20 Most Underrated Video Games Of 2016

12. The Banner Saga 2

Think Game of Thrones' gritty, death-is-everywhere tone and match it to a more fantastical backdrop - one filled with world-ending serpents and hulking giant races struggling to make peace with 'lowly humans' that require their help to make it out alive.

That's The Banner Saga in a nutshell, and after a stellar first instalment, this eventual trilogy landed a sequel in 2016 that carried on its epic story perfectly. The art style tends to be one of the major driving forces behind a recommendation too, as developer Stoic co-founder Arnie Jorgensen has teamed up with Igor Artyomenko to really prioritise the game's visual identity.

Thankfully, The Banner Saga 2 isn't just a pretty face, its combat centring on the unique idea of your health bar matching your attack power, before balancing it with a separate defence stat for armour. Attacking a foe's health directly means attacks get absorbed, or you can chip away at their defences and risk more powerful attacks in return.

Together it's a very neat way to rework an otherwise standard strategy formula, providing the foundation for The Banner Saga 2's direction, and elevating it as one of 2016's finest.