2012: underrated games

[Teggy]

We know the best and worst, how about lesser known titles that are worth picking up, especially at bargain winter sale prices.

I'll throw out 2 cover based shooters:

Spec Ops The Line - decent gunplay, but the story is what makes it worthwhile.

Binary Domain - the Western shooter through an Eastern eye. Has a lot of personality and you can generally get it for $5 on PC.

[USMC Kato]

For me, The Darkness 2 and Syndicate

[Lordnine]

Thomas was alone - Most people take one look at the screenshots and give it a pass but despite the polygon protagonist this game has some of the best character development of the year, thanks largely to it's Bastion style narration.

Mark of the Ninja - This received universal critical acclaim but I still don't think many people have played it.

[Bullwinkle]

Asura's Wrath, no doubt.

[EngineNo9]

Dragon's Dogma for me.  It got some decent traction here on the forum but elsewhere it seemed to go fairly unnoticed, and it was some of the most fun gaming I had all year.

[Gratch]

The Unfnished Swan

[forgeforsaken]

Mark of the Ninja - This received universal critical acclaim but I still don't think many people have played it.

It's not so much underrated as underlooked.  Easily one of the best games of the year, and the reviews generally back it up, it's just that no one payed attention...

[Purge]

For me, The Darkness 2 and Syndicate

Multiplayer, Yes.

It's single player was yet-another-guided-tour.

[CeeKay]

Dragon's Dogma for me.  It got some decent traction here on the forum but elsewhere it seemed to go fairly unnoticed, and it was some of the most fun gaming I had all year.

luckily it did well enough for further development of the franchise.