Wow, what a year 2025 has been. We’ve seen indies rise to blockbuster status, breaking storefronts and winning Game of the Year Awards. Then there’s the AAA juggernauts, including a spectacular return to form of a stagnant FPS IP, and brand new entries into long-running and beloved gaming series.
One downside of how packed 2025 has been for new releases is that not all of them got the praise and the attention they deserved. Fantastic games that would otherwise have topped the charts and earned worldwide acclaim have been regularly eclipsed by juggernauts released at a breakneck pace.
And while we at TechRadar Gaming love huge hits like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Battlefield 6, we’ve taken the time to highlight some of the best games that flew under the radar in 2025.
Here’s our picks for the most underrated games released this year. From the cerebral sci-fi of The Alters, to the pitch-perfect action of Sniper Elite: Resistance, every game on this list deserves your time and attention. Let’s kick things off with a red-hot banger from the Metroid Dread team.
Hammer time
I’ve never been particularly into soulslike games, but this year I’ve been loving working my way through Blades of Fire – even if I’ve seen the death screen an embarrassing number of times. This underappreciated gem from Metroid Dread developers MercurySteam definitely flew under the radar when it came out back in May, but its incredibly distinct premise and mechanics make it well worth a go in my books.
Forging is the name of the game here, with magical blacksmith protagonist Aran De Lira crafting all of his own gear. It’s not just a gimmick, either, but rather a fully fleshed-out system with an impressive level of depth. Whenever you build a sword, hammer, or one of the other countless weapon types, you’re given loads of choices about how it looks, the materials you use, and the design of certain parts like the hand guard. All of these dramatically impact its stats, allowing for a diverse range of different builds.
You can craft a light short sword with limited damage but top-notch maneuverability, or opt for a much heavier one that takes significant chunks off enemy health bars with much slower hits. Designing your next blade is not just a multiple-choice activity, though, as you also have to hammer the hot iron into shape. It’s very tricky to pull off, but the better you do, the more durable the result becomes – a clever reflection of real life metalworking.
Rather than your usual dreary dark fantasy setting, Blades of Fire is set in a gorgeous, bright, and colorful world that’s a joy to explore. There are rough edges for sure; the intentional lack of guidance has caused me to become lost for embarrassingly long stretches of time on at least a handful of occasions, but what’s here is so unique that it’s still a blast despite the flaws. I’m hoping that with enough perseverance, this is going to join the ranks of the few soulslikes that I actually finish.
Dash Wood, Gaming Editor
Strangers on a train
If I had to pick one game that absolutely stole my heart this year, it has to be Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved – a short interactive novel inspired by titles like Ace Attorney, Famicom Detective Club, and the popular detective adventure genre of the late 80s/early 90s.
Detective Instinct takes place almost entirely on a luxurious train bound for London from a fictional European nation. You’re on the final leg of an educational trip with your friend Emma and professor Martin. However, things get weird when a woman only Emma recalls seeing vanishes without a trace; none of the other passengers on the train seem to remember the mysterious woman at all. So, it lands on you and Emma to find answers, and potentially uncover a grave sociopolitical scandal while you’re at it.
I love everything about Detective Instinct, from its wonderful soundtrack and pleasing DS-style 2D visuals, to the gripping, heart-wrenching tale that unfolds throughout the compact six-hour runtime. The game is brilliantly paced, and the amount of development given to its cast of characters is seriously impressive.
I finished the whole thing in one sitting, simply unable to put it down as new revelations, shocking motives, and tear-jerking character moments cropped up all the way until the end. Like any great detective story, little hints here and there have you guessing any given character’s true intentions right up until the finale.
I hope this won’t be the last we see of Detective Instinct. But whatever developer and publisher Armonica LLC has in store next, I’ll be there day one. For now, I highly recommend you check out Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved on Nintendo Switch or PC. Especially if you’re a fan of modern mystery games like the Ace Attorney series or Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club.
Rhys Wood, Hardware Editor
A hearty mix of bleakness, misery, and Nazi testicle sniping
Away from the big releases of the year, it appears I have spent my time in underrated gems that offer misery, bleakness, and sniping Nazis from great distances.
The former is predominantly made up of time I’ve spent in the dark and grimy world of Hell Is Us, and revisiting both the Hellblade games in their native PS5 releases. I need to spend more time in Hell Is Us, but it’s got its hooks in me as a deeply interesting and gripping game about war, the effect on humanity and society, while not being afraid to go full ham on embracing the bleakness and misery that goes with those things.
I was already locked in for the inevitable release of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II on PlayStation 5 (my personal console of choice) once the Xbox floodgates had opened, and relished the chance to jump back into its world of pain and misery (I’m a cheerful guy, honest). However, thinking I’d only briefly revisit it, I was sucked back in fully, completing the game and reviewing its Enhanced release in full. It’s a fabulous game, and its bleak and intense story is a brilliant story, but not one for the fainthearted.
The extra bonus of that release was the PS5 version of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice that came with it. Once again, thinking I’d only poke about in it to experience the upgraded visuals on PS5 Pro and remind myself of the game, I was wrong: I embraced the melancholy once again, and found myself newly gripped by Senua’s first epic tale. The graphics and vibrant worlds of both games were true highlights for me this year.
Elsewhere, I can never get enough of a Sniper Elite game whenever one comes out. I love to meticulously clear entire maps of Nazi badmen, preferably with some nut-cracking shots, inventive explosion deaths, and hilarious ‘accidents’ thrown in for good measure. Sniper Elite: Resistance was that game this year, way back in January, and I loved it – bring on some more of that soon, please! But also, if the engine could be updated, that’d be fantastic.
Rob Dwiar, Managing Editor
Me, Myself, and I
The Alters completely blew me away when I played it earlier this year. I took on some freelance guides work for the title, mostly just wanting to make a bit more money before the busy season kicked in. From the get-go, it was clear that The Alters was a one-of-a-kind experience, though it unfortunately flew under the radar for most, given its close proximity to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.
It’s a daring mix of simulation games and third-person action mechanics, with a properly philosophical sci-fi slant tying it all together. After a mission goes wrong, you must start cloning yourself to fill out a worthy crew, though that’s not quite the right description. The clones (or Alters) are actually alternate universe versions of the main character Jan, differing in personality thanks to different life choices made at crucial moments. One might have decided to study science, while another developed a drinking problem as a coping mechanism after a death in the family.
As you hop from biome to biome, you need to manage the needs of your crew, balancing them with the mission at hand. There are twists and turns that genuinely shocked me, and even a full-blown musical number. Major choices crop up regularly, meaning you can take very different paths in multiple playthroughs.
The Alters happened to launch in a year of particularly special indie games and big sequels like Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, and I think this has led to it not quite getting the praise it deserves. It’s well worth checking out, and there’s really nothing else like it.
Jake Green, Evergreen Editor
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