Considering I’m an extremely thorough consumer when it comes to purchasing video games, it’s rare they catch me off guard: I almost always know when I’ll like it, when I’ll love it, and when I’ll hate it.
However, aesthetics and presentations are often deceiving, and although it hasn’t happened to me many times in my life, I do have a fairly accurate list of video games that, based on their appearance, have led me to believe more about them than I should have.
And it’s disappointing, because the visual aspect of the interactive medium is one of the things I’m most passionate about, so it hits me like a truck when I buy a title thinking it will be as good as it looks, and in the end, it turns out to be quite the opposite.
I know I’m not alone in these circumstances, as it’s a common occurrence in an industry where so many products are released each year. From these, I’ve selected a few to compile this list of ten games that look incredible but actually suck.
10 Bound by Flame
Fantastically Clunky
I spent all the years following Dark Souls‘ release searching for titles that felt even remotely similar, so stumbling upon Bound by Flame felt like a godsend.
Unfortunately, like the vast majority of games that resembled FromSoftware’s creation, its lack of polish was too great to tolerate, offering gameplay that was much more clunky than the trailers let on.
Its mythology was interesting, and the art design was equally striking, but it was just a pretty facade for an inconsequential story where, by the time the credits roll, you’ll forget everything, partly because all you want to do is rush through the campaign.
Fortunately, Spiders has grown significantly over time and has managed to refine the formula to produce fulfilling titles like Greedfall and Steelrising, though their first attempt with Bound by Flame was anything but satisfactory.
9 Biomutant
Vibrant and Monotonous
Speaking of investing many years anticipating a game, rarely in the last couple of decades have I been as closely following a development as I was with Biomutant, which I tracked from its announcement to its release as a journalist.
My excitement when the title was finally released was unparalleled, as its melee combat combined with its fantastic mythology and RPG systems seemed incredible, but nothing could have prepared me for the disappointment that came after.
Unresponsive enemies, unexciting combat mechanics, a forgettable story, an annoying narrator and interfaces, and archaic decision-making… Aside from the wonderful setting, Biomutant has nothing outstanding going on, despite its concept being well-suited for one.
I’m certain a hypothetical sequel would be a perfect opportunity for redemption, although I dare say the original release was so ill-fated that I wouldn’t be surprised if the IP was never touched again.
8 Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Tough Beginnings
I know Uncharted is an extremely beloved franchise and an indelible part of our industry’s history, so don’t give me the cold shoulder when I say Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune falls far short of the rest.
While I understand it’s a product of its time and inappropriate to judge by today’s standards, Nathan Drake’s first adventure is weak in so many ways that I’m honestly surprised how it made it this far.
The story is riddled with clichés and pointless plot twists, the gunplay pales completely in comparison to contemporary counterparts like Gears of War, the platforming is a colossal mess that works only once every hour, and the setting… The setting is actually pretty good.
I lost count of how many times I died because the jumps had poor physics, because I had to face three hundred copies of the same enemy and a grenade fell on me out of nowhere, or because I had to endure the worst jet ski sections in the history of video games, so my experience was not pleasant.
As with many other games on this list, what Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune has most to offer is its beautiful aesthetic (even if it’s just a permanent jungle with less texture variety than an ’80s game); from that point on, I’d pay any deity whatever it takes to forget it belongs to a series as curated as this one.
7 Cry of Fear
Wasting the Benefit of the Doubt
Harshly criticizing a free video game, unless it’s a multinational title, usually bothers me, but I’m afraid I can’t help it when Cry of Fear is the focus of the conversation.
I spent many years reading about how it was a cult classic, a revolutionary title within the horror genre, an ode to the best experiences of its kind, and I ended up stumbling upon a pretentious product that drowns in its own proposition.
Given the unintuitive puzzles, generic gunplay, campaign’s length, and edgy story, the only reason I can understand its success is its indie and accessible nature, which I fully appreciate and, to a certain extent, agree with.
Regardless, if I ignore the context and analyze what it directly offers, the only elements I appreciate are the use of the phone, the enemy design, and the levels’ aesthetics. They’re not small aspects, but it’s far from the masterpiece Cry of Fear seems to suggest at first glance.
6 The Order: 1886
A Beautiful Empty Shell
The eighth generation of consoles had a rather rocky start, with graphical power that was noticeable and invited us to think about infinite possibilities, although it initially disappointed with games like The Order: 1886.
More than 10 years have passed, and the title still looks phenomenal, with hair-raising trailers and cinematics with enough juice to adapt it to three different media, but going from watching it to playing it is a very different matter.
My biggest disappointment will always be the Lycans, though there really isn’t much I can salvage beyond the audiovisual beauty, especially since the story is predictable, the world feels flat, and the gameplay is decent at best.
The Order: 1886 is among the most vivid examples of a beautiful shell that doesn’t hold much more than that, and while part of me wishes the franchise would get another chance, the truth is I don’t miss it too much either.
5 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
A Sequel to Forget
Any sequel to a masterpiece like Deus Ex: Human Revolution would be chained to immeasurable expectations, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a prime example of what happens when they aren’t met.
Every trailer, developer comment, and piece of information about the game led me to believe I was looking at an improved and refined version of the 2011 modern classic, so receiving the opposite was quite painful.
The gameplay is fine, and so is the story, but it ends so abruptly and suddenly that all you’re left with is a half-baked project, hastily completed, and intended as an interlude before the grand finale, leaving a tremendously bittersweet feeling when you see the credits.
It has the foundations to love it, but after you take a bit off the overall score because the final boss appears when the story is halfway, the AI is so dysfunctional that you lose every ounce of immersion, and neither stealth nor direct action feels rewarding, you’re left with fairly little.
Besides, Deus Ex is characterized by absorbing stories where every act feels like it could unleash a global catastrophe, while Mankind Divided places all its weight on too many side quests whose ultimate climax isn’t remotely as impressive on a social, political, cultural, philosophical, or other scale as its predecessors.
The biggest problem with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is that it has the size and focus of a DLC rather than a sequel, and that dissatisfaction is difficult to overcome. It looks amazing, and to some extent it feels that way, too, though there’s no way to finish the campaign and feel good about what it ultimately delivers.
4 Assassin’s Creed III
The Guild Is Dead
Because Assassin’s Creed was my favorite series during Ubisoft‘s golden generation, I’ve rarely experienced such sadness as with Assassin’s Creed III.
The idea of having a game in the franchise set in a much more natural and less urban environment, with a new protagonist after the magnificent Ezio Auditore, and in a historical period as striking as the American Revolution was wonderful, but it actually didn’t materialize.
Connor ended up being a very flat protagonist, the scenery was much paler and emptier than it looked, the story became inconsequential and left the Assassins’ Guild aside, and the combat not only failed to evolve, but stagnated and became extremely tedious.
Except for the main antagonist and the sequences that take place in the present day, Assassin’s Creed III marked the beginning of the end for the series for me. Its successor was certainly a marvel, but I’d say the IP never recovered from the disappointment generated by the third numbered installment.
3 Anthem
BioWare’s Decline
Along with Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Age and Mass Effect quickly became two of my most beloved franchises, and consequently, my affection for BioWare blossomed tremendously, giving me complete faith in any project bearing their imprint.
Unfortunately, this led to Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s original disappointment, and it was ultimately confirmed with Anthem‘s release, an attempt at a game-as-a-service that failed in every aspect it proposed.
It looked glorious, yes, with a vibrant and beautiful setting, but that’s the only praise I can give to a game that lacked soul in every sense, a particularly striking contrast coming from a studio that knew how to create an immersive universe like no other.
The combat’s repetitive nature alone made it a nightmare with each new hour, yet when you added the bland story and uninspired mission structure, you realized the gameplay loop is impossible to tolerate long-term, no matter how good it may feel at first.
Anthem is full of great ideas, a natural consequence of being part of such a talented team, though it was never able to go beyond the theoretical foundation, and the updates, no matter how painfully they tried, were powerless against such a flawed starting point.
2 Godfall
A Decaffeinated Start of Generation
As with PlayStation 4, Sony‘s current console generation was marked by a launch exclusive that looked extraordinary and ended up being a painful lie: Godfall.
You know that feeling of watching a tech demo for a new engine, which looks stunning and like nothing you’ve ever seen, but still feels soulless and would fail as a full-fledged game? That’s the case here.
The combination of God of War-like combat with Diablo‘s loot-focused approach is certainly engaging, yet the action is so hollow that you quickly run out of worthwhile excuses to keep playing beyond the occasional dopamine rush.
I inherently hate it when a game forces me to grind, but if it does so when its main value proposition is shiny graphics, rather than a solid gameplay structure that makes the mechanics a reward in themselves, I’d rather not play.
Between countless technical issues and one of the most boring stories in the history of boring stories, Godfall ends up being so forgettable that I even had to look up its name when I decided to make this list.
1 Wolfenstein: Youngblood
The Tombstone of an Icon
Despite all of the above, the greatest tragedy and disappointment I’ve had the misfortune to experience in the last couple of years has been giving MachineGames‘ wonderful Wolfenstein a chance and eventually landing on Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
After two tremendously remarkable installments that completely rekindled my love for first-person shooters, I approached their latest title with partially reserved expectations because I was aware of the poor reviews, and I still came away devastated.
Considering the team had Arkane Studios‘ help and the new combination of genres allowed for a fresh and revamped formula, there were plenty of reasons to hope for the best, and the best thing ended up being not playing the game at all.
Solo, co-op, as a shooter, as an RPG, as a Wolfenstein… Analyze it from whatever perspective you like, because you won’t find a valid lens to view Wolfenstein: Youngblood as anything but a massive disappointment.
Maybe I was naive, thinking I would handle it like I did with Redfall or Dark Souls 2, but in this case, I had to prove the public right. Wolfenstein: Youngblood should never be mentioned again, and we should collectively forget it exists.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
