There are plenty of acclaimed games recognized by critics and players alike for their brilliance. Titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Breath of the Wild, and God of War launched to praise from all over the gaming industry. Often, though, great games can be overlooked, not being recognized for their excellence by the majority, leading to them being forgotten by the mainstream.

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Games like this can be anything from platformers to first-person shooters, and most of them have garnered a following of players who continue to praise them, despite their lack of general recognition. The following are some of the best examples in recent memory.

Updated on November 26, 2024, by Dennis Moiseyev: With plenty of new games launching left and right, and oftentimes multiple in a single week, it can be hard to determine where your priorities lie, so some games often get discarded, but that shouldn't mean they're any less worthy of acclaim. There are plenty of games over the years that seem like they're at risk of being forgotten even though they offer some of the best story and gameplay you'll see in the medium.

Below we've added some new underrated horror gems of the 21st century.

26 Alone In The Dark (2024)

A Remake Worthy Of The Same Praise As Dead Space And Silent Hill 2

Alone in the Dark

Survival Horror Released March 20, 2024 ESRB M for Mature Developer(s) Pieces Interactive Publisher(s) THQ Nordic Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand Collapse

2024's Alone in the Dark absolutely deserves a chance as a modern survival horror game. It does an incredible job with its sound design, particularly with jumpscares, document voice-overs, and the jazz soundtrack that plays throughout to build that noir horror atmosphere. David Harbour and Jodie Comer give as outstanding a performance as you can get in a video game, with Harbour's Edward Carnby arguably being an even better portrayal than Jim Hopper.

The environment design, story writing, puzzles, creatures, and main bosses are well-executed. There's even a chase sequence with the Dark Man that is on par with Silent Hill 2's Pyramid Head, in which firing a weapon will cleverly make your character turn it on themselves. The influences of Lovecraft and Egyptology and the attention to detail to the original are incredible. Stealth and weapon reloading could be a lot smoother, but the combat is still nowhere near as disastrous as The Callisto Protocol.

25 Shadows Of The Damned

There's No Tour Through The Underworld Quite Like It

Shadows of the Damned

Action Third-Person Shooter Released June 21, 2011 ESRB m Developer(s) Grasshopper Manufacture Platform(s) PS3, Xbox 360 Metascore 77 Powered by Expand Collapse

Shadows of the Damned is perhaps EA's most underrated game, so much so that some are just figuring out that this game even exists with the launch of the 2024 Hella Remastered version. This is not your typical supernatural action-adventure title, however, as it's more like Lollipop Chainsaw in terms of vulgarity and comedic writing.

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You play a hotshot demon hunter character named Garcia Hotspur, who must venture into hell to recover his girlfriend in a story setup not too different from the tale Orpheus and Eurydice. However, the gameplay makes it nothing but a fun, over-the-top romp through the underworld from Suda51 and Resident Evil and The Evil Within's Shinji Mikami.

24 The Medium

A Narrative-Driven Horror That Deserves Way More Credit

The Medium

Survival Horror Released January 28, 2021 ESRB M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence Developer(s) Bloober Team Publisher(s) Bloober Team Platform(s) PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand Collapse

Bloober Team struck gold with Silent Hill 2, but they also have a lot of their own underappreciated Double-A horror gems, including what could be described as their version of Silent Hill - The Medium. From the very intro of the game to the themes and storytelling (not to mention a soundtrack co-composed by Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka), it becomes evident how Silent Hill influences the foundation of the game design.

Where Bloober's creativity comes in is the intentional split-screen design, which allows your protagonist, Marianne, and the spirit form joined to her to exist at the same time, with the puzzles relying on that mechanic as well. The environments inside Niwa, especially the ones later in the story, are gorgeous and will look as though you're inside a painting, which is no coincidence, considering they're inspired by Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski.

23 Silent Hill 4: The Room

A Different Experience But Still Hailed As One Of The Best From Team Silent

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Survival Horror Systems Released September 7, 2004 ESRB m Developer(s) Team Silent Publisher(s) Konami Engine Unreal Engine 5 Franchise Silent Hill
Where to play Close

WHERE TO PLAY

PHYSICAL
Platform(s) PC, PS2, Xbox (Original) Powered by Expand Collapse

When you think of the best Silent Hill games, usually the first three from Team Silent come to mind, and Shattered Memories too gets some love from fans, but Silent Hill 4: The Room often gets overlooked. This entry introduces you to a new protagonist named Henry Townshend and experiments with a first-person perspective when you're inside Henry's apartment, which is located in Ashfield.

While you might long for that oppressive atmosphere and fog-drenched Silent Hill landscape, you still get to explore Otherworlds and encounter some of the series' most eerie and disturbing creature designs yet. The Room's story is also somewhat of a continuation of the second game with many connections, including the main villain being Walter Sullivan, a deceased serial killer you've heard a lot about in Silent Hill 2, as well as James Sunderland's dad, Frank.

22 Days Gone

Zombie Games Truly Can't Get Any Better Than This

Days Gone

Open-World Action Adventure 2.5/5 Released April 26, 2019 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language Developer(s) Bend Studio Publisher(s) Sony Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 4 Powered by Expand Collapse

PlayStation exclusives tend to overperform and amass a phenomenal response from both critics and players alike due to their quality, but not in the case of Days Gone. It's a unique open-world zombie game from Bend Studio that ended up getting largely overshadowed by Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series, and it's now also infamously remembered for the ex-director's spat with Sony over it not getting a sequel and ending up in Astro Bot.

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What Days Gone achieved was brilliance with zombie combat, giving you a swarm of hundreds of zombies called Freakers to evade and take on via various methods, whether they be the environment or your arsenal. The action is as impressive as the rats from A Plague Tale or World War Z-style hordes. Your protagonist, Deacon St. John, was also part of a motorcycle gang prior to the apocalypse, so you get that Sons of Anarchy element and GTA's The Lost MC.

The Mist and Being Human star, and Darth Maul and Starkiller's voice actor, Sam Witwer, gives an underrated performance as the main protagonist Deacon St. John.

21 The Thaumaturge

The Polish Hidden Gem Cousin Of Disco Elysium

The Thaumaturge

Adventure RPG Released March 4, 2024 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood, Drug Reference, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence Developer(s) Fool's Theory Publisher(s) 11 Bit Studios Platform(s) PC Powered by Expand Collapse

If you're a fan of supernatural historical fiction and detective thrillers, don't skip over The Thaumaturge. This is a turn-based RPG that went way under the radar of many, and it actually offers a gem of a story from Fool's Theory, a studio headed by a former Witcher 3 developer and that helped with the development of Baldur's Gate 3. So, you can certainly say this team knows its way around characters and quest design.

You'll be in the shoes of the titular thaumaturge, Wiktor Szulski, who investigates many mysteries and frequently gets into conflict with the soldiers in the Tsar's army, all with his good friend and companion Rasputin by his side. It's set in 1905 Poland, with the writing, characters, and environment design immersing you right away. Your arsenal also consists of demons you collect called Salutors, which have some detailed and terrifying designs.

20 Aliens: Dark Descent

Expanding Aliens Lore One RTS Level At A Time

Aliens: Dark Descent

Real-Time Strategy 1.5/5 Released June 20, 2023 ESRB M for Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence Developer(s) Tindalos Interactive Publisher(s) Focus Entertainment Platform(s) PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One Powered by Expand Collapse

The Alien series is up there with other films as having plenty of video game adaptations. Although Aliens: Fireteam Elite and Alien: Isolation have been heralded as some of the best video games the series has to offer, Dark Descent slipped through the cracks but is an equally worthy entry that deserves more recognition.

The gameplay is also something vastly different from what you've seen before, as Aliens: Dark Descent is an isometric real-time strategy tactics game where a squad of up to five Colonial Marines mows down hordes of Xenomorphs across different locations. Each teammate is fully customizable from their appearance to what they're equipped with, and the story set on the moon Lethe comes with compelling new threats and characters.

19 Mad Max

As Great An Entry As Any Of The Films By George Miller

Mad Max

Action-Adventure Open-World Released September 1, 2015 ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs Developer(s) Avalanche Studios Publisher(s) Warner Bros. Games Platform(s) PC, PS4, Xbox One Powered by Expand Collapse

Despite what George Miller himself has said about the 2015 Mad Max game, it's a masterpiece in terms of VFX, gameplay mechanics, and visual design. You literally are the Road Warrior, able to fill your car up with 'guzzolene' and customize and upgrade its features to be equipped with the best vehicle in the wasteland. And the combat, both vehicular and melee, is what video game action-adventure is all about.

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The hand-to-hand system features a fluid bone-breaking counter system very similar to the Batman: Arkham games, with some brutal finishers and shotgun action coming in as well. Then, the vehicle mayhem and explosions are even more spectacular, as you can use the harpoon and other modifications to pull down towers and rip off parts of enemy vehicles to send Scabrous Scrotus' War Boys to Valhalla.

18 Batman: Arkham Origins

The Underrated Black Sheep Of The Batman Arkham Family

Batman: Arkham Origins

Action Adventure Released October 25, 2013 Developer(s) WB Games Montreal Publisher(s) Warner Bros. Interactive Platform(s) Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Powered by Expand Collapse

Batman: Arkham Origins is the game that unfairly gets the most criticism aimed at it from the entire series of Batman: Arkham games. But does everyone forget how poor the Batmobile gameplay felt in Arkham Knight, or the dumpster fire that turned out to be Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League? Suddenly, Arkham Origins probably doesn't sound like a bad option, and it's really not.

While not developed by Rocksteady like the other games, Origins still offers much more of the same iconic caped crusader open-world combat and investigative experience from Arkham City. It takes place around Christmas Eve and has an epic roster of villains, like Deathstroke, Black Mask, Firefly, Copperhead, Deadshot, and Anarky. Additionally, Troy Baker as Joker and Roger Craig Smith as Batman are hard to distinguish from Hamill and Conroy's performances.

17 Spec Ops: The Line

A Powerful Video Game Retelling Of Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Spec Ops: The Line

Third-Person Shooter Released June 26, 2012 ESRB M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language Developer(s) Yager Development Publisher(s) 2K Games Platform(s) PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Metascore 77 Powered by Expand Collapse

On the surface, Spec Ops: The Line seems like a serviceable third-person cover shooter, but nothing special. However, there is much more to the Yager Development game than meets the eye. It has one of the most compelling and engrossing stories in action game history. In fact, it's one of the few military titles that try not to glamorize war too much.

The protagonist, Captain Walker, is not just some burly action hero. He's a soldier who gets increasingly affected by what he sees on the battlefield. And the game cleverly simulates the warping of his mind by playing tricks on you while you play.