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What are the best hidden gems and underappreciated games from 2013 - 2019?
- Thread starter oni-link
- Start date
Ubisoft Reflection's experimental 3d platformer pseudo-trilogy of Grow Home, Grow Up and Ode
I thought Grow Home was such an incredible experience, and while it wasnt heavy on platforming it was loaded with style, & atmosphere. Where the game shined was the world finding hidden nooks leading to little caves etc with collectibles that sometimes also had strange fauna/flora you could mess around with like a toybox (the sequel Grow Up doubled down on this idea). It was a really cool modern take on the old school collectathon-style 3d platformer. So imagine my surprise that despite releasing during the same timeframe as YookaLaylee's kickstarter when everyone was tripping over themselves to say how much they love 3d platformers and support them coming back... it went completely under the radar and the OT back at the old place struggled to crack 3 pages.
I thought Grow Home was such an incredible experience, and while it wasnt heavy on platforming it was loaded with style, & atmosphere. Where the game shined was the world finding hidden nooks leading to little caves etc with collectibles that sometimes also had strange fauna/flora you could mess around with like a toybox (the sequel Grow Up doubled down on this idea). It was a really cool modern take on the old school collectathon-style 3d platformer. So imagine my surprise that despite releasing during the same timeframe as YookaLaylee's kickstarter when everyone was tripping over themselves to say how much they love 3d platformers and support them coming back... it went completely under the radar and the OT back at the old place struggled to crack 3 pages.
Who cares? Ignore the thread if it bothers you that much, but it's such an arbitrary thing to get annoyed about.
People are sharing the games that they think should get more attention, and that's really all that matters.
This is such a bizarre baffling statement that ive invented a new game you can play at home based on this posts made up premise.
Its called "Remember Me 2: Memories of the Past". Go to Google Trends, set it to the past 5 years, put Undertale as your first term and then type in other franchises to compare. If your other game/series cant beat the forgotten Undertale's score in the average it means absolutely no one remembers it & might as well not even exist. I've tried it on several series and it turns out a lot of games are basically thanos snapped in the minds of the masses!
Devotion is amazing as well...such a tragedy that it's not avaliable anymore.
I'd say that I liked Detention a bit more, if it makes you feel any better :P
For Honor. I don't think that game gets as much attention as it deserves. Still adding hefty updates, balances and patch updates, totally unique fun and balanced design. A Highly underrated game for sure.
My pick: Ghost of a Tale
It's a fantastic stealth and adventure game, and takes place in a lovingly crafted, labyrinthine, beautifully interconnected prison-castle. It also tells a really great story about prejudice / oppression / historical revisionism that carries a lot more weight than I expected.
And I mean.... look at the protagonist. Just look!
Like... c'mon. Have a heart. Play this game.
Cambria Sword. I never expected a shmup run that could potentially go up to 3 hours be so damn engaging and intense. The first two levels are a bit on the relaing/easy side, then the Stage 3 boss wakes you up real quick.
Mecha Ritz and Mecha Ritz Steel Rondo (and Momoiro Underground/Dezatopia, but now that it has an official english release it's starting to gain steam) are also great shmup gems. They all have a great rank system that caters to all skill levels. The better you play the more difficult it gets and the faster the game scrolls. Probably one of the only few traditional shmups that is also built for speedruns (Eschatos Time Attack being another).
Not sure why I thought this was only for indies.
It's a controversial opinion but I like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 better than the previous 2 and feel it is vastly underrated.
I also think Geometry Wars 3 is vastly underrated too compared to its previous games.
Mecha Ritz and Mecha Ritz Steel Rondo (and Momoiro Underground/Dezatopia, but now that it has an official english release it's starting to gain steam) are also great shmup gems. They all have a great rank system that caters to all skill levels. The better you play the more difficult it gets and the faster the game scrolls. Probably one of the only few traditional shmups that is also built for speedruns (Eschatos Time Attack being another).
Not sure why I thought this was only for indies.
It's a controversial opinion but I like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 better than the previous 2 and feel it is vastly underrated.
I also think Geometry Wars 3 is vastly underrated too compared to its previous games.
God, this looks gorgeous. Might have to check it out.The most recent for me was Gujian 3, a chinese "jrpg" heavily inspired by Chinese culture and lore with some fantasy on top of it.
It has great characters, music, a beautiful and varied world, a satisfying combat system, an enormous amount of content and a good story.
It is rough around the edges though, and the translation is so-so. But I still had a very good time with it.
It's very story-focused, there are a lot of cutscenes so beware if that's not your jam.
It's only out on steam afaik.
Couple gifs I made awhile ago:
These aren't hidden but they're underappreciated...
RAGE 2 - Incredible combat, some of the best in an FPS, bad everything else.
Watch_Dogs - Incredible combat overlooked due to downgrade controversy.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Best in genre FPS combat and Arkane level design. Story is sparse but what's there is great.
Agents of Mayhem - A fun and unique TPS with Saints Row DNA.
OnRush - Blur, Split Second and Mario Kart had a beautiful baby.
Homefront: The Revolution - I've been singing the praises of this game since it launched but to reiterate, it's Far Cry + S.T.A.L.K.E.R. + Freedom Fighters. PLAY IT.
RAGE 2 - Incredible combat, some of the best in an FPS, bad everything else.
Watch_Dogs - Incredible combat overlooked due to downgrade controversy.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood - Best in genre FPS combat and Arkane level design. Story is sparse but what's there is great.
Agents of Mayhem - A fun and unique TPS with Saints Row DNA.
OnRush - Blur, Split Second and Mario Kart had a beautiful baby.
Homefront: The Revolution - I've been singing the praises of this game since it launched but to reiterate, it's Far Cry + S.T.A.L.K.E.R. + Freedom Fighters. PLAY IT.
The small and incredibly designed map, right narrative and depth of the mechanics mean that it's not only better than The Phantom Pain but one of my favorite Metal Gear Solid games. Like probably either my favorite or second favoite
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I was always interested in this one. What did you enjoy about it?
Nex Machina - The best twin stick shooter ever made, and a glorious return to the arcade-at-home. The crowning jewel in Housemarque's near flawless twin stick legacy. For some reason, no one played it.
Hong Kong Massacre - Another fantastic game that just didn't move the needle. It's a love letter to the gun ballet cinema of the 80S/90S in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Massacre - Another fantastic game that just didn't move the needle. It's a love letter to the gun ballet cinema of the 80S/90S in Hong Kong.
I'm almost finished Cold Steel 1, after playing through Sky 1-3 and the 2 Crossbell games, having a blast with it
The thread is asking for underappreciated, which could mean both of those things
On Topic: Alienation. It's basically a very polished and fun twin stick shooter with diablo-like progression. Really fun for couch coop too (playing with 3 other people is AMAZING).
These games are not hidden, but definitely underappreciated.
- Hitman 2016 and Hitman 2. These do get some appreciation, but are legimately GOTY level games that don't get their due. Amazing level design.
- Watchdogs series. Both games. Theyre quite different from each other, but I like both approaches.
- Wipeout Omega Collection. One of the best racing games of all time.
- Recore Definitive Edition. This is drastically better than the original game, was a free update for original owners too.
- State of Decay 2. Slow but steady amount of post launch updates means this game is at great place right now.
- Gran Turismo Sport. Pretty much the same as above.
- Hitman 2016 and Hitman 2. These do get some appreciation, but are legimately GOTY level games that don't get their due. Amazing level design.
- Watchdogs series. Both games. Theyre quite different from each other, but I like both approaches.
- Wipeout Omega Collection. One of the best racing games of all time.
- Recore Definitive Edition. This is drastically better than the original game, was a free update for original owners too.
- State of Decay 2. Slow but steady amount of post launch updates means this game is at great place right now.
- Gran Turismo Sport. Pretty much the same as above.
Came here to say that,the ending is one of the greatest ever.That ending...jesus f* christ....
Also:
This War of Mine The Little Ones: It is one of my favorites indie ever,never played a game like this one,loved every minute,of of the few indies I got 100% trophies too.
still my #1 sleeper of the generation:
thought it did a great job of capturing the 'charm' of the movie trilogy...
thought it did a great job of capturing the 'charm' of the movie trilogy...
There's a good argument to be made that Rain World is legitimately the most thematically accomplished game out there, and it has a ridiculous amount of qualities besides that: Its stunning harsh world, its amazing procedural animation, its crazy setting twist, and so forth. It got a few eyeballs when it released but a lot of people dropped it for its unfairness, not knowing that this unfairness is core to the game's thematic and narrative heft. Hugely underappreciated for sure.
The Turing Test was well-crafted and tight puzzle game that had a lot of inventive mechanics and I think kind of flew under the radar. People who played it loved it for the most part, but I don't think it got enough play. I loved the fact that it didn't overstay it's welcome. It felt like a game that laid out its story and all its puzzle ideas and then let you go. It didn't repeat itself or feel monotonous at any time.
Metrovania gameplay, the boss battle were amazing, the music was superb and the sing puzzle (I don't remember how it was called)
Alienation - One of the best Diablo-likes I've played and Housemarque did a great job of making one of a dual-stick shooter with great post-launch support.
Crimsonland - 10tons' first dual-stick shooter is still one of their best as more of a pure arcade-style high score shooter that is great and chaotic.
Don't Die Mr. Robot - A great arcade game with a good variety of challenges and is often on sale for really cheap.
Horizon Chase Turbo - One of the best classic-style racing games I've played and it has a great art style to it.
N++ - One of the best platformers of this generation with a ridiculous amount of levels that's over 4,000 in total.
Neon Chrome - Take the great shooting mechanics of Crimsonland and put it into a Rogue Legacy-style roguelite to make this game a lot of fun to play.
Nex Machina - One of the finest dual-stick shooters out there from the kings of the genre (Housemarque) that just never caught on like it deserved.
Serial Cleaner - A 2D stealth game about cleaning up crime scenes without the cops seeing you and it reminds me of Party Hard in some great ways.
Sky Force Anniversary/Reloaded - Some favorite shmups of mine that look nice and have none of the microtransaction and timer crap that the mobile versions have. They're very grindy games as you try to earn enough money to buy upgrades for your ship and weapons.
Sparklite - One of the better roguelites I've played in a while and one of the few I've beaten. It's a bit like a mash-up of Zelda and Rogue Legacy with some cool ideas of its own and is less about having unlimited replay value and more about you building yourself up until you can beat the final boss.
Spellspire - A non-shooter from 10tons that is all about anagrams, so you get a bunch of letters and have to pull up words that launch attacks on a series of enemies until you've beaten them all. Lots of grinding for money to improve your stats, but it's a fun grind.
Crimsonland - 10tons' first dual-stick shooter is still one of their best as more of a pure arcade-style high score shooter that is great and chaotic.
Don't Die Mr. Robot - A great arcade game with a good variety of challenges and is often on sale for really cheap.
Horizon Chase Turbo - One of the best classic-style racing games I've played and it has a great art style to it.
N++ - One of the best platformers of this generation with a ridiculous amount of levels that's over 4,000 in total.
Neon Chrome - Take the great shooting mechanics of Crimsonland and put it into a Rogue Legacy-style roguelite to make this game a lot of fun to play.
Nex Machina - One of the finest dual-stick shooters out there from the kings of the genre (Housemarque) that just never caught on like it deserved.
Serial Cleaner - A 2D stealth game about cleaning up crime scenes without the cops seeing you and it reminds me of Party Hard in some great ways.
Sky Force Anniversary/Reloaded - Some favorite shmups of mine that look nice and have none of the microtransaction and timer crap that the mobile versions have. They're very grindy games as you try to earn enough money to buy upgrades for your ship and weapons.
Sparklite - One of the better roguelites I've played in a while and one of the few I've beaten. It's a bit like a mash-up of Zelda and Rogue Legacy with some cool ideas of its own and is less about having unlimited replay value and more about you building yourself up until you can beat the final boss.
Spellspire - A non-shooter from 10tons that is all about anagrams, so you get a bunch of letters and have to pull up words that launch attacks on a series of enemies until you've beaten them all. Lots of grinding for money to improve your stats, but it's a fun grind.
The House In Fata Morgana is one of the best stories to ever be displayed on a screen, and it's not receiving enough attention.
The music, the art, characterization... It's all as close to perfect as one could want it to be.
The music, the art, characterization... It's all as close to perfect as one could want it to be.
It was also significantly better than anything in the game it serves as an epilogue to. You have to wonder what happened when it came time to design V.
Great pick for this thread. I'll nominate Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. It was essentially ignored by everyone from the media to fans, but at the end of the day, it's a Dishonored game from Arkane Studios. Top tier stuff.
I really enjoyed the 8 bit series which is a trilogy of strategy RPG games from many of the older command and conquer team members I believe. They all play essentially the same and scratched the real time strategy itch for me. As I only own a PS4 the options for those are pretty limited.
8 bit armies (the best of the three)
8 bit hordes
8 bit invaders.
8 bit armies (the best of the three)
8 bit hordes
8 bit invaders.
i played Re-Core and Agents of Mayhem.
and i gotta disagree.
Agents of Mayhem certainly has some redeemable qualities. In personality, playable characters with their own unique weapons and abilities. Everything about the gameplay is a chore and boring. And repetitive in an unfun way.
Recore i wanted to like. I liked the look of the game. The gameplay seemed decent. The controls were good. The character and sidekick were cute. But the game hard crashed my xbox twice in a row. Nothing has ever done that to my xbox before. so thats a big no from me. Had to delete that one.
and i gotta disagree.
Agents of Mayhem certainly has some redeemable qualities. In personality, playable characters with their own unique weapons and abilities. Everything about the gameplay is a chore and boring. And repetitive in an unfun way.
Recore i wanted to like. I liked the look of the game. The gameplay seemed decent. The controls were good. The character and sidekick were cute. But the game hard crashed my xbox twice in a row. Nothing has ever done that to my xbox before. so thats a big no from me. Had to delete that one.
The game sure had it's moments but in the end it was just another example of a developer who wanted to make an open world game because it is popular but had no idea how to actually pull it off.still my #1 sleeper of the generation:
thought it did a great job of capturing the 'charm' of the movie trilogy...
Not exactly hidden, but I've always thought it was one of those games made for YT views until I played it earlier this year, turns out it's a pretty good 3D platformer. The sequel isn't as good tho.
What do you get when you combine Sonic with Journey? This game. It has the speed of Sonic with the relaxed nature of Journey, a short breeze of collecting stuff and going fast.
I've played so many beat'em up titles, old and new, and this one is easily the most satisfying and rewarding of them all. It's sad that barely anyone talks about it.
If you like RPG Maker games, To the Moon, or are just looking for a heartfelt story that will give you all the feels, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
A 3D platformer where you play as a.. box, another one that I thought was going to be a goat simulator kinda game but it's actually a really fun platformer with jolly vibes all around.
1. Nex Machina
2. Nex Machina
3. Nex Machina
vastly underappreciated and Housemarque´s magnum opus, there will never be a better game from them.
true last boss is the best boss fight this gen too
honorable mention: Darkwood
when someone is into survival "horror" stuff, check this game out asap. sound design is awesome too.
2. Nex Machina
3. Nex Machina
vastly underappreciated and Housemarque´s magnum opus, there will never be a better game from them.
true last boss is the best boss fight this gen too
honorable mention: Darkwood
when someone is into survival "horror" stuff, check this game out asap. sound design is awesome too.
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Both Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider were absolutely amazing. Too bad this series is dead.
Pyre. I know Supergiant is very popular but I think Pyre slid under the radar and personally I feel that it's their best game.
It has such a wonderful cast of characters and the story is surprisingly heartwarming and emotional at times. I wasn't sure what to think of the gameplay before I started it but it clicked pretty quickly after getting some new party members and I had a blast with it. I don't even know how to explain the gameplay but it's a weird mix of fantasy elements + basketball/football. It sounds weird but when you get into it, it's so much fun.
You go through a bunch of matches and tournaments in order to free your party members one by one from their exile (they are no longer in your party if you do so, but you're helping them by letting them go) and as you get further in, you grow attached to these characters but have to make increasingly difficult decisions of who to free from exile. Then you have this whole Oregon Trail element to it where you have a carriage that you travel in and you can make stops at different areas along the way to get new power-ups / party members / etc. And the party interactions along the way are also great:
Then, not to mention the absolutely gorgeous art that Supergiant is known for and Darren Korb's incredible score.
It's just such a beautiful and fascinating game and I try to recommend it to people whenever I get the chance because I think people really slept on it when it first came out and it deserves more love than it got.
Entered the thread to make sure Pyre was mentioned, and didn't leave disappointed.
Apologies this is gonna be a long post since I want to talk about a good number of games I feel are underrated, but I will likely make a long post with videos, gifs and descriptions (I'll try to make them short). For the 1st 2 games I'm gonna sell with some videos that essentially inspired me to play them and the next few will be pics of games I definitely think people should check out. No 2013 games here because I didn't play any 2013 nor 2016 games that I feel were underrated:
2014: Freedom Planet
Well really the SBF Playthrough as a whole sold me on the game, but this video is a solid compilation of the game's hypest moments. Its the perfect marriage between Sonic the Hedgehog's speed and a few of it level design ideas with the combat and action of Treasure games and is an absolute blast to play. Also the music rules. Really hopeful for the sequel in development too!
2015: Contradiction: Spot the Liar!
Yeah the GB Quick Look series soon turned into a playthrough sold me here too. But for real this is one of the best examples of FMV games as the acting is delightful, the story goes into a very interesting direction and the gameplay loop of spotting the contradiction after your interviewee says something that contrasts what he or she said before is rather amusing.
2017: Battle Chef Brigade:
A fun blend of beat em up action and match 3 puzzles. What you need to do is compete in these competitions where you must hunt down these monsters and forge wild produce, use the monster's parts and the produce as ingredients to cook a delicious meal for a set of judges and you match 3 circles of the same cooler to cook a better dish. Its a rather cool mix of two genres.
Thimbleweed Park:
Hey you like LucasArts point and click adventure games? Well this game is very much a spiritual successor to Ron Gilbert's work at LucasArts since well, Ron Gilbert is one of the lead designers of this game. And its rather solid with 5 different playable characters and some witty comedy the oozes LucasArts charm.
2018:
Wandersong:
I think of all of these underrated games, this one might be my favorite. You're a bard who wants to save the universe after having a dream learning that your world's goddess wants to end it to start fresh and create an improved universe that might be better. But also as you do this you travel to different areas of the world and you use the power of song to help people's smaller problems from using your singing mechanic to help a candy store owner come up with a store jingle to using song to help a bunch of coffee loving pirates sail from 1 island to the next. You can also sing whenever you want, even when talking to NPC's. The game is also hilarious, has great music (as expected) and has one of the best stories and cast of characters I've seen in a video game.
Yoku's Island Express:
A perfect blend of Metroidvania and Pinball (surpringly enough) where you must save this island from the God Eater who plans to eat the Island's Gods which will lead to the island's doom. But the game is actually rather chill and cute as you're an adorable dung beetle attached to a sphere and the island is set up having multiple pinball tables. Also you're just fulfilling your new job as the island's new mailman.
2019:
A Short Hike:
This is perhaps the most lax game on this list. A Short Hike is like if Animal Crossing had a spinoff games where you exploring a park and talked to other Animal characters with funny dialogue but the gameplay and exploration was like a much more condensed version of Breath of the Wild. You are aiming to climb at the very peak of the park to get phone reception for an important call, but in the meantime you can also fish, have Parkour races or just fly around since you're a bird. The flying in this game feels lovely too.
Later Alligator:
This is the funniest game I've played this decade. The game has you interviewing family members and friends of a nervous alligator named Pat, who thinks this "Event" is them trying to rub him out for whatever reason. As you interview each gator, you get tp play a minigame tied to them. You could be helping Pat's Dad operate a way too complicated grill that has another alligator run on a treadmill to give it power. Or you could be helping the tall gator you see in this gif fix his phone which ends up being haunted after he traveled to a haunted mansion in Alligator Los Angeles. The game is set in Alligator New York City (in case you were wondering) and the game's hilarious writing, lovely animation and fantastic music carry it a long way.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown:
The one Non-Indie game I'm including in here. I've never played an Ace Combat game until 7 and wanted to try this thinking it could be a fun arcadey game to play on my then new PC. And man it was thrilling and amazing. The dogfights and mission variety kept me interested for the whole ride, the graphics look sharp and it has maybe my favorite OST of the 2010's. A shame this got completely forgotten in the West for GOTY season, but thankfully the decent sale s(namely in the Eastern Market) means there will be more Ace Combat games for the next generation.
2014: Freedom Planet
Well really the SBF Playthrough as a whole sold me on the game, but this video is a solid compilation of the game's hypest moments. Its the perfect marriage between Sonic the Hedgehog's speed and a few of it level design ideas with the combat and action of Treasure games and is an absolute blast to play. Also the music rules. Really hopeful for the sequel in development too!
2015: Contradiction: Spot the Liar!
Yeah the GB Quick Look series soon turned into a playthrough sold me here too. But for real this is one of the best examples of FMV games as the acting is delightful, the story goes into a very interesting direction and the gameplay loop of spotting the contradiction after your interviewee says something that contrasts what he or she said before is rather amusing.
2017: Battle Chef Brigade:
A fun blend of beat em up action and match 3 puzzles. What you need to do is compete in these competitions where you must hunt down these monsters and forge wild produce, use the monster's parts and the produce as ingredients to cook a delicious meal for a set of judges and you match 3 circles of the same cooler to cook a better dish. Its a rather cool mix of two genres.
Thimbleweed Park:
Hey you like LucasArts point and click adventure games? Well this game is very much a spiritual successor to Ron Gilbert's work at LucasArts since well, Ron Gilbert is one of the lead designers of this game. And its rather solid with 5 different playable characters and some witty comedy the oozes LucasArts charm.
2018:
Wandersong:
I think of all of these underrated games, this one might be my favorite. You're a bard who wants to save the universe after having a dream learning that your world's goddess wants to end it to start fresh and create an improved universe that might be better. But also as you do this you travel to different areas of the world and you use the power of song to help people's smaller problems from using your singing mechanic to help a candy store owner come up with a store jingle to using song to help a bunch of coffee loving pirates sail from 1 island to the next. You can also sing whenever you want, even when talking to NPC's. The game is also hilarious, has great music (as expected) and has one of the best stories and cast of characters I've seen in a video game.
Yoku's Island Express:
A perfect blend of Metroidvania and Pinball (surpringly enough) where you must save this island from the God Eater who plans to eat the Island's Gods which will lead to the island's doom. But the game is actually rather chill and cute as you're an adorable dung beetle attached to a sphere and the island is set up having multiple pinball tables. Also you're just fulfilling your new job as the island's new mailman.
2019:
A Short Hike:
This is perhaps the most lax game on this list. A Short Hike is like if Animal Crossing had a spinoff games where you exploring a park and talked to other Animal characters with funny dialogue but the gameplay and exploration was like a much more condensed version of Breath of the Wild. You are aiming to climb at the very peak of the park to get phone reception for an important call, but in the meantime you can also fish, have Parkour races or just fly around since you're a bird. The flying in this game feels lovely too.
Later Alligator:
This is the funniest game I've played this decade. The game has you interviewing family members and friends of a nervous alligator named Pat, who thinks this "Event" is them trying to rub him out for whatever reason. As you interview each gator, you get tp play a minigame tied to them. You could be helping Pat's Dad operate a way too complicated grill that has another alligator run on a treadmill to give it power. Or you could be helping the tall gator you see in this gif fix his phone which ends up being haunted after he traveled to a haunted mansion in Alligator Los Angeles. The game is set in Alligator New York City (in case you were wondering) and the game's hilarious writing, lovely animation and fantastic music carry it a long way.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown:
The one Non-Indie game I'm including in here. I've never played an Ace Combat game until 7 and wanted to try this thinking it could be a fun arcadey game to play on my then new PC. And man it was thrilling and amazing. The dogfights and mission variety kept me interested for the whole ride, the graphics look sharp and it has maybe my favorite OST of the 2010's. A shame this got completely forgotten in the West for GOTY season, but thankfully the decent sale s(namely in the Eastern Market) means there will be more Ace Combat games for the next generation.
There's a game that combines significant fossil biota and needlessley over the top rock music? Why have I not been told about this before!
Agreed.. can't wait for Frictional's next game.That ending...jesus f* christ....