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.