8 Video Games That Took Forever To Get Good
Running a marathon before the finish line.
In this modern era of video games, it's never been more important to grab your audience by the danglies and sink your claws in deep.
Such is the limited concentration of even the average gamer, that publishers will spend literally millions of dollars on flashy advertising campaigns, live events, DLC packs, and reward cycles just to hold your attention like the rattling of keys in front of a wee baby.
It's why video games often feel like they begin with their most bombastic and in some cases most outlandish sequences because if this can hook players, there's a chance they'll chase that high right through to the end of the title.
However the games on this list? Well, they didn't quite get the message, opting instead for a much more slow-paced affair, which sometimes came at the detriment of audiences' enjoyment. Still, for those that persevered through long tutorial sections, arduously padded openings, and sometimes just ripe as rotten fruit gameplay these titles delivered the Honka Chonka's and then some.
Grab a drink, get settled in because for these games to get good, you're going to need to put in the time and effort.
8. No Man's Sky
We begin this list with a game that takes the concept of "taking forever to get good" and running with it. Or should that be stumbling, falling face first into cat sick, yelling "I meant to do that!" then finally rising to it's feet to deliver a heartfelt and emotional speech that brings it's audience to tears.
Welcome to the wild ride that was No Man's Sky.
When originally released, I think it's fair to say that this game was quite the disaster. With enough missing content to fill the Milky Way, an endgame that just catapulted you back to the start, and a PR meltdown erupting on launch, you could cook eggs on the heads of fans who'd backed this game from the off such was their rage.
However, while many jetisoned the title into the cold reaches of space, Hello Games took on board the "passionate feedback" and got to work to make things right. Across the next few years, they squirrelled away, releasing patch after patch, update after update, until as it stands in 2021 at the time of recording, No Man's Sky is officially "good".
Hell it's not just good, it's outstanding, as now it's stuffed with so much content beyond that which it promised before launch.
Plus, it's beautiful to look at and rocks an intense VR mode well worth seeing. This isn't just the game that took forever to get good, it's a developer making good on their promise. Nice one.