If you’ve been on a Reddit forum lately, or our own comments section for that matter, you’ll know that game reviews are a hot button topic.
10 Highly Reviewed Games That Are Actually Overrated
None of these games are bad, but they aren’t the world-beaters that the reviews would have you believe.
Sometimes, reviewersare perceived to have gotten things wrong, which means that fewer gamers trust the words of game journalists and the aggregate scores on sites likeOpenCritic.
To that, I say, fair enough. It’s always good to try things out with an open mind and see for yourself if the experience is for you.
However, this devaluation of aggregate scores has perhaps led to some truly magnificent games with all-time high scores being passed on.
So, no matter how you feel about mine or any fellow journalist’s opinion, I want to highlight some high-scoring titles that deserve your love and attention.
For clarity, we will only be considering games that have received an 85+ aggregate Opencritic score or higher, and will only consider games with 10+ critical reviews.
10Videoverse
Add Me On MySpace
Videoverse
Let’s kick things off with a blast of 2000s nostalgia. Videoverse is a game that serves as a love letter to the days of dial-up internet and the first forms of social media in existence.
It was a time when everything was a lot newer, exciting, and innocent, which Videoverse encapsulates incredibly well. But immaculate vibes aren’t enough to make a groundbreaking game, so this one bolsters the nostalgia with an affecting and powerful story.
The slow descent into dysfunction is palpable as the game progresses, and this only works because the game’s community aspect is so believable and rooted in the time period.
It’s a slow burn,and one that will completely sail over the heads of some, as you just had to be there. But, if you’re a nineties kid, this is a must-play.
Southern Charm
Text-based gamesand point-and-click adventures may feel like a relic of a bygone era to some, but I’m here to shout from the rooftops that they still have their place in gaming today.
Games like Citizen Sleeper and Roadwarden prove this, and, in my humble opinion, NORCO is easily the best modern game in the genre by some distance.
Set in swampy Louisiana in the backwater town of NORCO, you return to a place that never felt like home to investigate your mother’s death, and what unfolds from there is equal parts eerie, hilarious, and surreal.
The game is beautifully paced and has a blend of seriousness, silliness, and dark humor that rivals Disco Elysium at times. It’s one of the most stylistically brilliant games you’ll ever see.
It’s criminally underrated, perhaps due to the genre it occupies, but if you’re only able to play one game like this, make it NORCO, and you just might discover a newfound love for the text-based genre.
8Minishoot Adventures
A Zelda Shoot-Em-Up
Minishoot' Adventures
From the moment the first Zelda game was released, developers worked overtime to create the first Zelda clone, a trend that has remained throughout gaming ever since, although these days, developers are more focused on BOTW-esque 3D outings.
When gamers think of great top-down Zelda clones, Tunic is usually the first name uttered. But, recently, a new kid on the block did something equally fantastic.
Minishoot Adventure is effectively a bullet-hell Zelda clone, where you still dungeon crawl, solve puzzles and take on enemies, but with the added caveat of what feels like millions of projectiles hurtling at you at any given moment.
It’s a clever tweak on the classic formula that has been around since the halcyon days of the original Game Boy, and one that you need to check out.
7Keep Driving
How Many Miles To The Gallon?
Keep Driving
I have played a handful of games that bill themselves as the ultimate road trip, but the issue is that they are almost always centered around high-octane stories like police getaways or the apocalypse.
Admittedly, I’m directly referencing Heading Out and Overland there, but the point remains that the road trip aspect almost always takes a backseat. But not in Keep Driving, a game in which your goal is to get to the music festival across the country by whatever means necessary.
This requires careful resource management, making the most of the game’s limited RPG mechanics, and dealing with the wealth of obstacles that will pop up along the way.
It’s a coming-of-age story with a lot of charm, fine details, and some surprisingly deep and addictive systems. Plus, it has some great tunes that warrant you cranking up the radio, and that’s worth the price of admission alone.
61000xResist
All About The All-Mother
1000xRESIST
There are quite a few games out there that walk the fine line between a hands-on game and a hands-off story-driven experience, and one game that walks that line straight and true is 1000x Resist.
This sci-fi story places you in the futuristic nano-boots of Watcher, as they must come to terms with a discovery that rocks their world and the fabric of everything that exists within it. Which then tasks you with exploring, digging deeper, and making sense of what that means.
It’s a phenomenally well-written game that tackles a variety of taboo and nuanced topics with aplomb, and cements this game’s narrative excellence with top-tier audio design and full voice acting.
It’s not an action-packed game, or even a game that features much gameplay at all besides walking and talking. But, rest assured, this game is so brilliant, it doesn’t matter one bit.
5Blue Prince
An Underrated Gem In Waiting
Blue Prince
This may be a little premature, as this game is just about to launch at the time of writing, and this game could potentially become a household name. But, it just feels to me like one of those critically acclaimed titles that will fade into relative obscurity and not get the player count it perhaps deserves.
In a gorgeous cel-shaded world, you’ll be tasked with exploring an enigmatic manor, mapping out rooms that reset at the day’s end. Meaning that all you retain is the knowledge gained from one day to the next.
This, therefore, makes this game an elaborate and unique roguelikeMetroidbrainia endeavor,which blends careful planning, thorough exploration, and a few eureka moments that make you feel like a genius, only for you to be humbled by the next roadblock on the way to room 46.
I can truly say, there’s nothing quite like this one, andconsidering it’s a day one PS Plus title, there’s no excuse to pass on this new indie darling.
Ironically, It’s Gorgeous
There are quite a few platforming gimmicks that games have dabbled with but have never fully explored, one of which is the concept of symmetry.
Games like GRIS and Degrees of Separation have flirted with the idea to varying degrees, but Ugly is a game that milks the concept dry, resulting is a truly magnificent puzzle platforming experience.
Despite the name, Ugly is, ironically, a gorgeous game, and one that has tight mechanics, a wealth of clever puzzles, and an unsettling undertone that slowly reveals itself as you go.
It’s the complete package from gameplay to presentation, and a puzzle platformer worth its weight in gold. Even if very few people have ever taken the time to play it.
3Just Shapes & Beats
Asteroids With Tunes
Just Shapes & Beats
When it comes to creating a good rhythm game, it’s about keeping the gameplay simple and accessible, and putting the music front and center, which is why Just Shapes and Beats is so fantastic.
With just a dash button to your name, you’ll need to guide your little triangle around the screen in true Asteroids fashion. But, unlike Asteroids, it’s not about shooting projectiles. It’s about listening to the beat, thinking one step ahead, and avoiding what comes.
In a genre where QTE-style inputs are so commonplace, Just Shapes and Beats presents a bullet-hell party game that sets itself apart from the pack. Offering a wealth of awesome EDM tracks, and pulsating gameplay that just about anyone can pick up and play.
If you’re looking for profound moments of narrative excellence, or nuanced mechanics, you’re barking up the wrong tree. But if you want simple, addictive fun. There are few games on this level.
2Overboard!
Time To Plant Some Evidence
There’s nothing like a good murder mystery, and one common thread that ties these together is a captive crowd of potential suspects. A feature that Overboard! ensures by depicting a murder at sea. So, short of swimming miles to shore, everyone needs to stay put, and that makes everyone a potential suspect.
But here’s the twist. You’re the one who did it. So, your goal in this game is to play detective and effectively conjure up enough evidence to frame someone else for your crime.
This murder mystery in reverse is all about being menacing, devious, and conniving, and it’s bloody satisfying to say the least.
Plus, if you’re up against it, you could always push more people overboard and up your kill count. It’s this freedom to engage with the scenario as you choose that makes this one so special and if you’re looking for a more sinister twist on the detective genre, there’s nothing that can match this one.
1Mullet Madjack
Party In The Back
Mullet Madjack
In the post-DOOM reboot era, we have seen a wide variety of modern boomer shooters find an audience. Games like Turbo Overkill, Cultic, and Dusk all spring to mind. However, one of the finest just so happens to be one of the least well-known.
Mullet Madjack is essentially what you get when you throw DOOM, Hotline Miami, Ghostrunner, and Enter The Gunegon into a blender. Serving up a satisfying smoothie jam-packed with violence, action, and neon.
It gives players that constant forward momentum synonymous of a boomer shooter alongside classic anime visuals and a satisfying roguelike progression system, making this one unlike any of its gory contemporaries.
It’s wonderfully cheesy, bold and brash, and a must-play for ’90s shooter fans.
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