Top 10 September 2014 Games You Should Not Miss

September saw a lot of great releases on GOGcom. We’ve trimmed down this top 10 to games that were highly rated, but you may not have heard of in light of other releases, or you may have dismissed already without thinking about it. Believe me, each one of these releases is worth your time and money.

Neverending Nightmares

The story of Neverending Nightmares goes beyond the story of the game, and is the most personal game on this list. You are Thomas, an asthmatic lost in a terrifying b&w horror house. In a game without clear set objectives and the line betweeen failstates and progression is unclear, you will be drawn into a world expressing the inexpressible about mental illness. A powerful game, but not one everyone will enjoy. Get it if you dare. Buy Here Now

MIND Path to Thalamus 

MIND is one of the most intriguing games this September, which is why it’s such a shame that most people don’t even know it exists. There is a story, involving a stormchaser. Stuck in a coma and grappling with the guilt over the deaths of his daughter and sister, he struggles to return to reality, but you can deal with all of this independently from the gameplay. What you actually do is manipulate giant knotted balls (presumably made of the stormchaser’s neurons) and control the elements and seasons to solve over 30 puzzles. At times surrealistic and beautiful, MIND is just the game for the Myst crowd looking for something fresh. Buy Here Now

Meridian New World 

Meridian New World is a personal project, but in somewhat different vein. As a showcase of programmer Ede Tarsolo’s talents, it is an impressive accomplishment and demonstration of  his skills, but it’s also a good game on its own merits. Meridian New World is an old school RTS in the vein of Command and Conquer, ticking all the right boxes when it comes to presentation, game design, and mechanics. Much like C&C, its focus on story makes it a worthwhile single player game. While it lacks competitive multiplayer, fans can still share custom content with each other thanks to an extensive level editor. Buy Here Now

Raiden 3 Digital Edition

The truth is, this rerelease was a long time coming. MOSS’ ode to Seibu Kahatsu’s scrolling shooter series originally saw release in arcades and PlayStation 2 in 2005, and has invariable been rereleased to Japanese phones, as well as PSN. Today, however, you can get this shooter classic DRM-free. Raiden 3 retains Double Play mode, but actual two player has a great bonus; line up the ships together to activate a special laser beam attack. Buy Here Now

Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition

As of now, this is the definitive version of Guacamelee, so if you did not get it yet, now is the right time to do so. A Metroidvania styled platformer with themes borrowed from Mexican folklore, and and endearing cartoony theme, Guacamelee is one of the best indie platformers in recent memory, even giving the esteemed Shovel Knight a run for its money. CE comes with gameplay tweaks, as well as bundling all previous DLC and adding new levels and bosses. Buy Here Now

Vangers

Vangers is another rerelease of a little known game that’s definitely worth your time. Beneath the framework of a top-down racer is a deep action RPG, in the same vein as Mad Max for the NES. K-D Lab remasters their classic, with a true open sandbox world, nonlinear gameplay, 1o worlds to explore, and hardcore difficulty. Buy Here Now

Magicmaker

If you can get past the simple presentation, a deep dungeon crawling platformer with stellar magic mechanics awaits you here. Your little wizard can create as much as 2 million spells, thanks to an incredible crafting system. Collect as much as 40 unique materials, each with their own magical effect. The real magic comes when you use these materials together to create your own spells. Your wizard is customizable too, with 2 million possibilities for your robes as well. Use your wizard powers as a magician security guard, and take the battle to procedurally generated levels. Buy Here Now

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae

This one may be a Johnny Come Lately, but it certainly is not a game to be ignored. It is not everyday when a Japanese indie game gets released to the West at all, much less an action game, and especially not  DRM-free. Originally released in Comiket 84, you play Mika, a shrine maiden with a holy sword, out to wreak vengeance on her classmate, who has killed their teacher using her dark sword. Much like a Suda51 or Kamiya game, the action on this one is frenetic, and the learning curve high. As these games come and go, Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae is not as polished as the best of them, and is a little on the short side, but GOGcom needed a game like this on its library, and today, you can get this one DRM-free. Buy Here Now

Spacecom

This 4X game eschews the tedium the genre is known for, in favor of fun and intense multiplayer. Its hyperminimalistic aesthetic may seem to be a limitation at first, but the flipside to this is that the core gameplay is relatively easy to pick up on and master. Spacecom still retains the punishing difficulty the genre is known for, but if you have been looking for the 4X game to draw your friends in, this is the game you are looking for. Buy Here Now

Hatoful Boyfriend

I know for sure this is a game many of you have heard of one way or another, but may have already decided you do not want. Otherwise, you already own this game.

So, let me sell this game to all the have nots. This d?jin soft otome visual novel has personality, humor, and critical acclaim. As the only human girl in a school for pigeons, you work your way towards the hearts of many a heartbreaking avian. Dating game fans know and recognize  this game as a fun diversion with a unique story. However, there is actually more to the game than this.

Spoilers in the next paragraph. Caveat emptor!

There is an alternate grimdark storyline in Hatoful Boyfriend, exploring the truth behind why the birds acquired humanlike intelligence, and with themes of deception, conspiracy, murder, and literally post apocalytic dystopia. If the girl fails to find a mate, she is murdered in her sophomore year, and it is up to her friend, Ryouta Kawara, to discover the reasons for her murder, exploring the roots of the avian-human war , and how Ryouta, and his diseased friend, are in the center of the fate of the world.

Devolver Digital’s rerelease of Hatoful Boyfriend uses Nazerine’s fan translation as base, and fixes potential bugs and errors, and adds content, to make this the definitive version of the game. Buy Here Now

 

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