When it comes to the gaming industry, you’re most likely familiar with titles like COD, Minecraft, GTA, Madden, Final Fantasy, Halo, etc, as well as some indie titles such as Hollow Knight, Undertale, Spiritfarer, and possibly some of the more recent game releases that came out between early 2025 to now such as Clair Expedition 33, Yakuza Pirate in Hawaii, Hollow Knight:Silksong, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, etc. However, there are titles that not a lot of people heard about that are hella underrated and deserve more recognition. Here are 5 most underrated video games starting from 5, and some of these titles aren’t really well-known. Now we shall start from the top, of my list, starting at #5.
- Tales of Vesperia|Developer: Bandai Namco|Originally released in 2008(remastered version released in 2019)|Genre: RPG
(The “Tales of” series is a RPG game series where each entry has a unique plot and unique characters as well as different worlds that usually don’t overlap, but the two mainline exceptions of the series are Xillia & Xillia 2, as well as one tales game that takes place 1000 years after another in a different universe. The first entry in the franchise as a whole was “Tales of Phantasia” that released in 1996, and the latest main entry in the series is Tales of Arise, which released in 2021 globally for the 25th anniversary of the Tales franchise, and post-game DLC content was released for Arise in 2023.)
Vesperia itself is the 10th mainline game in the tales series, and some important context about the story of Vesperia is that it takes place on the planet Terca Lumireis. The people of the planet rely on an ancient civilization’s technology with a wide array of capabilities. The tech they rely on is called “blastia”, and its capabilities include providing water, powering ships, and creating barriers around major cities and towns to protect them from monsters. Some people, particularly Imperial Knights of the empire(said empire remains unnamed in the game) and guild members also use a special type of blastia called “bodhi blastia” to enhance their abilities in combat. Blastia themselves are fueled by a substance called “aer” which can be fatal to humans in large concentrations.
The main plot begins when the aqua/aque blastia in the lower quarter/the slums of the empire’s capital city(Zaphias) is stolen, and the main character, Yuri Lowell, (a young swordsman who used to be a member of the imperial knights) attempts to chase down the thief, but is arrested and jailed in the castle. During his escape, he meets a young woman named Estelle who is searching for Yuri’s close companion and friendly rival, Flynn Scifo. The two of them, alongside Yuri’s faithful dog(Repede) leave the safety of Zaphias’ barrier to chase after both Flynn and the thief. (Sidenote: Despite being a dog, Repede is capable of using human weapons like knives and swords and actually prefers using those over his claws in battle.) While on their journey, Yuri, Estelle, and Repede encounter Karol Capel, a young boy who joins them in hopes of catching up with his guild, the Hunting Blades, and Rita Mordio, an intelligent but anti-social blastia researcher who takes great interest in Estelle’s healing magic. Yuri learns about the state of the world and philosophy of the guilds, who gave up their Imperial citizenship to live free from the rule of the Empire while on the journey. They also meet a guy named Raven, who is a high-ranking guild member, and Judith, a mysterious Krityan woman who is hunting and destroying blastia.(Krityans are an elf-like race in the game, and they, minus Judith, are a pacifistic race.) The definitive edition/remastered version of the game also includes an additional party character named “Patty Fleur”, and some cutscenes and dialogue in the definitive edition were slightly altered to include her and her impact on the story(Flynn is also playable in the definitive edition too.) The group ends up preventing the machinations of an evil guild leader named Barbos and recovers the aque blastia core. Yuri turns the core over to Flynn and announces his intention to form a guild with Karol, later named “Brave Vesperia” after the brightest star in the night sky. After that, there’s more including some interesting plot twists which cause the plot to thicken further, but no spoilers shall be revealed.
As for the gameplay, one of the most notable features that sets it out is the unique combat system. The combat system is a real-time, action-based in a circular arena where players are focused on chaining Normal Attacks with powerful Artes(skills) that consume TP(magic), alongside special mechanics like “Free Run”(which allows the player to move around freely in the battlefield), “customizable AI/Strategies for party members”, “Over Limit”, “Burst Artes”, and a unique system for finishing blows called “Fatal Strike” that grants bonuses.(Most of these features such as “over limit” are also present in other tales games.) Players use directional inputs with attacks to create combos, manage distance, and strategically utilize blocking and character-specific Artes to overcome challenging encounters. The gameplay is fully single player, but there is local multiplayer for combat only. Bosses throughout the game also have “secret missions” which are certain criteria that vary depending on environment, and other factors. One of those missions is at the start of a certain boss fight closer to the end of the game, the player has to use a certain item at the start of the battle to fulfill the mission, but you have to obtain that item from a side quest earlier on that tends to be missable.(The game has a lot of missable content that adds depth to the lore and/or makes parts of the game easier to achieve, but it’s worth it.) Additionally, after a battle is over, there’s unique victory quotes that vary depending on the party members in battle(only 4 members are allowed in active battle), and some quotes are hilarious. There’s also “Skits” throughout the game which are mini scenes of banter between party members.(Most games in the tales franchise have skits) Some skits are related to the storyline while others are random banter that add depth to the characters. For example, the first two skits in the game are Yuri talking to Repede about the blastia being stolen as well as mentioning there was added trouble a day before the story, and the second skit highlights his general annoyance with nobles. He also makes a remark in it where he says “nobles should act like nobles and not just dress nice and hide in their mansions”. (Extra fun fact: Bandai Namco held polls for people to vote on who the best tales main character is, and they actually had to remove Yuri from the polls to give other MCs a chance because people consistently voted him as the #1 best tales protagonist.) The Japanese and English voice acting in Vesperia is phenomenal while at it, and so is the voice acting in the other games on this list.
My reason for why I consider it underrated is simply because not a lot of people have heard about it or even the tales franchise in general, and Yuri is one of the best written tales protagonists for his realism and bluntness which is why he constantly got #1 on the polls. Furthermore, the soundtrack of Vesperia is peak, and one of the songs in the soundtrack is present in some other tales games that came after Vesperia including Arise.
Vesperia track used in other tales games(Original & Remastered Vesperia version)
- GTA IV|Developed by Rockstar Games|Released in 2008|Genres: Open-World, Action Adventure, 3rd-person shooter.
Out of all the GTA games, GTA 4 is the most underrated and is probably the best in the series as far as the storyline goes. GTA IV tells the story of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European war veteran who migrates to Liberty City to forget the horrific and graphic memories of his past and to live the “American Dream” his cousin, Roman tells him about. That dream is not true, and things don’t come out as planned as Niko has to wipe out mobsters and loan sharks that are preventing his cousin from making money freely. Additionally, Niko is also looking for someone, the man who betrayed his unit in the war, and it seems the man who betrayed Niko lives in Liberty City.(The war Niko and the other guy were in is heavily implied to be the Bosnian war, which occurred after the fall of Yugoslavia in the 90’s, and the implications present in-game includes the fact someone referred to Niko as “Mr. Balkan”, after the region in southeast Europe, the fact his and Roman’s native language is Serbian, and the historical context since Serbia and Bosnia were part of Yugoslavia). The game takes place in 2008, the year the game originally released, and unlike the vibrant, chaotic atmosphere of most GTA games, GTA IV’s atmosphere is the most realistic out of all of them. The atmosphere is slightly depressing, NPCs act more like real people compared to the other games, and most aspects of the gameplay are more straightforward. The game also highlights the challenges immigrants face when they arrive in a new land, the subplot of revenge, what the “American dream” really means, and the moral grayness of Niko’s character. The game also drops some deep quotes such as the quote “War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other” from Niko himself.
Now it’s true the game was initially a massive success at release, but the reason for calling it underrated and overlooked is people’s general preference of other GTA games like San Andreas, or Vice City for instance, partly due to how chaotic they get in classic GTA fashion, and how dark the story of GTA IV is compared to GTA V. Don’t get me wrong, Vice City, San Andreas and even GTA 5 have moments of random wacky chaos that tends to randomly occur outside of the story and said chaos is entertaining, but nothing beats realism especially when it’s dark and/or depressing.
- Tales of Berseria|Developer: Bandai Namco|Originally released in 2017(Remastered version is releasing in February 2026)|Genre: RPG
For this entry, we return to another mainline game in the “Tales of” franchise. The main character of Berseria is Velvet Crowe, a woman whose family was murdered during a demonic event called the “Scarlet Night” three years before the game takes place, and the person responsible for killing them was a man named “Artorious” who is the world’s celebrated “Shepherd”, and Velvet’s brother-in-law. Velvet’s arm gets turned into a daemon-consuming vessel after the event and she’s arrested. She ends up escaping prison, gaining daemon powers, and forms a pirate crew with a few other characters(the other party members) to seek revenge on Artorius. Their journey explores the themes of emotion vs reason and uncovers the true, morally gray nature of Artorius’ reasons for committing major sacrifices, and Velvet is forced to confront her own darkness throughout the game while at it. She and Yuri Lowell from Vesperia are two of the most well-written tales protagonists, and Velvet herself is the only female tales MC as a whole.
When it comes to its gameplay, the prologue itself is playable, and the game has skits, over limit, and some other standard elements seen in the tales games, but Berseria introduces a new mechanic exclusive to its combat system only, and there are no secret missions for bosses unlike Vesperia. Every time you start a battle in Berseria, you start off with a certain number of Souls aka combo points which you can then spend in order to power your normal attacks, and if you ever reach zero your attacks will become weak and easy to counter. Souls will slowly regenerate over time, or via the use of specific combos on the battlefield, and you’d have to pay careful attention to both the positioning and the timing of your attacks, especially against bosses and mini-bosses. For example, stunning your enemy will steal one Soul from them, essentially giving yourself the ability to chain even longer combo attacks throughout the rest of the battle, but the same works in reverse, so you’d have to thread the fine line between being aggressive enough to punish your enemy, and defensive enough to not lose your advantage. Velvet and her crew have special, super powerful attacks you can use in the middle of a combo to drastically extend its length, and consequently its damage, but there’s a catch. The catch is that you will have to sacrifice a Soul in order to use those attacks which means you’d be at a significant disadvantage for the remainder of the fight if you don’t successfully stun or kill your enemy with the newly extended combo. Those attacks are known as “Break soul abilities” and when to use “Break Soul” is one of the most important decisions you’d have to make in Berseria, but once you master the technique you’d be able to plough through hordes of enemies without ever pausing your onslaught. Additionally, you’re able to edit both player and ally combos, allowing for making personalized combos that fit your playstyle and assisting in specific situations such as juggling enemies into the air to disable them, and other scenarios. It’d take a while to master the complexity, but it’s not the type of complexity that interferes with enjoyment of the combat. It’s simply there as an added bonus for those that want to push themselves to the very edge.
My reasons for why I consider Berseria “underrated” are the same reasons why Vesperia is on this list as well as one other reason that sets Berseria higher than Vesperia. Berseria takes place 1,000 years before a different tales game called “Tales of Zesteria”, which unlike Berseria and Vesperia, is kinda overrated due to parts of it being cliche and slightly confusing at times. Berseria being Zesteria’s prequel at least adds depth to the general universe of those two tales games which eases some of the confusion.(Exact eras of both as well as Vesperia are unspecified)
- Clair Obscure: Expedition 33|Developer: Sandfall Interactive.|Released in April 2025|Genre: RPG
Despite being a more recent release compared to the previous entries, it should deserve more recognition. The game’s plot is that there are volunteers from the city of Lumière on a suicide mission to destroy the Paintress, a mysterious being causing the yearly Gommage(erasure) of people reaching a specific, ever-decreasing age, and the current expedition is targeting those 33 and older to end the cycle. Led by Gustav, the expedition journeys to the Continent to find the source of the Gommage, and they battle surreal enemies in a dark fantasy Époque world inspired by French art. There are several plot twists that reveal more truth and context, and the game has two possible endings depending on the character you choose at the end, with one of those endings being extremely deep(not spoiling it though).
The combat system of Expedition 33 is a “turn-based” combat system, and aside from that, there’s not much more to get into unless I reveal spoilers, which I shall not do.
My reason for considering it underrated is simply due to the deeper ending out of the two potential endings, and that ending also reveals the exact timeframe the game takes place in.
#1 (Player’s Choice)
I couldn’t decide on a #1 since there were several contenders that could have worked. However, there were also potential candidates that could have gone in a possible “honorable mentions” category such as Final Fantasy 10(the original Japanese edition for its deep masterpiece of an ending), various indie games that deserve more recognition as a whole, and/or any game in the “Yakuza” franchise for the wacky side material that adds comedic value to the games despite parts of their main storylines being serious+the fact some cutscenes in the games are where some meme footage originated from. Sometimes the footage is funnier without context, and other times its far more hilarious with the context.
Sidenote: Most of the Yakuza games with the exceptions of “Like A Dragon”/Yakuza 7, and “Infinite Wealth” have action-based combat systems and are more action focused overall. Yakuza 7 & Infinite Wealth gameplay has a turn-based combat system and are in the style of an RPG.
I’m curious as to what your personal list of the most underrated video games may consist of and why. Of course, the answer of the #1 most underrated game will vary since there are several contenders, so what’s your personal definition of considering games to be “underrated”? What games do you think fall under your personal criteria? Are there any genres in particular that you consider underrated?
