I’m talking about games that you still like but you had no idea were criticized so much.
The perfect example for me is Sonic Unleashed.
I admit that the game has its bad things, but I would have never imagined that it was so hated at the time… Although, that could be extended to the entire Sonic franchise, since for many years I was not aware at all of that “Sonic was never good”, “Sonic had a rough transition to 3D” nonsense.
I made a post not all that long ago about Lords of the Fallen after discovering it myself, only to find that nobody else seemed to like it as much as I did (which, fair; it’s probably why I hadn’t heard of it until recently).
It’s not as good as a Fromsoft game, or Lies of P, but, to me anyway, it’s like the 2nd best soulslike that isn’t a Fromsoft game. The major disappointments are minimal enemy variety, and the story is just kinda shit. The highlights are the combat and build variety, and unique aspects like tying item descriptions to your actual skills so you can’t read some descriptions unless you invest in “knowledge” of it. It just sucks that you don’t really get much from it because, again, the story is kinda shit.
Also it’s the only non Fromsoft soulslike I’ve played that has PvP. I got into Dark Souls and the rest because of the invasion system more than anything else, so LOTF having that was a big plus for me.