10 Underrated Video Games That Were Way Ahead Of Their Time

3. Shenmue

For the longest time, developers were continually looking into various ways to enhance immersion. And for the record-setting budget of $70 million (the most expensive game ever made at the time), director Yu Suzuki set about crafting an epic tale where everything from stroking cats to picking up fully-rendered pamphlets was interact-able.

This resulted in one of the most revered and culturally-beloved titles of all time - possibly the first ever 'triple-A' game too - but simply because of its interactive elements being so impossible to imitate, it would be years before other titles would devote so much time, effort and money into making an environment feel 'alive'.

The Yakuza series is a fairly close approximation of Sega continuing this design philosophy, and you can look to the likes of L.A. Noire or first-person horror titles to see gameplay mechanics made out of scouring the environment. Still, when people say there's "nothing quite like Shenmue", it comes directly from its most pioneering features being a direct product of what wasn't around at the time.

Considering all the advancements we've made today, what Shenmue III even looks and feels like, I can't even begin to imagine...