How do you define "underrated?" Can a game stop being underrated? If so, which ones?

Underrated, it's perhaps the most overused label in gaming and all of entertainment. But like a lot of words, has it lost all its meaning? As far as I know, underrated means some combination of it wasn't received as well as it should've or misunderstood around its release, didn't meet sales expectations or sold poorly, and/or isn't/wasn't popular and generally didn't get its due.

But can something stop being underrated and when does that happen? It seems like word travels so fast and certain thoughts and opinions get repeated over and over again, everyone pretty much know what generally is considered underrated or overrated and everything in between. But if everyone knows something is suppose to be underrated, doesn't that not make it underrated anymore?

Anyway, what do you think are games that were underrated but no longer are?

I think they just instead start getting called cult classics.

I guess I'd say in recent years, Dragon's Dogma seemed underrated at release, being overlooked in favor of Dark Souls and Skyrim, but after the PC release a couple of years ago it seems to have gotten much more recognition and is probably pretty much ... correctly rated these days?

I think there have been some other rereleases or remasters in recent years that have brought back attention on some older games that seemed to be overlooked in their time but have gotten their due attention since then. Especially with the recent boom of Infinity Engine style CRPG's, I think that some games that seemed outdated when they were released in like 2002-2003 are getting revisited from a different perspective. Icewind Dale 2 kinda comes to mind as something that came across as outdated and underwhelming in the light of 3D contemporaries like Knights of the Old Republic and Morrowind, but which people appreciate more today with the Enhanced Edition stuff, while the 2002-2003 realtime 3D graphics it competed against at the time has lost its shine. The early Divinity games also seem to get more recognition after the Original Sin games, while at the time they were often written off.

I actually think Dark Souls is a great example of a game being overlooked, and then through word of mouth, became a big success. I could be misremembering though.

I would call Demon's souls this, but Dark Souls took off decently fast if I remember.

I usually think of something as underrated if a game is critically acclaimed, but not a financial success. Something like Tokyo Mirage Session #FE that reviewed well, but launched on the Wii U with no marketing push.

I want to call Chibi Robo an underrated game, but as much as I personally love Chibi, it has just enough weird obtuse shit to turn most people off. Therefore, Chibi Robo is an amazing game that sold as many copies as it should have.

An underrated game is simply a niche game that some people think should have been much more popular with the mainstream.

The Demon's Souls and Dark Souls comparisons are good examples of this. The former went largely unnoticed in the West while the latter became famous from the start, largely thanks to its slogan 'Prepare to die'. The media attracted lots of views from playing this "super difficult hardcore" game. Dark Souls was also helped by being released on XBox as well, not just the PS3.

I think this mostly comes down to personal interpretation, and in my, limited, experience, most people are unwilling to shift positions from their initial judgements, or are at least permanently coloured by them. I actually hear the word overrated used more around games when discussing them - and normally it simply boils down to a lot of people like it and I don't. Of course that works the other way too.

I think Fortnite is potentially an example of a game which was previously underrated suddenly hitting the mainstream time in a way that now no one can really deny. Prior to the addition of the Battleground mode, it was received fairly poorly, continued to be looked down on during the transition and then exploded. Though, you could argue that rather than being underrated, it was simply a bad game that became a popular one. The already mentioned Souls series is a good example of a game that has remained relatively consistent through it's iterations while rising in popularity. Things like Warframe, on a smaller scale, as well.

Of course games can be underrated but the word is relative to each and every individual person.

The Souls games always reviewed well. Anyone who gave them a chance generally had some positive things to say about them even if they didnt like everything about them.

I feel like people are more accepting of Yoko Taro and Swery 65's past work since Nier Automata and Deadly Premonition. But that doesnt change how poorly those games reviewed.

See this is an interesting point. Do I think Nier is underrated because the things it did well it did extremely well(and are reasons people then enjoyed automata)? Or are the 6-7 average ratings justified because everything else about it is only "ok" at best? I fucking love that game, but I think it's fair to give it a 6 or 7 and move on with your life.

@vortextk: I'm with you, I loved Nier at the time, it did a lot of things better than Automata but it was very rough around the edges and it think got the scores it deserved.

I know reviews are subjective and theres nothing wrong with doing this but it bothers me when people overlook glaring flaws because a game did one or two things really well.

Yeah I agree. If I was personally reviewing it for a site and their stance was "hey, tell me what you think, I don't care about being around the average" I would've gave it higher and explained why, but I don't fault the reviews for how they came out.

I think a game is no longer underrated once it develops an audience in the current market, and its unique qualities and genius matches fan's reverence for it.

The original Doom was underrated for a time despite its legendary status. Doom was simultaneously way ahead of its time and wildly behind the times given how fast standards, technology, games, the industry and the marketplace were changing. The limitations of the game's technology were clearly evident. Review scores plummeted in the wake of Heretic, Hexen, Final Doom, Doom 64 and all of the bad ports and clones. But Doom has become more unique and appreciable over time: Doom stands out in today's marketplace, its more readily available, its design and audience are better understood, it's ecosystem is extensible and extensive, its shortcomings are more easily forgiven, and many of its flaws have been addressed since its original release.

Probably, when they say undervalued, they often mean that the game is not selling very well.

Sleeping dogs is underrated. People generally love that game, but I’d say not enough.

Hollow Knight was underrated because no one was talking about it. Then word of mouth spread and I would say it is no longer “underrated” because a ton of people (with good taste anyway..) are singing it’s praises - it’s no longer a niche unknown.

I wouldn’t call Doom underrated at any point in time - it was always a big deal.

I mean, it tends to be a way of saying that folks don’t appreciate a game as much as they should.

Once enough folks agree, it wouldn’t be under-rated any longer.

From my memory, most games that are described as under-rated either didn’t sell well, but were good games, maybe were a little hard to get into due to bad tutorial work, might have had a bad demo, poor marketing, or just an unpopular style.

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom was a game with a tough style and no real marketing that wasn’t great, but was good and had some charm.

50 Cent: Blood in the Sand was written off by a lot of folks due to the license. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (original Xbox exclusive) was a game NO ONE I knew would take seriously, but it was a great brawler.

I think most people who would give Full Spectrum Warrior a shot HOPEFULLY made it through the excruciating tutorial, but I’d understand if they didn’t.

@ravey: I agree, it’s all perception.

I don’t recall Doom ever being anything shy of a revelation, though. It was this amazing demon-filled heavy metal shooter from the guys that made Wolfenstein 3D. My circle was all WAY into Doom from the moment we got our hands on that shareware.

This was just my circle of friends, mind you. I have no appreciation for the wider community’s take. I’m surprised to hear people weren’t immediately down with Doom, though.

@nutter: Yeah, most players loved Doom; it was an astonishing guilty pleasure. I just mean that Doom wasn't exactly a satisfying or complete image of the future of games. It wasn't what people wanted from a creative, artistic or technological standpoint. People wanted rich simulations, realistic interactive movies, next-generation roleplaying games, online games, massively multiplayer games, open worlds, etc.

It seemed like people turned on Doom specifically around 1996-1997 when Duke Nukem 3D, Final Doom, Quake and Doom 64 came out in the pursuit of newer, more interesting or meaningful experiences. We no longer care about a few bad or formulaic Doom clones stagnating the industry (these days the gaming community is so large that the onus is really on the people that are part of that community). Nowadays, Doom is rightly praised for the positive aspects of its design rather than criticized for its shortcomings or for any negative influences it had on the gaming community.

@ravey: Gotchya. I absolutely remember being burried in those types of games as well.

The Dark Souls of Gameboy was called Cosmo tank very underrated game and very underrated soundtrack