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Most Under Appreciated Games of 2015

With the world a day or so into the New Year, I wanted to reflect about one more aspect of gaming last year, and that's the titles that got overlooked by many people, but are solid games in their own right. 2015 saw a number of high profile releases from Metal Gear Solid V to The Witcher 3 to Fallout 4 to Xenoblade Chronicles X, but there were a number of small interesting ideas that are worth exploring:

Codename S.T.E.A.M. (3DS) - This game isn't quite up to Intelligent Systems high quality level of strategy found in Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, but it was still a pretty unique steampunk game. The idea of using steam to power attacks made players choose between attacking now or waiting later to unleash more powerful attacks during the enemy's turn. Also, only here does Abraham Lincoln fight alongside Tom Sawyer and the Lion from The Wizard of Oz.

Until Dawn (PS4) - Until Dawn is Heavy Rain done right. There is a palpable tension as you try to escape from a deranged serial killer. The game is rather short, but it does a good job of conveying the horror that series like Resident Evil have lost across the years.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U) - Returning to the touchscreen control of Kirby Canvas Curse, this game features a huge reliance on the Wii U Gamepad. The game is pretty easy, in traditional Kirby style, but collecting everything can be quite the challenge. Unfortunately, it can be hard to appreciate the game's visuals on an HD TV with your eyes constantly having to gaze at the Wii U Gamepad.

What 2015 games do you feel people overlooked?
 

Lozjam

A Cool, Cool Mountain
Joined
May 24, 2015
Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon:
It's a fantastic Mystery Dungeon game with a lot of depth, more rogue like elements, and a huge and diverse cast. It is a giant game as well, containing hundreds of quests that is paired with great gameplay.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
This game is often overlooked, as it is free dlc..... But it is a completely full, new adventure! It is fantastic, and a great way to re-explore old levels in an entirely new way. It can stand as a full new game, it is even more impressive that it's free.

Fast Racing Neo:
This game is overlooked, yet it's a technical marvel on Wii U and it has fantastic high speed gameplay. It is great!
 
Joined
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Affordable Space Adventures
In my opinion in line for the best indie game of 2015. Totally amazing and totally overlooked by many. How it used the TV screen and gamepad together is genius.

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon:
It's a fantastic Mystery Dungeon game with a lot of depth, more rogue like elements, and a huge and diverse cast. It is a giant game as well, containing hundreds of quests that is paired with great gameplay.
The metacritic public agree with you. They rated it as their best equal game of 2015 along with 3 others. The critics though did underappreciate it.

Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows
This game is often overlooked, as it is free dlc..... But it is a completely full, new adventure! It is fantastic, and a great way to re-explore old levels in an entirely new way. It can stand as a full new game, it is even more impressive that it's free.
It's not as good as the original. The controls are not as tight. I just like the original better. Also this is a DLC not a new game . . . but it's enough new content for it to be almost considered a new game. What is there is amazing. And for free too. Totally underappreciated in my opinion too. Yacht Club were even nice enough to fix the few game breaking bugs the DLC had.

Fast Racing Neo:
This game is overlooked, yet it's a technical marvel on Wii U and it has fantastic high speed gameplay. It is great!
I have not played this. But everyone I know who has wonders why Nintendo didn't get wift of this game and ask the developers to slap the F-Zero brand on it. This is the indie game so worthy of the F-Zero branding. Probably the closest thing to F-Zero we'll see in a long long time.
 

CrimsonCavalier

Fuzzy Pickles
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Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

It's 100% Nintendo's fault that this game flew under the radar and that it wasn't appreciated as it should have been, but it is under-appreciated nonetheless. It's my personal GOTY (maybe right under Splatoon), and it's by far the scariest game I've ever played. It's survival horror done right. The sense of dread the game gives you is real. The atmosphere the game presents you with is incredibly eerie. Even cutscenes are terrifying.

Devil's Third

This is a pretty decent game that no one is giving a shot. It's not great. It's average, but it's definitely under-appreciated. Whatever people gave this game 2/10 are idiots or they didn't play the game at all. It's definitely not a 2/10. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fun, it's playable, and it has a pretty good online component.
 
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

It's 100% Nintendo's fault that this game flew under the radar and that it wasn't appreciated as it should have been, but it is under-appreciated nonetheless. It's my personal GOTY (maybe right under Splatoon), and it's by far the scariest game I've ever played. It's survival horror done right. The sense of dread the game gives you is real. The atmosphere the game presents you with is incredibly eerie. Even cutscenes are terrifying.

Devil's Third

This is a pretty decent game that no one is giving a shot. It's not great. It's average, but it's definitely under-appreciated. Whatever people gave this game 2/10 are idiots or they didn't play the game at all. It's definitely not a 2/10. It's not going to win any awards, but it's fun, it's playable, and it has a pretty good online component.

I'd like to check out Devil's Third myself someday, but I would have preferred having a physical copy. Unfortunately, if reports are to be believed, there were only a few hundred copies for the entire United States. Crazy. If Nintendo had so little faith in the game, I would have preferred they gave Fatal Frame V the physical release. At least that series has a larger (though still small) dedicated fanbase. Devil's Third looks like some brainless fun inspired by 80s action flicks. Even if it is a buggy mess, it's caught my eye for trying something new.
 

CrimsonCavalier

Fuzzy Pickles
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I'd like to check out Devil's Third myself someday, but I would have preferred having a physical copy. Unfortunately, if reports are to be believed, there were only a few hundred copies for the entire United States. Crazy. If Nintendo had so little faith in the game, I would have preferred they gave Fatal Frame V the physical release. At least that series has a larger (though still small) dedicated fanbase. Devil's Third looks like some brainless fun inspired by 80s action flicks. Even if it is a buggy mess, it's caught my eye for trying something new.

That's the thing, it's not even a buggy mess. Yeah, when you kill an enemy, sometimes the body's ragdoll physics go berserk, but that doesn't break the game itself. You don't get stuck in walls, fall through the floor or anything stupid like that. It's an average game that is exactly what you said: brainless fun. The melee combat in the game is actually quite good. It's what something like Red Steel could have been if Ubisoft didn't suck so much balls. And minus the motion control.

I ended up downloading it because as you say, physical copies were hard to come by, so I didn't even try my luck. I just went for it.

As for Fatal Frame 5, that had no excuse for not being more hyped and not having a better release. Unlike Devil's Third, it isn't just an average game of brainless fun. It's a proper AAA release. It deserved WAY more than it got, by the public, by the media, and especially by Nintendo.
 

Ronin

There you are! You monsters!
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Devil's Third always came across to me as being in the same vein as games such as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You're basically a one-man army going up against hordes of various enemies in enclosed spaces, advancing by using a variety of weapons and combat skills. That's the experience I got throughout Revengeance, and it's exactly what I'd expect from Third. And its a shame that Devil's Third wasn't well-received, because Itagaki-san seemed really eager to share it with the rest of the world. That said, I agree that it looks repetitious yet hope to try it out in the future.
 

CrimsonCavalier

Fuzzy Pickles
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Devil's Third always came across to me as being in the same vein as games such as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You're basically a one-man army going up against hordes of various enemies in enclosed spaces, advancing by using a variety of weapons and combat skills. That's the experience I got throughout Revengeance, and it's exactly what I'd expect from Third. And its a shame that Devil's Third wasn't well-received, because Itagaki-san seemed really eager to share it with the rest of the world. That said, I agree that it looks repetitious yet hope to try it out in the future.

There's definitely a curve ball that the game throws at you a few chapters in, in terms of story and combat. I won't say more, other than it's worth a look.

And it's definitely a shame. The game deserved at least some attention beyond the negativity.
 

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