So many games release in a year that it’s pretty impossible to keep up with every single one. Knowing which ones are worth your cash can certainly help, but sometimes games just don’t get the credit they deserve. Well, here are our picks for the most underrated games of 2019.
Tetris 99
Underrated Games of 2019
Before you all start screaming at us in the comments, at least hear us out on this one. Tetris is the puzzle game. The grandmaster flash of ‘one more go’ gameplay, and Tetris 99 basically gave it a big ol’ fresh lick of paint to bring it into the current generation.
To do so, developer Arika basically turned the classic block-rotating puzzler into a battle royale title. Players face off against 98 others, with rows you clear being pushed over to other players. Last player standing is the winner.
On top of that, Tetris 99 also has a number of additional modes. There’s an Endless mode for those just wanting to play Solo, and there’s also Big Block DLC and plenty of Statistics you can track, too.
Tetris 99 is a perfect game for the Switch. Being able to play the classic puzzler on-the-go whenever you want is a god-send, and the added twist of the battle royale mode means you’ve always got a means of testing your skills against others.
Sadly, Tetris 99 won’t get the love it deserves. Having only been available for Nintendo Online Membership owners to begin with, those not bothered about online play would have missed it altogether.
While it did get a physical, standalone release a few months back, it wasn’t enough to reinvigorate attention in it. At least not the amount that a battle royale Tetris game deserves dammit!
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus released all the way back in Feb, and since its initial positive reception, all the talk and love for it quickly dissipated as other massive announcements and AAA titles vowed for players’ attention.
And so we find ourselves now, sadly having to put it on this list of underrated 2019 games. Metro Exodus is actually exceptional. It continues the story of Artyom and the rest of the survivors living in the ruins of the Moscow Metro, who must now flee them and travel across post-apocalyptic Russia.
Where the previous two games lacked any real world building, Metro Exodus blows the doors off it as we explore the surface. Open world areas allow for exploration and help to make the experience more immersive, but the combat and action is at its best when you’re in dark, claustrophobic hallways filled with enemies.
That being said it’s not perfect, with some average voice acting and the gunplay with automatic weapons feeling more finicky than fun. Take some time to get used to this, and endure the occasional cringey delivery of a line and there’s plenty to enjoy here.
The fact that Metro Exodus has hardly got a mention in 2019 Game of the Year discussions is what leads to it making it onto this list.
We’d probably also give this a “Most Likely to be in the Bargain Bin” award, so if you do spot it on sale, grab it!
Judgment
Underrated Games of 2019
Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio decided to take a slight side excursion before moving immediately onto the next title in its headline series.
The end result was Judgment, and if you speak to my co-worker, Yakuza superfan and Twinfinite Senior Editor Hayes Madsen, he’ll tell you it was certainly worth it.
Adopting much of the same gameplay as the Yakuza series, Judgment tells a new story with a fresh cast of characters. It makes it the perfect game for newcomers to the Yakuza series to jump into, as there’s no knowledge required to enjoy Detective Takayuki’s story.
The city of Kamurocho is jam-packed with mini-games to complete, shops to restock your supplies, restaurants to eat at, and NPCs to chat with. Add on top its engaging third-person combat system that requires players to change between Crane and Tiger attacking styles, which continue to develop as you progress.
With a plethora of zany side content to act as the cherry on top of this generously-iced cake, Judgment is well worth experiencing for yourself. Just let this opening section from Hayes’ review do the rest of the convincing:
“One minute in Judgment I’m investigating the scene of a grisly murder where a Yakuza has had his eyes gouged out, the next I’m pretending to be an actor who’s pretending to be a vampire.”
If that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know what is. Go play this criminally underrated and underplayed game… now.
Void Bastards
Void Bastards is straight-up hilarious. Players take control of a Misfit Prisoner, tasked with acquiring a bunch of different items to escape the galaxy and be free once and for all.
To do so, you must board various ships, shoot lots of enemies, upgrade your gear, shoot some more enemies, get the item, and escape.
What makes Void Bastards’ gameplay so darn good is the way in which it blends tight FPS gunplay with tactical strategic thinking. Each ship has different enemy types, layouts, and potential faults that will make navigating it and escaping alive more difficult.
Toss in hilarious writing and voice acting and Void Bastards quickly becomes one of the most enjoyable, short games you can play in 2019.
But that’s not enough. Most players already knew Void Bastards was a great combination of FPS and strategy. It’s the way in which upping the difficulty makes this far more tactical. You need to be strategic about your movement, conserve ammo, use the right weapons for certain enemy types, switch out character abilities for others, and so on.
Void Bastards is on Game Pass for Xbox One and PC. If you haven’t already, just download it and give it a whirl.
SteamWorld Quest
Underrated Games of 2019
The SteamWorld series has long been offering various takes on the RPG series. With SteamWorld Quest, players this time are thrown into a world where card-based battles are the order of the day.
It’s down to you to build your deck, find powerful cards, beat enemies, and reign supreme in this beautiful steampunk-inspired world.
Boss battles are multi-layered and require thought-out strategies, but some of these do require the use of crafted cards that can take some of the fun away of developing your own strategy. Simply put, it won’t always work.
The often overlooked and, frankly, underrated element of SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamesh has to be the vast deck-building potential it gives you. At the beginning of the game things start off simply enough, but as you expand your party, you’ll unlock even more cards with even wilder abilities that allows you to tackle enemies in different ways.
What makes it all the better is that SteamWorld Quest can be wrapped up in about 15-20 hours, making it considerably shorter than most other RPGs. That’s not a bad thing at all, though, as it never gets to the point of outstaying its welcome, and it’s highly replayable thanks to the ton of cards and card combos you can utilise in your strategy.
GreedFall
Developer Spiders — the team behind titles like Bound by Flame and The Technomancer returned to our screens this year with GreedFall. This was a classic, old-school RPG that really honed in on world building and fully-realizing its characters.
While GreedFall certainly feels budget in some ways and its combat leaves a lot to be desired, it makes up for this with its excellent writing and quest design.
The story is great, following our protagonist as they explore a remote island teeming with magic, creatures, and of course, quests.
Quest design is something Spiders has clearly taken a lot of time with in GreedFall. Each one is long and complex and often dives into the characters they follow or involve under a microscope.
It gives you more of an insight into the world and that character’s connection to their surroundings and the narrative. This makes quests feel like so much more than just doing a fetch quest for some random, inconsequential character you’ll never see again.
What makes GreedFall stand out from the rest of the pack is the way in which it forces you to think about what your saying to NPCs. Each faction in the game has its own relationship with you and what you say to them will affect this.
Faction relationships change the story and ending, and companions can just leave you if you don’t complete their quests and rub them the wrong way.
Ultimately, GreedFall takes a basic RPG foundation and then tries to fashion something new in its complex quests and relationships systems. If you’re an RPG fan and missed out on GreedFall, go and right that wrong before the year ends.
Outward
Underrated Games of 2019
On the surface, Outward doesn’t look all that special. It’s an open-world fantasy RPG in terms of gameplay, with the occasional survival mechanic tossed in for good measure. ‘Neat,’ you say, thinking of the 200 other games that are also open-world fantasy RPGs.
But what makes Outward truly stand out from the crowd is the ability to play its story mode in co-op. The entire thing can be played both online and split-screen, and that’s something that few (if any) other open-world RPGs can offer.
Sure its survival mechanics can be incredibly brutal and take some time to get to grips with, but with delightful visuals, compelling Souls-like combat, and a spell-casting system that’ll make you feel like some powerful mage, there’s plenty of pros to balance out the con.
Outward will be overlooked by many this year as some average indie title. But if you’re looking for a meaty co-op RPG to experience with a friend or loved one, this might be the best 2019 has to offer.
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