10 Video Games You Gave Up On (That Are Actually Great)

The hype cycle is important to keep gamers engaged, both pre-release and post-release.

For one thing, studios have entire marketing teams to make sure that their title is in the public eye, in the best possible light and - most importantly - at the right time. If a title keeps stumbling and falling behind, any initial interest for it is bound to simmer off as other games come along to divert attention. Games can release and be decent fun but there might not be anyone who has stuck around to find out!

This can also happen after a game hits store shelves, in fact. If a release doesn't grab you in the first few hours, it can be all too easy to simply go find your fun elsewhere. This is magnified many times over if the game feels like it's broken or unfinished. Even if a title redeems itself eventually, most people move on without a second thought.

The entries in this list fall into either category but what unites them is that their potential audience largely disappeared. Though, looking at them now, they're frankly decent games at the very least and, in some cases, underappreciated classics.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the most celebrated titles in gaming history. It's approach to both gameplay and story - and what ties them together - has influenced so many games in it's wake.

As such, Japan Studio's follow-up The Last Guardian seemed like it had the potential to be just as huge. Originally revealed as a PS3 title in 2009, the game took seven years before it hit store shelves.

By this time, any hype from the initial reveals had absolutely died down to a simmer. Everything was exacerbated by the departure from Sony of lead developer Fumito Ueda. Despite Sony reassuring consumers that the auteur was still lead on the project, Ueda had described his departure as coming from feeling a "sense of crisis" which made players uneasy.

Whilst it's hard to argue that parts of The Last Guardian didn't already feel outdated on release, it doesn't mean that the game was bad by any means. In fact, 2016 was a year of solid action-packed FPS titles (Overwatch, Battlefield 1 and the Doom reboot to name a few) so The Last Guardian still manged to find it's space as a slower-paced, more thoughtful experience.

The game holds favourable reviews on MetaCritic from both critics and consumers, it's just that it simply undersold terribly.