Games are marketed on visuals because visuals photograph. The elements that determine whether a game is enjoyable are mostly not visible in a screenshot.
Feel
How actions respond. The delay between pressing and happening, the weight of movement, the feedback when something connects. Games with excellent feel remain playable decades later; games without it are unpleasant regardless of how they look.
This is the hardest thing to convey in marketing and the first thing you notice playing.
The loop
The core activity you repeat. If the basic thing you do a thousand times is satisfying, the game works. If it is not, no amount of content around it helps.
Pacing
How new elements are introduced. A game that teaches steadily and keeps introducing ideas holds attention. A game that shows everything in the first two hours and then repeats it loses people in the middle, which is where most abandonment happens.
Respect for time
Whether the game wastes yours. Unskippable sequences, long travel between activities, repeated content padding the length. Players notice this even when they cannot name it.
Coherence
Whether the parts fit. A game where the story, mechanics and setting reinforce each other feels considerably better than one where they were designed separately.
Why graphics matter least
Because they are the thing that ages fastest and the thing least connected to whether playing is enjoyable. Games from decades ago with dated visuals remain played; games with impressive visuals and nothing else do not.