Criminally Underrated Games?

[trampgav]

The saboteur for PS3

Defence grid 2 if you’re into tower defence games

Yama Yama for an easy and fun 100% on ps now

Brutal legend for all the metal fans

Even though it’s now deleted and it never had trophies- Paragon. Did anyone else play that? 

 

[Breakingthegreen]

I see this thread popped up again. Well, lotta games I played since last time, may as well stick to the rule I gave myself last time.

On 22/02/2021 at 2:55 PM, breakingthegreen said:

PART 1

 

"Good God I have a long list to give. I wanna stick with one per developer because many developers just keep making consistent that no one plays. 

Concrete Genie springs to mind but it's available on PS Plus right now so play it now and see what you're missing.

Zoink games made many great games, like Stick it to the Man, Fe, and Flipping Death, as well as a also unrecognised VR game, but I believe the most underrated is their beat-'em-up Zombie Vikings, just as funny as Stick it to the man and Flipping Death, but can be shared in coop.

Spiritfarer asked the question "what if Stardew Valley made you cry?"

There's the adorable rhythm-platformer hybrid Songbird Symphony.

Ratalaika ported at least two games worthy of playing, the sweet and raw One Night Stand as well as the genuinely tricky platinum that is Stay with its main feature being the protagonist's mental state deteriorates the longer you are not playing the game. You can probably tell Ratalaika knew they had a winner with Stay because it's on of the only games they published on vita that isn't a a crossbuy title.

If you like Telltale games I recommend 1979 Revolution: Black Friday a single episode length look into recent history that feels horrifying.

Beholder Complete Edition is a brilliant look at living under a fascist government as a Landlord clearly homaging Papers Please and, like its inspiration, you can choose how you should act.

If you like Puzzle games and Rouge-likes the Road not Taken may be up your street 

Tequila works are a brilliant studio who's work is often over looked, not only that but there most beloved title, (Rime,) is probably my least favourite (my favourite is Sexy Brutale but thats been mentioned a few times.) The most overlooked game is the VR title Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son

And lastly if you played Until Dawn you may be aware of The Dark Pictures Anthology, but fewer people are aware of the interactive experience that SuperMassive Games made between the two, the Playlink title Hidden Agenda at a release price of £16 it was practically a steal for how much the paths diverged."

Now on to PART 2:

Time manipulation is a genre I have a soft spot for, but few games have it as there only gameplay mechanic, The Gardens Between does, and features two friends navigating symbolic islands in time bending puzzle-y ways in order to reach the end.

Evan's Remains has a incredible story that you should experience, ignore the fact it's an easy platinum and actually watch the cutscenes, you won't regret.it.

Dontnod are famous for Life is Strange 1 & 2, Remember Me and Vampyr. (They also made Tell Me Why but I haven't got an Xbox) their most unknown game however is probably Twin Mirror, which was hated at launch for its glitches, currently though the game runs well and tells a pretty good story revolving around the consequences of doing the right thing, while having a morality system that feels truer to life, analytical vs socially aware.

Knockout City is a bunch of fun, I'm bad at online games, but that one has a low skill ceiling and high level of feeling awesomely powerful.

While I feel like people know about this game, so few people I think actually finished Marvel's Iron Man VR, which is a shame because it's one of the few first person flying games that didn't make me feel sick. Plus Jenifer Hale plays Pepper Potts, which is an automatic win in my book.

Telltale Games are some of my favourites, while I know every post TWD game like the back of my hand, the fact that they had shut down shows at least some of there games had to be underrated, and one of the final ones released was Batman: The Enemy Within which featured two entirely different ending episodes depending on how you treat the Joker.

Gemini: Heroes Reborn, I bought it for £4... it was pretty okay for that price.

[balu2424]

Deliver us the moon - I honestly have to admit that I was skeptical playing this game after the bad reviews. Only 77 (reviewers), 6.5 (users) on Metacritic and a desasterous 39/100 on 4players.de.  But I had a lot of fun with it. A nice and interesting story and partially difficult puzzles - I love it. Well, the timer-based parts can be quite annoying, if you have no idea what to do next, especially because of the long loading times. And some trophies are a bit tricky. But all in all I can recommend this game. 

 

Difficulty 3/10

Fun 9/10 (PSN Store : *****)

 

[saiyanbloodstyle]

My hero one's justice 1 & 2, didn't even know this anime had a game but after enjoying i had to try the games and it's 1 of the best fighting games i've played, every character feels really unique.

 

I don't think a lot of people have the games, if not and you like fighting games i'd recommend this.

[jasondm300]

A couple of great Metroidvanias that may have slipped through the cracks:

 

Ender Lillies - What a gorgeous game and the music is spectacular.  You play as Lily who can summon characters as your attacks.  The story is really good too if you read all the lore, but the action is amazing.

 

Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth - Another pixel Metroidvania, but the gameplay is rock solid.  I picked this up as an early access game in Steam and loved it so much, I just finally got my physical edition from Playasia this week. 

 

Both came out last year and give the highest profile game of that genre (Metroid Dread which I also loved) a run for it's money on the best of last year

[EDGES]

*Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag

*Batman: Arkham Knight

Bound by Flame

*Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (singleplayer story mode)

Gravity Rush Remastered

Gravity Rush 2

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness

Transistor

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles 4

*Watch Dogs

 

* = While these games are from huge known AAA best selling franchises with critical success overall, I know that these specific games within their franchises deserved 90+ meta and 20+ million copies sold in a short time period, so not having that, they are underrated IMO, especially Arkham Knight, that game should've been on God Of War 2018 level of critical and financial success easy

[FebuKev]

- The Swords of Ditto

- Risk of Rain 2

- Castle Crashers

[balu2424]

If you like point-and-click adventures you should play the following games:

- Röki (only 41 registered owners PS4/EU and 216 PS5/EU). It is settled in Norse Mythology. You play Tove, a young girl, rescuing her younger brother Lars from Röki, a pitch-black monster and his mother Jötunravn. The game is not too difficult. (3/10)

- The dark eye: Satinav chains and

- The dark eye: Memoria. Both games developed by german studio Daedalic Entertainment, known for brilliant point-and-click adventures as the Deponia series, Edna & Harvey or Silence. 

Difficulty: Satinav chains 3/10, Memoria is a bit more difficult 5/10

- Re:Turn - One way trip (ony 187 owners) tells the terrifying story of five college friends who decide to take a vacation together after graduation, their last trip together before entering adulthood, but something went horroribly wrong. Difficulty 3/10

- The wardrobe - Even better edition (only 96 owners). The wardrobe was delisted in PSN story, but returned March 2022 as Even better edition. Inspired by classical point-and-clicks like Monkey Island or Day of the tentacle. The Wardrobe is as humorous as the great idols mentioned before even when it comes to a serious topic like death. Difficulty 3/10, Humor 11/10 ?

 

Also nice: 

- The Innsmouth case: More a visual novel based on the novel "The shadow over Innsmouth" by H.P.Lovecraft and his Cthulhu myth.

 

 

[trophyjan]

Alien Isolation

The most intense game I have ever played

[AuronX84]

Cosmic Star Heroine - Underrecognized JRPG throwback that combines elements of Chrono Trigger and the Phantasm Star series          Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Great Metroidvania akin to Symphony to the Night

[Dark_Overlord]

From my recentish plays I'd recommend

 

Guardian Of Lore - Action adventure platformer based on South American mythologies, can choose between a magic or melee focused play style (or a combo), lots of secrets and genuinely fun to play (Sadly it is awaiting a patch to make the plat possible, but it's coming ). The main draw though is depending on what actions you perform, depends on what route you take through the book, this can mean you enter entirely different areas with a vastly different story.  The bosses are all unique too.  Also the people that worked on the game are great  

 

Ritual: Crown Of Horns - Twin stick skill based shooter, with a decent story and plenty of challenges to keep you busy that reward unlocks to give you a bigger arsenal to work with.  Starts easy, then there's a big difficulty spike, but if you can overcome that, the game is really fun

 

Kill It With Fire - Just pure stupid fun.  The whole concept of the game is to kill the spiders present in each area, you start with basic weapons such as swatters and aerosols, to eventually unlocking rocket launchers and drones

Edited February 28, 2023 by Dark_Overlord

[blacklight-nero]

Some personal favourites which I think are underrated:

 
• Forgotten Anne

• Creaks

• Yoku’s Island Express

• Deliver Us The Moon

• The Pillars of the Earth

• Lost In Random 

Edited March 8, 2023 by blacklight-nero

[UsedDampTowel]

Days Gone. One of the best open world games I've played. 

[Vault-TecPhantom]

Fallout 4 - For as long as I live I will never, ever understand why fans turned on Fallout 4. At launch everybody seemed to love it but then die-hard Fallout fans decided that it was the worst thing ever years later. Weird. I think it's the best Fallout by far, improving on pretty much everything that came before while introducing perhaps its best new feature which is the base building.  I loved the main quest line, especially playing as a double agent for the Railroad. The Far Harbour DLC was also badass.

 

Mass Effect Andromeda - I think anyone who rightly dismissed this game during its disastrous launch would probably get along with it a lot better today. I went in with really low expectations and played it fully patched and had such a wonderful time as a result that I feel sad for people who experienced it when it was broken.

 

Anthem - Another Bioware game released too soon. Have to agree with what ObsceneSociopath said earlier. I played this long after the patches and had a blast. Yeah, there’s no endgame to speak of (like you’d expect in a looter shooter), but if you approach it as an action adventure Iron Man simulator the gameplay is super fun. It’s also one of the rare times where trophy hunting actually made the game more enjoyable because the trophies aligned with what you would naturally be doing.

 

Dreams - This was also mentioned by another poster earlier and I have to agree. I think this one is a delight but I can see why others would be put off given that it was heavily marketed for creators rather than players. However, today there is plenty of content by some very talented aspiring devs. Even just playing through the tutorials was fun. 

 

Subnautica - Perhaps the best game I’ve played in years. Such a relaxing and yet sometimes scary as hell experience. To me, it’s pretty much a perfect game and it has something that separates it from most survival adventures: an ending. As in, a legitimate story with a beginning, middle and satisfying conclusion that the devs actually want you to see. Most survival games are designed to be played forever and so I often feel like they’re deliberately wasting my time by pushing me back two steps for every step forward I take. However, Subnautica gets its pacing and balancing just right, constantly encouraging you to forge ahead. You feel yourself becoming more knowledgeable of this alien planet, getting stronger and more proficient as every milestone is celebrated with a musical cue. Places that were once intimidating or downright scary become mere landmarks for you to plot your next adventure as you overcome your fear of the unknown.  And after all of that, when it’s done paying off all these set-ups it ends. That’s how every game should be IMO. 

[Terra]

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker.

 

Enough said.

[FawltyPowers]

3 hours ago, Terra said:

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker.

 

Enough said.

 

Thanks for this. Love this thread, just looked it up and it's on sale for £3.49 so I'm going to give it a go

[ValkerianCreator]

Unknown is probably a better word than underrated for these because most people don't even hear about them.

 

PS4: Cyber Hook

Psvr1: Fujii, Stardust Odyssey

PS3: Folklore, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom

 

Note: Cyber hook is superb, but it has an unobtainable platinum. Folklore doesn't have any trophies, so it won't appear in this site.

[Don_carlito94]

Splasher - playing this at the moment and it’s the most fun I’m having with a 2D platformer, but then again I don’t have many in that genre under my belt.. so not much to benchmark with. It’s insanely addictive. Underrated and overlooked like many hidden indie titles. An ex-Rayman dev who nailed the level designs, fast paced movements and gameplay mechanics that compliments the speedrunning aspect of the game.

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

Wuppo

 

Probably one of the best games I ever played and it's sad to me that it goes on sale so often for $1 when that almost implies its quality is poor. It's funny, it's charming, it's a difficult plat, it really deserves more attention

[Helyx]

Ravenous Devils

[JFKing]

[DELETED]

Edited March 26 by JFKing

[MushuMixLipa]

Child of Light and Valiant Hearts ~ whilst they're known more than most indie games these are almost never talked about outside of the trophy community. 

 

Child of Lights art style and direction was beautiful. Valiant Hearts has an amazing story, such good games. 

[Godo Fwar]

Inertial Drift

Graceful Explosion Machine

State of Mind

Hoa

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Arise: A Simple Story

[Galserik]

Idk if someone already named this ones, but this is IMO underrrated games:

 

• Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise -  From the same studio that make the Yakuza franchise. A game inspired in the anime/manga of Fist of the North Star, but with a non canon history and the same playability that the Yakuza games. Pretty fun, lots of content, but grindy platinum,
• Vampyr - Very critizised game in its days due to the playability (it's true that is a bit clunky), but with an amazing history, great BSO and magnificent characters. 100% recommended if you like the vampire games.
• Maneater: Ffs, it's a RPG and the protagonist is a fucking playable shark!!! Not a GOTY for sure, has technical issues, but fun af (and pretty short and easy plat)
• Monark: A game from former developers of the Shin Megami Tensei saga. Amazing a very fun turn-based RPG with a bit of tactics. The story is pretty good (sometimes very anime typical). You can controls characters or fiends.
• 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim: Probably one of my top 3 favourites from 2021. Is a fucking masterpiece. You follow 13 different stories in a mix of visual novel and tactical RPG and the characters and story is top tier. The game is from the same team that made Odin's Sphere.
• Xuan Yuan 7: A pretty good chinese ARPG, with a little aura of souls. Is a low budget game, and has it's flaws, but totally recommended. Short and easy plat.

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Galserik

[Glorious Fury]

Some games I really enjoyed which I find pretty underrated.  

 

Prey (2017)

Blazing Chrome

Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 and 3

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise