That’s me with Borderlands 2. I tried it for 15mn like 5 years ago, thought it was shit, installed it again a week ago to have another look and it’s actually not bad. Repetitive, but well written (lots of puns) and constantly renewed roster of guns that make combat feel kinda new. 6.5/10
Outer wilds
Deadlock
Factorio. When it first came out, I played about 30 mins and I couldn’t really get into it. Few months later I tried again, and now have over 3000 hours logged into it!
Valheim.
The first time I tried it, I got a really terrible seed, which turned me off pretty quickly. I also went in solo and blind.
My second time around, I got a pretty decent seed.
One where the Swamps actually gave me iron for once, and the Plains and Mistlands weren’t surrounding my tiny ass meadows spawning area…
I also watched a few tutorials and played with friends.
By the end, I had 1800 hours in the game and had built entire towns in vanilla mode.
I spent about twice as much time in creative/debug mode just building away.
I haven’t played in a year but I can’t wait to dive back in with the new North location once it releases.
balatro
Same, but be careful. While it’s engaging, it’s pretty empty
Barotrauma, but moreso the Submarine Editor side. I’ve sunk over twenty hours making only two subs and I love it
Baldur’s Gate 2.
It was the game that took my CRPG virginity. However, I finished the escape from the dungeon (basically the intro) and stopped playing it for a couple of years.
Then I randomly tried it again one weekend in university while drunk and marathoned it.
Skyrim was this for me. Took me a bunch of tries to get into it but its one of my most played games now
Skyrim with mods is a special kind of addiction which I’ve never really seen anything else replicate. The bizarre thing is that the base game is kind of… bad. But comfy.
Monster Hunter.
There’s a community saying: everyone loves Monster Hunter, they just haven’t played it enough yet. It’s an incredibly common experience for new Monhun players to hate it on their first or even second go around, but then eventually fall in love! It happened for me twice in fact. I played Tri on the Wii back when I was a kid, and then World on release in college, but did not get far either time. Then I tried it again a few years later and now I have played at least one monster hunter game from every generation as well as most of the spinoffs and it is my favourite series ever!
I really don’t like the look of the game and not just because of the over the top fantasy aesthetic, but it just looks like you’re beating up animals? And then they try to limp away while you razor spin flash hecto cancel them or whatever?
It seems disrespectful. I don’t think I’d have the stomach to get past the presentation.
Same. Didn’t click with me at first, but one day I put in some real effort and now I’m a capable Master Ranker of the New World
Arma 3 was a big reason why I built my first PC. Purchased it in alpha and fucking hated every second of it. Tried it again here and here but it just never clicked, everything was so confusing and it got worse as more dlc and mods were released…I just figured full simulations weren’t my thing but was still happy to support the game. In 2022 some friends had me join them for some KotH and I finally learned the basics. Then I joined an Antistasi group, told them I was new and they taught me everything. Now I own the entire series and routinely play A2, A3, and Reforger…I literally have a 2tb ssd just for Arma because I have so many mods, like I am full blown addicted to this shit now.
Arma is soo good. Some of my fondest gaming memories come from Arma 3.
Disco Elysium for me! Didn’t understand it and thought it was weird. On the third try, it was amazing. I finally understood what it was trying to do. It was an art piece and I don’t think I’ll ever have that same journey again for a long while.
Check out Esoteric Ebb… I’ve only played a few hours so far, but it’s got a few things I actually prefer over DE
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll check it out.
Dwarf Fortress back in the day (I think it’s more user friendly now). I just couldn’t figure out how to do most things.
Then I just decided to like job it: watched some videos, took some notes – basically did my homework, then was able to build a base and last long enough to starve. And again. Then the next time ran out of booze. Then was doing great but eventually had too many dwarfs and starved again. Then goblins. Then a big monster. And it goes on like that and that’s the fun!
Sekiro
Slay The Spire. You never seemed to get powerful enough and the fights always whittled away my health. Much later I played Balatro and this sonehow inspired me to give it another go.
I do think some of the boss design is anti-fun though, or at least punishing you for not following the build the developers want you to. The sequel already seems to be better for letting you play it your way.
My first run on slay the spire was mindbrokenly overpowered, and after that I spent so many hours chasing that high. Nothing seems cool enough compared to what I had
The best run I ever had was an exhaust + wound/status deck. Every run all I want is that build again but it never lines up :(
That’s kind of the point. Adaptation > max potential.
While I enjoy building a shiv deck without needing to worry about Time Eater, I currently find StS2 very unbalanced on high ascensions. Act 1 feels harder than Act 3 in most runs and some hallway fights are tougher than some elites. Hopefully that gets addressed during the course of the Early Access period.
Act 1 is the hardest hands down. I lose most of my runs there, almost never lose a run after act 1.
