10 Hidden Gaming Gems That You Totally Missed Out On

4. Blood Omen 2

One of the best character-action games ever created, and we're pretty serious. The fourth entry in the cult-classic Legacy Of Kain series, Blood Omen 2 took the titular antagonist and let you play as him, running amok through the city of Nosgoth with a huge variety of vampiric abilities. In a faux-open world setting, you slowly made your way through areas that were populated by all manner of townsfolk and city guards, which for the most part you could ignore, or batter the living daylights out of and suck the blood from their pores with the power of your mind. Yes, Kain was the original pillar of vampiric-nihilism, a particular fan-highlight being when a certain character has previously betrayed you and is now begging for forgiveness, only for Kain to roundly tear out their throat before continuing on his quest. It's the powers that make the game though, and as each boss character is dealt with you gain the very ability they were using against you beforehand, with one of the most fun being that of turning into a giant cloud of mist to stalk your prey through alleyways and tunnels, only to literally rip their heart out as a stealth-kill. There's also a city-block sized leap so you can catch any fleeing victim, and a slow-motion one-shot kill should you fancy launching another innocent denizen skyward into a nearby river. If a great game is borne from a sense of embodiment and a refined escapism, Blood Omen 2 is up there with the best of them. Luring helpless civilians into the darkest corners of the city and stalking around as a good vampire should has never, ever been replicated to this degree, and with a plethora of costume-changes and an ever-expanding arsenal of attacks, complete with Simon Templeman's exemplary voice work, there's not been another character or game quite like it since.