The amount of time, effort, and work that goes into making a memorable video game is unfathomable. The production and distribution of a given title, whether triple-A or not, is essentially controlled by developers and executives, respectively. Those who have a vision for their game often have to adjust their sights to match corporate demands — this can, sometimes, end terribly.
A part of the gaming industry is becoming rather subjugated by constant pressures to maximize profits. Games are increasingly being released with bugs at launch, or even worse, they are clearly unfinished. That is pretty unfortunate when you consider the promise that certain titles hold before they come out. It’s no wonder that independent indie games are on the rise, since no big company can pull their strings.
6 Mass Effect: Andromeda
Have you heard the tragedy of Mass Effect: Andromeda? This game had one of the biggest budgets ever seen in the industry, multiple years of development, and it somehow managed to deliver an underwhelming experience following the success of its three predecessors.
Stellar promises were made during the game’s marketing phase, overall amounting to making a game that would result in a technological marvel with equally amazing gameplay and features. Spoiler alert, it didn’t happen. Mass Effect: Andromeda seemed to be developed by the Google Translate AI from 2006. Sara Ryder’s facial expressions are still haunting to this day.
5 Warcraft III: Reforged
This was a tough blow for PC gamers. The marketing strategy behind the remastered release of this classic title, was based on a gameplay stream that primarily showcased flush graphics and wholly reworked cutscenes, among general quality of life improvements. Gamers were mislead by Blizzard, as only a fraction of this ended up being implemented in the game.
The stark lie that gamers quickly spotted when Warcraft III: Reforged released, was the lack of cutscenes, an important selling point for the game. The only notable, and worthwhile, improvement to it was an update to the character models. Other than that, this game vastly disappointed gamers when it came out.
4 No Man’s Sky
The definition of RPG is increasingly becoming an umbrella term, blurred enough that most games these days are labeled as such. No Man’s Sky is not a traditional RPG in the sense that you level up your character’s abilities and embark on a pre-written quest, but rather, you get to choose what kind of person you want to be in its vast universe, which is filled with countless engaging activities that constantly require you to make choices.
Some say the Big Bang could have been caused by the collision of this game’s hype train. No Man’s Sky held some of the highest potential ever seen in the industry. Developed by Hello Games, a small indie company, this title was going to quench the thirst for space exploration and role-playing. If you preordered the game, you know how the story goes.
No Man’s Sky is a good game now, but it really was lacking in content at release, after many statements about its design were made. The most infamous one was the implementation of multiplayer. Sean Murray, who helmed the development of the game, promised in a live interview that multiplayer would be supported. It wasn’t for a while. Many other features seemed to be missing on day one, so gamers quickly caught on and eventually stopped playing the game.
Many know about what seems to be a marketing campaign filled with empty promises, but not everyone knows that Hello Games faced enormous pressures to release No Man’s Sky, in order to fulfill various deals that would bolster the game’s reception. Like the saying goes, haste makes waste, and this game could have saved itself some trouble if it baked a little more in the oven. Hello Games went above and beyond to fulfill its initial promise, releasing a heap of overhauling updates for free over the years.
3 Marvel’s Avengers
The Marvel universe is a literal gold mine, especially when it comes to its movies. Straying away from the silver screen and into the realm of games hurt our beloved heroes. Marvel’s Avengers is based on a solid concept that somehow ended up with a sloppy execution, like the Star Wars sequels.
When you swing Mjölnir in this game, it feels like you are beating an old lady with a stick. A metal stick that makes the most ungodly and wimpy sound. You could say Marvel’s Avengers is one big marketing ploy to take advantage of fans who love the MCU, and make a some extra bucks. Gamers quickly dropped this title, which had promotional skins (for money, of course) from all over the place. Even Verizon has a skin set if you buy their stuff.
2 Fallout 76
The year is 2018. You are at E3. The pandemic hasn’t happened yet. You hear Todd Howard say: “All new rendering, lighting and landscape technology, it allows us to have sixteen times the detail, and even view distant weather systems across the map.” Sixteen times the detail. Life is good.
This statement was memed so hard after the game’s release, that it was almost impossible not to find it somewhere on Reddit. Fallout 76 was a buggy mess full of monetization when it came out. Things seem to be doing better for this game now, but no one will ever forget its painful launch — it was sixteen times more disastrous than expected.
1 Cyberpunk 2077
Where to start? You might as well call this game Broken-bugs 2077. The release of Cyberpunk perfectly illustrates what not to do if you plan to ever make and distribute a game. The trailers, gameplay footage, and statements from the Adam Kaciński, CEO of CD Projekt Red, were all misleading. Kaciński stated in an interview that although the game ran on slightly lower settings on the PS4 and Xbox One, it was still “surprisingly good.”
Go back to sleep samurai. Or go play something else for a year or two. Only then, perhaps, Cyberpunk might run unsurprisingly normally.
NEXT: The 10 Best RPGs Of The Generation (According To Metacritic)
