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What was your surprise hit this generation?

DJIzana said:
Honestly... I think it was honestly FFXIV ARR. I didn't expect to be so drawn into it. Actually... I kinda laughed given Square Enix's performance. Now, I'm absolutely hooked. Just wish they could get their other games on part to this level, if not more so.
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Same here. I got it at launch and was pretty damn underwhelmed. They kept trying to fix it, still to no avail. But with ARR I am having a blast. I don't even like MMOs (except XI). I never would have imagined it would have ended up as good as it did.
 
I expected to kind of like Dark Souls, but i didn't expect it to be my game of the generation.
Infact, i was almost going to cancel the pre-order at one point, because i thought hard games weren't for me after all.

Aside from that, i guess a couple of indie games like Super Meat Boy and Hotline Miami came out of the left field and took me by surprise.
 
I don't like third person shooters so It was surprising that I really liked Just Cause 2! and I guess the fact that I was able to slog through 80 percent of gta v until I lost interest was surprising as well, same with sriv.
 
Prince of Persia 2008. It was a masterpiece to me and I bought it randomly because it just turned Playstation Greatest Hits.
 
Red Faction: guerilla is really good. So fun to just run around and destroy stuff. Demons Souls was a big surprise to me. It looked like a mediocre rpg with ok graphics but I was so wrong. Probably GOTG for me.
 
This is kind of a broad question because when a game is popular or I get talked into it, I generally come into it with pretty poor expectations, thinking, "oh man, this game is totally overblown," regardless of what it is. That said, the games that really floored me by comparison to my expectations this generation:

-The Last of Us
-Crusader Kings 2
-Civilization V: Brave New World
-Shadow of the Colossus HD (never played the original)
-BioShock
 
Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Yeah I know it can hardly be called a surprising sleeper hit but right up until the reviews came out I thought it would be a lazy follow up to it's predecessor (basically SMG 1.5) instead it improved it significantly and ended SMB3's long run as my all-time favourite game.

I also agree with Rayman as I wasn't too fond of earlier games in the series.

I suppose Everybody's Golf too as I thought I was done with the genre and was tiring of sports games in general, turned out to be one of my favourite PSP games.
 
As for a game that came out of seemingly nowhere, in my frame of reference? The Witcher. STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl. The Arkham games. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 
Sleeping Dogs. Bought it around release and thought it would be interesting. After beating it, it became one of my games of the generation for sure.
 
chicagocubsfan said:
Sleeping Dogs. Bought it around release and thought it would be interesting. After beating it, it became one of my games of the generation for sure.
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Yea, I have to agree with this. I bough it on a Steam sale not expecting much and really found it to be one of the better open world games of this generation.
 
Patryn said:
Alpha Protocol.
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Yeah I rented that through gamefly in the summer of 2010, not really knowing much about it other than Obsidian made it (which is usually good enough for me) but I needed something to play in those dry months. My reaction 12-15 hours later: "This is the best RPG I've played in years, holy shit!"

Then New Vegas came out a few months later and they blew me away again. 2010 was a great year for Obsidian.
 
The DS.
Wasn't expecting it to live up to the GBA, but, it ended up being the only worthwhile system this generation.
 
Hmmm.. good question. I think Dark Souls was a shock. Really liked Heavy Rain and the type of gameplay it offered. I thought Dead Rising was really good (even if it had a few issues). the Batman games were really good as well oh... and Borderlands!
 
something fishy said:
Probably Red Dead Redemption.

I'd never liked R* stuff yet I loved it.

Demon's Souls came out nowhere for me but was a genre I love so I had a strong feeling I would like that one.
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Yup know them feels. I'd also say Binary Domain was a pleasant surprise on a story and combat quality level. Picked it up without hearing any fanfare about it well after came out and found it to be a bit of a diamond.
 
Demon's Souls. I knew next to nothing about the game going in, and I left with one of the most terrifying and wonderful experiences I've ever had. I wish I could forget the game so I could play it all over again.
 
catherine, for sure. i even played the demo when it first came out and thought it was beyond stupid.

after persona 4 golden, i was told that i should check out catherine. catherine is now in my top 5 games of the gen. it was so fucking awesome to play with friends.
 
Demon's Souls

I had never played a game like that, ever but the word of mouth made me buy it right alongside Uncharted 2 in the Fall of 2009 and I loved every moment of it. I am patiently awaiting Dark Souls 2 and hopefully a Demon's Souls sequel
 
Arkham Asylum, it came completely out of left field by a relatively unknown developer at the time who was known for like one average game on the PS2 before it.
 
Probably the Tomb Raider reboot and Sleeping Dogs.

Played TR at Eurogamer Expo and hated it, but when I sat down with the full game I really enjoyed the whole thing.
With Sleeping Dogs I was expecting a pretty janky open world action game, but that turned out to be a lot of fun as well.
 
Call of Juarez:Gunslinger

Probably my favorite FPS in recent memory - loved everything about it and assumed it would suck when announced/released
 
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Arkham Asylum

That game was not on my radar at all. Spectacular game. Right up there in my top 5 of this generation.
 
To me it's the Bit.Trip franchise. Retro styled rhythmic games with a very high difficulty? No way I'm gonna like those, right? Indeed. I didn't like them, I loved them. By the time Runner was about to be released, I had become a fan (despite not liking Core much at the time).

I was also surprised when I found myself loving the hell out of Batman: Arkham Asylum early this year, because I didn't care at all for the demo when I tried it a few years ago.
 
Dragon's Dogma. I get bored easily so it's rare for me to even beat a game. For me to beat one and keep playing is unheard of. This one I actually went for 1000/1000 and kept playing.
 
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