B-side Gaming

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw - I needed to use a guide but I love the main character. I also really like that you can choose to be a space miner, merchant, smuggler, or fighter. The story was good, although I accidentally ended up not unlocking one of the companions so I missed a bit of it

I recently played Crow Country, an indie horror game very inspired by the look of old ps1 era Resident evil and Silent Hill. It's short, but I love how while the environments are fully 3D, they give that prerendered background look. You investigate a shut down theme park called crow country, looking for the man who owns the place. The narrative is pretty interesting but not anything groundbreaking.

I've been playing the shit out of Demon Tides.

Open-world 3D platformer with modern QoL mechanics, and customizable movesets/builds.

It's really good. I'm calling it a must-play if you like 3D platformers.

dragonsweeper!

it's a browser-based pick-up-and-play minesweeper-like where you kill monsters in a dungeon, with the end goal being to beat the dragon in the middle of the board.
you advance by killing monsters hidden on the board, which do damage and give xp equal to their health. so you can only attack monsters at or below your current health. leveling up increases your health. open tiles show not how many monsters are hidden nearby, but their total health.

a good run takes around 7 minutes. getting a good run can take like 30.

Fields of Mistria.

I thought it was more or less of a Stardew Valley clone but with a little magic, and I mean that's technically correct, but it approaches a lot of little aspects differently enough to stand out on its own.

Something I've learned to appreciate is NPCs talk to each other, which adds a lot more character than having them give a one liner for the day.

And I got to admit, I like the fact you can swim and jump.

Chrono Ark, a roguelike deckbuilder with some JRPG party-based mechanics and a bona fide full story visual novel built in. I finished it last week but have still yet to see the True Ending (not to mention 100% it, which will probably take 100+ hours if I decide to attempt to).

Game is fantastic, the gameplay is great and the boss fights are all super fun and interesting, each with unique mechanics and gimmicks. The presentation can also get pretty cinematic at times. Roguelike aspect is well made with tons of builds, lots of diversity run to run, synergies etc. There are optional bosses to attempt and an Expert mode with added/deepened mechanics for those who want a challenge (as well as a "Hope" mode for those who just want the story).

Finally, I actually really liked the story. Granted, I still have yet to see the true ending, but even so. The prose itself is not always perfect (partially due to translation), but if you can look past that I thought the plot was cool and it has some strong moments. Even as someone who isn't all that into anime it managed to land the important beats for me, which made me able to overlook some of the less than stellar parts (like the fairly tropey friendship mechanic). But even that was a little more nuanced than it appears at first.

Overall a wholehearted recommendation if you like roguelike deckbuilders.

Mars First Logistics. Lego mars rovers transport physics sim.

I recently played through Celeste and Birth :3 neither game is particularly underground or unknown as far as indies go though, so it's not the most interesting answer lol :3

"I am THE Cleric" and I've spent 18 hours in Esoteric Ebb over the last and the previous weekend. Still only about half way through. It is pretty much Disco Elysium in a DnD Campaign, minus the voice acting and the scummy publisher. At only 25€, I recommend it very, very much if you like choice heavy adventures.

Also some more Mewgenics. I unlocked Act 3, but I am kinda tired of it after 60 hours. When I started out, I already feared the combat could be a bit too simple and... flat? I love everything else about it, but I prefer the combat mechanics of Into the Breach, Pit People or Tactical Breach Wizards.

@falseprophet@piefed.social Carrion is great, but it really could use a proper in-game map. I've only played for two hours or so and already felt pretty lost at times. But that is a problem I have with all Metroidvanias, even if there is a map.

Esoteric Ebb. Very narrative-focused D&D-style fantasy RPG, obviously inspired by Disco Elysium. If you played and liked DE, definitely give EE's demo a try. It looks great, has fun and interesting characters and if you play a lot of CRPGs like me, it's really fun to traverse a fantasy world in a less violent way while still having many of the trappings of a traditional fantasy CRPG character.