Neopets: The Darkest Faerie

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is a genuinely fun action platformer game, despite a generous amount of jank that somehow doesn't really manage to detract from the experience. It's got a relatively simple story but it does everything else pretty darn well. The combat system can be a bit off-putting at first, but there are multiple attacks to spice things up and a clever Pokemon style weakness system that you and your enemies share. Some enemies are aligned to different elements, so a certain alignment will deal more damage, defend better etc.

On top of this, Darkest Faerie is a very good looking game, and it manages 60fps with little to no slowdown (with the rare late game exception - for good reason, enemies come out of the woodwork). It also has what may be one of the greatest soundtracks to a video game. Every track is brilliantly composed and each area is perfectly complimented by its track.

There are a shocking amount of sidequests in this game, though most are fetch quests they seem a lot less tedious and there's always something new to do (and new stuff to loot, like shiny new swords and wands!) The variance in interesting environments and unique enemies does a pretty good job of preventing boredom.

Fair warning however, Darkest Faerie is a glitchy game. In my experience I was only able to achieve any game breaking glitches on purpose but your mileage may vary. Save often.

I wholeheartedly recommend NDF to 3D platforming + action RPG fans. And hey, even if you don't enjoy those genres, why not give it a try anyway?