Opinion You don't expect much but are blown away. Games that surprised you how much fun you had!

freshVeggie

almost there
Sep 7, 2018
1,027
2,887
113
So, we have a thread where we voice our gaming disappointments. That's fine, no one's "hating", just sharing the times a game let them down.
But this is different! Here, we talk about games we weren't sure if they were any good but ended up blowing us away.

I'll start with Spelunky. Yeah, I know, it's highly rated and popular but I'm not a 2D or randomly-generated-type of player.
That's why it is my absolute Number 1. for being a surprise how much I ended up enjoying it.
It has even dethroned Dark Souls as my most played game ever!

So, share away and maybe you'll be part of another member's joyous time with a game they didn't think much about.
 

Nzyme

Time to get Fit
Sep 19, 2018
192
538
93
Hollow Knight.
I wasn't expecting a lot and generally had been disappointed by so many metroidvanias being evangelised - but the game proceeds to consistently surprise and delight me. It probably helps that the whole melancholic vibe and atmosphere was really engaging to me, but also have a legit story there and secrets that I naturally explored to get to a different end was a ton of fun

Other than that OG Deus Ex - but I don't really know how much power that can have today.
That game opened my brain to a whole lot of things unrelated to games, while also being an amazingly fun and engaging game. Still finding new archs and options for the game.

Bladerunner - imo the best point and click I've played especially in terms of choices and story. The game predefined a bunch of the main characters alignments, actively preventing several ending right from the start, so you can never be sure even on subsequent plays. Great atmosphere and way of fitting an game adjacent to film narrative.

Talos Principle - again, tons to explore discover and learn. Philosophy in the game is no joke either. So much to love about the game and far more than just Portal-like. I purposefully haven't played it since launch as I wait to try the VR version.
 

Kurt Russell

SUPREME OVERLORD OF EVIL
Sep 6, 2018
981
2,120
93
35
Mar del Plata
Climbey is the game that did that to me recently. It was a last minute sale purchase, since a friend recommended it to me and I'd seen a Node video that made it look cool (but then again, I like the Node guys, and most of the stuff they showcase ends up looking cool thanks to that).
Fast forward a week or so and I've played 10 hours of it. Really fun in co-op, and it's the perfect Assassin's Creed climbing simulator.
 

SlasherJPC

MetaMember
Sep 25, 2018
15
28
13
Going to have to say Starlink. I wasn't expecting to play it at all and when I heard you didn't need to buy every toy. I was in!

I expect possible a Ubisoft Stafox game at this point in the future.
 

Schnitzelfee

Token German
Sep 6, 2018
1,049
1,737
113
44
Outer Space
Lazy answer, but PUBG...

I would have never thought that that game would consume me as much as it did... I don't even like shooter that much... but well



and no end in sight...

Pubg is for shooter what Spelunky is for platformers... digital crack with the perfect "this time I will do better" gameplay loop... also just mazing fun with friends...

besides that Stellaris did me surprise a bit too, I love that kind of game but I kinda hate them in real time, Stellaris tho is super fun.

these are the first that come to mind, but I bet it happened a lot over the years
 

Matimeo

MetaMember
Oct 21, 2018
67
193
33
I find this happens more often, when I have little to no expectations.
This gen:

Bloodborne, first off I hate hard games, never got into dark souls but this is probably one of my favorite games of all time despite performance issues.

The Witcher 3, another one I had no expectations on, didnt play the first 2, and not really into that genre at all. combat is really important to me but the game had so many other qualities, and was very ambitious in many ways, it was hard to not be impressed.

Yakuza 0 , already mentioned but yeah was shocked just how engrossing the game was. I had played earlier yakuza games last gen but only for a few minutes and they didnt really grab me. Yakuza 0 did a great job of that.

Now bloodborne is the only one of these I beat so I will be booting these up on pc soon as I played them first on console.
 

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
30,364
85,133
113
I find this happens more often, when I have little to no expectations.
This gen:

Bloodborne, first off I hate hard games, never got into dark souls but this is probably one of my favorite games of all time despite performance issues.

The Witcher 3, another one I had no expectations on, didnt play the first 2, and not really into that genre at all. combat is really important to me but the game had so many other qualities, and was very ambitious in many ways, it was hard to not be impressed.

Yakuza 0 , already mentioned but yeah was shocked just how engrossing the game was. I had played earlier yakuza games last gen but only for a few minutes and they didnt really grab me. Yakuza 0 did a great job of that.

Now bloodborne is the only one of these I beat so I will be booting these up on pc soon as I played them first on console.
all good games ... good list! :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kurt Russell

MonthOLDpickle

我會打敗你!!
Oct 31, 2018
1,579
1,919
113
Taiwan
Overall? Probably Terraria lol. I have over 300 hours but didn't 100% mainly because I lost my save. The game is fun but I don't want to start over at the beginning. I could easily play it if I could skip the first half.
 

Maxi

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
97
128
33
I think Yakuza 3 was the first to take me by surprise as I'm not really a fan or RPGs and long drawn out games but that one hooked me and so has the series ever since.

Then a bunch of smaller indie games on Steam that I've either really enjoyed or lost many hours to not expecting to. One of the more recent one's being Dungeon Souls which is a fairly bare bones rougelike but rather addicting and fit perfectly with my skill level in those type of games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eriugam and lashman

Deleted member 113

Guest
Dunno... Recently I'd say The Blackout Club. I wasn't expecting at all for it to be as good as the prologue made it seem and now I'm bummed that I don't have coop people for it.
I saw your post on our Steam group, and forgot to reply.
I own the game (even though I'm yet to play it), and I can give it a try with you. But I'll probably only have time to play during the weekend.
 

CrazyJuan

Pirate Legend
Oct 9, 2018
92
124
33
Mad Max was the best 10 dollars I've spent this gen. I slept on it. Picked it up on a sale and was legit stunned that it had gotten past me as good as it is. That world, man. It was great being in it in spite of the open world grindy foibles it had.
 

Nahkapukki

Finest Finn
Sep 7, 2018
699
1,116
93
40
The Iciest Hole
I saw your post on our Steam group, and forgot to reply.
I own the game (even though I'm yet to play it), and I can give it a try with you. But I'll probably only have time to play during the weekend.
Yeah I don't have much time until the weekend either so it'd be fine. I suggest you do the prequel thing in it beforehand. It teaches the mechanics and it's doing it in a way that's cool.
 

Deleted member 113

Guest
Yeah I don't have much time until the weekend either so it'd be fine. I suggest you do the prequel thing in it beforehand. It teaches the mechanics and it's doing it in a way that's cool.
Will do. ;)

And since lashman also picked up the game, maybe he can join us one of these days. :giggle:
 

Eriugam

Premium Title
Nov 6, 2018
143
239
43
United Kingdom
Mad Max was the best 10 dollars I've spent this gen. I slept on it. Picked it up on a sale and was legit stunned that it had gotten past me as good as it is. That world, man. It was great being in it in spite of the open world grindy foibles it had.
I enjoyed Mad Max but would never consider playing it again. Atmosphere and visuals were stunning and still are, everything else is.. standard at best..!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

nofuckinidea

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
272
657
93
The original Binding of Isaac. Just immensely fun and addictive. Also the #1 game in my library wit the best price/playtime ratio.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

uraizen

Junior Member
Oct 7, 2018
697
1,178
93
Yakuza 0.

The last time I played a Yakuza game was the original PS2 release. There was no fun to be had for me there. In Yakuza 0 not only did I have fun fighting, but I had fun with side missions too. Those two things are very rare for me since I'm very picky about both.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

shepcommandr

MetaMember
Sep 21, 2018
31
36
18
Canada... eh?
God of War (2018)
I was fairly unimpressed with the trailers leading up to release, and I didn't have a ton of faith in the studios ability to deliver anything but a dumb, sort of questionable, action game. Ended up really enjoying it.

Factorio
I thought it was going to be another dumb sim/city planner style of game that I'd buy, play for 15mins, and then never touch again. I have ~50hrs in it, and I don't see me stopping, given that I've still never made it that far into the game.

House Flipper
I sort of bought it as a joke, because it looked like an idea that was too stupid to actually work... but it's super relaxing.
 

texhnolyze

Child at heart
Oct 19, 2018
3,581
8,584
113
Indonesia
I actually didn't expect much from RDR2, considering I've never enjoyed and finished any Rockstar game before. But so far, I'm immensely enjoying the game. It has the best protagonist since Geralt of Rivia.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,669
11,485
113
I have quite a few such cases in mind, actually. About 18 months ago I started an effort to clear out my Steam backlog and I vowed to devote at least a couple of hours to any game that I was remotely interested in. In my quest I found quite a few games that pleasantly surprised me:

Risen 2: Dark Waters
I know that Piranha Bytes fans don't really like the Risen games beyond the first but I found the game to be a solid if somewhat janky RPG.

Bard's Tale IV
A new one that I played for the purposes of reviewing but I was very surprised by how much I liked it.

Blackguards
Really solid turn-based RPG. Voice acting is a bit iffy but encounter design is actually very good.

Rebel Galaxy
I really liked its combat system which is based around capital ships.

Crowntakers
A silly little roguelike that I probably got from some bundle but it turned out to be very fun and it kept my interest for 25 hours.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
I despised that game back when it was sold as an XCOM reimagining. When the Firaxis XCOM was announced my rage subsided and I played it as an XCOM-flavored shooter. It's actually not bad for what it is.

Of Orcs and Men
Now this was a genuine surprise. It's a rather linear RTwP RPG but the lead characters are compelling and the world is different enough from the usual fantasy template to become interesting. I really quite liked it.

Red Faction Armageddon
It's very linear but I had a lot of fun with it.

Lost Planet 3
I seriously LOVE this game. It's a linear shooter but the game's writing is very good and I very much appreciated the non-meathead protagonist.
 

suiko

saviour of worlds
Nov 12, 2018
307
650
93
Lost Odyssey definitely, It was basically destroyed by reviews, at least at the start, and after I played not only I was impressed as no other game impressed me this particular way, to this day I don't understand what happened with those reviews, some of them literally tell lies.
 

Eferis

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
1,343
4,203
113
Sleeping Dogs
I expected a GTA clone, which is a genre I don't really like to begin with, but I found myself playing a terrific Hong Kong flick-inspired gangster story. I can say it's now one of my favorite games ever.

Remember Me
Same as above, I didn't expect much due to average reviews but I found myself super-involved in the story and its characters. I'm still convinced that it's Dontnod best effort - even if the most imperfect one - to date.

Mirror's Edge
Just like Remember Me, average reviews, not much publicity and all that. I was simply blown away by its world and how different it played from any other game. I think I played it around 15 times or so. Didn't like the sequel much though.

This is also the story of how I stopped caring about review scores.
 

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
30,364
85,133
113
House Flipper
I sort of bought it as a joke, because it looked like an idea that was too stupid to actually work... but it's super relaxing.
yeah, it's great ... one of those "zen games" ... like ETS/ATS

Sleeping Dogs
I expected a GTA clone, which is a genre I don't really like to begin with, but I found myself playing a terrific Hong Kong flick-inspired gangster story. I can say it's now one of my favorite games ever.
Sleepy Dawgs :cry::cry::cry: fuck squeenix!

Remember Me
Same as above, I didn't expect much due to average reviews but I found myself super-involved in the story and its characters. I'm still convinced that it's Dontnod best effort - even if the most imperfect one - to date.
that's why i keep saying DONTNOD haven't made a bad game yet ... i love every single one they made so far :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 113

MegaApple

Just another Video Game Enthusiast
Sep 20, 2018
1,445
3,663
113
I have a good number of titles like that. I'll just contribute the one I've played recently.

Ace Combat 04
Quote me on this, "Gaming world has slept on this series"
Since my PC went away for some time, I used my old PS2 for some game time. Few people had recommended me Ace Combat series, and with Ace Combat 7 coming soon, I thought "why not?"

This game is actually pretty basic, you pilot fighter jet and shoot down air or ground targets. But the way it is presented makes it a huge difference.
Firstly, the game is very smooth with its UI and loading, menu navigation is for the most part is intuitive. This was an early PS2 release, when almost all UI sucked and load times weren't great.
The game was already ahead of its time with this.

The story is presented as a heroic war time story in a fictional earth, so expect lots of tradegy. But another "story" takes place on your battlefield where you and your co-pilots and your handlers are fighting. It feels very engaging. The radio chatter isn't some background noise, it's a part of your fighting experience.
And not spoiling anything, there are many non-cutscenes moments that had me at the edge. In any other modern game, they would have been shown as cutscenes and would have no impact.
Again, far ahead of its time.

Controls are semi-realistic, in that maneuvering the fighter planes takes some time and practice to get used to. Each of the aircrafts feels different to fly. Initially game feels easy because the homing missiles do most of the work, but game becomes harder later on, testing your flight and have aircraft dodging your missiles.
You earn money based how the valuable of a target you shot down, which becomes a challenge with a few missions with timers.

So not sounding condescending, this game is a proper "gamers game", a game that you have to have good mastery over its controls and rules, and then it rewards you with an experience and satisfaction unlike anything.

Trust me when I say, words don't do the game justice. You have to play it for yourself. It's the kind the of game, which you understand by the "language of your fingers and controllers" if that makes sense.

Ace Combat 04, 5 and Zero are considered the Golden Trilogy of the series. The other two games are on my list next.
 

Weerez

Hello, I'm here, I'm waiting
Sep 20, 2018
23
28
13
Mario Strikers Charged, because I didn't expect to love a soccer game this much, but after playing it for five minutes, I realized the balls to the wall chaos cemented it as my favorite sports game ever. Well, besides a few wrestling games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Eriugam

Premium Title
Nov 6, 2018
143
239
43
United Kingdom
Sleeping Dogs
I expected a GTA clone, which is a genre I don't really like to begin with, but I found myself playing a terrific Hong Kong flick-inspired gangster story. I can say it's now one of my favorite games ever.
One of a kind game that never got a sequel due to Square Enix and the ridiculous sales expectations they set themselves. Plus the developers closed the doors not too long ago.
 

Gevin

Watch Madoka
Nov 16, 2018
1,046
3,194
113
Dark Souls, I honestly thought it was really overrated and I wouldn't like it at all but it turned out to be amazing and I've enjoyed the whole saga (save for that spider part in DS2).

Probably it helped that I co-oped most of the game, I don't know if I would have continued alone in parts like blightown or lost izalith tbh,
 

dummmyy

Dumb fool
Nov 14, 2018
622
1,496
93
I had two games I recently played without expectation and became a couple of my favorites:

CLUCKLES ADVENTURES and FLINTHOOK. I 100%'ed Cluckles' Adventures, and plan to do the same with Flinthook! Both are pretty simple, but I fell in love with both immediately! Would gladly sink 100+ hours into Flinthook!
 

kurahador

MetaMember
Nov 6, 2018
1
1
3
FFXIV Heavensward. I don't think I've ever got this invested in an mmo, but Heavensward is such mind blowing experience for me in mmo genre.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Deleted member 113

Guest
For me, it would have to be Euro Truck Simulator 2.

I got the game in a bundle, and had never even launched it, until a couple of years ago, when I was bored around Christmas season, and gave it a go during one of their events.
It's a great game to play, while listening to your playlists, when you aren't in the mood to play something that demands your attention.

I still have it installed, and whenever there's an event (and another one should be coming soon), there I go spend 10 hours or so driving around European landscapes, and listening to 80's pop playlists. :giggle:
 

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
30,364
85,133
113
For me, it would have to be Euro Truck Simulator 2.

I got the game in a bundle, and had never even launched it, until a couple of years ago, when I was bored around Christmas season, and gave it a go during one of their events.
It's a great game to play, while listening to your playlists, when you aren't in the mood to play something that demands your attention.

I still have it installed, and whenever there's an event (and another one should be coming soon), there I go spend 10 hours or so driving around European landscapes, and listening to 80's pop playlists. :giggle:
it's the ultimate zen game
 

TheLetdown

A six-pack of letdown.
Oct 30, 2018
142
271
63
Overwatch

I was not in the mood for a multiplayer shooter AT ALL when it was being teased and trailered. I played the beta fully expecting to poke around a few rounds and be done with it. But I was hooked. Arcade elements with a wide variety of cast, all with unique abilities and map traversal options. It was a perfect game to just PLAY. I stopped enjoying it drastically when the Competitive stuff start dropping and people stopped playing like an arcade game and started losing their heads. Again, this is anomaly for me, since I prefer people to take MP games seriously.
 
  • Like
Reactions: freshVeggie