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[sn00zer]

What games have you been playing/played that you would consider "a pleasant surprise". not games that were "OMG I HAD NO IDEA THIS GAME WAS SO FUCKING AMAZING" ala Arkham, more like "hey that was pretty fun, wasnt expecting that". Trying to get people to post games that are pretty good, but dont get the limelight.

Toki Tori 2 Plus was on of thos games I picked up in a bundle a while back and didnt realize I had even bought. I remember some murmurs a while back about it, so I installed it on my current crappy laptop with a busted keyboard. Turned out to be one heck of a fun little game. Takes simple two action premise (whistling and butt stomping) and uses these actions to there absolute limit, surprisingly large game as well with multiple paths that take you to vastly different areas, all the while with incredibly unique and clever puzzles. Game is super cute to boot.

Joe Danger takes everything I love about physics based puzzlers and trials game, but removes everything frustrating about them. Really quick levels that take around 2min to complete with multiple objectives that require vastly different ways of playing the level. Just a very fun and difficult, but not wholly frustrating game. Anything that fucks up is your fault and you never feel cheated. Add in 10 costumes and some insane amount of levels (gotta be near 100) and you got yourself one hell of a good pick up and play game.

 

[Stimpack]

Honestly, this is such a rarity for me that I can't think of the last game I played that genuinely surprised me. Actually, it was probably Dragon's Dogma. It's one of the few games that ended up surpassing my expectations, and my expectations weren't depressingly low!

I'm really hoping Shadow of Mordor ends up being one of these games. I had absolutely no expectations when they showed that first trailer, but now I'm quite excited! Hopefully it holds up.

*edit* Oh, I'm sorry, I feel like Dragon's Dogma definitely doesn't fit with what you were asking for. In terms of a toned-down "pleasant surprise", as you put it, maybe NEO Scavenger fits the bill.

 

[jacobeid]

Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Edit: errrrr missed that in the OP. New answer is Enslaved, but I think that most of GAF has either heard of or played it by now.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Wet is one I picked up recently after I saw someone mention it briefly here - forgot that I intended to buy it ages ago.

It was surprisingly awesome. Rough around the edges, sure, but still a ton of fun to play.

The Saboteur also surprised me at the time with how much fun it was.

 

[UnlovedJew]

I thought Don't Starve was this at the start of the year with PS Plus. I was just excited to get my hands on a new free game, even if it was something that normally isn't my cup of tea (since I'm not too into the crafting genre).

The art style, randomly generated worlds, and the whole learn from experience thing really got me. I played it for a solid few weeks straight and loved every second.

Now, if only unlocking the last two unlockable characters was less impossible...

 

[Hatchtag]

Thomas Was Alone. Was expecting yet another overly-pretentious indie puzzle platformer that forgot the platformer part. Instead, it controls smooth as butter, was fun to play, and felt fairly clever.

 

[tesqui]

Lovely Planet is one of my favorite games this year and zero people are talking about it. At first I thought it was some dumb half-assed fps game with katamari graphics, but i sure was wrong.

It's really an awesome game if you love twitch based shooters + speedrun/ time trials type games.

Oh and the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD too.

Here's an idea of how intense this game can really gets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHOLTlFcBx8

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

 

[maomaoIYP]

Alpha Protocol - bought it based on recommendations from Gaffers, was pleasantly surprised about the quality of the role playing.
Ninja Blade - got a review copy, wasn't expecting much, but I loved the over the top action stuff.
Resident Evil 6 - held off buying a copy after playing the demo, but I won a copy in a competition and it ended up being one of my favorite games in a long time.

 

[Data West]

Hello Kitty no Hanabatake - Famicom game. The goal is to water all the pots in the room without getting hit by enemies which requires some platforming. You can hit the enemies with a hammer, but they're only down for a while and the pots take a good bit of time to water, so you can't get a full growth in one enemy stun, for example.

 

[Paskil]

Even though I had a PSP from almost the start of its Western existence, I never played Lumines/2. I picked up Lumines Electronic Symphony at Vita launch and was ridiculously surprised. It it my most played Vita game and I dropped at least 200 hours into it. Just a blast to sit and play for an hour and a half at a stretch.

Headphones are required.

 

[MSMrRound]

I heard Valkyria Chronicles was good, but I didn't know how amazing it is.

SEGA used the amazing CANVAS engine for its watercolor look, and to date, no other game have already quite captured its unique mix of turn-based SPRG goodness and 3rd person shooter actions.

 

[The Lamp]

Deadpool.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Xmen Origins Wolverine thread?

Xmen Origins Wolverine thread.

Yeah it was a God of War knock off but it was still fun as all fuck and played amazingly well. I rented it to whore gamerscore and wound up loving it.

 

[mstevens]

Resogun. Not my type of game at all (or wasn't at the time.. I may have been converted). I absolutely love it.

 

[TGMIII]

Lovely Planet is one of my favorite games this year and zero people are talking about it.

It's really an awesome game if you love twitch based shooters + speedrun/ time trials type games.

Oh and the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD too.

Here's an idea of how intense this game really gets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHOLTlFcBx8

Was literally about to post this.

Lovely planet has that "one more try" element to it, that just keeps you coming back. There's no part of the game that holds you back, it's just pure input between you and the game which opens up your imagination for how to optimize times on each level. Add on top of that a visual style that's easy on the eyes, an upbeat soundtrack and you've got one of the best releases of this year. Easily an uncovered gem.

 

[SaintMadeOfPlaster]

This game fits the criteria I think. It's a pretty simple puzzle game, but the humor kept me entertained throughout. It feels a lot like Tim Schafer.

 

[killatopak]

NieR. Came without expectations and leave with an amazing and unforgettable experience.

Valkyria Chronicles. Bought it for the art, loved it for the battle system.

Valkyrie Profile 2. Bought because I really love Norse mythology. Freakin amazing gameplay.

I heard Valkyria Chronicles was good, but I didn't know how amazing it is.

SEGA used the amazing CANAS engine for its watercolor look, and to date, no other game have already quite captured its unique mix of turn-based SPRG goodness and 3rd person shooter actions.

It's CANVAS engine my friend and I love it lots.

 

[GenericBadGuy]

This turned out to be a very enjoyable little experience.

 

[anderedna]

Gravity Rush. I got the game from IGC for months without bothering to download it. Somehow one day, out of boredom, I downloaded it and played it. I can't put it down for days.

 

[QuixoticNeutral]

This is what I came in here to say. It ranks second on my logged playtime out of any game on Steam (the first involves Sid Meier) and, as with the Firaxis library, these days I have to actively stop myself from launching it because every time I do, I know I'm in for a commitment of dozens of hours where I'll constantly be working towards an incremental self-defined goal—and should I fail, I'll want to hop right back in. I mastered the original release to the point of consistently hitting a steady state where I effectively couldn't die, but the Reign of Giants expansion was tuned to make this considerably more difficult and always keep you on your toes. Since the expansion I haven't put in quite as much time with the game, as I like building huge self-sustaining economies as I did in the original release (I still have unfinished save files sitting at hundreds of days), and now it's much less viable. A completely absorbing game where the pleasure is in making the jump from survival action-RPG to economic city sim, and one that came out of nowhere to be one of my favourites in 2013.

 

[Teremap]

I suppose Banished fits this bill for me.

I read the RPS "Wot I Think" about this and it gave the impression of a punishingly difficult, almost masochistic survival game.

As it turns out, once you understand the basics of how the game operates, it's actually a fairly relaxing city builder with a side order of survival. If you don't plan things out ahead or just get hit by a particularly bad disaster, things can (and will) go horribly wrong with death counts in the hundreds, but there's a lot you can do to mitigate the damage that occurs from such scenarios. The hardest part of the game is figuring out how to get past that first winter, but once you've gotten past that, it's usually smooth sailing from there. Usually.

It's also really impressively built considering the development team consists of 1 guy.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Velocity 2X for me, as of recently. I picked the game up last week and am just about to finish the last level. It's a pleasant surprise for me at least because I'm not a huge fan of platformers. Maybe I'm playing the wrong games, but too often I find myself stuck in a mix of bored and angry. They have just never been " my" kind of game. Similarly, with shmups, I usually am terrible at them and give up pretty quickly.

Velocity 2X surprised me by combining two genres perfectly, making it accessible (never have I been angry at the game) and making it very satisfactory. Getting through a level? Easy. Getting a perfect? Not so easy, but so, so, so satisfying. I'm not usually one to go back and perfect missions, but I think I will with 2X.

 

[BenHargrove]

PvZ: Garden Warfare was surprisingly fun. I bought it the same day I got Diablo III UEE, and I played PvZ more. Actually went on to platinum the game and enjoyed every second of it.

 

[bobawesome]

Joe Danger Infinity on the iPad sorta blew me away. I've played a lot of great games on there such as Ghost Trick and The World Ends With You but the price-to-fun ratio was insane for Joe Danger.

It's a shame that I haven't had the same fun with other versions of the earlier games.

 

[vypek]

PvZ: Garden Warfare was surprisingly fun. I bought it the same day I got Diablo III UEE, and I played PvZ more. Actually went on to platinum the game and enjoyed every second of it.

Garden Warfare is amazing. Honesty a 9/10 for me. really awesome game

 

[Canon]

Legacy of Goku 2. Nobody expected it to be good after a shit original (but I loved it anyway as a Dragonball fan), but the sequel was legit good.

 

[Corpekata]

Mark of the Ninja. Klei's Shank series was okay but a bit bland. The idea of a stealth 2d game from the them at the time did not instill me with much hope (was basically expecting Shank 3 with a ninja skin). Turned out to be one of the best games of the year.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

 

[Vecks]

Go Home Dinosaurs. A nice, simple, colorful tower defense. I don't really play that many tower defense games, but it was fun enough to hold my interest.

 

[Tetra-9]

Stick It to the Man.

I havent been fully saught up on my PS+ offerings and decided to play this and Roax Not Taken the other night. I never made it to the latter because I finished the former in one sitting. Or rather a few sittings since I was a bit I'll that night, so I guess after starting the game I finished it in one night, its great.

 

[Ahzrei]

Valkyrie Profile 2. Bought because I really love Norse mythology. Freakin amazing gameplay.

NameBro started this game, and now I'm going to have to pick up a copy. Especially since that

Spoiler

awesome dude

can't seem to finish a game.







For me, it was Proteus. I picked it up just to see what all the fuss and hate was about, but ended up really enjoying relaxing with it for a while.

 

[SnowTeeth]

XCOM: The Bureau and Alpha Protocol are fun games considering the negativity surrounding them.

The Bureau is a stunning looking game and I'm enjoying the shooting and team order mechanics enough to wish there was a sequel.

I've just started Alpha Protocol (with some .ini fine tuning) and it's a surprisingly solid game. Loving the dialogue system.

 

[Breakage]

Sleepings Dogs. It was easily the most enjoyable open world game I played last gen.

 

[EmptySpace]

pursuit force games on the psp.


highly entertaining, highly addictive.

 

[NZNova]

Another Code: R was a very pleasant surprise for me. What a nice game.

 

[CJCW]

I knew almost nothing about Mutant Mudds when I got it with PS Plus a few months back. I ended up getting 100% on it in about a week of starting it. It's one of the best pure platformers I've played in a while. Also, though the OP says not to talk about surprisingly awesome games, I should mention that I went into the recent Tomb Raider with basically zero hype and it ended up being one of my favorite games last year.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Destiny

 

[CaptainSlow]

The first Forza Horizon.

Had little to zero expectations about a non-numbered Forza game, especially one with a "story" but gawd damn that game blew me away.

 

[sn00zer]

I knew almost nothing about Mutant Mudds when I got it with PS Plus a few months back. I ended up getting 100% on it in about a week of starting it. It's one of the best pure platformers I've played in a while. Also, though the OP says not to talk about surprisingly awesome games, I should mention that I went into the recent Tomb Raider with basically zero hype and it ended up being one of my favorite games last year.

2/3rds of Mutant mudds is horrible slow, and genuinely boring...but those bonus levels are insanely well done and fun...I think I wouldve liked the game more with a stronger art style

 

[Flunkie]

Dragon's Dogma

 

[Dart]

Definitely a pleasant surprise, eagerly anticipating the sequel this Halloween!

 

[Booshka]

 

[Myriadis]

Legend of Kay
Expected a simple low-budget game yet discovered a good Zelda clone with a nice score mechanic and levels loaded with secret paths.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Going to go ahead and throw Xenosaga under the bus for this one. Episode 1 kept me fairly interested once I started it up about half a year after I bought it and then getting near the end of Episode 2 I just could not feel it anymore. It wasn't till Episode 3 came out that I felt the need to finish 2 and was like "wtf why didn't I finish this earlier?" since the end of 2 was actually pretty good compared to most of the game. Episode 3 however blew me away as far as story went and it made me appreciate the series so much that it became my favorite series.

I was surprised that 3 ended up being as good as it was after the "wtf was this?" that happened with 2.

 

[Kevtones]

Color Zen on WiiU


If you like

a) Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin
b) decompressing


Amazing $4 title.

 

[HeeHo]

Recently? Rogue Legacy. I even liked it so much to platinum it. Really easy to pick up and play.

Honorable mention for Watch_Dogs. I've been slowly playing through it but it's been good times.

 

[sn00zer]

This is a weird one as its not really a game but th 358/2 Days movie in KH1.5HD was surprisingly entertaining

 

[Hambodias]

I just remember getting it as a birthday gift from an aunt. I was only like 11 or 12 I can't really remember. It was before I really knew anything about gaming, so I didn't know what to expect ended up being my 2nd favorite games on the GBA, behind pokemon sapphire.

I really wish I was smarter when I was younger and didn't sell my consoles, because I'd really love to play it right now. Nintendo should add it to Wii U VC.

 

[Sushi Nao]

I saw Rogue Legacy mentioned, and it perfectly fits OP's theme, for me. Had zero idea before seeing a quick look, and now I'm considering double dipping.