From the moment Dishonored 2 was announced, it became my most anticipated game of 2016; I pre-ordered the collector’s edition as soon as it was available.

Last week Bethesda made waves when they announced they would no longer be sending out early review copies to media outlets. While I may not agree with that practice, this is definitely a game I’m ready to experience without reading a review first.

As if to reward me for that, I received a delightful email from Amazon today, letting me know that not only will my copy of Dishonored 2 arrive on time, it will actually arrive a day early.

Hooray for me!

Of all the pre-order bonuses I’ve been privy to, this is one of the best. I know early adopters sometimes get burned and become unintentional playtesters, but I love getting in there at the onset and seeing the game as soon as I can. Add to this my excitement for Dishonored 2 in general, and you now find me in a very solid state of happy camper-ness.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love in-game pre-order bonuses, too (e.g.: missions, quests, items), but for some reason, I find the idea of getting my hands on the game early to be the best bonus of all. I know a couple of blockbuster games have been dipping their toes in the pay-extra-to-play-early scene, but this is a case where I was already on board and was subsequently “rewarded” for that.

Before Amazon started their program of offering new release games to Amazon Prime members for 20% of the retail price (which includes both standard, as well as fancy editions), I pre-ordered most of my games at my local GameStop. The store is great, and the staff is friendly, but what I miss most are the midnight release events they would have. I loved all the anticipation and getting to hang out with other people who were also super excited about the same game.

When ordering from Amazon, it’s a bit of a different experience. For one thing, not every game has release date delivery. That’s odd enough. But when a game does have release date delivery, Amazon has until 8pm on release day to deliver it.

I know, I know, we are talking about the difference of a handful of hours, but when you have had your excitement building for over a year for a game, those hours somehow seem bigger than they are.

And sometimes, even when Amazon says a package will show up by 8pm, it doesn’t show up at all, and that becomes an inflated frustration (and yes, this has happened to me on more than one occasion). Amazon has excellent customer service, but when you’ve been looking forward to something for that long, hearing it won’t arrive until the next day (or perhaps not even then), isn’t ideal.

So, that being said, this day-early arrival of the game I’ve been dreaming of playing for years is like a present in and of itself.

What are your favorite types of pre-order bonuses? What were the games that had the best pre-order bonuses (in your opinion)?