Have you ever heard of Narbacular Drop? It's a simple little proof-of-concept game created as a senior project by a group of kids at DigiPen. It's actually still available to download for free -- the graphics aren't much to see, the story is a cliche (you play a schlub trying to rescue a princess from a demon), and the FPS-style controls aren't all that well-tuned. The game is almost a mess, save for one amazing gameplay element: you can "shoot" door-like portals onto any wall in the game, and then move between those at will.

If you haven't already heard this story: Narbacular Drop was the student project that was later funded by Valve and turned into one of the best games of the past decade, Portal.

Hoard reminds me a lot of Narbacular Drop -- the graphics are kind of dull-looking, the controls are pretty basic and somewhat clumsy, and there's almost no story at all, just a few sets of game modes and maps. But there is a sparkling gem of gameplay to be found here.