Disco Elysium for me! Didn't understand it and thought it was weird. On the third try, it was amazing. I finally understood what it was trying to do. It was an art piece and I don't think I'll ever have that same journey again for a long while.

balatro

Witcher 3. It had me for a bit then lost interest again. But, I'm planning on trying again.

Baldur's Gate 2.

It was the game that took my CRPG virginity. However, I finished the escape from the dungeon (basically the intro) and stopped playing it for a couple of years.

Then I randomly tried it again one weekend in university while drunk and marathoned it.

Kenshi. I got it in 2013. It seemed interesing but ran so badly on my machine at the time that I gave up on it. Played it again when I got a better PC and some religious people came around to preach and hand out bibles, I put them in a skin peeler.

Baldur's Gate 3. I tried it when it was in early access and thought it was too clunky. Tried it again a few months ago, absolutely love it.

Oh it's a distant memory now, but I remember the first time I played RimWorld I bailed out again in less than an hour and didn't touch it again for at least a year

Fast forward to now and I think it's claimed 1500h of my time

Factorio. When it first came out, I played about 30 mins and I couldn't really get into it. Few months later I tried again, and now have over 3000 hours logged into it!

Arma 3 was a big reason why I built my first PC. Purchased it in alpha and fucking hated every second of it. Tried it again here and here but it just never clicked, everything was so confusing and it got worse as more dlc and mods were released...I just figured full simulations weren't my thing but was still happy to support the game. In 2022 some friends had me join them for some KotH and I finally learned the basics. Then I joined an Antistasi group, told them I was new and they taught me everything. Now I own the entire series and routinely play A2, A3, and Reforger...I literally have a 2tb ssd just for Arma because I have so many mods, like I am full blown addicted to this shit now.

Outer wilds

Slay The Spire. You never seemed to get powerful enough and the fights always whittled away my health. Much later I played Balatro and this sonehow inspired me to give it another go.

I do think some of the boss design is anti-fun though, or at least punishing you for not following the build the developers want you to. The sequel already seems to be better for letting you play it your way.

FTL the space dogfight roguelike. Took me 10 years to revisit and I've gotten more than a hundred hours in it since then

witcher 3

first time playing, i got to the bloody baron and for whatever reason i can't explain, felt like it wasn't resonating with me. went back some time later and was hooked enough to finish the main game and all DLCs.

fucking fantastic game

Monster Hunter.

There's a community saying: everyone loves Monster Hunter, they just haven't played it enough yet. It's an incredibly common experience for new Monhun players to hate it on their first or even second go around, but then eventually fall in love! It happened for me twice in fact. I played Tri on the Wii back when I was a kid, and then World on release in college, but did not get far either time. Then I tried it again a few years later and now I have played at least one monster hunter game from every generation as well as most of the spinoffs and it is my favourite series ever!

Dragon Age Origins. My third try it finally clicked, but a year after I bought it!

Slay the Spire. I hated it when it first came out on the Switch, then got the itch to try it again after watching some challenge run videos. I got it on Steam during a sale, and now I've put over a thousand hours in the game ;_;

Fallout 3. When I first played it, it bothered me that there was no weather. Stopped playing it for like 2 years. Started a new game finished it, all the side quests, and the DLCs because suddenly I was just into it.

This happened to me with three games:

• Hollow Knight
• Steamworld Heist
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

In each case the game just didn’t gel with me on the initial play, even if I could objectively tell it was a quality game.

Currently playing through Stranger of Paradise again now. I think I expected a more traditionally “Final Fantasy” game my first time through and dropped it at 10 hours. Started fresh recently and am tearing past where I was and playing it enthusiastically now, it’s a lot of fun.

I’ve played some souls-like games in the interim which helped with the general gameplay loop and control scheme. Also have upgraded hardware since my first run, which makes a big difference as the game was previously a shimmery mess full of slowdowns.

Guild Wars 2. Didn't click with it at launch, tried it again a few months ago and oh my god so much has changed in over 13 years. I'm still playing plenty of other games but it's nice to have an MMO (without monthly fees or any kind of FOMO) to come back to every couple of weeks.

I predict that Cyberpunk 2077 will become this game for me in like 3-5 years

Valheim.

The first time I tried it, I got a really terrible seed, which turned me off pretty quickly. I also went in solo and blind.

My second time around, I got a pretty decent seed.

One where the Swamps actually gave me iron for once, and the Plains and Mistlands weren't surrounding my tiny ass meadows spawning area...

I also watched a few tutorials and played with friends.

By the end, I had 1800 hours in the game and had built entire towns in vanilla mode.

I spent about twice as much time in creative/debug mode just building away.

I haven't played in a year but I can't wait to dive back in with the new North location once it releases.

Dark Souls

Eventually went back to it after beating Bloodborne.

Disco Elysium.

First go was after finally playing Planescape : Torment and I just wasn't in the mood for another text heavy game, even though it came highly recommended and had some voiceacting from some podcasters I knew about.

Then the Final Cut came out with all the professional voice acting and it was absolutely excellent.

Hollow Knight

Dwarf Fortress back in the day (I think it's more user friendly now). I just couldn't figure out how to do most things.

Then I just decided to like job it: watched some videos, took some notes -- basically did my homework, then was able to build a base and last long enough to starve. And again. Then the next time ran out of booze. Then was doing great but eventually had too many dwarfs and starved again. Then goblins. Then a big monster. And it goes on like that and that's the fun!

The Witcher 3. First couple of times it didn’t click. Now it remains one of my favorites.

Dark Souls. Bounced off it a bunch of times on PS3 and PC, then got the remaster on Switch and it got its hooks into me and never really let go.

That's me with Borderlands 2. I tried it for 15mn like 5 years ago, thought it was shit, installed it again a week ago to have another look and it's actually not bad. Repetitive, but well written (lots of puns) and constantly renewed roster of guns that make combat feel kinda new. 6.5/10

Baldurs Gate 3. When I first saw it on the Fitgirl website I thought it was boring DnD stuff. A month ago I decided to try it out and have been hooked on it like crack.

Hollow Knight

Bought it not long after it came out because I was so in awe with the visual style. Played it for some hours and thought it was fun, but it was not clicking with me as much as I thought it would. It got even worse when I got stuck in the progression. I put the game down and did not play it for a while. Fast forward 3 months and I decide to pick it up again. For some reason this time I found out where to go next and from that moment I could not stop playing it. I could not believe how vast the exploration felt. To this day it is still my favourite game of all time.

Skyrim was this for me. Took me a bunch of tries to get into it but its one of my most played games now

Factorio. I really didnt understand it when It was first released. Got to my first steam generator and quit.

Freaking love this game now, so many hours. Conveyor belts are the same as happiness.

Deadlock

Stardew valley was this game for me. I basically sped through getting married and then put the game down after maybe 20 or so hours. Then I got it on switch and have over 1.5k hours