Few video game consoles have a game library as deep as the PlayStation 2. Sony’s console was a megahit in the early 2000s, and every developer wanted a piece of it. Over 4,000 games were made for the PS2, and nearly 2,000 of those were exclusive to the platform. For the time, that was an astronomical number of games.
While that collection gave us a lot of all-time classics, it includes even more cult hits. Plenty of games have fallen through the cracks over the past two decades, becoming the sort of underrated gems that retro collectors hunt for. (Trust me: I’m speaking from experience here.) If you want a taste of those deep cuts, here are five underappreciated PS2 games that prove how robust the console’s library is beyond the obvious hits.
5
Shadow of Destiny
Image: Konami
Konami’s Shadow of Destiny is the kind of game that every PS2 collector needs in their library. It’s a time-traveling adventure game where a man tries to reverse his own death by changing history. It’s basically a game about creating improbable butterfly effects; convincing someone not to plant a tree in the past can thwart a present-day assassin who gets the jump on you by hiding behind that tree. It’s absolutely ridiculous in the most enjoyable way possible. And to make matters even more absurd, it features longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet as a creepy homunculus.
4
Baroque
Image: Sting Entertainment
Atlus may be known primarily for Persona and Shin Megami Tensei today, but it was responsible for publishing some real eclectic games back in the day. Case in point: Baroque, from developer Sting Entertainment. Originally released for Sega Saturn and remade for PS2 in 2007, it’s a dark dungeon crawler filled with religious iconography and climate crisis anxiety. The goal is to make your way through the randomly generated floors of Neuro Tower, armed with your Angelic Rifle. It’s a bizarre, eerie RPG that’s overdue for some mainstream reassessment.
3
Kinetica
Image: Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Before God of War, Santa Monica Studio got its start making a racing game. Kinetica is a sci-fi racer where players control human motorcycles, essentially. It’s a high-speed game that feels like Sony’s own spin on F-Zero. While it didn’t make waves in 2001, Kinetica holds up exceptionally well today. It still has a killer sense of both style and speed, making for an underrated game in a storied developer’s catalog.
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2
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter
Image: Capcom
Capcom’s Breath of Fire series began its life as your typical RPG, rubbing shoulders with your Final Fantasies and Dragon Quests of the era. That changed in 2002 with Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, a significant departure for the series. It traded turn-based adventuring for a dungeon crawler premise that was divisive among fans at the time. Now removed from the shock, Dragon Quarter now stands as a creative reimagining of the series that fused turn-based and real-time combat. If Capcom is looking for more PS2 games to revive after Onimusha: Way of the Sword, this is as good a candidate as any.
1
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Image: Midway
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is about as ahead of its time as games get. Midway’s third-person shooter puts you in control of a psychic secret agent hell-bent on taking down a terrorist group with his telekinetic powers. You could argue that it walked so that Control could run 15 years later, as Psi-Ops similarly played with levitation, telekinesis, and more. It didn’t sell terribly well at the time, despite critical acclaim, but thankfully you can revisit it today thanks to Sony rereleasing it on PS5 this past July.
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