What is the most surprisingly good game of this gen?

I would go with Killer Instinct. I don't consider it a technical fighter as much as just a fun beat em up fighter. I see the game's faults, but I enjoy it. What about you, SW? What is your choice?

Definitely Aaru's Awakening.

While games like Contrast, Shadow of Mordor, The Order, etc. all ended up being better than I expected, Aaru's Awakening is one of my favorite platformers of all time, and its cold reception because of its control scheme luckily did nothing to deter me from trying it, and then loving it.

Rocket League, in the sense that I wasn't expecting a game where you play soccer with cars to be one of the best games of the generation.

Rocket League. It's my favorite game of this gen.

Rocket League and Hell divers.

The way lems were downplaying it I guess you can say Uncharted 4 being AAAAE was a surprise to some.

Rocket League I guess since I still play it pretty regularly. I feel like no one really knew about it before it came out though, so people weren't exactly expecting it to be bad.

otherwise, Dark Souls 3. I was pretty burnt out on these games after DS2 and Bloodborne and this ended up being my favorite of the bunch.

Shit answer

Splatoon and Doom were some surprises for me.

@with_teeth26: Im not sure why people wouldnt have heard of it, Gamespot and other sites have been writing articles about it every couple days since it demoed.

Rocket league, I didn't expect it to be my game of the year

Doom, Endless Legend, Cities: Skylines and Grey Goo.

Rocket League. My most played game this gen.

Don't even remember what I bought this gen.

You know, I paid a shitload of money for Dead or Alive: Xtreme 3. **** you, Belgium. No wonder nobody wants to work anymore.

Mad Max. Sure it was mixed received by critics but players seems to like it and for a movie game that i thought it will lost in mediocrity it was a pleasant surprise

Killer Instinct is awesome. The Division turned out pretty good. Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza 6 & FH2, Rocket League, Ori and the Blind forest. All turned out to be great games.

Splatoon was a awesome surprise. Second for me goes to Child of Light. It was a great old school rpg with a awesome art style. That one really caught me by surprise.

Splatoon, Rocket League and Return to Popolocrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale. All unexpectedly delicious.

No one has said Doom?

@blackace: @SolidGame_basic:

Is Killer Instinct Xone better than the SNES version?

@PSP107: No.

Rocket League and Life is Strange

Alien Isolation, with the latest license batch Sega procured all seeming doomed, starting with AVP3, then Aliens: Colonial Marines, and then the cancelled Aliens RPG by Obsidian, all hope seemed lost. Hell, even when hearing of an Alien game being developed by people who make PC top down RTS titles seemed a bit iffy but I was so surprised that such an exceptional game came out in the end. It was a love letter to the Alien(s) franchise and the game fans have been waiting for for years. Though, I was a bit shocked how some people still weren't as pleased as I was with this game, still thumbed their noses at it. Sheesh. Well, I'm thoroughly satisfied, and I guess that's all that should matter.

Yeah, that was a good one. I remember thinking I'd be lucky if either the game or the movie turned out to be good, I'd of never guessed both would far exceed my expectations. I loved both. Great year for the franchise/license. And in the end I'd of though it would have been Just Cause 3 that was the sure thing and Mad Max that was iffy. Funny how things work out.

I wasn't super optimistic about it, but I wasn't doubtful about it like people were before its launch like saying "durr, COD, durr... Unreal Tournament better, durrr... play Quake instead, durrr". I mean, I wasn't going to fall into that negativity before it released and I realized it was trying to be a retro shooter and wasn't going to fall for such "it's casualized" bullshit. Still, even that being said, I was still taken by surprise by how fun it was. I mean, strangely it seemed like only Shadow Warrior was getting all the pretentious praise for doing this retro shooter thing but Doom wasn't getting the least bit of recognition for it. Hmm, Shadow Warrior, there's another nice pleasant surprise too. But, I digress... in hindsight, Doom shouldn't have been a surprise; after all, we got that Doom E3 gameplay presentation and that seemed to be pretty spot on, maybe just a small bit altered for the E3 presentation but a good representation of what was to come.

Rocket League and Overwatch. Two games that were completely off my radar but have me completely hooked.

Just pure no bullshit fun.

Honorable mention: Dark Souls 3. It's my first souls game and has me wondering why I waited so long to jump in.

Wolfenstein

There were a few surprises for me. DA Inquisition was much better than I expected after DA2. Shadows of Mordor I thought I would hate and really liked that too. Good call above for Wolfenstein New Order, a really good game with a great atmosphere and excellent gunplay. FO4 was better than expected too. So yeah I suppose AAA titles that I thought would be average at best were the big surprises so far for me this gen.

Easily Rocket League.

At least two people did. What's wrong with you?

Probably Doom 4 - after Rage, the clear console focus, the shitty mp, modern gaming in general - it was difficult to have anything but a negative impression.

Wolfenstein, DOOM, Rocket League, Alien Isolation (Seriously, a good alien game? Nobody expected that). Splatoon, too, considering how much flak it got for its content model.

Doom for me. Its a reinvention of the faster paced hardcore shooter that had been lost. Early impressions were not good and expectations were not high for Bethesda or ID but they pulled it out of the bag.

I didn't expect Doom or Shovel Knight to be nearly as good as they turned out.

Rocket League. I wasn't even going to get it. Tried it free on PS+ and its probably my most played game this gen.

Doom

Stardew Valley (one man show all the way through including soundtrack, million over sales)

Rocket League (soccer plus race cars, why it took till 2015 before it became a game is a mystery)

Overwa....bah come on, its Blizzard, everyone can see it years before that its going to be BLIZZARD! good.

Doom

Well, when you pitch it, it sounds fucking stupid.

Gotta thumb up the Alien Isolation.

There's just so much that could've gone wrong with it, it's almost a miracle it turned out good.

It didn't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_Acrobatic_Rocket-Powered_Battle-Cars

Rocket League. F*ck soccer but this game was great

Divinity Original Sin - My first play of it wasn't the best experience because I didn't know what I was doing and had no idea about combination of elements. I felt like it was hard for a novice like me, but my 2nd attempt and I loved it.

Shadow of Morodor - I thought it was going to be boring since it played similar to Assassin's Creed, but I enjoyed the s*** out of fighting 20+ Orcs at once. Also loved encountering Captains and Warchiefs with the dialogue they had everytime, and you dying they grew stronger.

Black Ops 3 - For a yearly game that comes out and just seems washed out, I'm really enjoying this game especially trying to get diamond camo on all my guns. I think if I didn't do the challenges in the game, I would've quit awhile ago.

well recently i'm finding homefront the revolution to be a hell of alot better than what most folks are saying, jim sterlings ignorant ass for example. i'm loving it actually.

Splatoon for me. It's too much fun playing it. Amazing how much charm and spirit is in there.

The fact I'm still catching up on last-gen games and have barely played anything from this gen, good or otherwise, makes it hard for me to come up with an answer.

Its one of mine. Along with Sunset Overdrive, Ori.

I had low expectations for Sunset Overdrive, but it turned out to be one of the best games I've played this gen.

I'll go with Splatoon. Never expected to like it as much as I did.

Shadow of Mordor was absolute shit, on the other hand. That year's GotY award was such a joke.

Assassin's Creed: Mordor is a great game pitch, and a great game it was! Not sure why they renamed Wargs and Trolls to be Carragours and Graugs, mind.

The Nemesis system is one of the few "next gen" things I've felt this gen...

(Old [But not oldest]) Top Gear proved the concept ages ago!

Maybe it's because I played it two years after the fact, but I found it poor, shoddy, and absolutely uncompelling. Nothing about it stands out, it has all the excess of Assassin's Creed, and also all the egregious flaws- without anything that actually stands out to make it better. Nemesis system is fine, but a singular gimmick like that can't carry an entire game on its own.