On PC, I could get great games for a dollar. Not just shovelware—classics. So I bought every good game I could find around that price. One game stood out. Not because I was new to PC gaming—I wasn’t. I’d done plenty of PC gaming in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And one of my favorite genres was the top-down shooter. I grew up with Alien Syndrome on the Commodore 64. Later, I played it again on the Sega Master System. But the C64 version? Absolutely amazing. In the ‘90s, top-down shooters started picking up serious steam: Catacomb (not 3D, the original), Take No Prisoners, Alien Breed, MageSlayer. There was just something about that genre I loved. Don’t get me wrong—I like run-and-gun games. I like first-person shooters. But top-down shooters? They scratch a different itch. Tactical. Strategic. Like watching four planets at once. That’s why I love them. So in 2015, I saw this top-down shooter going for a dollar. It looked solid. Not amazing, but well above average. It scratched that nostalgic itch. So I bought it. That game was Shadowgrounds. I remember firing it up—and man, it hooked me. The voice acting? Comically bad. The cutscenes? Deep in the uncanny valley. But it had a thing. You’re a maintenance worker on Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons. A human colony, far from Earth. And everything goes wrong. You’ve got a flashlight and a gun. Aliens start attacking—and they’re afraid of the light. At first. So you’re constantly sweeping the flashlight to keep them at bay. But they flank you. From behind. From the sides. It becomes this constant dance: aim the light, shoot, move, aim again. And the enemies escalate—more violent, more grotesque. But you’re collecting weapons too: machine guns, shotguns, grenade launchers. And once you hit the heavy artillery? It’s game on. I loved it. I sank hours into it. But I never made it past level one. Why? The save system was beyond stupid. Level one takes at least half an hour. There are no checkpoints. You can’t save mid-level. The only time the game saves is when you beat a level. And level one on medium difficulty? Hard. Every time I played, I’d sink time into it… then quit. Later I’d try again—on a new machine, a new install, a new Steam Deck. Always restarting. Always back at level one. You get five lives. Die five times? Game over. I didn’t finish it. But it haunted me. Not just because I liked the game—but because I liked the genre. And because, at the time, top-down shooters were making a quiet comeback. Hotline Miami. The Hong Kong Massacre. Redeemer. Even Halo released two top-down shooters—Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. Nobody talks about them, but they exist. And they’re good. Shadowgrounds was an early entry in that revival. It came out in 2005—when top-down shooters weren’t even a blip. Its physical box described it as “Doom 3 meets Smash TV.” Hilarious. Because it’s nothing like either. But I get why they said it: in 2005, people didn’t remember Alien Breed. They needed a frame of reference. Truth is, Shadowgrounds is a spiritual successor to Alien Breed. Even the aliens move similarly. And there’s irony in all this—because the first-person shooter, the juggernaut genre of PC gaming, owes its existence to the top-down shooter. Catacomb 3D—id’s first FPS—was a 3D version of Catacomb, a top-down shooter. Early FPS level design was heavily influenced by top-down layouts. And for good reason. Top-down is tactical. You see everything. FPS is about surprise. Each room is a mystery. But in the '90s, FPS games had one major flaw: the maps. You got lost easily. I remember getting lost in Heretic constantly, opening the map just to navigate—at which point, it basically was a top-down shooter. Eventually, game design improved. But that early influence stuck. By the 2000s, though, 2D was considered outdated. AAA games had to be 3D. On the N64, for example, I can’t recall many 2D games. Maybe a few—but you could count them on one hand. In the early 2000s, 2D existed mostly on handhelds or as low-budget PC games. Shadowgrounds was one of those. A premium budget title. Not AAA, but made with care. It wasn’t 2D either—not exactly. It was 2.5D. Fully polygonal models. 3D character models. But with that classic top-down perspective. You could tell they put love into this thing. The level design, the weapons, even the soundtrack. Speaking of the soundtrack—phenomenal. One of the best I’ve heard from that era. The composer? Ari Pulkkinen. Yeah, the guy who later did Angry Birds and Trine. This was one of his first soundtracks. And the guitars? Played by Amen, the guitarist from Lordi. Which is wild, because Lordi won Eurovision in 2006—the year this game hit its marketing stride. And they barely promoted that connection! They thank Lordi in the credits, but that’s it. Anyway, Shadowgrounds mattered. Not just to me. It helped kick off the top-down revival. Five years later, Team17 brought back Alien Breed with the Alien Breed Trilogy. And they went back to the top-down perspective, even though they’d shifted to first-person years earlier with Alien Breed 3D. Valve got in on it too—with Alien Swarm. Originally using Unreal Engine, then ported to Source. Top-down shooters were back. And for me, the 2010s were defined by them. My favorite game of all time? Hotline Miami. Best soundtrack I’ve ever heard in a game. Incredible story. There are documentaries about it—and rightly so. Other recent favorites: OTXO—brilliant. The Ascent—phenomenal atmosphere. Neon Chrome—oozes that midnight feel. This genre? It keeps delivering. And yet… every time I launch Steam, there it is. Shadowgrounds. Staring me down. Why haven’t you finished me? Like a ghost. Like the Telltale Heart—beating in the floorboards. I must’ve played level one for six, maybe seven hours over the years. Last weekend, I woke up and said: “Today is the day. I’m going to finish this damn game.” I checked online—estimated playtime was six hours. So I fired it up. On Easy mode. I played it slow. One level at a time. Do a chore, come back. Go for a walk, come back. I didn’t finish Saturday. Made it to level 8. The Emicron Research Facility. And I started loving the game. Even the voice acting. Once I realized it wasn’t serious, it became endearing. The main character—a maintenance guy who somehow becomes a badass alien-killer—had real John McClane vibes. The aliens? Unique. One had Gatling guns for arms. Another could cloak but if you shined your flashlight at it—boom, there it was. I love that “alone in space, fighting aliens” trope. It never gets old. Saturday night, right before bed, I told myself: Tomorrow. No excuses. Finish it. Sunday morning, I showered, ate, sat down—and dove in. The final boss? Brutal. Even on Easy. I died on my first attempt. Then I realized: I hadn’t upgraded a single weapon. How did I play this entire game without upgrading once? Because the upgrade system feels hidden. You don’t press Escape or Tab. You press Enter. So I upgraded. Tried again. Got impatient—took too many shortcuts and paid the price. Used up all my lives. Game over. Third time, I played smart. Tactical. Terminator mode. Cleared the level with precision. I made it to the boss room. Both of us had one sliver of health left. Either he died or I died. All it took was one shot. I fired. Bam. Boss died. I won. Trigger the final cutscene which revealed a twist in the story. Then the end credits. And I felt it. Deep in my gut. Ten years. Finally finished. Not a big accomplishment in the grand scheme. I wouldn’t compare it to, say, having a child. But it meant something. It was a gift to my younger self. And to the present me, too. That’s what I love about games like this—single-player campaigns where you’re not competing against someone else. You’re competing against yourself. Outwitting the computer. Pushing through. Growing. When I beat that final boss, I sat back and said out loud, “I really did it.” I tied off an old thread from my past. And now? Shadowgrounds is done. I’m uninstalling it from all my machines. Because I’m finished. And it’s finished, too.
(lemmy.world)
I like this game a great deal.
I just skimmed your post and it didn’t sound familiar. I’m out of the house right now, but I checked Steam on my phone, and I’ve definitely played it.
-
Yesterday, I shared how—this month—I bought 226 PC games for $135. Generally speaking, there were three responses to that post:
- “Wow, that’s a ton of games for so little!”
- “Will you ever actually play all of those?”
- “That’s gotta be pure slop.”
Fair questions. So here’s some context.
Back in 2015, I had a dumb-but-sincere goal: to collect every budget game on Steam. At the time, it felt doable. But then came the deluge—more games releasing every day, plus the rise of asset flips and lazy shovelware. I gave up on the idea and started being… selective-ish.
Still, that reckless phase taught me something valuable: not all budget games are garbage. In fact, some of the best games I’ve ever played came from that experiment. They just never had marketing muscle behind them.
Here are a few that stuck with me:
- Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages. A top-down action RPG, set in space, with some similarities to Escape Velocity but with a more involved story. It also has a killer soundtrack, and a spin-off novel available on Amazon.
- Enemy Mind. A horizontal shooter, with pixel art graphics, where you play a consciousness that can seize and take hold of enemy ships.
- Shadowgrounds. A top-down shooter that takes place in a space colony. Somewhat similar to Alien Breed for Amiga but with even better weapons. Made by Frozenbyte, the same team behind Trine.
- Caster. A low-poly 3rd person shooter where you battle bug-like creatures, featuring lots of terrain deformation.
- AquaNox. An underwater submarine cockpit shooter that merges arcade thrills with a fun post-apocalyptic sci-fi story.
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi. A vampire-themed survival horror and FPS hybrid with the best opening scene I’ve experienced in any video game.
Of course, it wasn’t all hidden gems. 2015 was also the year I was introduced to Hotline Miami, Psychonauts, VVVVVV, Disciples: Sacred Lands, and Savant Ascent. All those games I acquired 10 years ago for less than $1. Good luck convincing me that wasn’t a better use of a dollar than a gas station coffee.
Now, sure—I played some absolute trash. Camera Obscura, Intergalactic Bubbles, Warriors & Castles—all of them unplayable disasters. I ignored the red flags. I thought “it’s only 50 cents.” Rookie mistake.
I have since become pickier.
And I know what you’re thinking: “You bought 226 games this month. That’s you being pickier?”
Yes, I bought 226 games this month. But I’ve become discerning. I avoid anything with reviews below 60% on Steam unless it’s hilariously bad (Daikatana, I’m looking at you). No meme games. No anime titty mahjong. No asset flips with “Simulator” in the title.
Lately, I’ve been diving into Warhammer, Star Wars, Battlefield, Sherlock Holmes, and Men of War titles—all dirt cheap. Finally played Enter the Gungeon, Doom (2016), Skyrim, and Undertale.
And some new-to-me standouts? Try these:
- Another Crusade
- Sundered
- The Ascent
- Andro Dunos 2
- Soulstice
So no, price doesn’t equal quality. If you’re willing to dig through the bargain bin, you’ll find gold. Just wear gloves.
Sundered slaps
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Yesterday, I shared how—this month—I bought 226 PC games for $135. Generally speaking, there were three responses to that post:
- “Wow, that’s a ton of games for so little!”
- “Will you ever actually play all of those?”
- “That’s gotta be pure slop.”
Fair questions. So here’s some context.
Back in 2015, I had a dumb-but-sincere goal: to collect every budget game on Steam. At the time, it felt doable. But then came the deluge—more games releasing every day, plus the rise of asset flips and lazy shovelware. I gave up on the idea and started being… selective-ish.
Still, that reckless phase taught me something valuable: not all budget games are garbage. In fact, some of the best games I’ve ever played came from that experiment. They just never had marketing muscle behind them.
Here are a few that stuck with me:
- Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages. A top-down action RPG, set in space, with some similarities to Escape Velocity but with a more involved story. It also has a killer soundtrack, and a spin-off novel available on Amazon.
- Enemy Mind. A horizontal shooter, with pixel art graphics, where you play a consciousness that can seize and take hold of enemy ships.
- Shadowgrounds. A top-down shooter that takes place in a space colony. Somewhat similar to Alien Breed for Amiga but with even better weapons. Made by Frozenbyte, the same team behind Trine.
- Caster. A low-poly 3rd person shooter where you battle bug-like creatures, featuring lots of terrain deformation.
- AquaNox. An underwater submarine cockpit shooter that merges arcade thrills with a fun post-apocalyptic sci-fi story.
- Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi. A vampire-themed survival horror and FPS hybrid with the best opening scene I’ve experienced in any video game.
Of course, it wasn’t all hidden gems. 2015 was also the year I was introduced to Hotline Miami, Psychonauts, VVVVVV, Disciples: Sacred Lands, and Savant Ascent. All those games I acquired 10 years ago for less than $1. Good luck convincing me that wasn’t a better use of a dollar than a gas station coffee.
Now, sure—I played some absolute trash. Camera Obscura, Intergalactic Bubbles, Warriors & Castles—all of them unplayable disasters. I ignored the red flags. I thought “it’s only 50 cents.” Rookie mistake.
I have since become pickier.
And I know what you’re thinking: “You bought 226 games this month. That’s you being pickier?”
Yes, I bought 226 games this month. But I’ve become discerning. I avoid anything with reviews below 60% on Steam unless it’s hilariously bad (Daikatana, I’m looking at you). No meme games. No anime titty mahjong. No asset flips with “Simulator” in the title.
Lately, I’ve been diving into Warhammer, Star Wars, Battlefield, Sherlock Holmes, and Men of War titles—all dirt cheap. Finally played Enter the Gungeon, Doom (2016), Skyrim, and Undertale.
And some new-to-me standouts? Try these:
- Another Crusade
- Sundered
- The Ascent
- Andro Dunos 2
- Soulstice
So no, price doesn’t equal quality. If you’re willing to dig through the bargain bin, you’ll find gold. Just wear gloves.
The Ascent
Oooh, let me second this recommendation! I play this fairly regularly in online co-op with my remote gaming group. It’s an isometric perspective cyberpunk-themed action game with gorgeous, detailed environments.
What exactly do you mean by bargain bin though? I just checked and The Ascent seems to be going for almost $30 at the moment. I think I bought it on sale for quite a bit less, but I still wondered what you meant.
If I could throw out my own recommendation that’s even cheaper than that, I’m always trying to get more people to know about Project Zomboid. Another isometric perspective game, this time it’s an open-world survival game with incredible gameplay depth and also online co-op (or PvP). The graphics look somewhat antiquated, but it more than makes up for it in almost every other area. Some people have played this for hundreds or even thousands of hours, so the return on investment tends to be through the roof.
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The Ascent
Oooh, let me second this recommendation! I play this fairly regularly in online co-op with my remote gaming group. It’s an isometric perspective cyberpunk-themed action game with gorgeous, detailed environments.
What exactly do you mean by bargain bin though? I just checked and The Ascent seems to be going for almost $30 at the moment. I think I bought it on sale for quite a bit less, but I still wondered what you meant.
If I could throw out my own recommendation that’s even cheaper than that, I’m always trying to get more people to know about Project Zomboid. Another isometric perspective game, this time it’s an open-world survival game with incredible gameplay depth and also online co-op (or PvP). The graphics look somewhat antiquated, but it more than makes up for it in almost every other area. Some people have played this for hundreds or even thousands of hours, so the return on investment tends to be through the roof.
I bought a Steam key for The Ascent on Fanatical for $0.62. It was part of a bundle.
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I bought a Steam key for The Ascent on Fanatical for $0.62. It was part of a bundle.
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Delta v rings of saturn, ostranauts, quasimorph, loop hero, barony are all loot n chill, even if they can be a bit tense. Altho they might not exactly match your itch. Ill try and remember and check my library.
Grim dawn wasn’t mentioned but im sure youve played it.
You rock! Quasimorph looks great
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The Ascent
Oooh, let me second this recommendation! I play this fairly regularly in online co-op with my remote gaming group. It’s an isometric perspective cyberpunk-themed action game with gorgeous, detailed environments.
What exactly do you mean by bargain bin though? I just checked and The Ascent seems to be going for almost $30 at the moment. I think I bought it on sale for quite a bit less, but I still wondered what you meant.
If I could throw out my own recommendation that’s even cheaper than that, I’m always trying to get more people to know about Project Zomboid. Another isometric perspective game, this time it’s an open-world survival game with incredible gameplay depth and also online co-op (or PvP). The graphics look somewhat antiquated, but it more than makes up for it in almost every other area. Some people have played this for hundreds or even thousands of hours, so the return on investment tends to be through the roof.
Me and my friends tried to play the ascend but it was unplayable because of desync everywhere. Ever had that problem? Since then I think it may have been the player hosting the server because we always have problems depending on who is being the host.
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Hello fellow tiny indie enthusiast! Here are a few I hold dear:
Beyond All Reason - FOSS RTS game about robots destroying each other. Pick one of 3 factions and build up your army to crush the opposition. Great for multiplayer co-op or PvP, even has modes to face off against boss factions. Surprisingly robust and balanced.
PictoQuest - Picross is a pretty niche genre, but it’s a very rewarding puzzle system. This title combines the classic puzzles with real-time RPG combat, adding some frantic tension to the puzzle solving.
Smushi Come Home - Crazy cozy platformer about a mushroom dude trying to return to his family. If “Chill Vibes” was a game.
Aquaria - You’ve probably played this one; was a standout indie back in 2008, even getting a crossover in Super Meat Boy. It’s a Metroidvania with fantastic music, unique combat, and a heartfelt story. It perfected leitmotifs years before Undertale.
Miasmata - Survival horror game that focuses on plant sample gathering and cartography. Yes seriously, you literally have to triangulate your position with landmarks to fill out your map! It sounds like work, but it’s actually awesome to experience.
Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor - 3D pixel sci-fi urban sim in which you play a street urchin dreaming of a better life. Its depiction of hope amidst abject poverty is heart wrenching, but the game is absolutely brimming with charm.
The Void - Otherworldly resource management sim from the studio behind Pathologic. You’re a soul in purgatory struggling to remain extant amidst a war between two factions. You have to travel between nodes to collect Color, which is the fuel of survival. Monstrous Brothers roam around stealing all of it they can, and helpless Sisters plead you to offer what you can, with the promise they can help you ascend.
Legend of Grimrock - Oldschool dungeoncrawler RPG. Pick a group of four prisoners chained together and traverse the prison dungeon of Grimrock. Classic hack and slash, sword and sorcery; comes with a map editor and has a lot of community maps.
Knytt Underground - Metroidvania minus the combat. It’s all about exploration, platforming, puzzle solving, and glorious aesthetic. You may have heard of Within A Deep Forest from the same dev.
Honorable mention: Dreamfall Chapters - Not as indie as the others, but not nearly as well known as it deserves. Adventure game set between two worlds - a dystopian fascist sci-fi and… a dystopian fascist fantasy. You swap between worlds discovering not only the secrets destroying these places, but also to learn about your own past. Actually the third title in the series, but acts as a standalone.
Beyond All Reason mentioned! I love that game, probably my favorite RTS. I love playing with friends against the AI. I have no real interest in online PvP because it stresses me out, but even without that there’s plenty of fun to be had with BAR. A must try for any fans of Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, Planetary Annihilation, etc. and actually die RTS fans in general.
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Me and my friends tried to play the ascend but it was unplayable because of desync everywhere. Ever had that problem? Since then I think it may have been the player hosting the server because we always have problems depending on who is being the host.
Sorry to hear. I’m not sure what you mean by desync? Do you mean that the remote players lose track of what’s happening on the server? I don’t recall having major issues with that. I think our game is always hosted by the same person, so maybe it could be dependent on host?
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Sorry to hear. I’m not sure what you mean by desync? Do you mean that the remote players lose track of what’s happening on the server? I don’t recall having major issues with that. I think our game is always hosted by the same person, so maybe it could be dependent on host?
Pickups stayed on the ground is the only thing I remember but there was other funky stuff. Maybe we should give it another go with me hosting. Seem to be the only person able to do so without someone having problems.
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Pickups stayed on the ground is the only thing I remember but there was other funky stuff. Maybe we should give it another go with me hosting. Seem to be the only person able to do so without someone having problems.
Oh, wait, now that you mention that it’s bringing back some memories. Yes, I think we have run into issues like that, but it wasn’t so much that we stopped playing because of it. It’s been a little while, but we’ll get back to it eventually. I just love the environments on that game.
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When you’re in an arcade, how many games do you tend to play?
Personally, I easily play around 10 within an hour.
Arcade games are meant to turnover “plays” as quickly as possible to make the most profit in a given time. This logic doesn’t really apply well here.
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Arcade games are meant to turnover “plays” as quickly as possible to make the most profit in a given time. This logic doesn’t really apply well here.
How so? Arcade-style games aren’t confined to physical arcades. Plenty exist on PC. Raptor: Call of the Shadows, for example, was never in arcades but plays exactly like one.
The core design philosophy—short sessions, high intensity, replayable loops—is identical. So I don’t see how the logic doesn’t apply. A fast-paced game is still a fast-paced game, no matter where you’re playing it.
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How so? Arcade-style games aren’t confined to physical arcades. Plenty exist on PC. Raptor: Call of the Shadows, for example, was never in arcades but plays exactly like one.
The core design philosophy—short sessions, high intensity, replayable loops—is identical. So I don’t see how the logic doesn’t apply. A fast-paced game is still a fast-paced game, no matter where you’re playing it.
I think when people refer to"arcade" it conjures up visions of the 80s and 90s of being present in an arcade and pumping quarters into machines.
I think if you’re gonna talk about modern arcade style games you should probably make that clear.
