Hey, today we're talking about one of our favorite types of games, single player experiences.
We just wanted a good excuse to talk about some weird games. So, here are 13 of the best single player games that maybe you've never played. We're not going full indie today, but talking about some gems that just kind of slipped under the radar for mainstream audiences. While you were maybe busy playing "Call of Duty" or "Grand Theft Auto", we were squeaking by having fun with these ones.
Starting off at number 6,
we have "Echo". A game that released in 2017. It was like a really creative spin on stealth. This was a third person sci-fi game that tried to get really, really creative on how moment to moment gameplay worked. Essentially, you're stuck in this sci-fi palace where things reboot.
So, every single thing you do, every action you take, to get through a sequence has consequences. This world will create copies of you that then you have to deal with on your next go around. So, if you're sneaking around a certain way, the game will essentially create clones and adapt to that.
If you try and run around and go crazy, like they will do the same thing, if you use violence, they will get violent. So it's really more of a puzzler than a third person action game. It's got you thinking about how to take down certain scenarios.
But why would it build copies of me? It choked me.The red spikes suggest that you won't survive another encounter like that. There's some good sneaking, there's some good shooting, and it just was really creative.
Some people argue that it totally didn't capitalize on those good ideas, but in this day and age, when people are saying they're sick of remakes and sick of remasters and they want new creative ideas, well this was one right in front of your face, and not enough people played it.
Next up at number 5, we have "Alpha Protocol".
This is kind of like one of the forgotten obsidian RPGs, but it was really ambitious. When it released in 2010, there were definitely some mixed opinions about it. It definitely didn't get the greatest reviews or anything, but you gotta respect it for its ideas, man. It was pretty crazy. You were like this secret agent named Michael Thornton and essentially what Obsidian did was try to apply their type of RPG style to a more typical action adventure,
spy thriller game.
And, you know, it was met with mixed results, but still, you gotta give them credit for it. There's not really any other games out there like this one. It was all about decision making. Like other obsidian games, the dialogue choices you'd make, the actions you'd make at certain points in the game, essentially would change up the story and just how things would go the more you played.
Like you were just a badass, third person shooter guy in a pretty standard third person shooter type game, But you had perks, you had stats, you had different armor with different stats, and the game was also just a little cheesy. It was very much of the time. I mean, the fact that it released in 2010, I actually would argue that it felt more like an early 2000s game, but there was some charm there.
This game was dubbed like the subtitle, "The Espionage RPG" for a reason, and there's really not any others like that, so we gotta give it credit.
Next, over at number 4 we have "Black Mesa".
Now everybody talks about "Half-Life" and how incredible those games are, but not enough people talk about the remake of the original game. The Valve approved remake, even though Valve themselves didn't do it, a more independent studio did it. They took a long time with it and by taking their sweet time, they were able to really handle this thing with white gloves and with the love it needed, and they made a really- ... near perfect remake of the Original "Half-Life", which still is an incredible game to this day, but with a nicer coat of paint and some updates, it really takes things to the next level.
This is a year's long endeavor and it was entirely worth it. This really preserves the original "Half-Life" for modern audiences and if you've never experienced it, you should, man.
Next, over at number 3,
"This War of Mine" is an intense one. Essentially, you are tasked with managing survivors in the aftermath of war, and you're making the hard decisions about who to feed, who to save, how to manage resources, and it is bleak and depressing. If you like other games requiring hard decisions, like maybe, "Frost Punk", "This War of Mine" is like a really compelling look at how devastating war can be, not just the big explosions and the gunshots, and the buildings falling down and all that, but the people who are left in its wake.
So, if you're looking for something a little bit alternative, but also something that's pretty heavy, check this out.
Now down to number 2, "Deadpool".
There was a Deadpool game not that long ago, right before the Ryan Reynolds movies came out, and this game perfectly captured what and who Deadpool really is. It is a fun, crazy third person shooter, that puts you in a variety of different scenarios.
As Wade, you're using swords, you're using guns, and it's really over the top and cartoony and gory in all the right ways. Deadpool obviously is really hard to kill, so, there's plenty of satisfying gore, but also tons of great cameos from classic Marvel characters. Specifically X-Men characters like Wolverine. But you're getting way more of the comic spin here, not really like the movie type stuff, and as a comic book fan, that's pretty refreshing. What's also refreshing is that Nolan North just does a really good Deadpool here.
He kills it. This one just kind of came and went when it released and it was like nobody cared. I guess nobody cared about Deadpool yet, because the movies hadn't been out. I don't know, but check this out.
Now down to number 1, we have "Call of Juarez Gun Slinger".
Now, this is a really interesting game because before this, the "Call of Juarez" games were nothing crazy, nothing really to write home about, but somehow out of all the "Call of Juarez", western themed games, Gunslinger really blew things out of water.
This is just an incredibly fun, satisfying, action packed, almost arcadey style, first person shooter. It's fun, it's got great atmosphere, great visuals, great action, and most importantly, it seems like it actually cares about the Wild West genre. There's some good stuff here, but the most important thing, man, is that this game is just straight up fun.
The fun factor is off the charts. If you like shooting cowboy bad guys, this is the game for you and it still doesn't get enough love to this day.
I knew I needed to find a horse. Though I never did have a great fondness for those four-legged grass eaters. But those are 13 single player games that we think you should play.
Not enough people did. Of course, there are plenty of other games to talk about. We've talked about some in the past, we'll talk about more soon, so let us know yours down in the comments.