There are few things in gaming that I love more than stumbling upon an honest-to-god hidden gem. Vessels is a 2020 sci-fi horror narrative game where you play as the alien entity disguising itself as a crew member aboard a space vessel. Think The Thing, but less body horror. The game plays with the time loop by learning a little bit more about the ship, the crew, and their situation as time goes on and you're jettisoned out of the airlock. You start not even knowing your crewmates' names, but that all gets picked up in between deaths.

The core loop of the game is dialog and exploiting your crewmates' anxieties and shortcomings to get what you want, to get closer to releasing you from the quarantine airlock. You still maintain some sense of your former consciousness, but it's in parallel to this cosmic entity that feels akin to a fledgling god.

It's really fascinating stuff and I was gripped from start to finish. I think anyone with an interest in experimental game narratives and/or space horror would really enjoy their time here. Bear in mind – it's absolutely not a horror game, rather a dialog-driven adventure game with horror trappings and themings.

The best part is, the game's just $0.99 so it's one of the easiest recommendations I can make.