Hidden Gems of Game Design Vol 53

Plenty of amazing games go unnoticed and are not widely played, 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 at SUPERJUMP to pick a game they think deserves a chance in the spotlight. Please share your favorite hidden gems in the comments.

Josh Bycer

Muffles' Life Sentence (2026)

My pick for this month is the very entertaining and strange Muffles' Life Sentence, an episodic RPG that was fully released throughout 2026.

You play as Muffles, a convict on an island that surgically changes people to match the crimes they commit; but there's a problem – Muffles doesn't have a face or memory of why they're in jail. When the strange prisoners stage a breakout, they decide to escape and try to figure out what is going on.

Each episode takes place on a different part of the island. There are no random encounters, and it's very easy to restore your health after any fight. Instead of having a party to aid them, Muffles does things a bit differently. After specific characters are killed, Muffles takes their face and can transform into them and use their abilities.

Combat is turn-based and card-based. Each character's cards have a theme, and the player can mix and match, provided the deck doesn't go over a point value threshold that grows over time. The combat system is fine; it won't be overly difficult for anyone who has played JRPGs or deck builders in their life.

What sells the game is the story and the great art style. It's easy to draw similarities to Undertale, as the story goes to some strange places. The enemy portraits are both wonderful and disturbing. Each area also has its own unique twist in exploration and puzzle solving to further break things up. For people wanting more, each chapter has at least one special or hidden boss fight to test the player.

As of writing this, the game is officially done, with the first chapter free to play and the remaining chapters sold individually. Each will take roughly 2 hours to finish. If you're in the mood to spend a weekend in a very strange and violent world, be sure to give it a try.

Terence A.

Shadowgun: DeadZone (2012)

Gears of War is having a moment, now that its latest entry is finally out on PC and Xbox Series X|S two decades after the original. In 2011, Czech developer Madfinger Games attempted to translate its tactical cover-based combat and gritty dieselpunk aesthetic to touch screens with Shadowgun. A year later, it released Shadowgun: DeadZone, a free-to-play multiplayer spinoff for phones and PC browsers with only cosmetic microtransactions.

From its Call of Duty-style progression to the tight, multi-level corridors of Quake and Unreal Tournament, DeadZone borrowed more than weighty cover mechanics from established shooters. Dive-rolling and doing a low-profile sprint before hugging a wall as a hulking soldier are familiar moves Gears of War veterans would have loved to execute on a touchscreen.

While its 12-player deathmatches made cover moot because foes attacked from all sides of the game’s industrial arenas, Zone Control rounds set up a distinct frontline for one side to defend with turrets and healing kits as another went on the offensive with grenades and rocket launchers. To get the best oversized guns, you had to climb a tree-like structure of weaker purchases of the same type, unlocked with resources earned in matches. You were never far from the next gunfight, especially once you started running into players who had memorized the maps’ spawn points. 

Its Unity3D visuals were stunning, with an unoriginal over-the-shoulder view as you fire bullets at opponents, seek cover behind chest-high walls, and peek around orners. PhoneArena’s review called it “console-grade,” and it sure didn’t feel like hyperbole in 2012; DeadZone even had manual graphics settings. It received updates till 2015 before winding down its servers in 2019, making it unplayable outside fan-made revival projects and archival material. As for the devs, they’re currently building Gray Zone Warfare on consoles and PC.

Priya Sridhar

Love is Like Sinking Into a Pinpoint Black Hole (2026) 

Love hurts. Does it hurt more when you relive the worst moment of a relationship over and over again? Mark, the player character, ponders this. He and his lifelong partner Amy have to decide which pain is worse: reliving it or risking a new unknown. 

Free to play on Itch.io, this game follows a couple, Mark and Amy, going through the loop of their relationship cracking beyond repair as they face a black hole. The two remember the loops, but they don’t know what different decisions to make or what to say. Mark gets frustrated, understandably, when no matter what decision he makes, Amy gets mad at him, and they won’t solve the black hole.

The time loops hit the heart and the head; each one reminds us why some have shied away from romance. Sometimes you have to realize when a relationship has foundered and needs to end, for both of your sakes. An ending still hurts, but it becomes necessary, or you're just going through the motions.