There is no shortage of hard-hitting, big-budget games coming over the next year, but for every Armored Core VI and Alan Wake II, there’s also a smaller-scale game you might have missed hearing about. While these games might lack the sheer marketing power bigger studios can afford, they can be every bit as ambitious, inventive, artistic, and heartfelt. And, more often than not, these games are also the ones that aren’t afraid to be experimental, and can influence future games and genres.
During my time at Summer Game Fest 2023, I got the chance to sit down with quite a few games existing outside the AAA sphere. I walked away from each and every one of them impressed and eager not only to tell the world about them, but to add them to my own Steam wishlist as well. From the first-person puzzle game Viewfinder, to the tactical turn-based volleyball game Beastieball, here’s a list of the best hidden gems I played at Summer Game Fest 2023.
Viewfinder
Viewfinder is a game that, as I can imagine Portal did all those years ago, feels too clever and ambitious to ever work. Yet, as I sat down and played through its first 10 minutes, I was blown away by just how smooth its gameplay was. The premise is simple enough: You are tasked with solving puzzles by lifting up photographs and embedding them into a level. As you stamp the photograph down, you are then able to walk through it, with this new area taking you either to a new image you can use, or granting you access to a previously blocked off area. If you make a mistake, you can rewind to the point where things went wrong, allowing players to experiment with solutions without the game feeling too stressful.
