8 Video Games That Turned Out Nothing Like You Were Expecting

4. Spec-Ops: The Line

So many people wrote this off as “just another war shooter”, and to be honest you can’t blame them, seeing as when you looked at stills and pre release trailers, things looked very by the numbers. You’ve got your brown aesthetic, you’ve got your guns, you’ve got your 4th wall breaking moments that make you question the ethics of following orders.

Wait, what was that last one?

Yes, that’s one of the many, MANY surprises that Spec Ops: The Line was hiding up its sand coated sleeve, offering the player some truly harrowing examples of suffering and accountability on the front line, while also including scenes that broke the boundaries of what could be a game, confronting players themselves.

It helped that the shooting and actual gameplay was better than expected as well, and while the sales of the game initially weren’t as hot as the likes of Call of Duty or Battlefield, because of the word of mouth positivity this game received, it ended up garnering a cult like status amongst the gaming community.

If you’ve not played it, give it a shot. It’s likely to surprise you.