- Staff
- #1
I wanted to give a shout out to a couple of games but our existing underrated/underappreciated game threads are pretty ancient. We easily keep track of every major release but there are constantly games flying under the radar. Feel free to drop anything you think might be slept on in here but keep it somewhat recent, at least current gen, so it's not just name dropping retro games that hardly anyone is going to be able to pick up today. Let this serve as a recommendation thread for those looking for something to play and might not give these games a second look. It doesn't have to be super obscure, but if it doesn't have a thread here and there is hardly any mention of it then that's enough.
Hell is Us
I want to kick it off with Hell is Us. This is extremely slept on. If you search for discussions on it the criticism is its combat. No the combat isn't deep, but it's tight enough and serves enough of a function. It's deep enough that you can make some pretty fun builds which you'll need after the first chapter but it probably lacks a bit of enemy variety and some more boss type battles wouldn't go astray. Combat isn't what the game is about though. If you're into working things out for yourself, environmental story telling and puzzles then this is right at the top. The quest journal only serves as a place to store the people you've met and the clues you've found. It's up to you to find out what they're talking about and where they are. I had to keep an A4 notepad next to me to note down anything that seemed important as well as record things. Not for everyone but this is how games used to be and it was so satisfying in the end. However I recommend getting it on sale though. Depending on how much side content you do or how long it takes you to work things out it's not a massive game. I didn't 100% but did what I could (I refused to look up any guides so just simply couldn't find some side missions or find the solution to every one I had) and it took me 30 hours. It's regularly on sale so grab it then.
Tainted Grail - Fall of Avalon
Second is Tainted Grail - Fall of Avalon. I'm haven't finished it yet so it may yet fall off a cliff but I'm up to the second area after 20 hours. I've seen it blow up on some other communities I'm in but outside of those I don't see it talked about as much as it should. It's basically Skyrim based on a dark take of King Arthur mixed in with Slavic mythology (will be familiar to anyone who has played a Witcher game). It's open world but not a massive open world like an Elder Scrolls game, but rather smaller open world areas that still feel expansive enough. The maps are littered with secrets and I'm still amazed at just how many NPCs have their own quests. Some are basic but many open up into much bigger side quests. Some have implications with other quests depending on dialogue choices or how you deal with them. In a world of Unreal Engine games it's rare to find a game like this built in Unity but together with the art design (models and textures look more like Skyrim or Oblivion Remaster than any attempt at high def ultra realism) it makes for a smaller install size and lighter system overheads. Apparently the PS5 performance is a bit average so that might be worth looking into first but it's pretty smooth on PC. The is actually a roguelike deckbuilder (Tainted Grail - Conquest) that came out previously that I'm going to check out next.
Tainted Grail has a great soundtrack too. Some of it sounds like the kind of stuff you'd hear in Witcher 3 and mixed in with modern dark ambient folk music.
Hell is Us
I want to kick it off with Hell is Us. This is extremely slept on. If you search for discussions on it the criticism is its combat. No the combat isn't deep, but it's tight enough and serves enough of a function. It's deep enough that you can make some pretty fun builds which you'll need after the first chapter but it probably lacks a bit of enemy variety and some more boss type battles wouldn't go astray. Combat isn't what the game is about though. If you're into working things out for yourself, environmental story telling and puzzles then this is right at the top. The quest journal only serves as a place to store the people you've met and the clues you've found. It's up to you to find out what they're talking about and where they are. I had to keep an A4 notepad next to me to note down anything that seemed important as well as record things. Not for everyone but this is how games used to be and it was so satisfying in the end. However I recommend getting it on sale though. Depending on how much side content you do or how long it takes you to work things out it's not a massive game. I didn't 100% but did what I could (I refused to look up any guides so just simply couldn't find some side missions or find the solution to every one I had) and it took me 30 hours. It's regularly on sale so grab it then.
Tainted Grail - Fall of Avalon
Second is Tainted Grail - Fall of Avalon. I'm haven't finished it yet so it may yet fall off a cliff but I'm up to the second area after 20 hours. I've seen it blow up on some other communities I'm in but outside of those I don't see it talked about as much as it should. It's basically Skyrim based on a dark take of King Arthur mixed in with Slavic mythology (will be familiar to anyone who has played a Witcher game). It's open world but not a massive open world like an Elder Scrolls game, but rather smaller open world areas that still feel expansive enough. The maps are littered with secrets and I'm still amazed at just how many NPCs have their own quests. Some are basic but many open up into much bigger side quests. Some have implications with other quests depending on dialogue choices or how you deal with them. In a world of Unreal Engine games it's rare to find a game like this built in Unity but together with the art design (models and textures look more like Skyrim or Oblivion Remaster than any attempt at high def ultra realism) it makes for a smaller install size and lighter system overheads. Apparently the PS5 performance is a bit average so that might be worth looking into first but it's pretty smooth on PC. The is actually a roguelike deckbuilder (Tainted Grail - Conquest) that came out previously that I'm going to check out next.
Tainted Grail has a great soundtrack too. Some of it sounds like the kind of stuff you'd hear in Witcher 3 and mixed in with modern dark ambient folk music.
