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10 Under The Radar Games You May Have Missed in 2015
During the deluge of high-profile fall releases like Halo 5: Guardians, Fallout 4, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, it's easy to forget about all the quality titles that have already come and gone this year. Sure, we still vividly remember our adventures in early success stories like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Bloodborne, but for each critical darling, countless other good games were released that never found their proper audience.
I polled the Game Informer offices to find out which 2015 titles the editors felt were given short shrift despite their good review scores.
Affordable Space Adventures
GI Score: 8.0
Platform: Wii U
If a game releases exclusively in the dead space of the Wii U eShop, does it make a sound? Not in the case of this charming puzzle/exploration game from KnapNok Games, which deserved a better fate.
Hot Take: "Affordable Space Adventures is a great puzzle game, and it uses the GamePad in interesting ways that don’t feel like gimmicks. It shows Nintendo isn’t the only studio capable of doing interesting things with an additional screen. It’s nice to see the Wii U become home to a truly exclusive title trying to do something different." –Kyle Hilliard
Axiom Verge
GI Score: 9.25
Platform: PS4, PC
Since Nintendo stubbornly refuses to make another 2D Metroid adventure for its legions of desperate fans, one man decided to do it himself. Tom Happ's Metroidvania masterpiece has everything we love from the classic platforming adventures except the iconic bounty hunter heroine.
Hot Take: "No one has tried to capture the aesthetic of Metroid as closely as Axiom Verge. Handling programming, art, animation, and music, developer Tom Happ has created a stunning love letter to Nintendo’s classic without being a slave to its conventions." –Bryan Vore
The Beginner's Guide
GI Score: 8.0
Platform: PC
Davey Wreden's follow-up to The Stanley Parable deftly explores some complex emotions, but its stealth release didn't allow it to garner the hype of its predecessor. Whether you enjoyed his breakout hit or not, The Beginner's Guide is worth a look.
Hot Take: "The Beginner's Guide addresses a lot of heavy issues in its 90-minute journey: Depression, loneliness, self-doubt, and the need for validation are but a few of the topics touched upon. Despite the inherent veil of fiction, Wreden's narration is well-written and feels honest. At the end, you're still left with the initial question: What can you know about a person by looking solely at their work? I'm not sure there is an answer, but trying to find it is a thought-provoking experience." –Jeff Marchiafava
Boxboy
GI Score: 8.25
Platform: 3DS
In a year where 3DS releases dried up a bit, this puzzling darling should have garnered more attention.
Hot Take: "Boxboy is an easy-to-overlook entry in the 3DS digital library. It’s inexpensive and doesn’t have a particularly remarkable look about it, but its well-designed puzzles continue to surprise, making it absolutely worth playing." –Kyle Hilliard
Hand of Fate
GI Score: 8.75
Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, iOS
Collectable card games are all the rage right now, but rather than jumping into the same pool as Hearthstone and Magic Duels, Defiant turned the concept on its head and introduced the deck-building concept to a traditional action/RPG dungeon-crawling experience.
Hot Take: "This fun, challenging jaunt should leave you craving more as you run into disasters and tough battles, taking your tokens and licking your wounds as each attempt brings you just a little closer to the next boss. While Hand of Fate could use some enemy variety, overall the good mix of encounters and potential outcomes shine and keep things interesting the whole way through."–Dan Tack
Next: Even more under-the-radar gems from 2015.
Helldivers
GI Score: 8.5
Platform: PS4, PS3, Vita
This twin-stick shooter from Arrowhead Studios doubles down on cooperative gameplay to great effect. the Game Informer office was abuzz with enthusiasm for Helldivers upon its early March release, but it faded into the backdrop over the course of the year.
Hot Take: "Even after the unlocks dry up, the challenge and camaraderie that Helldivers offers makes it hard not to attempt "just one more mission" with your friends, a proposition made all the more enticing by the inclusion of four-player couch co-op." –Jeff Marchiafava
Her Story
GI Score: 8.5
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS
Another game developed primarily by one person, Her Story is Silent Hill: Shattered Dreams designer Sam Barlow's foray into mystery storytelling. The short and engrossing experience trades animations for short video clips and faux database research to crack the case.
Hot Take: "The subtlety of Her Story is what I appreciated the most, and drawing your own conclusions gives you plenty to think about at the end. You get some clear answers about what happened and why, but much is open to interpretation, casting doubt in my mind about my own deductions. That's how a mystery should leave you; even when people are convicted of crimes or proven innocent, we can't always be sure it's the right outcome." –Kimberley Wallace
Pillars of Eternity
GI Score: 9.25
Platform: PC
The CRPG rebirth that started last year with Divinity: Original Sin and Wasteland 2 continues in 2015 with Obsidian's under-celebrated Kickstarter title. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle when giant RPGs like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 are garnering all the attention, but this game deserves a wider audience.
Hot Take: "Players who have been waiting for a deep, true role-playing epic are virtually guaranteed to fall in love. Obsidian should have no shortage of fans cheering for another installment, and I’ll be among them." –Matt Miller
Soma
GI Score: 8.5
Platform: PS4, PC
Frictional Games' follow-up to Amnesia: The Dark Descent tells a mind-bending tale that sticks with you well after you complete the story. Jump scares take a back seat to philosophical ponderings, but the sense of dread it imparts you with is real.
Hot Take: "Video games have challenged us to unsympathetically blast apart deadly robots since their earliest days. Soma’s impressively realized underwater ordeal challenges even the coldest robot-slayers to consider a world where making such snap moral decisions is anything but automatic." –Tim Turi
You Must Build a Boat
GI Score: 9.0
Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android
If you enjoyed EightyEight Games' endless runner meets match-three masterpiece 10000000, You Must Build a Boat is a must-play. The simple design hooked a good majority of Game Informer editors, who would sneak in ship upgrades between tasks at the office.
Hot Take: "Despite the slight drop-off toward the end and the low replay value, You Must Build a Boat is a great experience while it lasts. For a good six to nine hours, building a boat will indeed become the most important task in your life." –Bryan Vore
Do you have an under-the-radar game to recommend as well? Please share in the comments section below.
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