15 Failed Video Games That Became Cult Classics

There's rarely a game made by wild-child developer Goichi 'Suda51' Suda that hasn’t strived for some sort of cult honour badge over commercial success.

Set in an alternative future that’s under-siege by the Heaven Smile terrorist group, you take control of the Killer7, an elite squad of assassins that are the world’s only chance at stomping out this fierce threat.

By the way, those terrorist are skinless freaks that appear invisible to the human eye, and the Killer7 are split personalities manifested in a paraplegic man’s head.

Y'know, standard video game fare.

The gameplay itself is even more obtuse. It’s a third person shooter, but also a puzzler, and also…all set on-rails? Its mechanics are random and perplexing, yet strangely once adjusted to, feel intuitive and immersive in the surreal dream-logic Suda throws us into.

Once Killer7 released in the west, not many knew what to make of it. It landed a polarising reception and sold terribly. As time passed, gamers with a desire for something different gravitated towards the game, with word-of-mouth spreading like wildfire.

It proved that not all games need to be pulse-pounding or wit-testing to succeed. Sometimes they could just be pure strange, and enthral the gamer into a completely different space without need for plot-points or logic. A unique experience would suffice, and Killer7 provides that, in spades.