Probably not the best title but what I mean is there are games that everyone recommends almost unanimously for some reason or another. Games I can think of off the top of my head thata re notable for this would be System Shock 2, Minecraft, to a lesser extent Terraria, and Bastion. There may be more but off the top of my head that is what I came up with. They can come from any time period but always will be classics. What do you all think causes this to happen with games and is it predictable?

If someone has a better title please either notify a moderator or me about getting it changed

Psychonauts was a cult classic.

Generally, something earns a Cult Classic status when it fails at creating fans during a commercial release but over time it builds a following that exceeds that of well liked things of the time. It's kind of hard to explain and I'm sure I'm doing a piss poor job of it.

Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are considered cult classics. Both movies did horrible at the box office but have since garnered a huge fan base since their release that they are now considered classics. They have even earned a remake today; endorsed by Bruce Campbell himself so You know it's going to be good. In fact, Bruce Campbell's entire career can be looked at this way. His movies generally do terrible but because of him they all end up becoming classics and have huge fan bases.

I'm sure it applies to video games much the same way it happens with movies. Fails at a commercial release but has enough fans who are so devoted to it that it eventually ends up with a cult following of fans.

A perfect example of a Cult Classic Game would be Wasteland. It didn't fare too well upon initial release but over time it has earned quite the fan base.

Probably about the most mainstream a game can be while still being considered a cult classic would be Counter Strike on PC.