Unpopular games you feel are the Apex of a genre

[Leynos]

So what I mean by unpopular is it didn't sell well and/or didn't review well. So this isn't a you like FF8 more than 7 kinda topic. Maybe for example you think The Surge is the best  in the Souls genre (not my opinion just an example)..Also why you think it is

With that said.

My first choice is.

Third Person Shooter: VanQuish.

VanQuish is an interesting game but I also feel it confused people and I can't fully blame them. Gears of War was the most popular in the genre at the time, so many games tries to rip it off from mediocre stuff like Fracture or awful Japanese games like Quantom Theory. So VanQuish just seemed like another cover based TPS. But notice in the genre listed above I didn't say cover based TPS. I said TPS. That's because there are two ways to play VanQuish. The wrong way and the right way. Wrong way you can still finish the game just fine but the right way is playing it like a Platinum Action game. PG games esp in 2010 were not familiar to most people so the game might have seemed like it had an identity crisis. VanQuish is a TPS but it's also like any platinum game where you chain combos and want to have nimble fingers to get the most out of the game. People at Platinum pioneered the stylish action genre and they add that to this game on top of really fun shooting. Making Bayonetta and DMC when at Capcom they'r eno stranger to using guns as weapons. When you play it like an action game, taking cover like GoW just won't do.

I am not shitting on GoW btw. They're good games overall and maybe the best cover based shooters but when it comes to just being a TPS I think VanQuish is best mechanically. There is a lot of flexability when approaching things much like a PG game. Tho the most fun out of VanQuish is the risk reward approach. In some ways I see it as a 16 bit Run n Gun game mixed with modern gameplay mechanics. You can slow time and shoot things mid air. The rocket sliding is a fantastic addition. Switching weapons on the fly and a variety of them. Enemies are varied enough to mix and match playstyles and weapons. EVen the melee is not just hittng with the butt of your gun but punch combos and even a spinning kick. You can back flip kick an enemy and mid air slow time and shoot several others!