Truth be told, I feel the same way about Subnautica. Saw that the reviews were almost unanimously positive, saw the promotional materials, and bought a steam key on a site that had a pretty good deal. I don't remember which one, but the important bit is that I didn't purchase it on steam so I couldn't get a refund.

Tried it out and found it to be a mess of conflating design choices, poor attempts at humor, hitboxes that didn't remotely match their graphics, flavor text that gave the wrong impression on how things worked, and just generally couldn't understand the appeal. I gave it about 6-8 hours of time about half of that with a few people who adore the game, and I've just come to the conclusion that something about this game just isn't for me.

In retrospect it didn't help a few people gave me wildly wrong ideas about what to expect from the game: Factorio like automation, Minecraft Redstone like circuitry, and Dark Souls like atmosphere among other bold claims.

Absolutely. I wasn't saying its a wrong opinion or didn't criticize what you like. And I do not like lot of popular games too, so totally understandable. Have you ever tried Bubble Symphony? The actual true successor to the original. For the most part it is the same gameplay loop, but its improved on with lot of qol and features. Admittedly I never got into it, but maybe time for me as I recommend suggesting it here, lol: https://www.hardcoregaming101.net/bubble-symphony/