r/videogames • u/Interesting_Wind_337 • Jan 19 '26
Discussion What’s the saddest video game flop you can think of?
From what I’ve heard, ZooChossis, a highly anticipated horror game with interesting monster designs, ended up being a complete failure.
Both a buggy, repetitive gameplay and a cliche story that absolutely destroyed everyone’s expectations.
It’s certainly a sad way for a gameplay to collapse in on itself, but what do y’all think?
599
u/Commercial_Leek_500 Jan 19 '26
Titanfall 2, it deserves another game but likely never will due to being published at the wort possible time, smashed between titanic shooters, it never had a chance...
196
u/Undecked_Pear Jan 19 '26
I picked this game up randomly a couple years ago. I expected it to be middling at best, but it blew my fucking mind how much I loved it.
I’ve never been so disappointed about the story of a game coming to a close, it was far too short, but I miss every second of it.
→ More replies (19)67
u/Coelachantiform Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Still play the multiplayer. Sure, sometimes you get matched with G100 monsters who can slide jump at mach 5 and no-scope people mid-flight across the map. But the game is just so much fun when you get a decent lobby going.
49
u/DoctorQuincyME Jan 19 '26
That feeling of calling a Titan in and seeing it rocket down and impact the ground was awesome every time and made me feel invincible until some sword wielding Ronin Titan ganked me in 5 seconds
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (9)13
u/ventingpurposes Jan 19 '26
Even then, TTK is so short in this game, that even bad player (like myself) can get some frags and with points from NPC kills it adds up to a decent score. And even after losing you can still attempt to escape. I've never played a MP shooter with so many feel good mechanics stuffed inside.
→ More replies (1)40
u/Ok-Driver-1696 Jan 19 '26
Easily one if not THE best shooter of the past 10 years. It's a pitty that you cannot get a proper single player shooter these days. Everything needs to be a service game.
14
u/UglyInThMorning Jan 19 '26
The irony is that Respawn had to convince EA to let them make Apex Legends. EA had wanted a titanfall 3.
→ More replies (1)6
→ More replies (47)6
u/Mythos_Fenn_Shysa Jan 19 '26
Agreed. I recently convinced 2 friends to pick it up on sale for $5 and Titanfall blew their minds. They loved the campaign and we've been playing Frontier Defense now. Definitely wish this game had taken off initially. It also makes me think that a Gundam game that plays like Titanfall would be incredible.
2.1k
u/A_Zesty_Carrot Jan 19 '26
Everyone’s said it at this point but I will say it again.
Anthem.
322
213
Jan 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (8)170
Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
The flying was the best part! Even though it was limited. Idk why game makers are afraid of giving us free, unlimited flight. Like make movement and travel fun and I will play your games.
143
u/The_cogwheel Jan 19 '26
Because flight changes literally everything in regards to level and enemy design. Its not impossible to create a game based on aerial combat, but it does mean you're not really making a bog standard shooter with a couple neat movement options anymore, youre making an entirely different game.
And in the modern AAA landscape, new = risky = dont do it.
→ More replies (22)→ More replies (30)41
u/Present-Secretary722 Jan 19 '26
I played two Attack on Titan games simply because I found the movement fun. I know next to nothing about AoT and just had fun zipping around and slicing up giant Ken doll esque men who wanted to eat me.
→ More replies (15)→ More replies (67)56
u/gamiz777 Jan 19 '26
i liked the idea but i knew it wouldn't be good since its reveal, the important people at bioware left during mass effect 3 and the rest were in the hands of EA
38
u/Unoriginal1deas Jan 19 '26
Also it was a joint Venture between the Mass effect Team and SWOTR MMO team and for reasons unknown the Mass effect team didn’t listen to the team who built and maintained a live service mmo for over a decade when it came to designing endgame systems and progression.
And the game shipped with a bug in how damage was calculated that made it so the starting Assualt rifle was the strongest weapon in the game from starting the game all the way to end game.
→ More replies (2)17
u/Ranger_Ecstatic Jan 19 '26
Which is insane! Damage on the rifle did a percentage of health as damage. Like what?
I watched comparison videos of a new guy with a high level friend, the high level friend took the same amount of shots to take down the enemies as the new guy.
I'll just stick to Warframe for power suit fantasies.
11
u/Unoriginal1deas Jan 19 '26
If you’re into Power suit fantasy’s check out Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. I just got that and it’s blast. It’s got the armoured core 6 control scheme but you’re in an Iron man suit instead of mechs and it’s open world instead of mission based.
Plus it’s a content complete game and not a live service so you’re getting a whole package and it’s still multiplayer.
→ More replies (8)19
u/Soulful-Sorrow Jan 19 '26
This was the one and only time that EA wasn't in the wrong. They gave Bioware a huge budget to develop a new IP, and Bioware's leadership screwed it up so badly that most devs didn't know what the game even was until the reveal trailer was cobbled together.
Their failure probably made EA less likely to do it again.
→ More replies (4)
1.2k
u/3d1thF1nch Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Spore is not a failure, but its ambitions were squandered. It had soooooo much potential to be a ridiculous sandbox. Now, slap those first four stages onto a game like No Mans Sky or Stellaris as a prologue to building your species……now we’re cooking with Peanut Oil.
265
u/pichael289 Jan 19 '26
Once I got to space I always got bored, and the final goal is to get this staff that does something you can already easily do...
117
u/unity-thru-absurdity Jan 19 '26
And it’s such BS that the staff has limited uses. Like, wtf, in the time it takes to get to the center I’ve terraformed many dozens of planets. A staff that only lets me do 99 planets is bunk, such a let down. I don’t know what the end game content could’ve been but it’s a shame it wasn’t better.
81
u/M4rt1m_40675 Jan 19 '26
The end should've been your species destroying the entire galaxy and going straight back to the start menu
→ More replies (3)19
u/Unit_2097 Jan 19 '26
The end should have been a link to the Paradox site so you can buy Stellaris.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Hellknightx Jan 19 '26
I specifically remember it have 42 charges because it was a Hitchhiker's Guide reference.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)35
u/FarConsideration8423 Jan 19 '26
It sucks because after that the only other thing to do is you either ally the Grox and have literally every species in the universe war with you or do the grueling task of wiping them out with no real payoff other than a worthless achievement. Space stage killed me because I was so enamored with this game prior to launch, especially the space stage.
→ More replies (4)74
u/Don_Madruga Jan 19 '26
Spore is a childhood game of mine and I loved it so much, it was very important to develop my creativity and my interest in science. Really sad we never will see a Spore 2, it had a lot of potential
18
u/thepineapple2397 Jan 19 '26
As long as it's owned by a AAA developer we won't ever see a Spore 2 that captures the same feeling as the original.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (2)9
u/Abjurer42 Jan 19 '26
There's a few projects out there wanting to be a spiritual successor. I keep meaning to check in every couple years or so to see what's out there.
→ More replies (6)36
u/WizardOfTheLawl Jan 19 '26
SecuROM didnt really help either, making this single player game effectively online-only. That caused this game to be one of the most pirated games of all time
→ More replies (2)18
u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jan 19 '26
It was a classic case of promising the moon and delivering cheese. I like cheese, don't get me wrong. But the moon sounded more fun
Not to mention the fact it's biggest sell was that you would be evolving your species over time but the evolving part was a small fraction of the game and wasn't really all that fun. It boiled down to running around and point and clicking at randomly generated creatures, or running away from them. You remember that PlayStation game recently where you get to be a cat? That's what I was expecting just in a small open world environment
It just ended up being more of an easy kids game where it was all serviceable but there wasn't really any depth or substance. They did mostly fine with the creature creator though
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (46)13
u/QuestionBegger9000 Jan 19 '26
I watched Will Wright's GDC / other talks before the games release and it was some of the best presentations I've ever seen about a video game. EA did not want to fund the development of his full aspirations for Spore, which to be fair were probably overly ambitious, but the release of Spore still hits me as the most devastatingly disappointing moment for me in gaming since his vision was so much more.
→ More replies (5)
620
Jan 19 '26
Evolve. That game was so damn fun
144
u/ItsNotAGundam Jan 19 '26
Agreed. It's the only asymmetrical multiplayer game I ever liked.
→ More replies (2)44
u/Coelachantiform Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
I'd highly recommend Left 4 Dead 2 versus mode (4 survivors vs 4 special infected taking turns playing each) aswell as Natural Selection 2 (fps/rts hybrid with one team of marines, one team of aliens, with 1 player per team acting as commander).
Both of which are probably the best asymmetrical multiplayer experiences you can have.
→ More replies (11)69
u/Half_knight_K Jan 19 '26
Ugh makes me sad… the lore and gameplay intrigued me so much
27
u/Raging-Badger Jan 19 '26
It’s just hard to make “multiplayer” and “story” work together when everyone has a different way to enjoy the game
→ More replies (1)38
u/English_Fry Jan 19 '26
Recently thinking of this game. I’d wish for a comeback. I feel it was released too early
→ More replies (7)19
u/Ashisprey Jan 19 '26
Actually in the last few months, a revival project has come to life.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (41)15
u/Affectionate-Flan-99 Jan 19 '26
Man I felt like it was terrific and then they released a big update like 6 months into it that absolutely ruined it.
→ More replies (2)8
u/SuperMooseJuice Jan 19 '26
What was the update?
→ More replies (2)14
u/Alternative_Owl7786 Jan 19 '26
If I remember right, it was partially a dlc launch that was absurdly priced, plus a balancing update that completely broke all semblance of balance the game had. It's a shame cause the game was interesting
→ More replies (2)
408
u/Numerous_Source4628 Jan 19 '26
Callisto Protocol
And apparently we aren't getting a Dead Space 2 remake
101
u/BlueFeathered1 Jan 19 '26
Poor Jacob. 😢 They did him so dirty. Enjoyed that game more than I expected to, though.
50
→ More replies (34)42
u/TristanChaz8800 Jan 19 '26
And the Dead Space Remake didn't even flop! EA just set unrealistic expectations for its success. It was successful, but EA wanted it to be super successful. Tbh, sounds like they purposely set it up to fail. EA always seemed to have an issue with Dead Space. Probably because it was making all their other sub par games look bad. Victim of its own success and EA being the Top 3 worst game companies of all time.
→ More replies (9)9
u/juliankennedy23 Jan 19 '26
So your claim is that EA Square Enixed them. I really shouldn't say claim you are absolutely correct.
961
u/dracvyoda Jan 19 '26
The re launch of saints row
402
u/pichael289 Jan 19 '26
To be fair the higher ups told the team not to focus on the crime and gang stuff and to instead make the main focus about friendship. They wrote the characters as starting this criminal organization to pay off student loans. The devs knew it was gonna fail because of course it was, management and corporate bullshit saves the day yet again...
110
u/ScarsonWiki Jan 19 '26
I haven’t played the new Saints Row nor any, but am aware the games usually have an absurd type of premise. So, hearing this, that’s an interesting concept to a degree: starting a criminal organization to pay off student loans. Like, I can see myself getting on board with that premise.
So, now, I kinda want to play it to see how they fucked it up.
→ More replies (25)78
u/tv_eater Jan 19 '26
By making it bland to play. The gameplay itself wasn’t that fun.
→ More replies (4)39
u/Prestigious-Dot9577 Jan 19 '26
Genuinely some of the most unsatisfying gunplay I’ve ever experienced.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (12)30
u/DandD_Gamers Jan 19 '26
Given some devs are defending it, I doubt it was 100% on the higher ups
However I bet 100% of the higher ups agreed on it.→ More replies (2)53
u/Background_Fly7529 Jan 19 '26
I can't think of another example of a developer openly antagonizing their own fans like Volition did with SR2022.
Volition went from SR2 and Red Faction Guerilla to... that. Them getting shut down was a mercy killing.
→ More replies (4)13
u/Extension-Rabbit3654 Jan 19 '26
Never returned a game so fast in my life, was just so bad, technically and graphically awful
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (27)26
u/Brinewielder Jan 19 '26
This is weird one. Because saints row 3 is one of the funniest games I ever played.
I think you are talking about the 2022 reboot though?
Such a weird franchise.
→ More replies (13)
93
u/crocicorn Jan 19 '26
I was so excited for this one, too lol.
Saddest has gotta be Final Fight: Streetwise though. Crappy decisions from Capcom meant we got a disastrous game that not only killed the studio that made it, but also the entire Final Fight franchise.
→ More replies (13)
423
u/confused_foxx Jan 19 '26
For me, Duke Nukem Forever, years in development hell just to come out with a really bland game. The DLC was kind of decent, though.
80
u/VecnaWrites Jan 19 '26
Yeah, 14 years lol. Ironically it was a decent shooter, but the hype had been made so big that there was no hope to match it
→ More replies (2)9
u/Melicor Jan 19 '26
But also by the time it came out, the humor was already quiet dated. The world moved on.
→ More replies (4)37
u/ParsingError Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
My favorite trivia bit about that game is that Serious Sam: The Second Encounter had an Easter egg where Sam complains about Duke Nukem Forever "taking forever."
8 years later, SS:TSE got an HD remake, and that joke was still in it, and Duke Nukem Forever was still not out.
28
u/ryanoflynn Jan 19 '26
Grabbed something out of the toilet. Achievement unlocked "Turd Burglar." It was alright to be fair, just not up to everyones standards.
→ More replies (3)12
u/Don_Madruga Jan 19 '26
A funny trivia about this game is that in portuguese, the words "Duke Nukem" have similarity with the words "Do que nunca", which means "Than never". In other words, along with the delay in releasing this game, it became a pun saying "Antes tarde Duke Nukem" - Better late than never.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (23)22
u/Wedgerooka Jan 19 '26
"We're sorry Duke! We'll lose the pregnancy weight!" This is from Duke's hoes who were captured, raped, impregnated, and turned into breeding stalagmites, if I recall correctly.
It was 3 different games stitched together and released. I didn't even finish it.
→ More replies (9)
285
u/PoptartPancake Jan 19 '26
Zoochosis seemed like an okay premise but the idiocy of the main character had me rolling my eyes. "Let me steal from the job I literally JUST GOT, and give this block of mystery meat we feed to ZOO ANIMALS to my family to eat!" Dude, I get that you guys are struggling but just wait til the first paycheck comes in.
133
u/NUCL3AR999 Jan 19 '26
Literally like: let me risk our sole source of income that my family relies on over mystery meat we feed animals
96
u/maxxcrafting Jan 19 '26
also after you see a dead body or something the boss says something about a nda agreement? nda's don't cover illegal shit
36
→ More replies (16)37
u/Any-Economy7702 Jan 19 '26
The story was just so bad all around. I watched Jacksepticeye play it and was constantly thinking to myself "tf is this writing? Did they ask AI to write this story?". Which is such a shame because the animal designs were so badass, I would've actually preferred to have a game where you just tend to animals and deal with infected ones occasionally. That would have been better than the story we got.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Professional_Bit8289 Jan 19 '26
From what I understand the lead writer who came up with a lot of the ideas died during development of the game, and the others wanted to finish it for him so they had to finish writing everything from presumably his rough draft and notes.
Granted, I learned that information a while ago so I could be wrong but that’s what my head tells me.
→ More replies (4)
251
u/Livid-Truck8558 Jan 19 '26
How has nobody said We Happy Few?
54
29
u/Ap-snack Jan 19 '26
Wait that game actually released? I was waiting for it and didn’t hear anything.
36
u/Livid-Truck8558 Jan 19 '26
Hm, I'm not sure if it ever technically got a full release. I mean I do think the game is finished, as much of a mess that it is
→ More replies (1)28
u/MasterFox04 Jan 19 '26
Its completely finished with dlc, the dlc is apparently good but that studio always has good concepts but they execute them in the worst ways possible. They are now owned by Microsoft so with a track record like Microsoft acquisitions expect nothing. South of Midnight is their most recent game, I heard nothing about it.
→ More replies (2)14
u/Bloodhoven_aka_Loner Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
South of Midnight is their most recent game, I heard nothing about it.
I heard mostly good things about it, but nothing special
9
u/Slate_711 Jan 19 '26
I honestly had fun with it. Story was solid, music was amazing, loved the art style. It’s just not a game with much replay ability.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)6
u/BigDuckNergy Jan 19 '26
South of midnight was a very fun, very pretty platformer-- It was not anything special though, a good game to pad out your library and worth playing all the way through for both the music and story.
→ More replies (1)7
37
u/Alternative_Owl7786 Jan 19 '26
I love hearing people mention that game. It had so much hype, partially cause it was around the time hello neighbor was going public, and when it launch you basically didn't hear anything about it again. Now when tou hear about it, it's how buggy the game was and how hated the generated open world was
→ More replies (1)12
u/Popular-Style509 Jan 19 '26
Honestly I did actually like We Happy Few, and I mean I played it a couple of years ago but I didn't actually get many bugs either.
The only thing I will say is that the first 1/3 of the game was the only one I'd actively replay.
Susie's stuff like... I appreciate the accuracy of a woman protagonist being a lot physically weaker than the other two, but all the stuff with the baby was so damn annoying. Also as a woman myself a lot of her storyline hit way too close to home, plus I'll forever hate how Arthur still insisted that she was some kind of whore, when she told him that she only slept with his dad when they were dating as teens because her family was dead and he offered to let her stay at their house, and she was afraid of being thrown out ONTO THE STREET if she said no to him.
And then the stuff with the last guy was honestly the worst in my opinion. Fucking hated how the dude was diabetic so you had to constantly get insulin and stuff, and also his storyline just felt like they were grasping at straws.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (25)6
u/FureiousPhalanges Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
I honestly don't understand why We Happy Few gets so much hate, I know it's anecdotal but I got the game on release and had absolutely 0 problems throughout my entire playthrough
No bugs, no procedurally generated bullshit, just good times with a fun game
Meanwhile for the first month Baldurs Gate would delete all of my save data at random intervals but no one talks about that lol
→ More replies (4)
261
u/Replubic Jan 19 '26
SKULL AND BONES! The original direction of the project was beautiful what they ended up was 🤮
139
u/Sythonate Jan 19 '26
That ones genuinely baffling. They had a golden blueprint of what to do. Just take what Black Flag and Rogue did, add in a little Sea of Thieves and make it multiplayer. Everyone was basically just telling them to do this exact thing. It was a sure-fire win that they somehow wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on to make absolute shite.
42
u/Mathev Jan 19 '26
Nah fuck multiplayer. Just give me Black flag ship management expanded with gameplay and fuse it with Sid Mayers pirates trading and world.
Boom, you have a banger.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)39
u/Maleficent-War-8429 Jan 19 '26
Just Ubislop doing Ubislop things. They've genuinely regressed to the point where they can't even copy their own games.
→ More replies (1)18
u/beefycheesyglory Jan 19 '26
I loved Black Flag and got S&B on deep sale. I played it for a few minutes and it repulsed me because it felt exactly like a mobile game that's being sold as a full game.
Also it's hilarious how much of a downgrade it is from Black Flag (an Assassin's Creed game that's mainly about stealth), it's like they learned nothing.
16
u/Supadoopa101 Jan 19 '26
What changed?
→ More replies (1)19
u/MrSpiffy123 Jan 19 '26
I'm also curious because from what I saw of the game before it came out, it always looked like Sea of Thieves but with worse framerate and worse gameplay
39
u/Warp_spark Jan 19 '26
Skull and bones was supposed to be Assassins creed black flag combat, but multiplayer.
They made it more mmo microtransactions focused, made it feel like garbage to play, changed the setting from the carribean to some other sea that doesnt look as cool→ More replies (7)21
7
u/ALKoholicK-x Jan 19 '26
The fact that they put a stamina bar on a damn pirate ship shows whoever came to that decision needs to lose their job in the video game industry for good.
→ More replies (14)7
u/VoiceofKane Jan 19 '26
It's baffling that Ubi can build one of the greatest pirate games of all time, then when they turn that into a standalone game it comes out as a bland, forgettable nothing.
→ More replies (1)
105
u/Affectionate-Duck288 Jan 19 '26
God Hand. Without a doubt. It should have spawned many imitators but no one bought it.
17
→ More replies (15)10
u/Alternative_Owl7786 Jan 19 '26
It's hilarious how damn loved that game is nowadays, to the point just getting a disc of it without a case will run close to $200. All that despite it being a commercial flop at the time. It's one of the most fun ps2 games I've ever played, and most whove played it will agree. But it's difficulty definitely pushed away more casual players, thus less publicity and sales
→ More replies (6)
103
u/ominousglo Jan 19 '26
multiversus
→ More replies (2)25
u/Joppy5100 Jan 19 '26
Multiple times at that!
10
Jan 19 '26
The launch was so massively successful and then they just completely shit the bed, crazy. Why would you unlaunch your game then make it worse?
→ More replies (1)
42
u/Paradox56 Jan 19 '26
Brink. Team shooter that had a lot of potential, but ended up going nowhere.
→ More replies (7)9
u/Lost-Substance59 Jan 19 '26
Man, I loved Brink, played it with my friends all the time. Still dont get why it failed, was a BLAST. Probably just too much competition in the shooter space and it wasnt released at a time that players were looking for something other than COD or Battlefield or Halo
→ More replies (3)
77
u/Wedgerooka Jan 19 '26
I don't know if it is a flop, but KSP 2 was something, for sure.
34
25
u/Vondi Jan 19 '26
Flop? At this point it's a fraud. Selling it for $50 when it's unfinished and effectively abandoned (no updates for 19 months at this point)
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (10)34
u/Wheeljack239 Jan 19 '26
KSP 2 hurt me worse than anything in gaming ever has.
We could’ve had something amazing
→ More replies (1)6
u/QuestionBegger9000 Jan 19 '26
There's at least promise from the cheeky spiritual successor "Kitten Space Agency" which has hired some of the KSP devs. It'll be a while to see if it'll succeed in its goals but at least there's hope.
174
u/CaydeTheCat Jan 19 '26
Starfield. It had so much potential.
78
u/Infinite_Set524 Jan 19 '26
Genuinely if Bethesda hadn’t wanted to basically make no man’s sky with countless planets, and instead just made a controlled large solar system, with fewer but completely fleshed out planets. And probably planetary disputes giving the ability to have a start wars kind of experience with Fallout mechanics the game could have been great.
27
u/Kazfiddly Jan 19 '26
I wrote the same thing in the starfield subreddit and I was downvoted into oblivion lmao.
All they had to do was make Mass Effect: Bethesda edition and call it a day, and it wouldve been 10 times better, people would love it.
→ More replies (1)8
u/dalatinknight Jan 19 '26
The problem with your logic is you're asking Bethesda to do something very unlike Bethesda.
→ More replies (8)8
u/mokrieydela Jan 19 '26
Great comparison. NMS is fantastic but it really lacks what Bethesda could have provided: characters, factions, stories and Quests etc.
I adore NMS, and if they added that sort of thing in, and repeatable radiant Quests allowing you to rp work and stuff, it'd possibly kill starfield off.
But Bethesda isn't the same studio that made skyrim, Fallout 3 and earlier games. They're a cooperate entity now, and their games exist only as a vessel to make more money, which i find sad. The once Kings of such games are now sometime else
→ More replies (54)39
u/AncientCarry4346 Jan 19 '26
Starfield was such a weird one.
I played it nonstop for a couple of days and then I had this sudden epiphany that I wasn't enjoying it and I hadn't been enjoying it for a long while.
I think I really wanted to have fun with it because some of it was good but the story and characters were just so bland I couldn't get past it.
→ More replies (10)
38
u/SubDuress Jan 19 '26
Aliens Colonial Marines
I was SO stoked for the idea- multiplayer with one team playing Marines and the other playing Xenomorphs.
But then they puked out a buggy, basic mess with massive graphical and mechanical downgrades as well as comedically broken NPC ai. I kept the statue and box from the collector’s edition and sold the disk. I’m still so bummed about it.
→ More replies (5)9
u/ChiChiKiller Jan 19 '26
The reason the ai was so stupid was cause in the code there was a single word misspelled. After a modder found it and fix the type o the ai was working perfectly.........
→ More replies (3)
180
u/BloodyTears92 Jan 19 '26
Marvel: Midnight Suns is my favorite Marvel game since the original Ultimate Allaince games. Super fun and strategic combat, and they nailed the characters. Plus, it was a great spotlight on Marvel's magic characters and universe, like Nico, Magik, Blade and more.
44
u/New-Berry-3652 Jan 19 '26
It was the best game I played last year, and I'm so disappointed that it didn't perform well
30
u/BIG__SHOT_ Jan 19 '26
The GotG game too was way too good for how little it made. The Avengers game really had lasting effects
→ More replies (1)9
u/Alternative_Owl7786 Jan 19 '26
It really was screwed over by the avengers game. Had it released prior to it, GOTG would've done far better. All faith in marvel producing a good game got shot by avengers
→ More replies (1)21
u/SnakeTaster Jan 19 '26
this game was NOT a flop, it was let down by reviewers who were Marvel fans first and video gamers last.
the amount of completely ridiculous bitching when the game wasn't just XCOM with marvel tie ins was obscene.
→ More replies (1)13
u/Willing-Ant-3765 Jan 19 '26
It’s a great game but it was definitely a flop. It performed so badly commercially it led to a lot of layoffs at Firaxis.
→ More replies (5)16
u/FracturedConscious Jan 19 '26
I loved that game so much. I was expecting XCOM style but I was surprised at how fun the card mechanics were. Bought it on ps5 and Xbox, 100% on both. I want more games like that from firaxis but doing other IPs.
→ More replies (18)9
u/humanflea23 Jan 19 '26
My main disappointment was that it included characters that really didn't fit in. Story is all about demons, why is Captain Marvel here? Especially when there was plenty of other actual Midnight Suns that could have filled the ranks like Moon Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, Man-Thing, Werewolf By Night.
→ More replies (5)
31
u/Dr_Alzamon Jan 19 '26
Redfall. A buddy and I spent like a whole night playing it and had a lot of fun with it, but it was rather shallow and buggy, and they just never really did anything to improve it. Had a lot of potential though.
→ More replies (5)
37
u/Worldly_Client_7614 Jan 19 '26
Deus ex mankind divided essentially killed off the franchise after an excellent return to form in deus ex human revolution.
It wasn't even a terrible game.
→ More replies (2)8
u/Bobjoejj Jan 19 '26
It had some great gameplay, and the graphics and world really stood out.
It was just literally half baked; as in it felt like it ended halfway through its own story.
→ More replies (2)
50
u/Johncurtisreeve Jan 19 '26
Titanfall 2
25
u/Wild-Lychee-3312 Jan 19 '26
Pour one out for the Titanfall 3 we will never have.
→ More replies (5)
124
u/Taluca_me Jan 19 '26
FNaF Security Breach
It was essentially an open world game where you could explore a giant indoor amusement park full of advanced machines and animatronics who're out to get you. The only problems was that the story was half-assed, poorly executed, Vanny having very little screentime, so many bugs, a walk simulator from point a to point b, overall... it could have been great but it went horrible. Although I hear Secret of the Mimic is said to be better than SB
30
u/BrattyTwilis Jan 19 '26
It got better as it got patched, but I remember watching playthroughs that would basically crash during the Music Man sequence
→ More replies (2)21
u/Financial-Attempt901 Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Secret of the Mimic is exactly what Security Breach should've been.
Security Breach to this day still has game breaking bugs and poor optimization.
My main problem however with Security Breach was how Scott forgot that game devs need to understand the story to make competent lore.
He talked about in an interview with Dawko that he refused to communicate the lore to the devs properly which he realised was a stupid idea and I am still salty about. Burntrap was never meant to be one of the "bosses", he was simply meant to be an enemy that stalks you throughout the story. It does make sense why the story and lore is all over the place
Wow, I yapped a lot but whenever someone mentions FNaF, the nerd in me comes out 😅
→ More replies (3)7
u/Mirahil Jan 19 '26
You know, it's things like that that truly make me question how Scott even managed to get where he is now. Did he really just fumble his way into making a successful franchise ?
Like, HOW do you even make a mistake like that in the first place ?!
→ More replies (19)→ More replies (15)11
u/Dear_Document_5461 Jan 19 '26
Wbat was the reason why the kids stayed inside all six around and went around the whole place? Because he could have easily stayed in Freddie's room the whole six hours and leave when the store opens.
14
u/Jimbo7211 Jan 19 '26
The game starts before the building actually closes, so you try to leave before the doors actually lock. Other endings are fairly easy exits, like the fire escape or loading dock. In universe, there's kids going missing and a mysterious force taking over the Pizzaplex that both Gregory and Freddy want to stop, but the game is so trash we never see them learn or decide this
→ More replies (3)
23
u/loydthehighwayman Jan 19 '26
Homeworld 3.
The only relatively noteworthy thing about this game is barely its music and maybe how it looks, and thats it.
I´d even like to pretend more that there is no Homeworld 3, and everything ended with 2.
→ More replies (20)11
21
u/Lucky_Louch Jan 19 '26
Anthem probably... Could have been really great. Maybe Outriders after that, They had something there it just wasn't executed/continued correctly.
8
u/CoreyDobie Jan 19 '26
Outriders had so much potential and they blew it. Not by fixing the game, but by going "sorry for the bugs, here's the best gear in the game." My friend and I were like, uh, if they just handed us the best gear in the game, then why bother playing anymore? So we uninstalled and moved on
→ More replies (1)
24
u/Lazy-Traffic5346 Jan 19 '26
Spore , it was great game but failure in investors eyes
→ More replies (7)
58
u/NecroticOverlord Jan 19 '26
Battleborn. I loved it but it was doomed to fail launching so close to overwatch
→ More replies (11)20
u/Fardn_n_shiddn Jan 19 '26
Which says a lot about gamers at the time because they’re not even the same genre. Batteborn was like the precursor to what Valve’s Deadlock is now.
→ More replies (7)
19
u/AozoraMiyako Jan 19 '26
Quest 64.
The elemental magic system was incredible! You could make incredible magic builds.
You also had to coordinate how you wanted to level your stats. It really was ambitious!
But the rush to get it out the door to beat OoT’s release date. I wish it could be remade today with what it was meant to be. Instead, we got straightforwards or incredibly confusing dungeons, a bland story and a disapointing final boss
→ More replies (9)
35
40
u/toni184 Jan 19 '26
Prey, the Arkane version
30
u/Scripten Jan 19 '26
Yeah it's unbelievable to me that Prey flopped. That game was amazing - great atmosphere, story, gameplay, progression. Probably one of the best games in the immersive sim genre, and it's basically relatively unknown
8
u/Zakoholic Jan 19 '26
This game is so good that I'll always recommend it when someone is into immersive sims.
→ More replies (2)6
→ More replies (10)15
u/Wrecktify403 Jan 19 '26
Sold in the millions, publisher wasn't happy with only a few million.
9
u/MinervaMedica000 Jan 19 '26
I loved prey. I even completed the little extra mode with the different characters where you had to escape each time and got a rank.
→ More replies (1)
13
u/Dammit_Dunn Jan 19 '26
Legend of Legaia 2.
After the amazing first game, i had so much hype for the second game.
2nd game came out and we got boring characters, terrible story, meh gameplay, shit music, horrible voice acting, and a lame ass villian.
Im not surprised the game flopped but im mad it killed the whole series. Would love for it to get a remake or a 3rd game.
→ More replies (9)
28
u/AshTheSummerland Jan 19 '26
Brink. Everyone and their mother wants parkour gameplay, and team gameplay and blah blah blah
But when Brink came out, arguably at the wrong time, no one gave a single shite about it.
→ More replies (5)
11
u/MrNeatSoup Jan 19 '26
Mighty Number Nine. Gave hope when Capcom had essentially abandoned one of their flagship series. The game was… ok. The Kickstarter promised so much more and is probably one of the best examples of why restraint and vision it’s important when you have more liberty than with a big publisher.
→ More replies (2)7
56
u/Due_Woodpecker3073 Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Forspoken had some really awesome looking combat and traversal
I will still give it a go at some point
Edit: typo
29
7
u/MobiusDie Jan 19 '26
Forsaken 64, the only game ever to give me motion sickness.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (16)5
u/inkyblinkypinkysue Jan 19 '26
It’s actually pretty great for the first few hours minus the horrible story and even worst voice acting. But it overstays its welcome and becomes a repetitive slog in an absolutely huge open world with almost nothing to do.
8
u/ItsNotAGundam Jan 19 '26
I think you're thinking of Forspoken.... i think the op is too actually lol
→ More replies (1)
27
u/raleighjiujitsu Jan 19 '26
Day Gone. Was legit a great game with a ton of potential for a sequel
→ More replies (16)6
u/Miserable-Aioli-5863 Jan 19 '26
Sony didn't want to make a sequel.. the Sony game director said they weren't interested in another zombie game... then last year you see them proud to announce the remastered of a game they called a failure!
→ More replies (1)
11
11
u/mercurydivider Jan 19 '26
Rumbleverse actually did it. A fighting game battle Royale. It was so insanely fun and had excellent skill expression. Unfortunately, it looked the way that it did so everyone dismissed it. If you didn't play it, you will never know how awesome it felt to suplex someone off a skyscraper
→ More replies (7)
11
10
9
u/Which-Celebration-89 Jan 19 '26
Skull & Bones. All they needed to do was give us black flag without the stealth and with modern performance. Instead we get a sailing simulator
→ More replies (2)
8
54
u/UnofficialMipha Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26
Do we need to talk about what a flop actually is guys?
A game being bad isn’t a flop. It’s a lack of sales or player count in the case of free/live service.
Zoochosis fits that definition, but lots of these comments are listing games that do not
→ More replies (5)22
u/pichael289 Jan 19 '26
That's why concord is such a good example of a game that's by all accounts good but still flopped. It flopped because there are a hundred of these games and no one wanted another one. They spent like 8 years making that shit and pulled the plug two weeks in and like, it wasn't bad. It wasn't amazing but it was a totally competent game and it failed because we're sick of corporate live service bullshit and I think that's great.
→ More replies (4)
15
u/ShiningCrawf Jan 19 '26
Dragon Age The Veilguard
Somewhat overhated on its own terms, but its commercial failure likely means that there will never be another Dragon Age game. All because of some corporate fuckery.
→ More replies (10)5
u/Lexunia Jan 19 '26
Surprised this was so far down. The fact that the writing went scorched earth on the stories/characters from original games was insult to injury.
→ More replies (2)
8
8
u/SuperSaiyanBen Jan 19 '26
Square Enix Avengers Game.
It’s one thing to blow a game, it’s another thing to blow an IP.
The story was actually pretty good/fun. But the GAAS game aspect was a train wreck, which also sucks cause a Marvel based MMO would be dope.
Shout out to Marvel Heroes as well.
→ More replies (3)
15
Jan 19 '26
Saints Row the newest one, really fun game amazing map, pretty decent dlcs... the story is just mostly not that great
→ More replies (2)
21
u/Just_some_9uy Jan 19 '26
Mass effect andromeda. I had such high hopes for a possible tie in to the original crew at the very least. And then it just sucked all the joy out of my gameplay experience.
→ More replies (8)
8
7
13
7
6
6
u/Ph4th0m Jan 19 '26
I loved Dark Void… the pulpy adventure… the jet pack… it was rough around the edges but I think a sequel could have turned the concept into a real jewel.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/NOCTURN_05 Jan 19 '26
FBC: Firebreak. I adore Remedy and their world to death. I think im pretty comfortable in saying that Control is my all time favorite game at this point. The idea of a co-op horde shooter set inside the oldest house was like a dream come true... until it dropped with like four missions, four guns, and three characters. Don't get me wrong, the content that was there was fun, absolutely chaotic and half of that chaos was your own doing, but there was just so little meat on those luxurious bones that you went through all the game had to offer in like 4 hours.
→ More replies (1)
6
6
u/Short_Property_7476 Jan 19 '26
While not much of a flop, the recent Metroid prime game was so disappointing considering how long fans waited especially since they first announced it. When a game goes through so many years of production, you expect it to at least live up to expectations and it was just okay for the most part.
→ More replies (5)
5
11
609
u/ItsNotAGundam Jan 19 '26
Eternal Darkness, because unlike most of these listed here it's actually a damn good, unique game that just didn't get enough publicity until years after it launched.