Awesome games you just stumbled upon.

[skystryke]

So recently I was going through the old LRRcast archives and listening to podcast while I gamed, and eventually one of them mentioned an old game called Escape Velocity Nova. They mentioned that it was about space combat and doing missions and things, so on a whim I checked it out and absolutely love it.

So, fellow escapists have you ever just been browsing the internet when you accidentally happen happened upon a game that you enjoyed? And if so what was the game? If you haven't found any through the internet then have you ever just been browsing at a game store and decided to pick up a game that you really ended up enjoying?

 

[KaiRai]

Excalibur 2555AD, on a random Prince's trust demo. Had to buy it. Same with Tombi, Ghost in the Shell, Kula world....loads of PS1 games.

They were all cool ideas too, not just gun + bad guys, or sword and shield + bad guys. They were a little more inventive at least.

 

[Banana Phone Man]

I stumbled on an old awesome game (not on the internet though, I've gotten nothing I can think of from there) which is kind of like finding it for the first time all over again. It's Donald Duck Quack Attack for the PC, this game has consumed many of my child hood hours and it is about to take some more.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

Mount & Blade, not exactly unknown but I had never heard of it when I randomly downloaded it. Check it out, fuuuun tiiiimes.

 

[FetaFrosch]

Zeno Clash!

damn ninjas >.< oh well I gues I have to go with the good old "Gangland"

 

[snowman6251]

I guess my answer to this is Demon's Souls. I was convinced I wouldn't like it. I'd watched gameplay videos and didn't like it. One day I had some extra money and I was like "Fuck it I'll buy it" (I buy games I don't think I'll like very often. Don't know why really but its working out for me).

Anyway Demon's Souls ended up being my GOTY for 2009 easily. It is also my favorite game this generation. I fucking love it. Beaten it too many times to count.

 

[Byere]

Tombi, for sure.

Keep in mind that while some of the games I'm going to mention are highly know games and have a lot of reviews, at the time I'd not read into reviews and such and was just looking over games on the shelf. Here's a short list some for you:

The Longest Journey
Freelancer
Harvest Moon: Back 2 Nature (the first HM game I ever played)
Warlords: Battlecry 2
Jumping Flash
Parasite Eve II
Guardian's Crusade
MediEvil
Riviera (PSP copy)
Klonoa
Koudelka (the prequel to the Shadow Hearts series)
Wild ARMs
Syberia/II

Many others I found and loved. I often find that just looking over titles, not looking for anything in particular, that if you take the time to sort through the rough, you'll often find a real diamond of a game

 

[Pielikey]

Crash Time III on Steam. I was like "Boy this looks interesting.." yet there were no reviews anywhere to find on Youtube. So I gambled on it and purchased the game. It's a pretty fun Arcade driving-mission game with a really bad story and voice acting. But the gameplay and graphics are great.


I just wish it had an SDK or was a bit longer.

 

[Sonicron]

When I was browsing the shelves of my favorite game store years ago I happened upon a PS2 game with interesting-looking box art. The clerk, a friend of mine, told me the game was promising, although not much feedback had come in about it yet... but it was on sale, so I bought it.

It turned out to be about a bloke in a magical fantasy world trying to revive his dead girlfriend by slaying 16 gargantuan creatures. Now what was that game called again, I forget...

 

[Korten12]

Tekken 6, never owned a Tekken game but rented 6 and loving it, though I need to get better at it.

 

[Skorpyo]

I found out about Alien Swarm for free on Steam going around the threads on the Escapist.

Aww yeeah.

 

[SimuLord]

Mount & Blade, not exactly unknown but I had never heard of it when I randomly downloaded it. Check it out, fuuuun tiiiimes.

Some folks on the Paradox forum mentioned it and said "the critics are underrating it because of the graphics." I bought it and hell yeah, it was underrated! Ended up being my 2008 Game of the Year! (and no, Fallout 3 didn't win because they didn't get it fixed until Broken Steel came out in '09.)

Speaking of Game of the Year candidates, back in '01 I got bored of Civ3 really quickly and so went looking for another game. Ended up seeing a silly-looking game from the makers of Railroad Tycoon 2 (my '98 GotY)...something about ruling a Caribbean island. I gave it a shot...and the game (Tropico) is #5 on my all-time favorites list.

 

[danintexas]

Gal Civ 2
LOTRO
Mount and Blade -> Still need to get the new one with multi-player but my back log is so large right now

 

[Lord Legion]

Homeworld, don't think i need to say anything more for that one.
blood omen 2-when vampires were still cool
Arcanum-still one of my favorite roleplayers
baldurs gate 2 as well


(good streak wouldnt you say?)

 

[Gigaguy64]

I was at my local mall and checked out the Game Stop.
I saw Megaman Battle Network 3:Blue for $15 and went for it.
I couldn't set it down for the next 3 months.
it was an Amazing game.
The Art, Gameplay, Story, Music...it was all so awesome!

Electric Shield Style FTW!

 

[Mozared]

Back in the day, Theme Hospital. I was really into Dungeon Keeper, and got it for free when I bought a 2-box set containing both games. It ended up being quite awesome.

Also, Get Medieval - it was on some random games disc, and I thought it looked like fun. It ended up being the most awesome 4-player arcade game I've ever played, and it still does great at parties.

 

[RuberGruber]

Roller Coaster Tycoon and Transport Tycoon which I stumbled upon at a Wizard of the Coast's back in 2000, good times were had.

 

[Jupsto]

pvkii - pirates vikings and knights II, free source mod but one of my favourite ever games.

realm of the mad god (little retro/arcade/flash/browser mmo)

 

[Kryzantine]

Speaking of Game of the Year candidates, back in '01 I got bored of Civ3 really quickly and so went looking for another game. Ended up seeing a silly-looking game from the makers of Railroad Tycoon 2 (my '98 GotY)...something about ruling a Caribbean island. I gave it a shot...and the game (Tropico) is #5 on my all-time favorites list.

That... brings back so many memories...

All those times I told the capitalists to go screw themselves...

No, thanks for reminding me I need to install it again. Tropico and Tropico 3 have to qualify for the OT, because they're both quite comedic. They have such serious overtones and yet it's so light hearted on the inside.