OK, it's been 1/2 a month. Now I'm curious: games you had ZERO excitement for that took over your day-to-day.

Dark Souls

I remember hearing about it and being told it was good but I thought it would be the type of game which I don't like. First I bought it, played for a week and got so pissed at it I returned it. I'm not the kind of person who returns games ever. I didn't really like how the game didn't tell you which way to go or what to do (first 20 hours is "Ring two bells" and constantly went to areas that I shouldnt have been and being frustrated by it. I don't like feeling like I have to look up a guide to just play a game normally.

About half a year later, it was on sale for $5 so I got it again. Now I remember why I liked it the second time. I got really lucky and got the black knight ultrasword in the very beginning of the game and it was so overpowered I finished the game with it. I knew I was going to finish the game when I fought the Gaping Dragon. By that time I had a good momentum going and the feeling of scope in the game hit me. No open world game really feels as dense yet huge as Dark Souls for me. I slowly started liking the world of the game and the art style of enemies.

Idk its a weird series and I have this love/hate relationship with it and not because it's difficult. Really liked Dark Souls 3 because it was fairly straight forward and linear. Actually replayed it twice. Never finished 2, had similar problems with not knowing what to do and just running through areas confused. I'd love to play Bloodborne if I get a PS4.

Rimworld! I haven't played Overwatch in 2 weeks because of this stupid thing. It's so good! It shares a lot of DNA with Prison Architect, but I think delivers a lot deeper gameplay and dynamics between the colonists/prisoners. Even beyond visual style, you build your base in a similar way the twist being you have to go and get the stuff to make your beds, walls, clothes, etc. The personality mechanics tell lots of weird little stories like when my colonist family (+25 mood buff for relatives so +50 I think) was doing really well, then the father and daughter got an infection and died-the mother went on a fire setting spree all around my base (-50 mood debuff) and I lost control of her actions. She casually went to bed and burned to death. What a weird little thing that game can be.

I had no interest in Overwatch. Now it's my likely game of the year. (We'll see how Civilization VI turns out.)

Doom was another surprise for me this year. The bugs and lack of replayability will keep it from getting GOTY, but it's up there.

In the past? Orcs Must Die! is probably my biggest surprise. I don't even remember how I got it, but I became obsessed with that game for a couple months there. Really odd.

This has basically been my relationship with Super Mario 3DLand over the past several weeks.

I've never really been that big of a fan of platformers even Mario in general for whatever reason. I remember playing a decent amount of Super Mario 64 back when I was a kid and tried several times to get into some of the later iterations but none of them ever got their hooks into me (though I do seem to recall quite enjoying my time with Mario Sunshine which seems to get a bad rap around here for whatever reason).

But I digress. I'd heard enough about all of the fantastic RPGs and puzzle games that have been released on the 3DS in its lifetime that I couldn't help but jump on the recent Target bundle of the New 3DS when it dropped a little while ago. The fact that it came with a copy of 3D Land wasn't that important to me but hey, it was a "free" game and the price was pretty fantastic.

Anyways, I decided to fire the game up in between sessions of Fire Emblem: Awakening and the Devil Survivor 3DS rerelease and holy hell has it got me hooked. I'm not sure what it is about it but something in this game just speaks to me and has me constantly firing it up to try and find every levels star coin (not sure if that's what they're actually called but I figure it gets the point across) or getting better clear times.

Got a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Probably more that I can't remember.

Overwatch: Got it about 1-2 weeks after release on PS4 to try it out with my friend (who was shocked that I'd even get it, me not being one for competitive MP) and sunk like over 50 hours into it. Haven't played it in a bit but I'll probably fire it back up soon.

RimWorld: One of those that I never knew existed until I watched a video and then got it instantly afterwards and sunk in a bunch of hours. It's essentially Dwarf Fortress-lite and I loved DF.

Dark Souls: I had gotten it a while before Load Our Last Souls happened and never really played it, but that series interested me enough to try it for real. Three playthroughs later...I enjoyed that game immensely.

Men of War: Assault Squad (and 2): Got them during a Steam sale with some other stuff since they seemed like a alright RTS games, and ended up loving them. Manual control over any unit is awesome (tanks being my favorite), and I enjoy the ammo management and resupply stuff. 2 is basically a remake of 1 from what I can tell, which is "meh", but the Airborne DLC for 2 was and is the coolest thing I've played out of the two games. The tanker DLC is also awesome.

DOOM to a lesser extent. Never really followed it, but saw the love it was getting and decided to check it out. So I had some idea about it.

@planetfunksquad: overwatch was nowhere near my radar. even the beta left me cold. then my roommate brought it home and it slowly won me over. Now I can't stop playing. that and hearthstone. Heh.

I haven't touched WoW since Burning Crusade.

Didn't touch any promo stuff from Legion.

Saw one vid of Jesse Cox playing some Legion with Crendor. Aaaaaaand resub. I don't even know why this happened but shit man I'm really into it.

BioShock was one of these games for me. I had no idea what it was and tried the demo on Xbox 360 as I was in the stage of trying every demo. So glad I did, got the game in the store a day or two later.

Batman Arkham Asylum was pretty much the same story.

Skyrim for me, in a way. I hated this game so much at launch since it felt only slightly more interesting than Morrowind from 10 years earlier.

But recently going back and playing vanilla Skyrim (downsampled from 4k to 1080p @ 60fps) has been pretty entertaining visually and otherwise. But I've been in the mood for a silly fun slightly buggy exploration experience, so that probably helped.

I'd heard about Overwatch before release, the whole thing with it and Battleborn but I had zero interest in even trying it. I decide to download the beta, which I very rarely do, and the rest is history.

One of my favorite games of all time.

Dying Light.

Less recently Splosion Man. That game went from wtf is this that showed up on xbla, to one of my favorite games.

Also pushmo.

Also MVC3

VA-11 HALL-A. I didn't even know the game existed until release and a friend started having fun with it. Now it's one of my favorite games of the year.

Here's another post about not having much of an interest in Overwatch, buying it two weeks after release, and then putting over 200 hours in it and still playing it regularly to this day. Likely my GOTY unless Dishonored 2 is a way better game than the almost perfect Dishonored.

Minecraft. I didn't get into it during the first hype. Bought it and tried it for a few minutes and didn't really get it, it was ugly, and everyone said it was for kids. (I'm old.) Tried it again about 2 years ago and it blew my mind so hard. Still remember the first time I fell into a huge cave full of resources. Once I was used to the blockiness the game became gorgeous.

I had NO hype or interest in Stardew Valley and Overwatch leading up to their releases, but I have put over a hundred hours into both games at this point. They will be in my top three by the end of the year for sure. I love when games surprise you.

Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen on PC. A unique game even if it exists in a well-explored genre. I expected nothing from it but happily sunk in ~150hrs. It filled a void in my heart after quitting Dark Souls 3.

Bejeweled 3 is my ultimate go-to game. I've probably put more time into that than into the many long RPGs I play. I think it really is a perfect game, and I can't understand why it hasn't been ported to PS4 yet.

Diablo III is my best answer. I only started playing it earlier this year, having never played Diablos 1 or 2, and it turns out clicking on things until they die, and watching the numbers as they keep going up is pretty fun! I've put just shy of 100 hours into it, half of those in my seasonal character.

I picked up Ziggurat dirt cheap on a steam sale once and it stayed untouched for a long time. A couple of months ago I got an itch for roguelikes and finally dug it up, remembering that Jeff really liked it. And, man, that's a super fun game. I still haven't unlocked everything, but I'm not planning to leave it until I do. A perfect game to have around and make a run or two every once in a while.

Definitely Overwatch for me. I didn't have any idea what it was, right up until release day. For some reason I had thought it was a MOBA or something, which is why I never had any interest. All I knew for certain was that everyone was raving about it. So I watched a few gameplay videos and thought I would give it a try and immediately from my first match, I loved it.

Overwatch. I am TERRIBLE at FPSes, and the only thing I dislike more than them are the communities that tend to spring up AROUND them, but after a few days of listening to how amazing Overwatch was and how there were viable classes that didn't require 360 no-scope-headshots, I decided, "Okay, WHY NOT? I'll be a PART of the zeitgeist!" (I had also just made some VERY dumb purchases in RE: Revelations 2 of alternate costumes that were TRASHY AS FUCK, so I wanted a purchase I could feel good about)...and WOW, I can't remember the last time a multiplayer game got its hooks in me like Overwatch has...probably Street Fighter IV...

Honorable Mention: Furi. I picked it up on a lark cause it's PS+ Free and it's like Shadow of the Colossus meets Dark Souls. A boss rush that requires pinpoint gameplay and is PERFECT for 20-40 minutes.

Nioh alpha and beta.

I want that game. I need that game.

This happens a lot to me with games on Steam. I'll see a game that looks interesting, buy it, and get completely hooked. Factorio, Farming Simulator 15, Halcyon 6, and Big Pharma are examples of games I didn't know anything about, took a risk, and ended up playing 20+ hours in a weekend.

Great game! Very unique experience, playing that. I would have picked that as one of mine, except I actually did have high expectations for it when I bought it :)

I guess my number one pick would be the original Jagged Alliance, which I bought on a whim, and which turned out to be one of my all time favorite games.

Rainbow Six Siege - I played one round after kicking my nephew off his PS4, been hooked ever since. I play it daily, I'm awful but it's the most fun I've had on a shooter since COD4. I'd barely heard of it before playing it on his PS4, only vaguely remembering the fake teammate chatter thing Ubi did at an E3.

Going to go play it now.

Borderlands 2, I got it free with my video card and was not expecting it to be as good as it was. Still the best first shooter looter even after Destiny / The Division releases. Put 400+ hours in it on just 2 characters.

It's Overwatch for me. I don't usually play multiplayer focused games. I had my time with your Call of Duty's and Battlefields back when they mattered the most and enjoyed them for a time. I actively disliked Team Fortress and it's variants. Games like that usually leave me feeling like a burden to my team instead of me just being a burden to myself. I played a decent amount of left 4 Dead and enjoyed that game a great deal when it came out. So yeah, my relationship with multiplayer focused stuff is at best extremely mixed.

Overwatch just hit me right. The way it rewards personal accomplishments and obscures things like k/d ratios makes it feel personally satisfying. You don't have to be 'good' to find a character you think seems cool and just play enough to learn their abilities and when to use them. The learning curve feels just right. No matter what your preferred play style is there is a character for you. I have yet to feel a burden to my team as long as your trying you are contributing. Communication isn't at all necessary. The game does a good job of giving you the information you need to know what to do. Overwatch is extremely well designed and no doubt one of my favorite games of the year.