Overlooked games of 2015.

[BloatedGuppy]

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!

The Degrassi Junior High tenor of the first episode hits the roadside pretty quickly. Without knowing what warms the cockles of your cold, cold heart I cannot guarantee tears, but I'd probably include it in a top 10 list of emotional gut punch games.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Meh, as much as I like Life is Strange I'd say that it wasn't nearly as emotional as it wanted to be because most of that stuff felt cheap and it was really badly written. It was definitely not overlooked though. "Ori and The Blind Forest" would be my pick. Yes, it received stellar reviews, but for a game like that it's strange that it wasn't a bigger deal.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Well since Devil on the G-String got released on Steam this year I can talk about it again. Funny how all the GOTY contenders this year are long delayed PC ports coming over to Steam... I'm not going to write the essay (I hope) so just give its Steam page a look for the overall synopsis.

Basically, Devil on the G-String (or G Senjo no Maou, I don't discriminate) is the thing I point to when someone tries to make the point that Visual Novels should just be a "proper" game or a book. Its story would simply not work anywhere near as well without the framing device of a main character in a VN.

Seriously, Akabeisoft2 get how to make an engaging VN. Kyousuke is an interesting main character with a dark past etc etc but doesn't go so far as to be just another brooding Grimdark McEdgelord, Usami Haru is just a great heroine in her unique brand of revolving between charming weirdness and sudden seriousness and Maou is just... Maou. I mean you get... *opens wiki* Fukuyama Jun to do the voice of your charismatic villain (the guy who gave you the glorious ham that was Code Geass' Zero) and you're set as long as your script is not awful. Spoiler Alert: Their script is fucking Top Tier.

For some reason, the Steam release gives you the option to buy the game slightly cheaper without the voices which is... not exactly crippling but the game does really benefit from the voices. Even from just a pure plot perspective.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Star Nomad 2 Released 14th Dec 2015
"A space trader & combat sim meets squad-RPG, large scale conquest, choice driven gameplay with fluid & punchy tactical real-time combat set in a dynamic open-world sandbox."

VoidExpanse Release 2nd April 2015
"Explore the vast reaches of VoidExpanse -- mine asteroids, upgrade your ship, trade, complete missions, advance your character and survive fast-paced combat with hostile aliens and mercenaries in the rich and exciting Sci-Fi universe of VoidExpanse!"

Rebel Galaxy Released 20th October 2015
"Rebel Galaxy is a swashbuckling space adventure, with action-packed combat, exploration, discovery, trade, and ?negotiation? with the outlandish denizens at the edge of the known universe."

Victor Vran Released 24th July
"Victor Vran is the isometric action-RPG where your skill is just as essential as your character build and gear. Experience intense combat action: dodge, jump and unleash powerful skills to finish off your enemies!"

Underrail Released 18th December 2015 ,)
"Underrail is an old school turn-based isometric indie role playing game that focuses on exploration and combat. The game is set in a distant future, when the life on the Earth?s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-"

That's a few goodies that flew under the radar at least.
I've only played Victor Vran and a "demo" of Underrail but each and every one sounds good enough to be noticed.
I will try out most of these with time, except perhaps Rebel Galaxy..or perhaps I will.

 

[SquidVicious]

Given the outcry for more cRPGs and the general profile of games like Pillars of Eternity and Wasteland 2 I'm a little surprised The Age of Decadence hasn't received more attention given the fact it's only been out for a few months. I mean it's not got the best PR behind it, with its Steam page claiming there's a good chance you won't like it because of its difficulty. Given the general disappointment some people had towards Fallout 4's meager plot and inability to roleplay as anybody other than a combat focused character, it's refreshing for a game like The Age of Decadence to give players the ability to talk their way out of combat and truly complete the game based on their wit and charisma.

 

[Aerosteam]

THE AMBER THRONE.

Rarely has an RPG Maker game not looked like it was made in RPG Maker. Not bashing on the engine in any way, but holy shit, do the majority of them look similar.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

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

I found it odd that the game came out in the states with such little fanfare too...I really wanted to play this game but I'm waiting until I can get it on PS4 unfortunately...

---

You know how Undertale was snubbed at the completely arbitrary Video Game Awards in many, many categories apparently? Well, Renowned Explorers: International Society (a game infinitely more fun to play, there I fucking said it) wasn't even mentioned (as far as I understand)and even around here and on other gaming sites, It seems to have completely gone under everyone's radar except for Totalbiscuits. RE:IS is a really fun game set up similarly to FTL only the RNG doesn't hate you. You pick a crew of three explorers from a relatively large cast with each member having their own style, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Each node on the map can have an instance, each instance can have a neat outcome, you collect treasure, there's amusing character interactions, it's a downright fun game to play and nobody seems to be talking about it! No, it's not Gunpoint fun but it's a really damn good game...even if the number of maps you can explore is a bit limited but an expansion, Maui Mystery was free so maybe more maps are on the way!

Another overlooked game this year was Arc System's other fighting game; Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden...but that game was exclusive to the 3DS and offers a less diverse cast than the Japan exclusive DS game Ultimate Butoden from...a few years ago...not a bad game just a competent, if shallow, fighting game that I had fun with for about a weekend.

This last one probably hasn't been overlooked but I have no idea how it's selling...Yo-Kai Watch on the 3DS. This is honestly my game of the year even though it's a variation on Pokemon's formula though unlike Pokemon, it beats you over the head with Japanese folklore and atmosphere. Also unlike Pokemon there are tons and tons of side-quests.

 

[Dalisclock]

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.

Though it didn't get nearly as much attention as the GoT game, which apparently wasn't nearly as good.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

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.

The variety is only in the female side, it seems. The fire mage's mechanic is so fucking well balanced that I love a good one and hate to see and almost universally hate it when I see a Fire Mage come into Nightmare with me. Because so many of them just spam their fire in the heat (hehehe) of battle. So they took off a bunch of my life, and a bunch of theirs when they eventually overheat... and they do.

The waywatcher's homing mechanic can be really good in a sprint, but again we see novice's misunderstand the fact that they need to be in the thick of it was the rest of us instead of running to the side, pick off one or two at a time, and then get pounced by a gutter runner.

The men... Really, what do they have? Why is there even a witch hunter (other than the excuse of bringing the fire mage) against Skaven? The Dwarf gets fire pistols... but we already have a fire mage. And the Mercenary... is brooding?

Other than more stamina for the dwarf if you give him a shield and a pistol that can be quick drew if you happened to take a rapier for the Witch Hunter, all the guys feel the same. They could have... I don't know, made it so the Mercenary could carry two weapons at a time or something. Give the Witch Hunter blessed runes that for some reason made the Skaven recoil in hapless fear. And each use takes like 5 minutes to recharge.

I don't know. The women are great, there really doesn't need to be more than one male character.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I've been enjoying Yokai Watch over the last few weeks and I don't really see people talking about it(granted, I haven't really looked.).

I love the town you get to explore as well as the collecting of monsters itself. Really, the game is just charming.

 

[Artina89]

I really like Disgaea 5: Alliance of vengeance, I am going to admit that I am enjoying playing that more than I have playing both Fallout 4 and Assassins creed Syndicate (and I love the Assassins creed franchise). The Disgaea games are usually very different in terms of gameplay, graphics and story than any other game that I play, and I enjoy that, it adds variety to my collection, not to mention that there is usually plenty to do, so you get plenty of bang for your buck.

 

[FPLOON]

Highschool Romance: A [short] visual novel game where a highschool senior end up attending an all-girls school and must crossdress in order to hide the fact that he's not a girl... Also, he might end up with one of the four main girls in the VN and the art is from the same person who did the art for Skullgirls!

Other than that, my other [overlooked] game actually came out last year, so there's that...

 

[vallorn]

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.

The variety is only in the female side, it seems. The fire mage's mechanic is so fucking well balanced that I love a good one and hate to see and almost universally hate it when I see a Fire Mage come into Nightmare with me. Because so many of them just spam their fire in the heat (hehehe) of battle. So they took off a bunch of my life, and a bunch of theirs when they eventually overheat... and they do.

The waywatcher's homing mechanic can be really good in a sprint, but again we see novice's misunderstand the fact that they need to be in the thick of it was the rest of us instead of running to the side, pick off one or two at a time, and then get pounced by a gutter runner.

The men... Really, what do they have? Why is there even a witch hunter (other than the excuse of bringing the fire mage) against Skaven? The Dwarf gets fire pistols... but we already have a fire mage. And the Mercenary... is brooding?

Other than more stamina for the dwarf if you give him a shield and a pistol that can be quick drew if you happened to take a rapier for the Witch Hunter, all the guys feel the same. They could have... I don't know, made it so the Mercenary could carry two weapons at a time or something. Give the Witch Hunter blessed runes that for some reason made the Skaven recoil in hapless fear. And each use takes like 5 minutes to recharge.

I don't know. The women are great, there really doesn't need to be more than one male character.

Yeah, I noticed that those three have somewhat similar weapon set ups too. The Witch Hunter gets a few unique ones but the Dwarf and Mercenary both get very similar types of weapons, only one uses swords and the other uses axes.

The thing I enjoy more than the classes is the levels. Each main level is significantly different in some way while the side ones are interesting but mostly repetitions on parts of the main missions.

Spoiler: Level Descriptions. Don't read if you don't want a few fun surprises spoiled for you

Mission 1. Horn of Magnus. A romp through the burning city streets then climbing a giant tower at the end, the most played level especially for grinding loot.

-Mission 2. Supply and Demand. Moving through what seems like a more suburban area of the city to get to a wide open market and gather food. Not overly different in tone to Magnus but the building and layout of the level is completely different.

-Mission 3. The Wizard's Tower. My out and out favorite level, climbing the tower of an illusion wizard that leads you through all sorts of weird things like a room that changes appearance depending on who you are playing, The Hall Of Illusion (I won't spoil this one) and a clever surprise right before a somewhat unique finale. I adore the layout and the tricks to this level.

-Mission 4. Engines of Destruction. Taking place in the woods and swamps outside the city now for a complete change of scenery. And what you think is the finale of the mission... Isn't. Which I found quite a surprise the first time I played it.

-Mission 5. Gardens Of Morr. Ahhh crawling through crypts, the classic adventurers work. The level's construction makes the whole thing feel like a very claustrophobic maze of graves and crypts which is perfect.

-Mission 6. The Enemy Below. You get to see the interior of the skaven's own catacombs and tunnels, rough tunnels and caves lined with makeshift work and glowing warpstone machinery from Skyre. It's a labyrinth down there so don't EVER split up unless you want something to drag you into the shadows...

-Mission 7. The White Rat. A bit short for a final mission and I would have loved to try and fight the Grey Seer himself but it's a fitting finale to the campaign, the manic cackling from the seer and the skaven's workings all over the place really make it feel like it's "their" fortress.

So yeah, that's a lot of why I enjoy Vermintide, now to try and convince people not to just constantly run Magnus all the time...

 

[RedDeadFred]

Ori and the Blind Forest
It has great, but difficult platforming, a gorgeous visual design, one of the best soundtracks of the year, and a moving story.

 

[Dalsyne]

Did Galak-Z get any attention this year?

Because I felt it kinda fell off the radar for a lot of people. Which is a shame.

 

[Bombiz]

Well since Devil on the G-String got released on Steam this year I can talk about it again. Funny how all the GOTY contenders this year are long delayed PC ports coming over to Steam

@The_Wykydtron
Since when where Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 PC ports? Thought all the versions came out at the same time.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Well since Devil on the G-String got released on Steam this year I can talk about it again. Funny how all the GOTY contenders this year are long delayed PC ports coming over to Steam

@The_Wykydtron
Since when where Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 PC ports? Thought all the versions came out at the same time.

I'm pretty meh about those games, I never was into the whole Witcher games in the first place and Fallout 4 was good but it had too many of the problems that were around in Fallout 3 still in there unfixed, some settlement thing going on for some reason that I never used until the story forced me to use it and the voiced protagonist issue has been done to death as to why it's terrible design even just on this site. I don't regret buying it at full price but it's not going to be my GOTY.

I guess the other obvious contender would be MGS5 but fucking Konami (#FucKonami) made their presence known and did their best to ruin it.

So to clarify, my GOTY 2015 list is a bunch of PC ports brought over to Steam, specifically G Senjo, Grisaia and most importantly Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN, which is possibly the most hype game I have ever witnessed.

Anyway the fuck am I talking about, Persona 4 is Game of the Year EVERY year.

 

[Bombiz]

Well since Devil on the G-String got released on Steam this year I can talk about it again. Funny how all the GOTY contenders this year are long delayed PC ports coming over to Steam

@The_Wykydtron
Since when where Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 PC ports? Thought all the versions came out at the same time.

I'm pretty meh about those games, I never was into the whole Witcher games in the first place and Fallout 4 was good but it had too many of the problems that were around in Fallout 3 still in there unfixed, some settlement thing going on for some reason that I never used until the story forced me to use it and the voiced protagonist issue has been done to death as to why it's terrible design even just on this site. I don't regret buying it at full price but it's not going to be my GOTY.

I guess the other obvious contender would be MGS5 but fucking Konami (#FucKonami) made their presence known and did their best to ruin it.

So to clarify, my GOTY 2015 list is a bunch of PC ports brought over to Steam, specifically G Senjo, Grisaia and most importantly Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN, which is possibly the most hype game I have ever witnessed.

Anyway the fuck am I talking about, Persona 4 is Game of the Year EVERY year.

Ohhhhhhhhh. I get it now. you where saying the your GOTY contender list was mainly PC ports. ok that makes a lot more sense.

OHHHHH

 

[CaitSeith]

Minecraft Story Mode... [http://store.steampowered.com/app/376870/] episodes 2 and 3 (and episode 4 is released in December 22th).

EDIT: SOMA [http://somagame.com/gallery.html], I almost forgot. IMO overlooked candidate for GOTY.