Topic: Unusual Computer game suggestions

[Strident]

I'm looking for suggestions for really unusual and interesting computer games. Things which are arty, weird, cerebral or thought provoking...or anything with genuinely good erotic adult content.

The sort of things I'm thinking of are:
The Stanley Parable
Dr Langeskov, The Tiger and the terribly cursed emerald
Her Story
Everybody's gone to the rapture

Anything else in this vein of more "cerebral" and arty games?

[CopperLily]

Fire Watch
Banner Saga

[Oniya]

I'll have to double-check the 'cerebral' aspect, but 'We Happy Few' is definitely arty, certainly weird, and possibly thought-provoking.

[HannibalBarca]

All of these are at least fourteen years old, but like music and books, a good game is timeless.

Syberia--A 2002 adventure game.  Though it is set in the contemporary world, it has elements of art nouveau and steampunk.  It's cerebral and engaging.

Grim Fandango--A 1998 LucasArts film noir adventure game with some great animation and humor.

Full Throttle--Another LucasArts adventure game from 1995.  This post-apocalyptic game is full of humor and possibly the best adventure game ever created.  Plus Mark Hamill voice acts as the villain in it, and that's always going to be good, but the voice of the main character Ben, as portrayed by Roy Conrad, is probably the best anti-hero voice ever.

[DudelRok]

It is a fairly short flash game you are intended to play twice, but I believe you will really enjoy it.

https://ocias.com/loved.php

Edit: You might also enjoy "The Plan" which is a free game on steam, also short.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/250600/

[Luna]

I would suggest you look into The Void. Sexy girls, very unique and strange setting with gameplay to match.

[Story Tale]

* Story Tale digs through her story rich category in steam..

Some of these games might interest you, enjoy! Oh, and all of them are available on steam so, that makes it easy enough.

1. The Beginners Guide - Created by the same person who made Stanley Parable and Dr Langeskov, the Tiger and the Terribly Cursed Emerald. It's not a long run through (4h time spent on it and it is completely finished) nor is anything like what you think a game should be. However in that short time it moved me to tears, is incredibly thought provoking and.. well.. I just can't say enough about this game. Get it. Oh, and side note, don't read too much about what this game about, it would ruin it. Just buy it and play it. I am this passionate about it.

2. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons - Another short but sweet game, I've only got 5 hours played on this with a 100% completion but again, worth it... It's a really great story and the game is beautifully designed. The only downside to this game is you must have a controller to play, I used my xbox controller. This game has a bit of the normal gameplay in it but just enough to keep you from being bored. It's definitely more story rich then anything else.

3. The Longest Journey .... Dreamfall: The Longest Journey ... Dreamfall Chapters - Yes, three different games and the titles are confusing so, yes, this is the order in which you play them, lol. They can't be easy and just say Dreamfall 1, 2, 3. These are very story rich and so not much action but the story is interesting and sate my craving for the need to click on everything in a room. Oh, and these are long games, not short and sweet like the previous ones. You can spend many hours completing this series, I've gone 44 so far and haven't completed one completely yet.

4. Gone Home - Another game that doesn't take too long to play but is very story rich and sates the point and click and touch and snoop in every little drawer and crevice.

5. Life is Strange - Great story, beautifully done, lots of cliff hangers. This game is great if you're one of those people that wishes they could go back in time and do something over and over again until you get it just right.

6. Orwell - Big brother (not the t.v. show) type of text based game. You are the thought police.

7. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - Great 'game' but mostly just a great story. I will say the beginning is a lot stronger then the ending but still worth the time. I don't regret this purchase at all.

8. Anna - Extended Edition - I almost didn't add this game because I still can't decide if I like it. I couldn't play it in a dark room by myself because I'm a scardey cat. There is a story though, a heart breaking one, but.. the jump scares sort of get in the way of it, in my opinion. Then again I'm a bit of a baby with these sort of things, *grins.

[Alistair Leonhart]

Play OFF. It´s weird, surreal, tragic, has tons of fridge horror, and betrays its outdated RPG Maker graphics with a very immersive plot and what I think is a very good OST. I personally like it.

Besides that, The Binding of Isaac is an artsy/thought-invoking game I really like. Besides, it can get difficult as all hell, as usual with roguelikes. I could go on and on about a lot of good indie RPG Maker games and such like Lisa, Mogeko Castle and all that, but those are usually known by people.

PD: That "Loved" game thingy was something else o -o Even though it lagged way too much on me.

[Angie]

One I found recently is called "We Happy Few". It's a stealth game set in an alternate history Britain where Germany almost won WW2, and in order to kick the Nazis out of Britain, they did a Very Bad Thing. To combat the severe depression, the government created "Joy", a happy pill that makes the world all sunshine and rainbows. You are a person who has gone off their Joy, and must escape before you are killed-as the "Wellies" (people on their Joy) think nothing of killing "Downies" (people like YOU, who have gone off Joy).

I haven't gotten it yet, waiting til next paycheck, but if that concept doesn't get you going, well...

And now I notice that Oniya suggested it as well. To add then, how about Sunless Sea? Imagine a world beneath our own where the sun doesn't shine, and Lovecraftian horrors lurk. Mix Roguelike elements with sailing around in a steam-ship in the inky blackness, and there you have it.

[Theta Sigma]

One I found recently is called "We Happy Few". It's a stealth game set in an alternate history Britain where Germany almost won WW2, and in order to kick the Nazis out of Britain, they did a Very Bad Thing. To combat the severe depression, the government created "Joy", a happy pill that makes the world all sunshine and rainbows. You are a person who has gone off their Joy, and must escape before you are killed-as the "Wellies" (people on their Joy) think nothing of killing "Downies" (people like YOU, who have gone off Joy).

Is this out yet? This looked amazing.

I also want to second Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

What Remains of Edith Finch has just come out, and that is amazing.

Probably not of the same ilk as these, but still with an incredible story is Bioshock. But I think most people know Bioshock by now. >_>

INSIDE is also arty and very, very, very weird. Currently available through Humble Bundle.

[Oniya]

Is this out yet? This looked amazing.

It's out on early access - they need more playtesters to get more feedback.  It can be gotten through Humble Bundle, GOG and Steam.  (Apparently, there's also talk of a movie.) 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Happy_Few_(video_game)#Promotion_and_release

[Marri]

Oxenfree's a good little game centered around ghosts, time and radios. I really liked the game SOMA, as well, though I don't think it has quite as much replay value as Oxenfree. There's also Inside and Little Nightmares. If you really want a kind of unusual atmosphere, I'd really recommend the Metro series (new game coming in 2018), which is all about living in the post-nuclear holocaust tunnels of Russia (and one of my favorite series all around, though I'd recommend playing the original 2033 over the Redux version of it).

[Wanderlost]

Surreal and artsy being the criteria, I think I've got two suggestions.

Paper Sorcerer: A weird little turn-based RPG with a simple and light build. The setting, music, and art come together to create a unique and notably surreal mood. Everything's black and white, and you play an evil summoner who was trapped away in an artifact. Over the course of the first few levels, you're led through a rather palatable and gradual tutorial, gathering power and summoning followers that each represent different archtypes, even if they play with them. Like the Assassin-type follower being a troll, of all things. Anyway, it's definitely got that sort of unusual charm to it that I think you're looking for.

Q.U.B.E: Director's Cut: It's like Portal meets good old fashioned Flash puzzle games. With the visual style taken heavily from the former, and the thinking and complexity of the latter, it tells a nice little story that you get little pieces of between these puzzles with sparse, generally ambient audio. If you're in the mood for a casual, thoughtful playthrough with plenty of time to speculate and question what's actually going on, it's a fun experience for that.

[Caelia]

OneShot is a very good game and it's available on Steam for free. It's interactive in that its aware of itself, as a game, and provokes the thought of what happens to those characters when the game isn't running. If you like the first play-through, I recommend playing a second time because the dialogue is different and you unlock more parts of the story. 

[BlastingCap]

I'm looking for suggestions for really unusual and interesting computer games. Things which are arty, weird, cerebral or thought provoking...or anything with genuinely good erotic adult content.

The sort of things I'm thinking of are:
The Stanley Parable
Dr Langeskov, The Tiger and the terribly cursed emerald
Her Story
Everybody's gone to the rapture

Anything else in this vein of more "cerebral" and arty games?

If you can do horror, and like hard cyberpunk, a game called Observer came out not too long ago by Bloober Team SA. It's definitely a horror game, but it nails the ghetto cyberpunk genre down perfectly. You mentioned unusual, and this is definitely that. A lot of the gameplay focuses on entering people's minds as virtual realities, and seeing representations of their personalities and their sanity.

I see What Remains of Edith Finch was also suggested, and that would be right up your alley too.

[Inkidu]

If you can handle horror I'd also look into Hello, Neighbor. It's coming out in December, but if you pre-purchase you get access to the alpha builds if you really want to play it. I'm waiting for December (or at least a pre-release last-minute sale).

However, the premise is this: You play in first person and you spy some shady stuff going on with your new neighbor. Instead of calling the police you break into his home all stealth like and try to suss out what your neighbor is doing in his basement. It's a stealth game and if you get caught you get kicked out.

But here's the thing. Your neighbor learns from your behavior and adjusts accordingly. He'll put bear traps around his house, lock the windows, put a new lock on the basement door, etc.

Might be worth a peep.

[Strident]

Just want to say thank you to all the contributors on this thread. Hope it's proving useful to other people looking for something a little different/ non mainstream in their gaming interests!

[XanRethan]

Played "The Magic Circle" a while back. It was like Rpg meets programmer responsibilities. Out of the box thinking, etc

[Inkidu]

If you can handle horror I'd also look into Hello, Neighbor. It's coming out in December, but if you pre-purchase you get access to the alpha builds if you really want to play it. I'm waiting for December (or at least a pre-release last-minute sale).

However, the premise is this: You play in first person and you spy some shady stuff going on with your new neighbor. Instead of calling the police you break into his home all stealth like and try to suss out what your neighbor is doing in his basement. It's a stealth game and if you get caught you get kicked out.

But here's the thing. Your neighbor learns from your behavior and adjusts accordingly. He'll put bear traps around his house, lock the windows, put a new lock on the basement door, etc.

Might be worth a peep.

Don't get Hello, Neighbor, it's a raging dumpster fire.

[TheHighwayHitman]

There was this game, I don't remember the name of it, but it was Baldur's Gate-ish where you were an elf god reborn, or at least a priest thought so. It mixed technology and magic and put them against each other. As I recall it, quite in depth but also pretty simple, too. I'm sure somebody remembers it better than I do.

Soma might also be what you are looking for.

Technomancer got pretty low to mixed ratings, but what I have played, I really liked.

Lastly, I seen/read about this game where you play from first person, and go through a maze following a little girl telling you to help her, or so you think, and there are puzzles and other stuff to figure out. I wished I could remember the name of that, as well. There is a really neat twist to it, too, that I wouldn't want to spoil.

[Oniya]

Lastly, I seen/read about this game where you play from first person, and go through a maze following a little girl telling you to help her, or so you think, and there are puzzles and other stuff to figure out. I wished I could remember the name of that, as well. There is a really neat twist to it, too, that I wouldn't want to spoil.

That sounds similar to The Turing Test, but I'm pretty sure the 'help me' voice was masculine in that one.

[TheHighwayHitman]

On the risk of spoiling, Oni, is that the gams where you find out you're actually a monster and the "guide" is running from you and the help me and stuff is actually to vet help stopping you?

[Inkidu]

There was this game, I don't remember the name of it, but it was Baldur's Gate-ish where you were an elf god reborn, or at least a priest thought so. It mixed technology and magic and put them against each other. As I recall it, quite in depth but also pretty simple, too. I'm sure somebody remembers it better than I do.

Torment: Tides of Numenera.

It's a pretty verbose game that asks a lot of existential questions. Also, there is no magic. It's all Clarke's Third Law in action.

Basically it takes place in a very small section of the Earth millions of years in the future where humanity has been dead for countless eons, but as humanity had been preserved in some way (I'm not entirely sure, I never found out specifically what anyone did) and been fairly recently (a few generations at least) reintroduced to the world.

You play as the most recent cast off form of the Changeling God, a being of unknown origin who has the ability to create and inhabit a body of his own design. He's been male, female, alien, a hero and a villain.

It's a unique game that focuses on narrative more than combat. The amount of dialogue and trees for that dialogue is staggering.

[TheHighwayHitman]

Thats not it. I know that game and I was very dissapointed with it after all of the hype. Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, and Divinity: Original Sin were all a lot better imo. I think this game was Arcane vs Steampunk or something. Its old. Probably 15 years or more. Heck, Planescape: Torment is really good.

[Inkidu]

Thats not it. I know that game and I was very dissapointed with it after all of the hype. Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, and Divinity: Original Sin were all a lot better imo. I think this game was Arcane vs Steampunk or something. Its old. Probably 15 years or more. Heck, Planescape: Torment is really good.

I don't agree, and I found Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland 2 rather dull in comparison (though Wasteland 2 was a console port so now that I've got decent internet I'm probably going to re-explore that one).

It's not a game first game and asks a lot of its players though.

The game you're probably thinking is Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

It's on GoG and I didn't think it had aged well.

Tyranny is also a compelling throwback to the old CRPG tradition, but it's one that works hard not to be based on morality and is instead you Vs a bunch of gods, but it's got a Late Bronze Age feel to it that's really interesting.