Anyone with experience working in gaming development will know it’s a low-key miracle any major game gets released at all, let alone arriving bug-free and enjoyable to play. As such, the gaming landscape is speckled with titles that were billed as groundbreaking but ended up being released to widespread disappointment, inevitably followed shortly thereafter by a “yeah we screwed up but we’re listening” social media apology.
So here are ten relatively recent games that promised the world and fell short. I want to underline that this is not a list of bad games – many titles here are now perfectly enjoyable experiences – but they definitely failed to live up to the hype.
Starfield (2023)
Let’s get it out of the way. Microsoft and Bethesda Softworks promised the moon with Starfield, but the final release was a distinct disappointment. It’s not that Starfield is outright awful, just that the promise of exploring the galaxy turned out to be done largely via menus and even when you’re on foot there’s nothing of note out there to discover.
That, compounded by bad writing, awkward animations, and creaky underlying technology, left Starfield as one of 2023’s most underwhelming major releases. Maybe modders can fix the surface-level issues, but we feel that Starfield‘s flaws are so fundamental it’s probably not going to get much better than it currently is.
Marvel’s Avengers (2020)
2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man was a critically acclaimed smash-hit, leading many to assume Marvel and Disney were taking their upcoming slate of games very seriously. Soon after that, we began to get teases of Marvel’s Avengers from developer Crystal Dynamics, responsible for the well-regarded Tomb Raider reboot series. How could it fail?!
What eventually landed on shelves was the epitome of everything the public hates about modern gaming. Nickel-and-diming microtransactions, games as a service rubbish, and an incredibly repetitive online mode. Player numbers cratered soon after release and never recovered, the game was recently pulled from storefronts, and its commercial failure is estimated to have lost publisher Square Enix around $200 million.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition (2021)
The PlayStation 2 Grand Theft Auto trilogy changed the course of gaming forever, so the announcement of a “definitive edition” bringing these three titles to modern hardware was cause for celebration. Then we actually saw it. Hideous re-worked character models, nonsensical AI-upscaled textures, broken visual effects, all new game-breaking bugs!
Rockstar Games soon admitted that the collection “did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect”. To be fair, patches have improved the games, though now development has ceased and they’re destined to remain deeply flawed forever.
Resident Evil 3 (2020)
We want to underline that Resident Evil 3 is not a bad game, but it definitely failed to live up to the hype. Development of Resident Evil 3, an update of 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, ran concurrently with the amazing Resident Evil 2 Remake and fans expected a game of similar quality. Technically they got it, as Resident Evil 3 plays just as well and looks as good as Resident Evil 2. The only problem is that it’s incredibly short.
1999’s Nemesis wasn’t a particularly long game to begin with, though the remake omitted some key areas from it, leaving a game that can easily be completed in a single evening (the all-time speedrun is 46 minutes, 51 seconds from start to finish). Was that worth $60? Many loudly concluded no, it was not.
Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017)
Mass Effect 3 may have had a controversial ending, but BioWare’s sci-fi RPG trilogy was still considered an all-time great. Andromeda was supposed to continue that winning streak, giving you a new corner of the universe to explore and a fresh cast of characters.
Development did not proceed smoothly, not helped by a switch to the difficult-to-work-with Frostbite 3 engine. The end result was perhaps BioWare’s first true flop, released to widespread mockery of the strange facial animations, technical glitches, and broken mechanics. But hey, everyone makes the occasional mistake, and BioWare was already hard at work on what would surely be its next beloved blockbuster…
Anthem (2019)
In 2019 prerelease excitement for Anthem was at fever pitch. BioWare had promised a new online world with a gripping story, exciting combat mechanics, and beautiful graphics. Anthem was poised to be one of the biggest games of the generation, with BioWare promising that it would go on to be supported for years to come.
Then we actually played it and… oh boy where to begin? It was immediately apparent that despite its lengthy development Anthem was seriously undercooked. The loot system was busted, the servers didn’t work properly, it was buggy, and – crucially – simply wasn’t fun. Anthem didn’t sell, those promises of ongoing support were broken, and it is now dead as a dodo.
Redfall (2023)
You have to feel sorry for Arkane. For years it had slowly built a reputation for technical and design brilliance, but all it takes is one flop for its good name to be tarnished. Open-world vampire shooter Redfall appeared to play to all its weaknesses, diluting the tight focus on environmental storytelling and emergent gameplay in favor of ugly environments and laughably stupid enemies.
The crowning misery was that this dowdy game was somehow limited to 30 FPS, even on the mighty Xbox Series X. A patch has now rectified that but, predictably, doubling the frame rate has not made Redfall twice as fun. Let’s hope it becomes a mere footnote in the studio’s future.
Street Fighter V (2016)
Street Fighter V is now a good game, boasting an impressive 45 characters, a variety of modes, and relatively solid online play. But at launch, the venerable fighting game was a remarkably stingy package, with the crucial online multiplayer plagued by connection issues and lag.
Controversy rightly blew up over Capcom effectively selling a half-finished product and then expecting players to fork out more money for the complete package. Over the years the game improved, and the success of Street Fighter 6 indicated Capcom took this lesson to heart. Let’s hope it never repeats the calamity of V.
Halo: Infinite (2021)
Halo: Infinite was positioned as the flagship title for Microsoft’s Series X|S consoles, though a disastrous preview screening saw it delayed and dragged back for further development. The final product arrived in December 2021 and was clearly attempting to capture the magic of the first Halo way back in 2001.
The single-player adventure was competent enough, though most eyes were on multiplayer to make this a permanent fixture in the Xbox ecosystem. On that front, it disappointed. Shoddy net code spoiled high-level play, and for a long time, there was a dramatic lack of maps and game modes, leading to a surprisingly low player count. It’s better now, though Halo: Infinite was far from the enduring hit Microsoft had hoped for.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
Do we really need to retell this sorry tale? CD Projekt Red had built up an absurd amount of goodwill after the excellent The Witcher III and its subsequent DLCs. And so, by 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t just a game, it was a cultural event.
We all know how it went down on launch. Every version of the game, though especially the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases, was littered with gamebreaking bugs and glitches. Sony even took the unprecedented move of removing it from sale until it was fixed.
Three years and many patches later, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally a good game, with its Phantom Liberty DLC receiving rave reviews. Don’t you just love a happy ending?