The last third of the year is nearly upon us, and the next few months are going to be home to the most anticipated games of the year. Not to mention a massive lineup of titles that will be firmly entrenched in their shadows. That said we always find a few titles each year that have the audacity to work themselves into a position of prominence that was not expected, or were simply forgotten about in the land of plenty. They may not bolt out of the gate, but they make up for it in stamina. Developing legs that carry them on to selling millions of copies, and garnering a lot of praise in the process.

With that said I ask this community what single game do you think will qualify as this years unknown contender?

A few ground rules, because for whatever reason we seem to need them. These are the things not to do. Do not list a big name game. We know about Skyrim, Uncharted, Halo, Forza, Assassins Creed, Battlefield, Call of Duty, and so forth. The thread is for undervalued or ignored games. Do not propose a game this is due to launch next year. We are only concerned with the next four months next year doesn't exist as far as this thread is concerned. Please no sports titles with a long pedigree. We know they sell well, and stating so is just redundant.

My personal choice for surprise title is Dead Island, and while it is not entirely unknown it is not a title people are generally overly enthusiastic about even when it is due to launch in less then two weeks. This game comes across as equal parts Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Borderlands. While the developer has focused on promoting this games more visceral aspects. What is not getting into the public consciousness is the aspects of the game that will really set it above and apart. This is a sandbox game with heavy focus on roleplaying elements while sporting four player cooperative mode. This game has a huge amount of real potential in that it is a jack of so many trades. You have the character building of a Fallout. While having the open world cooperation of Borderlands. While also offering the up close and personal combat of Left 4 Dead. What exactly isn't there to love.

That is why it should have legs. However it is going to have a hell of a ugly stride. Beyond the first week it is going to seem manic. There will not be anything like a orderly progression of sales. Since it is a hybrid title it is going to be servicing multiple demographics making for a larger pool. Which in turn is going to translate the effect of any major releases in all the genres that it is attempting to service. The result is there will be a lot of pressure holding the title back, and it will not be consistent. The launch of a major shooter will have a more dramatic effect then the launch of a roleplaying game. While if for whatever reason both genres are underrepresented for any period of time this title is likely to spike hard in response. It should be interesting in this case all it will really take is for this game to fulfill its promise.

You know, Dead Island does interest me quite alot. I would also say WKC 2 isn't getting the respect it probably deserves. Yes the English VA sucks bad, and I believe they should have included the Jap ones, but overall if it is at least up to par with part 1 (reading it is better) then it should do better.

There are several that come to mind, but If I had to choose one it would probably be Rage. Id has always made quality games and Rage looks no different. I can see this game being the sleeper hit of this holiday.

@smroadkill15

Rage may well be the most deserving, but it is probably the least likely. It isn't altogether hopeless, but it is nothing close to a fair fight. They are going into a market that will be both over saturated, and brimming with exceedingly high caliber games to contend with. It is hard to see how this title will garner a meaningful share.

The market is fundamentally finite. There is only so much room for any game in a given genre. For Rage to find real successes in the next few months it will need to pull sales from competitors. Which is a tall order when the competitors are the highest selling franchises in gaming. This title may well be on every enthusiasts list. The real problem is it will be the fourth or fifth title on those lists. Even then most consumers are not going to be narrow minded in their purchasing patterns.

While shooters are popular nobody wants to buy five shooters in short order. Especially since this is a genre that is well known for having superior replay value. Meaning one title will do you for quite some time, and beyond that even it is hard to find consumers that only buy games for one genre. Most seem to appreciate some variability in what they play. They do not want to play just shooters.

So the question isn't why this game deserves to do well. The question is how can it deprive the big games of their sales. This is not a game this is going to fulfill anything like a unattended to need. It is doing the exact same thing as everyone else is doing. That will make it hard to stand out as a real alternative. Do you have any idea as to how it can manage this over the next few months.

I have little doubt this game will perform well next year in the absence of this competition. However the first few months for this title are going to be insanely brutal. I am just not seeing the room at the table.

Dark Souls is my bet.

It's going to be hard for new IP's to do really well this year. The only reason I thought Rage might do well is it sets itself apart from other shooters that release this year because of the mix of Fallout 3 anof Borderlands a little. If you look at the other FPS's this year like MW3, Halo: CEA, and Resistance 3 all those games are linear. Rage is open world, but you don't need to deal with all the RPG elements that are in Fallout 3 and Borderlands (for some people that's a good thing). Rage also has Mulitplayer to keep players satifield after they beat the game. If Rage can get good reviews and positive feedback I think it can perform about on par with Borderlands. I expect Id to do a lot of advertising for this game near release.  

Warhammer 40,000 is totally coming in under the radar, but I was very impressed by the demo and I think it will do pretty well, and hopefully word of mouth should see it do pretty well in the long run

While THQ are generally rubbish, Relic do make good games and this seems to be no exception

As for whether it will really turn into a huge seller, I doubt it. I think nowadays it is harder for break out hits to come with almost guaranteed yearly sales for AC, CoD and Battlefield as well as Gears and Uncharted