Gaming

I’m probably alone in remembering this game but I loved Hardwar back in the day. It’s an Elite style trading game set on Titan. The player pilots a ‘moth’ ,a small flying craft, between craters.
It had an interesting story that played out as you explored with areas blocked out, due to events, and made accessible later on.

The developer closed doors but IIRC at least one member of the team released a patch that had been developed later on.

I played it pretty obsessively and it had a small passionate community but it wasn’t a hit.

I've been playing retro games for the past years, and here's some that might fit the criteria of forgotten cult classics:

• ScummVM:
  • The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth: It's a funny and interesting point and click game, use a guide though, there are some obtuse puzzle and pixel hunting
• TurboGrafx CD:
  • J. B. Harold Murder Club: a straightforward but interesting crime mystery game
• SNES:
  • Ihatovo Monogatari: an interesting no combat top down adventure game
• Sega CD:
  • Snatcher
• Sega Saturn:
  • Policenauts: I like Policenauts more than Snatcher, but both are interesting sci-fi visual novel like by Kojima
• Playstation:
  • Mega Man Legends
  • Mega Man Legends 2: both MM Legends have heartwarming light hearted stories and okay gameplay
  • Tail Concerto: similar to MM Legends, but gameplay is bit more basic. Features tons of cute anthropomorphized cats and dogs. Very lighthearted
• Playstation Portable:
  • Remember11: The last game in Infinity series, co created by Kotaro Uchikoshi who went on and created Zero Escape trilogy. Out of the Infinity series, this is probably the best one, it is more sci-fi than romance/dating visual novel, there's no longwinded slice of life section.

All of those games are either in English or have been fan-translated

There’s a few classic Star Wars games that don’t get talked about as much that are great. Galactic battlegrounds is an age of empire 2 clone with Star Wars skins and stories. I played the crap out of this one over the years. Fun campaigns and tons of fan made missions out 5err too. But a ton of the old Star Wars games are fun if you are a fan. Freelancer is a PC game that I don’t think you can even buy any more which was a fun space sim from back in the day and holds up somewhat. Star Trek also had a bunch of interesting games in the early aughts worth checking out if you’re so inclined.

Aquaria is one probably not too many people played to make it a cult classic, but it has a dedicated following of people that love it. Was pretty popular as a 2d indie adventure. I never thought I would like it, but was glad I gave it a try. 😊

One of the later SNES games called Secret of Evermore!

It's kind-of a spiritual successor to Secret of Mana, but with a more sci-fi bent.

„Robinsons Requiem“, available on GoG.

It’s a survival horror first person rpg with a semi realistic health system. It’s creepy and hard and so goddamn good. I’m am actually surprised that it gets mentioned so rarely because I would not know of any other earlier game with those now so ubiquitous survival mechanics.

i have a very specific genre of games that i absolutely adore and i'd suggest anyone interested take a look at them asap. the genre is japanese ps2 horror games, with standout titles being silent hill, fatal frame, haunting ground, rule of rose, and siren

I still believe Warzone 2100 is one of the finest RTS games ever made. It is also now free and open source.

https://wz2100.net/

Hybrid Heaven on N64. Great game with a super interesting battle mechanic. I've never played anything else quite like it. Maybe The Surge would be the closest system, wherein you can target specific body parts for interesting effects. But you can't suplex an alligator in The Surge.

shipped a local multiplayer naval game I played this game with my sister and cousin, super fun

Loom

A very unique game for the time, fun adventure with a great story and game play mechanics.

Ultima Underworld 1 and 2. These are ancient RPG games going right back to the dawn of PC gaming. The first one was the first PC game with a true 3D world where you could look up and down and there were two slopes rather than just steps. The control scheme takes a little getting used to as it was before WSAD+mouse look had become established. Spells are made by combining runes which you find about the place. It also has things like repairable weapons and armour, the need to sleep and eat as well as the normal RPG stats and levels.

Blade of Darkness. If you want to see the true origin of the soulslike genre, this is it. Be warned that the controls are extremely janky, though.

EarthBound for the SNES is one of my favorite RPGs. Very original for its time in terms of setting and battle mechanics. Also, Ness from Smash Bros. is in it!

Quest for Glory 1 (called Hero's Quest at release) shaped my humor and gave me a lifetime love of fantasy in general, my username is the name of one of the minor characters. I recently spent a couple hundred dollars on a painting because it reminded me of Erana's Peace, a location in the game. Its sequels are great too.

BladeRunner rpg by Westwood studios is fantastic

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.

• It's a first person shooter from a venerable studio in the genre, Raven Software.
• Put out during their "golden age", before Wolfenstein and Singularity flopped and uncle Bobby sent them to work in the Call of Duty mines.
• Really cool selection of sci-fi guns, some of them pretty unique.
• Campaign is essentially a prototype for Quake 4. It was built by the same internal team at Raven.
• It has a more interesting story than Quake 4.
• It's an early example of a game that lets you choose your sex. NPC dialog changes to reflect this.
• The whole cast of Star Trek: Voyager lends their voice talent to the game, including Jeri Ryan.

It also has a sequel, made by another studio. Elite Force II isn't quite as good, but it is still worth playing if you like the original. It loses the female protagonist option, likely because it was 2003 and the story had a love triangle. It's a visual powerhouse though, really pushing the limits of the Quake III engine far beyond what many people likely thought possible.

My answer to that question is always "King of Dragon Pass", a narrative/management game that is unlike anything else out there. It got a spiritual successor with "Six Ages".