Nihon Falcom
Underrated Developers That Deserve More Attention
Nihon Falcom is one of the longest-running Japanese studios around, established all the way back in 1981. Yet, they don’t have nearly the same name recognition, especially in the west, as others like Square Enix or FromSoftware, and that’s a shame.
Falcom is responsible for some of the best JRPG franchises out there, including the tremendously successful Ys series, The Legend of Heroes, Xanadu, Brandish, and Sorecerian. In recent years many of their titles have started getting more attention such as hidden gems like The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, which we’ve written about before.
They’re the perfect example of a developer iterating and improving year after year, and you can literally see the strides Falcom has made if you compare past games, like early Ys games to Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana or the upcoming Ys IX: Monstrum Nox.
Part of the reason Falcom has remained more unknown over the years is because many of its games never made their way west, or they took years to ever get translated. For example, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, a JRPG classic, released in 2004 in Japan, but wasn’t released in the west until a whopping seven years later in 2011.
Still, efforts from companies like XSEED and NIS America have helped more Falcom games come west, and they’ve started building a sizable fanbase here. Hopefully, that means the prolific developer starts getting more recognition with Western audiences.
4A Games
Underrated Developers That Deserve More Attention
As under appreciated as 4A Games is, their main series is equally not given the attention it really deserves. The Metro games are some of the best single player shooters you can find, and yet, it seems like they aren’t given nearly as much attention as something like Doom or Wolfenstein.
That’s changed a bit with Metro Exodus, which received positive reviews, but with a bevy of other great games this year it’s still easy to overlook it. 4A Games puts so much effort and attention to detail in their games, and they constantly try out new and interesting ideas.
Metro 2033 made you use bullets as both ammo and money, adding a new layer to survival mechanics, while Metro Exodus introduced unique open world elements and dynamic weather that affects your combat abilities.
Based on a series of novels, the Metro games also tell riveting stories that put an interesting spin on the post-apocalyptic setting, trapping you in the dark Metro tunnels beneath Russia.
While Metro is mainly the only thing that 4A Games studio has made, most of the core team are developers from GSC Game World, the makers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
The studio has drastically improved with each new entry they’ve put out, and with the level of quality Metro Exodus shows, it’ll be interesting to see where 4A Games goes next.
Dontnod Entertainment
Underrated Developers That Deserve More Attention
Dontnod are masters of narrative games, and with the demise of Telltale Games, that’s something we definitely need right now. Although Dontnod got a lot of attention for their fantastic 2015 title Life Is Strange, everything else hasn’t gotten that same level of attention, and they’ve consistently put out fascinating ideas.
As you might expect, all of Dontnod’s games have a heavy story focus, something that they like to integrate with gameplay. Vampyr did this by giving you the choice of devouring NPCs, sealing off entire plotlines and quests if you devour the wrong person.
Life is Strange 2 does this by making your choices affect your younger brother Daniel, and how he thinks about the world and his powers. Yes, each of Dontnod’s games has its flaws, like Vampyr’s floaty combat, but the sheer willingness Dontnod has to experiment and try something new should absolutely be commended.
The huge three-month gaps between episodes of Life Is Strange 2 certainly don’t help things, but don’t let that dissuade you from giving Dontnod the support they deserve.
Spike Chunsoft
Underrated Developers That Deserve More Attention
Spike Chunsoft is a sizable publisher of Japanese games in the west, and third-party games in Japan, but you might not realize how many great titles have actually been developed in-house by their teams.
Spike Chunsoft has delivered hit after hit, including the entirety of the Zero Escape and Danganronpa franchises, both some of the best visual novel experiences, period. They’ve also developed a host of other fun, if flawed, experiences like Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, J-Stars Victory VS, Conception and Conception II, and Fire Pro Wrestling World.
After establishing a North American subsidiary in 2017, Spike Chunsoft has also been able to bring more of their games to west, and the games of other by partnering with studios like Mages, the makers of Steins;Gate.
In this case, it’s another example of people loving the games but probably not knowing who it’s developed by. Spike Chunsoft is not a name you hear get thrown around often when talking about the best Japanese developers, but it should be.
Turtle Rock Studios
Underrated Developers That Deserve More Attention
Turtle Rock Studios isn’t a name incredibly well known, and yet, you definitely know a few of the games they’ve developed, namely the Left 4 Dead series. Part of the reason Turtle Rock isn’t as well known is because they went under a different name, Valve South, when they developed Left 4 Dead.
The studio was founded back in 2002 and they initially were contracted by Valve to work on games like Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. Then in 2008, it was announced that Valve had acquired Turtle Rock, and would turn them into Valve South.
Unfortunately, just a year later Valve disbanded the studio, and the remaining members once again reformed Turtle Rock. Despite this, they still had a close relationship with Valve, developing Left 4 Dead 2’s post-launch campaigns.
Turtle Rock is obviously a talented studio, and although their last game, Evolve, didn’t get the same level of attention, it was a fascinating game that really tried some interesting ideas. It was also one of the first games that tried the whole asymmetric multiplayer deal, with four players going up against one single player.
It’s unfortunate that many people don’t realize Left 4 Dead was the brainchild of Turtle Rock, and the studio should definitely get more recognition for what they’ve brought over the years.
There’s serious reason to be excited for the studio’s future too, as they recently announced a brand new multiplayer zombie game called Back 4 Blood. The masters of first-person zombie games are returning once again.
Published: Apr 5, 2019 02:17 pm