As 2020 approaches and the decade comes to an end, now is the perfect time to look back at all the brilliant advancements and releasꦍes in gaming since 2010. The 2010s saw the rise of cloud-based and subs✱cription gaming services, and gaming is now more popular than ever.
The last 10 years brought PC gamers some popular and critically acclaimed titles, such as Grand Theft Auto V, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Portal 2, and more. These games were ♔certainly great, but let's not forget to give credit to some of those lesser-known but just as amazing titles. Here are 10 hidden gems on PC that didn't get enough recognition in this decade.
10 Virginia
Virginia hit , , and PC back in 2016. This first-person mystery adventure by Variable State follows FBI special agent Anne Tarver, who just graduated from Quantico. She's ready to take on her first case — a 𒆙boy who disappeared in Virginia. As Anne and her partner go deeper into their investigation, they discover a supernatural twist.
Although the game's graphics weren🃏't the best of their time, Virginia was praised for its cinematic elements, including quick cuts, flashbacks, and montages. In 2017, the game was awarded a BAFTA Games Award for Music.
9 🌼 Axiom Verge
Axiom Verge is the perfect Metroidvania for science fiction lovers. The game follows a scientist named Trace who finds himself on some sort of alien planet after an explosion in his New Mꦉexico lab. There, he finds and helps a giant mechanical head named Sudra.
Axiom Verge was first released on PC and PlayStation 4 in 2015, then expanded to PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, and one year later. It was named one of the best games of 2015 (and one of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:best Wii U games of all time) on , but unfortunately,♏ it didn't gain as much exposure as it should have. The game is even more impressive when considering the fact 🎐that one man, Thomas Happ, created it.
8 ꦛ Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia
Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga is a PC exclusive published by last year. This strategy game is the 12th in the Total War series, but the first in Total War Saga. Set in the British Isles in 878 AD, players must control several factions and compete a♉gainst each other to become the new king, all while using turn-based strategies and real-time tactics.
Thrones of Britannia received critical acclaim and the Best Strategy Award at the The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards in 201🐠8. Players who enjoy this hidden gem may want to check out the rest of the series.
7 Guacamelee! 2 𝓀 𒅌
Guacamelee! 2 revisits the stunningly colorful story of an agave-farmer-turned-Mexican-wrestler named Juan Aguate. The game picks up right where its predecessor, Guacamelee!, left off: the final boss. After defeating the boss, Juan re🌊tires from his luchador life, only to be brought back in when troubling dark clouds take over his city.
The sequel was released on PC and home consoles in 2018, five years after the original. Much like the first game, Guacamelee! 2 was met with positive reviews, wiဣth many critics complimenting its wit and ability to build on the first installment.
6 Detention
Detention (or 返校, which translates to Return to School), was created by Taiwanese developer Red Candle Games in 2017 for . The survival horror adventure is set in dark and eerie Taiwan under martial law in the 1960s. In the side-scrolling thriller, student Wei Chung-ting falls 🃏asleep during class and wakes up in a dark, twisted, and supernatural alternate reality.
The game received praise for its psychological thrills, drawing comparisons to . In fact, Detention did so well in Taiwan that ♋a live-action film adaptation was released earlier this year. It's a shame that the game went mostly under the radar on a global scale. It did reach third in Steam ranking globally upon its initial release, but the ranking didn't last long.
5 Pღapers, Please
Indie game developer Lucas Pope produced Papers, Please through his company, ꦏ3909 🃏LLC, and released the puzzle strategy game on Windows and OS X in 2013. It was later added to Linux, iOS, and PlayStation Vita.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Papers, Please is a first-person adventure where players become an immigration officer in the fictional country known as Arstotzka. The officer is responsible for approving or denying immigration paperwork. Of course, challenges come in the form of fake documents and the officer is awarded for catching these forgeries. It's not as easy as it sounds, which is one of many reasons why Papers, Please received critical acclaim.
4 VVVVVV
VVVVVV. That isn't an accidental keyboard smash — it😼's the title of Terry Cavanagh's 2010 2D puzzle platformer. The game was initially released on PC and slowly made its way across major consoles, with the latest being the .
VVVVVV is unique in that its main character, Captain Viridian, doesn't have the ability to jump, but instead can reverse gravity to get where he needs to go. Captain Viridian finds his ship and his crew scattered across an alternate dimension in space, and it is his mission to rescue everyone. VVVVVV was lauded for its well-de♛signed level structure and ♔difficulty.
3 🅺 The Messenger 📖
The Messenger was a hidden gem Windows and Switch release back in 2018. This action platformer will give gamers a sense of nostalgia for both 8- and 16-bit styles, drawing inspiration directly from the 1988 Ninja Garden classic series.﷽ When a village of ninjas is attacked by a Demon King, one must♐ travel to the top of a mountain to defeat the Demon King's general.
Before it was even released, The Messenger had already won several awards, including Best Music and Best Gameplay at the Montreal Indie Game Festival in 2017. It was praised for its successful take on Ninja Garden, and♎ proved to be challenging for even the best players.
2 Don't Escape: 4 Days To Survive ꦏ
Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive (also known as 4 Days in a Wasteland) is No. 1 on a of the top hidden gems on Steam. This relatively new title was only released in March of this year, but it quickly generated positive feedback. 4 Days to Survive is the fourth installment in Scriptwelder's Don't Escape series.
This post-apocalyptic indie adventure follows the survivor of a bizarre event in which the moon cracked in half, causing the Earth to crumble. Avoid obstacles to keep yourself alive. 4 Days to Survive has seemingly endless replay value, since each chapter delivers different obstacles and the choic✤es that players make affect their chances of sur♊vival.
1 🧸 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam 𓆏
: Bad Company 2 was released in 2010 as the sixth game in the Battlefield series. The Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title was a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:hidden gem first-person shooter game itself, but its Vietnam expansion pꦏack went even further under the radar.
The expansion pack includes five new maps, six new vehicles, and 15 new weapons. In addition, voiceovers and licensed music tracks from the Vietnam War era can be listened to on an in-game radio. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam was m𝐆ostly praised for its multiplayer offerings.