I agree with you on the risk free stuff (although thankfully we've had a real renaissance of indie developers.) But I think you're minimizing the importance of the visual element, given that gaming is by and large a visual medium. I also think you are dismissing the quality of modern game engines, sound, and general stability. There is a lot more going on with the jump from this:
You showed it really well. Most players will care about the visuals very much and there is nothing wrong with that. But, at least for me, it is not that important. I got a lot more excited for PoE and even pixel art games than for any recent AAA beautiful game.