Niche Gaming

My sideblog dedicated to various sorts of niche gaming.

[nichegaming]

Hello and welcome!

This is a sideblog on mine on which I want to focus on "niche gaming".

Ok, what exactly even is niche gaming? That's harder to answer than it seems. The obvious part is, that a current mainstream title, played and beloved my a fuckton of people (most of them are AAA titles) don't count. You won't see Assassins Creed here for example. Or World of Warcraft. But then there are games which are mainstream within a niche, Baldur's Gate 3 within the CRPG niche for example, or Hearts of Iron 4 within the Grandstrategy niche. How much do they qualify? Ultimately, I decided on going at it by a case to case basis with a focus on:

Old games (even if they have been mainstream in the 1990s, that's niche today)

Indie games

Freeware games and Mods

I want to do this blog a bit as a form of counterculture towards our current consumerist gaming culture. I do genuinely love to play games from older decades as much as indie games or mods from right now and I think they should get more attention than they currently get.

Also, by focusing on older games, freeware or mods, I want to spread the knowledge about games which people with outdated computers can play, for people who can't afford to get expensive PC setups, because the hobby shouldn't be gentrified imo.

[gnccharacters]

The first two are the main characters from the small indie game "Yrsa Major", it's a visual novel I found (for free!) on itch.io and a story about a stoic woman who is also a lumberjack and a water elemental who took the form of a middle aged, feminine man. Over the course of the story he becomes her companion.

I do like a lot about these two characters, but a personal favourite of mine is to see a feminine man who isn't young but of somewhat advanced age, these tend to be rare!

[realian]

instead of shelling out 70 dollars for the new Silent Hill 2 remake, consider playing the original masterpiece for free on PC.

installing the game is incredibly easy even for the least computer-savvy people.

no matter your PC specs, you can play it. the game was designed to run on 2002 hardware. there is a 99% chance the game will run on your build.

the original Silent Hill 2 is abandonware, so you need not worry about the ethics of piracy.

after you install the game, be sure to patch it to turn it into the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.

the Enhanced Edition will let it run on modern builds and vastly improve the framerate and graphics.

you don't need to have any prior knowledge of computers to patch the game. follow the very easy instructions on the website. the game will essentially patch itself.

Link to the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition.

[siliziumtraeume]

A terminal in the first Marathon I absoluetly love:

Particularly the part "Your father told you as a child to always fight with honor, but to always fight. Do you care about honor, or do you use honor as an excuse? An excuse to exist in a violent world."

Also the closing question: "Do you feel free?" makes it hitting harder.

In my opinion it's a very good, deconstructing stab at the (very toxic masculine) hero archetype, at the archetype of a noble warrior. Are they truely noble? Are they free? etc.

[thatsoheeron]

I didn't give cultist simulator a fair shake a couple of months ago cause at the time I wanted to play essentially a different version of cult of the lamb and was fooled by the title, but I tried again tonight and tbh its a fantastic strategy board game, on par with like a Civilization or Crusader Kings imho, and I find the story and descent into madness very interesting to figure out. I recommend it if you're looking for a new card game that isn't the regular "Deckbuilding Roguelike" kinda stuff thats taking over steam.

[vorpalfae]

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔞𝔱𝔥 [𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟗]

dividers: @strangergraphics

[blaetterdach]

More "Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood" screenshots, I loved the Winter mood in York (particularly since there's barely any snow anymore where I live)

[blaetterdach]

I recently played "Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood", a tactics game centred around Robin Hood (surprise!) from 2002, and it was overall still a lot of fun, very playable and just gorgeous to look at! Some missions were not as well balanced as I would have liked, but that didn't detract too much from the fun. The soundtrack was rather nice, and the voice acting (atleast the German original) was absolutely hilarious; not in a failing way, it was intentionally humorous and nailed it.

[freundlicherezeiten]

Recently I played the small and free Point & Click Adventure "Founders of [Redacted]" and I really, really enjoyed it; The pixelart visuals are rather pretty and oldschool, the writing is humorous, utilizing wit, well chosen popculture references, and a bit of slapstick here and there. Overall it feels like it invokes oldschool 1980s and 1990s P&C adventures (which I grew up with!), but shows that it was written in present day times. A very pleasent mixture tbh. And let's not forget the soundtrack, it's really lovely, kind of a cozy halloween vibe. The protagonist has a fun androgynous/somewhat masculine grunge design, she is also snarky, a bit sarcastic, and rather stoical, but not overboarding with it. The mixture of elements make her rather likeable, plus points for her wanting to be a writer and stumbling into the trouble by actually trying to get away from it to find some peace and calm. I found that relatable.

You can find it for free on itch.io!

[nichegaming]

The founders of [redacted] - Official trailer

[sludgebitch]

if i saw a noob i would help it learn and grow

[frogdetective]

The Children of Clay is a short stop motion archeology horror game, where you have to study an ancient artefact and discover its dark secret. steam | itch.io

[hamthezombie]

If you're looking for a short FREE indie horror game, I just played The Children of Clay and it was so good! Really atmospheric, really effective. You can finish it in about 15-20 mins and it kept me engaged and uneasy the entire time. It's also got some great stop-motion animation.

You can download it from Itch.io or from Steam, and it's completely free from both. The Steam version also has some cheap DLC that's basically a "making of" which is pretty neat, and a great way to support the dev if you like the fun free thing they made.

[cadaverkeys]

its so disappointing when a youtube video essay on a piece of media becomes so popular that it becomes the singular interpretation of a work. or worse yet- when a youtube video essay is so descriptive or wide-spanning that people accept it to be a substitute for actually engaging w the original work. and then im trying to talk to someone on this video game or movie or whatever it may be and i realise theyre just playing telephone w me on behalf of MatPat or Jacob Geller or whoever else. like i am genuinely interested in what YOUR interaction and experience is w this piece i already watched the hbomberguy video.

[alpha-beta-gamer]

Erosion - when you die, EVERYTHING in the game world ages by a decade, including your kidnapped daughter!

Read More & Sign Up For The Beta (Steam)

[technofeudalism]

i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.

there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.

anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.

A Better World - create an alternate history timeline

Alter Ego - abandonware birth-to-death life simulator game

Seedship - text-based game about colonizing a new planet

Sandboxels or ThisIsSand - free-falling sand physics games

Little Alchemy 2 - combine various elements to make new ones

Infinite Craft - kind of the same as Little Alchemy

ZenGM - simulate sports

Tamajoji - browser-based tamagotchi

IFDB - interactive fiction database (text adventure games)

Written Realms - more text adventure games with a user interface

The Cafe & Diner - mystery game

The New Campaign Trail - US presidential campaign game

Money Simulator - simulate financial decisions

Genesis - text-based adventure/fantasy game

Level 13 - text-based science fiction adventure game

Miniconomy - player driven economy game

Checkbox Olympics - games involving clicking checkboxes

BrantSteele.net - game show and Hunger Games simulators

Murder Games - fight to the death simulator by Orteil

Cookie Clicker - different but felt weird not including it. by Orteil.

if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.

[technofeudalism]

since this post blew up, i've been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there's a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.

anyway, here's all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it's a great mixture of styles. also don't forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.

Games

A Dark Room - text-based science fiction role-playing game.

corru.observer - science fiction adventure web game.

Improbable Island - old-school text adventure game.

Candy Box 2 - incremental clicker game that evolves into RPG.

Arcanum - open source wizard clicker game.

sandspiel, Powder Game, Powder Game 2, The Powder Toy - more sand physics games.

Orb.Farm - fishtank simulator.

Façade - experimental game with a real-time interactive narrative where you try to fix a failing marriage.

The Catacombs of Solaris - trippy art game.

Yume Nikki Online - online version of the surreal classic plus fangames.

The Barncle Goose Experiment - combine element/alchemy game based on antique theories of abiogenesis.

Fallen London - free-to-play text-based open world RPG.

Nested - very unique text-based universe expanding game. described as possibly @orteil42's favorite thing he's ever made.

The Process of Elimination - interactive web novel (by @hypertextdog)

Discworld MUD - multiplayer, text-based, online game (a MUD, or text MMORPG) based on the Discworld books.

Horse Master - surreal text game about training a horse.

EYEZMAZE - flash (RIP) or HTML5-based puzzle games.

You Are Jeff Bezos - text game. spend Jeff Bezos' fortune.

The Password Game - challenging puzzle game where you have to meet password requirements (by neal)

Universal Paperclips - incremental paperclip making game.

Half-Earth - planetary disaster planning game where you try to save the world using socialism.

ChooseYourStory - community-driven website centered on CYOA style story games.

PhD Simulator - random event based text game. make your choice each month and see if you can graduate on time.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup - open source roguelike.

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead - turn-based survival roguelike set in the modern day.

Nethack - open source roguelike originally released in 1987.

FarmRPG - simple, mobile-friendly, text-based farming RPG.

Kingdom of Loathing - browser-based community MMORPG.

PokeRogue - browser-based Pokemon roguelike

Tools

Text Game Builder - works in your browser, with just a little bit of Python (by @grumpygandalf)

Twine - great (free!) tool for making text-based games quickly.

Ink - scripting language for interactive fiction (also free)

Flashpoint Archive - a community effort to preserve games and animations from the web.

PICO-8 - fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.

Non-Games

Library of Babel - interactive illustration which attempts to simulate what it might be like to browse The Library of Babel.

Superbad - technically not a game, sprawling website full of secrets.

17776 - serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative about football in the far-future. beautiful, creative, legendary. created by Jon Bois, a legend and one of my favorite writers of all time.

Choice of Games - text-based, choose-your-own-adventure games (interactive fiction). some free-to-play, others can be bought like an ebook.

The Deep Sea - scroll to the bottom of the ocean. encounter the humble squid and his friends (by neal)

Space Elevator - like The Deep Sea, but up instead of down. you can equip your avatar with a scarf (by neal)

Internet Artifacts - an interactive history of the early internet (by neal)

If The Moon Were Only One Pixel - scroll through an accurately scaled model of the universe.

r/incremental_games - reddit community for incremental games.

r/WebGames - reddit community for web games in general.

thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.

[ravelsquadespresso]

Yes and yes to these!

[blaetterdach]

Let's not forget "Legend of the Green Dragon" websites! There are still a few out there, it got me into chat based online roleplaying :)

[mattimoo]

I need everyone to stop thinking they can't be late to the party.

That series came out 10 years ago but a random edit has intrigued you? Watch it. That film is 30 years old? Watch it. That album thats decades years old? Listen to it. The books - read them!

You never know where inspiration/clarity/literal brain rewiring shit is going to come from. Media has no expiration date.