Skyrim
Doesn't help that i played it on PS3, because the game would eventually take ages to load and lock up 40% of the time. But even without the technical issues, i was underwhelmed by this follow-up to Oblivion and am befuddled that it has such staying power. The world is mostly grey, and lacks interesting setpieces, there are no interesting enemies outside of encountering a dragon for the first time or getting flung up in the sky by a giant. And the loot, story, characters and quest-design... It just wasn't interesting or engaging throughout. I just went over the map to get rid of all the pesky icons and clean out my quest-log. The rewards were never interesting, and the story never really propelled me forward or get me interested. Oblivion had a more colorful world, and a more interesting hook with the portals. That game also benefitted for being the 'first one of these' for me.
Honestly, Fallout NV has the same problems for me. Fallout 3 was the first time we got to see this world in first person 3d and that was novel. New Vegas had some enjoyable dialog, but it was just more of the same, in a less interesting world.
The Oddworld 2d platformers.
I like Lorne Lanning. I like the characters of Oddworld. I like the whole 'rise up against a comically evil organization'-theme. It's just that the actual gameplay of these games is awful. Moving from screen to screen, often in the same default-factory setting, dying to enemies as you figure out the one way forward and doing some awfully mundane lever & door puzzles in the meantime. I guess it's not for me.
It's sad that they keep going back to this 2d platforming gameplay, because Stranger's Wrath is actually a good game and i would definitly be interested in a follow up to that. But i guess that's just not going to happen and there are still enough people out there that like this PS1 Heart Of Darkness-esque gameplay for them to keep making those instead.
Stanley Parable
I'm a Monkey Island kind of guy. I also like the humor in No One Lives Forever. Stanley Parable just never came across as funny to me. It was sort of impressive that they recorded so much dialogue for all the ways you can disobey the narrator, but at some point i no longer want to wait in a spot to hear what the not-so-funny man will say this time. I don't want to constantly walk back the way i came or go left instead of right. It's a fun play-thing for an hour and then i've had my fill of it and never want to go back.
Braid
I'm sure this is an amazing puzzle-game if you stick with it, but i've booted it up 3-ish times, and every time i get past the first few puzzles and just miss a enjoyable carrot on the stick for me to continue with it. I also remember that the actual platforming just doesn't feel very good. And the time manipulation mechanic can be quite finicky and frustrating to use, i found.
Enter The Gungeon
This is actually a fine game, but it's still being brought up as a very good pillar of the genre and i just never saw what this game does to put it above the many 7/10-ish games of this ilk. The enemy-design is enjoyable ,but that doesn't really carry the game for me all that much. I don't recall the upgrades being all that wild neither. *shrug*. What is it doing to put it above games like Heroes of Loot, Moonlighter, Chronicon, Wizard of Legend, Rogue Heroes, 9th Dawn III and the 20 others you could name in this top-down dungeon crawling space?
Thirty Flights of Loving
Pretty novel to have a game jump cut between different scenes, to give you the idea that you're in this high-speed tightly written story where all the fat has been trimmed away. Sadly what they focused on wasn't all that compelling neither. I guess i feel the same way about a game like Plug & Play. It's worthwhile to check out, you're done with it before you know it, but i don't think these are anywhere near the upper echelons of gaming.
Darkest Dungeon
I keep giving this a go, because i really enjoy the idea of forming a party and having that push / pull between deciding to go deeper into a dungeon or taking what you have and run. I enjoy characters being changed from their experiences. All of these things is why i enjoy Dungeon of The Endless a great amount.
It's just that the actual core-thing to Darkest Dungeon, the combat, is so .. unspectacular. You have attacks that hit certain spaces, you can place buffs and debuffs and there's a lot of shuffling characters around to make sure a certain partymember is well-protected or able to attack the opponent from their position. Tactically interesting? Yes. Entertaining enough to want to spend dozens of hours doing it? No.
Maybe i'm a sucker, but i need Final Fantasy-esque spell effects and 'cool shit' down the tech-tree to aspire towards. I want shielded characters to have a nice shield-effect when they get hit with a satisfying sound to it to give me the happy chemicals in my brain of having done a good job. Darkest Dungeon just doesn't get me giddy to get a certain skill. And as you start the game, you know that the visuals will not really change neither. You have to love using these mundane skills over and over.
Into The Breach
Well-crafted game, enjoyable puzzle-combat.
But it's so focused on that sole idea of getting your units in the right position and fling enemies against eachother & the environment, that it can feel like you're never working towards anything. No story to propel you forwards. No down-time to get a sense of the world. It's just an endless barrage of combat puzzles that you can do if you feel like it. Personally i prefer a game like Massive Chalice, which also has that 'bump enemies into eachother or the environment' gameplay, but offers a more rounded out package where you're progressing through a clear story, while making Crusader Kings-esque decisions. That game also has more of a power-fantasy aspect to it, where you can end up with a character that's so perfect for the enemies he's facing that you just end up winning 1v6 fights here and there, and that's fun.
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