RetroGaming

Totally agree. A flashy light show will only keep people's focus for a hot minute, but good core gameplay will keep players engaged for so much longer. Just look at dwarf fortress, lol.

Battlebit is a good example of this for me - graphics are super basic but it's fun af and they get the important parts right.

I would say It Depends. I play almost exclusively indy games and yes AAA graphics aren't what I'm expecting.

But some indy games just look like the dev threw the sprites together in less than half a day and it can be offputting. Dated can be ok, but rushed and butt ugly... Hell I almost skipped Rimworld way back when because the visuals looked so lazy.

The gameplay has to be really freaking fantastic to cover that up. In Rimworld's case it was.