From broken promises to technical disasters, these are the most disappointing gaming releases of the past decade. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the gaming industry's recent and biggest failures, featuring rushed developments, deceptive marketing, and games that simply shouldn't have existed.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 20 Most Horrible,
00:14Dreadful, Miserable Video Games To Have Ever Released This Past Decade.
00:25Number 20, Watch Dogs Legion.
00:39In a sense, video games are repetitive in nature, but a good video game hides the repetition
00:44through fun gameplay loops that feed into each other.
00:48Watch Dogs Legion had something going for itself in how you could play as any character
00:52in the game, but that's where the fun ideas stop flowing.
00:56Everything after the tutorial is your run-of-the-mill, sneak-into-that-place, silent takedown, grab-reward,
01:02rinse-and-repeat.
01:03It doesn't help that what few interesting stories are introduced are cut short before
01:07they can tell something compelling while the difficulty fluctuates between every mission.
01:12Ultimately, you'll stop playing out of either boredom or frustration.
01:21Number 19, Mighty No. 9.
01:33Following a mass exodus of frustrated Capcom leads, one alumni of the publisher, Keiji
01:38Inafune, ventured out to bring a game to the starved Mega Man fanbase.
01:43At one point, Mighty No. 9 was shaping up to be a worthy successor from what little
01:472D art had been shown.
01:49Once we saw the game's new 3D visuals for the first time ever, everything went downhill
01:53at an almost neck-breaking speed.
01:56First came the infamous anime fan on prom night insult, then the livestream that told
02:06audiences the game was better than nothing, and finally release day, which revealed just
02:14how mediocre and inspiring the entire game was.
02:18Inafune's reputation was stained, and we've yet to see him or developer Comcept bounce
02:23back from this.
02:24Number 18, Grey Hill Incident.
02:36In the world of video games, we've seen all kinds of creative depictions of aliens
02:40across a rainbow of games targeted at different audiences.
02:43Rarely do we ever see a frightening interpretation of the traditional Grey Moon Men in the
02:48same way Grey Hill Incident approached it.
02:51It's also rare that we see a creative idea tank miserably in terms of quality.
02:56Grey Hill Incident forced players to use stealthy tactics to progress, only for AI to be unfairly
03:02buggy, thus breaking the whole point of stealth in the first place.
03:05What's worse is that if you were caught by the aliens, there was no telling how far
03:10back the game would send you as checkpoints were unevenly dispersed.
03:14It all makes for a somewhat infuriating experience, and we're only a few entries into this list.
03:27Number 17, Super Seducer How to Talk to Girls.
03:38It's important to look out for folks who will say and do anything to exploit you or
03:43take your hard-earned cash in exchange for a lazy product.
03:46Case in point, Super Seducer How to Talk to Girls.
03:49In this game, self-proclaimed pickup artist Richard LaRuina tries to educate the player
03:54on how to approach women, get a date with them, and eventually sleep with them.
03:58Not only are the situations presented here unrealistic and hokey, they also portray women
04:03in a way that kinda makes them seem formulaic, one-note, and nothing more than objects for
04:08the sake of self-fulfillment.
04:10Of course, some folks didn't like these kinds of criticisms levied against LaRuina and his
04:15game.
04:16So they bought the game out of spite and gave him enough money to spawn two more sequels.
04:29Number 16, Ghostbusters 2016 was already a rough year for the Ghostbusters
04:42IP.
04:43A solid video game could have helped remedy the backlash against the 2016 movie a little
04:47bit, but this title wound up being arguably worse than the film.
04:52In addition to the mundane gameplay of going room-to-room and fighting ghosts, Ghostbusters
04:57was abysmal in technical performance with its constant stuttering and drastic dips in
05:01framerate.
05:02The game was such a financial failure that developer Fireforge Games closed its doors
05:07not too long after launch.
05:09As for the game itself, it was delisted from all storefronts in January 2019.
05:23Number 15, Balan Wonderworld Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima will forever
05:37be remembered as a couple of Sega's most influential game designers in the company's
05:41history.
05:42However, Balan Wonderworld was not the kind of game anyone wanted from these two when
05:47they announced they had partnered with Square Enix for a new 3D platformer.
05:51Balan Wonderworld boasted a unique theme centered on musical theater, and that's pretty much
05:56the only nice thing we have to say about it.
05:59Everything else about the game is a befuddling mess.
06:02Why does every button do the same exact action?
06:04Why do objects de-render when you get closer to them?
06:07Why are we only allowed to have three costumes at once instead of a wheel, or focus the level
06:12on just one costume?
06:14Overall, why is the game so overly complicated in how basic it is?
06:18It's very unlikely that we'll ever get answers to these questions.
06:32Number 14, Generation Zero Be very, very skeptical of whoever is screaming
06:46about how Generation Zero has improved since launch.
06:50At launch, Generation Zero was indeed an utter trainwreck.
06:53Crashing, bugs in AI behavior and pathing, broken stealth mechanics, constantly recycled
06:59assets in places that made no sense, and worst of all, poor implementation of resources that
07:04could put a player in a position where it's impossible to bounce back into a stable position
07:09for survival.
07:10While some of these problems have since been remedied, there's no fixing a generic world
07:14design, there's no fixing recycled assets, and there's no fixing bland visuals, audio,
07:20and character design.
07:21Generation Zero is an absolute zero.
07:32Number 13, Warcraft 3 Reforged Blizzard has screwed up in a handful of ways
07:45prior to Warcraft 3 Reforged.
07:47No one will ever forget the launch of Diablo 3 and the infamous Error 37 message.
07:53But Reforged was the starting point where it seemed as if the company was actively trying
07:57to burn all of its goodwill with its fans.
08:00Not only was Reforged allegedly falsely advertising new cutscenes like the ones shown at preview
08:05events and failed to implement advertised features, it also enforced an exploitative
08:11end-user license agreement that deemed any and all mods made from Reforged to immediately
08:15become property of Blizzard Entertainment.
08:18All of this led to a mass review bombing of the game on Metacritic, landing Reforged the
08:23dishonor of being the lowest user-rated game at the time.
08:27Blizzard would eventually outdo themselves in 2022 when Diablo Immortal was review-bombed
08:32even more than Reforged and received an even lower user rating.
08:4112.
08:45Contra Rogue Corps
08:55Konami knows it can publish great titles, but in the late 2010s, they were floundering
09:00hard.
09:01We'll get to one of their major flops in a minute, but Contra Rogue Corps was a total
09:05misfire in the most embarrassing way possible.
09:07Look, we'll admit that the weapon upgrades and customization were cool, but everything
09:12else about this game felt like a desperate plea to get internet meme lords to buy in
09:16and buy in hard.
09:18Why else would we get a weaponized cyborg panda and graphics that looked like they were
09:21ripped from a cancelled piss filter era game?
09:24This was simply not Contra at all, and longtime fans quickly rejected Rogue Corps as they
09:29should have.
09:3811.
09:40Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League
09:42Here's the thing about Suicide Squad, right?
09:52The gameplay is fine.
09:54It's fun to move around and blast enemies like an overpowered freak, but there are so
09:58many confusing layers behind the curtain that it winds up making the game look worse.
10:03Why are there seven different currencies?
10:05Why can you not properly upgrade weapons outside of a couple of stat bonuses?
10:10Why does every main mission impose an annoying stipulation like enemies only take damage
10:14from damage boosters?
10:16Why does the end-game content offer nothing interesting outside of the same exact missions
10:20over and over again?
10:22These enigmatic decisions ultimately make Suicide Squad seem like a rushed job, which
10:27makes it crystal clear how the game caused Warner Bros. to lose $200 million dollars
10:32in revenue.
10:33Jeez, Lex LexCorp really did a number on you, huh Red?
10:3810.
10:39Metal Gear Survive
10:40Back to Konami one last time.
10:51Metal Gear has always been centered on military espionage, secretive warfare technology, and
10:57topics relating to various subjects touched upon during the Cold War.
11:01Metal Gear Survive does none of that, and instead wants you and your friends to fight
11:04crystal-headed zombies for some reason.
11:07Because, you know, this has always been what Metal Gear is about, right?
11:10Oh, and if you wanted to restart your character from scratch for whatever reason, well, you
11:15better fork over more cash to purchase a new save file.
11:18Yeah, there's no reason for anyone to play this game at all.
11:239.
11:27The Quiet Man
11:42Look we're all for games offering new perspectives from people with different mental or physical
11:46conditions, but The Quiet Man is not this riveting piece of art it pretends to be.
11:51The story is a confounding mess of characters speaking in riddles with no real rhyme or
11:55reason behind their intentions.
11:57As for the gameplay itself, there's very little of it.
12:00Most of your time will be spent watching FMV cutscenes with combat scenarios sprinkled
12:05here and there.
12:06And even when you unlock the normal audio, nothing about the game makes sense in its
12:10story and structure.
12:12So what exactly is the point in playing this?
12:158.
12:17WWE 2K20
12:33While the WWE 2K series managed to bounce back with 2K22, things looked heavily grim
12:39for the series when 2K20 launched.
12:42Never before had we seen such a poorly cobbled together mess of physics, character models,
12:46and technical performance.
12:47The game launched in such a horrid state that the entire internet was laughing at 2K for
12:52a solid few months before the company came out and said the series was skipping a year.
12:57This was done to give developer Visual Concepts some time to iron out their ideas and figure
13:02out where they wanted to take the franchise since the previous developer Uix was no longer
13:06in the picture.
13:07And now, look at where the series is, back in better than ever.
13:177. Babylon's Fall
13:30Platinum Games was already struggling to make ends meet by the time they developed Babylon's
13:34Fall with Square Enix as their publisher.
13:36Unbeknownst to anyone, this would be their most humiliating release yet.
13:40Not only was this yet another live service to further saturate the market, it was build-off
13:45of borrowed assets from Final Fantasy XIV that were implemented in cheap, lazy ways.
13:51Once you see the first set of corridors, it doesn't get any different from there.
13:54Babylon's Fall sold so poorly that when Square Enix announced the game was shutting
13:59down, retail stores began throwing away any and all copies from their store shelves.
14:04The game was on sale for less than a year.
14:156. Fast & Furious Crossroads
14:28With Burnout being gone and Need for Speed missing the mark with every release, perhaps
14:32there was room for Fast & Furious to dominate the video game scene just as it claimed its
14:36own corner in the film industry.
14:38But guys, Crossroads was not the answer.
14:41The biggest crime this game committed wasn't the abysmal storytelling or the cringy voice
14:46acting.
14:47It wasn't even the awful controls.
14:48No, the worst part about this game is just how truly catastrophic the AI's condition
14:53was.
14:54Around every corner, you'd see cars crashing into each other outside of races as you drive
14:59to your next objective.
15:01Truth be told, it was pretty hilarious to witness.
15:04Fast & Furious Crossroads was delisted from all digital storefronts less than two years
15:08after release.
15:095. Skull Island Rise of Kong
15:28Since its early days of publishing games like Big Rigs, Over the Road Racing, Game Mill
15:33Entertainment has struggled in maintaining a reputable image in the world of gaming.
15:37Alas, when it continues publishing games like Skull Island Rise of Kong, one has to wonder
15:42what's going on.
15:44Rise of Kong was truly among the worst games we saw in 2023 with its piss-poor combat,
15:50uninspiring environments, and dreadful character animation.
15:53Even with its $30 price tag, nothing about this abomination told audiences you need to
15:58play this game unless you were a YouTuber or streamer dunking on the game.
16:03And yet, that's still not the worst we saw in 2023.
16:154. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5
16:24Out of all the games that came out in the 2010s, nothing was more appalling than Tony
16:31Hawk's Pro Skater 5.
16:34Developed solely for Activision to squeeze as much money out of the license as possible
16:37before its expiration, Pro Skater 5 almost killed any and all interest in the franchise.
16:43In addition to a weak roster of skaters, parks, and customization options, the game was unbearably
16:49buggy in its physics, animations, and general stability.
16:53What was more confusing was just how much storage space it took up on your hardware,
16:57only for most of that storage space to be dedicated to the game's audio.
17:02Developer Robomodo closed its doors almost a year after the game's release, while Activision
17:06would eventually allow Vicarious Visions to remake the first two games in 2020.
17:173. Lord of Ring Golem
17:19Whoops, hang on folks.
17:223. The Lord of the Rings Golem
17:25Three ways to silence them.
17:28Fear, one way.
17:30Two, a knife.
17:32Cut out a tongue.
17:34Very effective.
17:35Please, it wasn't us.
17:37Huh, guess there was something wrong with chat GPT on our end, but no worries, we got
17:41the title fixed.
17:42After all, it was the only thing about Golem that could ever be fixed as the game launched
17:47in a disgustingly unstable state in May 2023.
17:51Prior to release, Golem did have a setting to turn on hair physics until Daedalic Entertainment
17:56notified the press, ourselves included, that the setting had to be removed due to it causing
18:01frequent crashes.
18:03And that's not all.
18:04Even today, many game-breaking bugs are still present ranging from enemies forgetting to
18:09be hostile, collision detection failing to prevent the player from going out of bounds
18:13to see dev assets in the distance, and even without hair physics, constant crashing.
18:19We did name this the worst game of 2023, but then our next entry showed its ugly mug
18:25at the tail end of the year.
18:26Where does the sun go up?
18:29East, in the east.
18:33No, no, that's not how it goes.
18:36Number two, the day before.
18:50Call it a scam, call it a sham, call it whatever insult you want to call it.
18:54There has never been a bigger case of suspicion and potential fraud quite like what we saw
18:59with The Day Before.
19:01This was an online multiplayer survival game that found itself in hot water with almost
19:05everyone in the gaming community, players, and press.
19:09Take your pick for what you believe was the primary reason.
19:12Accusations of plagiarism in marketing, failing to pay contractors for their work, the abysmal
19:17technical state of the game, the questionable use of AI in its marketing, voice acting,
19:22and asset development, it's one massive package of problems that made so little money
19:27that developer Fantastic closed its doors two days after launch.
19:31The company tried to bounce back in 2024 by announcing a Kickstarter for a game only for
19:36that whole thing to fail as well.
19:38The Day Before was such a monumental disaster that no one will ever trust Fantastic nor
19:43publisher Mytona again.
19:45And yet, that's not even the worst game we've seen over the last decade.
20:11Number 1, Concord.
20:22The thing about The Day Before was that it was a somewhat more isolated issue as Fantastic
20:27and Mytona were new players that crashed and burned hard.
20:31Concord, on the other hand, was a game backed by Sony and was championed internally enough
20:35for the company to acquire developer Firewalk Studios before the game was even done.
20:40And they were so confident in this project that Sony dumped $400 million dollars into
20:45this endeavor.
20:46$200 million for development and another $200 million for acquisition.
20:51What no one at Sony seemed to have understood was just how lackluster Concord was entirely.
20:56There was no unique game mode to differentiate itself from the market, no compelling characters
21:01to get behind, no campaign to randalize single-player gamers, no definitive plan to keep players
21:06coming back aside from neat cutscenes, nothing.
21:10And so it bombed.
21:12Hard.
21:13Concord flopped so horribly that Sony removed the game from sale immediately merely 11 days
21:18after launch and closed servers two days later.
21:21How mediocrity of this caliber costs so much money to burn away like this is beyond us.
21:27But maybe someday we'll get the full story as to what happened.
21:39Did you suffer through any of these games for yourself?
21:42Let us know down in the comments.