Some games that I like thematically, but don't enjoy the gameplay on:

• Elden Ring. If it was more RPG-like, avoided respawning enemies and reliance on learning patterns, I think I'd like it more.

• Sunless Sea. Neat setting and writing. I don't like the gameplay

simple combat, not very interesting choices, hunt-the-item stuff.

• Cyberpunk 2077. This isn't bad, but I wanted something like a Bethesda game, and I got something like a Grand Theft Auto game. I think that it'd be much better as a Bethesda-like game. Oh, though I never really liked Johnny Silverhand as a character much.

• Fallout 76

well, I don't have a problem with the franchise

but on that particular game, I'd rather it wasn't an online game, were a single-player open-world RPG. It's more like that than when it launched, but...

• To expand on that: a whole slew of games that are really intended to be played multiplayer, but where I only want to play against the computer. I don't like playing games multiplayer. I would buy an expansion for these that went back and put in some major single-player improvements and good game AI. Carrier Command 2 can be played single-player, but it's kinda repetitive and not balanced well for single-player teams. Wargame: Red Dragon. I like the game and the setting, but the AI is very difficult to enjoy playing against; just too primitive. Steel Division 2, later in Eugen's series, really improved on the AI. Defense of the Ancients 2; the whole MOBA genre is really oriented towards playing with real humans.

• Scanner Sombre. This is a mostly-psychological horror game, where the gimmick is that you can only see something that you've scanned with this LIDAR-type gizmo. You're walking through a cave complex, and the mechanic of things slowly emerging and having to manage your visibility really works in a horror environment. But...the game isn't really very replayable, and I like replayable games. I wish that someone would basically take the stumbling-around-in-a-cave-with-a-scanner thing and make a different sort of game out of it. (Note: If you play this, I played the Windows version in Proton. The Linux-native build was extremely unstable for me.)

And just for the hell of it, the opposite

some where I like the gameplay, but not the theme:

• The Binding of Isaac. I love the action roguelike gameplay. I don't like the gore/fetus/abuse/scatological stuff all that much. I'll deal with it, but I'd have liked the game more if it had a different theme.