Hi friends! After my amazing article on card games (which I’m sure you all read – Card Games that GUARANTEE Pleasure), I’m back with another list of great games from Steam this time. These games are all “relatively” obscure, with even a few that were released recently. With this small introduction out of the way, let’s jump right into them!

P.S. All the games are free 😀

Chillquarium:

Chillquarium is a fun and “chill” (as the name suggests) fish-collecting game. It also serves as a method of resolving my gambling addiction, as the way you get fish is by buying (with in-game currency) little fish packages that give you random fish. These fish start as babies but grow up by gaining experience, either over time or by feeding, which you can do via clicking. Once they grow up, you can generate money from them, either by letting them sit in your aquarium or by selling them. With more money, you can buy more aquarium tanks, add cosmetic pieces within the aquariums, and buy more fish packs. Overall, it’s an extremely relaxing game I can leave open on my PC sometimes. A cool part about Chillquarium is that it calculates your profit even if you don’t have the game open, so it’s kinda like a gacha idle game. It’s great for those addicted to gacha games or idle games, like me!

(The) Gnorp Apologue:
The Gnorp Apologue is another idle game, but this time, a lot more goofy instead of relaxed. 

You act as something similar to a mayor, helping a species known as Gnorps hit a rock to collect shards. You progress through the game by collecting those shards, and acquiring more methods of hitting the rock, such as archers, rockets, and even headbutters (there are more, of course). After progressing enough, you can prestige to unlock talents that offer choosable upgrades for that run specifically. The game offers a new mechanic to idle games, where if you produce more shards than you can collect, they stack up too high, causing a compression event: you’ve produced too many shards that they collapse into a miniature black hole, deleting your pile and producing one Zybellium, a mythical ore forged by the pressure which can be used for exclusive upgrades. The game ends when you reach compression level ten, from which you unlock hard mode. The creator is still working on the game, making it so that hard mode gives different talent upgrades and has the shard pile spill over with gravity, while also adding cosmetic hats. With the latest community blog, the creator also mentioned making a sequel where the Gnorps go to space, with physics involved :O.

Terratech:

Terratech is on this list simply for nostalgia, as it’s “old but gold.” I can remember watching my favorite YouTubers playing this game back when I was in 5th grade, and it just popped up in my Steam discovery queue, giving me a blast to the past. To describe the game, you build a rover and explore a vast world, encountering various other rovers, both friends and foes. Through these encounters, you gain more and better rover parts and can also explore a Factorio/Satisfactory-like manufacturing side of the game. You explore the world to upgrade your relationship with various corporations, which unlocks access to more rover pieces and allows you to build to your dreams! There are also many DLCs (Downloadable content, usually expansions to the game that cost money) that unlock parts, allowing you to fly, have more campaigns, and obtain different weapons. Overall, it is an amazing game, but I suggest waiting for Terratech Worlds, a bigger sequel planned for this year,  to come out.

Hades: 

Not really a “hidden treasure,” as this game is pretty popular, but I just wanted to talk about it anyway with the fact that Hades 2 is right around the corner. This dungeon crawler explores the story of Hades and Persephone, with you as Hades’ son who wishes to escape the Underworld to meet your mother. The Olympian gods offer you ability upgrades known as “boons” to help you progress through Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium. Hades (the game, not the god), also has replayability for when you beat the game with its heat meter, which you can adjust to increase the difficulty of your runs. Unlike Terratech, I suggest playing BOTH this AND the upcoming Hades 2, which will include more gods and Greek mythology elements. 

Lethal Company: 

This game is a lot darker than the 4 previously mentioned, and also has an added problem of requiring friends (well actually, you can play it in single-player but it’s so much more fun in multiplayer). The “Company” requires you and up to three other employees to travel to various moons and collect scrap. You sell this scrap to the Company and receive money to buy equipment. The catch? These moons have monsters, landmines, turrets, and just anything to make your working experience as terrifying as “hell”. This game is a horror game for single-players or those on their first run, but in multiplayer, it becomes an infinite farm for comedy with the amount of funny things that can happen with your friends. Additionally, you can install mods that the community creates to make the game even more enjoyable, which can add extra monsters, change some noises (you can make a hoarder bug yell YIPPEE! every time it sees you), and just overall make the experience way more fun. I would recommend it as a party game with friends, or as a horrifying solo mission.