Even if you truly love video games, we all have games or genres that are in our blind spots. These are usually games that we don’t have an interest in because we’ve had bad experiences in the past, or they just don’t seem appealing for one reason or another.
I think it’s easy to put yourself in a box with video games and stick with what you know. But in recent years, it has become easier than ever to try something new. Thanks to Xbox Game Pass and PS+, suddenly, the financial risk of leaving your comfort zone isn’t the same as it once was. Now you can jump into a lot of games without feeling like you wasted $60-70 if it doesn’t work out.
As I reflected and looked back on my gaming history to put together this list of games that I didn’t expect to like, but did, I noticed a bit of a trend. I’ve played quite a few of these games in the past five years or so. The reason for this is pretty simple, I’ve played six of these ten through either Xbox Game Pass or PS+. These services have truly let me explore gaming in new and exciting ways, and I’ll always hope that they can remain part of the modern video game landscape.
If you are like me and truly love video games, you might underestimate the kind of games that you have the potential to enjoy. My hope is that this list inspires you to take that chance, or even to try one of these 10 games if you haven’t yet! With that, here are ten games that I didn’t expect to like, but did.
For those curious how I ranked these, I ranked the 10 games in terms of how much I like them, and also ranked them in terms of how unlikely it was that I would enjoy them. I then combined the results and broke ties off gut to make it happen. That’s how the sausage was made!
10. Tinykin
Tinykin is one of many “man, I love Xbox Game Pass” stories. Without Game Pass, I never would have tried this one out. I’ve seen plenty of clips of Pikmin, and it just seemed like the worst elements of a real time strategy games without the fun parts. Obviously, Tinykin is very inspired by Pikmin, so it wasn’t something that I was interested in at all.
The strong reviews for the game made me reconsider thanks to Game Pass, and I’m very glad I did. Playing Tinykin, you start to understand how addicting the exploration and the ability to check a bunch of tasks off a list can be in games like this. Tinykin also excels with its fun personality, great level design, and awesome art style. Playing Tinykin actually made it so I picked up Pikmin 4 when it released the year after. I thought Pikmin 4 was great, but I still think Tinykin is better. This game officially unlocked a whole new subgenre for me, and I continue to be very happy about that.
9. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
The strong reviews for Hellblade made me want to play it for years, but I just couldn’t do it. I probably booted it up 2-3 times, and I could never motivate myself to play for more than 20 minutes or so. The “voices in your head” mechanic was grating and extremely off-putting. The story doesn’t have that great of a hook to start, and the combat seemed mediocre.
Finally, with Hellblade 2 on the way, I was able to push through, and I was rewarded nicely for it. Even playing it six years after its release, Hellblade was a tour de force with its visuals, sound design, performances, and some elements of its story. You also kind of get used to the voices in your head (I guess that’s probably how it is in real life, too!). After playing this, I jumped into Hellblade 2 and actually enjoyed that even more. I’ve been a fan of Ninja Theory since Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and while I let myself down by not believing in them sooner, it’s better late than never.
8. Tales of Arise
I have a chronic issue of starting JRPGs and abandoning them after 5-10 hours. When a JRPG hits, it’s like almost nothing else out there, but there’s a lot of games in this genre with overly stereotypical characters and storylines that start to bore me quickly. Especially when you factor in how long these games are.
The Tales series is especially notorious for this with me. I lasted something like 10 hours with Tales of Symphonia, and I’d say I hadn’t gotten any further than five hours in with the other two or three Tales games I’ve tried over the years. I appreciated that the series mixes it up with action combat, but those systems never felt good enough to overcome the story and characters, which I never clicked with.
After my last attempt at a Tales game, I had zero intent on ever trying one again. But the reviews for Tales of Arise were so good that I felt like I had to give it a shot. And damn it paid off big time. I loved Tales of Arise. It ended up being my #6 game of 2021. The combat is a lot of fun and feels enhanced from past games. But the biggest thing for me was that they went with more adult characters and themes that were much more powerful in my view. I’m also not much of a romance in video games guy, but I was kind of into the big romance here as well. Tales of Arise finally felt like the series had grown up, and I am now eagerly awaiting the next entry.
7. Hi-Fi Rush
I’m actually pretty good at straight up rhythm games (we will talk more about that later), but I soured on the concept of mixing rhythm games with action games the year before when I played Metal: Hellsinger. Hellsinger was an FPS where you needed to coordinate your actions with the music, and I was absolutely awful at it. I think the problem is that I don’t inherently have rhythm, but I have the hand-eye coordination to do well in more rhythm specific games when I don’t have to worry about anything except hitting the right buttons flashing on my screen.
After that game totally bombed for me, I was not pumped when I saw that Hi-Fi Rush had a similar concept to it, except as a third-person action game. The art style and everything else about the game looked incredible, but I just did not have a good feeling about the rhythm elements. However, it was on Game Pass, so I went for it.
Luckily, Hi-Fi Rush does a great job of integrating you in with all of its rhythm elements, thanks to both audio and visual indicators, and it worked great for me. They somehow made a rhythm action game that still functions if you suck at rhythm. The personality in the game and the music is also fantastic, as you’d hope. This ended up being one of my highlights of 2023, and it’s truly a shame what happened to the developer after making such a unique and high-quality game.
6. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
I love survival horror games, but with one catch. I much prefer third person over first. I don’t actually like or enjoy these games at all for the “getting scared” element, and it’s way harder to spook me in third person. I like survival horror games for the tense atmospheres, occasionally interesting stories, the intensity that comes from resource management, and the fun of rewarding exploration because of how scarce supplies are.
I was never much of a Resident Evil guy growing up, but the Resident Evil 2 remake got me interested in trying out the newer games. I set out to play Biohazard and turned it off within minutes. The first-person perspective had me on edge to a degree that I didn’t enjoy. I felt like it was going to be too much to deal with. I was going to be way too stressed out playing it.
Months later, after the announcement of Resident Evil: Village, I decided to give it a go. And shit, this game is awesome. The opening segment was so freaky, and the early boss fight in the garage was so wild that I was hooked. Eventually, I adjusted and was able to handle the first person perspective without getting scared much. I’ve now played the RE2 and RE4 remakes, as well as RE5, Village, and this game. I’d actually put Biohazard at my #2 favorite Resident Evil game, which is a huge surprise.
5. Immortality
Once again, Immortality is another case of a game I would have probably never touched without Xbox Game Pass. This is a game where you just watch old footage of unreleased movies that were never released in an attempt to discover why they were all canceled. I don’t really care for movies, so playing a video game that is essentially just watching movies didn’t seem appealing. The clips of the movies you watch are all in random order, too, so that sort of completely out of order storytelling with no real rhyme or reason didn’t seem like something I’d be into either. But with the great reviews and with it being on Game Pass, I decided to give it a go anyway.
And yes, there are elements of Immortality that I didn’t care for, but it’s easily one of the most memorable games that I have played in the past few years. There are a few twists and moments that I will never forget. It also has one of my favorite performances in video games in recent years, with Manon Gage performing in multiple movies across different eras, as well as playing her actual “character” in behind the scenes clips as well. I’m really glad I gave this one a chance.
4. Silent Hill 2 Remake
I wanted absolutely nothing to do with this game. It couldn’t have been less on my radar. First off, this game was being made by Bloober, and my only experience with them was The Medium, which I didn’t care for at all.
But also, the first trailer I saw for this game looked so bad. Nothing about the gameplay looked good at all. This one was super easy for me to write off completely. I saw more positive receptions to the trailers after the initial one, but I didn’t even bother watching them because I was so sure that this game was headed for failure.
Then, the reviews came, and they were absolutely glowing. I still wasn’t that hyped for it, but I felt like I needed to give it a chance anyway. The first few hours made me think that my initial inclination on the game was correct. But the further I went, the better the gameplay and exploration got. And the story gets absolutely fucking wild in some amazing ways. All of a sudden, Bloober is now on my must play list, and I can’t wait to play their new IP when that comes out.
3. Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero had a whole lot working against it for me. As I discussed earlier, I am not musically inclined whatsoever. The game also has its own accessory that you had to use to play, and I’m usually a “controller purist” if you will. I don’t like racing wheels, light guns, or any of that stuff. I just want to pick up a normal controller and play my games without tons of bells and whistles.
But back then, this game was freaking everywhere. In my freshman year in college, there was Guitar Hero in a pretty large chunk of dorms, and it was very common for it to be at parties. It was also a centerpiece of many hangouts with friends. So yeah, I almost had to play it. But it wasn’t long after picking it up that I realized that this game was freaking cool. I’ll never put in the work to actually learn the guitar (I tried briefly after loving this game. It wasn’t great), but Guitar Hero is the one time I actually felt like I might understand what it’s like to be a rock star. I was never good enough to be truly elite, but I could five-star almost any expert track at any time. After a few years, I got tired of it and moved on, but I’ll always be happy that I took the chance, as I probably have a hundred awesome memories from these games.
2. Baldur’s Gate 3
CRPGs are one of those genres that have never fully worked for me in terms of combat. I like SRPGs a lot, but CRPGs have a style of combat that I usually don’t enjoy quite as much. It’s not quite as streamlined, usually. I also don’t like playing games on an actual computer, and obviously, “computer RPGs” are sort of built to be played on a computer. I enjoyed Disco Elysium, which doesn’t have real combat, but when I tried games like Wasteland or old Fallout games, I was always done with them pretty quickly. So, for the most part, I had written off the genre.
Then, Baldur’s Gate 3 came along. The praise was so overwhelming that I kind of felt like I had no choice but to give it a try. I was skeptical that the game would work well on the PS5 because of how combat tends to be with these games, so I bought it on my computer. Once again, I just don’t enjoy sitting at my computer for hours at a time. I’m definitely someone who wants to be on a comfortable couch when I play games (yes, I’m aware I can probably play PC games on a couch, but I have never felt like figuring it out, since most games are on consoles or now, the Steam Deck).
Early on, as I expected, I wasn’t super into the game. The production values and conversations were amazing, but there was a lot to learn, and it just wasn’t fully clicking with me.
I finally reached that “aha!” moment at the goblin camp scenario. This is a fight where you have an insane amount of options in order to conquer it. I got into a bind, and finally tried the “push” mechanic for the first time, and laughed my ass off when I instantly killed an enemy by pushing him off a cliff. I then somehow recruited some spiders to help me take out the camp and was finally successful. This is when it all hit for me. I was glued to my computer for hours at a time, which, once again, is not usually where I want to be.
I’ll confess that I still haven’t beaten Baldur’s Gate 3. I dropped it a little bit into Act 3. I then bought it on PS5, loved it way more the second time with the learning curve gone (and the game mostly works really well on console), and then dropped it at around the same spot. I think eventually, the need for save scumming without hating my playthrough and the constant barrage of lose-lose decisions wore me out. But I can’t describe enough how incredible it is that I’ve logged something like 80 hours into this game across 2 playthroughs. Even if I didn’t beat it, I can acknowledge this is a special game. I still haven’t been able to get into any CRPGs since, which also shows how great Baldur’s Gate 3 is.
1. Death Stranding
I was legitimately pissed off when I started seeing the details come out on what Death Stranding was going to be. Coming off MGS5, I was hyped for whatever Kojima would do next. Then, I saw the concept and couldn’t believe that this was the direction he was going with. I wrote the game off. The good but not amazing reviews solidified my decision not to play it, and I was salty about it.
When I got my PS5 several years back, the console came with a bunch of free PS4 games digitally with PS+. I said screw it and decided to finally try Death Stranding. 20 minutes later, I just didn’t think it would be for me and was ready to truly move on forever.
Then, I got on gaming social media and saw all the love for the game. I also saw a Death Stranding 2 trailer at a gaming showcase, and it was so insane that my interest piqued even more. Finally, I decided to give it an earnest go.
There were a few stops and starts for me, but once I focused more on the main story and ignored side stuff, I was in love. The gameplay loop and the incredible story are both two of the most unique and awesome things I have ever experienced in video games. The game is a masterpiece in so many ways. After this, no matter what weird shit Kojima decides to do in the future, I will be there.
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