- [Falcon] Some games fly
in the face of convention and just defy all expectation. Hi folks, it's Falcon,
and today on Gameranx, 10 games that proved everyone wrong. Starting off with number
10, it's Baldur's Gate 3. Fans of Larian's previous games like Divinity: Original Sin II knew that Baldur's Gate
3 was going to be good, but I don't think anyone
predicted just how big a success this game was going to end up being. It's a niche PC RPG. I'm not sure where the
number stands right now, but on Steam alone,
people estimate this game sold over 10 million
copies since its release back in August, well above
any reasonable expectations for a game of this type. Everyone underestimated
it including Phil Spencer, the Microsoft's big guy, who called it a second-run
Stadia PC RPG in a leaked email discussing potential
Game Pass partnerships. In Microsoft's estimation, this was not even a blip on the radar, and it's easy to call
Phil's assessment clueless after the fact, but I
don't think anybody knew. Before Baldur's Gate 3,
people assumed PC RPGs just didn't sell like this. Turns out all the genre really needed was some Triple-A production values, an intriguing cast of characters, and about three years of early access to iron out a bunch of rough edges. There's a lot more to
it than that, of course. There's extremely positive word-of-mouth along with the game's
Steam-friendly format that really helped bolster sales, but even Larian themselves
absolutely did not expect this kind of success. They projected something like 100,000 concurrent players when the game came out, and
the number was actually closer to 875,000 according to SteamDB. Clearly, they knew they had
something good on their hands, but even they underestimated it by a lot. - Damn, the man knows what he wants. First one's on the house. So don't come bawling to me
if your big toes fall off or your tongue coils in a knot. - [Falcon] At number nine is Doom 2016. In hindsight, very easy to call
Doom 2016's success obvious, but back when it came out, the game's quality wasn't just assumed. Remember, it was a game that had been in
development hell since 2008 and during previews, it had
been called Call of Doom multiple times derisively so. It wasn't just a reboot, like it had had its development
rebooted several times. Leading up to release, previews were really skeptical about it. Nobody's quite sure what to make of it and a lot of the failure of
the pre-release marketing, it goes to Bethesda. For whatever reason, they decided, "Ah, why show anything from the campaign? We shall show the multiplayer mode and the crappy SnapMap
feature, where you could make like really primitive, not
particularly enjoyable maps and share them with friends." All that and no advanced review copies, this all left everybody
with the assumption Bethesda didn't have
high hopes for the game, and everyone just assumed the worst. Of course, we now know the
game was actually awesome, had an incredible campaign that felt like a huge breath of
fresh air after years of Call of Duty style shooters
clogging up the market. Nothing against Call of Duty, it's just insert "Attack
of the Clones" joke here. Ironically, the parts of the game Bethesda tried to sell the
most, the multiplayer portion, never really got that much attention. It was single player
that got all the praise and for good reason. I don't know what the
hell Bethesda was thinking if they really expected the
game not to review well, or I don't know. All anyone could do was assume the worst. So when the game came out and was great, it was a huge relief for Doom fans and everyone who loves
old-school shooters. Though, it was a pretty
substantial update to the formula. At number eight is Nioh. In 2017, Nioh developer, Ninja Team, wasn't doing that hot. The Dead or Alive franchise
is still raking in cash from overpriced seasonal costume bundles, and that's probably the
nicest way to say it. Yes, it was definitely the
prices that were very big and bouncy, and that
was keeping them afloat 'cause the prices were very buoyant. This joke works on multiple levels. Anyway, their action game credentials were at an all time low. Ninja Gaiden 3, total disgrace. Spinoff, Ninja Gaiden
Z wasn't made by them, but it was based off their
most famous property, and somehow it was even worse. They needed a hit, and Nioh proved to be the shot in the
arm Koei Tecmo needed. It ended up being the bestselling game in the company's North American branch, beating up both Ninja
Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and they didn't even
have to rely on boobs. On top of that, Nioh had
actually been in development hell for more than a decade. The original version of
Nioh had started development back in 2004, and it
was supposed to come out in summer 2006 on PlayStation 3. It wasn't until 2010 that Team
Ninja took over the project and slowly shifted development. They're making it more like a Souls-like. (thrilling music) And it took about seven years for the game to find its footing. That's a long development cycle. Usually when a game is made
for that long, it sucks. Like look at Duke Nukem Forever,
but somehow Nioh managed to exceed everyone's expectations. Now with the formula properly established, Team Ninja has gone on to make
multiple games in that style, and it works really good for them. At this point, their
reputation for quality games has been established,
so they do that on top of making tons of money
off big bouncy boobs. It's really a best of
both worlds situation. But the thing about Nioh, no one really thought
it could be very good. Before it was out, we all knew the story. We knew it was a development hell game, and then the demo came out and changed a lot of
people's expectations. It's actually what sold me on the game. Now, the game has its flaws. People are still complaining
about the inventory system, but the positives outweigh it so much, and the massive sales numbers that no one expected reflect that. At number seven is Alien: Isolation. This might seem out of place with how much consistent
praise this game gets nowadays, but before release,
there was actually a lot of skepticism around this game. And even after it came out, it got some pretty mediocre
reviews from certain outlets. People wanted a good alien
game after the disaster that was Alien: Colonial Marines. But because that game turned out so bad, a lot of people went in
with their guards up. No one wanted to be the one that's saying the praises of Colonial Marines. Keep in mind, this is a fairly unique game from a developer with basically
zero horror game experience. It was made by Creative
Assembly, the Total War guys, not exactly the people you think
of when it comes to horror. I mean it's not to say it got all bad reviews when it came out. Most of 'em were pretty positive. Many of 'em, extremely positive. And over the years, the game's
reputation's only improved as people have come to accept and embrace the unique vision of this game. The alien AI was revolutionary
at the time, again, especially in contrast to
Aliens: Colonial Marines. (alien shrieking) And now even almost a decade later, it's still pretty impressive, something that really hasn't been matched in terms of feel, I don't know, in terms of technical prowess. I'm sure somebody's come
up with something better, but implementation matters a lot, and Alien: Isolation really nails it. It can be a punishing game,
but that sort of gameplay is seen as a positive by a lot of people rather than a negative. Although, when it first came out, it kind of was looked at as a negative. A lot of people assume
this would fall victim to the licensed game curse, but it ended up being
one of the good ones. At number six is No Man's Sky, a game that's a little different
because in most respects, the negative reactions came after the game came
out rather than before. I mean, it kinda proved
people wrong more than once. Stay with me on this one. Everybody thought this game
was gonna be frigging amazing. The game was really overly hyped. The devs led people to believe the game could be much, much more than it was. And so when it was really bare bones and it came out, people really pissed off. They were proven wrong. Oh, wow, we thought this
was gonna be a lot more. We're wrong about that. The game was review-bombed on Steam, got a lot of middling
reviews by press outlets. It was even accused of false advertising in a lawsuit that was dropped. They were cleared of that, but it didn't take the stigma away. Now, most developers would've
taken the money and run, but Hello Games just stuck
to their original plan. If you've ever like watched
the story behind this game, there's so much crap that
went down in the background, and it makes total sense they
weren't able to ship the game that they wanted to. But they brought in an
absolute ton of money and were like, "You know what? Let's make this into the
game we wanted it to be." And they did just that
and kept updating the game for free for years. Every single update is free. They're entirely dependent
on new game sales, and that's kept the company
making tons of money. Why, 'cause the updates
make the game better and better and better. It's probably better than the thing they originally hyped
it to be at this point. I don't know, maybe that's a bold claim. But again, no one expected that to happen, and everyone was proven wrong. (dramatic music) When this game first came out, they were calling it a scam, unironically. That's how bad their reputation was. It's pretty remarkable
how much they've managed to turn public opinion around. At number five is Sonic Frontiers. Expectations for Sonic
Frontiers were rock bottom. Other than Sonic Mania, which was not by the main development
team at Sega, by 2022, Sonic was in dire straits. The previous Sonic game was Sonic Forces. It was unimpressive. Not the worst thing ever made, but it wasn't good. I was pretty fair to it if you go back to our "Before You Buy" on it. It's a game that's got
elements of what really works with Sonic and a bunch
of stuff that doesn't, and none of it lasts
long enough to matter. Prior to that, there was
Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Lost World,
and those were not games that blew anyone's mind. Most people, by this time, were like, "You know what, Sonic doesn't work in 3D." So a Sonic open-world game at the time, it seemed like they could barely make a regular side-scroller
without screwing it up so how are they gonna do this? Early previews didn't inspire a lot of confidence about it either. They made it look janky and frustrating. Everyone assumed this is
gonna be a flop pre-release, everyone except your boy, Falcon. Go back to my video
about how Sonic Frontiers was gonna be good. Go back to it. Oh, it's aged well. It proved everyone else wrong though. Everybody assumed it was gonna be a flop. And then new impressions
started coming out. They were a lot more positive. And then the game finally got released, and it got pretty good review scores. Not incredible ones, but
better than anyone expected. And everyone was like, "Wait a second. Look, if it worked for all
of these skeptics of Sonic, even on a mild level, I gotta try," and people ended up
really liking this game. And it's gotten a ton
of support after release including a lotta great physics updates. And yeah, the game does have its problems, particularly when it comes to visuals, and particularly uncertain hardware, but they finally basically
figured out Sonic. In fact, that's what I
said in my video about it. It looks like they might
have figured out 3D Sonic. (wind whooshing) (bells dinging) This game ended up being the
best-selling 3D Sonic game of all time, and that's saying a lot. Sonic Frontiers 2 is gonna get the Triple-A big budget
treatment, and I cannot wait. I haven't said anything about it, but still, I can't wait. Like with all of the feedback
that Sonic Frontiers got, how much people loved all these
certain elements about it, and the things that didn't
work, they didn't actually hate, but it's really obvious what didn't work. Oh, Sonic Frontiers 2 is gonna be good. I mean, unless, Sonic team, you know, decides to go
back to their old ways. I don't think they're gonna. Look at Sonic Superstars. It looks like they figured
out, "Hey, you know what? If we do what people
want, they'll like it." I hope it doesn't go too
far in that direction. The pendulum can go too far
in that direction, but still. At number four is Dead Island 2. Everything about this game
pre-release screams flop. It was in development hell for years. It was passed around
by multiple developers. The studio that ended up
finishing it was unproven, and that's putting it pretty mildly here. Then the game came out in April of 2023. And although everyone's
expectations were very low, it exceeded them like it was nothing. The game, it wasn't a
revelation or anything, but it was a really solid experience that a lotta zombie game fans preferred over the much more big and
ambitious Dying Light 2. Dambuster is the developer,
who finally put it over the finish line. And if you know that name, you know why people were concerned. They were the people that made
Homefront: The Revolution, the absolute disaster of a game that may have had some decent visuals, but the performance was just
unacceptable on consoles, and it never felt good to play. Dead Island 2 is the polar opposite. It's smooth, looks great, bug-free. Clearly, lessons were
learned by Homefront, which is, I mean that's saying a lot in modern game development. Let's just say it's not
something you can say about every game dev out there. Sales ended up being much better than
the publisher projected. So when the game was
an all-around success, which isn't something you can
say about games like this, everybody was like, "Hell yeah, okay." Usually, when a game's
in development hell, you get something like,
like I said earlier, Duke Nukem Forever. It's rare when the game
comes out the other side like a Dead Island 2. It's not the most ambitious game. No, but it's really solid. And holy hell are there not
enough just solid games. So many games are put
out in a state nowadays, to say the least. Also, there's so many 100-plus
hour open-world games. Sometimes something more focused is just really, really refreshing. At number three is Mad Max, another game with a long
development history, another game that we
completely called it on. It's not exactly perfect,
but everybody assumed this would be some kind
of forgettable shovelwear, and man, was it interesting. This is another one
where you had to listen to old Falcon on it to get it right, okay? Go back to my "Before You Buy." Once again, keep in mind we were a much less
refined outlet at the time. I think I've gotten a lot
better at this job with age, but I was still right. Was developed by the American
branch of Avalanche Studios, the guys behind the Just Cause games, and a lot of people assume this
is gonna be a quick cash in. It was released a few months before the much anticipated Just Cause 3, and there really just wasn't
a lotta hope with this one. Movie tie-in games are
just rarely any good, and a lotta people expected
a Colonial Marines situation. Not necessarily exactly the product, but the situation the
product arose out of. They thought the studio was
putting most of their resources into their own project at the
expense of a licensed game. If you don't know, Jason
Schreier's post-mortem on the game discussed
how Gearbox was accused of neglecting Colonial
Marines using the funds Sega gave them for the game
to work on Borderlands 2, blah blah blah. So that's not the case with Mad Max. Pre-release info on the game was scarce. The trailers weren't that impressive, and they released it the same
day as Metal Gear Solid V, so most people just assumed they were sending this one out to die. Maybe they were, I don't
know, but the game was great. Not perfect, but great. It captured the Mad Max style better than anyone anticipated,
and it actually proved to be a bit of a sleeper hit. Wasn't a runaway success or anything, but the expectations were
really low for this game and for it to be decent
kinda was a shock for most. Now for me, I was like,
"Hey, this game reminds me a little bit of Red Faction: Guerrilla." Seriously, go back to my "Before You Buy." It is a little rough in terms of pacing, but I said everything that needs
to be said about this game. (player grunting) At number two is Guardians of the Galaxy. I remember the first
trailers for this one, and nobody had anything at
all nice to say about it. After the mess of the game
that was the Avengers, how can anybody trust a Marvel game coming from Square Enix? I was pretty skeptical of it. I was giving it as much of a benefit. Like if you listen to
my tone anytime I talked about this game, I was like, "They're saying it's very
different from the Avengers. It's not a games-as-a-service
game, but we'll see." And the problem there is that
nobody really had any idea what this was gonna be. And Square Enix that
did not make it easier to figure that out. It didn't look that good, honestly. Combat looked weak and
awkward in the previews. Trailers made the dialogue look obnoxious. It all seemed like a
future bomb in the making. Yes, it was being made by Eidos-Montreal, who worked on Deus Ex: Human
Revolution and Mankind Divided, so solid pedigree but Crystal
Dynamics of Tomb Raider fame, another developer with quite a pedigree, made the Avengers, and
that game was trash. When Guardians of the Galaxy
came out, there was zero hype. Everyone went into it, thinking
it was gonna be annoying, that it would be a tedious
stinker, and it wasn't. It was actually great. No microtransactions, a
surprisingly heartfelt story, a unique gameplay that actually
made it a standout in 2021. Sales-wise, it didn't blow up the charts. I think the Avengers
burned too many people, and trust just wasn't there
to jump into this game. For the people who played
it though, a lot went in assuming it was gonna
be an awful quip fest of lame jokes, and it ended up being one of the best narratives of that year. Seriously, if you
haven't played this game, go back to it. It's not full price anymore
obviously, and it's worth it. It's a great game. It's got this like tactical
team-based battle mechanic in it on top of the very
normal-looking fighting. Seriously, go back to it. You won't regret it. - Gamora, what is that to? - [Gamora] Keep at it. - Goodbye! - And finally at number one, Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle. In any rational world, this
is an idea that wouldn't work. Combining Mario characters with Rabbids, Ubisoft's half-baked answer to the Minions because I guess they were like
Illumination's from France and so are we, so we've gotta have that. Plus it's an XCOM-like turn-based
tactical strategy game. It just sounds like the
ramblings of a madman. I joke, but the first trailer left people with so many questions and
most of them weren't good. General opinions about this
one leading up to release were at best mild amusement. At worst, outright derision. Nintendo fanboys were already inclined to hate the Rabbids and Ubisoft fans were also prepared to hate the Rabbids either for replacing Rayman or... Because Rabbid, look at the Rabbids. They are very hateable. Don't even pretend that they're not. It's a crossover no one asked for. So when reviews started
showing up and saying this game wasn't just good,
it was actually great. It was like being in the
frigging twilight zone. This game had no right to be any good, but it was very good and
that's the only way to explain how it managed to sell the way it did. Everyone just bought it outta disbelief. There's no way it can be this good. They kind of bought it
like wanting to say, "Ah, you all said it was gonna
be good, but you were wrong and I was right, it's bad." No one said that. It's this extremely fun and charming tactical game that borrows a lot of ideas from XCOM, but doesn't quite play like
anything else out there. When I say sales were good
too, I really mean it. The game somehow managed to sell over 10 million copies, far
exceeding all expectations. The fact that the Switch
was still new at the time probably played a pretty
big role in this success, but the novelty of premise along with the positive
word also helped out a lot. Not too bad for a game
that could have easily just been a one-off April Fools joke. I also have a bonus for
you, Dragon's Dogma. This was before Monster
Hunter was popular in the West and during a somewhat darker
time in Capcom's history, there was a lot of skepticism with the games that they were
putting out for good reason. Just one month before this
game came out in May 2012, Capcom was putting out
classics like Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and
Street Fighter x Tekken. Beloved games by one and all, right? No, I'm joking. They were not good game,
they were terrible game. In this game's case, the demo didn't really do it any favors either. The gameplay came off as a bit awkward and the confusing presentation
made it difficult to tell what this was supposed to be. When it came out, reviews
were mixed to positive and sales were never really great, but the game slowly garnered a small but passionate fanbase who
really came to appreciate what they were trying to do with it. It's almost universally
held in high regard now. The sequel is highly
anticipated, but before, no one really knew what to make of it. Even after it came out, it took a while for
people to warm up to it, but it did eventually become
a real Capcom classic. It's one of those games everyone assumed kind of wouldn't be
good before it came out and then the result was
also just way better than the demo was. The demo was confusing,
there wasn't enough contact. And that's all for today. Leave us a comment, let
us know what you think. If you like this video, click like. If you're not subscribed,
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for watching this video. I'm Falcon, you can follow
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right here on Gameranx.
