Have you ever played a game that just wows you out of nowhere? I’m not talking about the multi-million-dollar projects advertised to death, but rather the unique gems that pop up from unknown studios.
These games usually have half the budget of the industry titans, but they sometimes manage to surprise and even outdo their shinier competitors.
10 Best Long-Running JRPG Franchises Ranked
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We’re talking about double-A games that manage to give you the same feeling the triple-A games of the world hope to achieve.
Sometimes, it’s about the gameplay, sometimes it’s about the visuals, but it’s always about the quality, so let’s check out some double-A games that can give you that triple-A feeling.
Intense Kung-Fu action
Sifupretty much came out of nowhere. From the studio that had exactly one game prior,Absolver, which was great but limited in scope and critical appeal,Sifutook all the ideas inAbsolverand tweaked them into aclassic Kung-Fu revenge story.
The graphics are gorgeous, with a cel-shaded style that fits the mood perfectly, but the gameplay is where Sifu really shines.
The premise is simple: You age each time you die, and you get weaker and stronger as that happens. You’ll fight your way through multiple levels of henchmen using weapons and melee attacks, and the challenge here is immense.
Knowing your combos is necessary, but your parry, block, and dodge timing is even more crucial. The fights quickly look a lot like something you’d see in John Wick.
The whole experience is intenseand feels incredibly polished from a small studio, and there has yet to be a triple-A game that can replicate the fluid martial art mastery you feel when playing throughSIfu.
12Greedfall
Bioware, is that you?
Mass EffectandDragon Ageleft a big hole in the lives of RPG fans worldwide. So, whatGreedfalldeveloper, Spiders, tried to do here was recreate that choice and consequence system found in these aforementioned titles and replicate them in a world of their own.
The world itself is gorgeous, and the characters and combat all have a sheen that shows a lot of care went into making this title.
Combat is varied and tight, offering options for melee, ranged, and magic users, and it all goes down alongside your companions, who each have unique abilities.
Your skill tree can be customized in any way you please as well, allowing for a mix of melee and magic or magic and firearms to create a medley we don’t often see in the genre.
The story is interesting, too, introducing a colonial world mixed with magic that feels both familiar and foreign. Plus, great voice acting and writing keep things interesting throughout. If you’re looking for your next RPG fix,Greedfallhas the feel of the titans of old packaged into something new.
A Vampire Game With Some Bite
Vampires don’t get much love in gaming besides old relics likeLegacy of Kain, whichVampyraimed to fix. During the Spanish flu, you play a doctor who has recently been turned into a vampire.
This fascinating dichotomy leads to a gameplay loop in which you constantly decide between feeding to increase your vampiric powers or playing the side of good, leading to an increasing number of people getting sick from the deadly flu.
The most interesting part of the game is how the world changes depending on your actions. If you don’t decide to kill and feed on people, you let the flu spread, and the city becomes more dangerous to navigate, and vice versa, akin to Dunwall inDishonored.
Mix in solid,Bloodborne-lite feeling combat with awesome powers, and you’ve got an addictive game loop here.
There is truly no game quite likeVampyr,and while there aremoments that feel double A, such as speaking animations, the overall experience is as high-quality as it gets.
10Pacific Drive
An Awesome Anomaly
Pacific Drive
Driving games are all pretty by-the-books when you think about it. They are either true-to-life simulators or arcade racers with little in between, which is why Pacific Drive is such a fun anomaly, and one that perhaps deserves more accolades than it has garnered to date.
This is because this game manages to take the core principles of a driving game and mesh them together seamlessly with a harsh and punishing survival game, culminating in an experience that really encapsulates the game’s motto, ‘Drive to survive.’
Plus, the game also offers a New Weird narrative that is surprisingly gripping, loads of custom options for your vehicle, and one of the most addictive gameplay loops within the survival genre, making the experience feel a stone’s throw away from a Roguelike as well.
It’s a game that has something for everyone, and perhaps went a little under the radar in 2024. But, if you’re into strange stories and surreal survival, there aren’t many games that can rival this one.
9Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Realistic Schizophrenia In A Haunted World
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrificeis arguably one of the best-looking games of all time, and that’s all the more impressive considering it came out in 2017.
Even in the next-gen world we live in, with mega-powerful PCs and the like, nothing approaches the incredible graphics of this game.
It’s not just a looker, though. The overall experience is also incredible, putting you in the shoes of Senua, a Viking warrior suffering from schizophrenia trying to save her lover from the goddess Hela.
What takes place after that is a dark and harrowing journey that has tight but simple combat and awesome environmental puzzles to work through.
It’s not the longest game out there. Still, it’s like playing through a movie and the depiction of a real mental illness told through the guise of a Viking story is a one-of-a-kind experience that mimics triple-A quality from the graphics to the voice acting to the gameplay.
Understanding Senua’s Trauma in Hellblade 2 | Save Room
How do you move on from grief? You don’t – you just learn to live with it.
8Evil West
Guns and Vampires
Evil Westis a throwback to an era of gaming that gave the player two options: pick up this big gun and kill this thing. That’s all there really is toEvil West,and that’s all there needs to be.
Armed with a mechanical arm, rifles, pistols, and more outlandish weapons, you will paint this bright world red with some of the best combat in any action game.
The melee is weighty and impactful, and your bullets will satisfyingly rip through your enemies, creating a dance of death that always ends in an explosion of gore not seen since the likes ofDoom: Eternal, and itall feels incredible to play.
The graphics are fantastic, too, offering a triple-A feel for a short but incredibly fun experience that was overlooked when it first released in 2022.
It definitely deserves a look for those seeking a high-quality action game, as the triple-A studios no longer focus on that genre.
7Kingdom Come: Deliverance
An RPG That Champions Realism
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdom Come: Deliveranceis an incredibly unique game that competes with any RPG in the triple-A world.
With a budget less than 1/8th the size of something likeStarfieldorCyberpunk 2077,Kingdom Come: Deliverancemanages to deliver graphics and gameplay better than most of the iconic titles you know and love.
Something unique about the game is that it makes you feel like a random villager who gets thrust into a war. Meaning you aren’t playing the usual omnipotent demi-god that most RPGs cast you in the role of.
The first-person swordplay is incredible, and despite how bad you are at it starting the game, by the end, you’ll be mowing down enemies by the dozen and not from some arbitrary stat boost or superpowers, but simply because you learned to master the art of swordplay in this world.
The story is also fantastic, and though it leaves off on a cliffhanger, it has plenty of intrigue, great characters, and a great protagonist to lead you along the way.
But, that cliffhanger is just the inspiration you need to hop straight into the incredible sequel that one-ups everything its predecessor had to offer, and stands a good chance of winning the coveted GOTY crown in 2025.
6Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Land
Basically JRPG Breath of the Wild
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
I always find it surprising that, after decades of consistently churning out interesting and enjoyable JRPG crafting titles, Atelier is not a series that has ever cracked the big time.
However, with the latest iteration, it’s clear that Atelier is determined to keep raising the bar until the gaming industry has no choice but to take notice, and Atelier Yumia is a big step towards that.
The game retains a lot of the core principles of Atelier games that have come before, with intricate crafting and alchemy at its core. But, unlike other titles in the series, the sense of scale and magnitude of the world is off the charts.
The in-game world is huge, and the exploration is satisfying, the movement and traversal is much smoother than ever before, and there is a seemingly endless supply of quests and activities across the map.
It’s essentially a perfect blend of titles like BOTW, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Genshin Impact, and if that doesn’t sell you on this one, little else will.
5Darksiders 2
Death Becomes You
Darksiders 2
Darksiders 2is an epic action-adventure game that puts you in the boots of one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, named Death.
That’s right. You’re playing as the reaper here, and he’s got some moves that would make Kratos blush.
Armed with a scythe and various other weapons, Death is an incredibly versatile combatant, and it feels oh-so-satisfying to play with.
You’ll be racking up combos, fighting epic bosses, and exploring various locales throughout your journey, and it’s all supported by an intriguing story.
It feels triple A in every way and, for some reason, is underappreciated in a gaming world that doesn’t feature the action-adventure genre very often these days.
If you’re looking for excellent combat and a sprawling epic,Darksiders 2is a great choice.
Nowt Wrong With This One
While we could have easily slotted the Sniper Elite series in here for its continued brilliance and consistent inclusion of those ever-satisfying slow-motion kill cams, we firmly believe that Atomfall is the game within Rebellion’s catalog that deserves the nod.
Atomfall isn’t just a shooter that borrows a lot of Sniper Elite’s mechanics. It also doubles as a detective game, a survival game, and an immersive sim where player agency is king and no two player’s playthroughs will play out the same.
The world is enigmatic and intriguing, making exploration a joy, and the payoff is unravelling a brilliantly British mystery. It’s a little rough around the edges, as the AI is pretty laughable at times, but even still, the quality shines through, and Atomfall is a truly unique venture unlike anything else on the market. So for that alone, give this one a chance.
If you want to absolutely hit the ground running in this top-tier nuclear adventure, we have acomplete guide and walkthroughthat will help you do just that!
