10 Underhyped Video Games That Blew Everyone Away

The Non-Hype

Rocket League is a textbook example of a game that came totally out of nowhere and set the world on fire.

Indie outfit Psyonix's previous game Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars received wildly mixed reviews from critics, and as a sequel of-sorts to that, Rocket League just wasn't on anyone's radar.

Even though the game's beta phase was well received by players and the game began to pick up some traction thanks to streamers, it still hadn't made a dent with the mainstream.

The Big Reaction

Then Psyonix made the game-changing deal to release Rocket League day one as part of Sony's "Instant Game Collection" on PlayStation Plus.

Though many players understandably have low expectations for games dumped straight to a PS+, the deal immediately got millions upon millions of eyes on Rocket League, with even skeptical players able to give it a quick try at no extra cost.

But most players didn't merely play a match or two and move on: Rocket League quickly became a viral phenomenon with PS4 owners, while also quickly becoming a best-seller on Steam.

Its "easy to pick up, difficult to master" core gameplay loop allowed it to find a huge audience across a wide spectrum of gamers, aided by its subsequent release on Xbox One and, most ingeniously, Nintendo Switch.

For a game that Psyonix expected to be a modest success at best - not to mention everyone else - it's nothing short of staggering that it sold 10.5 million copies within two years of its release, and just recently racked up 75 million lifetime players.

That's without even getting into the continued support Psyonix has provided to players, as well as the various cross-promotions with major sponsors and the fact that Rocket League is now a popular Esport.