[i]The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind[/i] and its expansions are underrated. Now you might say, "The fuck are you talking about, Hank? Morrowind is highly regarded, received massive critical acclaim upon release and is constantly brought up as people's favorite game!" Yeah, I know all that -- [b]but it's not enough.[/b]

Seriously, Morrowind was groundbreaking on [i]so[/i] many levels and most of those are acknowledged, but it doesn't receive nearly enough attention for the esoteric mysticism, mythology, Dunmeri culture, deliberately self-contradicting narrative and sheer originality and creativity that it contains. Vvardenfell is the most engrossing and interesting fantasy world ever put to screen in any medium in the history of mankind and the conflict between the Sharmat, the Tribunal, and the Hortator (past and present) is unparalleled in RPG storytelling to this day. Even Bethesda themselves never lived up to this masterpiece of writing and gravitas.

Credit for most of that goes to Michael Kirkbridge, by the way, a completely insane but utterly riveting and brilliant writer who contributed heavily to the Morrowind project but left Bethesda after that.