Favourite game nobody in the world has played in the last year?

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There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.

Various philosophies have some variation on that theme, some saying not to speak their name lest you recall them from the afterlife, the very notion of "great man theory" from Thomas Carlyle, one of the major ways of viewing history, is pretty much this as well. I have pondered it however for works of art/media before, indeed having many books from the 1700s and beyond it is a real wonder, and thus today we have the equivalent discussion for computer games. Statistically speaking then however many thousands of games are made per year, however many years games have been going on for, the skew towards new and popular... there are going to be some that reach some variation on this sort of theme.

To that end what game that in all probability nobody else in the world would have played, thought about or terribly considered in the last year is among your favourite games? Preferably make it something that achieved a modest level of popularity, or some kind of influence, but you can go obscure if you want. They need not be good games, games that pushed boundaries or anything like that.
If you want to see if someone posted a let's play, a review, an essay piece, a gushing on a forum somewhere then so be it, however this is going to be more of a thought exercise. I will give that in all probability nobody has considered or played some rare translation of an original xbox game (several were made into rare European languages) but at the same time someone might have done the base games. Can be an unknown sequel or an obscure port though. Also no lost games or online only games where nobody remade the servers. Does want to be a game you have played, that continues to inform how you look at games or that you might reference in a list somewhere if someone asks about things there.

As a secondary question there are many around here who have libraries and experience going back to the 70s and 80s. Doubtless there is some favourite from the Commodore 64 or something that nobody has played there. Would you think those have an easier time than today where there are a thousand maybe not asset flips but something not so far removed that get their time in the spotlight and go?
For instance random selection from the bucket of C64 and other tape games
randomc64.JPG

Now none of those are my favourites (other than the random inclusion of Turrican II I might struggle to tell you details of the rest) and none would have been played by me any time recently. However one could be someone's favourite out there somewhere.
At the same time among many failures then firing the random number generator at popular seller of PC games known as Steam got me "Megadimension Neptunia VII Ultimate Weapon Pack" and "Barbarroja", a 1 review (not recently) strategy game wherein you get to play through the 1941-1945 Germany-Russia front of world war 2. Seems though that Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, a 2006 first person shooter also in the list of successful hits, got 11 reviews in the last 30 days to bring it to 1186 total, though it is from the devs of Killing Floor and Maneater so there is that.
Looking at my collection of mostly gamecube, xbox, xbox 360 and PS4 games then while I might like Gun Valkyrie, Lost Kingdoms II or Resonance of Fate to be better known they are unlikely to reach the status required at this point in time (maybe in a few decades). Maybe in the PC section there is "Line of Sight Vietnam", one of the few games to have a truly positive experience in online shooting multiplayer for me (it's Steam page and Good old Games page says otherwise though and was remembered by many more).
Unknown name borderline text adventure educational game from the 386 school computers wherein you had to make a skeleton key from a limited number of blanks and references for working keys to explore a castle will have to be it, it is certainly something that pops into mind every so often. Might also still be the most realistic lock picking in any game I have ever played.
 

eriol33

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Saga frontier remastered is probably my most favorite game that most people won't bother to play. I waited 20+ years for the completed release. Finally I have a closure.
 
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GoldenBullet

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GoldenEye for the Wii, I grew up on that version instead of the N64. I know people thought it was just a CoD clone but playing with the motion controls and the splitscreen multiplayer was so fun.
 

Taleweaver

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I'm going to assume board games are okay too. I don't come around to playing video games anymore because mini me is getting too active to play anything aside mobile stuff.

But I'll go with civ: carta imperia victoria. It's a seemingly simple card game of 104 cards (104...CIV...104...get it? No... The game's not that whimsy aside that one pun). There's only six different cards in it, each with a discard ability and one that's permanent once you have three of the same (and doubled in effect once you've got five). On your turn you play one, then activate effects you want. If you get seven or eight of the same color on the table, you win

It's... A pretty polarizing game. It looks cute but you need to play ruthlessly if you try to win. Play against someone who just 'does stuff', it'll fail and it is like the game's too random ('you just had more of the same color'). But when everyone gets the game, it's good. Great, even.
I wouldn't say it's my favorite game, or even in my top ten. But it's certainly the one most likely no one else in the world has played last year (my other board games are just more popular).
 
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Jacobh

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I don't think I could call any of my favorite games obscure or seldom played, perhaps toy commander for the sega dreamcast. No one seems to have played it. Still a favorite to this day.

I played Toy Commander on the Dreamcast and it was awesome.
 

shaunj66

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Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island




Tacky licensing deal aside, this is a really fun game. From the same people that made the much more popular Denki Blocks. It plays similar to Soccer Kid on the Amiga but is a really fun and charming platformer.
 
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TheTrueDream42

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If I just stick to what I played for the first time this year, that would be Owlboy. It's a good combination of graphics, story and platforming. It's pretty popular as far as indie games goes, though it is a few year old by this point. I recommend it, it's really good while being pretty short.


If I go a couple years back, Has Been Heros is a better pick. It a good rouge-like that I still go back and play. If you combine the upgrading, room-to-room traveling and strategy thinking of Slay the Spire, the army of undead matching towards you from Plants vs. Zombies, and the wait-then-attack mechanic from Chrono Trigger, you have a pretty decent idea of how it plays.


And the last one that I know fits best for this list (even though the DS game has a fan translation on this site) is Culdcept Revolt for the 3ds. It most often compared to Fortune Street (sorta), or Monopoly + Yu-gi-oh/Magic the Gathering, so I suppose it's considered a deck building board game. This game I revisit quite a bit, yet I can barely find people who knows about the game even when searching for them, and much less people still talking about or playing it (at least who speaks English). It has a lot of big names behind it too, with artists having worked on Pokémon and Mega Man, and the music from people who did Etrian Odyssey and Smash Bros. I'm very much hoping that the sequel come out soon.
 

AncientBoi

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another entry for this. After going through my games to see what I wanted to play, I came across G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra. I realized I haven't played this since 2017 I believe. I'll know why I stopped when I fire it up. sometimes it's because I can't get through certain parts of a game.wish me luck. LoL :)
 
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TripleSMoon

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I've been playing a ton of A Robot Named Fight lately, that's pretty criminally underrated. I generally play a lot of niche stuff, but that's probably the one that's most likely to make people go "what? never heard of it" when I bring it up, as of late.
 
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Mr_Steve_Mineson

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oh huh
i've played the demo, but never knew it was that unpopular. dang shame really
especially when this exists now

good mashup album btw

my contribution to this is thread is Yo-kai watch
View attachment 274668
When I first heard of it, I just thought it was a pokemon ripoff. Found the game years later at Five Below, picked it up and enjoyed it ever since.
Story's a bit childish, but if you can get past that, it's pretty enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, that I've bought 2 (Psychic specters) and 3 digitally, as well as having the chance to have the VA of the main character, Johnny Yong Bosch, sign my copy of the game.
Nowadays, I've seen barely seen any recognition of the games and the 4th entry in the series, the sequels to its spin-off and the remake of the first game are locked in Japan.
It's a shame too.
I dunno, I could be delusional/ looking through rose-tinted glasses and it could be more popular/ less popular for a reason than I thought. From what I've seen though, its a small chance to say the least.
(sorry, this turned from 'game underrated' to gushing over game. i say its acceptable)

Very late response, I know, but I had to mention it since I just had my hands on several of the Yo-Kai watch series (which I sold, by the way) - That game seems popular in Korea. I have seen no less than 6 of that series ON THE 3DS ALONE, with sequels launching on the Nintendo Switch. At a point it even hit #1 most popular 3DS game in the Korean Toys R' Us website, so I'd say it's still going strong.
It's dirt cheap though, you can easily grab one for under $7 if you want, especially the first one in the series!
 
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codenameTOSTR

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beatmania GB. Pretty sweet conversion of the arcade rhythm game on a handheld. Functions pretty similar to the DanceDanceRevolution GB and the pop'n music GB games. The game has 10 new exclusive songs, but it's really fun hearing classic beatmania songs in chiptune form. Controls pretty well, but some of those higher difficulty songs are really HARD with the Game Boy's D-pad and buttons.
 
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