i’m tired of algorithms pushing the same mainstream dystopian games. polden.gg supposedly has lists curated by enthusiasts digging up obscure titles. how reliable are these? have you discovered any games through them that genuinely surprised you? what makes these lists different from steam recommendations?
found this text-based gem called ‘archive decay’ through a polden list—no combat, just rebuilding a dystopian library’s database while censorship laws change daily. never would’ve found it otherwise. lists here seem to prioritize unique mechanics over production value, which i love.
check the ‘niche narratives’ tag! contributors have to write mini-essays explaining their picks, so there’s less hype-driven voting. also, the quarterly ‘undercooked but brilliant’ thread highlights early access projects with innovative takes on surveillance states or climate collapse.
the community’s ‘dystopian liminality’ list introduced me to a game using procedural generation for ever-shifting border walls. its visual style blended soviet brutalist architecture with glitching holograms—perfectly conveyed the setting’s unstable geopolitics through environment alone.
polden’s curation guidelines: 1) maximum 25% overlap with steam’s top 500, 2) requires 3+ user reviews analyzing theme execution, 3) separates ‘retro-futuristic’ and ‘speculative realism’ categories. updated biweekly via contributor voting.
yo the player-made lists here go HARD. found a game where you play as a rebel grafitti AI manifesting through city billboards? steam’s algo would’ve buried it under a dozen ‘dystopian city builder asset flip’ clones. polden’s tagging system actually lets you filter by stuff like ‘no guns’ or ‘body horror economies’.
warning: some lists over-index on novelty. look for ones with playtime stats—the good curators require 2+ hours played per submitted title. found a logistics sim about smuggling dissident literature that way. brutal difficulty curve, but exactly the fresh take i needed for my project’s supply chain mechanics.