Even the top-wishlisted Steam games aren’t immune to flopping.
No matter how much excitement there is behind an upcoming title, it’s not guaranteed to succeed. Sometimes, the hype levels are due to the marketing behind the game. The trailers, event coverage, and social media impressions have been designed to make us as excited as possible.
Other times, it’s a naturally occurring hype cycle that normally happens when a game goes viral. Again, though, there’s no direct correlation between how many wishlist additions a Steam game has and its guaranteed success. With that in mind, we wanted to make some predictions: here are ten of the top wishlisted Steam games that we believe won’t meet the hype.
That doesn’t mean we want these games to fail; it’s the opposite, actually! We just think that maybe you should hit the brakes before getting your hopes up.
As a disclaimer, all of these games are in the top 50 of top-wishlisted Steam games, according to SteamDB.
10 Deadlock
You Got Overwatch In My Dota 2!
On the one hand, it’s Valve. You’d figure a hero shooter/MOBA hybrid that they’re developing would be a huge hit. After all, they’re the ones responsible for the success of Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2.
Having said that, the last time a Valve game with a legendary pedigree behind it was in a beta environment, it never left. Artifact was the Richard Garfield-designed digital TCG that never was.
Valve is most certainly going to take its time with Deadlock and make sure that it only sees the light of day if it’s ready to do so.
As such, I imagine they’ll be cautious with the hype cycle behind it, even if fans may do the exact opposite.
9 Light No Fire
Come On Baby Light My Fire
I really, really hope Light No Fire succeeds. No one deserves it more than Hello Games after the disastrous launch and incredible recovery of No Man’s Sky.
It’s that specific reason why I’m putting the brakes on the Light No Fire hype. We’ve been here before with this very developer, and I refuse to fall victim again.
To be fair, Hello Games has been far quieter about this game compared to No Man’s Sky, and now we have a better idea of what to expect from a game like this.
Still, look at those trailers. There’s dragons! Adventure! Crafting! It can be the fantasy game of our dreams! See how easy it is to get excited? I’ll instead choose to remain cautiously optimistic.
8 Ark 2
Chaos Theory
Ark 2 was first revealed to the world at the 2020 Game Awards with a cinematic trailer starring Vin Diesel.
Since then, it’s been pretty much radio silence about the game until earlier this year, when developer Studio Wildcard confirmed that the sequel was put on hold a few years ago.
This sequel has disaster written all over it, no matter how out of control the hype cycle is for it. Yes, I know, a survival game with dinosaurs seems like a simple home run, but hey, we’ve seen easier fumbles before.
Unlike the past two games I’ve talked about, I don’t have much faith that Ark 2, if it ever releases, will be able to stick the landing.
7 Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Bloodthirsty
I’ve never understood the hype behind Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
A sequel to the 2004 cult classic RPG (it was pretty ho-hum if you ask me, though) based on the popular RPG, Bloodlines 2 has been in development for quite some time, changing hands several times over the years.
It’s not handled by The Chinese Room, best known for their work on Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
The biggest critique against Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is that early impressions are less than stellar, with The Gamer expressing frustrations with the game.
6 State of Decay 3
M.I.A.
I’m surprised that, given the numerous layoffs and cancellations by Microsoft and Xbox, we haven’t heard a peep one way or another about State of Decay 3.
After its announcement in 2020, as well as Microsoft acquiring developer Undead Labs, there’s been nothing to report on. No real progress on the game, no updates, no cancellations or studio closures. Literally nothing.
The State of Decay games haven’t exactly lit the world on fire, but they’ve been solid open-world zombie games that have a devoted following behind them. Are these killer apps for the Xbox brand? No. Are they games that have serious legs behind them? Yes.
I feel like the secrecy surrounding State of Decay 3 is not doing the game any favors. People are building this thing up into something it will most certainly not be, leading to nothing but disappointment.
5 Mouse: P.I. For Hire
Old-Timey Fun
In 2022, Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain, meaning anyone was free to use its rights as they saw fit. It quickly led to the production of a horror movie, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, which was released in 2023. It was, in a word, awful.
What does this have to do with Mouse: P.I. For Hire? Well, Blood and Honey proved that just because you’re using iconic and beloved characters doesn’t mean you have a surefire hit on your hands. That’s my biggest cause for concern with the game.
Yes, it does an excellent job of evoking the Steamboat Willie visual style, similar to Cuphead’s iconic 1930s animated look. The issue, though, is that the gameplay has to back up the graphics. While that was the case with Cuphead, I’m not sold that Mouse: P.I. For Hire will do the same, even if it does feature Troy Baker.
4 Kingmakers
A Very Cool Concept
On paper, Kingmakers is everything a fantasy fan would ever want: an action-adventure/strategy sandbox set in 1400 AD Great Britain. Yes, it feels like this is a genre that has been done to death and back, but it still looks pretty appealing!
Oh, I forgot something: the player character is actually someone transported 500 years into the past to help prevent the apocalypse and must change the course of history.
While Kingmakers passed the virality test in spades, I’m here to throw a flag on the field. The game’s set to enter Early Access, which means it will, more than likely, be an imperfect experience.
No matter how good this game looks in trailers and videos, they will not be indicative of what the Early Access experience will look like. So while we may be dreaming of one of the best fantasy experiences of all time, let’s at least get our hands on it first, deal?
3 Unrecord
Hopefully As Good As It Looks
There’s no denying that Unrecord has an incredible premise and photorealistic graphics that impressed us during its 2023 reveal.
Instead of your stereotypical action-oriented FPS experience, Unrecord is a narrative-driven tactical game where the entire point of view is from your police body cam, helping to make it unique and stand out.
Its story is compared to that of a detective novel or thriller (not my words, that’s straight from the game’s Steam description). So not only did the game make an incredible first impression, but the developer is hyping it up.
I’ve seen so many games like Unrecord over the years that fail to live up to the hype, and despite it being one of the top wishlisted games on Steam, I’m getting the same vibes here. I really, really hope I’m wrong here, but I’m not buying the hype on this one.
To make matters worse, they were beaten to the punch: Bodycam entered Early Access in 2024 with a similar visual style and vibe. Plus, it’s a multiplayer game.
2 Witchbrook
Cozy Vibes
I’m honestly surprised Witchbrook wasn’t higher up on the wishlist rankings; this game has all the things you’re looking for in a big viral hit leading to release.
A cozy life sim with an appealing aesthetic? Check. A well-established indie developer in Chucklefish, best known for Starbound? Check. Up to 4-player co–op gameplay? Check.
Here’s the thing, though. Believe it or not, Witchbrook has been in development longer than Silksong, having been first announced in 2016, drawing comparisons to Stardew Valley.
While it’s finally getting a release this winter, it has zero chance of living up to nearly a decade’s worth of expectations.
1 Half Sword
A Knight’s Tale
I feel like I’ve seen this song and rodeo before.
Half Sword is a physics-based medieval combat simulator. Now you’ll finally get your chance to live out your dreams as a 15th-century knight battling for fame and glory. Or, more than likely, laughs on the internet.
Yes, as a physics-based combat game, the combat looks frustratingly hilarious at times, but I feel like this is a gimmick that can only go so far. It’ll be great for a day or two for laughs, but how much depth will there actually be here? I’m worried there isn’t enough; a game’s premise can only take things so far, after all.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
