tried out a prior release of this game once a long while ago. it's a fun 1v3 game of hide and seek tag that's relatively well balanced. back then i definitely don't remember it having all this dlc character stuff so that's kinda neat
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1715980/Bail_or_JailOBAKEIDORO/
one of the cutest and goofiest earthboundlikes, if one can even call it that any more. sadly untranslated
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1753270/Ketchup_and_Mayonnaise/
never got around to picking up this steam version but i have to say that as a doujin shmup this game goes hard, especially for a fangame
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1848730/IKUSAAAAAAAN/
this game is HARD but i can't help but love it
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280300/Steel_Assault/
compared to some other indie metroidvanias out there, this one is VERY metroid-based so don't expect a huge amount of genre innovation here, but it is honestly quite good and underrated
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368410/PSYCRON/
that low stress fun vibes type of indiegame that you see more of nowadays, this is one i played i think when i had a game pass trial or something to that effect. like most wholesome games, it's hard not to like tbh
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1273750/Button_City/
fun little solo-developed retro platformer parody basically. has some real charm to it
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1579310/Light_Infantry/
i am never going to beat this game but that's okay
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1493910/COROPATA/
by contrast it is virtually impossible to not beat this one, as it's a very short and wholesome clicker game where clicking is 100% optional
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1476340/The_Adventure_of_NAYU/
There is a more "feature complete" version of this also on steam but this one is still one of the most iconic doujin games of the last decade imo, and thanks to that other version this one is an absolute steal now. it's an odd game really, that starts off as a slice of life adventure game before making a hard shift into a dungeon crawler. it's not perfect, but the level of polish is still impressive for what it is, and it's super charming too
https://store.steampowered.com/app/842810/Mrchen_Forest_Mylne_and_the_Forest_Gift_Legacy_ver/
roguelikes and/or games with deckbuilder elements are a bit of a plague all over the industry and everyone knows it, but the novelty of asking the question "what if we DID have cards in it though" actually does provide interesting results at times, like here. the world according to girl is a brutal game, but also perhaps the coolest raising sim out there
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1860600/the_World_According_to_Girl/
another good raising sim to come out of this raising sim renassance period the last couple of years has unexpectedly provided. i was pretty surprised when this one actually exploded in popularity after release, breaking iirc 600k sales in china in very little time and becoming the best selling indie title in china for the year... overall, it's a neat game with a lot of unique elements for the genre and i think it's pretty cool. not as unique and cool as the world according to girl but hey
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1669980/Volcano_Princess/
in a way this is also a "raising" sim but in the sense that it's a citybuilder lol. it's a very tiny one where you can breeze through runs pretty damn fast, but it's pretty fun. tl is poor though
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581170/The_Hundred_Year_Kingdom/
played the switch version and it's honestly an alright if terribly dated original tcg game. i think this steam version is way more feature complete though, the switch version totally missed out on the dlc campaigns this one had...
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/1569/Eternal_Destiny__Complete_Bundle/
and i suppose finally because i feel like arbitrarily ending here, this game's a hard clone of... actually i forget what it was a clone of exactly, i just remember it uses a common engine. BUT, I still like it quite a bit, and it still gets updates these days which is pretty cool. it's pretty much like a more modern nobunaga's ambition game in a way, in how there's a sort of turn based structure but with lots of realtime elements
https://store.steampowered.com/app/420520/Lost_Technology/
absolute peak 3D fighting game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/355240/NEO_AQUARIUM__The_King_of_Crustaceans/
it's an italian weeb's touhou clone but conversely... it was the first "touhou" game on steam, and it's free, so it's an easy rec
https://store.steampowered.com/app/368950/Jigoku_Kisetsukan_Sense_of_the_Seasons/
and here's some more i have on my own radar or my library but can't rec yet since i haven't tried them
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1621140/Clawfish/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1618220/_/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1421790/Labyrinth_City_Pierre_the_Maze_Detective/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1727520/Yamafuda_2nd_station/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1733030/Knights_of_the_Tiny_Table/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663270/Below_The_Ocean/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371720/Card_Shark/
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/25222/The_Pixel_Pulps_Collection/ (ok yeah this is well over $10 but it is also 3 games so technically it's valid to count it)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1844400/Rasetsu_Fumaden/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1411700/Doko_Roko/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2073050/Emmas_Armaments/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1949010/Room_301_NO6/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1998530/Yoiyami_Dancers_Twilight_Danmaku_Dancers/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2058380/Procemon_You_Must_Catch_Them/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1823430/KaraCreate/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2006570/I/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2368400/Complex_Loop/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1797630/Dance_of_Cards/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1730080/Beyond_the_Long_Night/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097740/AKAIITO_HD_REMASTER/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2097750/AOISHIRO_HD_REMASTER/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1478160/Nyaruru_Fishy_Fight/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2320500/Chlos_Requiem_encore/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2361610/In_His_Time/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393890/IGNISTONE/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1826060/Night_Loops/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1505600/RETRIS/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2441960/Maginet/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2469190/Gluck/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2514960/Refind_Self_The_Personality_Test_Game/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2234960/Pygmalion/
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