Creating a game is a mountain to climb in itself, but getting it to appeal to the community is another David vs Goliath challenge as well. There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the marketing and release of a title, from the timing and release date to the length of the promotional campaign and engagement with its prospective audience. Not to mention that all of this can very much be derailed when a developing giant decides to share a release window or a big-name publication gives it a poor rating. To kick off 2024, we take a look as some of the games in recent history that we consider to be so underrated that it should be a crime.
Coming off an absolutely stacked 2023 that was simply brimming with must-plays, now is the time to explore something old-but-new before the next wave of smash hits reach our digital shores. Whether it’s an immersive action-adventure or a 3D platformer, we’ve got you covered with our take on some of the best games that didn’t necessarily get their flowers.
Mad Max
To coincide with the release of the film franchise’s first instalment in 30 years, fans of the Australian post-apocalyptic series Mad Max were also treated to a video game in 2015 that very much flew under the radar as a surprisingly immersive title. What may have been a big reason why it went unnoticed to many is that it was released on the same day as the immensely popular Metal Gear Solid 5, but it may also have been skipped by fans of the franchise given the reputation that movie-based games have for just not hitting the mark. In the case of Mad Max, it was everything a wastelander could’ve hoped for and more.
The car combat alone is enough to make us want to jump on another playthrough, but there are multiple layers to the game that just make it click. You can customise your rusty death-on-wheels a surprising amount, there’re a plethora of warboy bases to infiltrate, races to win, and a kaleidoscope of oddball characters to interact with and help out. Not to mention, you’ve got a handy mechanic who gives off hunchback-from-300 vibes and wants nothing more than to craft his Magnum Opus for the Saviour. All of this is wrapped into an original story that detaches itself from Fury Road in its narrative so the outcome of the tale comes as a surprise to all. Eight years after its release, Mad Max is still an absolute banger and there’s no better time than 2024 to check it out since the game is canon and Furiosa is set to return to cinemas in May.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was a strange concoction of ideas. Bringing Batman Arkham-style combat into the Lord of the Rings universe sounds like a weird mess waiting to happen, but the first game in the series was absolutely a blast to play. So what better for a sequel than to turn the notch up to 11, and deliver improvements over almost everything that made the first game great?
Shadow of War’s Nemesis System (which Warner Bros. has unfortunately patented) is immersive, allowing you to make enemies with some of the most difficult bosses in the game, keeping you on your toes as you explore the world. It’s helped with some magnificent combat that feels fluid and brutal, as you dismember grunts across the land. While the experience was, admittedly, marred by microtransactions that were unnecessary, to say the least, Shadow of War is still an absolute delight to play, and the endgame mode of challenging fortresses for hours on end keeps me coming back regularly.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
With new entries from genre-defining franchises in 2023, fighting games have gotten a bit of a resurgence lately. Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 are both excellent titles and to say that there’s plenty of hype around Tekken 8 would be an understatement. Now that these heavy hitters are back in the fray, it’s easy to miss a title like Dragon Ball FighterZ. Dragon Ball is a massive franchise as well, but when it comes to its games, people tend to look for the words “Budokai Tenkaichi” in the title.
Released back in 2018, FighterZ takes all of your favourite Dragon Ball characters and throws them into a 3-on-3 battle much like Marvel Vs. Capcom games. Button inputs for DBFZ are fairly simple compared to other fighting games, but its gameplay mechanics are deep and allow you to get creative with your combos and setups. Patches in the latter half of 2023 have made nearly every character in the game a viable pick which is quite impressive considering there are over 40 to choose from. And with rollback netcode making its way to the game, it’s definitely worth picking up and throwing out a few kamehamehas in 2024.
Dead Rising 3
Once labelled as the black sheep of the Dead Rising franchise, prior to the disastrous fourth game in the series, Dead Rising 3 is a vastly underrated zombie action game set in a dense open world. Released as an Xbox One launch title, Dead Rising 3 isn’t as serious as its bleak brown world would lead you to believe, instead offering a very tongue-in-cheek take on the zombie apocalypse just like its predecessors.
Combined with its over-the-top DLC pack Super Ultra Dead Rising 3′ Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, this zombie game is not only one of the best to play alone but also with friends. Even better, it can be grabbed for just a few quid on Xbox or PC, so you should definitely give it a swing.
Dishonored
With a massive cult following and well over 100 awards since it first came out all the way back in 2012, Dishonored is still a criminally underrated title from Arkane Studios. Stealth games in general might still be considered a relatively niche genre, and for those who haven’t played Dishonored, it might have been easy to turn away from if players were after a more all-guns-blazing romp. But the beauty behind Dishonored is that you can play it exactly the way you want to play it. Choices have never mattered more, and every decision, every minuscule change in your gameplay, can alter the world around you.
The replayability alone is enough for it to stand the test of time and still be a fantastic game in 2024. You can choose high or low chaos, pacifist runs or murder sprees, but the game is there to be moulded by the player. With so many huge RPG titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 changing the game this decade, Dishonored still holds up as a great title in the same story-focused vein. Its heavily stylised art style ages beautifully, the world-building and musical score (penned by Daniel Licht, who composed the theme song to the blood-spattered TV show, Dexter) are immersive and sucker you into the streets of Dunwall, and even better, the DLCs and sequels are just as much fun to play. It’s not just an underrated game, it’s an underrated franchise.
A Hat in Time
Despite looking like yet another average 3D platformer nostalgic romp, A Hat in Time presents some of the most interesting gameplay ideas from the last few years. From trying to solve a mysterious murder mystery on a train, while being scammed by a series of nasty crows, to being drafted by a scary ghost to complete tasks such as cleaning a well and exorcising a haunted house, there are so many unique and entertaining moments that make the game incredibly memorable.
Of course, all these ideas wouldn’t work if the game wasn’t a solid 3D platformer in the first place, and there’s much to have fun with. Collecting hats to unlock new powers, completing challenging levels to unlock new areas and even strange human memorabilia that we can display around our hub ship. All with incredibly funny writing throughout, which makes situations like a little kid going against the Mafia feature some really laugh-out-loud moments. This is one you really wouldn’t want to miss out on, even if you don’t have any nostalgia for the genre.
Deathloop
Two rival assassins trapped in a time loop. Groundhog Day meets John Wick. If more really needs to be said, it’s got the incredible level design that Arkane is known for with many Dishonored mechanics reimagined to fit the incredibly satisfying gunplay. An aggressive marketing campaign made many potential players’ eyes glaze over by the time the game actually launched, but Deathloop captures the frantic nature of Hotline Miami and deftly merges it with the Hitman games’ freedom for a whole lot of fun.
What really makes Deathloop special, though, is its ability to make you engage with it. In other games, you may find yourself saving every five seconds to avoid being caught and punished. There’s no manual saving in Deathloop, and as you get more comfortable with the maps you’ll find yourself breaking stealth just because it’s fun, consequence-free, and a chance to flex your murder-y prowess on the poor, poor AI.
So there you have it, a carefully curated list to add to your backlog of games to play in between those big releases you’ve been on the edge of your seat waiting for. The beauty in these little gems is that they’ve been ageing like fine wine, so they’ll be right there for you when you’re ready.
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