In the world of video games, there are some projects that just feel too big to fail, and some anticipated games that practically sell themselves.Every Rockstar title is expected to set a new standardin world design, and every Valve release tends to achieve monumental popularity,sometimes even before the game is officially announced. However, there are some games that we all expect to bomb, but somehow manage to surprise us all.
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Whether it be a game that has a tiny budget, a game that makes audacious claims and promises, or a game that finds itself in development hell and manages to climb out of there. The point is that some games defy the odds to cross the finish line and produce a fully realized experience that is better than it has any right to be. So, let’s celebrate these unlikely success stories, shall we?
10Spiderman 2
Come for the web-swinging, stay for the pizza delivery missions
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
While it’s a practice we seldom see anymore due to the monumental development time needed to make a blockbuster video game these days, not too long ago, it was pretty common to see games developed in tandem with movies appearing in theaters across the globe.
Most of these games were as good as you might expect, essentially serving as quick cash grabs from the respective studios. But occasionally, one would buck this trend and produce something spectacular, and one such game was the movie tie-in forSam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2.
This game is arguably the blueprint that helped build the successfulMarvel’s Spider-Manfranchise we know and love today. This title had incredibly satisfying web-swinging traversal mechanics and action-packed combat. Not to mention, the game features some standout missions, with the zany Mysterio-based missions probably serving as the game’s high point.
It’s a game that has no right to be as compelling as it is, but somehow, we found ourselves endlessly swinging around NYC, content as could be.
9Undertale
A Game Truly Fueled ByDetermination
It’s no secret that modern games cost a pretty penny to make. This isn’t just true for AAA studios, as many middling and smaller studios need to find a lot of capital to even get their games off the ground.
So, when you consider thatUndertalemanaged to find the success that it did as a single-man-developed project madewith a budget of approximately $50,000, you begin to see just how incredible Toby Fox’s indie darling is.
Undertale, despite a shoestring budget, managed to carve out a name for itself within a saturated field of RPGs. It offers unique mechanics, masterfully comedic writing, a brilliant chiptune soundtrack, andpixel-perfect visualsreminiscent of old RPG greats like Earthbound.
Just to emphasize this point further,Star Citizenhas spent $656 million on its title, and it’s not even released yet. So let that sink in.
8Untitled Goose Game
Honk, Honk!
Untitled Goose Game
Sometimes, a game’s origin story can tell you a lot about where the game will end when development comes to a close. But you would argue the opposite could be said ofUntitled Goose Game.
This game originated from an in-office joke in which employees attached a stock photo of a goose to all their emails and communications. This seems like a throwaway joke and nothing more, but this office-wide prank became the basis of the game’s debut title, as the developers would addHitman-esque stealth mechanics and chaotic puzzles for their Goose to make use of to cause chaos.
Despite this rather silly origin story, the humor and chaos are exactly what madeUntitled Goose Gameresonate with fans. The unadulterated fun of annoying the locals in a quiet little Shropshire village simply never gets old, and this title’s sandbox puzzle format was an instant hit.
7Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
Do A Kickflip!
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD
As Tony Hawk has said himself across various forms of media,including his featured episode on The Nine Club Podcast, when he collaborated with Activision to createTony Hawk’s Pro Skater, there was no expectation that the game would sell as it did.
His goal was simply to build a game that skaters would enjoy, but as it turns out, he had a hand in creating a skating game that practically revived the sport and brought skating back into the cultural zeitgeist.
The game sold over 3.5 million units by 2001, and it’s easy to see why. It offered bite-sized 2-minute gaming sessions, incredibly addictive arcade-like gameplay, authentic skating icons and tricks, and a soundtrack that shaped many gamer’s music tastes today, including mine.
The series may be living in the shadow ofEA Skatethese days, but for a while therethe Birdman was untouchable.
This Could be Prey. Let’s Call It Prey!
There are many games that seem destined to fail the longer they reside in what is known as development hell.Preyis a particular IP that got rather comfortable in the fiery pits of development hell.
The sequel to the originalPreygame was announced in 2006 and remained ‘in development’ until 2014 whenPrey 2was eventually scrapped. However, Bethesda quickly revived the project in 2016 as a complete reboot of thePreyfranchise.
Behind the scenes, Arkane was deeply upset that they were given orders to call their game ‘Prey’ despite the game having no tangible ties to the 2006 title. However, despite this developmental chaos, confusion around the ties to the old game in the series, and the eleven-year gap between releases, Prey would go on to become one of the finest immersive sims in recent memory and one that I still feelnever really got the acclaim that it deserved.
Pokemon With Guns
I think that we all collectively rolled our eyes when we heard that PocketPair was planning on releasing a game with an elevator pitch that boils down to ‘itsPokémonbut with guns.’ Not only because we all assumed that Nintendo, being as litigious as they are, would promptly deliver a cease and desist letter to their door.
But also because PocketPair as a company has a tendency to start development on games, but never actually finish what they start, withCraftopiabeing a prime example of this.
Yet, despite the not all that legally distinct monster models, Nintendo opted to leave this one alone, andPalworldwould become a huge success when it burst onto the scene via early access.
The game genuinely felt like an open-worldPokémongame that GameFreak could only dream of making, andwhile the jury is still out as to whether PocketPair will see this one through to the endand give it a full release, they have already cementedPalworldas a runaway success.
4Sonic Mania
Sonic Fans To The Rescue
Sonic Mania
To say thatSonicas a franchise has had a troubled past regarding modern releases would be underplaying just how rough it has been for the dedicated Sonic fanbase over the years. SEGA, over a decade-long period, seemed to produce flop after flop, further driving the franchise further into the dirt, with releases likeSonic the Hedgehog 06andSonic Boombeing the standout flops.
Things actually got so bad that SEGA decided to look to the fans, who, in turn, had a huge hand in developingSonic Mania, a true return to form for the franchise.
This game had SEGA’s support and funding behind it, but at its core, it was being crafted by uber-fan indie developers such as Christian Whitehead. So many were skeptical that this ragtag group of ROM Hack developers could capture the lighting in a bottle of the retroSonicgames of old.
But, as we know now, not only did they manage to do that. They managed to elevate the old titles and send Sonic fans into a state of nostalgia overload. It’s a fine example that, sometimes, the fans know what’s best for their beloved gaming franchise, and we’re glad SEGA wasn’t too proud to listen.
3Disco Elysium
Sunrise, Parabellum
Disco Elysium
If there’s one game where the mere existence of said gameis seen as pretty much a miracle, it would beDisco Elysium. I won’t get into the trenches and begin describing the drama that unfolded over the years at Za/Um studios.
Mainly becausePeople Make Games' documentary on the topicdoes a much better job explaining it than I ever could. But to boil it down, this game was a failed DND board game, adapted into a novel that was a flop, and then became a video game of global acclaim.
But this only scratches the surface, as the lead developers beat alcoholism to create this game, the team worked in a squat during early development, and the team endured a reportedly toxic environment with insane work schedules.
Yet somehow, this game managed to go gold, and now serves as one of the best, most ambitious, and most unique RPG games in gaming’s long history. Only the employees who worked on this game can say for sure if it was all worth it, but what I can say is that, we gamers as a collective are sure thankful they stuck it out.
Dead Island 2
When it comes to development hell stories, the most common game that crosses people’s lips isDead Island 2. After the success of the original title in the series, Deep Silver were quick to commission a second title and the initial developers were set to be Techland. However, they decided to work on a different Zombie epic in the form ofDying Lightinstead.
This led to the game being handed to Yager Development, then toLittleBigPlanetdevelopers Sumo Digital, before eventually landing at Dambuster Studios' door.
By this point,the famous Roller Skating E3 announcement was an albatross around thefranchise’s neck,and no one expected Dambuster to align the dots of four different studios' work to form a coherent game.
Yet, against all odds,Dead Island 2was released in 2023 and offered a cohesive, bombastic pseudo-open-world romp that proved to be an unlikely cash cow in atough year full of studio closures for the Embracer group. It was a game that took its sweet time, but in the end, it was worth the wait.
1Fallout New Vegas
Ring a Ding, Baby!
Fallout: New Vegas
After the success ofFallout 3, Bethesda was already gearing up to makeFallout 4. However, they were keen to provide a stop gap between releases and keep people interested in their newly revived IP, so they enlisted the services of RPG stalwarts Obsidian.
However, to paraphrase Benny, the game was rigged from the start. You see, they were expected to make an equally successful Fallout game compared toFallout 3, while using the game’s ridiculously dated engine, and were only given an 18-month development window to get it done.
These conditions would have condemned most developers to a shoddy release and an imminent closure. But against the odds, Obsidian managed to create aFalloutexperience that, according to many fans, blew Bethesda’s work out of the water, showed more understanding of the source material present in older InterplayFalloutgames, and offered better writing than we have seen in any Bethesda title to date.
For many, it’s the bestFalloutgame of all time, and I also find myself in that camp, which goes to show you just how amazing Obsidian did working with the shoddy tools they were provided.
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