Taking inspiration from recent threads where the "real next gen" games have failed to live up to the hype, I'd like to know when was the last time a game took your expectations and shattered them in a good way.  So when was it?

For me, it was Pikmin 3.  It had been ages since I played a Pikmin game and I wasn't really that excited to play the latest game.  Still, I'm an asshole that has to have everything so I purchased it.  After a couple of hours, the game became an obssession.  I was totally blown away by how much I loved it.  The mechanics, the atmosphere, the feeling it gave me--that game was a reminder of why I played video games.  I gravitate towards games with hot females, explosions, deep story, etc. and Pikmin 3 had none of that.  I loved it just the same.  That was the last time I played a game and said "Wow.  Now this is what it's all about."

So for you, what did it?  Was it the awesome graphics of Ryse?  The engrossing narrative of the Last of Us?  The silky smooth gameplay of Super Mario 3D World?  Have at thee, knave!

The most recent example for me is Dragon's Dogma.

Considering Capcom was behind it, I didn't expect it to be anything great, but rather good.

Sure the backtracking can be annoying at times, but everythin else blew me away. Especially the ending. Much more brilliant than, for example, Bioshock: Infinite.

For me dragon's dogma dark arisen (the very first time EVER I have played a jrpg, and loved it, I only played it for the platinum at the start but it grew on me and I now love it), and Bioshock Infinite (Thanks PS+), that ending just blew me away and had me thinking for days. Oh and TLOU I don't have to say anything about it, if you have not played it do yourself a favor and pick it up GOTG.

Probably A Link Between Worlds, 3D World, or The Last of Us (Haven't played it, but I watched it)

Easily Rayman Legends. I was expecting it to be simply Rayman Origins with prettier graphics, but it was much more. The gameplay variety in that game is simply astounding.

You are the second person on this site in like the last 10 minutes to say Dragon's Dogma blew them away.  You are the second person to make me jizz in the last ten minutes.  God, I loved that game.  Came out of nowhere and blind sided me!  I was in Gamestop buying....I don't know what the hell I was buying.  Anyway, the guy behind the counter tried to get me to buy Dark Souls 2.  I told him, "I missed the first one and Demon Souls but I played Dragon's Dogma.  Is it similar?"  He said, "Dragon's Dogma sucked"

Dude still has no idea how close he came to dying that day.

The game that Knack "killed."

I really wasn't expecting much at all from it. I expected a remastered and slightly tweaked 3DS kind of game. Boy, was I so extremely wrong. It's so close to perfect in so many ways it's crazy.

ANOTHER DRAGON'S DOGMA FAN?  Seriously, VGChartz!!  Am I being punked right now?

last of us

That game blew me away, too.  Unfortunately, I didn't play Pikmin 3 until after I had already finished that 3D game.  Definitely a game that defied all expectations....until we hyped it up so much that anybody who played it after us had unrealistic expectations.