An alternate heading for this article could have been "10 Amazing Games That Aren’t For Everyone," but that’s a bit clunkier of a title. Basically, this piece is going to look at ten awesome games that are genuinely beloved but are not necessarily everyone's cup of tea.
Popular or not, they are all kind of hard to recommend based on a multitude of reasons. Maybe they are too hard, or maybe they make one blush if caught playing them by their parents (or significant other). So let’s get into it!
10 Monster Hunter
The latest entry in this series, Monster Hunter: World, fixed a lot of things for the better in order to make it more accessible for newcomers. It’s still by no means an easy task to wrap one’s mind around though.
Essentially this is all about fighting bosses over and over again in order to grind out supplies to then build gear to then tackle harder foes. Each mission may take as long as an hour and, even then, a prize is not guaranteed. It’s great, but also tough to get into that grinding mindset.
9 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
This entry is not just about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the latest FromSoftware title, but about all of the studio's games. Or, at least, the ones in the Souls-like category. Sekiro is especially hard, which prompted a lot of articles and feedback to pop up online about difficulty settings in games.
If 2019 had a poster child for sadistic games, this would be it. Like Monster Hunter, it takes a lot of time investment before a player even begins to become decent. With something like Dark Souls, one can grind out levels to increase their chances for survival like any good RPG. Sekiro has none of that.
8 Destiny 2
The theme of time continues on with Destiny 2. Past all of the main story quests, if one wants to get into the high-level optional stuff (raids), they need to do a lot of daily quests.
There is online multiplayer, Strikes, Gambits, and so much more. There is a lot to take in for newcomers and it isn’t exactly explained well. Getting together a good guild can also be a hassle and one definitely needs one of those in order to get the most out of the experience.
7 Persona
Starting with Persona 3, the series shifted from a fairly standard, albeit weird in concept, turn-based RPG into a dating sim hybrid. Like any good Japanese RPG, there are dungeons to explore and levels to grind through in order to become stronger. That’s only like a third of the experience.
The rest is all about time management between hanging out with friends, studying for school, working part-time jobs, and the list goes on. As these everyday tasks help with the actual RPG side of things, they are a must, while also being a pretty stressful reminder of reality.
6 Yakuza
One thing that was not mentioned about Persona is that it is very steeped in Japanese culture. Despite Westerners engulfed in the Eastern nation's entertainment output from many sides, it’s still - please forgive the obvious word choice here - foreign to Westerners.
More so than Persona, the Yakuza games are like Japanese dramas spliced with high adrenaline kung-fu films. The biggest drawback one might feel when playing these games, aside from the culture shock, is the fact that every game takes place almost entirely in the fictional town of Kamurocho. Every. Single. Time. Even the new spinoff, Judgement, is set there! That said, the narrative is fantastic.
5 Final Fantasy XIV
Along the same lines as Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV is a daunting task. This new version, A Realm Reborn, launched back in 2013. Destiny 2 has MMO elements, but this is a full-blown MMO.
One of the best ever made, but because it is six years old now, there is seemingly a never-ending chain of content. Good luck jumping in alone now. Final Fantasy XIV is still worth a shot, but the dedication required might be too much for some.
4 Dead Cells
Let’s throw in Dead Cells as one of the latest examples of the genre it represents: Roguelikes. Here are the basics! Run through randomly generated dungeons, kill monsters for orbs and gold, use materials to upgrade, die, and repeat.
Some of these things help improve the character over time, but a lot of progress erases once a game over is encountered. There are some more forgiving roguelikes and Dead Cells falls somewhere in-between hardcore and friendly.
3 Danganronpa
This is admittedly a weird pick and definitely the most obscure of the bunch, but hear this writer out. Danganronpa is essentially a Battle Royale type scenario wherein an evil robot bear traps students inside their school and is threatening to kill them if they don’t start axing each other off.
It’s a visual novel spliced with a detective, courtroom drama akin to Phoenix Wright. It is heavily steeped in anime clichés and the genre alone may turn people away. This trilogy is one of the best video game stories ever told though.
2 Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry is a stand-in for other games of this nature like Bayonetta. These combo heavy action games are a lot of fun and can easily be enjoyed by all by simply adjusting the difficulty.
Well, to a point, but if one has no rhythmic skills whatsoever, then even a casual mode may fail one. Not only that, but the story is complete lunacy. This is in a good way for some, but awful for others.
1 Dynasty Warriors
Most of these games on here have incredible scores, but Dynasty Warriors, well, not so much. They have average reviews at best. Still, despite the repetitive nature of the franchise's content and the less than stellar graphics, Dynasty Warriors embodies what games should be: Fun.
They are the most video gamey video games of the bunch and adding in a friend increases the enjoyment exponentially. One simply needs to turn off the brain every once and awhile.