Always try a free demo even if you don’t think you would be into it. I have never been into stealth games. There was a demo for Hitman (2016) which included the training level and Paris which is the first location. I played them both over and over until I had them mastered. Buying the rest of the game was a no brainer and when 2 and 3 came out I pre-ordered the gold editions. Aside from some sniper stuff which I am just terrible at I have completed both of those games as well.
There probably isn’t much to say that much smarter people haven’t already about the brilliant level design. It’s like a giant puzzle box to work out the best way to get to your target and eliminate them either in a clever, stealthy way leaving like nobody was ever there or just go in guns blazing and leave a pile of bodies in your wake.
As a bonus there was also a fighting game on 3DS called Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden. I have very little knowledge of Dragon Ball. I could name some of the main characters from having grown up in the Era it came out in but I never got into it for no real reason in particular. A demo was out for the game so I downloaded it for shits and giggles thinking I’d do a couple rounds and delete it but I got pretty into it. My friend that lived down the street who liked the series when we were growing up also downloaded it and we spent hours playing with the few fighters that were available. Both ended up buying it day one and it put a ton more hours into it. I even quite enjoyed the story mode which I have been told is a decent condensed version of the series
Hitman trilogy after 2016 when I gave it a second chance and Yakuza putting myself through 0 and I’ve loved them since.
Diablo 2. I’ve been an FPS player since the original Wolfenstein, and I just hated the slower pace of RPGs.
Then I tried the original Diablo and got into the groove of the gameplay mechanics: portalling to town, building a skill tree, etc. I absolutely loved how speedy and accessible it was.
Then I gave Diablo 2 a try and I found a soloable assassin build that worked for me: spamming fire traps and stacking auras was so addicting!
After beating it once, I just had to try hardcore and online play. That’s when I really built a taste for RPGs.
Final Fantasy VII. When I was a kid back in the late 90s another kid from school heard me talking with a friend of mine about how I just got WWE Warzone for PS1 and thought it was an awesome wrestling game. We were huge wrestling fans at the time (it was the Attitude Era) and he begged me to let me borrow it. I asked him to let me borrow something in return and he bought me a brand new copy of Final Fantasy VII. He never even opened the game because he thought it looked boring and he basically judged the game by its case.
I thought it was gonna be boring too, but when I finally left Midgar, my mind was blown.