Overlooked games of 2015.

[vallorn]

We all know there is a bit of a glut in the market for indie titles at the moment, ranging everywhere from the "STEAMing pile of shite" games that someone with a brain disorder slapped together with Unity assets all the way through to incredible games like Undertale.

However, there are always diamonds in the rough hidden in the market, games that are extremely solid and well made but which don't get either the indie cred of some releases or the AAA backing of a publisher, I refer to these games as "Small Studio Games" or A games. They can vary from being a mobile game to a nearly AAA game but the defining feature is that they have backing... but not much of it. Games such as these in the past have been ones like Guns of Icarus and, so that we don't just focus on indie and AAA, I felt that right now would be a good time to make a list of the games we think deserved more publicity within this sector of the market.

To start with;
Warhammer Vermintide.
I've been watching this waiting for some spare cash to try it, I bought it very recently and well... Today I ended up burning 8-9 hours on it over 2 long sessions. The game play is solid, the graphics are good, it scales beautifully on PC, and the aesthetic of Warhammer Fantasy is perfectly rendered (<3). It's gotten some coverage simply because it's a "Warhammer" title but not much. I would include Mordheim and Blood Bowl as well but I don't have it (yet) and having 3 Warhammer games in the OP would be a bit weird.

(P.S. If you like coop games then you can do a lot worse than dropping a bit of money on Vermintide, the game doesn't even cost full AAA release money)

Life Is Strange.
I thought that it was odd that this game didn't get more attention. It's mechanics and story are pretty good for what they are and the game itself is a little rough around the edges but manages some very evocative imagery all the same. Plus it outdid Telltale completely at their own game which makes me smile like a grey seer with a fresh nostril full of Warpstone snuff.

So. What games do you think were overlooked by many people this year despite deserving attention? Anything from indie to small studio to AAA is welcome so pull up a chair and inform the rest of us of the hidden gems that we missed this year.

P.S. I was going to put Shadowrun Hong Kong on the list but I made a thread about that game not long ago. Consider this my waving of its flag for the thread.

 

[Elfgore]

Spoiler: Gasp! Is this a chance for me to shout to the heavens how awesome Pirate Warriors 3 is... again? I think it is!!!!!

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 took an already content filled series, added even more content, made several awesome changes, and is about One Piece. It's the most overlooked game ever, I bet even a majority of Warriors fans looked over it. They gave buffs/nerfs as needed, added what is effectively never-ending battle randomizer mode, and reworked the confusing and horrid coin system from the previous game. They also made it very possible for players of minor skill to level break characters, making it one of the most welcoming Warriors games I've seen.

Spoiler: They also actually made this badass mofo good as well, unlike the previous game. Where he sucked something massive.

 

[vallorn]

Spoiler: Gasp! Is this a chance for me to shout to the heavens how awesome Pirate Warriors 3 is... again? I think it is!!!!!

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 took an already content filled series, added even more content, made several awesome changes, and is about One Piece. It's the most overlooked game ever, I bet even a majority of Warriors fans looked over it. They gave buffs/nerfs as needed, added what is effectively never-ending battle randomizer mode, and reworked the confusing and horrid coin system from the previous game. They also made it very possible for players of minor skill to level break characters, making it one of the most welcoming Warriors games I've seen.

Spoiler: They also actually made this badass mofo good as well, unlike the previous game. Where he sucked something massive.

One day I will make you a specific thread to talk at length about that game to your heart's content. Until then, I really should sit down and try that game...

 

[totheendofsin]

J-Stars Victory Vs+

I only recall seeing a few reviews and they were lukewarm at best to the game but I've really been enjoying it. Also I feel it should be notable as the first J-Stars game to actually get an official US release

 

[Zhukov]

I got tired of Vermintide very quickly. The combat all too often boils down to mashing left click at a big pile of rats. It's basically just a reskin of L4D except everyone gets a melee weapon. Which is fine I guess, but I've already played L4D. I don't really need to do it again with different character models and dull RNG loot grinding.

Oh, and the ogre rats are just bullshit. Massive damage soaks with no real counterplay besides stubbornness or getting them bugged out on staircases. Enemies with huge amounts of HP do not make for engaging gameplay. They're just fucking tedious.

Life is Strange is... alright. I suppose. I played the first episode a week or so ago but haven't got around to the rest. It looks like it could get better. The teenager dialogue is hideously awkward though. It's very, very, very obviously written by adults who haven't been teenagers for quite some time and seem to have gotten their idea of how teenagers act from magazines and reality TV. I'd hate it if it wasn't so consistently hilarious.

Telltale's offerings shit all over it though. No question there. With Telltale games I'm always eagerly awaiting the next episode. With Life is Strange I bought the whole lot, played the first episode and haven't felt any immediate need to continue.

 

[vallorn]

I got tired of Vermintide very quickly. The combat all too often boils down to mashing left click at a big pile of rats. It's basically just a reskin of L4D except everyone gets a melee weapon. Which is fine I guess, but I've already played L4D. I don't really need to do it again with different character models and dull RNG loot grinding.

Oh, and the ogre rats are just bullshit. Massive damage soaks with no real counterplay besides stubbornness or getting them bugged out on staircases. Enemies with huge amounts of HP do not make for engaging gameplay. They're just fucking tedious.

Life is Strange is... alright. I suppose. I played the first episode a week or so ago but haven't got around to the rest. It looks like it could get better. The teenager dialogue is hideously awkward though. It's very, very, very obviously written by adults who haven't been teenagers for quite some time and seem to have gotten their idea of how teenagers act from magazines and reality TV. I'd hate it if it wasn't so consistently hilarious.

Telltale's offerings shit all over it though. No question there. With Telltale games I'm always eagerly awaiting the next episode. With Life is Strange I bought the whole lot, played the first episode and haven't felt any immediate need to continue.

Ok, so I know what you thought of my choices now. What games did you think were overlooked this year?

 

[IceForce]

Republique. (Originally an iOS game from 2013, but it just got a 'remastered' PC release this year, so shut up it still counts.)

Probably one of the best examples of a mobile port done right. The controls work as indented, and the graphics are not too shabby having seen an upgrade too.
Jim Sterling has featured it a couple of times in his videos, and the game also features Jennifer Hale putting on a fake French accent.

Available on GOG, although it's fairly expensive in comparison to the other GOG titles.

 

[Strazdas]

Mad Max. the game is a technological marvel, while not new mechanics, the mechanics it uses is used marvelously, has a great progression curve but since it was made for the Original movies and not the new remake everyone keeps overlooking it and pretend it never happened, whereas it might be the best technical game of the entire year. If you like openworld titles do check it out. Ignore those MEDIOCRE critics.

 

[Zhukov]

Ok, so I know what you thought of my choices now, What games did you think were overlooked this year?

Can't really think of any.

2015 has been a rather unremarkable year for games.

Tales from the Borderlands was a nice surprise. But it didn't quite stick the landing. Besides, it wasn't exactly overlooked. It got about as much attention as you'd expect for a game of its relatively modest means.

I might be forgetting some games of course. Perhaps someone else will post something that has slipped my mind.

 

[Zhukov]

... but since it was made for the Original movies and not the new remake everyone keeps overlooking it and pretend it never happened...

Except the game itself makes a whole bunch of feeble attempts to tie into the new movie.

The glossary makes many references to Fury Road. For example, the villain is supposedly related to Immortan Joe. Plus two of the enemy factions are clearly based on the new movie. The Warboys (who even yell "witness!") and the Buzzards.

It seems even the game's own developers saw the writing on the wall.

It feels a lot like they were halfway through dragging their mediocre Mad Max game out of development hell when the new movie came along and took the world by storm, so they desperately scrambled to try and hitch their game to the Fury Road hype train by halfheartedly re-purposing already completed content.

 

[Strazdas]

... but since it was made for the Original movies and not the new remake everyone keeps overlooking it and pretend it never happened...

Except the game itself makes a whole bunch of feeble attempts to tie into the new movie.

The glossary makes many references to Fury Road. For example, the villain is supposedly related to Immortan Joe. Plus two of the enemy factions are clearly based on the new movie. The Warboys (who even yell "witness!") and the Buzzards.

It seems even the game's own developers saw the writing on the wall.

It feels a lot like they were halfway through dragging their mediocre Mad Max game out of development hell when the new movie came along and took the world by storm, so they desperately scrambled to try and hitch their game to the Fury Road hype train by halfheartedly re-purposing already completed content.

Yes, it does. I think you misinterpreted me. The game was developed after the original movies, but a lot has been changed due to the new movie coming out and its success. The publishers wanted them to ram as much Fury Road stuff as they could.

You got that quite the opposite actually, the Publisher wanted the game to release before the movie to create a hype for the movie but the developers fought tooth and nail to get extra time to polish the game. yes, that included re-purposing content to fit the new movie.

edit: words. apperently when i want to type game i type movie and vice versa. silly head.

 

[stroopwafel]

Soma is a game I definitely think deserves more love. The game game heavily delves into themes of existential dread but does so at a really gradual pace so it gives time for you to really put the pieces together. Wandering around on that ocean floor while slowly realizing what happened really made for a claustrophobic experience. As a game Soma is nothing special but it builds atmosphere like nothing else. The story is so good that I'm already having an itch to play it again.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Yakuza 5 definitly.

Yakuza as a series deserves more attention as it is, but after 3 years of waiting for an official translation, it seems to have released to zero fanfare. The amount of stuff they packed into the game is crazy (I wouldn't expect anything less from a Yakuza game though) and I've only played for about 5 hours. Most of that was spent being a taxi driver and street racing in said taxi. I never thought stopping at traffic lights and signalling correctly would be so fun.

 

[Pseudonym]

The beginners guide. It is a 90 minute walking simulator about the miserable feelings of a not all that sympathetic person so I'm not surprised it isn't popular. Jim Sterling liked it and made a review of it but ever since I haven't heard anything about it. It's made by one of the guys who made the stanley parable. I'd expected to see a bit more about it on here or on youtube.

 

[ffronw]

I got tired of Vermintide very quickly. The combat all too often boils down to mashing left click at a big pile of rats. It's basically just a reskin of L4D except everyone gets a melee weapon. Which is fine I guess, but I've already played L4D. I don't really need to do it again with different character models and dull RNG loot grinding.

Oh, and the ogre rats are just bullshit. Massive damage soaks with no real counterplay besides stubbornness or getting them bugged out on staircases. Enemies with huge amounts of HP do not make for engaging gameplay. They're just fucking tedious.

Vermintide is one of my favorite games of the year. It does 4-player co-op better than L4D, because it offers playstyle variety. The loot system could be better (and is a bit better with the addition of the Shrine of Solace), but it's still not bad. As a bonus, it just gets the setting right. I love Warhammer Fantasy, and it nails the look and feel.

As to the ogre rats, it took us a while to figure out the best way to handle them. There's an aggro mechanic in the game, so if your Empire Soldier / Dwarf Ranger has a shield, they can basically taunt the ogre and keep it focused on them while the other characters blast it. If it runs after you, the manual dodge is your friend. They became much easier to deal with once we worked that out.

 

[Zhukov]

I got tired of Vermintide very quickly. The combat all too often boils down to mashing left click at a big pile of rats. It's basically just a reskin of L4D except everyone gets a melee weapon. Which is fine I guess, but I've already played L4D. I don't really need to do it again with different character models and dull RNG loot grinding.

Oh, and the ogre rats are just bullshit. Massive damage soaks with no real counterplay besides stubbornness or getting them bugged out on staircases. Enemies with huge amounts of HP do not make for engaging gameplay. They're just fucking tedious.

Vermintide is one of my favorite games of the year. It does 4-player co-op better than L4D, because it offers playstyle variety.

I don't see much variety. I play as the Guardsman guy, I wade into rats mashing left click. I play as the elf chick... and wade into rats mashing left click.

The fire mage is the only one with a mechanic that sets her apart. And I found her annoying to play.

As a bonus, it just gets the setting right. I love Warhammer Fantasy, and it nails the look and feel.

I'm not familiar with Warhammer Fantasy. To my outsiders eyes it looks like generic vanilla fantasy. A dwarf you say? Who is short and has a beard? Uses an axe? Gosh. And an elf? Tall and slender? Uses a bow? My mind is being resoundingly blown here.

As to the ogre rats, it took us a while to figure out the best way to handle them. There's an aggro mechanic in the game, so if your Empire Soldier / Dwarf Ranger has a shield, they can basically taunt the ogre and keep it focused on them while the other characters blast it. If it runs after you, the manual dodge is your friend. They became much easier to deal with once we worked that out.

Oh, it's not that they're hard to deal with. (Unless you get stuck in a corner.) They're just dull. You just thrash away at a giant wall of hitpoints. Takes bloody ages and does nothing but hold up your progress.

 

[CeeBod]

I'd say Thea: The Awakening definitely deserved more love. It's been described as "a survival 4X RPG roguelike with crafting and card combat" which is at least a fairly unique blend. It's nice to see games that at least try to be a little original! It's far from flawless, but it's got an interesting world to explore, I like a lot of its mechanics, and even when it's annoying me I somehow can't stop playing it!

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/thea-the-awakening shows that it hasn't even had enough reviews yet to be scored despite being released a month ago, but its user reviews are pretty damned good - it really should be shown more love!

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

@Zhukov

Why did you buy a Warhammer game if you don't like/know Warhammer?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Geez I dunno. Hard to think of many games that flew under the radar. We live in a day and age where shit like Undertale, which would ordinarily be considered a diamond in the rough, gets so over-hyped it ends up being one of the most over-exposed games of the year.

I'd say Skylines but even that got a LOT of attention, if not necessarily a lot of attention here. And I only mention it because it launched early in the year and thus wasn't really in the conversation for the end of the year hype awards. I heard Mordheim is pretty good, but I didn't play it. If anyone HAS, let me know if it's any good.

That uh...what's it called. That Explorers society game. That's meant to be quite good as well.

And I've heard some okay things about Hard West.

But I haven't PLAYED any of them so I can't really say.

Life Is Strange.

It's a nice pick, but Life is Strange got a TON of attention. I'd even go so far as to say it was one of the highest profile games of the year.

Life is Strange is... alright. I suppose. I played the first episode a week or so ago but haven't got around to the rest. It looks like it could get better. The teenager dialogue is hideously awkward though. It's very, very, very obviously written by adults who haven't been teenagers for quite some time and seem to have gotten their idea of how teenagers act from magazines and reality TV. I'd hate it if it wasn't so consistently hilarious.

Telltale's offerings shit all over it though. No question there.

As someone who also groaned audibly at episode one's dialogue, and repeated your complaints about the "teen dialogue" almost verbatim, I can assure you it gets better. I cannot say with authority whether it gets better because I became accustomed to it, or because the writers figured their shit out, but it got better. And they even lamp-shaded their own corny dialogue a couple of times.

I'll also say, as a huge fan of some of Telltale's offerings, that LiS stands alongside their best, and even surpasses them in some ways.

None of this is a guarantee that you'll like it, but it's a game I wouldn't rush to judgement on. It was in a lot of GOTY conversations, and it deserved to be there.

 

[Zhukov]

@Zhukov

Why did you buy a Warhammer game if you don't like/know Warhammer?

Oh, I don't actively dislike Warhammer. Just like I don't actively dislike vanilla ice cream or white toast with plain butter. It's just that I'll usually opt for something more flavorful if it's available.

Hell, I intend to at least look into that Warhammer Total War game that's on the way.

Anyway, I got Vermintide because I kept hearing people say it did melee combat well. Stuff about it being very satisfying and enemies responding to every swing or stab you make. Which turned out to be complete bullshit. You just sort of thrash away at an often chaotic mess of enemies, much like melee in basically any other first person game that isn't Zeno Clash or Mirror's Edge.

I'll also say, as a huge fan of some of Telltale's offerings, that LiS stands alongside their best, and even surpasses them in some ways.

Ohh, them's big words Guppy.

We're talking the one and only developer to ever make me shed a tear.

Alright, I'll persevere with Life is Strange but there'd better be sobbing. Sobbing I tell you!