Hidden Gems of Game Design Volume 31

Plenty of amazing games go unnoticed and are not played widely for various reasons. Maybe it’s a diamond in the rough, or the marketing wasn’t there, or it could be a game ahead of its time. For this monthly series, I’ve asked my fellow writers on SUPERJUMP to pick a game they think is deserving of a chance in the spotlight. Let us know your favorite hidden gems in the comments.

Josh bycer

Ebenezer and the Invisible World (2023)

Since it’s the holiday season here, I have the perfect game for my entry this month. Ebenezer and the Invisible World is one of the strangest games I’ve played story-wise in some time, but has a good heart and interesting gameplay to go with it.

Following A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is now a master of swordplay, as agile as a ninja, and can summon spirits to perform a variety of tasks. When an evil ghost threatens to corrupt an industrialist and throw the city into chaos, it’s up to Ebenezer to save the day, and the holidays.

The entire plot of this game is essentially Jojo’s Bizarre Christmas Carol, as Ebenezer even gets the power to freeze time on command. The gameplay is pure metroidvania, as you’ll explore the city to find upgrades and new spirits to aid Ebenezer. You can equip multiple spirits to Ebenezer at a time and they function like the soul system of Bloodstained. If you keep using the same spirits enough, they’ll level up which will enhance their abilities. The different weapons also provide some strategy for combat, as the enemies do get more diverse as you get further in.

The game is more on the linear side, as the upgrades do limit where the player can go at the start with a bit of backtracking here and there. There are bonus quests, passive artifacts to find, and a variety of bosses and enemies. The difficulty can get a bit high despite being for the holidays, as later bosses do get some punishing attacks, but with enough Christmas cheer (and healing items), you should be able to overcome them.

Ebenezer doesn’t quite stand out in terms of gameplay – if you’ve played any metroidvania over the past 20 years, you’ve seen this all before. However, I did like the art style and the gameplay was solid all the way through. If you’re in the holiday mood and wanted to know how Jotaro would save Christmas, then this is a fun game to enjoy over the break.

Antony Terence

Fish Tycoon (2004)

Back in the heyday of tycoon games, developer Last Day at Work released Fish Tycoon, a casual sim that became one of the top-selling downloadable games of 2004. The number one objective in the game is profit outside the narrative goal of breeding seven magic fish. It’s a relaxing game that you can keep in the background as you go about your day. 

One key differentiator that sets Fish Tycoon apart is its reliance on your device’s clock. Even outside the game, your fish will have needs that can cause sickness or death if left unattended. Fortunately, there’s a pause function that kept my in-game fish from ending up like my pet goldfish after I took a long trip. Keeping an eye on your fish turns into a quest akin to the daily missions you’ll find in a gacha game. As your fish create more offspring, you’ll be able to sell them for a tidy profit on a store screen, letting you invest in research and supplies to raise rarer fish eggs.

To make progress on the main task of getting seven magic fish, you’ll need to crossbreed species of fish. Drag one grown fish over another and the result will share some characteristics with its parents, determining how valuable it is. Working towards the magic fish is easier now thanks to the internet. But back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon for players to use spreadsheets to keep track of breeding combos. There are over 400 species to find with varying levels of health and desirability, giving collectors plenty to do outside decorating their tanks with treasure chests.

Checking in from time to time had me invested in Fish Tycoon’s little surprises. From new kinds of food to fixing white specks on generations of fish with the ink dropper-like Ick treatment, I enjoyed my time with the game. It might not have had a lot of bite but its initial difficulty and real-world timer kept me on the magic fish hunt. The developer hands the game out for free on their website so you can try this childhood classic out before committing to its tasks.