Printed Mars

This is a very strange game that's intentionally terse and unhelpful, though so beautiful and charmingly written that it's worth sticking with -- especially since, if you really don't want to, you don't have to pay for the game. (Though you should donate some money, since a game this strange and interesting has been made by one person completely of his own volition.) As such, it's hard to chart this on a good/bad binary, since this is a quirky game that's kind of both at the same time. The challenge and vagueness about where you should be going, when, and why is going to be a huge deterrent for players less familiar with the genre, and even aficionados are likely to be turned off by the sheer amount of rope you're given: From the outset, when you wake up, you can pretty much go anywhere you want to. But knowing why and what to do is completely up to you. For example, you may go a few hours before you realize you were given the password for an important terminal early in the game. You may also acquire a lot of items such as mushrooms and keys without knowing where or how to use them.

Of course, you'll know what your tolerance for confusion is and should know there's plenty of it with this game. But the weird, warped, decaying VHS visuals are truly stunning. Plus, the terse few sentences characters say are jarringly charming and funny -- in contrast with the bleak, though pretty landscapes -- so it makes the experience of stumbling around much more palatable. You won't always be stumbling in Printed Mars, but you definitely will be spending a lot of your time in that mode.