I feel like this might come down to mechanics familiarity - example being Dogs in the Vineyard, which came off very intrusive and artificial the first time we tried it, and totally organic and natural the second time, several years later and with more weird games under our belt.
The reviews are good, but it help “helps” to know enough about the reviewer to know if they’re more a trad gamer or hippy indie gamer. (Helps, except then you have to know about all those damn gaming factions…)