In face of the other recommendations thread, I thought I’d start one myself. In short, I’m a fan of the utsuge, the ‘depressing game’ genre. I’m not really after nakige, although if you’re not sure whether a title falls on utsuge or nakige, throw it in anyway. I basically want games to depress the hell out of me, because for some reason that’s a feeling I can’t get enough of.
Fire away.
(yes, I know about eien to natto rusuban, 12tenani, yukiuta and kiminozo)
Summer days 1.0…
The games so buggy you’ll be easily depressed 
Seriously though, off the top of my head theres…
Kana - Little Sister
Kana Okaeri! ( Remake of Kana - Little Sister )
Although I think it was intended to be a nakige, I found Rough Sketch - She sings at the end of the world a bit depressing as well. How should I put it without spoiling anything… I guess the ‘true’ ending wasn’t quite what I was hoping it would be (your milage may vary though :P). If I get the chance tomorrow I’ll write up a review for it, as it’s quite a unique eroge that doesn’t seem to be very well known at all.
A while ago, Narg reviewed Rusk’s Aster which seems to fit into the utsuge category quite nicely.
I’m interested in utsuge recommendations as well, but I wouldn’t touch the first game you mentioned with a 200 foot pole :P. Tenshi no Inai and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien were already down for my next order though :).
Aster was already down on my list as a ‘this looks interesting’. I had no idea it was an utsuge.
Now, I’m not going to read Narg’s review at all, but the mere fact that he reviewed it and liked it is enough to elevate this to a ‘must get’. Thanks!
And I’ll have to grab Rough Sketch… better do it now before I forget >_>
Oh yeah, and I’ve already read Kana Imouto (and skimmed through Okaeri), and oddly enough I never really thought of it as an utsuge, although you’re definitely right - enough of the endings are dark enough to suit any utsuge, and the story itself is pretty dark.
Definitely not catering to my kinks, but let me know your opinion if you happen to try this one 
:
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ001013.html
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=129681
http://erogamescape.dyndns.org/~ap2/ero … ?game=4672
Ah, i remember this one! I played a long time ago. I liked very much! 
If i remember well, the story is about the protagonist when was a kid saw his kind and lovely older sister to be sold to a brothel by their parents. He never forgave them so he ran away from home. Many years later he became a sad and melancholic artist, making nude paintings. He worked mainly for a brothel, whose landlady liked to humiliate him and treat him like her thing, calling him “inu” (dog) and everything else. One day, she got a new “daughter” to work on her brothel. The landlady order him to make a painting from her before she starts to “working for her”. He do as he is told, but he starts to fall for that cute, pure and innocent girl.
It’s a sad love story with some twists.
Another i think would be cool is the other game of that company, DARK. The protagonist is a dark elf with a very sad past, too. He was the sex slave of some old geezers, when a kid.
Unfortunately, i don’t know many “crying games”, except for Kana, Air and Kanon. :lol:
Well, I know plenty of crying games, and that’s not what I’m after anyway. Utsuges go a bit further than crying games - they don’t really make you feel like crying, they make you feel dead inside. I’ve no idea why, but I love the feeling I get from playing depressing games.
Sorry about the thread hijack, but I’m looking for some recommendations as well. I’m interested in good eroges that are available for download purchase (preferably via dlsite), are somewhat unusual, and are not particularly well known. Unless they have something exceptional to offer, I’m not really interested in sex-romps, but aside from that, I’m open to any genre.
Saya no Uta?
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ002966
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4113
I see that Lancer-x is playing Marionette right now (and likes Aoi … ), me too recommend that game (and Ouka, from the same producer).
And speaking of my old favorites, do not forget this:
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ003389.html
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4133
and these:
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ002602.html
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ002536.html
http://pro.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/VJ002792.html
Ah, thank you :D. Marionette sounds just like the sort of eroge I was looking for - it should make a perfect contrast to CLANNAD at least :lol:. I’ll grab it from dlsite right away.
Well I might be a little late with this, but if you’re still on the lookout for some sort of utsuge, I have something here for you. It’s called “Tapestry -you will meet yourself-”. It’s a game about an average nice guy who is suffering from a terminal disease and finds his normal life spun upside down as he only has maybe half a year to live. He decides to keep his condition a secret from his friends, and try to live out his remaining days happily with them without showing this weakness. Little does he know, his friends have somehow found out about it and decide to make his last days better for him.
There’s the Getchu.
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=578625
I hear good things about it on EGS.
Come on, considering you’re replying to me, and it’s right there in my SIGNATURE…
That said, having just finished it, Tapestry is not an utsuge. It’s a nakige.
Whoaa sorry, I didn’t see it. Haha.
So its a nakige eh? DAMNIT You know I really hate sad stories. Especially ones with such a warm joyful start. When you got a game that starts depressing and ends depressing you’re kinda prepared for it. But this one even though it prepares you for the problem it still fucks you in the ass because of the positivity in the beginning. I got this game just by skimming EGS and buying it becuase of its rating. But then as I read deeper into it I realized I’m going to really suffer while playing this. And worst of all, I’m STILL going to play it, just because I am interested in the characters and story even though I KNOW that it’s going to be a tear jerker.
Why do I submit myself to this punishment!? You know it’s like finding a red button that says “Do not push or bad things happen” and then you push it anyway knowing something bad will happen but you want to know what happens and you push it.
Curiosity has killed the proverbial cat. Or rather, the phoenix at this point because I keep repeating the same mistake.
the nakige is the utsuge’s gentle cousin. if it was an utsuge it would be a lot sadder =P
I don’t know how much depressing THIS NAKIGE :shock: is, but gained top place in my ‘Things To Avoid’ list in no time 
.
Have been keeping a bit of an eye on that one, actually. I’ll think about it if it shows up for DL sales. Something to note is that I don’t find guro by itself depressing - most guro eroges go off the edge of comprehension to the point that you can’t really ‘feel’ the scenes. It takes a bit of work on the part of designing the characters and on the way they react in said scenes to get me to feel anything at all. So I’m not necessarily expecting this to depress me.
Hyperiyon are certainly one of the more diverse circles out there. I found their free game, Swampman ni Hanataba wo kind of interesting, but unfortunately, Catastrophe seems to be unavailable and their other works don’t interest me, as they look a bit too much like generic nukiges. I’m kind of curious about 3M though, but I’ll wait for it to show up on dlsite before I decide whether or not to get it.
You know, in these last years I’ve got a nagging doubt that Lancer-X and Ignosco are different avatars/accounts from the same guy , but it’s only my sorely deluded paranoidal imagination :o :? … Right ?
You’re just imagining things. =P