Has to actually be underrated or unknown not just a cult classic.
King of Dragon Pass and spiritual (legally, in practice basically same) prequel Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind for us fantasy nerds, you manage a ‘barbarian’ tribe that has migrated to a new area in a fantasy world.
Idk how unknown these are, but Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus for being good atmospheric turn-based tactical combat game (not an X-Com clone!).
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 (1 is also ok but 2 has more variety) for a space fleet strategy game, but less Expanse and more like Age of Sail with broadsides and boarding actions. Idk why anyone would even play a space battle game where you can’t order RAMMING SPEED!!!
Battlestations: Midway and Bs: Pacific for WW2 Pacific theater buffs, you will mostly control a single ship/sub/plane (usually as part of squadron) but often also command other vessels at the same time, like a small task force, they will individually act on their own but for cooperation you have to lead them effectively. Usually you can choose/switch any one of your units to control in real-time.
Signalis is a very good survival horror.
I thought Trek to Yomi was ok very neat art style tho.
Khimera:Destroy all Monster girls is one I really enjoyed. Charming megaman-like game that was really fun (despite the name, its more a ‘you beat them then befriend em’ kinda thing). Also, its FREE so no reason not to try it
Quantum Protocol was another interesting one. Its sort of a deck builder roguelike but you play through levels, and you also choose the character and deck you play; its just you get random cards that can either belong to that character or be general ones. Unlike other roguelikes where its about “oooh, if I get this card, I can make a super OP build if I get lucky”, and its more about learning how to use the character you picked well. The story isnt too long and there is a full random chance mode you get AFTER the stories done but I actually preferred the fixed levels to them despite the fact I usually like fully random roguelikes.
Spirit horde. Think vampire survivors meets hades.
I don’t think many people are playing Star Trek Bridge Commander
Paraworld is a personal favorite of mine! It was an RTS with three factions (Scandinavians, Africans, Japanese) that were all riding dinosaurs, with a plot reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon. Sadly, it got no advertising attached to it, so it never sold well. The only way to get it now is through torrents.
The I Of The Dragon was also a personal favorite. It was an open world RPG where you played as a fuckin dragon and flew around saving the world from demons. The spells were awesome and the scale was HUGE, but the controls were a bit janky and the game got repetitive near the end. It’s on Steam now for a couple bucks, I think. Definitely worth the try.
Demigod was a MOBA made to challenge DOTA and LoL, and while I had a lot of fun with it, it failed spectacularly! It lost online support, so you can only play against bots now.
Warshift was a really cool RTS/FPS hybrid game that played a bit like a moba, but one player controlled all the armies while the others were support. It had a radical sci-fi aesthetic, and great gameplay, but never had a multiplayer community, and no option to play as support in singleplayer, so it died out pretty quickly.
Carrier Command: Gaea Mission was a game where you piloted an aircraft carrier across an archipelago against another. You had cars and aircraft you could add weapons to to fight over the islands and their resources, and it was everything I wanted in a strategy FPS. Except, the bots were terrible at driving vehicles, and the ship to ship combat was absolute garbage, so it bombed in reviews and very few people played it. There’s a sequel to the game it was based on out now, but it was a lot more complicated so I never got into it.
the DOS game Crusader was really fun for me as a kid. it was an isometric scifi shooter where you are similar to a storm trooper who defects to the rebels. it has FMV scenes and clunky controls. I would love to see a remake in a style like the game The Ascent.
Pathologic 2