Games with unique gameplay

[Sin Agog]

I can see why a dev would want to try and be the one to finally nail the dungeon crawler or make the perfect platformer, but it's always nice to play a game that doesn't really feel like much else.  Been playing something called Snakeybus recently.  At first I thought it was going to be some flaky, floaty physics game about a train-bus thing which jumped like a car in Rocket League, and it kind of is that but it's since become one of my favourite games to play albums to.  It's like a cross between Crazy Taxi and Snake, where every time you drop some passengers off the bus gets slightly bigger, before you're eventually engulfing the whole map and desperately trying to jump over your own articulated tail and manoeuvre your way into some free space.  It's a little sloppy and indie, but it's strangely relaxing despite some runs ending up looking like the busiest Escher painting imaginable.

So yeah, other fairly sui generis games please.

[Kryton]

You said it yourself Sin, but Rocket league (I know it's a sequel) but yeah, nothing quite like it. Arcade-style football but with insane flips and jumps and tricks. So addictive. I know this is just combining cars and football, but if you're allowed to choose Snakeybus, then I'm allowed this.

[Sin Agog]

Of course I'm down for some genre mixes.  There are only so many numbers, chords, letters and orifices in the world; it's how you combine them that makes them interesting.  Also interested in games with singular presentation.

[Bazooka]

Bugsnax.

[Marner and Me]

LA Noir?

[Kelvin]

Inspired by the discussion in the Switch thread, but the original Luigi's Mansion still feels fairly unlike the vast majority of games; a single house, with most rooms containing a unique puzzle that you solve and some ghosts that you catch like fish. I suppose the first part of that is inspired by games like Resident Evil, but the fishing mechanic - while obviously inspired by Ghostbusters - isn't really something that's been used in many games as the key combat mechanic. Even later Luigi's Mansion games cut down that aspect, and put the focus more on creating openings, and using special attacks to weaken the ghosts, like traditional combat. In the original, it was really more like a traditional fishing game, with you earning more rewards for reeling them in faster.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

After finishing and adoring Obra Dinn, I was gutted when it began to dawn that there was nothing else quite like it to provide that sense of satisfaction.

[shagatha crustie]

I'm not much of a gamer so stop me if this is Absolute Guff but I played something called Illumine last year which felt really unique to me. I got it orf Steam for about 80p.

It's a kind of philosophy/reincarnation game. You play as a little character (like an actual character, like an @ or a Chinese letter or whatever) and you float through this ambient space knocking through walls and it randomly generates new areas as you go. You run into other characters and have to learn the unique way to communicate with them/get around them, and you die loads because you don't know what you're going to encounter but the more you die the more you learn and are able to progress, karma/wisdom innit. Music and sound are really important and based on your surroundings your footsteps end up kind of adding different beats to a constantly evolving mix. It's very cool.

Would recommend, but don't watch any videos beforehand, it's best just to dive in as it's really atmospheric and the eeriness/unpredictability is the best part.