What's wrong with the gamers, games or... me?

Hi everyone, I would like to invite you to discuss such things like game popularity.

For example let's take such a brilliant like Tower 57. So far it has only 300 reviews on the Steam which is "mixed". WTF?

It is very dissapoint me, while Enter the Gungeon has over 2000 "overhelmingly positive" reviews... Let's take The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - oh my god what is that?! (I feel sorry for my eyes from what I saw) But it has 78,669 overwhelmingly Positive reviews. WTF? Where is the secret of such a success?

Are the gamers don't need anymore a good story with a good graphics that you want to play more and more and want to know what the end? Do we need to create crap to be popular and have a sales? Everyone is talking about indie bubble crisis but what is that? Seems like gamers are satisfied with that!...

What do you think about? May be I'm wrong. Please share you thoughts.

Doesn't matter how good the art, or aesthetic is if it doesn't appeal to an audience that will appreciate it.

Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Art Noir, and Art Nouveau, are all niche, but end up being kitsch for games.

The Binding of Isaac has a "poopy" art direction, kind of on purpose.

The gameplay though is pretty deep, and offers hours upon hours of gameplay and replay value.

Every run is different and offers you possible builds to change the capacities of your character according to the item you get in loot.

And the story/narration is provided through items and cut-scenes that are open to interpretation, nothing to read much.

Also, the type of game is actually different. BOI is a rogue-like, hence the replay value to it.

I'm not familiar with Tower 57, but it does not look more than a twinstick shooter, with a nice pixel-art look to it.

According to the reviews, everybody loves the graphic look, but seems to find the arena-fight mechanic to not fit with it somehow.

Also people encountered bugs.

It might be only a question of taste in the end, and luck, if you haven't encountered bugs. Nevertheless, BOI has been around for years, and not buggy.

The looks of it possibly does not appeal to you, but its depths in terms of controls/gameplay/design makes it memorable.

Tower 57 seems to have nice looking graphics for it. But that looks like a basic shooter to play.

Aesthetics might not be the most important aspect of a game; gameplay is.

Perhaps you can look into Nuclear Throne if you like pixels and arena shooters.

It is another indy darling I wasn't too found of but which had some following and made its mark in time.

artheads afaik Steam has 2 terms for games like that. Hidden Gem and Niche.

For example, i enjoy playing Rimworld, which is sort of popular. But many of my gamer friends have never even heard of it. For them it's a hidden gem.

Nextly, Rimworld has a futuristic setting, which some people don't like. Those people may prefer fantasy with elves and fireballs which i dislike. So, even the setting affects the game's niche.

So you are totally fine to play whichever game you personally like. But you should not expect other people to share your passion, because they either dislike some (random) element of the game, or have simply never heard of it.