Underrated/Overlooked games

Games you barely see people talk about or recommend but you think are genuinely great

Castlevania Curse of Darkness, it gets a lot of hate for the protagonist beating up a Belmont several times, and its monotonous level visuals, but is otherwise a great action game with many weapons to craft and Innocent Devils to obtain, the bosses are as well designed as you'd expect from a Castlevania game, from the best depiction of Dullahan to the morbid Legion & Nucculais, the enemies are also varied and well designed.

Each weapon class has one, two or even three different movesets for each weapon, I.E. the sword class has Shortswords, Rapiers and Greatswords, each with their own unique attacks and specials, along with the special weapon class, each of which is unique, such as the Electric Guitar and the Molotov Bomb.

As far as the Main Character goes, he's as likeable as Alucard or a Belmont, his heart is always in the right place and he has his own reasons to stop Dracula (And he's a fucking beast at that).

I feel like there are so many indie games that are so overlooked and underappreciated because people are just obsessed with cinematics, waifus, or slaughtering their graphics cards with insane post-processing, anti-aliasing, and texture detail. I'm part of a few rather toxic gaming communities who are all obsessed with normie shit (Anything EA, Blizzard, Activision, or any ridiculously overhyped "horror" game that may have slipped through the cracks). There are so many games out there that are just practical clones of each other being released at the same damn time. And people are eating them up like flies on shit. If you want to make a successful video game in 2017, apparently you just need to make a card game or a MOBA shooter. 

Anyway, rant aside, here are some of my favorite underrated/indie games I've loved:

• Town of Salem
• Starbound
• Grim Dawn
• Firewatch
• Pillars of Eternity
• Path of Exile
• Osiris: New Dawn
• Vermintide
• 20XX

This unheard of game called Doom.  You play a lone space Marine who has to fight demons and zombies on Phobos, Deimos, and in Hell.  There isn't much of a plot, but the gameplay is phenomenal.

Marble Blast Ultra on XBLA was a fun and at times challenging puzzle game.  

Pretty similar concept to Doom...start here, go there.  No demons or anything to kill, but various obstacles and hazards to circumnavigate.

15 hours ago, YukiHerz said:

Castlevania Curse of Darkness, it gets a lot of hate for the protagonist beating up a Belmont several times, and its monotonous level visuals, but is otherwise a great action game with many weapons to craft and Innocent Devils to obtain, the bosses are as well designed as you'd expect from a Castlevania game, from the best depiction of Dullahan to the morbid Legion & Nucculais, the enemies are also varied and well designed.

Each weapon class has one, two or even three different movesets for each weapon, I.E. the sword class has Shortswords, Rapiers and Greatswords, each with their own unique attacks and specials, along with the special weapon class, each of which is unique, such as the Electric Guitar and the Molotov Bomb.

 

As far as the Main Character goes, he's as likeable as Alucard or a Belmont, his heart is always in the right place and he has his own reasons to stop Dracula (And he's a fucking beast at that).

The combat is excellent and the reason why the game gets a pass. Lots of interesting enemies to fight and trinkets to collect. The Innocent Devils are fun to develop. Most of the game is very easy, but spikes at certain points. As you've said, the visuals are monotonous, but they're also very drab. The level design is an even bigger issue. Many of the levels are way bigger than they need to be, and have many long and winding paths that do nothing but pad the game out. 

No idea how there's anything interesting or likeable about Hector. He's kind of a self righteous mooncalf, and often wears an annoying expression of both confusion and disgust. He didn't really care about doing anything good for anyone until the very end of the game. Until that point, he was entirely concerned with getting revenge on Isaac, and showed little (if any) concern with Dracula's curse. Never once heard anyone give him flack for beating up Trevor. Quite the opposite, actually. Trevor attacks Trevor without attempting to learn anything about him, and comes across as just as much of a twat. 

Curse of Darkness's combat is a commendable improvement over Lament of Innocence's (which was quite good), but bland visuals, and unfocused level design put it far behind its superior predecessor. 

I believe the MDK series is kinda underrated (played MDK 2 and it was really fun). It is an action game with nice humor and a janitor in a space suit going to space in order to stop the alien invasion (something like that)

Also, Mercury and Patapon from the PSP were awesome games.

Mercury is a puzzle game where you have to lead a blob of mercury to the finish line (it is not always easy).

Patapon is a game based on rhythm. You are the commander of your army of Patapons and you have to lead them to victory by passing them some commands (attack, walk, jump, defend, e.t.c.).

Kathy Rain was a new point and click adventure that was very interesting. It had a normal story, slowly going to the paranormal.

Psychonauts was a fun 3d platformer action game. The story followed a kid named Raz (Rasputin), as he went in a camp for psychic kids (they trained them there). It featured a nice ability, where you could enter someone's minds and see all kind of crazy stuff. Especially in the Sanitarium area it was awesome.

Finally, I want to add Beyond Good and Evil, which had a nice story, interesting combat, well developed characters and a few twists here and there. Plus, it included exploration in order to unlock the last level.

Contra: Shattered Soldier - My favourite game in the series. Perfect controls, wide variety of enemies, excellent weapon balance, kickass soundtrack. Nonstop, exhilarating action. 

Wizardry 8 - A modernised attempt at an old school first person dungeon crawl. Immersive, fascinating and complex. Somewhat offset by several balance issues and its murderous enemy encounter rate. 

Einhander - One of the best shooters ever made by far. Unique weapon designs, smooth controls, legendary boss battles, and fantastic music. Squaresoft hit it out of the park with this game.

5 hours ago, stru said:

I feel like there are so many indie games that are so overlooked and underappreciated because people are just obsessed with cinematics, waifus, or slaughtering their graphics cards with insane post-processing, anti-aliasing, and texture detail. I'm part of a few rather toxic gaming communities who are all obsessed with normie shit (Anything EA, Blizzard, Activision, or any ridiculously overhyped "horror" game that may have slipped through the cracks). There are so many games out there that are just practical clones of each other being released at the same damn time. And people are eating them up like flies on shit. If you want to make a successful video game in 2017, apparently you just need to make a card game or a MOBA shooter. 

 

Anyway, rant aside, here are some of my favorite underrated/indie games I've loved:

• Town of Salem
• Starbound
• Grim Dawn
• Firewatch
• Pillars of Eternity
• Path of Exile
• Osiris: New Dawn
• Vermintide
• 20XX

 

I see Town of Salem, Firewatch, Grim Dawn, Starbound, 20XX and Vermintide on a lot of popularity lists. I can't say they're underrated. Firewatch especially.

Looking on Steam at the moment I see a few of my German friends are in Town of Salem. I gave the game a try a year ago and the idea is interesting. A chat game where you find who is the witch.

18 Wheels of Steel: Haulin'

with some mods,

the game can be pretty fun just mess around with

Legend of Grimrock feels somewhat underrated.  But I suppose part of the reason it doesn't get much attention is that it's a somewhat niche genre.

Oh baby baby baby baby baby

Take a look at Ross's Game Dungeon to see a giant list of forgotten games, most were revived because of him.

The Beginners Guide. Hands down the most emotional game I ever played. Also really inspirational. I recommend this to every mapper ever. Besides the story, the design was just... epic. Anyone who takes a good look at the stuff there should pick up a trick or two. Other than that, I feel that it is underrated, dunno why, but I don't see much praise for it. I also imagine people recoiling when they hear that this is a walking simulator type of game.

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is pretty underrated and obscure. It was Monolith's second FPS game. I'm not a big anime or manga fan but that game was great.

Duskers is fucking amazing.

SiN, very underrated, due to being released 1 year before Half-Life and because it's numerous bugs at release, as well the huge patches back in the day, but it deserves more attention, with inspiration taken from Duke Nukem, like destructable environments and interaction with objects, except you're a badass cop, with a sidekick hacker that helps you and has a sense of humor, with some unique features like shooting a enemy's gun out of his hand as well a enemy shooting your's too, along interacting with computers, it's a gem worth playing.

Replaying Rage made me realise how underrated it is considering how much of a solid shooter it is once it's actually in its true stride. Understandably underrated considering the lukewarmness of just about everything else.

On 8/18/2017 at 4:10 PM, geo said:

A chat game where you find who is the witch.

More like a game of shitposting where you lynch the people who troll the hardest. Ranked Mode is a bit better, but it's still fun nonetheless. 

On 19/08/2017 at 5:07 PM, Pencil of Doom said:

SiN, very underrated, due to being released 1 year before Half-Life and because it's numerous bugs at release, as well the huge patches back in the day, but it deserves more attention, with inspiration taken from Duke Nukem, like destructable environments and interaction with objects, except you're a badass cop, with a sidekick hacker that helps you and has a sense of humor, with some unique features like shooting a enemy's gun out of his hand as well a enemy shooting your's too, along interacting with computers, it's a gem worth playing.

 

Definitely this, although both SiN and Half-Life were released on the same year (I assume you made a typo :D) and apart from the bugs i always thought SiN was better than Half-Life.

Some more underrated gems:

Rage

Kingpin

Omikron:The Nomad Soul

Urban Chaos (The GTA style one, not the FPS)

Outcast

Anachronox

Sacrifice

Eldritch, it's a Lovecraftian first person rougelike/immersive sim that involves traversing dungeons filled with Eldritch horrors straight from the Cthulhu Mythos. It also has a free 10 level expansion pack based on At the Mountains of Madness, what more could you ask for? It's a shame that not many people talk about this game as it's really fun an got a lot of good reviews when it came out. If you're a fan of H.P Lovecraft or Horror in general and aren't turned off by the Minecraft-Esque graphics then this game is worth a try.

On 8/19/2017 at 3:13 PM, SavageCorona said:

Replaying Rage made me realise how underrated it is considering how much of a solid shooter it is once it's actually in its true stride. Understandably underrated considering the lukewarmness of just about everything else.

Totally agree. RAGE is an amazing game, only being held back by the anticlimactic ending IMO. The first and second parts of the game are solid, just the ending that suffered. I love traveling through the Dead City sections and scavenging, even though it's still somewhat linear. RAGE is sort of like a linear Fallout in a way.

Mount & Blade series. It appears as a dated and awkward game at first but it really is a more in depth and entertaining game than people give it credit for. Just wait for Bannerlord, that release will make the entire series known.

I almost want to say Stalker as it isn't popular to the masses however it still has a solid fanbase who truly loves it.

Dungeon Keeper. Onimusha. Dino Crisis.

I like Blood II and I like Shogo, even though they're both bad, rushed and unfinished. The ideas in them were great and the soundtracks are fantastic. The gameplay is dumb fun, assuming you stay on easy or normal, even then the AI will cheese you every now and then. Good environmental settings and weapon/enemy design (for the most part), the personality is pretty much what defines them besides the terrible engine that powers them both and all the bugs.

Run Like Hell, it's pretty much Dead Space 0, with some Mass Effect thrown in for good measure. Top notch voice acting and good writing, memorable and enjoyable characters for the most part, a decent if typical sci-fi premise, with some twists here and there. Hilarious music by Breaking Benjamin during some boss fights but that's probably the worst offender overall. Maybe beside the fact it is a wholly average third person shooter and not really a survival horror.

Carmageddon TDR 2000, a lot of people give this one shit, overall I'd say opinion on it is split. It's obviously weaker than the Stainless games but it's not as bad as some make it out to be. It's not Postal III for starters, even TDR 2000 respects the source material of its respective series compared to that abomination that calls itself a Postal game. The missions can be kind of annoying sometimes, but they're not as bad as the ones in Carma 2 IMHO.

E: Oh yeah and an honorable mention goes to the first Unreal, an incredible journey that I enjoy taking to this day unlike the first Half-Life (don't get me wrong the setting in the first game is great, but the game itself not as much nowadays).

There was fun RPG series I use to play call Exile which later had a remake series call Avernum.

This game caught my attention on a recent episode of a Youtube series I quite enjoy. Kickmaster, Shatterhand, Vice: Project Doom, Clash at Demohead and Guardian Legend come up all the time when talking about underrated NES games, but this one is new to me.

Figured I'd necro this thread rather than start my own to worship one game.

Northern Journey is a game that has a terrible trailer with a kind of annoying song that undersells a freaking masterpiece. I would not have bought it if I didn't see Gloomwood's dev singing it's praises on twitter. Basically, if you like older titles that rely on atmosphere and immersion to hook you above all, this game is for you. If you like games like STALKER, Gothic, Pathologic, or Divinity 2, you'll probably be all over this.

It's a game where exploration is the primary drive, and needing to know where this insane journey will take you next. It feels surreal, and has a dark sense of humour I just love. There is combat though, some puzzles, and some light platforming. It's like a walking sim with gameplay. The character models look kind of jank, but the world is simply gorgeous. I'm constantly taking screenshots!

 It's seriously the best game I've played this year.

On 8/19/2017 at 6:07 PM, Pencil of Doom said:

SiN

Yep, played it first a couple of years ago.

Was fun that you can access a computer and search there for files with DOS command lines.

I think it was some Picture from Jennifer Love Hewit you couldn't open haha

Since they were banned from Advertisment and to openly sell them in Germany:

Rune and Blood Rayne.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and other "banned" were pretty common, but those Games flew under the Radar of most People i knew.

Got Rune from the local Store back then, asked what they have under the Desk, even nowadays it sound like i am asking for something illegal haha.

Funny that this thread should pop up in the week that Panorama Cotton drops on Switch. A late release Mega Drive game that never left Japan despite mag reviews at the time, it's ostensibly a Space Harrier clone with a LOT more going on. Not only does it have the irreverent humour the Cotton games are known for, it is also one of the most technically accomplished games on the system with some seriously complex playfield manipulation routines that would give even the SNES a headache. Sadly, the official release hasn't been localised, so if you're not sure about dropping the £13 on it, a fan translation has been doing the rounds for about a year now.

Or you could wait until ININ pull their finger out.