What puts you off a game immediately? Something that’s just a dealbreaker for purchasing a game or playing it any further. Inspired by RagnarokMike mentioning the slow movement speed in the RoboCop game putting me off it entirely and saving me money.

With so many “free” games available via subscription it takes much less to make me lose interest in a game entirely.

1. Unskippable cutscenes/heavy cutscenes

I watch enough movies, I use to be really into story driven games when I was younger now it’s the complete opposite. I play Lawn Mowing simulator a lot because you do what’s advertised, mow lawns.

2. Excessive tutorials

I would happily pay money to skip the first level of so many games.
Tried to play whatever Killzone game it is you sneak off with your father and it was like 40 mins before I could do anything worthwhile.

3. Lengthy respawn times

CoD is the only multiplayer FPS that gets this right, near instant respawns rather than waiting over 10 seconds to come back.

Couple of things that really hurt a game for me...

1) Tower defense mechanics never work usually. I just tolerated them in Gears of War 4 and thought they were the lowpoints of that game. I dropped Brutal Legend in large part because of this.

2) Extremely poor performance can hurt a game. I just managed to play through Psychonauts 2 on the XBOX ONE but it was painful and ruined what could have been a fantastic platforming experience. I dropped Ori & Will O Wisp due to how terrible it ran Day 1 on the XBOX ONE and purposely held off from playing it till I got the XBOX Series X(Still want to play it).

I am cool with 30 FPS but given I put a large investment in a 4K OLED TV, it makes me appreciate the 60 FPS. I tried Overwatch 2 on my PS4 on another older TV vs Overwatch 2 on PS5 with the 4K TV, it truly makes a difference. SO much. Just give me a game that runs well and isn't a complete & total mess, especially if buy Day 1. I buy to support the game and to get my hands on it asap, not to be essentially a test dummy for others who pay for the game for less down the road to get a better experience.

3) A game that forces you to play with protagonists that are just god awful human beings. Not flawed human beings but borderline insufferable. I almost wanted Lara Croft to die in Shadow of the Tomb Raider due to how bloodlusted and selfish she was throughout the entire game, Lara Croft! Abby of The Last of Us 2 had me groaning each time I was forced to play as her, easily one of the worst characters of last gen that dominates gametime in a video game and one of the major reasons TLOU2's story let me down mightily.

Old Kratos is whatever, we know he is a terrible monster but it's kill or be killed and even though he is edgy & takes it to the extreme, he has some reedeeming qualities to him(And gets overhauled in the newer games). Abby is just awful though. 

1. Excessive open world. I need some direction. Give me unlimited freedom and I will abuse it and spend hundreds of hours doing absolutely nothing. That's not how I like to spend my time.

2. Crafting. There is nothing I find more tedious than a game based around crafting or a convoluted crafting mechanic thrown into an otherwise fun game.

Dec 2, 2023 4:06:05 GMT System said:

1. Unskippable cutscenes/heavy cutscenes

The ability to skip cut-scenes is a major selling point of any JRPG re-release. Kingdom Hearts, FFX, Tales of Vesperia etc. all benefited greatly.

Dec 2, 2023 4:06:05 GMT System said:

2. Excessive tutorials

Especially in sequels. I've been replaying GTA IV recently and you're going through the exact same paces as GTA 3 where you have to unlock mechanics one by one. It made sense in III where it was re-defining the entire genre, but it just bogs the pacing down in IV and leaves a bad impression.

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1. Bad Metacritic scores. Just being honest, if a game is getting torn apart in reviews I'm not going to waste my time or money to see for myself.

2. Ugly graphics. Especially if it's a sequel and they try to change the art-style and it looks awful. The Turtles In Time remake, the 360 Bomberman game etc. Even DKC3 loses points because of how bad some of the enemy designs look.

3. Bad controls. Playing WCW Mayhem again, they mapped the grapple button to the exit ring button, so you're constantly fighting the game to get it to do what you want.

4. Inconsistent hit detection. Remember old school platformers like the Lion King where it was unclear what you could and couldn't interact with? Or the tried and true jump on an enemies head, but like one slither of your toe contacts the forehead and so you immediately take damage? Bite me.

Borderline, but if a game requires a special controller, chances are I'm going to skip it. I enjoy Nintendo as much as anyone, but I have very little interest in the Wii library because of the Wiimote, having to set up the sensor and feeding it AA batteries.

1. Really bad glitches/graphics eg. I was interested in getting Gollum and after the reviews… no thank you.

2. Really SLOW gameplay/turned based attacks eg. Old school Final Fantasy games, I know they are classics but I’m already bored thinking about it. (Though I do adore episodic games like Until Dawn and Telltales games, so just because it’s slow doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy it - it just has to have a reasonable excuse why it’s slow).

3. Hard controls, I know overtime you can learn the controls but if I’m spending the first 5 hours of a game absolutely struggling and getting nowhere because of the controls. Pass.

4. REALLY BAD REVIEWS from reviewers and friends I trust.
Though even then I may still give it ago, if Gollum shows up free one day - I’m gonna check it out 😂

5. If it’s too scary.
I love horror movies, the scarier the better BUT when it comes to games I’m a little bitch. I love the horror atmospheric games, the episodic reactions ones. But if I’m in full control of the character and have to keep them from dying from monsters chasing them. NO THANK YOU.

Honestly though there is no many games I’ll say no to

Games that take too long to get going. My patience isn't what it used to be so if it's taking a while before I can control the character or even worse, start and stop when I finally can actually play...

Dec 2, 2023 18:09:56 GMT sandylea said:

2. Really SLOW gameplay/turned based attacks

Interesting, have you ever played through a turn-based game before, like Pokemon? Or has it always just been an instant, thanks but no?

Dec 2, 2023 18:09:56 GMT sandylea said:

5. If it’s too scary.

Good call, FNAF was an instant turn-off because of the jump scares.

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT Ness said:

Games that take too long to get going.

Gimme some examples.

Dec 3, 2023 4:39:22 GMT Big Pete said:

Dec 2, 2023 18:09:56 GMT sandylea said:

2. Really SLOW gameplay/turned based attacks

Interesting, have you ever played through a turn-based game before, like Pokemon? Or has it always just been an instant, thanks but no?

Dec 2, 2023 18:09:56 GMT sandylea said:

5. If it’s too scary.

Good call, FNAF was an instant turn-off because of the jump scares.

Nov 18, 2022 2:32:51 GMT Ness said:

Games that take too long to get going.

Gimme some examples.

I used to play Pokemon when I was younger but I always found it way too slow, and tried Final Fantasy and couldn’t get into it.
I do really enjoy the South Park games which are turn based? I find it annoying and it does put me off some aspects of the games. So I will still give them a chance if I love the franchise enough.

I can’t do FNAF at all, the fact kids love it - insanity.

I grew up with turn based RPGs so part of me is shocked and appalled at people who outright reject them. But I get it, real time combat is fun and dynamic and doesn't require a lot of waiting around. Nobody likes waiting around these days, not even me.

To be honest most turn based RPGs are pretty fast, the only notoriously slow one that comes to mind is Final Fantasy 9. The original Final Fantasy 7 is very fast paced, especially if you turn "Wait" mode off, you have to be super speedy to make sure the enemies don't get more attacks than you.

I agree on the bad controls one, that's another turn off for me. A related turn off are games that require too many technical inputs even if the controls are good. I'm thinking of fighting games and the ultra difficult platformers. Getting good at those games is hours of torturous practice. Not fun at all.

Scariness is not a turn off in itself but pure atmospheric horror games like Amnesia tend to be disappointing.

Dec 3, 2023 11:33:11 GMT Emperor said:

I grew up with turn based RPGs so part of me is shocked and appalled at people who outright reject them. But I get it, real time combat is fun and dynamic and doesn't require a lot of waiting around. Nobody likes waiting around these days, not even me.

To be honest most turn based RPGs are pretty fast, the only notoriously slow one that comes to mind is Final Fantasy 9. The original Final Fantasy 7 is very fast paced, especially if you turn "Wait" mode off, you have to be super speedy to make sure the enemies don't get more attacks than you.

I agree on the bad controls one, that's another turn off for me. A related turn off are games that require too many technical inputs even if the controls are good. I'm thinking of fighting games and the ultra difficult platformers. Getting good at those games is hours of torturous practice. Not fun at all.

Scariness is not a turn off in itself but pure atmospheric horror games like Amnesia tend to be disappointing.

I think it's the tedium of scrolling through menus, mashing through dialogue and sitting through attack animations that puts people off. It's like a whole genre of Power Slap, where one side hits the other as hard as it can before the other can't take anymore.

I think even Square realises this, which is why the FF series has constantly pushes the barriers to the point where it's just become a full blown Action RPG series. Why watch an animation of Cloud attacking a grunt, when you can do that yourself?

Personally I don't see it that way, and see FF7 as a huge world with iconic characters, locales and music tracks with a ton of details that you could fill several encyclepedias and still have tidbits missing, but I can see the other side of it as well.

I love the concept of fighting games, but the amount of skill and time you need just always put me off. It's like learning a new instrument, if you don't practice everyday you're never going to make it.

That's the word I was looking for, skill. Any heavily skill-based game is an instant turn off. Like you say, too much practice required for too little reward.

I don't have many immediate nopes when it comes to gaming, the only thing that will put me off if is if a game is first person only with no way to change from that. I just can't cope with first person at all, never could get along with it. It could be the most recommended, best selling game ever but if it's first person, I'm out.

That's about it really. I'm also with Emperor on the skill based thing, I want to be able to pick up a game, get into it straight away and enjoy it without too much practice. Obviously I know some you have to learn as you go along and that's okay, but fighting games and things like that just aren't for me.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head but I have discovered that if a game has too long of a prologue or takes too long to get immersed in the game itself, then the replay value plummets for me.

Case in point: Red Dead Redemption 2. I absolutely love that game but have only replayed it once because it takes like two full days of playing to get to a point in the game where you are on your own actually playing the game. I'm exaggerating but with my limited play time due to other responsibilities, it's really hard to find the time or motivation to say "alright I'm starting RDR2 again" because I know I am basically watching cut scenes or being forced to do mundane tasks for the first 2 or 3 times I pick it up and play. It is way more of a committment than just dropping into a few rounds of Overwatch or web-slinging in NYC or whatever.

TLOU2 is almost the same, but not as lengthy imo. And they at least try to do it right. The saving grace with that game is the cut scenes are minimal, or playable, or don't feel like you are just sitting there watching a cut scene (mostly). The game keeps you engaged even when you are starting over and being forced to learn mechanics or talk to NPCs or whatever. I wish more story-based games were like that because I have replayed that game several times already and will again. RDR2 I might never pick up again, I dunno.

Zombies. Never liked them and they got overdone with zombie-mania the last 15 years.