10 Underrated Games You Should Check Out

Advertising is the engine of progress. No matter how you look at it, no matter what masterpieces you create, the decisive factor for success will be banal information to potential consumers. And where publishers fail, the press and recommendations of like-minded people will come to the rescue. This is how, at first, not successful projects deservedly become examples of their genre (Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Beyond Good and Evil), and then, not least thanks to digital distribution, they make up for the number of copies sold (Darksiders, Psychonauts, Spec Ops: The Line, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger). But besides these exceptions, there are still many decent games that remain without due attention.
Of course, it’s impossible to remember all the “unloved ones” in one article, so I highlighted ten games that, under other circumstances, could become iconic hits and have much more supporters than they do now. Some were prevented from succeeding by a lack of advertising, others by certain shortcomings, and some became direct victims of publishing atrocities. Otherwise, each of the games presented should be given a second chance.

Stealth action game The Saboteur attracted attention with its stylish appearance. Paris, captured by the Nazis, lost its colors and turned into a dull black and white mess, sometimes diluted with red banners and warm lantern lights. A simple and at the same time effective solution a la “Sin City” not only distinguished the game from its competitors, but also served as the foundation for an important gameplay interestingness. By overcoming the Nazis and reducing their influence in certain areas of the city, we gradually returned to Paris the colors, joyful atmosphere and smiling people who increasingly believed in victory over the occupiers. Our hero – Sean Devlin, an Irish auto mechanic who collaborates with the Parisian resistance movement – knew how to not only shoot Nazis and drive, but was also a dexterous steeplejack. However, the name of the game indicated that it is mainly up to the player to act secretly, as befits a real saboteur. To do this, the Irishman could dress up in the uniform of killed enemies and strike from the inside at enemy points. Blowing up an airship, infiltrating enemy headquarters, dashing chases – the game provided enough main and side entertainment, and their certain circulation was skillfully compensated by the above-mentioned style, exotic scenery and rich musical accompaniment.

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

While Gordon Freeman was making waves with his gravity gun stunts, Nick Scryer was putting on the show on the consoles, manipulating objects not with any device but with the power of his mind. In fact, psychic abilities are the basis of Psi-Ops, which turned the popular “anti-terrorism” shooter into an invigorating action movie. Undercover agent Skryer is forced to flee the ranks of the villains, while at the same time recovering forgotten skills. Pyrokinesis, sucking vitality from enemies, mind control and the main highlight – telekinesis – would make Emperor Palpatine and other Sith chew their cloaks with envy. What’s nice is that the developers didn’t limit themselves to combat situations alone, although they regularly threw resourceful enemies at us, and then the same psychics turned against Skryer. There were also plenty of puzzles in Psi-Ops that required the use of certain abilities, primarily telekinesis – the authors could not enjoy the local physics and, at every opportunity, gave players the opportunity to randomly throw everything around without being nailed to the floor. And what’s nice is that even a PC port made by four Chinese does not interfere with enjoying the delights of Psi-Ops.

In the first days after the release of this game, there was massive hype for the clumsy graphics, crooked combat and the invasion of amazing gaming conventions. Indeed, it was strange to see in a game with the Bourne-Bauer spirit such nonsense as armor regeneration, time stopping or complete invisibility. But once the criticism subsided, it became clear that Alpha Protocol deserves every letter of the phrase “spy RPG”. The luminary of the genre Chris Avellone once surprised by turning the dialogue system into a full-fledged enemy for the player. The ideology of “say not what you think, but what they want to hear from you” has reached a new level – now it was possible to deliberately not only improve, but also spoil relationships with other characters, if we benefit from it (and often it did). Actually, Michael Thorton, the main character of the game, in our hands could be a convincing nit among the game characters, who just let someone shoot him in the head, humiliate him and throw around jokes for 300. Or Thornton could have been a glossy hero who saved the downtrodden (at least tried to), overcame terrorists and exposed the dirty deeds of defense corporations. Alpha Protocol, like no other game, shows what true nonlinearity is. Not only the words spoken, the decisions made, the completion of additional tasks, or even your manner of passing have their consequences here. The order in which you select locations and tasks also affects what and who you see later in the game and what you do. However, the price to pay for the variability is the length of the game – a single playthrough is unlikely to exceed 15 hours.

The creators of the https://magicredcasino.uk/ Glorious Yakuza series set themselves the goal of creating a combat drama, the important moments of which will take place in the midst of battle, and not somewhere in the cutscenes. This is how the idea of ​​creating a partner loyalty system was born. Depending on how your character acts and how he treats his comrades, your partners will either be obedient executors of your orders, or arbitrary impudents who know better what to do. In practice, the loyalty system, although it wasn’t as bright, was still able to distinguish Binary Domain from other tactical shooters. Giving orders in the middle of a tense battle (for example, the game supported recognition of voice commands) and ensuring their strict execution is another pleasure.The game did not lag behind in the shooter part. Robots, unlike people, were not too embarrassed by the loss of their heads or limbs, because the glands, even in a mutilated form, tried to kill you. And the hefty bosses impressed with both their scope and the moderate “Japaneseness” of their design. Even the developers made a foldable story – here you have corporate wars, buddy-movie, as well as the humanistic problem “What to do with works that consider themselves people?"The multiplayer would have left a bitter taste and SEGA’s minimal attention towards a potential hit.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Another potential diamond with bad luck. First of all, because some smart guy thought, “Hmm, this horror movie should be half (if not more) a shooter.”. One could forgive the constant respawning of enemies and inconvenient shooting controls – after all, this creates additional tension – however, there were many combat episodes and often they did not have an alternative route. But the atmosphere was such that even if you take bread. By successfully combining motifs from several of Lovecraft’s works, the developers managed to create a truly unforgettable experience. Cheerful prologue; Innsmouth, where you would want to commit suicide; the legendary hotel escape, which remains one of the most terrifying episodes in gaming; tense duel with Shoggoth – everything would be fine if the start didn’t sag under the onslaught of obsessive action. However, the creators of the game were looking for a reason to fully utilize our character’s health system. And if in such an environment it was possible to delight the player with psychoses and hallucinations, then bleeding and broken limbs required radical dangers.But despite the positive reviews from the press and the efforts of Bethesda, the game did not experience significant success – long-term development devoured profits, forced the creators to throw out an alternative ending, and also put an end to the almost finished sequel, Call of Cthulhu: A Destiny’s End.

Deadly Premonition is one of those games that are perceived in polar ways: either you spit and twist your finger at your temple, turning off this devilry, or you raise your hands to the sky and beat yourself up in pious delight at the genius of the game. To be honest, DP has a legion of bugs, poor graphics and animation, disastrously crooked controls, ridiculous music, sluggish voice acting and often incoherent lines in the script. Hidetaka Suehiro (aka SWERY, the author of this madness) openly puts hefty chocolate mass on the usual gaming devices and logic, without thinking about the comfort and understanding of the player. And then a miracle happened: the concentration of thrash and crookedness goes off scale so much that it gives Deadly Premonition a peculiar charm.And if you manage to break through this jungle of inhospitability towards the player, turn off logic and come to terms with the general idiocy around you, Deadly Premonition will truly captivate you. The strong associations with Twin Peaks are not accidental – the game also has “owls / coffee / residents / buttons / cigarettes / is never what it seems” and it is generally unknown what awaits the player in the next moment. However, the mystical detective story is only half of the whole picture. Our dear special agent must eat, sleep and shave, plus he can help local residents with their little troubles – for this we were given a bunch of relevant systems, an open world and a constant flow of time. In total, the game looks like a crazy, non-genre medley of game ideas, movie cliches and various borrowings, which cannot work harmoniously (and should not). And no matter how thin the line between genius and madness may be, the fact is that Deadly Premonition provides a truly unique gaming experience.

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Despite the fact that this game was created in parallel with F.E.A.R., on the same engine, in a similar network and nominally in the same genre, at the end we got the antipodes. F.E.A.R. was a fast-paced shooter that would emphasize PC preference in appearance and mechanics. Condemned instead turned out to be a slow game, where quick firefights replaced bloody and initially wild fights, and gloss and detail were replaced by console blur. There were some forced simplifications – so all the detective work of FBI agent Ethan Thomas comes down to pressing one button, and the character himself will receive the necessary device and examine the crime scene.In his hunt for a serial killer, Ethan Thomas finds himself increasingly immersed in an urban swamp. His main enemies are not trained soldiers, but ordinary homeless people, drug addicts and petty bandits. And since there are always few cartridges for a revolver, and the firearm itself does not provide confidence, then boards, axes, shovels, hammers and other improvised murder weapons are used. With its rudeness, gloom and sky-high concentration of rust-dirt-rot, Condemned evokes strong associations with the film “Seven” by David Fincher. For this, you can even forgive the lack of interactivity and the frank monotony of the game.

Having created Bionic Commando, a very decent remake of an ancient arcade game, studio Grin received an order from CAPCOM to develop a full-fledged sequel according to the then console standards. But it didn’t work: inconveniences like a crooked save system, a mediocre story and problematic multiplayer turned out to be trifles compared to the failed marketing of the Japanese publisher, which actually buried a very decent game – less than 30,000 discs were sold in the first month.Which is a shame, because the new adventures of Nathan Spencer, armed with a robotic arm, are gaining momentum after a fragile swing. Actually, a robotic arm, which serves as both a weapon and a good vehicle (with its help you can swing and fly a map, like the Jewish boy Spiderman) is the alpha and omega of the local game. The landscapes of the destroyed metropolis and the jungle are dotted with opportunities for spectacular “flights” on robotic arms, and instead of terrorists, enemies invulnerable to balls will soon attack. And again you will have to act with an iron fist: either hit it with acceleration, or throw it, or combine different approaches when it comes to the bosses. A shooter, Spider-Man Politanks and a cheerful action movie – this is such a tasty jam that Bionic Commando is.

BioWare actually decided on a second debut – having made hit RPGs using other people’s licenses, the Canadians set about creating their own universe, choosing the Xbox as their priority platform. The idea was a success, the bold experiments paid off, but the console successes were quickly forgotten, and on PC Jade Empire was not received as warmly as it deserved.Despite the fact that the types of companions and the structure of the plot were quite consistent with the famous “template BioWare”, Jade Empire immediately captivated by its setting – exotic Asian fantasy. Everything is subordinated to Eastern aesthetics: the combat system is based on kung fu styles ("Drunken Master" is also!) And chi magic, the inventory was replaced by an amulet with replaceable stones, and the “good-evil” scale turned into two philosophical movements, sometimes they were not so clear-cut. During the game, players were treated to a bunch of colorful scenes: a battle with spirits in the swamps, a fight in a cafe, a performance in the theater.And although it’s quite a shame that BioWare isn’t even looking at Jade Empire yet – and how much it deserves a sequel! — Even the original, with all its console limitations, is capable of providing several dozen hours of pleasure.

Alone in the Dark

A textbook example of how a game is completely overflowing with bold ideas and innovations (. ) dies from shoddy implementation. The sequel/reimagining of the classic horror film actually offered a lot of fresh ideas, such as real-time inventory management of a jacket or a visual representation of all the wounds on the body of our hero, Edward Carnby. The ancient rule of overcoming cadaver – Kill it with fire – acquired delicious subtleties: now you could pick up any stick, set it on fire and confidently go into battle with monsters. A mini flamethrower made with a lighter and spray or homemade incendiary cartridges also helped out. Actually, even after 8 years, the fire in Alone in the Dark remains one of the most beautiful and most functional among games.But not the only fire. The horror movie regularly threw up physical puzzles, confronting the darkness with the help of light (hi, Alan), or dashing (and crooked) races through the streets of New York. And all this is accompanied by cool musical accompaniment, the lion’s share of which was performed by a female a cappella ensemble from Bulgaria. In short, the French developers tried their best to create a survival horror that should shake up the genre and set new quality standards.However, the Atari publisher was NOT concerned with quality, allocating funds to aggressive marketing rather than to development and polishing. Questionable controls even on a gamepad, sometimes outdated graphics, a short menagerie and dozens of other problems are just the fruits of improper funding and haste on the part of the publisher. What to say about the PC port, which is rightfully called one of the worst ports in history. Yes, even though it’s easier to sip tea with a keyboard than to play Alone in the Dark, having a gamepad will somehow give you a look at the filthy pearl.

And after ten, if you still want to try something from the above, then don’t forget to rummage through Uncle Gabe’s store / GOG / Origin and pick up something for yourself on the winter sale.