What was the last game that surprised you?

[hikikomori]

In a non-attack way.

I start this thread because I picked up Mount & Blade: Warband in the last Steam sale on a whim and all I can say is what the hell man, where did the time go? Did not expect to enjoy it this much, thought it looked a bit like War of the Roses or Chivalry, games I kinda enjoyed but didn't quite hit the medieval sweet spot for me, but Warband is unbelievable fun.

The last game that took me by this much surprise was probably, I don't know, the first Witcher?

Anything surprised anyone lately? I'm talking about games you don't hold out that much hope for, but that subsequently blow your balls off.

 

[hikikomori]

Chivalry - Medieval Warfare suprised me. It has the best first person melee combat I've ever played, both easy to get into and extremely difficult to master. It kind of reminds me of the good old days of Street Fighter II because the moves seem straight forward but the deeper you go down the rabbit hole, the more complex they become.

Note: I've bought this game a month ago, along with Mount and Blade: Warband. While the latter is by no means a bad game, the combat is nowhere near as good as Chivalry's, there's just no comparison. When you charge with a vanguard, do a swipe and take two enemy heads, it "feels" like your sword connected. M&B doesn't have anything like that, I suppose a lot of its value lies in single player and mods.

agree fully about the combat in Chivalry. if Warband had that, it'd be unbelievable. where i prefer Warband is in the colossal, open-ended nature of the single player. different games, i suppose.

 

[hikikomori]

GTA3 and GTA Vice City - Having not played the earlier games I wasn't sure they would really click with me. However both were fantastic. The range of activities in the games was fantastic. Do the main story if you want, do the side quests, do achievements or just put the radio on and cruise around. Fantastic games that took up a lot of my time.

Batman Arkham Asylum/Arkham City - Again not a comic book fan or Batman fan. was given a steam code for Asylum and downloaded but didn't play it for over 12 months. Fired it up one day bored. Intro ran then boom I was in the game. I thought I was watching a rendered cutscene. Again fantastic games.

back when GTA was still fun. did you play San Andreas? it was an incredible pastiche of mid 90s pop culture and the cities were so varied (with countryside connecting!). i always think Vice City was the most fun, and maybe even most memorable, but SA was practically art in its scope and application. plus you could make CJ live like a glutton and have a heart attack and die, which was cool. i used to like taking over friend's saved games when they weren't around and piling on the pounds so their CJ was on the verge of death when they loaded up

 

[hikikomori]

Yep, exactly this. I thought that what is essentially a point and click zombie game would bore the ******** off of me. Instead I was taken on an emotional rollercoaster and felt genuinely invested in the characters

I really enjoyed the first season, anyone played the second? The writing was great, but I do think Telltale need to mix up the mechanics a little more, depending on how many series they decide to make. Maybe larger environments, a little less linearity? I didn't always feel like my choices mattered. Episode 2 (the farm) was INCREDIBLE!