It's always great to see a team of developers getting a little experimental or ambitious with their latest title, but whether these specific games actually land with the audience is a different matter entirely. As a result, there are several brilliant games out there which, despite packing in some truly intriguing mechanics and systems in an attempt to push their genre to the next level, didn't take off into the mainstream, or simply didn't connect with players for one reason or another.
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The scope, the gameplay, the characters, the plot... These RPGs had no shortage of ambition, and delivered an unforgettable experience.
Whether it's because the game came out at an awkward time and was overshadowed by a bigger release, or it was simply so ambitious that it came off as overwhelming, it's understandable why some of these games would end up going under the radar. With that being said, these titles below are prime examples of video game projects that were extremely ambitious for their time, but that sadly failed to sweep players off their feet once they were actually released.
Vanquish
An Adrenaline-Charged Shooter Surrounded By Other Blockbuster Hits
Vanquish
- Released
- October 19, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- Action, Third-Person Shooter
After Shinji Mikami decided to step away from the Resident Evil franchise following the fourth mainline entry, he would go on to create his own set of passion projects, which were a lot more over the top and creative than what he was allowed to develop in the survival horror genre. The most notable of these was Vanquish, a third-person shooter where players take control of a super-soldier who can propel himself around the environment at blistering speeds thanks to his high-tech suit of armor.
Gliding around a visually stunning metropolis while keeping a close eye on the jet boost meter creates an addictive gameplay loop that succeeds in pushing the traditional third-person shooter gameplay formula into high gear. However, while the game itself is an absolute blast to play, the reason it never fully took off is because of the year it was released. 2010 saw games such as Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, and Halo Reach all releasing in the span of a few months, meaning Vanquish wouldn't receive the credit it most certainly deserved until many years later.
ZombiU
Death Is Only The Beginning Of The Adventure In ZombiU
ZombiU
- Released
- November 18, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror
Because of how immensely popular zombie games have been over the last decade or more, any developer who wants to include these iconic enemies in their game needs to do something unique to make the experience stand out from the competition. In the case of Ubisoft and ZombiU, they achieved this by adding an ambitious mechanic where, if the player dies, they will be turned into a member of the ravenous zombie horde. The player themselves will then respawn as a new survivor, where they will need to decide whether to play it safe and gather all their resources a second time, or take a risk and venture through an entire undead swarm to find their re-animated corpse so they can reclaim all their precious loot.
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This single concept made it so that death was a part of the journey in ZombiU, rather than being the end. While it was an extremely clever way to breathe new life into the zombie survival sub-genre, it was difficult for many people to get invested in the game, considering it was released as a Wii U launch title. It's no secret that the Wii U performed pretty poorly when it was released back in 2012, and as a result, many people were unaware of what ZombiU even was, despite it being clear that Ubisoft poured an incredible amount of time and effort into making it a unique experience that zombie fans could flock to.
Samurai Shodown
The Slow And Methodical Pace Of Samurai Shodown Never Quite Caught On
Samurai Shodown
- Released
- June 25, 2019
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- SNK Corporation
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
When most people think of fighting games, their minds will usually go to the fast-paced combat gameplay seen in Street Fighter and Tekken, or the larger-than-life gory spectacle that is Mortal Kombat. This is why 2019's Samurai Shodown is regarded as such an ambitious game in the genre, as it instead takes a slow and methodical approach to its gameplay and encourages players to be a lot more strategic in their actions, rather than just mashing every button to score a win. The core aim of each battle is to disarm the opponent and open them up for a deadly attack, though pulling this off is far from easy and can take a lot of practice.
The fighting game genre, more than any other, can struggle to maintain a consistent player base, considering that the big three are usually the games that most people will stick to. In the case of Samurai Shodown, even though it took on a vastly different gameplay style and incorporated a dazzling visual aesthetic, it didn't manage to retain many of its players for long after its release. As a result, it's now considered something of a cult classic that many agree really should have been more of a hit, considering how differently it plays from every other fighter on the market.
Sonic Forces
Nobody Expected A Wartime Sonic Game With An Original Character In The Lead Role
Sonic Forces
- Released
- November 7, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence
- Genre(s)
- Platformer, Shooter, Fighting, Adventure
The Sonic the Hedgehog games are known to get pretty outlandish with their stories, but Sonic Forces takes this to a whole new level. Rather than carrying over the upbeat and jovial tone of previous games, Sonic Forces instead presents itself as a more mature and gritty entry where Sonic is defeated by a handful of powerful villains in the first few minutes, resulting in a chaotic war where his friends become members of a resistance army. It's a wildly different kind of story from anything Sonic had seen before, and the decision to have the protagonist be the player's own original character was another ambitious idea that Sonic Team decided to implement into the game.
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However, this was also the period where the Sonic franchise as a whole was struggling to reclaim its former glory as a juggernaut within the industry. Sonic Forces was already following up multiple entries that were considered duds by the fan base and critics alike. Therefore, having a plot this experimental didn't exactly catch on with many of the fans who, by this point, simply wanted a Sonic game that was more of a return to form, and it's safe to say that Sonic Forces definitely wasn't that.
God Hand
This Hilarious Third-Person Beat 'Em Up Was Just Too Bizarre
God Hand
- Released
- October 10, 2006
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m // Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- Beat 'Em Up
God Hand is the kind of game that would probably have performed very well if it had been released in the last few years, but back when it launched in 2006, it received a lot of pushback and mixed reception from critics, primarily because of its lackluster graphics and controls. While God Hand is technically a beat 'em up game, the protagonist, Gene, is so severely overpowered that players are encouraged to chain together as many big explosive attacks as possible to send batches of enemies flying across the map as part of one big, dazzling showcase of power.
There's a noticeable comedic tone to God Hand's story and characters, which was common to see in the genre thanks to games like Devil May Cry and its protagonist Dante. However, the main reason this game stands out from the crowd is because of how fast and exhilarating its core combat is. Thanks to a disastrous marketing campaign, alongside a now infamous review from IGN, many people decided to skip out on God Hand when it released, but it would later be regarded as one of the most inventive beat 'em ups ever made. Because of this cult status, Capcom will hopefully consider developing a remaster at some point in the future.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Capcom's Four-Player Co-Op Shooter Was Ambitious, But A Bit Too Action Heavy
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
- Released
- March 20, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter
The 2010's were a fairly rough period for the Resident Evil franchise. In a desperate attempt to revive fan interest in the long-running horror series, Capcom released what still stands as arguably the most bizarre yet ambitious entry in the franchise: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Not only is this the first game in the series to support four-player online co-op, but it also allows players to return to Raccoon City when the outbreak first kicked off, giving them the chance to meet iconic individuals such as Leon, Claire, and even Nemesis, once again.
The four playable characters also all come with their own set of special abilities, ensuring every player has something unique to bring to each fight, while also adding a nice dose of strategy to the third-person shooter gameplay. All of this may sound pretty interesting on paper, but it's important to remember that this was a period when Resident Evil fans were growing exhausted with the series leaning so heavily into action. Seeing yet another game in the franchise that allowed them to go into a mission guns blazing wasn't exactly very appealing at the time. It's a real shame that Operation Raccoon City never took off in the way Capcom intended, as with the four-player campaign and the hero shooter-style multiplayer, this was clearly a creative passion project that potentially could have lasted for many years had it retained a large enough playerbase.
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