I thought about Yakuza as well, and it brought me to another question. Are we to consider region? Because in Japan, the series is very popular, and typically tops sales charts and receives critical acclaim. But in the West, it is much more of a cult following type of series that barely scrapes by (it does typically receive pretty good reviews, it's just so niche that it ends up barely selling anything).
It seems like a cult classic needs to be a game that was never an instant success or highly marketed, but that a dedicated group of fans continues to play and recommend for years afterwards so that it has a longer life span than anyone would have ever reasonably expected.
To that end, I would say Dwarf Fortress is one of the better examples in recent years. There is a strong community of people that adore this game, despite the fact that it is presented in unastounding ASCII graphics. It's a difficult game to get into, so the fanbase never hits mainstream proportions, but to the people that get into it, they love it fully and can talk about it endlessly.
Some other notables include... STALKER/Metro series League of Legends Amnesia: The Dark Descent EVE Online series VVVVVV FTL Cave Story Ys series Dear Esther Trackmania series The Walking Dead Anything made by Jeff Minter Shin Megami Tensei series (though it's reaching mainstream proportions)
I thought about mentioning Minecraft, but that is more of an unexpected runaway success than a cult classic.
It's kind of hard to identify a cult classic this soon though. It seems like a game needs some time to retain the unexpected long term popularity of games like Counter Strike, Ico, Team Fortress, System Shock, DOTA, or Gary's Mod.
Not sure if we are counting digital only releases but Raskulls and Fat Princess are two of the funnest MP games I have ever played. They are extremely popular casual cult "side" games at my local weekly meet ups for Fighting games.
As far as games with physical retail releases go... I've had a great deal of fun with Monster Madness, Guacamelee and Heavenly Sword (one of my all time fave VG stories, sad to see it cut short).. and so have most people I have recommended these to.
Is it too soon to add Project Diva F to the list? My wife literally played it 12 hours straight when I got it for her and she is typically super fickle and short tempered with games. I have noticed a lot of Bust-A-Groove/Gitarooman fans have kinda embraced this game too.
$0.02
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I would hesitate to include Demon's Souls in any cult classic list - it actually sold very well upon release (re-released as a Greatest Hits title) and has spawned two well-received sequels.
...and of course, after scrolling back to page two, I see someone has already brought this up
I don't think The Walking Dead counts. The entire Walking Dead franchise is HUGE right now. We're taking comics, games, TV and The Walking Dead season 1 was on multiple game of the year lists and I think it sold well
I agree on Guacamelee, don't think it got a physical release though. But that game and Dust:An Elysian Tail are two of the best Metroid style games on XBLA/PSN, especially Dust. I hate when people call Guacamelee metroidvania though as I think a Metroid game needs to have rpg elements before you can add the vania part. Dust has that, Guacamelee doesn't.
RyaNtheSlayA wrote: Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
No one ever mentions Condemned: Criminal Origins. It was the best 360 launch game (besides COD 2). It was such an immersive and genuinely creepy game, I loved every second of it. I haven't had a chance to check out Condemned 2, but I heard it wasn't as good.
Gamerforlife wrote:I don't think The Walking Dead counts.
Yeah... something about games touting "Game of the Year" awards on the cover tends to make me think that it received high accolades during its time (not to mention the upcoming GotY edition).
Unless of course you were referring to Survival Instinct. That one got some awful reviews but I've actually had a lot of fun with the Wii U version and plan to keep it for quite some time. If that one catches on, it could definitely be a cult sleeper.
EDIT: Also 'Calling' and 'Ju-On' for the Wii are possible candidates for cult classics. They've received ho-hum ratings but have a high appeal to survival horror game and Japanese horor film crowds.
"Farewell, good hunter. May you find your worth in the waking world."
