Asklemmy

Hades. I'm not really sure why it didn't grab me the first time...

Bloodborne. I gave up on 3 separate times, even after loving previous Dark Souls games. Gave it a 4th and final try, then didn’t stop until I got the platinum trophy. I don’t know that it’s my favorite souls game, but it left me the most satisfied when I finally finished it. Love that game and wish it would get the same remaster treatment that Demon Souls got.

Against the Storm. Been on steam for 15 years and it’s my third most played game now. Rimworld and CK3 are the only ones above.

Residentes Evil. The camera fixed angles were confusing and sometimes I got caught between two different angles in a small space to maneuver.

Mass effect

Tried it twice and thought it was soooo boring. Then one day I figured I'd give it a final go and omg I fell in love with the whole franchise.

Left4Dead

First time I turned it on I just heard the music and saw the zombies puking and thought it was some kind of horror suspense game and never played it.

I had my GF play it with me since I didn’t want to play horror alone, and we both loved it.

The Division 2

The main campaign story is boring, but end game is tons of fun and customization of gear builds.

Path of Exile for me. I went in blind towards the end of Synthesis league (Q2 2019) and played completely SSF with a homebrew zoo witch. Managed to eventually fight and kill shaper but it was so draining I didn't even want to look at the game again... Til the end of the year when I hopped into the end of Blight league and I've sunk almost 2k hours since

Hollow Knight and Darkest Dungeon both fit this for me. When I initially played them there would be some pain point where I got frustrated with some wall in the exploration or a tough setback (like some classic darkest dungeon bullshit like 3 spiders getting critical hits in a row killing a hero at full health). But the atmosphere of both games kept pulling me back again and again, and each time I’d get a little bit further.

Now I can say I’ve beaten Darkest Dungeon probably a half dozen times, nearly 100% Darkest Dungeon 2, and beaten every pantheon in Hollow Knight (with bindings on all but P5).

Not sure if my obvious masochism was the biggest factor in these games pulling through for me, but I can still say they are fantastic experiences for anyone willing to dig in and face the challenges they have to offer.

Ark

Deep Rock galactic. I played it very early, didn’t feel it and refunded it. A year or so later I stumbled upon it again and bought it again. I really like it now.

Vagrant Story and Parasite Eve

Played them as demos back when that was a thing and I didn't get why there's spheres popping up making battle stop (semi-turned based combat) and why there's a dude named Ashley.

Tried again a couple years later after playing FF7, connecting that they were all by squaresoft, and it all made sense. Absolutely became a couple of my favorites.

Watch Dogs 2

Need for Speed: Most Wanted (2005) I thought it was just a gimmick when I first saw a friend play it and the tried it myself later at home and the graphics, the story, the cars, and the gameplay, everything blew me away. I still consider it the best Need for Speed game ever.

So many games in here, that I started and apparently need to go back and try again.

Not that I didn't like them, but with limited time, I just couldn't get into them properly.

Knights Field series. I never could get into them back in the day, but I've been on a retro kick with my Anbernic and got sucked into them. Ended up putting 20 hours so far into the English translation of the first Japanese KF.

Also, Vagrant Story. Pretty much same scenario where I rented it back in the day and bounced off the combat for not making any sense to me. Tried it recently and really dig it. The combat system is really quite clever once you understand it.

Cyberpunk and RDR2 both

Dragon Age: Origins. Not sure why. I was a big fan of Mass Effect already, and of story heavy RPGs in general, but I stopped this one pretty early on and sat on it for several years. Needless to say, it stuck the second time and now I've played it and the other Dragon Age games multiple times.

Hotline Miami

Dota2

Crusader Kings II

Dark Souls, took a partner to get me to give it another shot, I've played all souls games since lmao

Since the Trails series is continuous, it's what I think of with this sort of thing. I bounced off of and had to nibble at Trails in the Sky over a good while until the third game hooked me. I never would have gotten rolling with that series without pandemic lockdowns.

Now, Trails to Azure is firmly in my top 5 games.

Tetrisphere

Dota 2. First time I played it it was not for me, I only played it to hang out with my friends. Many years later I had an itch for it, so I started playing again. And I haven't stopped. It is an excellent game.