The world of video gaming has never been as vast as it is today. Everyone has a game, and keeping up with all the new releases and updates is simply impossible. This sheer wealth doesn’t mean that every new game that comes out is a total home run. Bigger games inevitably raise the bar for all new releases on gaming platforms, and few can be lowered.
However, some developers didn’t write off their romantic project as a total loss. Let’s take a look at some of those games.
1. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
It was supposed to be a WoW killer at launch, but the game was so bad the developers actually took it offline. After a few months of silence and hard work, the game was re-released under the name “A Realm Reborn” and with its fourth expansion Endwalker coming later this year, the game is more popular than ever.
2. No Man’s Sky
When it comes to major reworks, this game takes all the cake. The level of hype for this project was impossible to achieve before its release and unfortunately its release proved it. Many people were disappointed, a lot of money was withdrawn and the program seemed to be dead on arrival. The devs spent months rebuilding the game from the ground up, and it’s now one of the best open space sims money can buy.
3. Star Wars Battlefront 2
While the game wasn’t bad when it was released, the biggest issue here was with its loot box system. Many countries considered this illegal and it forced EA to rework the entire cosmetic system of the game and for all their future games. If they don’t, there’s a good chance they won’t be able to sell their games in many European countries.
4. Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Despite the success of the first game, the developers felt they needed to include pay-to-win microtransactions at the launch of the game. Community outrage led the developers to overhaul the entire gameplay so that microtransactions were removed without ruining the game, and now the game is no longer amazing.
5. Diablo 3
Like its predecessor, vanilla Diablo 3 is not a great game. It had all the things you’d expect from a Diablo sequel, but it didn’t add anything fresh and new to the formula. And like its predecessors, it took a massive expansion pack to bring the game up to what people have come to expect from Blizzard. The Reaper of Souls expansion changed the best ARPG at the time. With Diablo 4 coming soon, we can’t help but wonder if it will break this mold and do well at launch.
6. Fate
Although Destiny has become a staple of the looter-shooter genre, the game’s initial release can only be described as “terrible”. It took developers Bungie over a year to complete the Taken King expansion, which finally turned Destiny into a game so good that it defines the entire genre to this day.
7. Cyberpunk 2077
While this game doesn’t really break itself, the developers, CD Projekt Red, have a track record with their Witcher games. The launch version of Cyberpunk was a buggy, unplayable mess with a lot of cut content. Although the game boasted marketing AI and immersion rivaling GTA V, the latter game didn’t come close. We hope they turn it around because, talent-wise, it has everything a good game needs.
8. Marvel’s Avengers
Marvel’s Avengers came with as much hype as it did problems. The game was unstable at best and borderline unplayable for many. While the gameplay is currently pretty bland, the developers have managed to make the game more interesting with new content on the horizon to overcome the bland problem. Let’s hope the Spidey DLC hits that spot.
