(logo chimes) - [Narrator] Hey, today
we're talking about one of our favorite types of games, single player experiences. We just wanted a good excuse
to talk about some weird games. So, here are 13 of the
best single player games that maybe you've never played. We're not going full indie today, but talking about some gems
that just kind of slipped under the radar for mainstream audiences. While you were maybe busy
playing "Call of Duty" or "Grand Theft Auto", we were squeaking by
having fun with these ones. Starting off at number 13, we have "Alice: Madness Returns". First off, it's just, we gotta mention, it's a shame that they're not making another one of these games. The Alice games have a cult
following for a reason. They're just really creative, visually stunning games,
and "Alice: Madness Returns" was a really good example of that. Nowadays, some of the
platforming and combat might feel a little clunky, (wind gushes) (fabric flutters) but this is just a straightforward, satisfying adventure with platforming, combat, some abilities, a lot of wild, weird visuals and just- I'd honestly say an adventure, a vibe that you don't
get with games nowadays. (weapon fires) (monster hisses) (weapon fires) These games were unique
and beloved for a reason. Even if they were flawed, they just had really great art direction, music design, and it's a shame that we might not ever see another one. Still, "Alice: Madness
Returns" is out there. It's still playable, so
you should go check it out. Next over at number 12, we're shifting gears a little bit and mentioning "Night In the Woods". Now, this one isn't too old, but essentially this is a
point and click adventure with a really good art style to it. And I'd say if you like
things like "Oxenfree" or maybe even "Life is Strange", "Night In the Woods" is for you. It's certainly not action
packed or anything like that, but it's kind of like a mystery, coming of age adventure,
set in a small town. This town is a beautiful,
well designed town, filled with characters
that are all cute critters. (relaxing music) But they're also really, really human. I mean from a dialogue sense, as you walk around, learn about the town, learn about the characters, learn about your character, the player, you get wrapped up in a
pretty compelling story. Yes, it's not about anything crazy, like zombies coming to take over the world or anything like that, but it's a surprisingly real story told by cartoon cats. (upbeat music)
(guitar strumming) I don't wanna give too much of it away without spoiling anything, but this is another game where I hate to overuse the word, but it's about the vibes and the story, and when it released, it
just did not get enough love. So, you should check it out. Next, over at number 11,
for our JRPG friends, we got something a little bit
different to recommend today. It's "Astlibra Revision". Yes, despite the weird
name, this is a really, really challenging and fun 2D RPG, just like the old school days and there are a lot of games
in this kind of subgenre. We've seen a revival of the
whole classic JRPG aesthetic more recently and a lot of those games have been talked about, but we haven't seen this
one been highlighted a lot, so we figured we'd mention it. This is a side scrolling one, but it is absolutely gorgeous. The graphics, the way the battles go down, everything just looks really good. (action music) There's a lot going on
on screen, of course, but it's a battler, so
you're gonna have your stats, you're gonna have your numbers, and the systems are pretty good. Like the items, the equipment, everything really works out here. The boss battles are pretty over the top. You have a cool talking
Bird companion named Karen, which is kind of, you know, definitely relevant to your interest if you're a Game Ranks viewer, you know, talking bird companion. Anyway, this won a bunch of awards, it got a lot of great reviews, players are loving it,
it only released in 2022, but you never see this one get mentioned anywhere, so consider it. Next, over at number 10, we have "Binary Domain". Now, this was published by Sega and back when this released, on the surface it seemed
kind of a Japanese "Gears of War" clone, just like, big hunky, clunky, third
person action shooter. But instead of shootings
aliens or monsters, this time you're shooting
high tech advanced robots in a futuristic Tokyo. And you know, it's a little corny. It's kind of like cheesy
B-Movie action type stuff, but underneath it actually
is a surprisingly good story with good characters, good moments, and just fun shooting. I think a lot of people did
not give "Binary Domain" a fair shake when it first released a lot of people were
just kinda like, "eh", but if you give this game
a shot, you'd be surprised. Just a good, fun play through of a solid third person action shooter, which we don't get enough of these days. - [Character] Glasses or what?
(gun fires) (weapons firing)
(bullets clanging) But "Binary Domain" had
some fun encounters, some good destruction, and
some really good boss battles, and like big, crazy moments. If you miss games like this, consider checking it out. Next, over at number nine, if you're looking for a story
based game to play through, consider "As Dusk Falls"
because this didn't release that long ago, but it
seems like it dropped and nobody really cared. But surprisingly, once you
get past the look of the game, which is mostly just kind
of static images and art, there's a really good story here with some good branching storyline, choice decision type stuff. So basically if you're into
games from Quantic Dream like "Heavy Rain",
"Detroit: Become Human", anything like that, "As Dusk Falls" kind of continues that trend. Granted it's a little bit more lo-fi and it's a little less
of an over the top story, but still there's a compelling one here. It's kind of something
that starts off simply, a family road trip where they're stranded, they have to go to a
gas station and suddenly that gas station is robbed. Kind of turns into a thing
spanning different generations and it gets pretty complicated. (character panting) (dog growls) (intense music) - [Character] Hey, hey. Fetch! (stick clangs)
(dog barks) - [Narrator] But it's really
cool and very ambitious. Again, it did not really get too much love when it first released,
but you should consider it. Next, over at number eight, we have a game called "The Pathless". This game dropped around the time of the launch of the PlayStation 5 and it kind of got lost in the scuffle, but essentially this is a really fun, third person action, open
world exploration game, with some pretty simple puzzles. But just some satisfying
moments of discovery and kind of figuring things out in this really simple area- Like not a lot of dialogue,
not a lot really going onto it. It's more of, like I said,
with other games on this list. This is more of like a lo-fi thing, but what it really nails is
the environments themselves, and the sense of movement. (power clangs) (arrow whistles) (arrows whistle) (grass rustling) You probably remember this game from next generation game videos, but essentially it's
around high speed movement, chained around firing your bow, and hitting special nodes with arrows that boost you and make you go faster. And you can do this in mid-air and kind of jump and dash around and it is really satisfying to groove and move around these environments, because like I said, a lot of it is kind of like dungeon
puzzle solving type stuff. So, the actual getting
around to the exploration, the actual traversal, if you will, is the most fun aspect of the game. They really nailed it. There's also some big
looming enemy encounters that can be satisfying as well. You know, "The Pathless"
definitely isn't perfect, but they made something really cool here. It's a very unique adventure. If you like things like
"Shadow of the Colossus" you should consider "The Pathless". Next, over at number
seven, we have "Mad Max". This is a game we've
talked about quite a bit on the channel now at this point, but we're throwing it in here just in case you didn't see our other videos. "Mad Max" was released the same day as "Metal Gear Solid V"
and for a lot of people, this kind of got tossed to the wayside, especially considering people still don't trust movie tie-in games. The thing with this one though, is that it wasn't really
a tie-in to "Fury Road". There were some references here and there, but this was once again, just kind of like a fresh Max interpretation, and it's a very, on the surface, formulaic, open world
action, adventure game, but once you really dive into it, you got fun car combat,
that's actually interesting, you got a pretty good upgrade progression, armor, car upgrade loop, that really encourages exploration. You got a world they built
here that feels lonely and desolate and cool,
and post-apocalypticy. (engines revving) (vehicle explodes) (engine roaring) (metal clashes) And combat where you just kind of Arkam style punched the shit out of dudes. It was very satisfying, believe it or not. Still underrated, still not
talked about enough to this day. "Mad Max" just lends
itself to a video game and this is like the
definitive experience for it. Next, over at number six, we have "Echo". A game that released in 2017. It was like a really
creative spin on stealth. This was a third person sci-fi game that tried to get really, really creative on how moment to moment gameplay worked. Essentially, you're stuck
in this sci-fi palace where things reboot. So, every single thing you
do, every action you take, to get through a sequence
has consequences. This world will create copies of you that then you have to deal with on your next go around. So, if you're sneaking
around a certain way, the game will essentially
create clones and adapt to that. If you try and run around and go crazy, like they will do the same thing, if you use violence,
they will get violent. So it's really more of a puzzler than a third person action game. It's got you thinking
about how to take down certain scenarios. - [N] What is this? - [Character] That's you, N. - [N] But why would it build copies of me? (N groans) It choked me. - [Character] The red spikes suggest that you won't survive
another encounter like that. - [Narrator] There's some good sneaking, there's some good shooting, and it just was really creative. Some people argue that it
totally didn't capitalize on those good ideas,
but in this day and age, when people are saying
they're sick of remakes and sick of remasters and
they want new creative ideas, well this was one right
in front of your face, and not enough people played it. Next up at number five,
we have "Alpha Protocol". This is kind of like one of
the forgotten obsidian RPGs, but it was really ambitious. When it released in 2010, there were definitely some
mixed opinions about it. It definitely didn't get the
greatest reviews or anything, but you gotta respect
it for its ideas, man. It was pretty crazy. You were like this secret
agent named Michael Thornton and essentially what Obsidian did was try to apply their type of RPG style to a more typical action adventure,
spy thriller game. And, you know, it was
met with mixed results, but still, you gotta
give them credit for it. There's not really any other
games out there like this one. It was all about decision making. Like other obsidian games, the dialogue choices you'd make, the actions you'd make at
certain points in the game, essentially would change up the story and just how things would
go the more you played. Like you were just a badass,
third person shooter guy in a pretty standard third
person shooter type game, (gun fires)
(alarm blares) (alarm blares) But you had perks, you had stats, you had different armor
with different stats, and the game was also
just a little cheesy. It was very much of the time. I mean, the fact that it released in 2010, I actually would argue that it felt more like an early 2000s game, but there was some charm there. This game was dubbed like the subtitle, "The Espionage RPG" for a reason, and there's really not
any others like that, so we gotta give it credit. Next, over at number four,
we have "Black Mesa". Now everybody talks about "Half-Life" and how incredible those games are, but not enough people
talk about the remake of the original game. The Valve approved remake, even though Valve themselves didn't do it, a more independent studio did it. They took a long time with it and by taking their sweet time, they were able to really handle this thing with white gloves and
with the love it needed, and they made a really- (laser blares)
(alarm rings) (character screaming) ... near perfect remake of
the Original "Half-Life", which still is an
incredible game to this day, but with a nicer coat of
paint and some updates, it really takes things to the next level. This is a year's long endeavor
and it was entirely worth it. This really preserves
the original "Half-Life" for modern audiences and if
you've never experienced it, you should, man. (gun fires) Next, over at number three, "This War of Mine" is an intense one. Essentially, you are tasked
with managing survivors in the aftermath of war, and you're making the hard decisions about who to feed, who to save, how to manage resources, and it is bleak and depressing. If you like other games
requiring hard decisions, like maybe, "Frost Punk", "This War of Mine" is like
a really compelling look at how devastating war can be, not just the big explosions
and the gunshots, and the buildings falling
down and all that, but the people who are left in its wake. So, if you're looking for something a little bit alternative, but also something that's
pretty heavy, check this out. (eerie music) Now down to number two, "Deadpool". There was a Deadpool
game not that long ago, right before the Ryan
Reynolds movies came out, and this game perfectly captured what and who Deadpool really is. It is a fun, crazy third person shooter, that puts you in a variety
of different scenarios. As Wade, you're using
swords, you're using guns, and it's really over the top and cartoony and gory in all the right ways. Deadpool obviously is really hard to kill, so, there's plenty of satisfying gore, but also tons of great cameos from classic Marvel characters. Specifically X-Men
characters like Wolverine. But you're getting way more
of the comic spin here, not really like the movie type stuff, and as a comic book fan,
that's pretty refreshing. What's also refreshing is that Nolan North just does a really good Deadpool here. He kills it. This one just kind of came and went when it released and it
was like nobody cared. I guess nobody cared about Deadpool yet, because the movies hadn't been out. I don't know, but check this out. (gun firing) - [Deadpool] Is that supposed to connect? Out going! - [Enemy] This is just fun! - [Deadpool] Oh, man, what? - [Narrator] Now down to number one, we have "Call of Juarez Gun Slinger". Now, this is a really interesting game because before this, the
"Call of Juarez" games were nothing crazy, nothing
really to write home about, but somehow out of all
the "Call of Juarez", western themed games, Gunslinger really blew
things out of water. This is just an incredibly
fun, satisfying, action packed, almost arcadey
style, first person shooter. It's fun, it's got great atmosphere, great visuals, great action,
and most importantly, it seems like it actually cares
about the Wild West genre. There's some good stuff here, but the most important thing, man, is that this game is just straight up fun. The fun factor is off the charts. If you like shooting cowboy bad guys, this is the game for you and it still doesn't get enough love to this day. - [Character] I knew I
needed to find a horse. Though I never did have a great fondness for those four-legged grass eaters. - [Narrator] But those
are 13 single player games that we think you should play. Not enough people did. Of course, there are plenty
of other games to talk about. We've talked about some in the past, we'll talk about more soon, so let us know yours down in the comments. If you got a game that you think not enough people talk about, please drop it below. But if you like what
we're doing here, man, we're just talking games every day. Click on the like button, it helps us out. We'd really appreciate it. And if you're new, consider subscribing, because we put out
videos every single day. But as always, thanks for watchin'. We'll see you guys next time.
