10 AA Games With AAA Appeal

Have you ever played a game that just wows you out of nowhere? I’m not talking about the multi-million dollar projects that are advertised to death, but rather the unique gems that pop up from studios unknown.

These games usually come equipped with half the budget of the titans of the industry, but they sometimes manage to surprise and even outdo their shinier competitors.

We’re talking about double-A games that manage to give you the same feeling the triple-A games of the world hope to achieve.

Sometimes, it’s about the gameplay, sometimes it’s about the visuals, but it’s always about the quality, so let’s check out some double-A games that can give you that triple-A feeling.

10 Sifu

Intense Kung-fu action

Sifu pretty much came out of nowhere. From the studio that had exactly one game prior, Absolver, which was great but limited in scope and critical appeal, Sifu took all the ideas in Absolver and tweaked them into a classic Kung Fu revenge story.

The graphics are gorgeous, with a cel-shaded style that fits the mood perfectly, but the gameplay is where Sifu really shines.

The premise is simple: You age each time you die, and you get weaker and stronger as that happens. You’ll fight your way through multiple levels of henchmen using weapons and melee attacks, and the challenge here is immense.

Knowing your combos is necessary, but your parry, block, and dodge timing is even more crucial. The fights quickly look a lot like something you’d see in John Wick.

The whole experience is intense and feels incredibly polished from a small studio, and there has yet to be a triple-A game that can replicate the fluid martial art mastery you feel when playing through SIfu.

9 Greedfall

Bioware, is that you?

Mass Effect and Dragon Age left a big hole in the lives of RPG fans worldwide. So, what Greedfall developer, Spiders, tried to do here was recreate that choice and consequence system found in these aforementioned titles and replicate them in a world of their own.

The world itself is gorgeous, and the characters and combat all have a sheen that shows a lot of care went into making this title.

Combat is varied and tight, offering options for melee, ranged, and magic users, and it all goes down alongside your companions, who each have unique abilities.

Your skill tree can be customized in any way you please as well, allowing for a mix of melee and magic or magic and firearms to create a medley we don’t often see in the genre.

The story is interesting, too, introducing a colonial world mixed with magic that feels both familiar and foreign. Plus, great voice acting and writing keep things interesting throughout. If you’re looking for your next RPG fix, Greedfall has the feel of the titans of old packaged into something new.

8 Vampyr

A Vampire Game With Some Bite

Vampires don’t get much love in gaming aside from old relics like Legacy of Kain, and Vampyr aimed to fix that. Taking place during the Spanish flu, you play as a doctor who has recently been turned into a vampire.

This fascinating dichotomy leads to a gameplay loop in which you constantly decide between feeding to increase your vampiric powers or playing the side of good, leading to an increasing number of people getting sick from the deadly flu.

The most interesting part of the game is how the world changes depending on your actions. If you don’t decide to kill and feed on people, you let the flu spread, and the city becomes more dangerous to navigate, and vice versa, akin to Dunwall in Dishonored.

Mix in solid, Bloodborne-lite feeling combat withawesome powers, and you’ve got an addictive game loop here.

There is truly no game quite like Vampyr, and while there are moments that feel double A, such as speaking animations, the overall experience is as high-quality as it gets.

7 Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Realistic schizophrenia in a haunted world

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is arguably one of the best-looking games of all time, and that’s all the more impressive considering it came out in 2017.

Even in the next-gen world we live in, with mega-powerful PCs and the like, nothing approaches the incredible graphics of this game.

It’s not just a looker, though. The overall experience is also incredible, putting you in the shoes of Senua, a Viking warrior suffering from schizophrenia who is trying to save her lover from the goddess Hela.

What takes place after that is a dark and harrowing journey that has tight but simple combat and awesome environmental puzzles to work through.

It’s not the longest game out there. Still, it’s like playing through a movie and the depiction of a real mental illness told through the guise of a Viking story is a one-of-a-kind experience that mimics triple-A quality from the graphics to the voice acting to the gameplay.

6 Evil West

Guns and Vampires

Evil West is a throwback to an era of gaming that gave the player two options: pick up this big gun and kill this thing. That’s all there really is to Evil West and that’s all there needs to be.

Armed with a mechanical arm, rifles, pistols, and more outlandish weapons, you will paint this bright world red with some of the best combat in any action game.

The melee is weighty and impactful, and your bullets will satisfyingly rip through your enemies, creating a dance of death that always ends in an explosion of gore not seen since the likes of Doom: Eternal, and it all feels incredible to play.

The graphics are fantastic, too, offering a triple-A feel for a short but incredibly fun experience that was overlooked when it first released in 2022.

It definitely deserves a look for those seeking a high-quality action game, as the triple-A studios no longer focus on that genre.

5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance

An RPG That Champions Realism

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an incredibly unique game that competes with any RPG in the triple-A world.

With a budget less than a 1/8th the size of something like Starfield or Cyberpunk 2077, Kingdom Come: Deliverance manages to deliver graphics and gameplay better than most of the iconic titles you know and love.

Something unique about the game is that it makes you feel like a random villager who gets thrust into a war. Meaning you aren’t playing the usual omnipotent demi-god that most RPGs cast you in the role of.

The first-person swordplay is incredible and, despite how bad you are at it starting the game, by the end, you’ll be mowing down enemies by the dozen and not from some arbitrary stat boost or superpowers, but simply because you learned to master the art of swordplay in this world.

The story is also fantastic, and though it leaves off on a cliffhanger, it has plenty of intrigue, great characters, and a great protagonist to lead you along the way. The sequel is coming fast, so check out one of the best RPGs out there sooner rather than later.

4 Darksiders 2

Death Becomes You

Darksiders 2 is an epic action-adventure game that puts you in the boots of one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, named Death.

Yup, you’re playing as the reaper here, and he’s got some moves that would make Kratos blush.

Armed with a scythe and various other weapons, Death is an incredibly versatile combatant, and it feels oh-so-satisfying to play with.

You’ll be racking up combos, fighting epic bosses, and exploring various locales throughout your journey, and it’s all supported by an intriguing story.

It feels triple A in every way and,, for some reason, is underappreciated in a gaming world that doesn’t feature the action-adventure genre very often these days.

If you’re looking for excellent combat and a sprawling epic, Darksiders 2 is a great choice.

3 Divinity: Original Sin 2

The birth of something special

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is an incredible achievement that stood strong as one of the best RPGs of the past 10 years until Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 came out. But that’s not to say Divinity: Original Sin 2 isn’t incredible because it absolutely is.

The unique world, fascinating group of main characters, and endlessly great quests and side quests to explore make the total package far beyond what you’d find in most triple-A games.

The combat is turn-based and highly tactical, allowing a “if you think it, you can do it” approach. You’ll be slinging spells, assassinating enemies from the shadows, and blowing fire out of your mouth through more than 80 hours of RPG bliss.

And best of all, this game can be played seamlessly with a friend or two if you’d like, making for one of the best multiplayer games out there as well.

Baldur’s Gate 3 sharpened some of the weaker edges here, but Divinity: Original Sin 2 still stands as one of the all-time greats on a budget that would baffle the titans of the industry.

2 Unicorn Overlord

An old friend

Due to Atlus’s involvement, Unicorn Overlord had some heavy expectations, and it more than delivered. This epic war story doesn’t break the mold plot-wise, but the juice here is the gameplay.

The loop here is simple: recruit units and deploy them into various battles, each with its own little story to tell.

The magic here is in the pre-battle menus, where you will edit your various teams to react to certain battle conditions, much like Final Fantasy 12 once did.

This gets increasingly complex with the more weapons and team slots you unlock, and while it can be a lot to handle, it’s incredibly rewarding.

Once your units are ready to roll, the battles take place in gorgeous, 2D battles that showimpressive animations while putting your plans into motion, for better or worse.

In the most loving way, Unicorn Overlord feels like a classic from the 1990s got transported to today’s gaming age. It didn’t have the budget of the triple-A world and it didn’t need it. It’s an easy contender for Game of the Year in 2024.

1 Remnant 2

Shooter Souls

Remnant was a good game, but it was clear it wasn’t the best version of the game it wanted to be. Remnant 2 was the full realization of this, and it is one of the best games in recent memory. .

The mix of third-person shooting and melee combat here is addicting and satisfying in a way that most games struggle to achieve.

You’ll be exploring multiple worlds on a mission to rid the world of a deadly tree-based plague, but that story is the only guide.

There are horror-based worlds, extraterrestrial settings, and everything you can imagine in between. It’s a souls-like on the surface, but the customization of your abilities, weapons and armor sets it apart, and offers a much more accessible, co-op friendly Souls experience.

The graphics are also fantastic, sometimes putting epic successes like Elden Ring to shame, and each world’s replayable, rogue-like element ensures that this will be a game you come back to over and over again.