3 Hidden Gems That Are Worth Discovering
Through the addition of the PlayStation Plus Catalogue years ago and deals on the store, I wanted to discuss a few brilliant games I picked up that I think deserve the limelight.
Now when I say hidden gems, I mean it as games I’d never heard of before actually playing them. So take my title with a grain of salt, in my eyes, these are just games I feel deserve more love.
Killer Frequency – The Heroic (or Useless) DJ
Killer Frequency caught my eye when I read it was a game in which you’re the new radio host in town, and on your first night of the job, you have to help the local residents escape from a notorious killer and avoid a gruesome demise.
The game takes place in 1987, and you can see how heavily it is based on the 1980s with the colours, music, and all kinds of aesthetics. It also includes references to many popular horror franchises like Scream and Friday the 13th.
I’m a big fan of murder-mystery type games, and while this game isn’t necessarily a murder-mystery, it still has the intrigue of “Who is the killer?” The story is great, it has its charm, has plenty of horror-comedy, mystery, and genuinely has you feeling quite spooked out in certain parts.
There are a wide variety of characters you have to try and save (and good luck trying to save them all). They all have their own personalities that shine through really well, given that you never actually see them and only communicate via their phone-ins to the radio station.
As nerve-wracking as it was, I really enjoyed solving the puzzles to help each resident escape the current situation they are in. One of my favourites was helping a naive young boy who was tricked into thinking he was meeting a girl in the middle of the town’s hedge maze. Using a map for the hedge maze, you help guide the poor boy to safety, and the interactions are funny… frightening, but funny.
Not forgetting you’re a DJ, you get to choose from multiple vinyls to play to your listeners and the people trying not to die. I love this feature, as minor as it is, it’s cool you get to interact with the set up, you can adjust the volume, press buttons to make silly noises and you actually have to answer the phone calls (which the game never rushes you to do, so enjoy the music as long as you’d like)… in-between calls you can even play paper basketball and walk around the building.
Team17 did a really good job at keeping the comedy side alive along with the horror elements, because I’m not kidding, it genuinely is scary in some parts. I had moments where I didn’t want to move because the atmosphere was so tense. The characters were both funny and interesting, and the scenarios in which you help the residents do feel like classic “killer” locations, a truly fun time.
Play Killer Frequency now: Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch
Haven – The Source of Love
I first read about Haven a couple of years ago, an RPG about a couple deeply in love who escaped to an uninhabited planet called Source. One thing that I really liked was the option to choose whether you wanted the couple to be a straight/gay/lesbian couple, and as a gay man myself, I’m easily sucked into a romance story involving gay people, and with the addition of RPG elements? Sign me up.
You can play as either character, Yu and Kay, or play co-op multiplayer. They have their own personalised spaceship called the Nest, which you have to gather resources and materials for from the planet they’ve escaped to.
I was quickly drawn into their romance, because at the start, everything may seem fine, the couple give newlywed vibes given how close and intimate they are with each other, but as the story develops, the game shows the hardships of a relationship and how it’s never easy, especially when you learn about both Yu and Kay’s background and what brought them to this lost planet.
I think my personal favourite thing about this game is the intimate parts, witnessing their communication within the Nest feels so raw and it feels like a genuine relationship because of the different way they lounge around the ship, it imitates real life very well, the parts where couples don’t always sit next to each other and do their own thing, but also has the parts where you have your legs across their lap and eat meals together, this is definitely the strongest part of the game, in my opinion.
The planet itself is quite beautiful, both characters have anti-gravity boots, and the seamless feeling of gliding around the different parts of the planet feels very natural, and honestly, very fun.
There are hostile creatures that roam the planet, not too many, as I believe this game focuses much more on the story and its characters rather than the combat, but when you do fight, you get to utilise both characters’ skills to defeat your enemies.
The Nest is essentially your hub and the perfect atmosphere for relaxing with your partner to create new items, cook food, rest, etc.
I was more invested in Haven for its romance story. I personally found it quite appealing seeing the mixed emotions between the couple due to its realness, and I really liked the story, finding out what happened in the past and where it all leads up to, with all the stress and tension I experienced in between, made it a solid game.
Play Haven now: Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch
Potion Permit – The Alchemical Master
Potion Permit follows a similar formula we’ve all seen in the likes of Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, etc. It has a small twist in which, instead of farming, you’re an Alchemist who comes to the rural town of Moonbury to collect ingredients and craft potions to keep the town residents in good health.
The town is home to various NPCs, most of whom aren’t too keen on the arrival of the Alchemist due to their traditional methods and not believing they need help. This was an easy buy for me. I go through phases of playing the classic farming-simulation type games, and the idea of crafting potions by doing little concoction puzzles and collecting ingredients from the local areas sounded very fun, and it did not disappoint.
You have handy tools to take out into the world to collect various materials to create new medicine using your cauldron and help cure the townspeople who are ill in your clinic.
Maybe I’m easy to please, but I love going around collecting stuff, beating up beasts for their materials, and earning money to upgrade my kit by healing the NPCs, and this game lets you do just that.
A cool element was being able to create potions to provide yourself with buffs for when you go out to harvest resources or fight animals, and how can any game be bad when you have your very own companion, a dog, which can help you locate certain residents and even sniff out hidden items… I adored the fact that your dog followed you around; a dog companion always makes me feel safe.
Some other little touches I enjoyed were being able to create your own furniture for your home and building upon it the further you play, and being able to improve your relationship with the NPCs, some of which can be romanced.
Potion Permit is very much for the chill gamers, or for the gamers who want to slow it down and play a more relaxing game. I appreciated the fact that it never made me feel rushed, to enjoy the atmosphere of the town and its residents while maintaining the slightly challenging element of the main grab of the game, which is the potion crafting.
Play Potion Permit now: Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch
I love the idea of shining some light on games I feel I’ve not heard talked about enough, so I will definitely do more of these in the future.