The Xbox 360 amassed an absolutely gigantic library of games in it’s long run of eight years. It was also a super popular console, and had a full head year start on the competition. With such a huge list of games released for the platform there’s no doubt going to be a lot of hidden gems on the platform. If you follow my blog at all (you’d be one of the few) then you know that I’m a huge fan of highlighting the obscure and good games on every platform. Today we’ve finally arrived at the Microsoft Xbox 360. It had to happen sooner or later. As Microsoft used to say let’s ‘jump in.’ Here are the best Xbox 360 hidden gems in alphabetical order.
Not so fast though. Let’s go over a few ground rules I kept for myself while making this list.
- Some of these games might not seem to fit the ‘hidden gems’ theme. Many of these are games that may have been popular at release or had a lot of hype, but have largely been forgotten about.
- We’ve only included North American releases in this list. I’ll do a separate best of article for imports at a later date.
- This is simply the opinion of one person. Feel free to disagree. That’s what the comment section is for, after all!
Okay now we can get started. It’s time to jump right in!
Alan Wake
While the game itself got a ton of press pre-release, and even a remastered version and sequel on modern hardware, the first title is still a hidden gem. Alan Wake was an exclusive Xbox 360 survival horror game. It stars the titular writer whose wife goes missing while on vacation. It’s up to him to solve the mystery of her disappearance while battling against the shadows that plague the town of Bright Falls Washington. The most unique element of this title is how it handles light. Your enemies are people overcome by the shadows. These are the ‘taken’ and they want him dead. You have to use your flashlight (or other light sources) to strip the shadows away before you can defeat them by more traditional means. It’s amazing, and sold far less than it deserved.
Beautiful Katamari
Most gamers (except hardcore fans of the franchise) never seem to remember that a Katamari Damacy game ever came out on the Xbox 360. What’s more it’s actually exclusive to the platform. It’s also the first HD release in the franchise. Beyond these two unique facts this is classic Katamari Damacy for better or worse. Because it’s on the list you can probably guess I put it in the former category. You roll around a ball through 3D environments grabbing up items that are small enough to cling to it. As the ball gets bigger (by grabbing more objects) you can snag bigger ones. Pretty soon you have a gigantic ball of pure chaos that you’re rolling around. It’s mostly a puzzle game, but Beautiful Katamari is hard to define. Let’s simply say it’s fantastic.
Blue Dragon
Here’s another title that had a lot of hype pre-release, but North America in particular has all but forgotten about it. It’s a shame because Blue Dragon was just what we needed at particularly the right time. You see it’s a traditional turn based RPG using the amazing art from Akira Toriyama. It was also designed by the father of Final Fantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi. That part is pretty important. Blue Dragon has all of the trappings of the classic role playing game, but in HD graphics. That includes towns that, despite Square-Enix saying so, weren’t too difficult to create in high definition. Take that Final Fantasy XIII! Regardless this is a fantastic game, and is even available on the Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility.
Bullet Witch
I was genuinely worried that I would lose some readers with this one. I’m not really sure which audience Bullet Witch was targeting to be honest. The Xbox 360 had significantly better third person shooters, and it was pretty clear that the ‘dudebro’ style was clearly here to stay. Where this one excels is in the destructible environments and magic that the main character has at her disposal. Plus, maybe some of us just don’t want to eek our way through a TPS hiding behind everything via a cover system. While the witch herself uses a rod it’s actually a gun that can transform into multiple kinds of firearms. The magic, as I mentioned earlier, is one of the more unique elements. Honestly I understand why this game was lost in time, but it shouldn’t be. Bullet Witch is a decently fun time.
Enchanted Arms
It’s unpopular opinion time. Enchanted Arms was actually pretty decent. Yes, it’s weird and the story is bull spit, but the combat mechanics are actually pretty good. Enchanted Arms uses a grid based combat system. Normally I’m not a fan unless we’re talking about a strategy RPG, but this one goes for a more traditional JRPG approach. You basically move your party members around the grid based battlefield and attack parties of enemies. You get teammates as well and they can use different weapons and abilities. Okay, maybe it is more of a strategy RPG, but oddly, it doesn’t feel like it. Enchanted Arms is good simple fun, but you won’t find a compelling narrative or film budget cinematics here. What we do have is a weird little JRPG that’s actually fairly fun.
Eternal Sonata
Speaking of weird, here’s a JRPG about Frederick Chopin. For those not familiar with classical music composition he’s a famous real world historical composer from Poland. I knew of the name Chopin (‘show-pon’… ahh now that might ring a bell) but I’ve never really wanted to play an RPG starring him. Don’t worry because this barely has anything to do with history. It’s a heavily anime stylized Japanese role playing game taking place in the dreams of the famous composer while he was on his deathbed. It takes place in a fantasy world fueled by, you guessed it, music. The game feels kind of like a Tales of title with semi-action based combat, but with traditional trappings. The game was forgotten almost immediately at release. Eternal Sonata is actually pretty cool, and definitely fits the definition of hidden gem.
F.E.A.R.
The name of this game is an acronym. It’s actually First Encounter Assault Recon (how clever… not). This one is kind of a psychological horror first person shooter, and I’ve never met anyone that has actually played it. Forgive me if it’s popular because my real world experiences tell me it’s not. Anyway the thing I liked most about FEAR right from the start was that while gunplay is decent the melee combat is seriously on point. The game is only slightly scary despite the moniker, but I’ll forgive it because I really enjoy the atmosphere here. To put it bluntly it’s spooky but won’t keep you up at night. FEAR is a good choice when you want to shoot stuff but be mildly creeped out on occasion.
Infinite Undiscovery
This one was absolutely raked across the coals at the time of release. I’ll say right away that the first few hours of this title are trash. That’s probably all most of the critics played because once you get past that Infinite Undiscovery is actually a super solid action RPG. This is also the second title of it’s kind that has a musical theme at it’s core. While the storyline is mostly generic and uninteresting even this takes some twists to make it palatable. I loved learning the combat system here and the world in which the game takes place is pretty cool. Furthermore it’s one of those games that introduces new gameplay elements even when it’s almost over. Infinite Undiscovery is severely underrated, and to this day I’m convinced all the negative reviews are from those that played for only a few hours. I’ll die on that hill.
Lost Odyssey
Japanese role playing games are sure to be lost in the shuffle on the Xbox 360. I mean everyone was ‘Gears of War this’ or ‘Halo that.’ This here is another traditional turn based RPG helmed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. In my opinion this was, and still is, what modern Final Fantasy should be. Honestly it’s the unique elements that make this one so fun. You play as both immortals and mortals. Both have different mechanics. Immortals are revived after a few turns but can’t learn new skills, but mortals must be manually revived and can not only learn but also teach others their abilities. Aside from these unique aspects it’s a traditional JRPG, and a really good one at that.
Magna Carta 2
The original Magna Carta was a PS2 exclusive that no one paid any attention to. This Korean developed title had fairly big aspirations as a heavily story based action RPG. It’s surprising then that the game’s only sequel was released as an Xbox 360 exclusive. This is shocking because it’s heavily anime based, and has a ludicrous plot that is pretty much par for the course. That’s probably why it didn’t sell very well and has mostly been forgotten. Despite this I found Magna Carta 2 to be largely enjoyable. It does have it’s flaws (as do so many other genre titles moving to the HD generation) but this one has pretty entertaining combat. Magna Carta 2 is a great Xbox 360 hidden gem.
Phantasy Star Universe
Many wondered how Sega would follow up Phantasy Star Online (myself included). This title started out life on the PS2 and early previews gave me a lot of hope. Fortunately it was released on a more online centric platform in the form of the Xbox 360, but almost no one played it there. What the heck guys? Phantasy Star Universe is, in a word, punchy. The combat system is entirely action RPG based with real-time combat, but it’s pretty fun. Unfortunately it can no longer be played online on any platform. Thankfully there’s a fairly interesting single player mode, and the Xbox 360 is still the best way to experience this.
Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception
This one has kind of a colorful past. You see, developer Gamearts had for years been trying to make their shooter Sylpheed a thing. Originally it released on the Sega CD (you can imagine how well it sold there) and later on the PS2 (after the market was largely done with the genre). They tried again with an Xbox 360 game. They also switched this from a shmup into a rail shooter, and the results are absolutely amazing. I really like the amount of control you have over your ship. It’s a stark contract to the previous installments. You can perform rolls and all of that. You’ll need to do so because there’s a crazy amount of fire coming your way, and dodging isn’t simply optional. Project Sylpheed is very atypical of shooters from this generation, and that’s it’s strongest point.
Shadowrun
Okay so for a moment at least let’s move away from the JRPG centric list we’ve cultivated so far. Shadowrun is a long running Western RPG series that was prevalent on 16-bit consoles. I’ve never particularly been a fan, but I bought into the hype of this niche release. Shadowrun was a return to the old franchise, and a long requested one at that. I was initially put off by the fact that this one was an online only title. It’s also a first person shooter, and that’s not a genre I’m a huge fan of generally. Somehow this one swayed me. There’s no detailed stat keeping or anything like that. It’s actually kind of refreshing. The game itself is super fun. Gunplay is solid, and the multiplayer modes are incredible. Shadowrun deserves better than what it got and there’s even still a dedicated playerbase.
Splatterhouse
This is for sure going to be a controversial choice. I’m a huge Splatterhouse fan. I’ve played every installment in the franchise and love them all dearly. Even when they’re not so great games. Unfortunately this one is just decent, but it’s still a hidden gem if you ask me. Splatterhouse on the Xbox 360 has incredible graphics and brings the series into the HD generation. It also has the same horror tropes I have come to expect. This is also one of the rare HD 3D beat em ups. Gameplay is fairly solid but what I love most is it’s sense of humor. Splatterhouse knows what it is, and isn’t scared of it. Splatterhouse is an underappreciated Xbox 360 release. Dare I say, a hidden gem? See what I did there?
Tales of Vesperia
It certainly was an interesting decision Namco made when they announced and released an exclusive RPG in their Tales of franchise for the Xbox 360. I imagine moneyhats were involved considering the low Japanese install base of the console. Regardless this was the first HD Tales of title, and it’s a doozy at that. Team Symphonia really outdid themselves here. The game has the classic 3D Tales of combat system for better or worse, but for the most part it’s the former. What’s more is the fact that the storyline is one of the most interesting the series. It hits darker notes than most RPGs, and I’m here for it. Tales of Vesperia is honestly one of the best installments in the franchise. It’s a shame that this one never set the sales charts on fire outside of Japan.
