It's easy for great games to get lost in the crowd. These underrated titles from 2025 deserved more time in the spotlight. Let's give them a second look.
TV Shows & Movies
15 Most Underrated Movies of 2025
15. The Alters
The Alters is a very good mix of story-driven adventure and light colony management, though its base-building isn't especially deep. Where the game truly stands out is in its personal side, exploring the relationships you build with different versions of yourself, each shaped by a different life path. It's a memorable, thoughtful experience best entered knowing as little as possible, and one that invites replaying to explore every variation. | © 11 bit studios
14. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is another gem in the now-revered catalogue of Don't Nod Entertainment, propelled by wonderful characters and powerful voice acting. Its gorgeous visuals and superb soundtrack make it a beauty to behold, and the fantastic camcorder gameplay mechanic elevates its solid design. While the main plot gets bogged down by some minor issues, the characters themselves seal the deal, making this another memorable adventure. | © Don't Nod
13. Herdling
Herdling takes a minimalist approach to its storytelling and mechanics, which brings closer attention to its overarching message about hardship and found families. It balances these heavy themes in a surprisingly digestible way, leaving you room to sit back and really absorb what it's trying to say. That it also manages to be an interesting and engaging survival game is just the cherry on top. | © Okomotive
12. Cabernet
Cabernet is a captivating, character-driven narrative RPG that sinks its fangs and doesn’t let go. Its best story veins are reserved for the individuals you meet, and with characters this well-written, you’ll want to drink in every last drop. The lovely, stylized graphics, engaging choice-based gameplay, and terrific voice acting combine to produce a creative, phantasmal experience that vampire enthusiasts especially shouldn't miss. | © Party for Introverts
11. Goodnight Universe
Goodnight Universe features a wonderful story with great performances, all built around a unique and competent eye-tracking control scheme. That method works surprisingly well, though part of the experience is definitely lacking without it. Even on consoles without a webcam, the compelling human story and stacked cast deliver a pretty great narrative, despite a few tedious moments mid-game. | © Nice Dream
10. Shadow Labyrinth
Shadow Labyrinth arrived in a year where Metroidvania standards are sky-high, and while it's no world-beater, it has a lot more quality than its reviews suggest. It's a perfect blend of a classic SNES platformer and a modern sci-fi epic, offering cool, Pac-Man-esque symbiotic abilities and memorable boss fights. The story is shallow, and it takes a while to get going, but its unique ideas make it stand out in a sea of copycats, which alone makes it worth a look. | © BANDAI NAMCO Studios
9. While Waiting
While Waiting is an experimental game that proves doing nothing can be pretty darn cathartic. It places you in a series of fun scenarios where your main task is simply to wait, but it cleverly doubles as a puzzle game with a checklist of vague to-dos for you to discover in each scene. If you're looking for complex action, you're barking up the wrong tree, but as an idle, cozy way to pass the time, it's a great little escape. | © Optillusion
8. Dispatch
Dispatch is a heartfelt adventure about former villains seeking a second chance, not another tired superhero story. With a lovable cast voiced by an all-star lineup, impressive interactive gameplay, and a gorgeous animated art style, it's the underdog of the year. It masterfully reopens the door for the episodic, choice-based genre, putting you in the heart of moral dilemmas as a dispatcher with cryptic requests and real narrative tension. | © AdHoc Studio
7. AI Limit
AI Limit is a superb Soulslike that undeservingly got lost in the haze of countless others trying to one-up FromSoftware. It was marred at launch by some persistent performance issues, but a little wonkiness aside, it delivers a unique and slick experience with a distinctive anime-esque art style. The combat is refined, the boss battles are memorable, and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel, what it does, it does very well, making it a game that deserves a lot more love. | © Sense Games
6. Creature Keeper
Creature Keeper immediately catches the eye with its cute pixel visuals and promise of cozy, creature-focused gameplay. It lives up to that promise as a fun, low-key action-RPG, feeling a lot like Moonstone Island as you explore and power up your beasts in real time. While the combat can feel a little underwhelming and some developmental bugs persist, the charming story, exploration, and creature taming offer a lot to enjoy if you love the game for what it is. | © Fervir Games
5. Wheel World
Wheel World is a fantastic find for anyone suffering from open-world fatigue, offering a completely different take as an addictive cycling epic. Its story is forgettable, but that just lets the focus remain on exploring a vast world by bike, gathering parts, and building a reputation through races. The steady progression feels satisfying, the races are challenging without being brutal, and the cathartic sandbox joy of just zooming around makes this one of 2025's more unique open worlds. | © Messhof Games
4. Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson
Fretless: The Wrath of Riffson takes the classic JRPG formula and tweaks it into something completely new and melodic. It's a rhythm game and a deckbuilder at heart, wrapped in a satirical, heartfelt story that's all-killer, no filler. Very Crono Trigger in its timing-based turns, its refreshingly accessible challenge just lets you soak in the charm, personality, and sick tunes as you shred your way to rockstar glory. | © Ritual Studios
3. Cronos: The New Dawn
Cronos: The New Dawn isn't just another critically middling game: based on reviews, it's straight-up good. But here's the deal: I think it's outstanding. In an era dominated by Resident Evil and Silent Hill, it's the first game since Dead Space to truly stand out, with a gripping sci-fi allegory for COVID, intentionally tense combat, and perfectly scarce survival horror mechanics. | © Bloober Team
2. Eternal Strands
Eternal Strands is from Dragon Age alumni, so it's bound to be polarizing, but this one is actually worth your time. It feels like a hearty blend of Dragon Age, Breath of the Wild, and Shadow of the Colossus, offering rewarding exploration and accessible, satisfying combat. It's open-world comfort food that lets you feel like a god in battle, and while its familiar ideas keep it from being a new star, few 2025 games scratch that action-RPG itch quite as well. | © Yellow Brick Games
1. Atomfall
Atomfall is a brilliant shooter that uses the Sniper Elite series as a strong foundation, but it's also a bona fide immersive sim. It truly lets you choose your path, allowing you to play as a pacifist, a killer, or anything in between as you progress through areas in a wealth of ways. Most impressively, it features no hand-holding or quest markers, pushing you to make natural discoveries and piece together the world's mystery for yourself, all wrapped in a very competent survival game layer. | © Rebellion Developments
It's easy for great games to get lost in the crowd. These underrated titles from 2025 deserved more time in the spotlight. Let's give them a second look.
