10 Critically-Acclaimed Video Games NO ONE Played

The highest-rated title on this list, with a 94 aggregate on Metacritic, and one of the highest-rated games of all time, Grim Fandango is an adventure game icon.

Winner of numerous Game of the Year awards its production was top-notch. The graphics were jaw-dropping, the art direction vibrant and brimming with personality, the voice-acting superlative and the music perfectly suited to its Mexican Land of the Dead setting. The story is expertly written, a cartoonish film-noir adventure populated with a cast of wacky, sometimes tragic, characters that many a critic felt would make an excellent film.

But for all its critical acclaim player uptake was distinctly underwhelming. According to Tim Schafer, development lead, the game, released in October 1998, sold approximately 500,000 units by 2012. To put that in context, Thief: The Dark Project, a niche stealth title released the same year, sold 500 000 by May 2000.

Why it flopped is tragically easy to answer. The adventure game genre was dying and Grim Fandango’s poor sales were seen as proof, and even though publishers LucasArts would release Escape from Monkey Island, sequels to hit adventure titles like Sam & Max and Full Throttle were ultimately cancelled.

Fortunately a remastered version was released in 2015, allowing new players to experience this landmark title.