I have a little bit of money left in my gaming budget for the end of the year and I thought I would do a little contest to have a giveaway. I have been an avid gamer for some time and not much surprises me anymore. So I am looking for something wholly new for me. So I will gift a 5.99 GOG to anyone who provides me the tile of a game that meets the following criteria:

1. I must have never heard of it before.
2. It must be available to buy and digital download from a reputable site.
3. You must convince me that it would be fun to play.

I have a pretty broad taste in games so I am up for trying just about anything. Throw a title at me an see if you win!

Thanks!

Game:
Theme Hospital

Available:
GOG

Why:
Build a hospital, employee undereducated staff, cure illnessess such as bloated head, and many strange things only Bullfrog could put in a game.

This thread looks like fun.

Ever heard of Dominions 3> the awakining? Mentioning it in light of your TBS thread. It's an old indie, if I understood that correctly, selling for an absurdly high price. Graphics are crappy and it has a very steep learning curve. Plus, it has no trace of a campaign, making it eminently multiplayer.

However, if you get past all that, it's just amazing. Tons of units, factions and magic rituals to help your pretender ascend to godhood. And by pretender I mean from Devas, dragons or vampire lords to a fountain. You need to take care of both the military part and your dominion, or areas where your pretender is considered god and can shape the earth to their liking. The underlying ruleset takes care of the smallest details, when you look into it, but it's easy to overlook.

I recommend trying to play with the Chtulu faction at least once, your commanders go insane and you get free cultists every turn.

youve probably already beaten it a few times but who knows:

The Cat Lady

http://www.thecatlady.co.uk/

vote for The Cat Lady here on GOG

adventure game with vengeance and dialogue with the dead, has voice acting as well,
suspenseful psychological horror. like the prior game contains much gore which is consistent with the horror genre.
follows the story line from (if i understand correctly, perhaps loosely following):

Downfall
available from
http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/

wadjet's site isnt working for me ATM :(

thanks for the giveaway!
+1

Ah Dominions 3. That game is quite high on my "wishlist", and now that it has been released on Desura, and dropped considerably in price, I suspect that I'll be picking it up at some point in a not too distant future.



Anyway, I would like to recommend Achron. It is an RTS with an element of time travel. You are able to go back in time and change the past, and even send units back in time, and any changes that you make will impact the future.
The thing you see at the bottom of the screen in some screenshots shows when things happen in time. So when you see that things suddenly change down there, you know that someone is doing something to change the past, and you'll have to respond. It can result in interesting scenarios where for an example you start a fight that go very poorly, then you jump back in time to change things, but your opponent realizes what you are doing and then jumps just a little bit further back in time, and moves his units into place to do something about the change that you are about to do in 2 min, but then you see your opponenets bombers, and jump even further back in time, in order to take them out. Now that the bombers are no longer there, the future is suddenly a lot safer, so you can go ahead with your attack....
And yes, it is entirely possible to create paradoxes, something that the developers anticipated, and the game has ways to deal with them.
It is confusing, and form time to time it works poorly, but when it works, it is a blast. And it is also a very novel game in general.

How about Kerbal Space Program?
It is (like Minecraft was) in development still but still completely playable and has a demo.
Create a space ship, launch it into orbit... watch the excitement (or terror) in the little guys' faces!
Lots of customisabilty, exploration and also mod-able if you enjoy such.

I find it surprisingly addictive...

English Country Tune (Available on Steam currently 75% off for $1.24).

http://www.englishcountrytune.com/

It's kind of like 3-D Sokoban with some interesting twists. One of the stages has levels with larva that you need to push to the correct position, but the trick is that their gravity is orientated in the direction that you push them, so if you push them off and edge while you're on a wall, it will fall sideways. Fortunately, it keeps track of where you've moved, so you can undo all the way back to where you started if you want. Another stage has levels with whales that have the same gravity orientation going on, but it's a cube that has six beams of light coming out in each direction and you have to maneuver the whale indirectly by pushing the beams of light. The goal in this one is to push all of them off the map rather than to a certain position. Each stage has a new rule for the levels it contains. Can't go wrong with for the price if you like those sorts of puzzles.

Disclaimer:
The name of the game has nothing to do with the game, the developer just liked it.

Why can't I ever read that name the correct way? Every time I see it I read it as "English Country Tuna", which makes no sense.

It makes no less sense than picking English Country Tune for the name of the game. Or calling the things you push around larva or whales. /shrug

How about J.U.L.I.A.?

Trailer

It's a sci-fi adventure game focused on planetary exploration and puzzle solving. From a review at AdventureGamers.com:

"Plenty of varied puzzles will appeal to players looking for a challenge, and the story of humanity’s dealings with others and itself will draw you into its sci-fi mystery, while the decisions you’re forced to make will resonate long after you’ve left the game behind. There are really no games out there quite like J.U.L.I.A., and anyone interested in something a little different will be rewarded with a fun experience that’s well worth the time and effort."

Available at The Adventure Shop and Amazon digital download.

Good luck finding a new game and +1 as well. :)

Mr. Robot
A cute little party-based RPG featuring robots! The game is split up into two main types of gameplay - isometric puzzle-platforming and turn-based RPG battles, which take place virtually within computer systems.

The only real gripe I have about the game is that it feels like it ends rather abruptly; aside from that, the game felt very fresh and I really enjoyed my time with it. Also, it is available from Steam for one easy payment of $2.50.

I gave the demo a try a while back and I think I made the mistake of playing when I was tired because it made my brain hurt. Fortunately, I picked up a copy from the IndieFort Bundle, so giving the full game to try in on my to-do list. The AI is pretty bad, but that's to be expected with such open ended game mechanics. It's all about the multiplayer anyway, so it's nice that it gives you an extra copy for a friend when you buy it.

Mine it's a freeware, but it is a very interesting game. Well, describe it is really hard, it's like a survival horror mixed with To The Moon, tu fully complete it you will NEED a guide because find some thing is really hard. Plus, there are TONS of secret things to discover.
The game is Yume Nikki and you can download it from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?98jpx2dm3f2te0h

Wiki link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yume_Nikki

WARNING: There is A LOT of symbolism in this game, is really creepy and disturbing.

I've got just the thing. Transarctica. You basically manage an enormous armoured train in post-apocalyptic ice age Eurasia. You travel from town to town, trading supplies, buying upgrades and military assets (weapons, wagons of infantry, mammoth cavalry. The usual), fighting any other train you meet to the death and working your way through the story.

If that's not original, I don't know what is.

Insecticide

Just a short gaming but packs lot of fun. It's pretty casual and not require lots of thinking with it's shooting and puzzle mechanics. But i guess high chance you already heard and play this game because it isn't really that obscure.