The gaming industry has been riding a wave of success for decades now, as the form of entertainment continues to grow in popularity and prominence. The financial growth of the industry is reflected in the games themselves, as video games today have far superior visuals, improved sound design, better-written stories, and are simply much bigger and more complex than they used to be, to the point where it’s hard to believe that Adventure and Ghost of Tsushima were released just four decades apart.
Because of gaming’s constant growth, games from years past that still hold up today are worth celebrating. When looking back just ten years, it’s easy to find games that still hold up today, despite being overlooked at the time.
6 Spec Ops: The Line
Spec Ops: The Line was released at a time when shooters were dominating the gaming industry, with franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Gears of War all booming in popularity. Consequently, numerous studios churned out shooting games to try and cash in on the hype.
Because of this, Spec Ops: The Line struggled to gain much attention, as its run-of-the-mill gameplay made people quick to dismiss it, as there were so many other shooters releasing around the same time. However, the game gradually built a cult following for its story, which differentiated itself from most shooters at the time for depicting the horrors of war in truly unsettling and disturbing ways. Unfortunately, many of the game’s messages about war are still relevant today.
5 Hitman: Absolution
Unlike Spec Ops: The Line, Hitman: Absolution had a ton of hype leading up to its release, as it was the first game in the Hitman series since the iconic Hitman: Blood Money from 2006.
IO Interactive shook up the classic Hitman formula with Absolution by reducing the openness and level of freedom from previous games in favor of more railroaded missions and objectives. This move generated backlash from fans, who were essentially hoping for a repeat of Blood Money but with new levels and updated graphics.
Many fans are now starting to appreciate Hitman: Absolution, however, as the critically-acclaimed Hitman trilogy that was released between 2016 and 2021 has a lot of similarities to the 2012 game, which is now seen as a bridge between the classic and modern styles of Hitman gameplay.
4 Max Payne 3
Max Payne 3 is on this list for a similar reason as Hitman: Absolution. Like the stealth game, Max Payne 3 received backlash from fans who were upset that the game moved away from its classic gameplay style in favor of a more modern approach.
However, another similarity with Hitman: Absolution is that now the dust has settled, and the initial disappointment over unexpected gameplay changes has subsided, so people are finally able to appreciate the game for what it is.
3 Dragon’s Dogma
Dragon’s Dogma is an open-world action RPG with a high fantasy setting. The game was first released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 before an enhanced version titled Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen was released on the same consoles along with sporadic releases on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch over the years.
Dragon’s Dogma was ahead of its time, as it essentially offered a Souls-like experience before the term Souls-like even existed. The game’s punishing difficulty was a deal-breaker for many people in 2012, though now that FromSoftware has reminded mainstream audiences about how rewarding challenging games can be, Dragon’s Dogma is finally starting to get the respect it deserved in 2012.
2 Sleeping Dogs
Unfortunately for United Front Games and Square Enix, Sleeping Dogs is no stranger to lists with words like “underappreciated” or “underrated” in the title, as the game struggled to sell in 2012 and was also overlooked by some critics.
Sleeping Dogs is a spiritual successor to the True Crime series and puts players in a wonderfully well-designed open-world set in Hong Kong. Along with its Hong Kong setting, the game also differentiated itself from other open-world games with its martial arts combat. Due to the popularity of the open-world genre today and how cheap the game can be bought now, Sleeping Dogs is an easy game to recommend for anyone in search of an action-adventure bargain.
1 Okami HD
Ōkami and Sleeping Dogs often go hand-in-hand in lists such as these, as they’re two of the most underappreciated games of all time. As the name suggests, Ōkami HD is an HD remaster of the original Ōkami that was first released in 2006 on PlayStation 2 before arriving on Nintendo Wii a couple of years later.
Among those who have played the game through to completion, Ōkami HD is considered to be one of the greatest action-adventure games of all time. However, far too few people have completed the game than what it deserves, as the game has always struggled to sell, and it admittedly has a frustratingly slow opening couple of hours.
The compliment “it’s likeZelda” has been used so much over the years that it’s basically lost its meaning, though Ōkami HD is a game that is certainly deserving of the comparison, as many people put it on par with some of Link’s best adventures, including Ocarina of Time.
