The Most Underrated Games of 2023

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As a lifelong Max Payne fan, I fell in love with El Paso, Elsewhere quicker and harder than I expect any otherwise reasonable person to even fall in “like” with the game. To be fair, I’m certainly not blind to the alienating nature of the game’s odd visuals/animations and generally homebrewed nature.

Stick with this game, though, and El Paso, Elsewhere will leave you wondering why that Max Payne-style of third-person slowdown-based shooting faded away quite so quickly as it did. You’ll struggle to find a more enjoyable pure action gaming experience this year, and even the game’s initially alienating elements become a trivial criticism once you realize the surprising depth of its storytelling and the undeniable brilliance of its sound design.

Exoprimal

Capcom (PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)

To be honest, Exoprimal is a deeply, deeply flawed game. If you told me you think that this is a straight-up bad game, I wouldn’t be offended. Exoprimal‘s utterly bizarre mix of PvPvE, sci-fi, hero-based multiplayer action is beset by problems at every logistical angle. Not the least of those problems is the fact that it’s incredibly difficult to find a good team of matchmade players to roll out with, and playing with a good team is pretty much essential to enjoying what this title has to offer.

However, when Exoprimal works, it works shockingly well. There is an Earth Defense Force-like quality to the game’s often absurd dinosaur-busting action, but that series rarely offers the depth of competitive and cooperative concepts that end up being Exoprimal’s greatest strength and weakness. It’s a gloriously absurd example of a widely different style of multiplayer gameplay that was likely a little too different (and ambitious) for its own good.