Tip of my Joystick - Find games by describing it.

A coworker showed me a trailer some years back. It was first person view, maybe horror, sci-fi setting like a ship/space station with flesh the colour and texture of an eye socket growing over everything. There were other elements modeled after body parts, like bones, teeth, intestines, etc.

I saw a video on YouTube a while back talking about obscure games (I've been searching for this particular video but I can't find it anywhere) and one of the games featured was a surreal, almost nightmarish looking game. It was a first person game where you were moving down a long road that had eyeballs on the sides watching you as you passed by. The sky was blood red and in the distance was completely black. If I remember correctly it looked like a retro game with 2.5d graphics.

I don't know if it was fever dream but I swear I've seen this game before.

I've played a demo of this game or a Shareware version, I never had the full game. It was on one of those 1000 shareware games CDs. It's a top down racing game with a gritty sort of vibe, a bit dark. As you raced there were pickups and bonus items and I'm pretty sure you could fire weapons at other racers. It was a single player game. It was top down in that semi 3D kind of way, but I think the cars were meant as full sized cars, not a micro machines kind of thing.

The one unique feature that never let me pinpoint exactly what game it was, was this very specific sound effect when getting a certain pick up. A voice would say "Booster", but it was pronounced more like "Boostah".

There were jumps on the game and one way to kill other racers was to jump on top of them. I think the track had multiple routes you could take.

I think because of the shareware version I had I only had one track, which was kinda dark, like maybe a cave. And the surroundings were rocks. I think there were also thinks like oil barrels with fire in them and pretty lighting effects for the time.

Very similar to Death Rally, but maybe a game inspired by Death Rally? Because that game was earlier I think and doesn't have the distinct "Boostah" audio clip.

Platform: PlayStation 1
Genre: Arcade shooter?
Estimated years of release: 1997-1999
Graphics/art style: I think it was 3D, third-person? Not sure as I don't recall seeing many screenshots/images from the game.
Notable characters: n/a
Notable gameplay mechanics: something to do with a timebomb/time pressure to get through levels/stages.

Other details: I don't remember all the details, as I found it when looking through a video game shop site's lists, but I remember it wasn't Descent Maximum as I had that at the time.

It seemed almost like the idea was similar to the escape sequences from that but a whole game built around that time pressure.

Solved: Blacklight: Retribution

Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Computer?

Genre: Singleplayer/Multiplayer shooter, Sci-Fi

Estimated year of release: 2013

Graphics/art style: 3D

Notable characters: Halo-like players (in orange and blue teams), zombies

Notable gameplay mechanics: PvP, PvE

Other details:

The most I can remember is there being a PvP mode, where orange and blue team were fighting each other. The other one is PvE mode, where people fought against zombies. I also remember that the armors the players wore seemed kind of like Halo's armor and there being some sort of player-driveable robot in the game.

It's a game I used to play on PC in the mid to late '90's.

Basically you establish mining outposts on planets and go around collecting, buying and selling the minerals.

Platform(s): PC

Genre: Space/Trading Sim

Estimated year of release: 1995-1999

Graphics/art style: Mostly from the inside of a spaceship cockpit (I think)

Notable characters: N/A

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Other details:

Spaceship Multiplayer (COOP/MMO) similar to Elite Dangerous or Everspace

Platform(s): PC

Genre: Spaceship Online Multiplayer (coop, maybe MMO)

Estimated year of release: ~2005

Graphics/art style: No special artstyle, just latest graphics at the time, like Everspace or Elite Dangerous now

Notable characters: -

Notable gameplay mechanics: I think the idea was to do missions or gather resources (in coop) to then level up your ship. The ship would upgrade in terms of specs and looks according to some pre-defined design/levels (not customizable). You could choose one of two or three starter ships and you could preview how they'd look once upgraded. One starter was red and more sleek/fast looking and another one was green and more beefy/chunky (i.e. tank-style) looking, each with their own strengths/weaknesses. You were on-planet during missions and iirc the upgrading was done on some space station.

My search so far was of no success, so happy to take any hint i can get, no matter how niche/odd it may be :D

Platform(s): Windows PC via Steam

Genre: Action/Shooter

Estimated year of release: 2000-2010

Graphics/art style: 3D third person shooter

Notable characters:

Notable gameplay mechanics: I tried a demo of a game on Steam many moons ago, but I'm certain it no longer is on Steam. Here is what I remember:

It was a third person shooter and early on in the demo you encountered this big rug hanging on a horizontal pole in a small backroom with many crates. You could shoot the rug, and it had physics calculations, that made it move believably.

[Fig. 1]

Then you encountered enemies in a huge room with ramps. Somehow you could take control of them or use your mind powers on them somehow. They had an aura to indicate this, which I think was a light blue.

[Fig. 2]

The same level also had a puzzle with ramps that were held up with hooks on a chain. You could mind-power those hooks to move them, so that the ramp would come falling down and let you walk up, or let enemies fall down.

[Fig. 3]

I know that many signs point to Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, and it looks close to what is in my mind, but I have not found any footage of the incredible rug, or the hook puzzle that I remember so clearly.

Platform(s): PC

Genre: 2D top down shoot 'em up

Estimated year of release: 2002

Graphics/art style: Probably pixel art, I'm pretty sure the background was just black with stars flying by.

Notable characters: Your red(?) space ship collecting chicken legs

Notable gameplay mechanics: You are in a red(?) space ship in space trying to order chicken legs (drumsticks?), but the space KFC or whatever drive-through is all out. So you just floor it and shoot your way through the galaxy and collect chicken legs.

This may or may not have been a browser game.