Inspired by the guilty pleasures thread!
In this case, we're talking about games that you actually enjoyed or even admired, while the general consensus was: this is trash.
Your positive outlook isn't something you know to be wrong in some way. This isn't about ironic enjoyment, or "I know it's bad but I get some kick out of it anyway". it's a genuine appreciation of a game that elicited the opposite response in (nearly) everyone else. This is a thread for challenging received wisdom and seeing value where it's underappreciated or even overlooked.
Maybe you see the good in a design decision that got universally panned by reviewers and consumers alike. A plot or an ending you gave a standing ovation, while others thought it was undercooked or overwrought. A game dismissed with some stock sentence like "show, don't tell!", "this leaves many plot points unresolved", something about characters being "unlikable" or the ultimate evil: pretentiousness.
Not sure if this will take off, I guess we'll see where this goes.
In this case, we're talking about games that you actually enjoyed or even admired, while the general consensus was: this is trash.
Your positive outlook isn't something you know to be wrong in some way. This isn't about ironic enjoyment, or "I know it's bad but I get some kick out of it anyway". it's a genuine appreciation of a game that elicited the opposite response in (nearly) everyone else. This is a thread for challenging received wisdom and seeing value where it's underappreciated or even overlooked.
Maybe you see the good in a design decision that got universally panned by reviewers and consumers alike. A plot or an ending you gave a standing ovation, while others thought it was undercooked or overwrought. A game dismissed with some stock sentence like "show, don't tell!", "this leaves many plot points unresolved", something about characters being "unlikable" or the ultimate evil: pretentiousness.
Not sure if this will take off, I guess we'll see where this goes.
Continuing from a different thread (What Adventure Games are you playing) for reasons I mentioned there , i consider The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge to be universally panned, but I genually enjoyed it. Not a game you can pick up easilly do to its structure though. The "negatives" for me being some repetitive puzzles here and there, a bit of a rashed ending chapter and some uneven graphics do to the usage of polygon models are only minor to my eyes
This post was last modified: Yesterday, 12:39 PM by srnickolas.
A game I often think about is Benoît Sokal's Paradise. I played it right after Syberia and I loved it. I could see it wasn't perfect, but the atmosphere, the art, the music...it was mysterious and it really hooked me. Then I read the reviews and I was surprised by how much people hated it.
Mine is Stupid Invaders, which is full of potty humor appropriate for a six-year-old, a lotta dying, and a giant maze. It was not well regarded by most, but it is still one of my top favorite games ever. I tried to die every death, and the maze turned out to be not so hard. I thought it was a comedy masterpiece (I am not a sophisticated woman) as well as a pretty solid game.
The Cassandra Galleries, which was released in 1997, is a game that didn't rate particularly well, but I really enjoyed exploring the large house and galleries to find the artifacts that took me to each historic place where I could explore some more. I enjoyed the wide variety of puzzles that had to be solved, and didn't mind the not-so-great acting on the part of some of the actors. The ending was an abrupt one and didn't resolve all of the plot points, but I still enjoyed the experience very much.
A day without books and games is like...just kidding. I have no idea.
Neither of these were poorly received games, but Lucy Dreaming and Thimbleweed Park both have endings that are often criticized and which I think are splendid.
The Curse of Monkey Island is the best Monkey Island by a huge margin.
Tales Of Monkey Island is a worthy entry in the series and should not be excluded or asteriskicized in any way.
Return of the Phantom's voice acting is perfect. If not for the darn maze, it'd be a completely top-notch narrative adventure game.
Full Throttle is the perfect length.
Torin's Passage is the best game Al Lowe ever made, by a huge margin, and one of the best Sierra games altogether.
King’s Quest V might have been bologna in 1990, but in 2026 would you really prefer to have it any other way?
The Curse of Monkey Island is the best Monkey Island by a huge margin.
Tales Of Monkey Island is a worthy entry in the series and should not be excluded or asteriskicized in any way.
Return of the Phantom's voice acting is perfect. If not for the darn maze, it'd be a completely top-notch narrative adventure game.
Full Throttle is the perfect length.
Torin's Passage is the best game Al Lowe ever made, by a huge margin, and one of the best Sierra games altogether.
King’s Quest V might have been bologna in 1990, but in 2026 would you really prefer to have it any other way?
This post was last modified: 10 hours ago by Baron Blubba.
Nothing on a "whole game" level but some specific unpopular takes a la Baron Blubba:
Telling Lies is better than Her Story. In part because Alexandra Shipp gives one of the best video game performances of all-time.
Dreamfall Chapters is the best game in the TLJ series, because despite the lack of puzzles, the story is incredibly moving, funny, and a perfect resolution to all the dangling plot threads from the first two games. Also, it stars Charlotte Ritchie from Ghosts (UK).
Sorcerer is the best game in the Enchanter Infocom series. Steve Meretzky brings the humor the other two games lack and so many fewer walking dead situations.
Space Quest II is way funnier than all the other Space Quest games combined. Being kissed by the alien would be near the top of my hypothetical list of adventure game deaths.
And apologies to the charming Paul Morgan Stetler, but Ragna Sigrun carries Phantasmagoria 2.
Telling Lies is better than Her Story. In part because Alexandra Shipp gives one of the best video game performances of all-time.
Dreamfall Chapters is the best game in the TLJ series, because despite the lack of puzzles, the story is incredibly moving, funny, and a perfect resolution to all the dangling plot threads from the first two games. Also, it stars Charlotte Ritchie from Ghosts (UK).
Sorcerer is the best game in the Enchanter Infocom series. Steve Meretzky brings the humor the other two games lack and so many fewer walking dead situations.
Space Quest II is way funnier than all the other Space Quest games combined. Being kissed by the alien would be near the top of my hypothetical list of adventure game deaths.
And apologies to the charming Paul Morgan Stetler, but Ragna Sigrun carries Phantasmagoria 2.