What was the last game that surpassed your expectations?

I’m going with Sonic Frontiers. It didn’t get great reviews, and I can see why. It’s a little rough around the edges, the environment isn’t that great, and the combat is wonky. But underneath all of that is a fun game that has a lot of potential to be really good. Hopefully they address it in the next one. How about you, SW? What was the last game that surpassed your expectations?

Marvel Midnight Sun, really enjoyed it.

Got that game and while I hate the visuals, I want to give it a chance lol.

Actually been on a roll with that. Part of it is I just don't get all big hype for games, but also just playing games that came out of nowhere, or that I wasn't aware of.

Most recently, Neon White. Looked like a furry bait indie game. Ended up being sick af speedrun platformer, retroactively a goty contender for some of the discord crew.

Before that, Pizza Tower. Looked fun enough, like a Wario Land ripoff with some extra whacky animation. It's so much more than that tho, easily one of my favorite 2d platformers now.

And HFR. Not like there was much of a leadup, was playing it the day it was announced. But I was expecting a pretty simple action romp and the game actually has some flex to its combat. Not like S tier action game, but definitely a cut above most.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Not going to win any graphical or story awards but the combat is quite fun and satisfying. I also like the morale system that rewards you for exploring the stages to find flag locations.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits. Was not expecting it to offer such a robust challenge, particularly on master difficulty. Also, the world and its lore is beautifully rendered, with exceptional design. Music is amazing, too. Just very solid product overall, and especially impressive considering the fact it is the studio's debut game.

Also tried a bit of Hi-Fi Rush recently and found that to be incredibly good as well.

It’s good to see Neon White get more recognition. Seemed like no one was talking about it when it came out last year.

@SolidGame_basic:

Yeah, not much in the way of mass appeal. It's fine though. The developers built the game they wanted to make, with the speedrunner/combomad/arena shooter communities in mind, and that crowd is all about the game. Small team, succeeded in their goal, was actually more popular than they expected it to be.

Good stuff.

The last is most likely MHR. I expected nothing, and was gonna completely skip the game, but ended up liking it more than World, which i enjoyed a lot, and for a long time.

Probably Sonic Frontiers. I wasn't sure what to expect after hearing the rumors and seeing that dud of an unveiling, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. Mania, I knew would be G.O.A.T'ed because I knew who was making it, but Sonic Team has had so much turnover since Generations, that I don't know who is there anymore other than Izuka and Kishimoto. They did good though, and so I'm eagerly anticipating the new character DLC.

The Japanese audience loves Frontiers too apparently, because it beat out God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Dawn 2 for best action game of 2022 from Famitsu.

Elden Ring easily. So good.

@Renegade_Fury: interesting. Not sure how big GoW or Horizon is over there.

Elden Ring.... And then probably God of War 18

Halo infinite. I expected it to be fun but that campaign is awesome

For me, it's Dead Space Remake and I wasn't expecting this much content I'm already on my 3rd play as we speak and just completed impossible mode for that matter. Dead Space Remake has far passed my expectations.

DOOM Eternal.

But you didn't even play your first playthrough on Nightmare.

Halo: Infinite campaign had that Halo: Combat Evolved homecoming vibe which I really like about Halo: Infinite.

Subnautica

I don't believe neither of you. Sorry.

Most recently, for AAA its Returnal. For JRPG stuff its Chained Echoes.

Anthem

Bought it for like 2€ on PSN a couple of months ago and didnt give much of a thought since it required PS+ just to be played, even solo. Well, recently Sony had a one month of plus for 1€ so I gave it a shot. My expectations were very very low but I ended up enjoying my time with it. Gameplay is very good but it ends up falling for the same traps as every other GaaS game. If it was a proper BioWare RPG the game had potential to be way greater then it ended up being

Different strokes for different folks as they say😉

@davillain: it’s such a great campaign. It hits all the right notes. Boss fights are great, hvt missions are challenging.

@davillain: he’s a butthurt cow

Yakuza 0, Resident Evil 2 (2019), Dead Space (2008), and Resident Evil 4.

Hi fi rush cos I wasnt expecting anything at all.

Bayonetta Origins

Walking Dead Saints and Sinners. I thought it would be a BS cash grab but the game is legit.

Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. Got it in a bundle a while back and didn't give it much thought. Tried it out when Jason David Frank died and was oleasantly surprised. It ain't Marvel vs Capcom, and it's mobile origins are plain to see, but core gameplay is pretty solid. They prioritized their limited budget well.

Duke3d, specifically the exclusive levels released for the PS1 (ported over to PC) which wasn't aware was even a thing.

https://dukenukem.fandom.com/wiki/Plug_%27N%27_Pray

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2108687288

The Steam forums are full of trash, but the actual Steam Guides second is pretty "based" as the kids say. Good chunk of content there to shoot through.

Jedi fallen order

GOW Ragnorok.

What an amazing game.

Not as good as GOW 18 but pretty close. I literally beat the game in 2 days. I couldn’t stop playing it, it was that good.

Most recently ( last week ) Echoes of the Living. I really love the demo.

Sure it had tons of bugs and the game had a few crashes that sent me back to the beginning, but I really enjoyed the game, it felt like a side story to RE2

I feel like it's been a long while for me and I don't get as many games as I used to. The last two I can think of at the moment are The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild which absolutely decimated my expectations and Celeste.

Honestly, Breath of the Wild made many games I played after it lackluster. Horizon Zero Dawn fell flat, Ghost of Tsushima started off strong, but petered out (and I normally eat up Sucker punch's games and I always wanted an open world samurai game), and Elden Ring couldn't keep my interest. BOTW just pushed the open world format so far forward that everyone else is still playing catch up.

Halo Infinite definitely surpassed my expectations...except for the story.

Vampire survivors and darkest dungeon

South Park Fractured. I was particularly impressed by the deep, challenging combat system. And how the game stays faithful to the TV series' roots. It is one of the best movie licensed games I have ever played.

Oh yeah lol. Probably the best three bucks I've ever spent.

Before it blew up, one of my coworkers had mentioned it to me. Took a chance, started playing it right when I clocked out at 5pm. Next thing I knew, was in the AM.

Decided I'd never play it again, but damn it was a good time.

Lol damn, haven’t had a gaming session like that in over a decade 😄

The time really just slipped man. Was like the old Civ "one more turn" meme, but 10 times worse.

Cool to know that you can purchase time travel for 3 bucks, but I doubt I'll play it again.

Hey, at least you didn’t end up in a dumpster somewhere with your clothes off

Well..

Have to go with Hogwarts Legacy

Hmmm, not sure if I can say Hi Fi Rush since I had no expectations, then everything I heard before starting it was super positive.

going back to last year, I actually gotta go with Modern Warfare 2 (2). I haven't really enjoyed a CoD game since Black Ops 1, but I ended up getting into this one a decent amount after a friend gifted it to me. Campaign was meh but the multi just clicked for some reason, gunplay feels good and its a bit slower paced than a lot of the recent ones.

The few i've played in the last decade, i'd usually play through the campaign, dip my toes into the MP and recoil in horror so its nice to see they sorta remembered what made those older games work (at least for me)

Persona 5 Strikers, I have played musou games of dragon quest, zelda, one piece, etc, so i just expected something along the line but with Persona, but the game is pretty good on its own.

Crystal Project on Steam. I expected nothing and was simply blown away by the game. The level design itself is just brilliant.