It is a fairly common practice in the gaming industry to overpromise the features, innovations, and mechanics in an upcoming title in order to drive pre-order sales and secure a good start early on. Gamers burned by such practices are often skeptical when a new game reveal appears too good to be true, either when the graphics appear a tad too impressive, or when the scope and breadth of the game are being promoted to unrealistic levels.
Once in a blue moon, however, a game comes along that not only promises the world but delivers on it. Sometimes, these titles even understate how good they are, leaving players happily surprised when even their highest expectations for the game are blown out of the water. Here are some of the most notable games that appeared too good to be true before release, but ended up being exactly what the marketing portrayed them to be.
Elden Ring
FromSoftware’s Open-World Epic
The hype surrounding Elden Ring prior to the game’s release felt like a cosmic event. The fan theories, subplots, and deep dives that dissected every single frame from every tease and reveal were unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, except perhaps the highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong.
An open-world twist on the FromSoftware formula with GRRM’s storytelling fueled the hype to unimaginable levels, so much so that Redditors were cautioning each other prior to release to manage expectations and to keep it realistic. Only for FromSoftware to blow expectations out of the water with the release, delivering a game that more than lived up to the hype.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Dungeons and Dragons Brought to Life
Baldur’s Gate 3’s scope was legendary, and the idea of Larian Studios actually managing to deliver it anywhere close to what they were promising it would be in the pre-release marketing phase seemed impossible to a lot of people. The Act 1 demo did a lot to assuage those fears, but when Larian started promising things like 17,000 fully voiced endings, infinite replayability, and a CRPG experience the likes of which hadn’t even been imagined up to that point, people were skeptical to say the least.
With the full release of Baldur’s Gate 3, however, all those promises came true in a way very few were ready for. BG3 sold over 10 million copies within a year of its release, and its D&D-inspired gameplay loop delivered with such polish that it even drew in players completely unfamiliar with the popular TTRPG. Larian swept the 2023 Game Awards, and deservedly so, cementing its legacy forever.
Black Myth: Wukong
An Action RPG Phenomenon
Black Myth: Wukong’s pre-launch trailers and early gameplay sneak peeks looked too good to be true for a lot of people. Unreal Engine 5, the game engine Black Myth: Wukong was developed in, has an unfortunate history of looking good in trailers but playing terribly, leading many to believe that this would be more of the same.
Upon release, however, Black Myth: Wukong proved naysayers wrong in spectacular fashion, delivering perhaps one of the best action RPG experiences of the entire year, in a complete, coherent package that put the entire Chinese gaming industry in the limelight.
World of Warcraft
The MMORPG That Defined the Genre
It can be hard to remember now, but pre-launch hype surrounding World of Warcraft was something else. Taking the Warcraft universe and turning it into a living, breathing MMORPG seemed like an impossible task to many, and the breadth and scope of the project seemed too good to be true. Additionally, considering how graphically inferior MMOs were at the time, WoW’s promises seemed nothing more than hot air.
However, it’s not a secret that since then, World of Warcraft has thrived in a way no other game has before or since. While it isn’t the longest-running live service game of all time, it’s definitely the most popular. WoW still enjoys a massive, incredibly loyal player base that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Dune: Awakening
Funcom’s Best Survival Vision Yet
The pre-launch marketing phase of Dune: Awakening was filled with grandiose promises that seemed too good to be true. Funcom’s shaky history with survival games and the seemingly massive scale of the title gave many fans pause in the lead-up to the final release, with many being of the opinion that the final product would be nowhere close to what was being advertised.
Upon release, however, it was evident that Dune: Awakening more than delivered. The massive desert world of Arrakis looked incredible, the survival mechanics hooked players, and there were more than enough building blocks to make some truly spectacular base structures, all the while staying true to established Dune lore. The endgame does have some issues, but the fact that Funcom managed to deliver a sufficiently complete product amidst the skepticism is still deserving of praise.
Palworld
Pokemon With Guns
While the gameplay footage revealed in trailers and teasers looked impressive, Palworld was viewed as an inevitable failure by many prior to its release. Everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop, counting down the days until Nintendo to sue “Pokemon with guns” into oblivion. While Nintendo did end up filing a lawsuit against Pocket Pair for Palworld eventually, the game had already proved itself to players by then.
Palworld amassed over 2 million active players on Steam within the first few days of its release, selling over 25 million copies within its first month alone, making it one of the most successful indie games ever created.
Red Dead Redemption 2
A Benchmark in Open-World Design
Red Dead Redemption 2’s gameplay trailers revealed before the game’s release showed a level of polish and attention to detail that was hard to fathom. The sheer realism and interactivity of the world were so absurdly ahead of its time that some were of the opinion that the game looked too good to be true.
But Red Dead Redemption 2 put all those doubts to rest with its release, offering players a game that felt so real it’s hard to believe it came out in 2018. Not only does it still hold up to this day, but RDR 2 overshadows many modern games, and by a massive margin at that.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
A Historical RPG That Delivered
Kingdom Come: Deliverance was viewed with quiet skepticism before release, with multiple factors contributing to the sentiment. For one, Warhorse Studios was an unknown entity at the time, with only a handful of developers promising a level of realism and complex gameplay that had only been achieved by the most ambitious AAA games in the past.
To top it off, KCD was being funded via Kickstarter, a platform with a history of scams disguised as game projects, taking money from unsuspecting backers without an intention of ever fulfilling their goals. Luckily, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, well, delivered, and in a big way. While the game wasn’t as massive a hit as some others on this list, it did eventually sell over 8 million copies, gaining a cult-like following in the process.
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