Which games do you think are underrated?

Choice of kung fu was awesome.
Chi power was awesome cause magic.

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Choice of Kung Fu actually has great ratings and (seemingly) some of the highest sales of any of the CoGs, so it does seem a little weird to me that it isn’t mentioned as much on the forums.

I like Neighbourhood Necromancer, and Eerie Estate Agent.

I’m also fond of Showdown at Willow Creek.

@Samuel_H_Young Hey, you mention sales figures a bit. Do you have a chart for them?

Aha! Found the previous discussion on this topic. Favourite unpopular CoG?

Kung Fu is usually high on this chart, ( http://www.topappcharts.com/search.php?show=search&price=paid&string=choice+of+games&platform=iphone&start=10 ) and it’s also one of the only CoGs on Android that has passed the 5,000 downloads mark.

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I’ve had a bit of a naff day and that links cheered me up as changing choice of games to hosted games showed Unnatural was not only 2nd but it had jumped up 117 places to 184 overall :slight_smile:

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Neighborhood Necromancer and Psy High. I don’t know, there’s just something about a high school student who discovers they have powers plot that appeals to the angsty teenager within me. It’s sad that these two gems are often overlooked by the community.

@Zane_Hiam I’d hardly say Psy High is overlooked. It got a Steam release and it’s number 9 on Samuel’s list.

Then again, what does count as overlooked?

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Wow, I should start checking which games get a steam release! Maybe overlooked wasn’t the right word. More like overshadowed by the other great games that came out around the same time.

Not to critique your choice, but I’d say that none of the Steam games count as under-rated.

So that’s Slammed!, Curse of the Black Cat, Choice of the Petal Throne, Hero of Kendrickstone, Mecha Ace, Hollywood Visionary, Heroes Rise trilogy, Psy High, Choice of Deathless, Choice of Robots, and Tin Star.

Of note I think are the votes we as a community did for 2014. I’d say underrated is at the bottom half of the list.

Choice of Games 2014 Final results:

Title                         Average Stdev
Choice of Robots                 4.5   0.8
Heroes Rise: HeroFall            4.1   1.0
Mecha Ace                        4.0   1.0
Psy High                         3.7   0.8
Creatures Such as We             3.6   1.0
Thieves' Gambit: The Curse o     3.3   0.9
The Last Monster Master          3.0   1.2
Neighbourhood Necromancer        3.0   0.9
Yeti's Parole Officer            2.8   0.8
NOLA Is Burning                  2.6   1.0
Choice of the Rock Star          2.5   1.0

Hosted Games 2014 Final results:

Title                      Average Stdev
Tin Star                      4.6   0.8
Life of a Mobster             4.1   0.9
Fatehaven                     3.8   1.0
Unnatural                     3.7   1.0
Divided We Fall               3.3   1.1
Somme Trench                  3.3   1.1
Silent Gear                   2.8   1.0
Trial of the Demon Hunter     2.7   1.0
Planetary Quarantine          2.7   0.8
Gangs of Old Camp             2.2   0.9
Path of Light                 2.2   0.9
Sword of the Elements         2.0   0.9
The Ascot                     2.0   0.9
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I actually don’t like Neighborhood Necromancer. I was really excited for it when it was released, but I always have issues with the coding. I always die at the same place, no matter what, unless I’m playing an evil psychopath - that really killed my enjoyment of the game.

I like most of the other games I’ve played, though. Psy High’s one of my favorites.

Well, you’ve stolen my picks with Star Captain and the Inglis games. Don’t know which others I’d describe as underrated… I’ve yet to hear a bad word about Kung Fu and have heard lots of good ones, but it’s true that it doesn’t get a whole lot of conversation.

I think the Cloud City game is… over-hated? I wouldn’t call it a hidden gem, but back when people talked about it, they were a lot more vitriolic than I thought it deserved.

Edit: oh, and in the Hosted category, I think Divided We Fall counts as a hidden gem. A historical game with four different first-person protagonists of both genders – there’s definitely nothing else like it on the site.

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Since everyone has basically mentioned my picks, I’ll venture out and say that all CoG games are underrated in general.

Whenever I try to explain the concept of CoG games to someone who’s never been exposed, they’re usually like “No pictures? No sound?? Just reading??? That sounds boring!” And those who are familiar with CoG usually only played Choice of the Dragon, Choice of Broadsides, and/or Choice of the Vampire. They don’t think the experience is worth paying for, so they brush off the other games. Is reading really so appalling to most people?

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I haven’t had this problem, but I think it’s because I start from the context of the printed page rather than the context of a game. My spiel goes something like this:

“Remember Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80’s? Choice of Games are like that, but aimed at high schoolers and adults rather than kids, and you play on your [phone, iPad, computer - whichever device this person prefers]. Because CoG games are digital, they can track much more complicated decisions than a physical book can.”

…and I go straight from there into a pitch for Choice of Robots, because it’s my favorite CoG and reliably interests people when I pitch it.

If I have a device available, I sit them down and get them to try Robots on the spot. If I can keep them from dropping out during the weird prologue, then I usually have them hooked by the end of the first chapter.

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When I talk about Trial of the Demon Hunter to strangers or acquaintences, they seem amazed. Most people have never heard of interactive fiction, so it really intriques them. The thing is, you’ve got to call it a “cool book” instead of a “boring video game.” :wink:

That’s an interesting tactic. FWIW, I usually ask to see their phone, and then put Dragon, Broadsides, Romance, and Necromancer on their phones. That way there’s no “oh, I’ll download it later…”

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Don’t you have to pay for Necromancer? I’m just asking because I’m gonna try these techniques on some of my friends this weekend, and I don’t want to force them to pay for something they might not like. I mean, I really love it, but there are even some hardcore CoG fans who don’t care for it.

No Vampire in there? You’re not forcing other people to play your own game? You should be ashamed. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Vampire’s not free-to-download on iOS. Necromancer is.

(If it’s an Android device, I also download Vampire and Deathless. And try to convince people that we don’t just make games about the undead.)

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While it’s certainly garnered some attention and charts somewhat highly, I still think “Creatures Such as We” is underrated. It’s really pretty phenomenal in what it manages to achieve. It has such a unique tone, is so incredibly meta and intellectual, challenges so many tropes, stereotypes and gaming conventions, that it ends up coming across more as artwork than a game.

Sorry I was wondering if life of a mobster is a good to buy and thrives of gambit and for me understated had to be just my opinion Silient Gear I had a blast with and it was free with ads but a good story. No Proper Theif I found amusing and chuckle along the way just wish there was more seriousness but hopefully another WIP can have a refreshing genre like bank heisting like PayDay that would be nice. Choice of Ninja and Choice of Kung Fu had to be underrated for how good both story lines were and especially choice of Kung fu with the RO interest of the fox lady