Ever have a game where the art style / art direction either kept you from purchasing a game or made you stop playing a game?

Definitely, I have a really hard time looking at the kind of 2D games that mix blurry photoshop filters/"modern lighting effects" with pixel art. Think stuff like Lone Survivor, Streets of Rogue and most games from the XBLA era.
I love pixel art, but it only works for me if they actually pick a visual style and stick to it, not mixing and matching clashing elements.
For similar reasons I don't like the look of Valheim, whose assets are trying to go for some kinda MSDOS/PS1 era 3D look but couple it with modern lighting and grass shaders, a combination that just don't mesh together at all in my eyes.
(when it comes to Valheim I'm also having some issues with how they chose to depict mythological creatures from Scandinavian folklore in ways that basically have no resemblence to the old tales. Like, why is the Neck a frog, which to my knowledge it has never been depicted as in any tales.)

Didn't exactly stop me from playing it, but Warcraft 3's cartoon graphics certainly were a factor in me not liking the game all that much. Can't stand this exaggerated cartoon style in games.

Only 99.99% of pixel art and low poly games released in last 3-5 years. xD

The 0.01% was Hotline Miami 2, right?

I'm not a big fan of the new renaissance of pixel-art graphics myself, but Hotline Miami and Risk of Rain are probably my favorite indie games.

I feel the same -- and I grew up on Star Blazers and 70's anime. I just cannot connect with modern anime styles -- big heads, huge eyes, etc. That being said -- despite this aversion -- I am still interested in...

... GranBlue Fantasy Re:link

gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OP_wPj2bI I have the same problem. It's hard for me to get immersed into that art style -- one of the reasons I have tried unsuccessfully multiple times to play Kingdoms of Amalur and the King's Bounty series.

I don't actively hate the style, but it just "feels" weightless to me... and then I lose interest

I actively hate the faces in Oblivion. I tried to play it on console and couldn't get past that grotesque nightmare fuel. I plan to go back on PC after installing some mods.

Short answer: All games made after 2000 with "pixel" graphics.

Longer answer: I love old retro games even going back to the early 1990s and even the 1980s, also including old console games from back then, and playing them brings a nostalgia of fond memories. Even games from back then that I never played I can enjoy playing nowadays from my GOG library, because that is how games were back then.

At the same time I've always been a gamer to embrace the advancements of computer hardware and software technology and to look forward to what these advancements can bring in terms of visual and audio improvements among other benefits. Whenever there was a shift in the industry towards higher resolutions, higher bit depths, higher frame rates I have always embraced and welcomed it and saw it as a major benefit. That has never hampered my ability to still enjoy older games in their original state either however.

But when it comes to brand new games developed over time in a given year, I have a sort of built in expectation for them to improve with the technology as it improves, taking full advantage of the higher resolutions, bit depths and frame rates, of better audio resolution and other factors as well. For all the money we put into our computers I feel like I want to see the games I buy take advantage of what the hardware has to offer, and if they don't, or if they go backwards in time then by default it puts me off.

So my first reaction whenever I see brand new or recent year video games with pixel graphics and low color depths, chiptune soundtracks etc. is to cringe. But...

...

...

... damnit, some of them are good. LOL I cringed at Stardew Valley and then played it one day to see what all the noise was about and got addicted to it for like 2 months. I got into FEZ for a while also. What many people will say is that graphics or sound aren't important, it is the gameplay that matters. I would agree that gameplay is more important than anything else, but that it isn't a zero sum game as to what is important. I'd still prefer to see great gameplay AND great graphics and sound ultimately.

But then some of the games might actually NOT look better with better graphics too ... oddly enough. I can't imagine Stardew Valley WITHOUT being pixelated now even though I prefer non-pixelated games, because it would lose some of it's aesthetic and that 8-bit NES game vibe it has going on.

So... I reluctantly "get it", even though I crack jokes about pixely games often and throw some shade at them, I secretly play and enjoy some of them myself. ;) But I also am secretly into making retro pixel shaders for OBS to pixelate and style video with that oldschool CRT feel, make things look like a C64 or other old gaming system etc. So it kind of doesn't make much sense for me to throw pixel games under the bus as much as I do. LOL

And yet... I still do it. What a hypocrite I am! :P

Nice environments in that, but even that art style for those characters doesn't do it for me. Better than many I've seen, granted, but still not my cuppa.

It's weird, way back in the 80s(?) when the Akira graphic novels first showed up here in Canada, I really liked them. Bought the first 16 (12?) or so issues, but my interest fell off. I still have them stored away somewhere, I think.

Prevented me from purchasing a game - of course. You can't buy and play everything, so you have to have some kind of filters, and the first one for me are usually screenshots. If I think they look interesting, somewhat catering to my tastes, I read on or put the game on the wishlist right away. If I'm bored just looking at the screenshot already, I don't. I can't really name specific art styles that I dislike though, off the top of my head. I dislike inconsistencies or lack of artistic vision.

Made me stop playing - not that I remember. At least not as the sole reason. Camera, controls, performance, gameplay, maybe even sound are more likely to do that.

Did a little scanning of the games I acquired in recent years and those who fit the bill are:
Infectonator 3: Apocalypse, Death Coming and Beat Cop from pixelated.
The Flame in the Flood and Untitled Goose Game from low poly.

Still haven't played Infectonator 3: Apocalypse and Beat Cop, but the other 3 hit the spot perfectly for me.
Off topic, but I'll be repeating this on every suitable occasion until I die...The Flame in the Flood Soundtrack is one of the best game soundtracks ever made!

Ooooh, that's an excellent example of the exception to the rule. Fantastic game and the pixel graphics don't bother me at all.

The cartoony graphics in Age of Empires Online really put me off. It was the first AoE game that I skipped -the "online" part sure didn't help.

As a kid, I was foolish enough to refuse to give Curse of Monkey Island a chance because it had a different style from the first two. In my defense, I have already put a remedy to this.

I find the art style of Battle Brothers to be very off-putting... although I hear from many it's a fantastic game. The squat "medieval chess" figures just don't look "exciting" to me. Even Pendragon looks more inviting IMO... and I'm not quite sold on that style either.

Also...

The art style of Bound by Flame is quite bland and monotonous. I finished the game -- and enjoyed the characters -- but the environments (after the first act) were "lifeless"... and didn't help they looked slightly cell-shaded.

I dislike the graphics of Civilization V and VI compared to IV.
IV looks so much better to me.