Games with playability before visuals

Terraria maybe? And FTL.

I'm trying to think of one which isn't poor graphics simply because it's old.

Otherwise I'd go for the original X-Com games which are ugly and awesome.
 
System Shock 2. Looks awful now but the atmosphere and sounds make it a bit creepy still.

Someone is re-making the original one atm:

 
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Original Doom really wasnt terrible graphics in its day, they did a lot for running just off a basic cpu.

I'm going to say a similar title of that era, in fact I think its 16 color EGA graphics not even VGA so people are really going to reject it outright without playing for that reason but I dont say it lightly. I havent played a better version of that type since and thats bonkers but the game has a great feel to it imo, square vector wheels and all. It will work on a modern PC - StuntCarRacer
30 years old this year
 
"The Pit" Sword of the Stars: The Pit
"FTL" Faster then Light
"SPAZ1" Space Pirates and Zombies

All have playability before visuals
 
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Pottsey said:
"The Pit"
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As in Sword of the Stars: The Pit?

Speaking of which,
Sword Of The Stars 1,
Dungeon of the Endless
Don't Starve
Hitman Bloodmoney
Age of Empires 1+2
Star War Galactic Battlegrounds
Heroes of might and magic 3
Space Run
Theme Hospital
Theme Park + World
Red Alert
Overcooked
OpenTTD
Baldur's Gate/Icewind dale 1+2
 
loftie said:
As in Sword of the Stars: The Pit?
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Yes, for some reason its one of my all time fav games. Although it can be frustrating at times it does it in a good way. Not sure why I love it so much but it stands out in my memory more so then any triple A game.

I should give Sword of the Stars 1 another go that was great as well although nothing like the pit. Shame Sword of the Stars 2 was terrible.
 
Pottsey said:
Yes, for some reason its one of my all time fav games. Although it can be frustrating at times it does it in a good way. Not sure why I love it so much but it stands out in my memory more so then any triple A game.

I should give Sword of the Stars 1 another go that was great as well although nothing like the pit. Shame Sword of the Stars 2 was terrible.
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I loved SOTS 2 for what it could be, but it really ****** me off for what it was. You'd always run into an issue. Plus gorgeous. And lasers. Le sigh :(. I still play it occasionally. I wanted to like the Pit, but I suck too much at it :D
 
Mark of the Ninja
Beyond Good and Evil
Transistor + Bastion
The Silent Age (69p right now on Steam)
The Walking Dead (Season 1 and 2)
The Wolf Among Us
Life is Strange
Valkyria Chronicles
Rimworld
The Binding of Isaac
Papers, Please
Legend of Grimrock 1 and 2
Hotline Miami
Age of Empires II

There's so many I could name though, as I think "games with playability before visuals" could cover 99% of the good indie games in the last decade :)
 
String said:
I've tried DMC5 but it's very repetitive with very little challenge, although it does look and perform brilliantly.
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DMC5 is more about learning your combos and getting style ratings, each mission gets a rank on each difficulty and the first playthrough is only the beginning. Further difficulties are properly challenging if you want to S everything, especially with three characters that have different mechanics.

The combat system is pretty damn deep but if somoeone's not into that or doesn't have the time to learn all the satisfying tricks, then it's going to feel like you described. Can't blame you, haven't mastered it myself:p

Sekiro is more to my liking so I put time into that but I did finish DMC5 and started Son of Sparda mode. The replayability and complexity of combat is definitely there, especially with the unlocks from the previous run.
 
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tek81 said:
Pretty old but great gameplay - The original Deus Ex
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This was my first thought as well, Looked like ass even for the time next to other UE1 but still one of the best games of the past few decades.

I would also include Baldurs' Gate 2. 15 year old me picked up the collectors edition back in the day after looking at the screenshots "this looks like ass why do people rave about it" Well I brought it and lets say my GCSE revision suffered as result :D
 
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