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Avant-Garden: Cool Unique Games

a collection by SirTapTap · last updated 2023-11-10 02:51:35

What's This?

A collection of cool, off-beat, unique, or otherwise exemplary games. Formerly "Cool Weird Games", but lots of people think of "weird" as a negative (but IMO, more games should strive to be weird).

Not necessarily "alt games" but just cool, unique stuff you never thought you'd see. Many are free, all are worth your time.

Some are more experimental than others, I'll try and note whenever a game should be treated as such (very short, no ending, no goal, etc).

Who're you?

I'm Sir TapTap, and my mission is to spread a love of games, particularly the hidden gems and underrated magic. 

I've played through almost all of these games on my YouTube channel to give a visual quick look into new experiences. You can check out a playlist of Alt/Art games there.



BlueSuburbia is an exploration of interactive poetry and literature.
Interactive Fiction
Simulation

A fun, endless little romp in an imaginary Doom level where you've killed everything but don't know where to go

a 90s art program extravaganza

2D Art not a game but neat and what a premise! 

It's not a game. It's a toy!
Adventure

Classic Flash game, and it no longer requires Flash! A must try digital toy.


Explore several areas and talk to giants. Find some food and snooze.

A delightful Hamster adventure in a Yume-Nikki-esque dream world.


Check-in to the hotel of your dreams, today!

Explore strange and mysterious hotels. Has an ending


Enjoy a surreal vacation in a magical dimension!
Adventure

A surreal walking sim with many different worlds to explore. No ending, just wander all you like. 


Take photos of cute birds doing cute things, and make people happy on the internet!
Adventure

Cute bird photography. 

3D fractals exploration game
Adventure

Explore an entire fractal universe


A RPGMaker Story about a Snowglobe and an Hourglass.
Visual Novel

Short ~20-30 minute adventure inside a snowglobe with great pixel art and a little story to think about. Ending is a bit sudden so talk to everyone you can!


At the local pizzeria, nothing is what it seems.
Adventure

Solve weird problems in an even weirder town. Pizza physics.


A Camping Story starring: Uncle Brad, Aunt Cloanne, Mord (and Ben)
Adventure
I have created a goose that lives on your desktop. He is an asshole.

A delightful hellraiser that I highly recommend for streamers.
Here's a fun rather NSFW stream we did with Desktop Goose active: 


You find a stray cat. It's magical.
Visual Novel

Adorable, very short little visual novel. Beans.


be a hungry fish 🐟
Adventure

A Eat Small Things Get Big game, wish Sokpop's delightful visual style applied.


you find a dusty vhs tape, with footage of an old video game
Shooter
A short adventure in a hand drawn world full of strange friends
Adventure
a very cute game with a very spooky beginning
Adventure
A choose your "no" adventure
Interactive Fiction

Hilarious little branching narrative where you can only say NO


Bizzarioware is an ongoing collection of psychedelic, strange and surreal microgames played for 15 seconds or less.
Simulation

Warioware but really weird, as you might expect. I played a very early version


Find 13 and a half lost cats in the village.
Adventure

Very short but emotional cat tale 

Yume Nikki Fangame

A faithful and impressively full featured Yume Nikki fan game with several events and effects that actually do things!

Start video at 2:51:28

A Yume Nikki fangame that began on Dream Diary Jam 2.

A Yumi Nikki fan game with some cool styles though it's only partially compelte

Video starts at 3:00


A Rushed Yume Nikki Fan-Game
Adventure

A col Yume Nikki fan game. Play the original first.

My playthrough:

Something spooky is going on in your new apartment, thankfully you've got the internet to help.
Simulation

Use Yahoo answers to diagnose a ghost, why not. Short

Don't let them know you're a coat of rats!

Surprisingly fun exploration of social anxiety


An existential desktop friend that knows they are doomed if you run them.

A desktop buddy that knows it's going to die. Will you really put it down?

a foggy action-adventure game
Adventure

A cute little Soulslike by sokpop


Toyish surprise-o-rama

Puzzle/toy of delightful colors



What are you afraid of?
Puzzle

Short surreal ouzzle with some great M.C. Escher-esque style

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