Being excited over something becomes quite a rare feeling as we grow older and older, and it’s no different for gamers. At times, when a special game strikes our fancy, we can’t help but get all giddy about it. However, there are those instances where expectation doesn’t meet reality, and we just can’t help but feel strongly about it.
What’s more frustrating is when a game the community might have waited for for years finally comes out and it’s just downright bad. It would have been great if there were just some occasional hits and misses, but no; this has happened way more times than it should have, so much so that we have compiled a list of the games that bombed on day 1.
Anthem
There were many games that had to be cancelled simply because they were too ambitious for their own good; setting standards so high that they were unreachable would mean disappointing a lot of people and ruining your image. Sometimes, more considerate developers would take the time to improve the game and add something that would change up the formula. Anthem was supposed to be one of those games – or at least should’ve been.
Anthem is a sci-fi game where you act as a mercenary piloting an Iron-Man-like armour called a javelin to defend humanity. The game’s stunning visuals and slick gameplay were among the major hooks of the game, but that’s all it had to offer. Despite the interesting mechanics, it still fell back on the repetitive gameplay loop of sitting on an objective for a few minutes, and whatever great or interesting elements were present in the game were just few and far between.
Redfall
Out of all the games on this list, this one was perhaps more infuriating than disappointing. Redfall is an open-world looter-shooter game where you must take back an isolated island town from vampires. And that’s where the interesting positives end. You have the option to play this game solo or with friends, but you are better off doing the former as the game constantly crashes and breaks, which is disappointing as the developers who made this game also made Prey and “Dishonored.” Coupled with terrible enemy AI and basic combat mechanics, it makes Super Mario look like a 5D chess game.
However, the most atrocious part of the game is the price tag; you have to pay RM250 for the base game, which would not even function properly. It also has lacklustre animation, where cinematics are just replaced with animated 2D images and enemies have difficulty navigating even the simplest of terrain. Unfortunately, there is nothing redeeming about this game until it gets the necessary patches it needs. Then again, that’s what you get when you hire a development team which focuses on stealth to work on a looter-shooter game.
Cyberpunk 2077
If infamy is involved, there is nothing more infamous than Cyberpunk 2077. Gamers were excited about the prospect of a futuristic game created by a developer who could do no wrong after CD Projekt RED’s Witcher 3 met with such resounding success. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be on this list at all if everything were smooth sailing. What was unique about Cyberpunk was that its image was already damaged before it was released.
The game was announced too early for its own good, causing repeated delays that angered players and were the subject of many memes. And when it was released, it still wasn’t spared; those who tried to play Cyberpunk 2077 at launch on consoles found a nearly unplayable experience filled with bugs, visual shortcomings, massive AI issues, and game-breaking crashes, while on PCs, they faced similar problems, but to a lesser extent. Massive bugs would be removed, and three years later, it now works fine, with only a few hiccups here and there. The reason it suddenly exploded with positive reviews out of nowhere was thanks to the anime set in the same universe, which breathed new life into the game.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
One of the more recent titles on this list, perhaps with equally high expectations among gamers, is Star Wars Jedi Survivor. Released back in late April, this sequel to the critically-acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had everyone excited to see the continuation of Cal Kestis’ story after slipping through the cracks of the Empire’s grip. That is, of course, if they could actually play the game they paid for.
Unfortunately, like Cyberpunk 2077, this game suffered terrible optimisation issues that destroyed everything but the most powerful PCs. Many gamers couldn’t move past the opening menu as the game would crash while loading the first level. This issue would resolve itself after you move past the first level, but because of the unpolished nature of the game, it received an overwhelmingly negative review rating on Steam. Much like Cyberpunk, Jedi: Survivor is a good game that will hopefully be fixed soon through patches. Until then, it will be sitting there with mixed reviews.
No Man’s Sky
You know you’ve messed up when your game sets a rule that almost all gamers abide by in a bad way. No Man’s Sky was the most anticipated game of 2016, but it was led astray because of the buzz surrounding the game’s features. No Man’s Sky is a space exploration game where you can travel the universe and visit other planets. Each planet is unique in its own way, and it’s completely randomly generated.
Sean Murry, the face of No Man’s Sky, and its developer, Hello Games, explained the exciting features of the game: that planets closer to their respective stars would be hotter, while those farther away would be enveloped in ice, and that you could explore these with friends. It was truly revolutionary, but players were disappointed when the game was released as it didn’t have any of the promised features.
This spiralled into such a massive backlash that Steam allowed gamers to return their copy of the game regardless of playtime (you can’t refund games if you have two hours or more of playtime), and the community renamed the game “One Man’s Lie” to express their displeasure. Since No Man’s Sky’s release, gamers have collectively agreed to never pre-order games again, as they felt they were spending money on something that wasn’t even finished yet. Fortunately, the game was able to retrieve some of its player base by delivering on what it promised, but unfortunately, the damage has already been done.
