There are about 30 million active users on Twitch every single day, according to latest data, and a staggering 71 million hours of content is viewed on a daily basis. Yet, finding your audience on the platform is all but easy. Growing your Twitch channel involves hard work, talent and creativity. It’s only natural that a lot of streamers out there are unable to capture the desired audience.
The harsh reality is that offering an entertaining viewing experience to your audience doesn’t always guarantee success, as the platform’s discoverability system isn’t that great. Due to Twitch’s algorithm, getting discovered largely depends on your view count. That’s because it is hard for viewers to find streams with smaller view counts. To tackle this problem, streamers have to think out of the box when it comes to choosing the games they want to stream on Twitch.
Games You Should Stream
At the time of deciding which game to stream on Twitch, you should always take into account how many other streamers are playing that same game, as well as how many overall views that game has. Popular games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, GTA V and Destiny 2 usually have very high views, making them great for big streamers. But it’s not so great for small streamers as they struggle to get noticed.
So, here’s a good idea. We recommend streaming less saturated games – titles that still have audiences, but are much less talked about and have a niche crowd. Such games usually have several hundred to a couple of thousand views on Twitch. They’re less mainstream, but still have active players and userbases.
Here’s a definitive list of some underrated games that you should consider streaming on Twitch to capture an audience.
Jackbox Party Pack
An excellent tactic for gaining an audience quickly is by playing games online with viewers. While playing popular PC games online is a great option for many, not everybody has a gaming PC. So, it’s a good idea to play a game that’s readily available with the lowest entry barrier. There you go, that’s why Jackbox Party Pack is great to play and stream on Twitch.
The big feature that makes Jackbox stand out from other party games is its level of accessibility. Instead of using standard controllers, users can play the game from their mobile devices via a web browser, making it possible for folks anywhere in the world to play together, even if they don’t have a gaming PC or console.
The series has already rolled out eight games, so there’s a lot of variety for gamers who want to stream it. Additionally, the series can be found on all current gaming consoles as well as on PC and Mac OS.
Overcooked 2
Sticking with multiplayer games, Overcooked 2 is a title that can be fun for a lot of viewers. Featuring frantic four-player cooperative gameplay with up to three others, the game is great to both watch and play.
The game features easy-to-learn controls and a somewhat easy learning curve (but it gets difficult later on), making it a perfect game to stream! There are some streamers who regularly play the title, and yet, they’re few enough for the game to be easily found by viewers. As a result, it’s a great game to stream!
Hollow Knight
Falling under the ‘Metroidvania’ subgenre, Hollow Knight is a 2D side-scrolling action game that features some truly difficult gameplay and a steep learning curve. Hollow Knight is a great game to stream on Twitch because its fast gameplay makes it enjoyable to watch. It also features some truly beautiful graphics, making for great eye candy for viewers.
Hollow Knight is a title with just a decent amount of consistent viewers on Twitch – not so many that your stream will get buried, but enough for it to stand out in the crowd of other streamers.
Resident Evil series
The Resident Evil fanbase is massive in size. Spanning eight main titles and countless spin-offs over the course of more than 25 years, Resident Evil is one of the biggest horror games of all time.
It also happens to be a very good game to gain viewers on Twitch. There aren’t tons of streamers who play the titles of the series regularly on Twitch, making the games perfect picks to stream online. Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 7, and Resident Evil Village are among the most popular games in the series right now, so they are your best bet for gaining views. In fact, most titles in the franchise are good options for streaming online, and are available on pretty much all major consoles.
Beat Saber
Music games are nothing new, with Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution reaching their peak popularity in the early to mid-2000s. However, with the recent success of virtual reality, Beat Saber has emerged as a new popular music game.
The game is controlled via a VR set, and it plays almost like a first-person DDR, using your arms and body to hit blocks and avoid obstacles to the beat of songs. Beat Saber is incredibly addictive to play and it’s fun to watch as well, making it a great game for live streaming.
The only issues regarding Beat Saber are the DMCA and Copyright laws, which disallow playing copyrighted music on stream. Despite that, streamers should be fine to play music from video games and the official soundtrack of Beat Saber with no issues. Beat Saber is available on PC – at Oculus’ official store – and also on PlayStation’s PS VR headset.
Stardew Valley
Few games are as relaxing as Stardew Valley. For those not familiar with it, Stardew Valley is a farming simulator similar to Animal Crossing, and it’s just the second most popular game of its kind on Twitch. Not a lot of people stream Stardew Valley, making it a good game for a new streamer to play on Twitch.
Viewer numbers aside, Stardew Valley is an incredibly fun and relaxing gaming experience and offers tons of hours of gameplay. And with its multiplayer mode, players are capable of playing online with fellow streamers and even viewers. Stardew Valley offers great value for its low price, and it’s definitely one of the best indie titles to stream online.
Phasmophobia
Phasmophobia is an online horror experience that features players working together against a scary AI-controlled threat in a ghost-hunting simulator. Released in 2020, Phasmophobia became a massive hit overnight and continues to have a decent-sized player base. While currently only available on Steam as an early-access game, the developers plan to port it to consoles in the future.
Though its player base remains strong, Phasmophobia never really reaches viewership numbers past a few thousand on Twitch. This makes it yet another great contender for small streamers, as discoverability will be easier by playing it over other titles. Plus, Phasmophobia is a great game to play with friends and viewers and is very entertaining to watch.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls is one of the oldest first-person RPG franchises, with the first entry dating all the way back to 1994. The fifth entry, Skyrim, is now over 10 years old, but continues to be one of the most popular RPGs ever, and is still a popular game to stream and watch on Twitch.
Due to its relatively older age, the game has an endless amount of mods for PC gamers, and is available on pretty much every major game console out there, including PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X and S, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch. Gamers can also play it on PlayStation’s PS VR for a truly immersive experience.
If single-player experiences aren’t quite your cup of tea, there is also The Elder Scrolls Online. This MMORPG is also a bit dated – it recently turned eight years old. However, it still has an active player base. The MMO is a fun game to play online with friends on stream, and because of its massive amount of content, you won’t run out of gameplay for sure.
Left 4 Dead 2
While its successor Back 4 Blood was released recently, many fans still argue that Left 4 Dead 2 is the better game due to its sheer amount of content and gameplay variety. Many gamers have moved on to other more modern first-person zombie shooters, though there will always be a niche place on Twitch for Left 4 Dead 2 fans. If you love zombie shooters but prefer playing older titles, then we’ll definitely recommend Left 4 Dead 2. You’ll either find it on Xbox One (backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 original) or on PC.
Start Building an Audience!
These are just some of the numerous underrated games that we recommend you to try streaming on Twitch if you aim to gain an audience. If you have a console and wish to stream games on Twitch without the use of additional equipment such as capture cards and a separate gaming PC, then you should consider streaming with Lightstream, which is an easy-to-use browser-based tool for console game streaming.
By using Lightstream, users can stream their console games on Twitch, along with the ability to add stream alerts, channel themes and much more for a very low monthly cost. You can try it out for free.
