The PlayStation 4 has provided several years of absolutely legendary games to add to our never ending lists of must-plays and must-replays. But not all titles were home runs, in fact, some of the games that were anticipated the most left players disappointed to say the least. Some companies thought to be “too big to fall” fell the hardest and other promising breakout titles broke apart under the pressure, and left in the wake of disruption was the gamers.
Some of the let downs were big enough to end a franchise and others, despite being colossal and high-profile failures, showed the industry that bounce back is possible even after a blunder. Regardless of track records or hype train, no company is too big to fail and no game in a series too good to forget about the bad.
10 The Order: 1886
This game was a cinematic adventure—Unfortunately, that is not what most of the gamers were wanting, or at least expecting. The announcement trailer showcased the game’s incredible graphics while presenting a world full of monsters and futuristic weapons set in an old-time London with a steampunk aesthetic.
The graphics were fantastic and received the most frequent praise from game critics, but almost everything else simply fell short. The most common complaints plaguing the game include a dull story with poor character development and unenjoyable gameplay offering no replay value.
9 Assassin’s Creed: Unity
Assassin’s Creed will always be known for its breathtakingly beautiful world-building and that was exactly what was demonstrated with its launch trailer. However, its goosebump inciting cinematic trailer was not akin to the experience players would be offered. The major complaints were against the movement and combat mechanics paired with a tired storyline.
The game didn’t feel like a fresh new adventure, but a reskin of everything the franchise has already worn out. Part of the reason for the less-than-stellar reception may be that it followed the tough act of Black Flag, which was quite well received even by those who had left the franchise in prior years.
8 Thief
Known to some reviewers as the worst game of 2014, Thief completely underwhelmed players with stagnant gameplay and flat characters. The gameplay suffered from not only predictability but also forced limitations on players with narrowing maps, taking freedom and exploration away from the players.
The challenge is fairly set regardless of the difficulty selected and the overall experience was unfortunately unremarkable after such a promising launch trailer. This was not enough to kill off a potential series, though, and the others in the series faired better than their predecessor.
7 No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky has certainly evolved over time and has become the example of true bounceback. But, naturally, it didn’t start that way. The expectation set for players was simple: infinite adventure. The true experience, however, was a repetitive and small one. The procedurally generated universe may seem infinite and full of limitless potential, but the reality is that there were very few unique predetermined assets. No matter how far players went and how different the scenery could be, everything was still very much the same.
Over time the bugs were largely dealt with, the creatures and experiences expanded, and the fan base grown back little by little; But no matter how much is fixed, the initial shock of disappointment will likely forever be the first thing to come to gamers’ minds when they hear “No Man’s Sky.”
6 Destiny
The disappointment with Destiny upon release for casual players can be summed up by a shallow story and uninspired locations. But for the dedicated fan base, it can be attributed to just one thing: farming. The grind for rare items was very real, tedious, and consuming. Destiny borderline required players to log in and play daily just to keep up with the character power levels and with friends. This is not a game designed to play solo, so keeping up with friends is a must unless a player wants to put in the effort of meeting strangers willing to team up.
Since its launch, Destiny has gained an almost cult-following of hardcore fans, but for those outside this tight-knit, the game was just too much work for such a flat experience.
5 Dark Souls 2
To say the first Dark Souls game developed a cult following would be a massive understatement. The game gained a lot of enemies with its challenging gameplay, but once these players were weeded out by difficulty level (leading to eventual abandonment) what was left was a giant group appreciating the title like art. So when the second installment was announced, the hype was overwhelming.
A major problem was that Hidetaka Miyazaki, lead game designer of the first in the series, was not on the team this time. What resulted was what felt like a poorly done copy cat, focusing too much on attempts to reinforce the concepts that made Dark Souls into what it was (like the fact that players will die a lot), while sacrificing the enjoyable elements for cheaper hits in the name of ‘challenge’.
4 Watch Dogs
Gamers were quite disappointed with Watch Dogs after its release for a number of reasons: the graphics, the story, and the main character. First, Ubisoft had been accused of downgrading graphics after its stunning trailer that gained many prospects. Second, both the story and character have been labeled as boring and cliche, with gamers relating more to secondary characters than the one they are controlling.
The storyline is riddled with cliches and stereotypes of revenge and flat characters that, in the end, gamers just couldn’t attach themselves to.
3 Evolve
Evolve has been accused by many things from gamers, including that the base game itself was only constructed to set the company up to make more money off of the DLC. Furthermore, a frequent complaint is that there is a lot of content that isn’t stumbled upon unless the game is played daily and that the grinding required to unlock all characters was excessive.
There is not much at all in the way of content for this game and requires players to play together harmoniously (which is something that rarely happens in the gaming world among strangers). The game modes and position played have also been cited as being unbalanced in terms of fun. Overall, the concept was brilliant but the experience left all players wanting.
2 Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk‘s launch was notoriously heart-breaking for both players that had looked forward to the game for years as well as CD Projekt Red following the immediate backlash. It released riddled with game-breaking bugs and could barely even be booted up when not played on a next-gen console. This game had already been delayed many times and there were internal concerns about the grand promises being made by the top brass to fans.
The team has also been dragged into court over their unplayable game as the only advance copies that were handed out in advance for reviews were given to much more powerful PCs than any consoles at all. Other complaints involve shallow characters, boring stories, and underwhelming bosses.
1 Fallout 76
The disappointment connected to Fallout 76‘s launch will forever go down in infamy. Even Todd Howard himself, the lead designer, admitted that they “missed the mark” and “let a lot of people down” with the game. The overall game has been criticized for being incredibly boring. The lack of NPC’s and immersive quest lines is very noticeable, and the multiplayer involvement was not asked for.
The Fallout franchise is popular for being a single-player RPG, so the change to a new system with season pass style involvement and interactions (intended or forced) was not welcome. Many fans felt when the game was announced that Howard made a lot of reassurances about the new experience that wasn’t kept.
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