The best video games are those that subvert our expectations… or are they? As The Last of Us 2 recently exemplified, players aren't always happy when a developer deliberately misdirects them with its promotional material for a video game, only to tell a story that's not exactly the one that played out in our minds leading up its release.
Dialogue Options | Do spoilers and leaks affect your enjoyment of a game?
On the other hand, in the era of ever expanding marketing budgets, it's increasingly difficult for a game to genuinely surprise us, and those that do often linger in our minds long after putting them down as a result. A game can only exceed our expectations if those expectations aren't bang on the money, after all.
So, which are the games that surprised us the most, and why? More importantly, do we like going into video games blind, or would we prefer to know as much as we can before splashing $60/£40 on a new title?
For the latest episode of Dialogue Options on 12DOVE, Features Writer Alex Avard, Video Editor Ellen Causey, and News Editor Ben Tyrer sat down to talk about the games that completely unwound our preconceptions of them going in, and whether we enjoyed the experience we got instead.
Beware, the full conversation above does contain some mild spoilers for Spec Ops: The Line, Firewatch, The Last of Us Part 2, Dead Island, and… uh, Cuphead. You have been warned...
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