10 Best Hidden Gem Video Games Of The Decade
Control deserves your attention.
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00:00Looking back on the last 10 years of gaming, there have been a lot of bangers.
00:03After all, in that time we have seen games release on three whole console generations,
00:08and AAA titles have only gotten bigger and bigger. Because of that, there have been plenty
00:12of gems that have slipped through the cracks, and whether they're 6 months old or turning 10 this
00:17year, they all deserve a bit more time to shine. So, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and these are
00:21the 10 best hidden gem video games of the last 10 years. But first up, an honourable mention,
00:27Resistance 3. Listen, right, I know that Resistance 3 misses out on this list by
00:33half a year or something, but it's my list and I just really want to talk about Resistance,
00:38so indulge me for a second. It took them 3 attempts, but Insomniac finally fulfilled
00:42the potential of their post-apocalyptic alien shooter series with this final game.
00:47Though the first two releases weren't quite the Halo killer that Sony probably wanted,
00:51they were still ambitious FPS games, with interesting stories and a damn good world
00:55to fight your way through. The third game elevated everything though. The narrative
01:00was more emotional, characters more well-rounded, and the gunplay was tighter than ever. Throw in
01:04some spectacular set pieces and Resistance 3 was a bloody good shooter, but nobody cared.
01:10At that point, PS3 players had kind of given up on the franchise ever becoming a smash hit that
01:14it could have been, and with 2011 being a particularly stacked year, it ended up buried.
01:19But still, bring Resistance back Sony, please go on for me.
01:26When it comes to the best horror games of the last few years, Visage absolutely needs to be
01:30in the conversation, and not just because it made me so scared that I thought I was going to throw
01:35up. On the surface, you can see why it didn't make waves. It's a small indie title that's very
01:40clearly inspired by PT, from the familiar suburban house setting to the obtuse first-person puzzles.
01:46But while the title wears this inspiration on its sleeve, it's so much more than a clone,
01:52and is absolutely brimming with creative horror scenarios. Essentially split into
01:56a few different vignettes focusing on specific characters and their tragedies,
02:00the house itself transforms to fit each story. There'll be a section where your only light
02:04source is the flash of a camera, scientifically one of the scariest horror setups whenever it's
02:09used by the way, while another will see you taken on a trippy descent into hell itself.
02:13What makes Visage though is its unpredictability. Despite spending so much time in the same
02:18hallways and rooms, you never feel like you know what's going to be waiting for you. The
02:22apparitions haunting you always catch you off guard, and the brilliant sign design immerses
02:27you in the game's traumatic story. Though it took a while, Arkham Origins did
02:33eventually enjoy something of a small reappraisal, but it shouldn't be forgotten that for the majority
02:38of its life, this spin-off was treated as the unwanted child of a glorious superhero trilogy.
02:44I mean, it wasn't even included on the remastered Arkham collection, and that's just doing it dirty.
02:50Crafted purely as a stopgap between the final two main Arkham games, Origins' corporate reason to
02:56exist is no secret, but the devs at WB Montreal overcame those limitations to deliver a worthy
03:02follow-up that deviates from the core installments in worthwhile ways. Sure there's still a lot of
03:07familiarity present in the gameplay and setting, but the spin-off still boasts a great story.
03:11In a way, it's kind of like the New Vegas of the Batman series. A quote-unquote unnecessary
03:17spin-off that was initially poorly received, but which has since been embraced by the diehards as
03:22perhaps the cream of the crop. I mean, it's nowhere near as good as New Vegas, mind. That
03:26thing is GOAT material. There have been plenty of great narrative-driven first-person games,
03:34including the likes of Gone Home and Firewatch, and it's an absolute travesty that SOMA is never
03:38placed on the same level as those genre-defining giants. And that's perhaps because it was wrongly
03:44pigeonholed as a horror game closer to Blaze of Fear or the developer's own previous title Amnesia.
03:50That genre heritage of course is still there, and you do spend plenty of time crouch-walking
03:55around tables to avoid the petrifying gaze of horrifying mechanical beasties in this game,
04:01but it's the storytelling and world-building that makes the title so damn appealing.
04:05Uncovering the mysteries of this world, which takes the form of an underwater base housing
04:09the last remnants of the human race following an extinction event, is tantalizing and features
04:14twists that are far too juicy to spoil here. So, please, just play it if you can.
04:20Number 7 – Assassin's Creed Syndicate
04:23No matter what Ubisoft had up their sleeve to follow the utter embarrassment that was
04:27Assassin's Creed Unity, it was always going to disappoint. After years of growing discontent,
04:32Unity broke the AC series in half, with its bevy of glitches and launch problems making
04:37for a limp jump to the next generation. That shadow extended to the next game,
04:41the Victorian London-set Syndicate, and made for one of the lowest-selling installments in the
04:45franchise's history. That was a travesty though, because the follow-up was actually better in
04:51every single way. Of course, it was the setting that was the real winner in this title though.
04:56Walking the streets and ziplining to the top of iconic London buildings never gets old,
05:00and it was complemented by a story stacked with great characters and period-specific cameos.
05:05It's a shame the location was a one-and-done affair, because it deserved way more time to shine.
05:10Still, this was a fine send-off to the first era of Assassin's Creed.
05:15Number 6 – Mad Max
05:17For as long as I've been at this job, I've championed Mad Max as one of the most underrated
05:22games of the last generation. At this point, I actually can't even remember if it's as much
05:26a bit as a genuine feeling, but I do know how much of an impact this left on both me and Scott
05:32Telford. That's because the sandbox brawler could've been nothing more than a shoddy tie-in
05:36to cash in on the release of Mad Max Fury Road, which came out just a few months prior, but it
05:40was way, way more than that, and could easily rub shoulders with the best in the open-world
05:45genre at the time. It's death sentence came from releasing on the same day as Metal Gear Solid V
05:51which completely overshadowed this risky purchase in comparison. That absolutely
05:55sucks though because Mad Max was and is so much fun. What made it so special and charming was
06:01the way it blended the surprisingly gorgeous sandbox with the core gameplay staples of
06:06post-apocalyptic living. Everything here is purposeful, the action is tight, and crafting
06:11your own magnum opus Deathbringer car never gets old.
06:14Number 5 – Max Payne 3
06:17Speaking of the rare things that me and Scott Telford actually agree on, let's talk about Max
06:21Payne 3. Now, there are some people out there who think that Max Payne 3 simply shouldn't exist,
06:26and that it spits patooey on the quality of the first two titles that Remedy created. However,
06:32those people are wrong. Rockstar took the reins of the franchise following that second game and
06:37injected it with their own brand of detail-orientated design. The effort the studio usually
06:42puts into delivering massive, dense open worlds was filtered into a linear third-person shooter,
06:46and it resulted in one of the most tactile, visceral action games ever.
06:50Though the deliberateness won't be for everyone, there's something so undeniably satisfying about
06:55accounting for Max's weight and position that makes pulling off those sick, gravity-defying
06:59slow-motion kills feel even better. Throw in a killer story that rivals any action flick,
07:03and Max Payne 3 shouldn't be slept on by any shooter fan.
07:07Number 4 – The Evil Within 2
07:10At the start of 2019, every video game fan and critic hailed Resident Evil 2 as bringing the
07:15survival horror genre back from the brink. And that was always weird to me, because The Evil
07:21Within 2, in my opinion, did that exact same thing years prior and nobody cared. The original game
07:26was a rough-around-the-edges charmer, but this sequel raised the bar in every way. It was spookier,
07:32the story was better, the gunplay tighter and enemies nastier, and even better, it introduced
07:36a semi-open-world structure that somehow complemented the horror elements and made
07:41the experience even scarier. The best thing you can say about The Evil Within 2 though,
07:45is that it actively makes the original a better game in hindsight. The plot points it picks up,
07:50the motifs it repeats and enemies that return are all deepened and granted greater significance,
07:56and it's generally just a great survival horror experience that you can now even play in first
08:01person if you want.
08:05If you've watched even a few of my videos this year, you'll probably know that Before Your Eyes
08:10is my latest obsession. But while I've boasted about it in its own editorial, please
08:14permit me to chat about it just one more time because I couldn't leave it off this list.
08:19Before Your Eyes was always destined to be a cult hit. It's only available on PC,
08:24and the gameplay is based mostly around your webcam. See, this game chronicles the entire
08:29life of a man called Benny told from a first-person perspective. However, the gimmick
08:33is that every time you blink in real life, you skip forward in Benny's life, meaning that you're
08:38unlikely to see everything the game has to offer as you're always cutting things off too early.
08:43It's more than just a gimmick though, the story of Benny's life is unsurprisingly a tragic one,
08:48and this framing device gives it a sense of urgency and fatalism that makes the final
08:53moment so emotionally charged. The writing is spot on, characters are well drawn in scenarios
08:58are memorable, and it makes for one of the most moving things you'll ever experience.
09:032. Control
09:05It absolutely sucks that Control has already well and truly cemented itself as a hidden gem,
09:10and not the genuine smash hit that it could have been. Whether it was the marketing or a general
09:14disinterest from the audience is unclear, but Remedy's latest shooter hasn't broken out of
09:19its little niche corner of the industry, which is a travesty considering that it has some of
09:23the slickest combat mechanics in recent memory. Once you nab all the powers in Control, fighting
09:28enemies almost feels godly. Hovering around areas, telekinetically picking up chunks of
09:33the environment and then launching them into a huddle of goons while picking the remainder off
09:37with an alien shape-shifting gun makes for one of those gameplay loops that should get old after 8
09:43hours, but somehow never does, it never stops being so satisfying. That's only one part of
09:49the overall excellent puzzle though, it's the setting that really shine, as the mysteries of
09:53the oldest house pose fascinating questions and that signature Remedy charm runs throughout the
09:58veins of this creepy building. Games in 2019 had a major personality problem and Control stuck two
10:04fingers up to that and embraced the weirdness. 1. Splinter Cell Blacklist
10:10There hasn't been a new Splinter Cell game in nearly a decade now, which stings doubly because
10:15the last installment, Blacklist, was such a confident step in a new direction for the series.
10:20Coming towards the tail end of the 360 era, Blacklist followed up the controversial Conviction
10:25attempting to blend that title's action-orientated approach to stealth with the classical,
10:29methodical approach of the original trilogy. Though franchises suffering an identity crisis
10:34have tried and failed to find a harmonious balance before, looking at you Resident Evil 6,
10:39Ubisoft's efforts surprisingly paid off here. If you wanted a more active, aggressive approach,
10:43the level design accommodated for that, while also providing the ability to take it slow
10:47and ghost your way through areas. The focus was always on player choice, and it made for an
10:52inventive stealth game at a time where the genre was sadly no longer in vogue. A remake of the
10:57first game is on the way, but should Ubisoft greenlight a sequel proper, it should build on
11:03these foundations, but I guess, let's face it, it'll probably end up just being another open
11:07world game, won't it? So that's our list, why don't you guys think down in the comments below,
11:11have you played and loved any of these hidden gems, and are there any that you think deserve
11:16a spot on this list? Let us know, and while you're down there can you please give us a like,
11:19share, subscribe and also head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like this
11:23every single day. Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thank you so much for watching,
11:27and I'll see you soon.