20 Underrated Hidden Gaming Gems Of The Current Generation You Need To Play
Don't let any of these pass you by.
When the likes of Uncharted 4, Battlefield 1 or the sumptuously detailed Overwatch are heading up everyone's 'Best Of' lists, it's clear we're living in one of the most prosperous times the gaming industry has ever seen.
Budgets are higher than ever, the games themselves take up mammoth amounts of space as they project entire worlds into your screen, and if you've indulged in a VR headset, you can control the whole thing in one-to-one real time.
But, like with all great, artistic mediums, there are a ton of creations that don't get the spotlight, resigned to the digital shelves of the world until someone's told to look their way. These are those games, the ones we're forever recommending to friends, and the ones that - sometimes - can be way more rewarding than the whizz-bang triple-A market.
20. Mad Max
Releasing on the same day as Metal Gear Solid V wasn't the best foot to put forward, I'll give Avalanche Studios that, but man if Mad Max isn't an insanely cool take on the apocalyptic open-world setting.
Combat is brutal as all hell, for a start. It's what has become known as 'Batman combat' where you're trading blows with groups of goons, before pulling off specials and bone-snapping finishers, but the impact of it all, my god, there's a level of momentum and weight behind everything Max does - a genuine sense of survival - that means when the dirt and sand kicks up around your feet, it feels like a real fight to stay alive.
That's only one half of the coin, too. Developers Avalanche added a ton of car combat options to let you do everything from equip spiked tires to ram guys off the road, before blasting the rest in half with makeshift rocket launchers. Think Destruction Derby and pair it with Twisted Metal, add Arkham's fisticuffs, an open-world stuffed with outposts to take over and you've got one HELL of an addictive gameplay loop.