Biggest Gaming Hidden(ish) Gems from 2023 | 25+ Games!
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- Опубликовано: 10 июн 2024
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2023 will go down as one of the best years in gaming. Not just for the heavy hitters, but also for hidden gems that went under many people's radars! Let's talk about them.
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I found kinda weird how people were incredibly hyped for Cosmic Shake before it came out and then I saw barely anyone talking about it when it came out.
Tbf the year was stacked
@@InteriorCrocodileAlligator86 But it came out at the very start, in a not super stacked january.
Makes sense. The game is only really exciting for spongebob fans. It is the best one, but it's still pretty fun. It could have utilised the mechanics more
@@teneesh3376 I did beat SpongeBob and the cosmic shake since the anniversary of the game is coming up
I bought it
1:30 - Bayonetta Origins
2:04 - Warioware Move It
2:53 - Advanced Wars 1+2
4:05 - Xenblade Chronicles 3 DLC
5:12 - Silent Hope
6:17 - Disney Illusioned Islands
7:11 - Master Detective Archives Rain Code
8:20 - Cocoon
9:19 - Viewfinder
10:19 - Hi-Fi Rush
11:28 - Pseudoregalia
12:44 - Bit.Trip Rerunner
13:37 - Gravity Circuit
14:38 - Ghost Trick HD
15:38 - Spongebob Cosmic Shake
16:47 - Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
17:55 - Rhythm Doctor
19:18 - Nick All Star Brawl 2
20:11 - Humanity
21:20 - Patrick's Parabox
22:10 - Octopath Traveler 2
23:56 - Ghostrunner 2
25:23 - Undertale Yellow
27:08 - We
Wario Ware: Move It! might actually be some of the best multiplayer fun I've had in a long time. It is so much fun to introduce the game to new people and play it with them.
I don't think nearly enough people, especially Ace Attorney fans, are talking about Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane. It uses gameplay mechanics similar to Layton vs. Wright, it has an engaging story and soundtrack, and its final boss is one of my favorites from any attorney game. In a time when AA fans are starving for a new game, Arcane Attorney will definitely scratch that itch.
The only reason I heard of Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane is because steam recommended it to me based on the games I play! Highly recommend
Dude! I had no idea Arcane Attorney existed. Thank you so much! ^_^
@@Hatemystikal You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
How on earth were you able to play so many games throughout the year? I’m not talking about finding time for it, I’m talking about how wild it is that you didn’t have “mind burnout” from focusing on so many different things, on top of living your life. It’s super cool to see that you were able to do that.
had the same question its hard enough keeping up with AAA games that you know are home runs
These are just games that he enjoyed, too lol. I bet he played many more. I've played a bunch too, I guess having no GF gives you a lot of free time lol
Dude gravity circuit is so good. I like mega man's peak more but this game sits closely to the franchise as a whole. My only gripe was the you had to get a little too close to enemies, his punch had very little range. That perk that gave it a longer reach was basically a necessity
Came to this vid because I saw Kai in the thumbnail, glad to see another gravity circuit fan here in the comments!
Cocoon's infamy is fascinating. Not because of the game itself, but because of the game awards. Not a lot of people have heard of it, but it won the best indie game award over Pizza Tower. Because it won over Pizza Tower, it's infamous now
I for one love Illusion Island even in single player mode. It’s visually engaging, full of unique charm, controls are pitch perfect, and the niche I didn’t know I needed filled is that of the non-violent Metroidvania. Literally, you can’t kill anything, and that just gives you a whole new approach to exploration and challenge. I’m eager to try it in multiplayer, but so far hasn’t happened. But gosh, I just loved every minute I spent on this game.
Glad to see Rain Code and Ghost Trick we’re on this list
Rain Code was my GOTY of 2023. I've bought on a whim with know nothing about the game and loved every second of it. It was perfect.
Everyone please check out A Highland Song. It's fantastic and nobody is talking about it.
Thank you, Antdude, for making videos like these on here and your main channel about hidden gems. For years now, you have always been my number one source for finding such hidden gem games that I end up loving. Keep up the great work, man!!
I don't see this mentioned enough. Cassette Beasts is absolutely amazing. He mentions it briefly, but i can't recommend it enough. It's much more than a Pokemon clone and deserves recognition.
Becoming the creatures is a selling point.
Very thankful for this video
Not only did tou cover a lotnof games thst really deserve more love, but the last two years have been so insane for new releases that so many of these titles I was super interested in, I completely forgot existed
Slay The Princess and Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. Two of the most finely crafted visual novels I've had the pleasure of playing, absolutely check both of them out.
Paranormasight is such a gem.
A Ghostrunner enjoyer! Respect!
I have played very few of these, or even heard of them before!
I'm adding a bunch to my wishlist right away.
Pseudoregalia, Rhythm Doctor, Gravity Circuit, Patrick's Parabox, Savant - Ascent, Born of Bread, and LunarLux all look great!
I have Patrick’s parabox and Gravity Circuit. Parabox can be tough at times, still haven’t beat some levels, but Gravity circuit is phenomenal, I hope you have fun if you get it.
Very glad to see Octopath II here. I too was rather lukewarm on the first (and that's *after* warming up on it over the years) but the sequel really did improve on basically everything. It's still not perfect - notably the party member interactions are still somewhat limited for the most part - but it was a fantastic experience overall that I'm very glad to have played.
Also since you mentioned dragon quest, I'm going to give an honourable mention to DQ Monsters: The Dark Prince. Whilst the game is sadly incredibly lacking in presentation (notably not only looking poor in a lot of places, but running poorly too, which is a much greater offence) the gameplay is probably the best the subseries has ever had. And whilst the plot does start glacially slow, it does at least start to pick up as the game goes on, particularly if you've played DQIV
Void Stranger is such a banger and very much a hidden gem! I dont think i've played a game as wild as Void Stranger.
Thanks for the list, AntDude! I am always on the lookout for more great diamonds in the rough to add to my backlog. Also Cocoon is Danish developed, so naturally I bought it day one to support my country.
hi i'm one of those freaks vouching for sanabi, its an IMMENSELY satisfying grapple-hook platformer with a bumpin soundtrack and a really buckwild story, you would absolutely LOVE it
Yeah, Cosmic Shake was legendary. 💯
You should check out Virgo vs The Zodiacs! Its an rpg inspired by Mario & Luigi and Earthbound where you play as the villain of the story. It has a really fun gameplay with lots of customization, well done pixel art, great music, and unique character designs.
Xenoblade Mentioned! It's probably my favourite game series, so I'm pretty happy that you also like the series and the dlc.
8:28 "you play as this little bug dude "
So in other words...an AntDude? 😏
Great video Ant! You showcased a ton of awesome-looking games I hadn’t heard of before.
I played Disney Illusion Island solo and it was still a delightful fun game. I do really want to try it multiplayer with friends at some point.
I'm just happy that anyone at all is mentioning we love katamari 😅
The biggest issue with ghostrunner 2 is that there is no gyro aiming. Like you said, this game is a little hard to play with a controller. Meaning aiming with a stick is not ideal
I enjoyed Bramble: The Mountain King, The Expanse, Planet of Lana, Gylt (it initially came out in 2019 on Google Stadia and got released on consoles in 2023), Deathwish Enforcers (a run & gun game), Lego 2K Drive, Summer Party Time (a fun little Mario Party esque game), Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing, Jumanji: Wild Adventures (the game reminded me of other 4-player co-op games like Shrek 2 and Marvel Ultimate. The bosses are terrible though), KartRider: Drift, and Disney Speedstorm.
Great stuff as always dude. I love the hidden gem and eshop videos ... I have soooo much to play it's overwhelming ..but in a good way
I describe Paranormasight as a "horror meta visual novel", also one of the best visual novels yet. The creator is well known in Japan, has done multiple games before and this game is the first one ever come out of the country. It's not a game that you have play every now and then, you have to pay attention to what they are saying and use that knowledge in the game (the meta part). For a streamer it can work as a Halloween game, it's 12 hours average and a bit more if you want to complete it. I said "horror" but spoilers... it's only 10% of the game.
And I'm not joking when I said one of the best visual novels yet, for me it was also a BEST NARRATIVE contender at the TGA: just take out FF16 and put this game in and it would've been perfect.
I don't know if DLC should really count as a separate game, but I guess it's your video.
New sub here and this is this first bit of content I've seen of yours and really enjoyed it! I currently only own a switch so love LOVE the hidden gem/future rare £$ stuff for the switch so hopefully you can do more of that! But that being said I really enjoyed the entirety of this video ❤
So good to see another video!
Throwing some of these onto my wish lists for. You ain’t let me down with game recs yet Antdude so thank you for these kinda videos
Excellent vod. New subscriber alert!!!
I cannot believe people dismissed Ghost Trick yet again, as a "generic anime game." Anyone who judged it that way should be ashamed; it's so much more!
Agreed 100%, it's my favorite game. So full of life and love put into it. Just amazing!
I've been aware of Ghost Trick ever since the DS, it just never caught my interest.
Hearing Ghost Trick described as a "generic anime game" makes me really sad
I absolutely loved Cocoon so it's a damn shame that the Pizza Tower community, a community I was a part of, absolutely shat on it. Cocoon deserves more love and so does the developer, every game they've been a part of has been a joy to play.
Also, does Antdude not know Steam exists or is that a running joke I missed or something? Humanity and Hi-Fi Rush are PC games too, if you intend to keep those consoles dusty.
So many great games this year it's almost impossible to play them all, but hell, still gonna add more.
Against the Storm is a roguelike settlement builder, it cuts the fat of the genre by giving you actual goals to complete, it makes it a great pick up and play for an hour type of game.
Corn Kidz 64 is a great little modern N64 3D platformer and so is Cavern of Dreams too, check both of them out if you need more of that.
Blood West is an indie take on something like Fallout or Bioshock in a western horror theme, sneak around, stab some zombies, loot some gold, buy a trinket, all good.
We got some amazing Boomer Shooter games too, such as Hrot, Slayers X and Turbo Overkill.
Finally just a lil shoutout to my favourite Survivor/Bullet Heaven style game last year, surprisingly beating both Brotato and Boneraiser Minions (both of them are great too) was Picayune Dreams, which attempts and I'd say succeeds to mesh RPG maker style storytelling and horror to a more Bullet Hell style Bullet Heaven. Genuinely loved it.
Love the bomberman hero music used in this one
I hate the fact that the Disney Illusion Island is Switch exclusive! I would instabuy it on Steam!
Gravity Circuit looks awesome. Surprised i never heard of it since i love megaman type games
This list was perfect. You totally nailed it
Highly recommend “A Highland Song” for the switch.
8:35 can’t sell me on this game, it stole the award from Pizza Tower…
Go for dredge because it is a ton of fun and not too long. You can enjoy it and knock it off your list pretty quick...wait hold up, u haven't played bomb rush cyberpunk yet??? Damn. Do that one next. I bet you make a video on it 100% you're gonna geek on that one 4 sure lol
Definitely added a few of these to my wishlist
Illusion island is still fine single player
Shoutout to Rayman in the Phantom Show DLC
My personal hidden gem of last year was Clive N Wrench. The critics were absolutely brutal with this game. Sure it needed a lot more polish, but it had more heart and soul in a 3D platformer than i've seen in a while and is perfect if you want to scratch that Spyro/Banjo-Kazooie itch
As some other good game from 2023, i want to very much recommend Clash: Artifacts of Chaos (a prequel in the Zeno Clash series, which have a strange and fascinating kind of alien prehistory as setting). Truly amazing and unique art style and great art direction, *beautiful* and great music, solid story and voice acting, and 3D brawler-like gameplay that seems partially inspired by God Hand where you can find and assign any two Stances and three Special Attacks at a combat dummy and you have to find said stances and attacks by exploring the world.
Cookie Cutter was also a pretty good one. An irreverent and strange sci-fi/cyberpunk metroidvania set in a pretty much lawless land where you never really know what to expect next.
Pretty much full hand-drawn 2D animations for all characters and is quite over-the-top, which has put some people off and intrigued others. The fact that one of the bosses was a big belly-mouthed Hindu demon-looking creature of all things, which are pretty rare in Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk stories, got me *very* interested.
Story and characters got me wanting more out of it for the base game and there's some annoying enemies and bugs, PLUS the humor can be a bit crass at times. But to me it's a work of genuine love and attention and shows this with a boatload of (sometimes messed-up) easter eggs and shout-outs to many other forms of media, from bands and anime to video games and cartoons.
Other cool games worth mentioning, that came out a bit earlier or have yet to come out:
- Soulstice (late 2022)
- Blud
- Genokids
- Enenra
- Yasuke: A Lost Descendant
- Gori: Cuddly Carnage
- Loco Motive
- The Mermaid's Tongue
- The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile
- Nobody Saves the World..
Hope that this comment proves interesting to anyone who finds it, and may they enjoy and spread word of whichever games they see here!
I watched this video, with no idea what to expect, and walked away super happy. You suggested Pseudoregalia, and with limited knowledge of who you are and what you are about, I dropped everything and picked it up. I am now taking a quick break from enjoying it to say thank you.
i've been playing illusion island solo and it's so fun
PLEASE KEEP TALKING ABOUT GRAVITY CIRCUIT EVERYONE, IT DESERVES A LOT MORE THAN THE RECOGNUTION ITS GETTING
Not gonna lie, kinda bittersweet that for every SquareEnix quality game, which is almost exclusively classic game remasters, there's one or two complete stinkers that show Square can't make a good new game if their life depended on it.
Even Theatrhythm is good primarily because it shows Square used to make good games.
do NOT take a shot every time he says "quality"
Nobody ever mentions armored core 6 when they talk about 2023 being a good year in gaming. But they’ll bring up remakes all day.
AC 6 was too hard for casuals, have you seen the trophy rate on PS5?
@@MTG69 I for sure was a casual to the series. (Not to fromsoft) but I think in general casuals should try challenging games from time to time.
@@MTG69 still the best game to come out that year
Great list. I know one I loved that nobody really talked about was Bramble: The Mountain King. Its basically like an indie Little Nightmares game based on Nordic Folklore.
Thirsty Suitors was my Hidden Gem of 2023, it was a really funny and emotional ride.
Another game I didn’t hear anyone talk about was the bullet hell/Metroidvania called Tevi, it’s incredible that came out towards the end of the year. The Good-Feel Goemon-like game is incredible as well, I just call it Mameda Bakaru. One of the people that worked on the original SNES Goemon games actually made Good-Feel which did Wario Land Shake It, Both Yarn Yoshi games and Kirby’s Epic Yarn. All of the games on the list are dope tho!
I have to play TEVI some day. The devs of that game previously made another Metroidvania/Bullet Hell game called Rabi-Ribi which I really really liked, and this one seems to be a sequel to that in everything but name. The main character is even a bunny girl!
Never thought I’d hear AntDude say “danganronpa”
I found the Silent Hope gameplay loop really fun.
Great video, but I don’t consider a game Switch exclusive if I can play it on my Steam Deck.
I loooove the cosmic shake, I completed twice already
ty for this video, there are at least two games on your list i wanna play right now 😂.
Viewfinder will absolutely put any emulator that tries to play that through its paces, with the viewport having to accurately sample the relevant 3D slice of the stage in order to create the effect properly.
That was the most jumbled sentence I’ve read so far this year!
@@carljenson1573 What can I say, graphics slang sounds like nonsense to the novice
how did I make it through this entire video before I realized I was watching an ant dude video 😂🤯
Wouldn’t this have been a video for the main channel?
What's the name of the background music used?
I wish more people talked about and played Mr. Run and Jump. Honestly, a 2D Platformer that RIVALS Meat Boy and even Celeste to some extent.
I missed out on the Next Fest demo for it and then opted not to get it on sale earlier this month because I was anticipating a Switch eShop New Year's sale that never materialized. Hopefully it doesn't take until the holidays for another sale, but I'll probably pick it up once it is a bit cheaper. Same team is currently making qomp2, and I just played through the first qomp and really enjoyed it, so I hope the sequel is in good hands
What song is playing in the background?
I'm so glad I got back into the Katamari games. Katamari Damacy Reroll and We ❤ Katamari Reroll have been pretty fun.
Paused this video to finally start Gravity Circuit after picking it up weeks ago, got my ass handed to me by the first midstage boss I wound up fighting after struggling to get through everything in the junkyard level up to that point with those damn hookshot challenges over spikes with the gunk droppers getting me over and over again, and after losing to him some 5 times and it getting close to 2am, I decided to finally finish this video and call it a day, and, bam, you drop the Megaman Battle Network Legacy Collection at the end and I am again a happy camper with my favorite series growing up getting the final entry mentioned on this list. So underrated. I need a physical copy to go with my digital download of it
For people who enjoy Ghost Runner should check out Neon White. It's more Speedrun heavy but super fun and fast paced first person platformer.
Cocoon was a hell of a game, I loved it.
i was hoping to see sea of stars on this list
Definitely try Samba de Amigo! Super fun time, especially if you liked Wario Ware.
This game didn't come out in 2023 but I played it in 2023 and more people need to know about this game so I'm gonna mention my personal favorite hidden gem in the last few years: "Soulstice".
Its an indie hack and slash that, in a nutshell is what DMC2 wanted to be and what DmC2 could've been like (It makes sense in gameplay) all with a Claymore aesthetic(If you're unfamiliar with Claymore, female knights fighting monsters, nuff said). Is not as sound as the genre GOATs, but for a $40 budget game, it definitely has that certain spark to it.
OH FUP YEAH ANOTHER SOULSTICE FAN! Interesting to describe it as DMC2 wanted to be and could have been. Did you mean the DMC/DmC reboot?
Heavy agree on having a certain spark to it. It may drag on, have some annoying enemy types and the camera doesn't always work as you want it too, but there is genuinely a lot of thought put into why things are the way they are. Soulstice has *so* much to offer on the front of characters, story and gameplay and there is potential for more, so i wish the devs a lot of good luck and hope the series may be able to grow a lot more known and live up to the potential it has, with a worthy game or games to close off the story/stories it wants to tell (same for the Darksiders series).
@@jurtheorc8117 DMC (All caps) refers to the classic series while DmC (Lowercase 'M') refers to the reboot. I'm saying its what Classic DMC 2 should've been like and what a potential sequel to 'DmC: Devil May Cry' could've been like, though I only drew that conclusion from the color coded enemies. I know that isn't exclusive to DmC, but in Soulstice's case, it felt a bit TOO close to ignore.
I heard about cosmic shake around the beginning of 2023 but didn't give it a proper try til the end of the year, and im happy I did decided to give it a try because the ps2 era platforming was right at my alley and the world, enemies, spongebobs, moveset etc all came together to make an experience I can only describe as F.U.N
Another hidden gem from 2023 is Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2. They had the brillant idea to Release it two days before Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, so of course no one as talked about it.
“By the grace of Miamotto” 😂😂 anyway yeah as a massive fire emblem fan i also really enjoyed Advanced Wars. Can we please get Xenoblade X ported to the switch???
Can say I'm interested in gravity circuit.
I picked up Cocoon and Pseudoregalia after watching this and I can't put Cocoon down dude. So good. I can't wait to start Pseudoregalia.
Gravity circuit and hi if rush were in my top 5 this year!
If people like the Advance Wars series they should definitely check out the Wargroove games, the second one which came out you guessed it, in 2023.
Dude I was so glad to find out you were just as big a Xenoblade Stan as I was when we met at PopCon, one of the best game series out there and I can't wait until Monolith makes another game either in our other of the series.
So i played and enjoyed BFBB Rehydrated, it had problems, but it was a pretty good game, i bought Cosmic Shake expecting something similar, but man, it kinda blew my mind, the first level was really good, like a BFBB level a bit more linear maybe, but in the second level, the Karate world, the moves introduced in that level, how easy and fun it was to string a lot of stylish moves together, how the moves were great for platforming and combat, the boss battle at the end, i knew that loved this game and it never let up after that, it was a bit short and the final boss was a bit disappoiting, but more people should play this game.
Wanted Dead released early in the year and had fantastic gameplay reminiscent of the modern Ninja Gaidens with a bunch of side stuff too. My personal goty, feels like no one talks about it tho sadly
BAYO ORIGINS MENTIONED OMG LIKE IT SHOULDVE GOTTEN GAME AWARD FOR BEST ART DIRECTION.
Just popping in to say that I bought Cobalt Core knowing nothing about it because I thought it looked cool and it is now my 2023 GOTY thank you and goodbye
Thank you so much for bringing Rerunner to my attention-
katamari is a great game im glad you enjoyed it !!
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is one of the best rhythm games of all time. And Nobuo Uematsu is one of the greatest living composers. Seriously, this game is so good
Pretty sure all of these games are great but like 90% of them aren’t hidden in the slightest
Kinda sad Star Ocean Second Story R wasn't there as it was a top tier remake, but these are some good choices.
OMG RHYTHM DOCTOR SHOUT OUT‼️‼️‼️ I LOVE THAY GAME WITH ALL MY HEART
I'm gonna shout out Stray Gods. It's a Greek Mythology roleplaying musical. And yes, it's as incredible as that premise makes it sound.
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 1 was so bad, 3 it's almost impossible to get everything and became a chore. I got barely anything after hours. 2 though, 2 my mate went back through and completed it himself. Nickelodeon games have good sequels, but the third one gets boring and the first one is missing everything you want.
29:26 Oh I played that actually, the original. The game was really fun but the real draw is the soundtrack. Savant isn't just part of the title, it's the name of the Artist who the game is based off basically. So yeah.
Cobalt Core is in my top 3 roguelikes. It is excellent.
what about the talos principle 2?