The Best Cult Games

KazeAizen

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So I've been playing Remember Me lately. I haven't gotten very far but I've gotten far enough to know the basic set up, mechanics, and experience the first memory alteration of the four I am told are in the game. It and some other things got me thinking. While the game might be mediocre in spots and shine in others leaving either an ok or meh in someones mouth on the whole I thought "I'd prefer this meh experience that tried something than a safe experience done to the max." Now don't take me the wrong way. This is not a call out the AAA studios and their bullshit thread because as much as some of you may hate them I still think we need AAA experiences. Its kind of like movies to me. We may like those made for nothing independent films but sometimes we do just want to see a Pacific Rim or Man of Steel level action movie which only top dollar can buy.

So I ask you my fellow escapists. List a game or two, old or new (preferably new as in this past console gen.) that is a cult game. A game that had a unique premise, art style, mechanic, etc. Something different and out of the norm that probably didn't sell all that well. Give your favorite "cult" game a shout out and see if you can't bring it one or two more fans. I'm going to throw mine out there with Remember Me. Now I'm sure many of you heard of it because it was published by Capcom so it actually had money behind it, but no one really seems to talk about it anymore. Its a cyberpunk game (which I don't see much of personally), that actually has a fairly strong female protagonist. She appears to be the top ass kicker before the cops caught her. It also has a unique memory altering mechanic that makes you fast forward and rewind through a cutscene to alter someones memory. You find a glitch in the memory, change it, then see its effect. The best part is some are red herrings and can actually cause you to fail. For instance in the first one I'm supposed to alter a woman's memory so a doctor kills her husband. I altered it one time so that she ended up dead. Its a fun idea and I understand why there aren't more. I mean making cutscenes for each individual outcomes would cost a shit ton of money between animating, re-recording different dialogue, etc. Still its a novel idea and one that I hope is expanded upon in either a sequel or some other bright dev down the road. So escapist buddies go. Your favorite "cult" game and why you think its awesome.
 

ShinyCharizard

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Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.

It's just so fucking great. The battle system is so fun. It's smooth, fast paced and very tactical. The music is awesome and it has such an intriguing world and story.

Plus demon fusion is so god-damn addicting.
 

Cabisco

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The best Cult game?

Would Timesplitters count? Possibly the best, most hilarious shooter of all time and yet never made quite enough money to survive. It was quite perfect, no other game could have Monkeys and Zombies throwing bricks at each other in the wild west.

It's Virus mode remains one of the best game modes I have ever played.
 

The Wykydtron

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Sep 23, 2010
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This gen? MGS Rising Revengeance. It's fucking amazing, Platinum Games are the best developers of hack and slash games by far.

The plot is insane and that only adds to the enjoyment, there's a nice amount of references to other games (like all other games done by them they have a great sense of humour,) character development and interactions are good and the combat speaks for itself.

Special mention to the boss fights. Platinum Games strikes again.

Other gen i'm surprising nobody with Persona 4, best game ever, amazing story blah blah blah so on and so forth :D
 

balladbird

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"Deadly Premonition."

I came to the game late, with the director's cut, so I'm honestly surprised that it would be a cult status game at all... then I notice that it holds the Guinness world record for "most critically divisive survival horror game" and it suddenly makes sense. XD

I adore this game! to me it's like a spiritual brother of Persona 4 (another game I adore, though I don't think it's quite obscure enough to be cult.) Emphasis on a rural, small-town setting and aesthetic with weather-based gameplay. A killer whose strikes come with the rain, and supernatural elements that roll into the town with the fog. Hell, the deeper into spoiler territory you go, the more non-intentional parallels with P4 you find. XD

all parallels aside, it's a great game in its own right. A quirky and appealing lead, a living community you have to interact with to get the most out of the game, a plot that's serious enough to enjoy but goofy enough to not take itself too seriously... honestly, with the director's cut fixing the gameplay (the reason critics are so split on it) there's no reason I have not to recommend this game to everyone.
 

FFP2

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For this gen I would have to say Nier. Amazing in every way. Sure it looks like a PS2 game and the gameplay can get a bit repetitive but my word the story and soundtrack are amazing. One of the very few games to make use of the videogame medium in a fourth wall sorta way.
 

Nadia Castle

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'Oddworld: Strangers Wrath', a cult game within a cult series. Seriously, everything about it from the weapons, characters, mechanics and crazily imaginative design is near perfect. The only thing that could have made it better is if there was more of it. Personally I'd add 'Munch's Oddysee' too, but that's waaaaaay more polarizing.
 

EyeReaper

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Hmmmm...that's a tough one. I'm sure games like Skullgirls and Oddworld are up there, but my personal favorite cult classic game is most likely Medievil.

Now that I think about it... what exactly is the difference between "cult" and "niche"? Don't they mean pretty much the same thing? Like, if a game is critically unliked and doesn't sell well, but has a devoted and small fanbase, is it a cult game or part of a niche?


I've now said "niche" in my head so many times that it sounds weird.
 

lacktheknack

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Jan 19, 2009
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Clone.

Clone is an old DOS game. And it is probably the most brilliant puzzler ever made until Portal came along.

I've already <link=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.827773-Clone-A-Tragically-Obscure-Gem>reviewed it, so I'll just sum it up: It's a 2D puzzle game where you control several characters at the same time. It's a great game, you should try it.

Also, Geneforge. It's an indie series from before indie games were a "thing". It's a fairly standard isometric RPG with the peace times being real-time and the combat turn-based, but the thing that really sells it is the good writing and the premise: It's a fantasy game set in a world were some people have figured out how to "shape" living creatures out of a special liquid called "essence". The game very quickly takes a turn into uncomfortable territory, challenging the player on the topic of cloning and genetic modification. All five games have massive demos, so <link=http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html>try one.
 

Arqus_Zed

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ShinyCharizard said:
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.

It's just so fucking great. The battle system is so fun. It's smooth, fast paced and very tactical. The music is awesome and it has such an intriguing world and story.

Plus demon fusion is so god-damn addicting.
Chalk me up for a vote as well, I freakin' loved Nocturne (Lucifer's Call here in Europe). Still my favorite SMT title up to date.

As for a few other very original, awesome, addictive, yet undersold games:

Rez (PS2, later X360)
What's that? You can't do anything original within the "rail shooter" genre? Well, along comes Rez to kick that statement square in the nuts. The gameplay is simple, but solid. The visual style is inspired by the works of Kandinsky, though I would describe it more as Tron on acid. The music is mainly techno - and while I am not a fan of the genre, the synergy with everything else creates a truly unique experience. The story itself interesting, maybe not so much in its content, as in its presentation. I have never seen a game that uses the medium of videogames so brilliantly to convey a message - there is no dialogue, there are no voice-overs, there are no logbooks. There is the experience, the occasional hacking code ramblings in the upper corner, the bare-bones pop-up text in area 5 and the messages forged from floating letters created by Eden.

Its spiritual successor - Child of Eden on PS3 and X360 - was amazing as well... But whereas the style of Child of Eden was defined through visual overkill, Rez was more defined, delicate and stylized. I still think Rez is the better game here, but I definitely recommend checking out both.

Bombastic (PS2)
The third entry in the Devil Dice series. A simple, yet ingenious; strategic, yet hectic puzzle game that has one of the most fun multiplayer modes I have seen in any game ever.

Shadow Hearts & Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2)
Great story, great characters, amazing music, enjoyable gameplay, superb pacing and on top of that, is maintains a magnificent balance between comedy and drama. It has a few flaws, sure. The first Shadow Hearts is a pretty darn ugly game and the horror-aspect was toned down a bit too much in Covenant... But other than that? Some of the finest RPGs ever made. It's a pity they never continued the series after these two.
 

Arqus_Zed

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The Wykydtron said:
This gen? MGS Rising Revengeance. It's fucking amazing, Platinum Games are the best developers of hack and slash games by far.

The plot is insane and that only adds to the enjoyment, there's a nice amount of references to other games (like all other games done by them they have a great sense of humour,) character development and interactions are good and the combat speaks for itself.

Special mention to the boss fights. Platinum Games strikes again.

Other gen i'm surprising nobody with Persona 4, best game ever, amazing story blah blah blah so on and so forth :D
thesupremegamer said:
persona 4s one of the few jrpgs i actualy enjoy im not the biggest jrpg fan XDD
I'm pretty sure being a "cult" game means it was a game that was unappreciated at the time of its release, resulting in disappointing sales and a gaining a following after the facts.

I would call Lucifer's Call a cult game.
I would call the Digital Devil Saga installments cult games.

But Persona 4 sold over 820.000 copies on the PS2.
And an extra 600.000 on the Vita - I didn't even know Sony had sold that many Vitas to begin with.

I'm not saying it wasn't a decent game, I'm just saying that I really don't think Persona 4 qualifies as a cult game.
 

Yopaz

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Jun 3, 2009
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The first game that comes to mind here is Psychonauts which is probably the most predictable game to show up in this kind of thread.

However as some have already mentioned Conker's Bad Fur Day was also a great game. I loved that one despite its flaws.

I want to suggest something for myself though and I'm not sure if this counts, but I also enjoyed Donald in Maui Mallard (Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow in North America) for the SNES.
 

DarkhoIlow

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Dec 31, 2009
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Another thread where I can praise one of my favorite RPG's ever: Planescape Torment.

If you are an RPG fan you should play this game and see how it's done and how good a story can be.

Captcha: no time to explain. Isn't that quite convenient, thanks captcha.
 

deathmothon

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Nov 30, 2013
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Alpha Protocol. Even with some tonal shifts, the story is awesome and the gameplay really picks up after the first couple of hours. I'd love to see them flesh out a good sequel but alas, it's not to be.
 

PureChaos

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Killer7. Weird, messed up and great fun. I've completed it several times and still don't fully understand the story.
 

Foolery

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Jun 5, 2013
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Lost Odyssey. It was a better Final Fantasy than XIII was. Which makes sense, considering Hironobu Sakaguchi was the designer for it.