When it comes to video game genres, science fiction is one of the most well-trod of them all. Many of these games have been wildly successful, with franchises like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dead Space, and Deus Ex enjoying huge audiences across multiple games.
But many titles have also slipped through the cracks — victims of bad marketing, lack of publisher support, or unfortunate release timing. Some of 𝄹💟these games belong to niches and sub-genres within sci-fi, making them even harder to discover when gamers go looking for something different. There is truly something for everyone under the sci-fi umbrella, even within the ranks of underrated gems hidden from the public eye.
10 🌞 Colony Wars
While Colony Wars was properly respected in its time, clearly the best space shooter on the original 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:PlayStation has been overl💖ooked in modernity. The first-person space shooter genre has fallen out of favor to some extent, relegated more to PC than console over the last few generations.
Featuring some of the best graphics of the generation, an orchestral soundtrack, and more than 70 missions following an epic storyline, Colony Wars did everything right. But being stranded on the original hardware, without so much as a PSOne 𒅌Classic digital release, shows how little even Sony thinks of the game that is on nearly every best-of list for that console.
9 💙 Enslaved: Odyssey To The Westꦜ
Written off at the time of its release as an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Uncharted clone, Enslaved is so much more than that. While it does have traversal and set pieces inspired by N🥀athan Drake's adventures, the unique style and cooperative single-player action set it apart from other post-apocalyptic adventures.
The player controls a character named Monkey, who must work hand in hand with fellow survivor Trip, to survive the 🦂mutated wilderness of a destroyed dystopian landscape. Fighting animalistic robots, Monkey has no choice but to protect Trip in order to keep himself alive. The narrative elevates the action, giving this game a quality that is belied byඣ the lack of popularity it achieved.
8 ♛ Kerbal Space Program 🐻
Stuck between the idea that it is a cutesy kids' game not to be taken seriously, and a game far too hard for casual play, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kerbal Space Program is underrate🐬d in its ability to straddle both lines. While sending the Kerbal civilization to th⭕e Mun is a notoriously difficult task to get to grips with, the rewards for success are immense in both satisfaction and scientific understanding.
Meanwhile, the titular Kerbals are adorable in a Minion-like way, inviting players in just to witness their antics. In a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:world where STEM is at the fore𒁃front of education, this is a game that should receive vastly more at🎉tention than its niche status affords.
7 𝓀 Rogue Trooper
In 2006, squad-based games hadn't quite reached the fever pitch that they woul🐬d eventually see. Thus, Rogue Trooper and its war-torn future-Earth had a unique hoo♐k, made more so early in the game when all but one of the squad is killed in combat. From that point on, the main character becomes a squad of one, with the consciousness and abilities of the other soldiers manifesting as the player's new abilities.
Scrap being turned into useful material, alternate fire modes on weapons, and computer terminal hacking are just a few of the abilities the virtual squad contributes through the rest of the campaign. It was very innovative stuff at the time, but with the game being based on a rela🍸tively obscure British comic, it didn't have the name recognition it needed. Wiไth squad-based games going largely multiplayer in modern times, the idea of single-player controlled squadmates has gone the way of the dodo. Even a recent remade version wasn't enough to relight the fire of fandom for the game, leaving it sadly on the scrap heap of games known for being just innovative for their time.
6 Vanquish
Back in 2010, wh🌄en sci-fi typically revolved around mech suits and infiltrating a compound, Vanquish was doing it in style. Fast-paced, with a great soundtrack, and the inexplicable ability for the mech-suit to slide around on its knees, the game was a sight to behold.
Created by none other than the father of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, the game was difficult but rewarded players for their skill and attention. There was even a bullet-time mechanic that gave you a chance to escape near-death situations. With an Anniversary remaster dropping in 2020, the game is starting to earn some recognition for its quality. But with the pedigree of its creator, it's surprising that🧜 this was the first time many gamers had heard of it.
5 𒁃 Axiom Verge 🤪
If ever there were a love letter to Metroid, it is Axiom Verge. With a befuddling alien environment, compl🍬ex story, and more we🌺apons and secrets than a space pirate school reunion, this game is the true spiritual successor to the 8-bit Metroid titles.
Like most indie games created by a single person, Axiom Verge has likely slipped by many gamers who might otherwise be enamored by it. Despite a lack of marketing and big publisher push, the game has found a dedicated fanbase on consoles both handheld ♋and not. This is one that diehard indie fans want to shout from the top of the mountain in order to give it the ꦫacclaim they feel it deserves.
4 ✨ VA-11 Hall-A
Belonging to three niche categories within the sci-fi genre isn't likely to help a game be discovered, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth seekin꧑g out. VA-11 Hall-A (or "ꦯValhalla" as it's known), is a cyberpunk bartending visual novel, where the player mixes drinks and listens to the stories people want to tell.
That's really about it,꧅ but the quality of the game isn't in the buttons that are pressed, it's the quality of the storytelling. Players wi꧂ll become attached to their customers and want to extract all the stories they can get from them. It's no surprise why this one is underrated, but it isn't for lack of trying.
3 Beyond Good & Evil ꧃
The absolute definition of a cult classic, Beyond Good & Evil seemed to have everything going for it. Created by Michele Ancel of Rayman fame, favorably compared to Zelda titles, and with a mature story♑line, the game should have been a PS2 megahit.
The story, and the characters which populated it, were 🧜far better than the usual tropes. The combat was satisfying if possibly a bit shallow, and the varied game mechanics kept players from getting bored samey fetch quests that were par for the course at the time. Surprisingly a sequel was teased in 2018, giving fans hope that the original would finally receive its due in concert with a new adventure in the game's intriguing world.
2 MDK
MDK is another example of a game that was given its due at the time but has been forgotten in the years since. MDK was an example of bleeding-edge technology in 1997, acting as one of the games that hardware manu�꧑�facturers used to show off shiny new graphics cards and CPUs.
The game played exceedingly well on the right machine, and fe▨atured innovative traversal mechanics such as a back-mounted aerodynamic parachute that acted like a glider. There was even a hovercraft that allowed the player to float over the battlefield dropping bombs on unsuspecting enemies. The main character had an arm-mounted cannon and a head-mounted sniper rifle that allowed the player to zoom in on the creatively detailed enemies. MDK was a creative powerhouse that would inspire shooters for generations and is deserving of more nostalgic credit than it gets.
1 TimeSplitters ꦿ 🔯
At a time when multiplayer meant four controllers and a Multitap, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:TimeSplitters was the PlayStation's heir apparent to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Goldeneye. The gam༒e eschewed story and any semblance of meaningful single-player action in favor of a sterling map editor and highly configurable controls.
A fan-made reprisal of the game is in the works, showing the love the game inspired in many of its devotees. But at a time when Sony desperately needs an entry in the multiplayer online 💃shooter space, it seems an extra shame that TimeSplitters isn't even i⛄n consideration to fill that spot on the shelf.