This is why there are so many potentially good titles that end up flying below the radar. With that said, we’re here to help take some of the limelight from the more mainstream upcoming releases and direct it towards titles that you might not have heard of before but may actually want to play once it releases. Scroll down below to find our list of the 10 underrated titles that you probably didn’t know was coming in 2021.
1. Sherlock Holmes Chapter One
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Before he became the legendary “consulting detective” that we have all come to love, Sherlock Holmes was a young man desperate to prove himself in a world so eager to doubt his abilities. In a story that has never been explored in any game or story before, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One puts players in the shoes of a Sherlock Holmes in an open-world detective adventure title where any and all of your decisions will come with its corresponding consequences and results. Being an open-world title, the game will reportedly encourage players to scour the entire city in their pursuit of the truth, with numerous possible ways to solve one crime. Whether you prefer to use your youthful brute force or your naive but brilliant mind is completely up to you. Helping you out in this game is a mysterious character named Jon, who will serve as your only friend, as you try to navigate your way through a 19th-century Mediterranean island filled with crime and corruption. Given Frogware’s solid reputation for creating some pretty memorable adventures revolving around the legendary detective, there’s little doubt that this will be yet another adventure that murder-mystery fans are excited to jump on.
2. Phantom Brigade
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: Microsoft Windows You know, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good game featuring robots. One of the more popular ones, Armored Core, hasn’t seen a new title since 2013, and there’ve been very few mecha titles that have shown potential since. Phantom Brigade is one of those few titles. Already available as an Early Access title on the Epic Games Store since November 2020, Phantom Brigade, from Brace Yourself Games, is planning to release on Steam for Version 1.0 and is a “hybrid real-time and turn-based tactical RPG” with a heavy emphasis on player-driven stories and customization. Basically, players will take control of customizable giant mechs as they strategize and do battle against enemy invaders in completely destructible environments.
3. Kingpin: Reloaded
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One Kingpin was one of the less-heralded first-person shooters during its time back in 1999, with its violence, profanity, and difficulty making it a hard game to like but one that some gamers fell in love with at the time. Apparently, there was enough fan interest that 3D Realms decided to remaster it, more than two decades later. In partnership with Interplay Entertainment, the remake of the 1999 title, now going by the time of Kingpin: Reloaded, is set to release in 2021, with enhanced graphics but, apparently, with most of the charm and unique aesthetic that the game came out with way back then. Originally set to release in 2020, the development team behind the game decided to delay the release in favor of recreating the game from the ground up. How this will affect the final product is something we’ll find out soon enough once the game releases on the PC sometime this 2021.
4. Harvest Moon: One World
Release date: March 2, 2021 Platform/s: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One Described by its developers, Natsume, as a “new Harvest Moon with global appeal”, Harvest Moon: One World is the latest installment in the long-running Harvest Moon franchise and, surprisingly enough, will serve as the series’ first entry on the Nintendo Switch. The game will reportedly feature 5 different areas for players to explore and farm in. Namely, this includes Calisson (grasslands), Halo Halo (beaches), Pastilla (desert), Lebkuchen (hills), and Salmiakki (snow). With so many diverse and massive landscapes for you to maintain, Harvest Moon: One World is looking like the next big farming sim.
5. Back 4 Blood
Release date: June 22, 2021 Platform/s: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows More than a decade since the release of Left 4 Dead 2, a spiritual successor to the best-selling franchise is finally in the works, and working on it is its original developers no less. Headed by Turtle Rock Studios, Back 4 Blood lets players team up with three other AI-controller or player-controller players as they do battle against hordes of the undead in a series of missions that are never quite the same in each playthrough. A new addition to the game is a competitive 4v4 mode with the other team of players taking the role of the undead. Those who’ve had a chance to participate in the Alpha testing of Back 4 Blood has described it as a true Left 4 Dead game with better graphics, which is high praise considering how successful the classic horde shooter was during its time.
6. Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection
Release Date: February 22, 2021 Platform/s: Nintendo Switch Decades after it terrorized many gamers with its steep difficulty and laughed at the efforts of those who actually went through the trouble of completing it, Arthur and Ghosts ’n Goblins is back with much better-looking graphics for the Nintendo Switch. Considering the severe lack of platformers there is today, it’ll be interesting to see how Ghosts ’n Goblins Ressurection will fare. One thing we’re sure of though is that it’ll feature a lot of dying and going back to the beginning.
7. Corepunk
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: Microsoft Windows With the latest cyberpunk genre video game adaption failing to deliver a smooth gaming experience to gamers, genre fans are hoping that any developer hoping to capitalize on the genre’s resurgence comes up with something more stable. Enter, Corepunk. A steampunk (low tech, high morals) MMO title, Corepunk features both PvP and PvE elements and is set in a world featuring four vastly different cultures with their own set of ideologies. Originally set for a December 2020 release, the game was delayed due to the pandemic. Instead, it will have a closed beta test sometime in Spring 2021 with the actual release coming soon after. Already, all signs are pointing to the developers, Artificial Core, aiming for longevity. They claim that around 60% of the gameplay experience will revolve around end-game content. This is definitely the right idea, considering that many MMOs today tend to lose content and run out of steam soon after their release.
8. 12 Minutes
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows Developed by Luis Antonio, an indie video game developer from Rockstar Games, and published by Annapurna Interactive (Journey) comes an interactive thriller titled 12 Minutes that debuted at E3 2019. Reportedly taking inspiration from psychological thriller films like Momento and The Shining, 12 Minutes will revolve around your wife being accused of murder as you, the husband, find yourself stuck in a 12-minute long time loop. In addition to trying to find out if your wife is really a murderer, you also have to work to try and break the loop, finding out some pretty surprising things along the way.
9. Hello Neighbor 2
Release date: 2021 Platform/s: Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows Hello Neighbor is living proof that you can scare the shit (pardon our language) out of anyone without grossing them out. Released way back in 2017, Hello Neighbor put players in the shoes of a curious kid who finds himself sneaking through his recluse neighbor’s home and uncovers a potentially horrifying secret in his basement. Since its successful release, a spin-off, prequel, and an animated series based on the game have come out, but none has been more hotly anticipated than the sequel. Picking up right where the 2017 release left off, the sequel has players now searching for their former neighbor who has, for some reason, gone missing. However, players find out that someone is also after them, which adds a layer of intrigue that makes what was already quite the scary game even more immersive.
10. It Takes Two
Release date: March 26, 2021 Platform/s: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows What better way to try and bring an estranged couple back together than to transform them into dolls and force them to work together so they can return to their former selves. Such is the premise of EA Originals title, It Takes Two. Developed by Hazelight Studios (A Way Out), It Takes Two is the developer’s second shot at giving split-screen cooperative multiplayer a try. This means that players will have to find another player to play it with, either online or local. Instead of prisoners trying to break themselves out, the game instead features Cody and May, who’ll have to work together with the help of Dr. Hakim.
