I second the suggestion. Golden Sun is really freaking awesome and for a GBA game, has lots of content and essence in it.
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Glad you like the look of it, wonder how long it will be compared to previous titles, not that it matters too much that their games are on the shorter side considering the quality. Sucks that you couldnt get into transistor but i havent actually played it yet only watched it, its been sitting in my library for a while just waiting.
Soon.
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Yeah, I think it was more to do with being ill at the time with that game too. I couldnāt get into it or to be arsed in trying to suss it all out.
Iāll maybe give it a go again, one day.
+1 for Bastion and Ori and the Blind Forest.
Shank is also a great short game (2-2.5 hours for first run) that plays out like an action movie, and has pretty decent replay value. A good game to for someone stuck in bed/at home all day, but wants to be able to finish a run of a game in one sitting.
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I too enjoyed both Transistor and Bastion, they are indeed good games, but for some reason I just couldnāt finish them. Got myself towards the end of Transistor but felt like it was just dragging things out a and got boring while Bastion I just dropped out of half ways and didnāt get back into, tried twice. Not sure why exactly.
With Shank being mentioned I want to sneak in another āTop 1 hidden gem game that must be played before you dieā (since ever one else is cheating). Also from Klei Entertainmen, Mark of the Ninja Itās a platformer stealth/action game with some really neat level design and a lot of clever game mechanics, itās possibly the best ninja game there is.
While the game is mechanically sound and filled to the brim with interesting and horrifying gadgets the story is what really clinched it for me and brought this game up from great to incredible. I wouldnāt call the game story rich by any means but the way it ends just makes the whole thing really cool in my opinion. Definitely worth a playthrough or two.
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The idea some of you guys have of what a hidden gem is slightly weird. 
Bastion is incredibly famous, was featured in magazines and all. Also, old does not mean hidden gemā¦ FFVI was a blockbuster of its day.
Hidden gem is the stuff that gets published on Chrono.gg, that sort of thing.
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You beat me to it mate, i was about to write that i wouldnt call most of these hidden gems, at least the pc ones, not sure about the games @TheMagicWalrus mentioned other than that ive never heard of em and as you mentioned Radiant Historia which i also never heard of(im not a console/handheld owner so i hear less about things on those platforms ofcourse). Also i have no idea why i called Bastion a hidden gem above, slipped my mind.
Was also gonna say that it wouldve been better for the thread maybe if it was 1 game you think deserves more visibility/recognition 
still a tough choice but how do you define a hidden gem exactly? How many people buying/views and articles on the internet equals not being hidden anymore?
I for one have no idea what id suggest as āTop 1 Hidden Gem Game That MUST Be Played Before You Die!!ā , sorry to dissapoint, @Punkster 
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Itās the opposite with me man, iāve played mark of the ninja for a few levels and just didnāt continue for some reason, I think its worthwhile to return to games after a while and give them another try, if nothing else maybe youāll at least pinpoint why it is you didnāt feel like finishing it. For example, i stopped playing just cause 2 after an hour or two and didnāt touch it for months, now i have over a 100 hours in it so iām definitely gonna give mark of the ninja another go (third times the charm 
)
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I did point out that I didnāt think it counted as a hidden gem. But it IS the one game Iād say everyone should play at some point. By being old it is however hidden from view of the younger generations of gamers who might never have considered looking back at older games.
FFVI is such a masterpiece of itās class that it deserves to be brought to attention of those who wouldnāt have sought it out themselves, much like we do with books and movies. One flew over the cuckooās nest isnāt being recommended because itās a āhidden gemā but because very few would seek it out on their own today, despite itās critical acclaim at the time. So we tell people to watch, read and play old shit that is worth experiencing.
So while the recommendation might not follow the letter of the request I feel it falls well within the spirit of it.
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N++ is possibly my favorite platformer and is one that not enough people have played. Itās some of the best platforming Iāve ever had the joy to play, and itās well over 100 hours long, if youāre good and go for all levels. If you want to complete N++ (i.e. youāve lost your mind) you might be looking at a 750+ hour game, and almost all of it is amazing and fun.
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Frog Fractions is the best. Also, props to guy who recognized ff6 as best Final Fantasy.
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@ZeeX Yeah haha, absolute huge fan of SGG all in all, huge fan of transistor as well ( While your steam page is covered in bastion stuff, mineās the same with transistor ) but as someone else mentioned, this is a Top 1 recommendation page 
Iāve been watching pyre with a keen eye about a week after it got announced so itās been a long time waiting, itās not even my type of game but after them becoming among the few that I eagerly await releases from ( Obsidian Entertainment, Insomniac games, Epic Games, etc, etc. ) that iāll probably say āIāll wait till I hear what people think of itā wait around a full day, watch one early review, stop it half way and instantly go buy it because literally nothing good or bad could be said about it that would make me not want to play it.
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@markdarkness The trouble with a āhidden gemā is that fine line between quality and recognition, over the years Iāve played so many indies, demos that used to come in magazines, small games developers would just upload because it was a project the team was working on in the background, and so on and so on.
So if I racked my brain Iām sure there would be no shortage of games that I could go āoh yeah, it completely flew under everyones radar when it came out and I at least think itās a good playā but Iām not so sure itās going to blow you away, obviously this discussion all comes down to your perception on a what a āhidden gemā really is, and I think itās that my slider bar weighs heavily on the āqualityā scale, but with that being said nearly every game you look up will have had someone that DID play it, and DID bring attention to it, I was going to recommend Homeworld, a game I had played years ago that until now absolutely none of my friends had played, but with one search I find out the game had its 1999 version remastered and TBās got a impression video on it with 500k views lol.
To try my best of toting the line, Iād probably recommend āStrandedā itās a freeware game and gets completely overlooked with the genre that itās in that its kind of been lost from time, I actually canāt even remember much of it but itās more of a story game then a survival one from what I can recall, and that game has huge nostalgia vibes for me so thereās a chance Iām completely biased but I think itās worth checking out anyway, to find it youāll have to search āStranded 2003ā because stranded just gives early access newer games with similar names.
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Oooohhh iāve actually stumbled across EBA on my Nintendo DS once, totally agree on hilarious plot:grin:
Hmmā¦ hidden gems. As with many others in this thread I am having trouble determining what qualifies a game being āhiddenā. Iāll go with āIndie that received minimal coverageā
80 Days - Based on the novel by Jules Verne, 80 Days is set in a world of steampunk vehicles and delightful characters. You play the role of Passepartout, the valet of Phileas Fogg, making decisions for your journey in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in less than 80 days. Whether itās an expedition to the North pole, or a journey across the ocean floor, every tale is filled with unpredictability and intrigue. I got hooked on this game during a week I fell particularly ill, and I continued to play it for weeks beyond.
Sunless Sea (and Fallen London) - Failbetter games created a world that I fell in love with immediately; a gigantic civilisation far from the sun, trapped beneath the ground. Primarily text based games, with visual aids as seasoning. The writing in these two games is phenomenal, and although they are both brilliant, my recommendation would have to go to Sunless Sea. It presents the troubles of maintaining the fuel and supplies of a shoddy steamer, all the while trying to keep your crew from going mad. The harsh economy of the Neath means that youāre never sure if the the amount of fuel will get you to the next port.
Fallen London is more in the style of a pay-to-win iOS game, with an energy bar and microtransactions, but if you can get over that, the world is just so beautifully crafted. I say pay-to-win, but anyone who plays the game normally doesnāt buy more energy (Itās bloody expensive). The reason it is made this way is to pace the game out - itās not the sort of game you want to rush through without savouring the text. (Itās probably the only game that I will ever forgive for having this model, just because the story is so damn good.)
Frozen Synapse - This one I chose for its gameplay (The story is not worth mentioning). A turn based strategy, you simulate 5 seconds of a battle, giving commands to your soldiers (and enemy soldiers; itās a simulation.) When you are happy with the result, you send the commands to your soldiers, and in return, the enemy has done the same to determine what their soldiers should do. After this, you let it play out and see what happens. Wash rinse repeat until all of one side is dead.
One of the features I really like is the ability to send a move, and then log off for the day to wait for the enemyās counter-play. This makes it so that you can have longer games that last days, if not weeks trying to find the best move that will thwart your opponent.
Just three of my favourites that I havenāt seen mentioned yet. Overall Sunless Sea is my favourite (now thinking about it, it might be my favourite game of all time.) but the others are definitely worth checking out too.
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Hidden gem? I donāt know if these count, but Dying Light and The Binding Of Isaac.
Dying Light got hyped and it seems to me that it died down quick, which is a real shame, because itās a solid zombie game. Itās basically Dead Rising (weapon creation) meets Assassinās Creed (open world and parkour stuff), but itās one of the few games that actually kept me entertained. Not to mention the fact that the devs updated it constantly and released a DLC and a free Enhanced Edition upgrade.
I got into The Binding Of Isaac (the original game) back in 2012-ish, after seeing a gameplay video. It really took up most of my time, as it isnāt a big game, so my PC can boot it fast. If I wanted a 5 minute break from studying, I would play this game. Itās a rougelike, which, I guess, means thereās no savepoints; once you die, you restart the game. The gameās levels change on account of the number of times youāve completed it. You fight your way through several rooms to get to the boss and, after beating it, you get to the next level. Standard stuff. The most attractive part of this game would be the power-ups you find throughout the levels, which Iām not going to spoil.
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Iām sorry. I didnāt think it would cause this much confusion. I basically meant that one game you love that is maybe not well known and you feel it deserves some recognition, that it never really got upon release or even an oldie but goldie title, if you wanted. The criteria was not meant to be that strict.
I did say on the OPā¦
"Anyway, what are your Top 1 Hidden Gem Game That MUST Be Played Before You Die? You know, that ONE title you think deserves some recognition but gets very little."
Perhaps I should have been more specific. Live and learn. It was just for fun and to see if I could find a must play game before I shed this mortal coil.
TO ALL: I donāt know what else to say, except thank you for commenting and putting forth some good recommendations, despite the confusion.
Punkster
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I recommend Devilās Attorney for iOS and Android. Absolutely hilarious dialogue. Very well written. And clever turn-based battles that use a bit of thinking like a puzzle. But only a bit. I doubt anybody would be stuck on any level, because of how many resources you have as a very corrupt defense attorney, getting all those criminals off scot-free. And the character you play is a ridiculously skilled person who will insult anyone in his path without resorting to any profanities. Fun cartoony graphics too. Also the dialogue has great voice acting by people like Jen Taylor (Cortana from Halo).
Wished they made a sequel.
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Hehā¦I actually installed that recently on my friends phone via the humble bundle app (it was free during one of their mobile bundles), very amusing little game, canāt wait to play more of it myself when i get a better phone.
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As for you mate, not everything is a hidden gem or old enough like FF6 to be āhiddenā from a lot of people today who look at the latest and greatest but itās been a great topic so far and I hope people keep posting.
As for me, I still donāt think i have any titles Iād describe as must play before shedding your mortal coil but i will go through my games and pull some from various genres for yāall!
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