2023 had a fair number of bad games released that year but also it had a plenty of big disappointing games that did not meet expectations of fans and gamers alike. To sequels to long running franchises to new ideas not working out to live service titles dying out these are the biggest most disappointing games of 2023.
10: Tales of Symphonia Remastered
Developer: Bandai Namco
Don't get me wrong, I still love and enjoy Tales of Symphonia and when it comes to J-RPGs or in general Action J-RPGs the Tales of Series games is my go-to game series for that. So, it pains me sadly that instead of a prequel or anything worthy of the game's 20th Anniversary Bandai Namco instead gave us this. Tales of Symphonia Remastered feels more like a lazy port with minimal things done to it to try and get this game to reach out to not only the next gen PlayStation consoles but also to Xbox consoles as well as the Nintendo Switch. Sure, it has higher quality character models and the ability to skip cutscenes is cool but everything else about the so-called remastered feels untouched including the environments which look arguably worse and these new versions still do not run at 60 FPS. The Nintendo Switch version got hit even harder, skit dialogue sequences were much darker and there were technical issues including bugs that prevented progress and the game ran worse in docked mode. Compare this to the amazing Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition Remaster which improved the graphic quality, upscaled the resolution of the game to 1080p and improve the framerate which the PS4 version of that remaster got. All Bandai Namco needed to do with the Tales of Symphonia Remaster was properly update the visuals and get the game to run better. Instead, they just lazily took an easy way out by taking the PS3 version build and doing minimal efforts with it for modern consoles and yet charge full price for it without even including the sequel Dawn of the New World.
9: Exoprimal
Developer: Capcom
While Capcom have done a reasonable job remaking some of the old Resident Evil games people have wanted the same treatment with their other horror game Dino Crisis. Instead, what they got was a multiplayer game that has a futuristic setting with time travelling dinosaurs. Gameplay involved two teams competing to see who can wipe out hordes of enemies and complete objectives before the opposing team does. It's not a bad concept and the multiplayer aspect of it does seem pretty fun and the dinosaur designs look pretty cool. When the novelty wore off what you are left with a yet another generic team-based shooter that feels more in line with games like Overwatch and doing little to get above the competition. Then there was the inclusion of Microtransactions for cosmetics and also a Battlepass on top of a game selling at full price. Capcom should realize that everyone just wants a new Dino Crisis game or even a remake and not a dead aired shooter that resembled what everyone was doing.
8: Atomic Heart
Developer: Mundfish
Atomic Heart had everything and reasons to be excited for. It had a cool alternative setting with robots in the retro future and combat against them looked pretty cool. It was definitely one of the oddest AAA releases to come out but Bioshock it tries to be yet didn't reach that charm that made it good controversies it got aside. Much like Forespoken Atomic Heart had a main character and his buddy AI Charles attached to his arm had so much annoying dialogue it was unbearable, the side quests were tedious and the gameplay just wasn't as good as the games that influenced it.
7: Counter Strike 2
Developer: Valve
When it comes to hardcore competitive multiplayer FPS games that is still being played today Counter Strike is one that what everyone still plays, most notably Counter Strike 1.6 and also Counter Strike Global Offensive. Then Valve this year released Counter Strike 2 which is more or less the same as every other version of Counter Strike except for moving it to the Source 2 engine alongside revising a lot of the old familiar maps. Like with what happened with Overwatch 2 Counter Strike 2 is not a bad game and for all intents and purposes the gameplay of Counter Strike 2 is there but it was what got lost to make this game happen is why it got a lot of negative user reviews from players. Because Global Offensive got delisted and shut down on 27th September which then got replaced by Counter Strike 2 which fans did not like. It was due to the game having worse off overall game performance and also removing certain features like fans liked in Global Offensive. Without Counter Strike Global Offensive the only way fans will get their Counter Strike fix is either with this which is inferior in a couple of ways or playing regular Counter Strike 1.6 instead. Even Counter Strike Condition Zero was better then this.
6: Goldeneye 007 (Xbox Version)
Developer: Rare
We should be happy with this, one of the most influential console FPS games of all time that has been in licensing hell finally makes its way to modern console and everyone for the past decades all begged and wished for this. After battles of contracts & licensing issues we can finally be able to play the game in all its glory especially on a Nintendo console which was the platform it was born on. I have not got any issues with the Nintendo Switch for what it is because it is handled through emulation but the Xbox version is an absolute offender. The Xbox version suffered from some slight graphical glitches and the version doesn't use the remastered graphics shown from that Xbox live beta we all saw but the original game's graphics making. In other words, the Xbox port is just straight up emulation but rather poor emulation at best. The biggest offender is that the Xbox version has no online multiplayer, it does have four player split screen multiplayer like the Nintendo 64 original did but it does not have any form of online play at all which in this day and age is not excusable, even the Nintendo Switch Online release had online granted it only between friends but still at least it had online play. Compared to the amazing Xbox Live remaster of Perfect Dark which came out more than a decade before this that had various expects of the game improved such as the graphics and having online play the Xbox version of the acclaimed Nintendo 64 classic Goldeneye just feels quickly thrown together with minimal effort done to bring it up to modern standards and not having online play for this was a massive wasted opportunity. Well at least we can say it's good to finally play Goldeneye again on a Nintendo platform.
5: Gundam Evolution
Developer: Bandai Namco
Much like Square Enix, Bandai Namco also has a very bad history and reputation when it comes to live service online games that end up dying only a couple of months later after release because of lack of player interest. Whether it was for Dragon Ball or any of the mobile Tales of Series games they just don't last long with the studio doing little to support them and the latest to ride the live service death train is Gundam Evolution. It was a class team based multiplayer shooter with players piloting the various mobile suit mechs from the anime series except they didn't bother to add in the actual characters from the anime series as well like Amuro Ray or Char Aznable from the original anime or even Kamille Bidan from Zeta Gundam and instead went with a bunch of bizarre British sounding accents into it. In matches you and your buddies either defend or attack an enemy objective area till you completely control the area and win the match, sounds fun however the game felt too much on par with Overwatch with the mobile suits controlling and feeling much like a human character and environments and buildings being much larger than the mechs further removing the feeling of controlling a large walking robot. The worst thing about the game was that Gundam Evolution barely had any support or care from Bandai Namco. I know that this game came out in 2022 but the overall lack of support it got throughout the year 2023 is why I think it deserves to be put on this list. Having no crossplay support caused the game to suffer from having a very low player base whether you were playing it on PC, PlayStation or Xbox consoles. This meant that it would take ages to find a match, and even it did find a match you'd be lucky to find one with active players playing because either player bail out before a match starts or the servers completely mess up and cause one player one your team to randomly disappear or they just straight up rage quit during the match which happens frequently and causes your team to lose. The console versions got it worse; they didn't even get access to private custom-made matchmaking lobbies until months later when Season 5 started and the PS4 and Xbox One versions run way worse with dozens of frame rate dips during an online multiplayer game when a lot of action is happening on screen. So, the game launched in September 2022 for PC while consoles would see it at the end of November 2022 and then in July 2023 Bandai Namco made the announcement that they were shutting servers down and ending service for the game at the end of November 2023. This game only lasted a year before Gundam took the last shot before it blamed the misfortune of being yet another live service that didn't last long and barely had any kind of support from the studio. That's really too bad Bandai Namco.
4: Pay Day 3
Developer: Starbreeze Studios
Overkill's Pay Day series have been the perfect bank robbing heist simulators, most notably Pay Day 2 which is the pinnacle of the games. Then you have Starbreeze Studios work on a third Pay Day game with Pay Day 3 and after a long development cycle and Starbreeze Studios acquiring Overkill Pay Day 3 could have lived up to what made the other two games good and instead it didn't. While the heists still looked fun but it just couldn't match up to what the previous games accomplished. The real issue and what was the biggest mistake this game could pull was being forced as an online only game which meant that you had to have an always on internet connection in order to play it. When the game launched the servers got messed up badly that it rendered the game unplayable for a couple of days leaving over 1 million players unable to play it. Pay Day 3 failed to meet sales expectations and the game just didn't match up to what Pay Day 1 & 2 offered.
3: Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol 1
Developer: Konami
The legendary stealth game franchise started releasing the entirety of the Metal Gear games in all their glory on new console and PC hardware and in terms of what is featured on there you are getting way more than your money's worth, and considering that there are more volumes coming out in future it is a great chance everyone will be able the rest of the games on later volumes. For this you have the original Metal Gear games on MSX as well as the NES titles then you have Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 & 3 alongside the VR Training Missions for MGS 1 and also the Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novels that you can check out. So, you have in total 8 big games so you have a lot of value for what it offers. So, what could really go wrong with this collection then? Well Metal Gear games on the MSX and NES all play fine, Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 have minor issues such as the pressure sensitive controls changed for a different control layout for every version including the PlayStation 4 & 5 versions, there were a few bugs and some cutscenes did not play right with audio sync problems or just stop completely and also typos. The Nintendo Switch versions of all of the games run way worse than the other versions, the Switch cartridge only had the NES and MSX whereas the rest of the games had to be downloaded from the internet. The PC versions are bad because the games run at 720p and they didn't have proper graphical options to make the games look better and that is what these games are in this collection. They are just lazily brought over the versions from the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection but somehow made the majority of them worse than they did originally. The worst offender of them all was the version of Metal Gear Solid 1 which suffers badly from the atrociously terrible emulation where everything including the cutscenes were made more blurry and arguably worse than it did originally on the actual PSOne console. Even the PS3's emulated version was way better than this. Konami indeed wanted many Metal Gear Solid fans to experience the start of the entire franchise and go through its history but even though they are patching everything out the lazy effort they put into this Master Collection hurts the old Metal Gear games a ton. If Konami is going to give us Vol 2 of the Master Collection it is going to give fans absolute worry about how bad that is going to turn out.
2: Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis
Developer: Square Enix/Appliot
It shouldn't surprise anybody at this point that Square Enix still continues to find new ways of ruining Final Fantasy in any way they can, including ones for mobile. They already did enough damage to the universe of Final Fantasy VII so why not put every single Final Fantasy VII related story arcs into one. Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is a mobile game that has all of the storyline arcs of the Final Fantasy VII universe put into a single game just without the stupid and nonsensical storyline elements of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Granted it tries to utilize the ATB and somewhat active turn-based mechanics of old Final Fantasy games but it is not to the best. Some new events are decent like seeing a younger Sephiroth but that's about the most positive that I have to say about the game. Because it focuses on all of the major Final Fantasy VII related storylines, it means that everyone is forced to sit through all of the other worst aspects of Final Fantasy VII's storyline. The biggest offender is that the game's combat which isn't all that great, you are using characters special abilities to do damage or support allies with an ATB bar that goes so slowly while trying to feel like the combat of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Here's the thing though with the characters they are earned through a gacha system, that's right being one of those live service mobile games it has to utilize microtransactions to unlock the characters for your party. You could get the entirety of the Final Fantasy VII cast or each character in a different outfit by spending real life money to unlock them. Don't want to spend time doing a tough quest to power up your characters or is a quest you are on too tough? Well, you can buy new weapons and gear for them with real money also to power them up so the game is, yes, you guessed it pay-to-win. It is one of those free-to-play games but it ends up being one of those games where you'll make progress through pay walls. It's bad enough that Final Fantasy continues to be the back end of terrible mobile games feasting on the hearts of Final Fantasy fans and it is worse that this game will find ways of making you spend more and more money on this. With more and more Final Fantasy VII related content getting worse it makes me wonder how it even manages to have reverence at this point. Shall we guess how this game lasts before Square Enix pulls this game down like all other mobile and live service garbage that have failed? But at least it is only a mobile spin off and not a mainline entry title that people blindly hype up too much leading up for more disappointment which that goes to....
Dishonourable Mentions
Wanted Dead - Soleil
Crash Team Rumble – Toys for Bob
Fire Emblem Engage – Intelligent Systems/Nintendo
LEGO 2K Drive – Visual Concepts
Wild Heart – Omega Force
Minecraft Legends – Mojang Studios/Blackbird
1: Final Fantasy XVI
Developer: Square Enix
Final Fantasy XVI is the most overhyped and overrated game of this year and for a dozen of reasons. For starters it barely even plays or look like a Final Fantasy game, instead it plays way too much like a generic action game almost like a poor man's Devil May Cry game and the evidence of that was that the battle system was worked on by none other than Capcom's Ryota Suzuki. I'm guessing he was just looking for an excuse for a good pay-check but even with his talents Final Fantasy XVI's gameplay is super underwhelming. Combat is absolutely boring where the majority of enemies and bosses lack any kind of strategy or tactics to take down, it still uses that stupid stagger gauge where it requires a ridiculous number of hits just to get an enemy to stagger. Even worse it heavily regresses so much from previous Final Fantasy games that came out before it especially Final Fantasy XV. These include the lack of proper RPG mechanics which is what a Final Fantasy game needs, the Eikron summon fights where you get control one is the worst and there are no party members that join you at all. Yep, those other characters that you see just wandering around in fights with you are only temporary characters and you get a dog character to help you the dog is a useless asset in combat. The gameplay and battle system completely degrade itself from previous Final Fantasy games especially the attempts they have had with Action RPGs including the combat which is super stale in comparison to other Action RPGs like Tales of Arise. The storyline and characters aren't any better, the dialogue in the game is beyond cringe with swearing for the sake of swearing, a terrible sex scene, Cid who never shuts his annoying mouth up and none of the other characters are all that interesting. To top the whole thing off was that there were moments in the game where it can cause PlayStation 5 consoles to overheat which made progress for many a serious problem. Final Fantasy XVI is the example of a series trying way too hard to do new things but like with Final Fantasy XV and also with Final Fantasy VII Remake it has causes it to stray too far from what has made Final Fantasy games so good in the first place and just can't do Action orientated combat right. The more Final Fantasy games we continue to get that completely ignores the turn-based combat system for their mainline shows that they are becoming less and less like a Final Fantasy game and make a generic subpar action game or whatever it tries to be that ends up being more and more disappointing. It's a shame that Square Enix still doesn't see sense but that is what they are and forever they will be a shallow of their former self which is what makes Final Fantasy XVI the most disappointing game of 2023.
Log in to comment