Wacky Wheels (Like Mario Kart but with an all-animal cast. Great in 2-player mode)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (It goes haywire story-wise and not all makes total sense, but it’s combat system is stellar)
Ultimate Spider-Man (Open world faff about game done right)
Dragon Age II (Contains some of the best characters BioWare has done, Imho)
The Thing (Flawed but also very gripping. It’s certainly something different in the horror game landscape)
Totally underrated, and a great game.
The Thing (2002) strikes me as the definition of an underrated game. I had completely forgotten about it, but that game was critically panned at the time. But it was an excellent game, a lot of fun. I remember it had that interesting system with your co-op team mates. Like in the movie, some members of your squad could be secretly alien insurgents, so you can to watch the behaviour of your team and carefully monitor in case they might try to sabotage you… while also managing their stress levels. It didn’t work perfectly but it was a really unique and ground-breaking at the time.
Wacky Wheels is another under-appreciated game that brings back fond childhood memories., I spent so much time playing this with friends, especially using split screen local multiplayer. Wacky Wheels is like the ‘Mario Kart’ for MS-DOS, a lot of people don’t know about it but to me it’s the only multiplayer gaming experience I had as a kid, it’s a great game.
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller. I don’t know why no one’s heard of it and why it’s metascore is under 75. I was completely immersed in the world, characters and puzzles and finished it on one go I think. It had a great plot. Everyone that loves murder mysteries and point-and-clicks should play it. The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav and Memoria. Amazing point-and-clicks with great storylines and characters you just fall in love with. And speaking of point-and-clicks, The Last Door. It is just incredible! Don’t be afraid of pixel graphics, or actually do, cause they really make the horror story come alive in your mind.
Point-and-clickers, unite!
I love The Last Door! I completely forgot about playing that game until I saw your post here, point-and-clicks are one of my favorite types of gameplay (which I think is underrated as a genre). Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the other three games you have mentioned, I need to explore more, methinks.
I also think they are underrated as a genre. If a point-and-click gets a metascore of 72, it’s probably pretty great. They just tend to get about 20 points lower scores than other games, I think. I understand they’re not for everyone, but it still pisses me off! Don’t say “unfortunately”, cause you are lucky to get to enjoy those great games for the first time, haha!
I’ve had The Last Door in my collection for a while now. I don’t know how, or when I got it, but I guess I need to give it a shot! I love me a good point-and-click adventure game. It’s the first genre I ever really got into as a kid with the King’s Quest games.
I just picked up The Last Door ($1.99 on gog) thanks to your recommendations.
Wow, the Last Door looks great!
You’re right, “unfortunately” is not really the right term, ha! I’m just glad to find a comrade for the point-and-click genre 
My friend and I played KQ5 here and there, very fun. We also enjoyed Phantasmagoria, which is a seriously screwed up game. Some of you already discussed the screwed-up-ed-ness of it with me.
Theres something magical about the genre. Click on the tan stone and find an object underneath, I love it!
https://www.grouvee.com/games/6809-pitfall-the-lost-expedition/
This game is my favorite, and I think it’s underrated.
I have Knytt Underground. Do you recommend that as well?
For me underrated games are Helldivers, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, Grey Goo, Sunless Sea, Ori and the Blind Forest.
I always liked Battle Of Olympus, Star Wars (NES) and Faxanadu. Especially for Star Wars I’ve seen people saying that it was bad, while I could even go as far as saying that it’s one of my favorite NES games.
I also really like Alicia Dragoon and from what I understood, that’s a game that wasn’t really so successful either.
Splatterhouse for PS3 is good too IMO, and Golden Axe Beast Rider as well, once you have figured out how to go through some ridiculously difficult levels in that game. The first time when I played Golden Axe on PS3, I was very frustrated with the game.
I remember Alicia Dragoon getting rave reviews when it came out. But I also don’t really remember anyone having it, though 
Here’s an oldie I think is underrated: Kenseiden on the Master System. That game had so much depth! Free choice of stages, collecting new attacks and training your character to become stronger. You could try to finish the game as quickly as possible or you could explore all the levels, defeat all the bosses, etc. It’s pretty much like games are now, where you can go and finish the story mode or get a 100% completion score, only 28 years ago! 
And there was even a little bonus included, because when I fired it up in an emulator I discovered it had FM music too!
Super Magnetic Neo for Dreamcast. Really fun puzzle platformer.
I think that puzzle games are most underrated ones, because they are just too slow for modern people. And the most underrated ever is English Country Tune. For Gods Sake, it’s the worst title ever and game has nothing to do with England, Country or Melody. In ECT all you need is a sense of 3D geometry and love for cubes. It’s hard.
I cant recommend “God Hand” enough, one of the most funny and entertaining games for the PS2 and the best brawler game i know
CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth was buggy as hell but is still scary as ****, i liked it a lot