Actually That hour or two was the only thing I liked. Because I didnt learn yet how the game was to be. Blissfully unaware lol

I wouldn't say Knights of Pen and Paper starts super fun, but its fun factor definitely dropped awhile into the plot. There were a few new locations and monsters, none too interesting, and a incredibly boring slog.

I might end it someday (such is the ease of picking back up a casual game), but I'm really not in a hurry to fire it up.

Kinda reminds me of Guild of Dungeoneering. It starts out fine enough, but slogs down quickly.

Pokeclicker is quite fun for the first region (Kanto), but once you reach Johto, thongs slow down way too much.

(Also, the game actually requires, on default settings, to collect every single Pokemon before moving on to the next region..)

Gog foruming.

You know that game where you use your head to eat an apple in a big bowl of water?

Thanks for killing my interest in it before I waste my money.

UFO : Aftermath / Aftershock / Afterlight
This series of three old games I tried recently all did this, they all started off so easy even on harder difficulty levels that I suspected I'd accidentally enabled some cheats of some kind! But all presented regular large escalations in difficulty, all three were near impossible even on the easiest difficulty settings by about 75% completion. That did leave me with no option but to cheat shamelessly to at least have the closure of getting to the end. Which spoiled them towards the end somewhat. Aftermath's cheats were disabled (by GOG?) so I did have to abandon that at 75% done!

Developers just can't seem to get the difficulty balance right - and they haven't for decades. Ever maybe. I recall some ancient C64 / Amiga games just like it.

Well, don't let my opinion sway you. Read the reviews, watch a bit, inform your own opinion.

I've seen this with absolutely every incremental game I've played with the exception of A Dark Room and SPACEPLAN. What makes these two different is that they have an ending sequence. Sure both games will loop back to the beginning after, but you still get to a point where you can say that you've finished the game.... unlike every other incremental that I have played, which you can never really say that you finished and can only abandon it at some point.

Try:
Candy Box 1 and 2 (if you're looking for a game that isn't too long, I recommend 2; it does take a few minutes of waiting to get started, unfortunately)
Universal Paperclips (though I heard it got updated at some point)
The Prestige Tree and many of its mods have a defined endgame; once you reach a certain number of points, you're taken to a screen that says you've finished the game

I've heard of Universal Paperclips.... and that the iOS version is broken in that you can play through it once no problem but there's some issues with the loop run after that. I'm completely unfamiliar with the others you mentioned.

Kingdom "Boredom: Deliver Me Away": The graphics and story seem very well made, and it was engaging at first, but the combat is such a boring and tedious task, and it goes on and on... I even tried to watch a play-through by someone else, but I just got frustrated again and turned it off. A proper snail fest.

The Witcher 1 and 2: Here I did manage to watch a playtrough because the combat wasn't dragged on too much, it was just the time-attack I couldn't stand (and much too late I learned of a mod that seemingly removed that nonsense, so perhaps I'm going to try again later).

CyberPunk 2077: I mean, the graphics and the city is just so beautiful and so detailed visually it's a shame core game and the atmosphere is so cold and void. The game could've really benefited from the RPG mechanics they promised, instead of the crappy looter-shooter part where it literally rains empty papers with fingerpaint on and nothing special to invest in. Again, after 8-9 hours hours the glitter just falls apart and leaves a hollow taste. Though, in CDPRs defense, they've done some good job in the last 2 years, but I'm going to wait a few more years before I even consider trying one final try from start to finish.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Yet again a beautiful world with a good story almost ruined by the tedious combat.

FarCry 2 / Amnesia A Machine for Pigs: The worst in the series by miles. The atmosphere and the story is as dry as the landscape. Survival mode in Skyrim is much more fun than this "fever" and world.

Mass Effect 1: It opens really great but then everything just drags on, do this, fetch this, see this, look at Shepards awkward face a few more times... Not sure if I even want to try the others.

Torchlight 1: Starts really great, but unlike Diablo 1, the dungeons just multiplies and just get bigger and bigger, like when you're full but still tries to chew the last few bites because it was so good in the beginning, and it feels like it grows in your mouth. The first part, the castle parts, the later inferno part, the amazon part and all those are great and really fun to traverse in, but the damp caves in the middle is just so horrendously tedious. Way too big. I've lost count of how many times I've quit just to take a vacation from it all. Wish there was a mod to skip that part.

Not getting the Horizon Zero Dawn in this thread. It's the only 'open world' game that kept me. Each and every fight is a fun skirmish. It's one of the most engrossing combat systems I've ever played. I never found it dragging, discouraging, or wanting to speed a long, or that the game dropped.

(Now the sequel, I did... But mostly because of its badly balanced upgrade grind that made you repetitively farm certain foes way too often. The combat's still great in it, just that they forced you to repeatedly kill the same thing over and over to get upgrades.)

I totally agree about HZD, I thought it was really compelling both in story and gameplay for all of it. Sad to hear about the sequel.