I’m curious if anyone else has any guilty-pleasure games. Either in the sense of it the “so bad it’s good” or simply one that’s generally received negatively but you enjoy anyways. They’re always fun to find out about!
The one I’ve had for years is Resident Evil 6. Terrible Resident Evil game, totally understand why it was received poorly, but I love the combat systems in that game! Still have my original copy for Xbox 360, but eventually got it on PC too. There’s something about the gameplay that just makes it a ton of fun to load up and run a couple rounds of mercenaries.
For me, there’s always been them - though they don’t always stick around.
Examples:
When I had a baby (and Steam Deck didn’t exist yet/I wasn’t into my other handhelds at the time) I got really into Raid: Shadow Legends. It was easy/didn’t require my full attention (or hands) but for a bit provided rewarding effort… kinda. I also frequently topped leaderboards on certain things which felt good. The problem was I was spending a bunch of money on it and regret it heavily.
I enjoyed CoD through MW2019 even when I should have abandoned it long sooner. I did skip certain entries (like Ghosts) but I kept getting pulled back in for much longer than I should have.
I really enjoy DmC Devil May Cry. It may not be a “good DMC game” or whatever, but it was a blast and I’ve played through it a few times.
I put 20-ish hours (maybe? iOS doesn’t track) into Diablo Immortal. It’s not “a good Diablo game” and the monetization is probably wack, but I’ve enjoyed it as a casual Diablo-light enjoyer.
I started Forspoken and was enjoying it, need to get back to it. Negative reception for the quality of the game rarely represents individual feeling.
NGL, it always feels worse when good/enjoyable games have bad monetization.
I used to be a big fan of Sonic Runners back in the day (the 2D endless runner for mobile), but that game was egregious. You had limited time events for certain characters, unlocks tied to a roulette wheel with terrible odds, an energy system that limited how often you could play for free, and in a later update they added an impassable wall of spikes that will spawn if your run goes on for too long.
Which was really a shame, as it was a great distillation of 2D Sonic gameplay down to a single button game.
Not an exciting answer but the first game that comes to mind is Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. At one point I believe it was the most downvoted video on youtube? The community hated the online but for some reason it just clicked with me. I wasn’t a fan of the jetpack CODS but still IW grabbed me. The weapons, the art style, the music just the overall vibes of the game kept bringing me back. Even the single player I feel is probably my favourite. I’ve not been a zombies guy since BO2 but from what I see from Reddit people still play that mode with the movie references etc.
Haven’t played IW but might see if I can find a copy cheap and give it a try. I do remember the main complaint people had was the jetpack systems, which is ironic given how obsessed that community has become with movement, I enjoyed them back in Black Ops 3 though so I might feel right at home with it.
I swear the only bad thing I ever heard about DMC Devil May Cry is just about how they changed Dante’s appearance! Gameplay always looked like a ton of fun. Been on my backlog for a while, definitely gonna push that one forward.
That’s a great way of putting it Epos! I mostly use reviews to check for technical issues now for that reason. Nobody knows your preferences like yourself.
And honestly, when DmC came out I certainly didn’t mind the appearance change.
But yeah, all I need is a small sample of gameplay to know if I’d like a game or not. I much prefer the old-school short reviews format to modern 4-hour video essay reviews
Theres a few games I’ve really enjoyed that other folks don’t seem to be huge fans of. I love Yakuza 3 because it was my first Yakuza and the beach atmosphere at the orphanage as well as Okinawa as a whole are just very comforting to me. Can’t wait for Kiwami 3 to come out next month! A more recent game I’ve been keen on is The First Berserker Khazan. I’ve never been super into soulslike games but something about this game just clicked for me. I love the music, the cell shaded graphics, and the story even though it’s pretty generic. The combat is also the best I’ve experienced in any game.
I have always been a fan of Wizard101, even though it is a card game made for kids. I started playing when I was younger and have been on and off with the game ever since. Not sure if it is just nostalgia or not, but something about it has always brought a smile to my face.