Highlights
- Wet captures the essence of Quentin Tarantino films with its ultra-violent and darkly humorous style, making it a must-play for fans of his work. However, its graphics are a notable flaw.
- Rage 2 improved on the original game's lack of narrative, providing a thrilling and entertaining wasteland-set action experience. Despite its flaws, it deserved better critically and in terms of sales.
- Hunted: The Demon's Forge offers a fun co-op experience with an immersive plot and well-developed characters, despite being let down by glitchy gameplay. It deserves a potential reboot and another look-in.
To be underrated, a game's strongest traits typically must pass under the radar, leaving it lacking in the acclaim it might otherwise have deserved. In addition, failing to make the ideal sales target and gross, even when the quality is high, frequently leaves otherwise fun gaming experiences as largely forgotten gems.
Bethesda, like most long-running studios, has plenty of titles that fit into these frustrating categories. Best known for their work on epic, open-world, role-playing franchises such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda has had a mixed track record with other original titles over the years. Often earning praise for their story-telling, colorful characters, and world-building whilst being called out for a lack of polish and glitches in their releases, the Maryland studio has a wide range of exciting, sometimes polarizing titles to sift through, some of which ultimately did garner the respect they arguably deserved.
6 Wet Is A Must-Play For Quentin Tarantino Fans
This 2009 bloodbath blended the ultra-violent, darkly humorous stylings of popular filmmaker Quentin Tarantino with the trashy fun of one of his favorite film genres: grindhouse. Released two years after Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's polarizing Grindhouse double feature, Wet succeeds admirably in capturing the funny-but-schlocky vibe of the infamous '70s extreme cinema craze.
Players take control of Rubi Malone, an elite-level soldier of fortune who gets caught up in an international conspiracy involving kidnappings, drug lords, and heart transplants among other chaotic things. The gameplay mechanics provide a slick, fast-paced piece of shoot 'em-up gameplay, with some grisly melee options for good measure. The plot is suitably dark and vicious for the genre as well, and great voice acting from established stars such as Eliza Dushku and Malcolm MacDowell helps jazz up the characters. The only notable flaw here is the graphics, which often veer into muddled, disappointing territory. Overall, Wet is a fine example of a video game taking on a less-covered film genre to a fun and engrossing effect. Ultimately dismissed critically, the Wet sequel was also canceled, leaving this as an unfairly forgotten piece of original action gaming.
5 Rage 2 Received Little Praise For Improving Many Of The Original's Flaws
Nine years on from the bullets-strewn mayhem of Rage, Bethesda dropped the long-awaited sequel to the cult hit. The original was widely criticized for its frustrating lack of a distinct narrative to pull the wild action together.
Rage 2 saw an attempt to address and correct this issue, placing more emphasis on developing player character Walker, and the dangerous, post-apocalyptic world they operate in. With a selection of sinister characters and a chaotic plot involving mutant-building cloning, and nanotrite viruses, Rage 2 is frequently ridiculous but also entertaining, providing high stakes for its thrillingly violent, weapons-laden gameplay. Critics were largely dismissive of the sequel's storytelling efforts, as well as its often crass humor and approach to character development. For players looking for a silly but fun action extravaganza, however, this wasteland-set thriller is a boatload of fun that deserved better both critically and on the sales front where it largely underperformed compared to its predecessor.
4 Hunted: The Demon's Forge Provides A Great Take On Co-Op Action
As has often been the case with Bethesda titles over the years, Hunted: The Demon's Forge is an excellent idea for a game with a thrilling narrative that is ultimately let down by glitchy gameplay. Upon its initial release in May 2011, the dark fantasy thrill ride was widely canned for its bugs and curious design choices.
In 2023, what stands out with this hit-and-miss adventure game is its on-point plot. A great homage to both dungeon crawl games and the swords and sorcery genre as a whole, Hunted offers players a fun, ever-expanding narrative revolving around everything from treasure-hunting to demons to a powerful sorceress. With some unexpected, but well-executed, plot twists and a well-developed cast of fantastical characters, Hunted is a surprisingly immersive bit of co-op fun. The emphasis on specific player character abilities also enhances the co-op experience, ensuring players have to work together closely to get through the action on hand. Overall, this fun-but-flawed game gave players a glimpse of a potentially excellent fantasy romp, one that could do with another look-in and a potential reboot.
3 Brink Blends Parkour With First-Person Shooting For Thrilling Action
Much like the criminally underrated Mirror's Edge, Brink provided a key look at how the ultra-athletic parkour discipline can translate thrillingly to video game action. Released in 2012, Brink enjoyed a respectable run on the sales charts but was largely dismissed critically for its technical flaws and abrupt ending.
The overall aesthetic and hectic gameplay, coupled with an intriguing plot focusing on the potential long-term catastrophe of unchecked climate change, make this a satisfyingly complex sci-fi thriller. The faction warfare, coupled with the tough choices the player character is forced to make, enhances the immersion and emotional connection of the player to the wild action unfolding on screen. While the frustrating, technical issues prevented Brink from reaching its true potential, it still remains a fascinating, often innovative action game thanks to its intriguing blend of free-running and shoot 'em-up chaos. Coupled with its curious plot, it's clear Brink deserved, and likely would have received, far better reception and overall legacy had its post-production not been so rushed.
2 The Evil Within Is A Near-Perfect Piece Of Grim Survival Horror
For Resident Evil players, The Evil Within is a must-play thanks to the involvement of RE mastermind Shinji Mikami. Released back in October 2014, the game is a suitably grim take on the survival horror subgenre with a bizarre, reality-bending mystery to solve. Blending psychological scares with grueling survivalist gameplay, The Evil Within has a dark, twisted narrative full of unexpected, often eyebrow-raising plot twists and character moments.
The increasing insanity of the plot is bolstered further by the game's selection of challenging puzzles and relentless hordes of enemies to get through. At the time of its release, critical praise was directed towards its action and scare factor, but its plot and leading characters were widely criticized, with some deeming the STEM angle simply too silly to take seriously. While these criticisms ultimately proved to be valid three years later with The Evil Within 2, the original's intensity and unconventional storytelling are a key part of why it's so scary. With this in mind, its plot, protagonists, and villainous Ruvik are all deserving of reassessment.
1 Prey Is An Exhilarating Throwback To Metroidvania Thrills
The initial announcement of Prey led many to believe that Bethesda was simply going to remaster the acclaimed 2006 shooter. Instead, the Rockville-based studio provided players with a thrilling, modern take on the Metroidvania subgenre that dominated the late '90s wave of action-adventure games.
While reviews were complimentary of the game's immersive world design and atmospheric intensity, both its plot and its combat gameplay were widely dismissed as unexceptional. As is common with Bethesda, there is a litany of frustrating bugs and glitches to be wary of. However, considering its impressive full dungeon-style world to explore and its emphasis on emergent gameplay to let players complete the action in whatever style they wish, Prey is deserving of reappraisal. Its narrative too, while not immensely complex, is effective in providing player protagonist Morgan Yu a challenging, suspenseful arc and journey to go through. Overall, its imaginative alternate timeline setting, coupled with its blend of stealth and action gameplay and two high-quality DLCs make this an increasingly underrated gem more than deserving of a sequel.