Good ideas aren't always enough.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00It can be incredibly hard to have an idea that's totally and completely unique, and
00:04in a 50-year-old industry with new games constantly being placed under labels like Metroidvania
00:10and Souls-like, it can be almost impossible to see something that's truly new.
00:15All of which is why it hurts even more when a game does have something that feels fresh,
00:18a concept that is downright genius, only for the game itself to waste it.
00:23From brand new franchises and new developers to more established names and studios, no
00:28one is safe from ruining a fantastic concept.
00:31These are just a few titles that have suffered this fate.
00:34I'm Jess from WhatCulture and here are 10 video games that wasted brilliant concepts.
00:3910.
00:40Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts
00:43Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is a very strange video game.
00:46Rare took the platformer icons and developed a gameplay system all around creating and
00:51customizing vehicles, needing to alter them depending on the type of level or challenge
00:55you needed to complete.
00:57For example, if you needed to focus on speed, you needed to make your car small.
01:01If you have to transport stuff, you need to create a basket on top of your vehicle.
01:04It was incredibly rewarding to complete a mission knowing that your customization choices
01:09is why you were able to do it.
01:10The system was clever and while the missions could be a bit wonky from time to time, it
01:15was rewarding.
01:16So why was the game such a disappointment?
01:19Simple, it wasn't a real Banjo-Kazooie game.
01:22This was the Bear and Bird's first new adventure under the Microsoft banner after they purchased
01:27Rare, and it had been 8 years since the last main game.
01:30Having the first new Banjo-Kazooie after all that time be a game that abandoned its platforming
01:35roots made a lot of people very understandably upset.
01:39The vehicle creation wasn't enough to sway them, and they just couldn't get out of the
01:43shadow of fans' expectations.
01:45The franchise the game was in is what ultimately ruined it, and it wasn't until their addition
01:49to Super Smash Bros Ultimate where Banjo and Kazooie would return to the spotlight.
01:549.
01:55Never Dead
01:57Did you know that Konami used to make and publish video games?
02:00It's true, you may have even heard of some of them.
02:03Yet there's a good chance you never heard of Never Dead.
02:06Released in 2012 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Never Dead had an incredibly interesting hook.
02:12You played as an immortal being that couldn't die.
02:15If you took damage, instead of dying, you'd get dismembered, losing arms and legs until
02:20you were just a head rolling around.
02:22Sometimes this helped with puzzles, but most of the time it was a way to make combat more
02:26tense as you tried to pull yourself back together while dodging bullets.
02:30However, this interesting concept was all the game had.
02:34The story was bad, the characters were at best boring and at worst unlikable, and the
02:39combat was incredibly clunky.
02:41Everything outside of the idea was a disaster, and the game never got a follow up because
02:44of it.
02:45Hopefully the interesting immortality mechanic gets picked up by another game in the future,
02:49because with some tweaking, it could be really fun.
02:528.
02:53The Order 1886
02:55There's a good chance that if this game was better, The Order would have been a mainstay
02:59PlayStation franchise from its setting alone.
03:02Taking place in an alternate history Victorian England where technology had advanced well
03:06past what the time period should have had, the game follows the knights of the round
03:10table as they fight off monsters such as werewolves and vampires.
03:14The premise is fantastic, and nothing else quite like it was out at the time.
03:18In fact, this game came out a month before Bloodborne, the only other game that could
03:22be compared to The Order's world and setting on the console.
03:25But the game itself was a let down.
03:28While the world and presentation was immaculate, the gameplay was much too simple, the length
03:32of the game was much too short, and the story didn't make full use of its inspired setting.
03:37On top of that, The Order wasn't nearly as interactive as it should have been, falling
03:41back on quick time events over active gameplay.
03:447.
03:45Absolver
03:46You may have heard of an indie game called Sifu where you play as a martial artist in
03:49possession of a magic amulet that revives them at an older age whenever they die.
03:54Sifu had critical and commercial success, getting one million copies sold in only a
03:59few months.
04:00But before that, developer Slow Clap had released another game called Absolver, and it was a
04:05hand-to-hand multiplayer combat game that was overall very interesting and original.
04:09Basically, you roamed the world to find other players to fight, and as you fought them,
04:13you learned their attacks, adding to your moveset with every fight.
04:17It was a fantastic idea, basically creating a level system without having a level system,
04:22and making the multiplayer world feel interactive, rewarding you for engaging in it.
04:26The issue was, Absolver is a multiplayer game, and multiplayer games need players to function.
04:32The game was unique, but also niche, and because of that, the player base was so small that
04:37the game quickly lost its appeal of fighting others found in the world.
04:40Luckily, Sifu seems to have Slow Clap back on track, and seeing what great ideas the
04:45developers will come up with in the future is exciting.
04:486.
04:49Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City
04:51Resident Evil is one of the most influential and iconic video game franchises of all time.
04:56However, while the highs of the series are very high, the lows of the series are so low
05:01that they hit the bedrock.
05:03Which leads us to Operation Raccoon City, a game which does something that other Resident
05:08Evil games just didn't do, focus on some of the bad guys of the game, Umbrella.
05:13And during the events of Resi 2 and 3, Raccoon City focuses on an Umbrella task force, showing
05:18what the evil organisation was doing during this time, and even showing some what-if scenarios
05:23with the team taking down Leon and Claire.
05:25Unfortunately, the premise was trapped in a low-quality third-person shooter, made to
05:30be played in co-op, with terrible AI replacing the spots you weren't able to convince enough
05:34of your friends to fill.
05:36It was a bland action shooter with very little focus on horror.
05:40The story also didn't live up to the premise, just being used as an excuse to go forward
05:44and shoot more zombies.
05:45After this disappointment, Capcom would try something similar years later with Umbrella
05:49Corps.
05:51And the less said about that, the better.
05:535.
05:54Murdered Soul Suspect
05:55How they messed up a ghost detective trying to solve his own murder while dealing with
05:59demons is the real mystery here, as somehow Square Enix found a way.
06:04Having an absolutely stellar idea, Murdered Soul Suspect just doesn't do as much with
06:09the premise as it could have.
06:10Being able to walk through walls for clues and possess people for interrogations is a
06:14phenomenal idea, but in a game like this, the lack of freedom is incredibly obvious.
06:19You can only walk through so many walls as there are places blocked off, there are demon
06:23fights to be had that quickly become boring after your third time, and on top of that,
06:28it's an incredibly short title with a mystery in zero danger of not being solved.
06:33The only way you don't find out who the killer was is if you turn off the game halfway through,
06:37and honestly, nobody would blame you.
06:404.
06:41Chocobo GP
06:42The newest game on this list, Chocobo GP, came out on March 10th, 2022, and quickly
06:47made a lot of people very angry.
06:50On paper, this should have been a slam dunk.
06:51A kart racer from one of the most beloved and revered franchises in video game history,
06:56able to take any characters from its long and illustrious history and throw them into
07:00racing mayhem?
07:01How could that possibly go wrong?
07:03By having some incredibly terrible monetization practices, that's how.
07:08At an initial purchase of 50 US dollars, the game was filled to the brim with annoyances,
07:12having an in-game currency that you can only get by spending real-world money, and an incredibly
07:17frustrating battle pass that locks characters like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 behind days
07:22of gameplay.
07:23Of course, that grind could be offset by purchasing in-game currency to speed things along.
07:28After a loud outcry on social media, the developers have made some balance changes to make things
07:33easier to unlock, as well as added in-game currency as a real unlockable, but the damage
07:38seems to have already been done.
07:39It's a shame, as this idea could have been a real blast under better circumstances.
07:443.
07:45The Quiet Man
07:46The third and last Square Enix game on this list, The Quiet Man, is just weird, no question
07:51about it.
07:52The game had received interest for one real reason.
07:55Its main character was deaf, and as such, the game would be almost completely silent
08:00with no subtitles.
08:01It was an interesting narrative device, and one that could have been really successful
08:05if it was done properly, keyword there being if.
08:09For whatever reason, the developers decided to still write a story with live-action cutscenes,
08:13framed like a normal game with sound, making it so that the player, sat forever in silence,
08:18had no idea what was happening.
08:21The problems just got worse when they suddenly introduced supernatural elements, ruining
08:25any chance people had of following along.
08:27Eventually, audio for the game was added in an update, but even with knowing what was
08:32happening, The Quiet Man just wasn't any good.
08:35Combat was bland, and unfortunately, this was the only real gameplay present.
08:402.
08:41Sonic Forces
08:42If you're a Sonic fan and have ever been online, first off, hopefully you haven't
08:46been too emotionally scarred, and secondly, you've probably seen how many original characters
08:50have been created because of the series.
08:52If you haven't, here's a fun game, google your first name, then add the hedgehog at
08:57the end to see what pops up.
08:58Maybe put on that safe search if you don't want to be scarred.
09:01With so many original characters littering the internet for decades now, the idea of
09:05adding a character creator in Sonic Forces was a stroke of genius, putting you alongside
09:10the likes of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the rest of the cast and crew, while fighting
09:14off Eggman after he finally conquers the world.
09:17The issue is that Sonic Forces, like most modern Sonic games, just wasn't good.
09:23Boost gameplay was simpler and more boring than ever, the levels are blink and you'll
09:28miss them quick, and the story is nonsensical, even for the blue blur.
09:32It was a very poor game, and the character creation idea may unfortunately never reappear
09:36in the Sonic franchise again because of it.
09:391.
09:40Anthem
09:41Where do you even begin with Anthem?
09:43Created by BioWare and announced in 2017, Anthem immediately got people's attention
09:48thanks to its cinematic trailer, showing off what gameplay was supposed to look like.
09:53Flying through a jungle with an almost Iron Man-like flair and fighting off aliens with
09:57friends was a concept that was so exciting.
10:00Going quickly from the air to the ground in a huge sci-fi setting was something that so
10:03many people wanted, and the excitement for this game was sky high because of it.
10:08But BioWare just couldn't live up to those expectations, thanks to a now infamously rocky
10:13development.
10:14While the general flight and combat felt great, the lack of story, the lack of content, and
10:19the over-reliance on grinding for loot made it a slog to get through, and the many annoyances
10:24and technical issues on top of that during its launch window quickly evaporated any excitement
10:28people had for the game.
10:30The playerbase for the game quickly died down, and now all that's left of the game is a bunch
10:34of questions of what could have been.