What AA budget games/franchises do you enjoy?

I would say the Yakuza and Lost Judgement series is one of the best AA type franchises out there. While the production isn't as big, it's still enough to deliver a solid experience. The campaigns are fully developed with full voice acting and quality cutscenes. There's a deep story there. Also, the gameplay is fun with tons of mini games and other things to do.

How about you, SW? What AA budget games/franchises do you enjoy? I define AA as being mid tier. Not as high as the big guns, but also not indie level.

Loooove me some Pathfinder, as buggy as they can be. 200 hours in and I’m still sucked into Wrath of the Righteous, and there’s plenty more classes and Mythic Paths to try out

pretty much anything from Phyrana Bytes. Risen, Gothic, Elex etc. is the first thing that comes to mind

also love the Trackmania series

Ys games. Clearly made on a very tight budget. in terms of tech and production values they look like high res PS2 games. But dam they are fun and the stories are better than expected. well worth a play.

Since i am playing it at the moment: both The World Ends With You games. low budget and more experimental. 2 great games though (sad to hear Neo didnt sell well. cruel world :( ).

Pillars 1 and 2 were great also.

Lot fun racing games at this teir like Gravel, Grip, Redout.

Some throwback boomer shooters like Amid Evil, SEUM, Shadow Warrior.

Darksiders series.

Is Black Desert Online AA? Graphically impressive but everything else has a more lower budget feel to it. Tried it because it was free on Steam and enjoyed it more than I expected to.

Not sure if AA or indie, but the Override games are fun.

Hitman.

Piranha Bytes, jank AF but soul.

Yea, it seems like you can find some good AA games from Japanese developers.

I don't know what counts as AA so I can't say - but I am generally more satisfied by Indies and more off-the-beaten path passion projects than the big AAAs so I reckon there's probably a good number that fit the answer even if I don't know which they are