Pleasant Surprises

Are there any games recently that you've enjoyed a lot more than you thought you would?

Lost Ark. It didn't look like my game at all with the graphics, but the gameplay has actually been a lot of fun. Beating enemies is so satisfying!!

Valorant TBH! While I'm still not eligible for Competitive, it's still fun when we play and trash talk or compliment each other through voice-chat! Always fun. :')

I hadn't even heard of Later Alligator before I played it over stream together with Kitty, so I had zero expectations to be fair. But if I consider the genre, which is basically visual novel with minigames, that wouldn't have sounded super interesting to me.

However, the witty writing and the quirky characters (that are all well-tied together) made for a super fun experience!

Renowned Explorers comes on mind. At first, it looked like yet another rogue-like game, but it quickly became my favourite amongts the genre. I always return to it.

A few months ago I was convinced into giving Genshin Impact a try by some friends. I generally don't like the whole concept of gachas, so I wasn't expecting much. I freaking love this game though. The characters are great, the combat and story are solid and the world is so rich with content and lore. Most of those friends have slowed down on the game now but I still get on at least every couple of days.

To a lesser extent, I was warned FFIII wasn't very exciting compared to later instalments in the franchise. Those warnings weren't exactly wrong, but I'm enjoying it plenty nonetheless.

I was expecting Legends: Arceus to be mediocre if not bad. It looked bad, the lead-up was bad, and the leaks all but assured me it would be. However, I had the chance to get it cheaper and I decided to give it a chance. Pretty fun actually, been enjoying myself. Not a $60 game, but definitely a game that I don't regret getting.

Of the games I've played recently I didn't expect to think much of but ended up really enjoying I'd have to put Guardians of the Galaxy and Legends Arceus up there. Both, imo, looked pretty dreadful in marketing but ended up being really fun!

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition ended up being one of my favorite games ever, and it was a totally random impulse purchase for me. I liked it so much I purchased the second game.

It was good but still preferred the first entry.