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Join us as we count down 10 phenomenal video games that took the world by storm, despite launching with minimal marketing or anticipation.
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00:00Now, the overwhelming majority of popular and successful video games are released after many
00:04months, perhaps even after many years of hype, with marketing aggressively intended to get as
00:09many eyeballs on them as humanly possible. But the seemingly never-ending PR cycle surrounding
00:14a game can also be pretty bloomin' exhausting, to the point that players are tired of hearing
00:19about a title before the time it actually releases. And so, it's enormously refreshing
00:24when an awesome game arrives totally out of nowhere, without even the faintest shred of
00:28hype or anticipation from all the usual suspects. And that's what we're here to talk about
00:33today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 incredible video games that
00:37came out of nowhere.
00:3910. Outer Wilds
00:41As if releasing the same year as a much higher-profile AAA game with a very similar name wasn't bad
00:46enough, that being Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, Outer Wilds wasn't exactly the easiest game
00:51in the world to market, owing to its rather unconventional premise. You see, the game
00:55unfolds over the course of a 22-minute time loop as players explore a planetary system
01:00destined for oblivion. And though this proved enticing enough that developer Mobius Digital
01:04was able to secure publishing support from Annapurna Interactive, its initial release was
01:09still relatively muted. After all, Mobius Digital had only too little-known mobile games to their
01:14name prior to this, but once reviews hit and players began to take a chance on Outer Wilds,
01:19its success swiftly snowballed far beyond anyone's wildest expectations. As a refreshingly
01:24subversive take on the open-world formula, Outer Wilds emphasized the thrill of discovery
01:29above basically anything else, fitting for a game which itself was such a joyous and unexpected find
01:35in 2019.
01:379. Blueprints
01:38And now for the most recent entry on this list, we have Blueprints, a devilishly clever puzzle
01:43game with endlessly inventive roguelike elements as players explore an ever-shifting mansion in
01:49pursuit of its elusive 46th room. Blueprints, which was quietly released last month, was
01:54developed mostly solo by Tonda Ross over an eight-year period on a shoestring budget,
01:59with production primarily being funded by a Magic the Gathering fan site that he operates.
02:04Ross evidently didn't have much money to spend on marketing then, and so Blueprints had incredibly
02:09low visibility until the week of release, when the review embargo lifted and it received near-universal
02:14rave reviews.
02:15At the time of press, Blueprints has a stonking 92 meta score, tying it with the immense Claire
02:20Obscure Exposition 33 for the best-reviewed video game of 2025 so far. That's an astonishing result
02:27from a game that just about nobody had heard of even mere weeks before it came out, while also
02:31serving as a testament to Ross' outstanding work on every aspect of its execution.
02:368. Vampire Survivors
02:39Roguelike shoot-'em-up Vampire Survivors was launched in late 2022 following an assuming
02:43period of early access which began in 2021, and to take one fleeting look at it, there
02:49seems to be absolutely nothing even remotely special about it. Between its basic mobile
02:53game-esque visual style and its almost suspiciously low $3 launch price, it was easy to quickly dismiss
02:59the game as yet another of the thousands of also-ran titles releasing on Steam every single
03:04year. But Vampire Survivors swiftly picked up some serious traction thanks to both strong
03:08reviews and its popularity with streamers. Its wildly addictive bullet-heaven gameplay
03:13loop combined with a ludicrously low cost of entry made the game a barnstorming success
03:18overnight. And beyond becoming a sales juggernaut, it also went on to shock the world by winning
03:23the BAFTA for best game. Evidently, you don't need massive budgets, a large team, or even
03:29particularly appealing visuals in order to deliver a hit game when it's just that damn
03:33satisfying to play.
03:357. Portal When Valve announced that their Orange
03:38Box compilation would include a new puzzle game called Portal, few were expecting much
03:42from it beyond being a mildly cool fleeting diversion from the real meat of the package,
03:47that being Half-Life 2 alongside its two episodic follow-ups and, of course, Team Fortress 2.
03:52But this intriguing bonus unexpectedly turned out to be one of the big highlights of the Orange Box,
03:57a devilishly creative physics-based puzzle platformer which has ultimately had more cultural
04:02staying power than either of the Half-Life 2 episodes. Almost two decades later, Portal continues to be
04:08heralded as one of the greatest video games ever made, an outcome that few, if any, anticipated when
04:13the game was announced so casually by Valve. That they surely knew that they had a stone-cold
04:17banger on their hands and yet still sent it out as a mere added value piece in the collection is the
04:23sort of modest pro-consumer brilliance that we sadly kind of see little of today.
04:286. Dear Esther Dear Esther is a game that waded out of the
04:32mist and into our hands in early 2012, an experimental story-driven adventure from
04:37little-known developer The Chinese Room which hit storefronts without much in the way of hype.
04:41But the game, which ultimately went on to popularise the walking simulator genre as we know it today,
04:46generated a significant amount of discourse post-release, as reviewers debated its artistic
04:51merits and whether it was actually really a game at all. It's a stance that seemed somewhat daft in
04:552025 – because spoiler, this is definitely a game – but in 2012, this minimalistic 90-minute trek around
05:02the Hebridean island was positively radical. Eschewing conventional gameplay in favour of exploring the
05:09island while listening to a man read letters to his deceased wife, this was a provocative
05:13breath of fresh air that paved the way for an entire subgenre of like-minded titles. And nobody
05:19in their right mind could have possibly seen that coming. 5. Rocket League
05:24Rocket League is a game that just about nobody was aware of until it was announced to be launching for
05:28free on Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription service. Developer Psyonix was a small team without
05:34the coffers for a sizeable marketing spend, but striking a deal with Sony was the smartest
05:38choice they could have ever made. This compelling fusion of football and racing looked fun to the
05:44casual observer, though would have likely struggled to find its footing in the sea of other competitive
05:48multiplayer titles had it launched for a typical retail price. Being instantly available to the
05:53millions of PS Plus subscribers tore down conventional accessibility barriers and ensured that Rocket
05:59League became an overnight smash hit totally out of nowhere. Players couldn't get enough of the easy-to-pick-up,
06:05difficult-to-master gameplay, and this success was replicated when it launched for other platforms.
06:10Even almost a decade after launch, Rocket League still regularly racks up around 30,000 concurrent
06:15players on Steam alone. That's a phenomenal result for a game that, despite its brilliance,
06:20could have so easily disappeared after a matter of months if circumstances were any different.
06:254. Limbo The early 2010s were an absolutely
06:29revolutionary period for indie games, with the uptick in digital distribution platforms making it easier than
06:34ever for small dev teams to put their work out into the world. That period saw the likes of Braid,
06:40Super Meat Boy, and Fez reinvent what indie gaming could be, each arriving without substantial hype
06:45or marketing. This is also true of Playdead's minimalistic horror-puzzle platformer, Limbo.
06:51Limbo was released on the Xbox Live Arcade service in July 2010, with few anticipating that it would be
06:56anything but a neat, atmospheric indie horror romp. But it ended up scoring some of the best reviews of the
07:01entire year, getting within spitting distance of AAA behemoths like Super Mario Galaxy 2,
07:06Mass Effect 2, and Red Dead Redemption. Within a year of launching, Limbo had sold well enough that
07:11Playdead were even able to buy themselves back from their investors and operate independently,
07:17after which they developed their arguably superior follow-up title inside.
07:213. Golf Story Golf Story was the sort of success story that every indie developer dreams of. The golf-themed
07:27RPG launched on Nintendo Switch in 2017 to little hype or initial fanfare, but benefited enormously from
07:34rave reviews and fantastic word of mouth from players. To the surprise of just about everyone,
07:39Golf Story soared commercially, even outselling the Switch re-release of Pokken Tournament DX
07:44during its first month on release, and enjoying a rather lengthy reign as a bestseller on the Nintendo
07:49eShop. For a game with a core development team of just two people, it's an astonishing result. To say
07:55nothing of the game's incredibly charming writing and aesthetics, as well as its tight, challenging
07:59golf mechanics. While the overwhelming majority of indie games don't enjoy quite such success,
08:04which is a tricky fusion of great timing, skill, and a hefty splash of luck, Golf Story did provide
08:09refreshing proof how a tiny game can be propelled to storming success. It's just a shame that developer
08:15Sidebar Games' 2022 follow-up sports story was just an abject disaster.
08:202. Telltale's The Walking Dead By the turn of the 2010s, graphic adventure games had declined
08:25massively in popularity, and though Telltale Games assuredly flew the flag for the genre with the
08:30episodic adventures like the Sam & Max series or Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future and
08:34Jurassic Park franchises, these games were all overwhelmingly niche. When it was announced that
08:39Telltale were working on a new game based on The Walking Dead, there wasn't really any reason to expect much
08:44different, another strictly-for-the-fans offering which would remain a cult favorite at best. But
08:49The Walking Dead's first season in particular was a majorly unexpected mainstream hit. Its emotional
08:55story and well-written characters allowed even those entirely unfamiliar with the franchise to enjoy a
08:59standalone story. The result was a game which not only became a sales juggernaut, but also nabbed
09:04numerous prominent Game of the Year honors, in turn firmly establishing Telltale as the king of the
09:09modern adventure game. Well, for a time at least. 1. Undertale
09:14And finally, what could this list possibly be without Undertale?
09:17Toby Fox's solo-developed RPG could have so easily been just another retro-styled indie that
09:23quickly faded into the periphery. Yet, the deadly combo of charmingly weird writing, a unique combat
09:28system, and the general encouragement to spare enemies rather than kill them helped Undertale stand
09:33out in a crowded genre field. Though Undertale released in 2015 to little initial hype,
09:38it quickly whipped up a furore thanks to its rave reviews and its popularity among streamers.
09:42And it likely didn't hurt that Fox also priced it at a mere 10 bucks. This created the perfect storm
09:48for Undertale to become a genuine pop culture phenomenon in its own right, not only selling
09:52millions of copies, but building a community of passionate fans. Nobody, not even Fox, could have
09:58predicted that Undertale would have made the impact that it did, nor that it would demonstrate such
10:02potent staying power that it remains one of the most acclaimed and discussed games of the past decade.
10:07Not bad, right?
10:08And there we go, my friends. Those were 10 incredible video games that came
10:11out of nowhere. I hope you enjoyed that, and let me know what you thought about it
10:14down in the comments section below. And while you're there, why not go over to
10:17Instagram and Blue Sky and follow me over at RetroJVideoIsA0. You can check out all my nerdy
10:22warhammer stuff. I'm such a greasy nerd. Hope you're treating yourself well, my friend,
10:26with all that love and respect that you deserve. Go out there and smash your life goals today,
10:29because I bloody believe in you. As always, I've been Jules. You have been awesome.
10:32Never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
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