Maximum Bert said:
I am kinda struggling because I am not sure what the criteria is I mean there are games that definitely have cult followings now a lot of indie games for example but even some bigger firms like Atlus and Arc and certainly Nippon Ichi could be considered to have cult followings and each have released awesome games this gen again that could be considered cult classics.
Cult classics, in the simplest sense, are games which are generally well received and liked/loved by a small group of players, but were poor performers in terms of critical or commercial success. That's the main defining criteria, but they may also be quite niche in their appeal (eg. setting, story), released with bugs/lack of QA, have a dedicated (player-driven) community and in previous years, be a licensed game (eg. Aliens, Star Wars, etc).
Examples from the past include (in no particular order):
- Advent Rising: The first of a planned trilogy, with comic and PSP tie ins. Sadly the commercial performance saw it scrapped after a single title, for which I'm very sad (particularly with the cliff hanger ending following an emotional story).
- Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines: Troika's third and (ironically) final game was forced out by Activision before it was ready. The early source engine with hacked together AI and numerous other factors meant it came out full of bugs and issues which 3 months in beta and QA would've helped. The result was poor commercial success, Troika's insolvency and the last VTM game that will ever be (barring CCPs MMO).
- Beyond Good and Evil: How this game failed to make a commercial impact escapes me. It was a polished masterpiece and was acclaimed by critics and players alike. Sadly it didn't materialise into sales and was shelved. However a sequel is apparently in the works.
- Psychonauts: Tim Schaeffer made a great game here, but players didn't buy it. Those who did play it however, almost unequivocally loved it.
- The Witcher: The sequel probably made a bigger impact and with lifetime sales climbing, it's questionable whether or not this still qualifies. But for the first couple of years after release, this was a lesser known, lesser played RPG which was harder, adult-themed and deeper than most current gen titles.
Of this generation, I would say:
- Alpha Protocol: Stupid checkpoints, stupid hacking minigame, sometimes questionable VAing, bugs aplenty, inexplicable regenerating armour and invisibility...still, an espionage thriller RPG with choices that make a tangible difference, interesting relationships and gameplay mean tonnes of replayability. (I still don't know how to get Scarlett on the boat at the end. Always end up with Mia or Heck).
- Dragon's Dogma: Despite being an AAA title from Capcom with lots of polish, it never succeeded that well. Capcom's first real attempt at RPG, at sandbox and at sandbox RPG. Very enjoyable though with some flaws. Shame it never made it to PC, nor did its sales prompt a sequel. I'd like to see a sequel with major improvements, a larger world and quicker travel (admittedly the travel system itself was intentionally a part of the game and story, but it get tedious after a while).