Xen on 28 October 2019
Expectations for something such as a sequel for example will inevitably arise, if only because the previous game has primed you for them - and that will ultimately affect your reception of a given game.
Besides that, expectations across a genre are a thing - better games in genre are only better because they have a reference point in another game - to which comparisons will be inevitably made, thus affecting expectations.
The whole system is somewhat, but not entirely, out of our hands, so, a bad game may be received better - and a good one worse.
