Yep most gamers are afraid to take the road less travelled. And it's understandable considering that games cost $60 a pop and they'd be lucky to get half of that back if they trade it in to GameStop (yes there's eBay but most gamers don't sell games on eBay.) They see the same old franchises and the hyped up games that everyone is talking about as safer bets.

Also gaming is a very social thing right now. Gamers are generally influenced by their friends as to what games they pick out. When guys ask me, "what games are you playing now?" and I'm like (an example) "I'm playing DeathSmiles at the moment, it's a shoot em up for the Xbox 360" they just look at you with this really confused look on their face. And it's like that almost every time I mention some niche game. I do try to give the more mainstream games a fair shake because it kinda sucks when you talk games with guys and you can barely contribute to the conversation (so I'll rent the odd popular game here and there to stay "in the loop". I'll play it some. If I like it, I continue. If I don't, I send it back in the mail. Not a big deal.). But I wish they, the mainstream gamer, would give the niche stuff a fair shake themselves. It's good to keep an open mind. I remember when I used to play almost nothing but Japanese RPGs back in my teen years. I just assumed that the other stuff wasn't worth my time. But then I kept an open mind, tried the other stuff and found that playing nothing but jrpgs is pretty boring compared to playing a diverse variety of games.

I don't see how anyone could say it looks like shit. The art design is unparalleled. I know some people think it's rough around the edges, but I think it's one of the most graphically beautiful games this generation.

I totally agree with you on that one.  Just finish playing chapter 5 and still amazed by how everything looks.

With the Unreal engine It remains me too much to Batman Arkhanm Asylum I actually think that Heavenly Sword had better graphics and it also had a better launch week. Enslaved will probably reach 1.5 M combined PS3and 360

misleading title.

The title just bombed. Let's hope it turns out Carnival Games like.

Heavenly Sword launched when there was literaly nothing else to play. In it's first week it sold 104,593 while Enslaved in it's first week has sold 82,745 in the middle of one of the most packed year of this generation. Blockbuster and blockbuster has been released month after month. Gamers are spoiled for games to play and they can't buy them all. Enslaved deserved better, but gamers are either busy with other games like Halo Reach or waiting for games like Black Ops, Fable 3, and GT5. But as of right now it's only 21,848 behind Heavenly sword and it could easily pick up a lot more sales as the holiday season heats up. You're pridiction of 1.5m combined fits in with Heavenly Sword which after it's 20th week is at 1.4m. Who knows, it might, it deserved better sales since it's a better game than Heavenly sword in every way.

As for the graphics. Batman AA? What are you talking about? It looks nothing like Batman AA. And what's wrong with the Unreal Engine? Some of the best looking and playing games this generation run on the Unreal Engine. Yeah, and I think Enslaved is one of the best looking games of this gen. It might have a glitch here or there and it might show some rough edges from time to time, but overall it's breathtakingly beautifull.

How does this compare to Mirror's Edge?  (The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of an impressive new IP with a very slow burn.)

And the new Castlevania 3D extravaganza?  I've seen, and smelled, that dog before!  I'll eventually give the demo a try, but after the awful history this series has with 3d, Konami's infuriating reluctance to give us the console 2D game we want, and a total fanbase FU by rebooting the franchise into a blatant pastiche of other, probably better, games, it doesn't deserve anything better than bombed out sales.

I played the Enslaved demo I think is a fun game the gameplay was simple but fun, I hated Heavenly Sword didn't even finished the demo but the graphics were very good, I'm not saying that the Unreal engine is bad, the thing that bothers me is that the characters have a similar frame and build so for me its kind of generic its like Uncharted engine for example the characters are skinny and tall but only Uncharted uses that engine, also the camera behind and slightly close to the character in Enslaved is very similar to Batman AA.

Watched my brother play up to chapter 8 in Enslaved, and I'm impressed because it's such a beautiful game. I did see some screen tearing and lag but nothing game-breaking. I don't regret getting this one, I'm still thinking about Castlevania but my budget is limited, I must've spent 400 bucks since september on games and hardware. :/

i love this game! the story is excellent, and true science fiction, unlike most games that happen to play in the future.

the characters and character development is outstanding, and manages to avoid every cliché that i would have expected from a story like that.

i don't mind the graphical flaws, but i do believe that a game this great, would have deserved a better presentation. And i really hope it gets the sales it deserves to convince developers we need more  games like that.