What game surprised you the most this year?

For me it’s a toss up between Silent Hill 2 Remake and Astro Bot. Which is funny, because I was hyped for these games, but they ended up being even better than I expected. Bloober did an amazing job reimagining Silent Hill 2 for the modern gaming audience. The immersion is way better than the original. And Astro Bot ended up being the best 3D platformer in the last 10 years. So if I had to pick one? I’ll go with Astro Bot. It’s a game that has its own ideas and executes them really well. How about you, SW? What game surprised you the most this year?

Prince of persia lost crown

It's really good

Was going to write this.... And also helldivers 2. I was worried about the perspective shift. Helldivers 1 was awesome as an isometric game. Helldivers 2 is a banger on every level. Gameplay champ of the year hands down. For me.

Marvel vs Capcom Collection. It surprises me that Capcom would charge $50 for this but I guess they GOT ME GOOD.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

That has to be Astro Bot. I went from thinking maybe eventually to liking what I saw and getting the game day 1. I went on to 100 percent the game and loved the vast majority of it.

This year? Nothing

This generation? The Atelier series that I only just discovered this generation but goes back to PS2.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble (Switch). Had low hopes after how SEGA, even Nagoshi (in favor of his Yakuza gang), has been treating the franchise after the two GCN originals (and boy, do I mean the originals as even the ports of those to other systems were not great). Hell, almost died with a Vita game even.

But Banana Rumble is hella fun. Had to buy it after hearing from reviews (Gamespot still has not gotten to it) that it's one of the best since Monkey Ball 2.

Silent hill 2 remake. bloober team have bad track record but Silent hill 2 they nailed it.

I like that they announced Astrobot 3-4 months before release date. Would be great to see more companies follow suit.

Definitely Marvel vs Capcom Collection. Never expected that for sure.

wukong. went in with low expectations. ended up blown away by it. couldn't put it down. so much fun.

clearly influenced by the souls formula but with a significant enough spin on it to forge its own identity.

100% one of my favourite games this gen

Sadly, I can't really think of a single game. 2024 has been meh, meh, meh.

Concord. ;o

Surprised Phony didn't cancel that dumpster fire sooner. lolol :P

Hellblade 2.

Metaphor Refantazio. Honestly never gave it a second look before finding out it was in the same vein as Persona games. It honestly smashed expectations with limiting the faffing about of Persona. I'm toward the end of the story now, and have enjoyed every minute. Will be starting a NG+ right after.

Remnant 2.

World of Goo 2. I had forgotten how well a game like this could be. It's a puzzle game that makes you think. You need to have a sharp mind to do well in the game (which is why I suck at it).

Pleasant surprise: Warhammer 40K: Darktide. Game completely reinvented itself this year and turned into the best co-op shooter since Left 4 Dead. It's still not perfect in terms if the MTX stuff, but the gameplay and classes and all that stuff is really excellent.

Unpleasant surprise: Kerbal Space Program 2 being cancelled; or, more specifically, the developer being shut down, and Take Two saying "Game is finished enough, you're not getting anything else". First time I've regretted an early access purchase. **** I'm so pissed at Take Two right now.

Hellblade 2, unfortunately. I can't say that I was hyped because I'm a bit beyond expecting greatness but I definitely thought it would be more.

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown was incredible though and it wasn't on my radar at all.

Probably Helldivers 2. Thought it'd be good. Not awesomesauce.

Space Marine 2 and Silent Hill 2s combat are a lot better than what they showed off in the early trailers, some very nice surprises.

Nothing sticks out for me this year. If i have to go with metacritic silent hill 2 remake surprised me I thought it looked horrible on the clips I saw early on.

I also would say Astro Bot. I haven't played it, not having had a PS5 for a year now, I think? I've seen some videos on it with Asmondgold, and it looks amazing. Hopefully it'll come to PC one day. :3

Ac mirage, with how mediocre it is.

Enshrouded. I just love that game so much.

I was expecting around $40 ... $50 was not a pleasent surprise ... but, the package is extremely good, so i'll still put it under Good surprise.

Black Myth Wukong

Animal Well

@above_average: They have 3 pack trilogies that are around $100 each, but regularly go on sale for around $50. That's a good chance to get all 3 games in a time line for a good price.

I got 2 of those packs last year and am thinking about getting a 3rd when I see them on sale again.

Crazy to think there are 27 main games not including all the spinoffs (over 50 with all the remasters/remakesand ports). About as many as DQ and FF combined...

Silent Hill 2 remake...............good stuff.

I think most people including the OP don't understand the question lol.

I will say Space Marine 2, I thought it was going to be some sort of Gears clone, big beefy guys in big armour etc, but was pleasantly surprised with the game. The campaign is short, but the PvE mode with its 7 extra maps gave the game some legs, same with the PvP modes.

Metaphor Refantazio, had no idea it was coming out so just bought on a whim after reading a few positive reviews about it! Basically takes everything I loved about P5 and remove all the tedious school/social stuff that just dragged on forever and basically forced you to sit with a guide if you wanted to experience even half of background stuff from your followers!

Also imo the world is a lot more interesting than the P5 world!

Granblue Relink. Cygames somehow exceeded expectations lmao how they managed that. I pre ordered it as show of support cause I want the studio to do more releases but they went above and beyond. Characters all got their own unique mechanics and gameplay just downright superb with every character handled very well. Spent around 120 hours into it which is a testament of how good it was considering the story mode barely 15 hours.

If you weren't obsessed with culture wars you wouldn't have been surprised.😂

True, PoP as well.

Always surprising when Ubisoft releases a game that doesn't suck copious amounts of ass.

This and Remnant, so you basically like third person shooters 😄

@SolidGame_basic: I like 3rd person shooters among other genres too, not sure how that makes you laugh.

The funny thing is you created a thread that you yourself doesn't understand. You were hyped for these ganes and expected them to be good and when they turned out to be that way (in your opinion) you were somehow surprised, makes no sense.

Surprised would be expecting it to turn out one way and it turning out the other.

Tactical Breach Wizards for me. I'd never heard of the game, wasn't expecting much from the title or theme, and ended up loving every minute of it. It's...almost like Into The Breach, but a bit more puzzle-y, and with hilarious writing?

Animal Well also came out of nowhere and claimed all my free time for a couple of weeks.