- 27/02/2024
Which games deserve more love?
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00:00 With the gaming industry bigger than ever kicking out multi-million dollar projects left and right,
00:04 it's hard keeping up with every last thing you should play. On the flip side though,
00:08 you've got more options than ever - more games that have associated fanbases or passionate
00:12 followings screaming that a certain title didn't get its due. The more time passes,
00:16 the more the collective spotlight moves on, and the more that recommendation feels essential because
00:21 that wider set of people just don't know what they're missing. I'm Scott from WhatCulture.com,
00:25 and these are 9 Seriously Underappreciated Video Games.
00:29 9. Batman The Enemy Within Interestingly, the second season of Batman was
00:34 really Telltale Games' swansong. The Walking Dead saw two episodes released before the studio
00:39 closed, and the rest went off in a handful of other directions. Batman was that studio's final
00:44 game from the original creative run, and what a way to go. Season one of Telltale's Batman was
00:49 genuinely phenomenal, putting you in the shoes of Batman and Bruce Wayne in a way that no other work
00:54 of fiction has ever attempted. It made for a fascinating dynamic, as you knew a potential
00:58 boardroom decision as Bruce could mess with Batman's duties and vice versa. Season two then
01:03 continued that formula but improved on it. Bruce was forced to go undercover and infiltrate a gang
01:08 consisting of Bane, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn and the Joker. The story and choices
01:13 tested how far you were willing to go to maintain your cover, whilst also making you feel sympathy
01:18 for the Joker. No small feat. It was Telltale Games firing on all cylinders, at everything they
01:24 always did better than the competition. The Enemy Within is a fantastic Batman/Bruce Wayne story
01:29 that subverted expectations and had you reeling at every decision that had to be made. Troy Baker's
01:35 Bruce/Bat combo is low-key and all-timer, and I think it'll only get more appreciated as we move
01:40 forward. 8. Ni No Kuni II
01:43 A sequel to Sony's breakout JRPG was never a sure thing, but Ni No Kuni II is a beautiful RPG that
01:50 does lack the heart of the original, whilst making up for it with better gameplay and a
01:54 more robust world. If you never played the first Ni No Kuni, it was a mesmerising JRPG that tasked
01:59 you with collecting familiars, then battling, almost like Pokemon or Persona. What really set
02:04 Ni No Kuni apart, however, was its heart-wrenching story, told with Studio Ghibli-style animated
02:08 cutscenes that were just endlessly charming. The sequel then features even better gameplay,
02:13 a more interesting world, lots more familiars, and a fun town-building mode. Yes, it missed those
02:18 Ghibli cutscenes and the touching story, but Ni No Kuni II remains one of the most recommendable
02:23 and gorgeous RPGs of the modern day. 7. Grease
02:27 Graphics will never trump gameplay entirely, but if we're making a pie chart of reasons to play
02:33 Grease, it's definitely 80% that godlike art direction. An absolutely wondrous painterly
02:39 style, backed by an impactful story told entirely through visuals, gameplay borrows small parts of
02:44 a Metroidvania structure, including light platforming and various abilities you'll unlock
02:49 over time. Speaking of over time, this initially launched on Switch and PC, though 2019 saw one
02:54 hell of an upscale over on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro. With the game now running at
03:00 4K with locked FPS frame rates also available on PS5, if you want a literal feast for your eyes
03:06 that's a joy to play through and explore, Grease is that game.
03:09 6. Firewall Zero Hour Languishing for a couple of years after launch,
03:14 2018 was the breakout year for virtual reality. In particular, it was a banner year for PlayStation
03:20 VR, which saw incredible games like Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Moss. It was also the year we
03:25 got the best console VR shooter so far, Firewall Zero Hour. Others had attempted to make FPS games
03:31 in VR, such as Bravo Team, but Firewall was the first on PlayStation that made you feel like you
03:36 were really in the firefight. Gritty, tactile and addictive when it comes to making you actively
03:40 think of different ways to approach firefights, you'll physically take cover or play the angles
03:45 game against someone in hiding to just pop a headshot. Solid graphics help immerse you in the
03:50 action, and every time you see a bullet coming square at your face, your heart will skip a beat.
03:54 Firewall was a huge stepping stone for PSVR when it comes to how these kinds of experiences can
03:59 really work and elevate the genre itself. 5. Detroit Become Human
04:04 Somehow the forgotten quantic dream game, despite an insane budget, production values and fact it
04:10 has a very dedicated fanbase, Detroit Become Human is a story told from multiple perspectives you
04:15 need to experience yourself. Detroit, circa 2038, is a city revitalized by the advent of androids
04:21 as human helpers. Think iRobot, but much more lifelike. Three androids, Kara, Marcus and Connor,
04:26 find themselves intrinsically linked in a world that is on the brink of a revolution. It's a
04:30 story that works surprisingly well once you have to make decisions as one character that affects
04:35 the other, even if the whole thing is insanely heavy-handed when it comes to drawing on racial
04:39 subject matter across the board. The elephant in the room is obviously that Detroit and David Cage's
04:44 writing play too fast and loose with incredibly sensitive topics, not to mention Cage's reputation
04:50 plummeting in recent years alongside a string of ugly accusations. It'll be on each player whether
04:54 or not they're comfortable separating these elements from the game itself, as in the latter's
04:59 case tracking a collective playerbase's choices in this context and seeing which branching story
05:03 paths you miss or committed to can be very satisfying. Vampyr is set in 19th century
05:11 England and puts you in the shoes of Dr. Jonathan Reed, who's just contracted vampirism. You then
05:16 play the game struggling with the need to feast versus the morality of killing your patients for
05:20 sustenance and some fancier unlockables. As you can imagine with this coming from the minds of
05:25 Life is Strange and Remember Me, Vampyr is more about storytelling and worldbuilding than it is
05:30 gameplay. This dark and twisting story is reflected in the gloomy and claustrophobic
05:34 streets of London, which makes for a refreshing tale in a world overflowing with sequels and
05:39 safe bets. Vampyr has atmosphere in abundance, and what it lacks in polish and occasionally
05:44 repetitive combat, it more than makes up for with style, uniqueness and supremely well-written
05:49 characters. The best Marvel game that isn't Insomniac Spider-Man titles but deserves to be
05:57 up there with them, Guardians of the Galaxy suffered a terrible initial gameplay demo at E3,
06:02 and then a completely flat marketing rollout that didn't accentuate its positives whatsoever. What
06:07 Square Enix appeared to show off was a thrown-together cash grab almost feeling like
06:10 Avengers DLC being sold for full price. What Guardians actually is though is an incredibly
06:16 well-written character piece from some key minds behind Deus Ex. Optional side missions and
06:20 conversations are on the level of Mass Effect, and the overall story here gets incredibly emotional
06:25 and unique in tackling themes of fatherhood and what it even feels like to know a group of people
06:30 have your back no matter what. Yes, combat gets repetitive, but it's serviceable enough,
06:34 and nowhere near the majority of what you're doing. This is a game that prioritises its
06:38 characters, fun soundtrack, neat dialogue options and above all, that specific Guardians tone.
06:44 It's clear creative director Jean-Francois Dugas got the source material and knew exactly how to
06:49 elevate it. Eidos Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy is the best Guardians of the Galaxy
06:53 thing we've had so far. 2. Florence
06:56 Florence tells the most realistic tale of a relationship ever seen in video games. The ups,
07:02 the downs, the joy, the melancholy, it's incredibly moving but it was initially exclusive to mobile,
07:07 and that meant flying completely under most people's radars. Thankfully, it's now on Switch,
07:12 and this touching story focuses on Florence falling for someone and the days and weeks
07:16 that follow. You'll go from start to finish in around 40 minutes, with Kevin Penkin's gorgeously
07:21 carefree, occasionally sad soundtrack carrying you through. Made to be a drop-in short story
07:26 of a video game centred on dating in a city, there isn't much in the way of gameplay but every
07:30 mechanic serves to make playable the various mindsets and realities of a relationship where
07:35 some things fit and others don't. Making the mundane interesting and nailing a tight autistic
07:40 vision, Florence joins the likes of Unpacking and The Artful Escape as brilliant indie gems that
07:45 really stick with you. 1. A Way Out
07:48 It took it takes two to really catapult Joseph Fares into the limelight, and that was after
07:53 Critical Darling Brothers A Tale of Two Sons initially turned heads. However, there is a
07:57 release in the middle that far less people seem to care about. A Way Out then pits you and a friend,
08:02 be it local or online, as two prison inmates who band together to try and escape. The crux is that
08:07 the whole game takes place in split screen, with each player performing unique actions or making
08:12 decisions about how to approach situations, affecting the other in real time. As would
08:16 become more obvious across It Takes Two, Joseph Fares has endless ideas for dual agency in an
08:22 interactive space, and here you'll do everything from stealth sections to over-shoulder shooting,
08:26 car escape chases to mini-games like playing Connect 4. Honestly, it's just awesome.
08:31 With a far, far tighter runtime and personally a more enjoyable story than It Takes Two,
08:36 A Way Out is more than recommendable if you like what Fares brings to the gaming table.
08:40 And those are just a handful of totally underappreciated video games. Let me know
08:45 your favourites down in the comments below, and please subscribe to the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast.
08:49 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com, and I'll catch you soon.
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