Personally there are a few games which left me very dissappointed, after hyping myself up for years in certain cases.

Divinity Original Sin: turns out I prefer more streamlined, less packed games (love Pillars of Eternity) and that coop play in a CRPG stresses me out.

Wasteland 2: I actually managed to finish this one but secretly I admit I was hoping for a better Fallout which I didn’t really get. New Vegas did the cowboy theme much better.

INSIDE: while the design was cool, it was just a ton of boring, easy puzzles in comparison to LIMBO, its predecessor.

    • sugar_in_your_tea
      2·
      1 year ago

      Here are a few that really surprised me with how good they were (tried to grab different genres from my recently played list):

      • Yakuza 0 - imo, the mix of serious story and silly side content worked fantastically
      • Ys 1 - one of my favorites of all time; the combat system really made the game feel urgent and it flowed really well; Ys Origin is close and more modern
      • Black Mesa - good enough graphics, great pacing (except Interloper, that dragged), high quality gameplay; I didn’t expect much from a fan-made recreation
      • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - dungeons were a ton of fun, and side content was enjoyable as well; I originally played on GBA, and replayed on SNES emulator
      • INSIDE - clever puzzles, but the real kicker imo was the feeling at the end
      • Slay the Spire - one of the few “rogue likes” that I actually ended up playing through; I finished a run with each main character at least once, and I enjoyed it thoroughly
      • GTA IV - my favorite GTA, from the compelling story, interesting MC, and relatively realistic feel of driving, it narrowly beats GTA SA for me; V was a disappointment (hated the story and the characters), III is just too dated (though i enjoyed it at the time), and Vice City didn’t feel good to play imo

      And some that are probably less well known:

      • Recettear - interesting mix of dungeon diving and store management
      • Stacking - you play as Russian stacking dolls, and the game doesn’t overstay its welcome
      • Abzû - super relaxing, and the story was surprisingly emotionally impactful