To me right now is the first Red Dead Redemption. Finally I’m able to play it, I’ve wait for over a decade. No spoilers, zero youtube gameplay videos, zero questions about the game to my friends. It gotta be me, and the game, it happened, and I think it sucks.
Maybe you thinking in “well, you shouldn’t play the second first”. I did not. My first Red Dead game was Red Dead Revolver, I was able to play it a few years ago when I could buy a PS2, but I couldn’t get a PS3 nor a Xbox 360 to play RDR1. It grinded my gears because we got the prequel in PC. When RDR1 came to PC it was so freaking expensive, yet today, I think it is expensive. I was able to buy the game some weeks ago while there was a Steam Sale, and well, I regreat it now.
I don’t like its exploration, its missions, its characters, its world, its secondary missions. its wanted system, and nothing but less important: has a lot of bugs.
That’s my experience in a few words.
What’s the game that you wanted to play but it was a total mess?
I think the closest to a disappointment is Skyrim, but it’s not the game’s fault. I was always looking forward to it. I love the non-linear role-play experience in a rich open world. I watched plenty of Let’s Plays. For some reason it took me a long time to get to it. But when I finally got to play it, I realized that the first-person 3D movement in this game made me dizzy and unwell to the point I couldn’t continue. I had this problem with some other games, too, but not to this extent. I might give it another try at some point. But maybe something like World of Anterra scratches that itch better.
An honorable mention is Planescape: Torment. I liked it, but having played Disco Elysium first, the writing and story in this game felt over-hyped.
I have the same nausea issue. Once you clear Skyrim’s tutorial level, you can switch to over the shoulder camera. But I didn’t know that on my first try. Ended up putting the game down & uninstalling it. Only came back to it years later after seeing some videos.
For what it’s worth, there are mods that let you skip the introduction entirely. “Live Another Life” used to be the go-to, but I think it’s been depreciated. Still would be a good starting point to search.