Obscure Sci-Fi Games You May Not Have Heard Of (And That's a Shame)
Cyberpunk 2077, Mass Effect, Fallen Order – these are games that almost anyone knows at least by reputation. But even if you're not a fan of the genre, some of the more obscure SF productions may steal your heart (and a few evenings).
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Most players probably have heard of such games as Deus Ex, NieR: Automata, Outer Wilds or Cyberpunk 2077. But these aren't the only Sci-Fi games worth your time and money. Over the last several years, a host of projects have been released that were either almost completely unknown (such as Aspire: Ina's Tale), or only recognized by a small niche (Cloudpunk), or got quite popular, but then became forgotten. Some enchanted us with original graphics and sound design, others turn genre patterns upside down, and others still can confuse you with shocking plot twists and an unprecedented level of immersion.
And each of them is simply worth playing. Because even if you don't like the mechanics or the setting, these games will still have something interesting to offer, and you won't spend a fortune on them. Also, the vast majority of the games on this list are shorter stories for just a few evenings. Unless you end up falling in love with them.
Eliza
- Genre: visual novel
- Release year: 2019
- The best thing about it: playing with convention; a great story
Eliza is not exactly a game, but more of a visual novel. The main character is a young woman struggling with the trauma of a tragedy from a few years earlier. At the very beginning of the game, she gets a job in an innovative project – an alternative psychotherapeutic clinic. The fact that she was not educated in this field does not bother her at all; the heroine's task is only to be the voice of the title Eliza, reading the statements generated by a computer program based on the analysis of customer data.
The creators play with the visual novel convention in an extremely creative way. Juggling the possible and impossible answers makes it easier to identify with the main character. If a patient desperately begs for contact with a human, not a program, is it better to trust your guts or rely on an algorithm?
Released in 2019 by the tiny studio Zachtronics Industries, the game is also proof that even without a huge budget, you can create a really good science fiction game today. Although Eliza is a very low-key game that doesn't even have character animations, the pretty graphics, decent voice acting and an original scenario make you forget any shortcomings after just a couple minutes.
