Even with Microsoft’s lucrative Game Pass service, it’s still hard to keep up with every new release on Xbox. More often than not, there will be some that will slip under the radar for most gamers.
There are a plethora of amazing games to choose from at any given time, ranging from narrative-rich story-driven adventures, frantically action-packed shooters, and humble indie gems. A lot of these games enjoyed the initial buzz from a fresh release but soon got lost among a competitive crowd of triple-A blockbusters. These underrated Xbox games may not have got the attention they initially hoped for, but still deserve a lot of love.
10 Immortals Fenyx Rising
Borrowing heavily from Nintendo’s magnum opus, Immortals Fenyx Rising is about as close you can get to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before a copyright claim is made. You get to explore a vibrantly colorful world filled with mythical beasts from Greek Mythology on a quest to save the gods from a dark curse that has befallen the land.
The game was released alongside the launch of the new generation of consoles and was somewhat overshadowed by this, despite having next-gen versions available. It also fell short when compared with Breath of the Wild and seemed to fall by the wayside among a sea of big triple-A releases during the busy winter period. But it's one worth playing, nonetheless.
9 As Dusk Falls
As Dusk Falls is a brilliant adventure title, where story and characters take precedence. More of an interactive drama, you must make measured choices on the fly that will have a significant impact on the characters and overarching story. It begs you to replay it over and over to experience its vastly different outcomes.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t take off quite as much - probably due to the passive nature of the gameplay. It’s a shame as there is a fantastic narrative at its core, and it’s an experience that blurs the lines between video games and cinema. It has a brilliant art style and pushes the boundaries of what games can be.
8 Citizen Sleeper
Released alongside a sea of triple-A heavy hitters, Citizen Sleeper went over a lot of people’s heads in 2022. It’s an immersive action RPG where you take control of a washed-up android nomad trying to survive while drifting through space on a giant lawless space station.
Erlin’s Eye station is home to a vast population of outsiders, who you can build meaningful relationships with. This poignantly told Cyberpunk tale can go in wildly different directions depending on the choices you make and the individuals you spend the most time with. It is certainly a unique experience and is worth it for the interesting visuals and stellar soundtrack alone.
7 Tunic
Despite the game’s great reviews and initial buzz around its release on Game Pass, the love for Tunic has died down a little since its launch. That's a shame, as it really is one of the most charming modern indie titles you can play.
It wears its Zelda-infused inspirations on its long green sleeves. It features tough-as-nails combat inspired by the Souls series and the deeply engaging explorative backtracking of Metroidvanias. It also has a whimsically charming in-game manual where you must collect the pages to help you unlock new areas and overcome puzzles. It’s a nice throwback that more seasoned gamers will appreciate.
6 Nobody Saves The World
As a top-down action RPG dungeon crawler, Nobody Saves the World moves away from the melee-infused sidescrolling of Guacamelee and instead has you traverse through a series of dungeons as a formless “Nobody” who has the power to be pretty much anything it wants.
You can transform in up to fifteen different forms, with each offering different combat abilities, unique quests, and its own set of gameplay mechanics. All that transforming fun doesn’t stop there, as you get to mix and match forms to your heart's desire, allowing you to combine abilities and play with powerful customized builds.
5 Prodeus
Prodeus is a love letter to the glory days of first-person shooters, with all the retro-style pixelated gore and powerful over-the-top guns you can handle. Its graphics expertly merges the retro lo-fi pixels of games like Doom and Hexen with the impressive lighting and particle effects of modern titles. It’s a striking combination that makes running and gunning through this violent world an absolute treat.
As well as an action-packed single-player campaign, there’s four-player co-op, a variety of frantic multiplayer modes, and a surprisingly intuitive level editor that has already generated a load of cool community-created maps. Its fans adore it, but the game doesn’t garner as much attention from the community as it should, despite its fantastic gameplay and ridiculously gorgeous visuals.
4 Tinykin
As video game premises go, Tinykin’s is definitely unique and memorable. You take the reins of Milo - a space traveler who crash lands on Earth in an oversized domestic house in the '90s. You can jump, float, and soap-glide your way through a house that has been taken over by a population of insects, ants, and the titular tinykin.
You must use your Pikmin-like ability to lead an array of these curious little creatures around the house to find the necessary parts to fix your ship and generally do your bidding. It’s a colorful and whimsical platformer that takes elements from the Pikmin series and the beloved collectathon platformers from the '90s. It’s a charming and delightful experience and should be experienced by more people, especially with its addition to Game Pass.
3 Somerville
Somerville is a smaller indie game that offers a truly unique experience. Fans of War of the Worlds will love this one, as it sees a man fighting to survive an invasion of earth by strange structures and even stranger beings.
Looking for his family, you must learn how to adapt if you're going to truly understand what happened. With strange characters to meet and supernatural powers to gain along the way, Somerville is easily a must-play - and being on Game Pass, it's so easy to give a try.
2 Scorn
Inspired by the brilliant twisted works of H.R. Giger, Scorn is a deeply atmospheric first-person horror title that turns up the creepiness to the max. It was released to underwhelming and lackluster reviews, largely due to subverting people’s expectations of what the game actually is. There’s something we can all agree on - it looks horrifyingly beautiful in all the right ways.
The game focuses on head-scratching puzzle solving rather than all-out action and is a slower, more measured experience because of it. The puzzles themselves are very difficult and the checkpoints are given out sparingly - you really need to be on your A-game. Most players quit the game early due to frustration, but if you stick it out there really is something special to be experienced.
1 Immortality
Immortality is more akin to an interactive story rather than an actual game, and that’s more than okay. You are tasked with combing through hours of found footage live-action clips in an attempt to solve the murder of an illustrious actress.
It’s an extremely unique experience as you pull on an amalgamation of intriguing narrative threads to solve the mystery at the core of it all. It’s one of the best video game stories of 2022 and is probably one of the greatest FMV titles to have ever been released. It’s definitely worth at least a look for the film buffs out there.