OP

Quoted from JohnnyHomeBrew:

I got back into the hobby about two years ago. In that time I have devoured information, researched game after game, bought seven machines and basically tried to find out everything I could about pinball and pinball machines.
You see so many threads about people asking "Should I buy X or Y?" "Is A better than B?". SDTM podcasts have "Would you rather". Here's what I think when it comes to buying NIB machines, or re-sales from pins made in the last seven to ten years or so:
Buy a machine whose theme speaks to you.
That's it. Is Deadpool better than Avengers IQ? Not really. It's just different. In fact, that is the only word I would use to compare one new pinball machine to another. They're different.
Name me one Stern game produced in the last several years that you wouldn't enjoy playing if you liked the theme. The first game I bought was Guardians of the Galaxy, mostly because I loved the movie and absolutely loved the soundtrack. (Thank you Cleland!) And I love playing the machine. If I hated or had never seen the movie, I'm sure I wouldn't like it half as much. Why waste time reading reviews from people who hated (or never saw) the movie, or who played the game twice at a bar and decided to write a bad review. You're not them. If you're a Game of Thrones fanatic, you probably would like their pinball machine. Ditto for Stranger Things, Batman 66 or Rush.
Now certainly there are some bad pinball games out there. Awkward layouts, horrible sound effects, terrible artwork. But in my opinion those games are not really getting made anymore. You can fault Stern for making all their games have a certain sameness, but they also have a winning formula and don't want to reinvent the wheel or put out a 'stinker'. And they don't. Same goes for Jersey Jack, American Pinball, Chicago Gaming Company, Spooky, etc. They're all putting out quality machines. I'd be happy owning any of them.
Some games come out and everyone loves them. Others get crapped on. But two years later, the game everyone loved isn't quite so awesome, and the awful game just needed a little time and a code update.
So don't overthink it. Get the game that speaks to you. After all, you're the one playing it.