2024 has had its fair share of excellent games. If I wasn’t blowing up insects in Helldivers 2, I was stealing stars in Super Mario Party Jamboree. But while 2024 had its shining moments, the year was also filled with some rather disappointing games. These games didn’t live up to their hype and, if anything, failed to impress not only myself but other gamers out there. Here are games I wish had gone differently this year.
Rise of the Ronin
As a long-time fan of the Nioh series, my hopes were high for Rise of the Ronin. Unfortunately, Sony’s PS5 exclusive didn’t impress me at all. With its dull and rough-looking open world and its weak story, Rise of the Ronin was likely my least favourite game of 2024.
I know this sounds harsh, but Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo Games dropped the ball here. The devs crafted likely the best action RPG series with Nioh. The sequel stands as one of the best experiences you can get with stellar DLC and a remarkable post-game system. Rise of the Ronin, however, was a chore to play.
Apart from the game’s combat, Rise of the Ronin was littered with bland sandbox mechanics and a disappointing gear system. It was a pain to play through given how the game’s content was padded with a boring story and weak characters. Sure, you could leave all that behind and just slice through enemies, but after over two dozen hours, even that gets painful. Read our review here.
Concord
Not only does Concord make the list of the most disappointing games of the year, it is likely PlayStation’s biggest failure of all time. Let’s be honest, they kind of deserve it.
Concord was created with one thing in mind – to capture the live-service multiplayer audience and make bank while doing so. However, Sony clearly didn’t do any market research because that audience no longer exists. You either have the hardcore gamers playing single-player and co-op games, gamers with no attention span playing Fortnite 24/7, or the live-service audience already invested in their existing games.
So Concord came along and bombed. Sony believed the PlayStation brand would sell the game and well, it didn’t. Sony even had the cheek to slap the game with a price tag. As a result, Concord debuted with a few hundred players on PC and bad press across the board. While the right-wing want to believe it was the “inclusivity” that caused the game’s failure, it wasn’t. People just don’t want to play crap games that should have stayed in 2015.
Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League
Another game that did everything wrong was Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. Just like Concord, this game’s direction was helmed by people who have zero clue what the industry wants. Instead of a blockbuster follow-up to one of the greatest games of all time, we got a pile of trash.
Suicide Squad was a generic third-person shooter with live-service mechanics, a generic loot system, poor writing, and bad intentions. To think that we waited ten years for Rocksteady to make something great and Suicide Squad was all they had should be a crime.
Not only was Suicide Squad a bad game, but Warner Bros. Games even tried to control the message during the game’s launch by issuing review codes only to “positive” media and paid influencers. Thankfully, that didn’t help, and the game made a huge loss. Some call that justice. Read our review here.
Skull and Bones
We all kind of saw this coming. The game that Ubisoft had been working on for eight years. The game that went through multiple reboots and was delayed five times before launch. There was no reality where Skull and Bones was going to be good.
Sadly, Skull and Bones is the third game on this list that tried to be the hottest and trendiest live-service game but instead, wasn’t. Not only did the game fail to live up to the impossible expectations, but Ubisoft’s track record with live-service games is driving the company to its grave.
Skull and Bones was “okay” when it came to its naval combat, but it wasn’t enough to make for an appealing adventure. I am not sure how many people are still playing the game, but I doubt the numbers are high. Read our review here.
Endless Ocean: Lumina
The Switch had some real gems this year. Endless Ocean: Lumina wasn’t one of them. As a follow-up to the successful Wii game, Endless Ocean: Lumina was just a boring swimming simulator. Sure, some of the underwater exploration offered a little bit of adventure, but all you did was swim around and scan fish. Read our review here.
During my review of the game, I simply couldn’t fathom who the game is made for. I don’t know anyone out there who would enjoy scuba diving through the ocean and scanning fish. Granted, the attention to detail across the game’s encyclopaedia of fish was top-notch, but the fun goes belly up real fast.
Ara: History Untold
I wanted Ara: History Untold to be a killer game. I wanted it to rival the Civilization series. Sadly, the game didn’t get it right. While the core strategy mechanics were sound, Ara suffered from some broken AI, unfair systems, and a tedious progression path that saw me spend more time in the menu system than anything else.
I do think Ara will be a good game sometime in the future. The work is being done to address the issues. However, it still doesn’t make up for the disappointing launch. Guess we’ll just have to play Civ 6 next year instead. Read our review here.
Star Wars Outlaws
I didn’t dislike Star Wars Outlaws as much as the internet did, but the game still wasn’t my favourite. There were some fantastic moments in the game. The space exploration and combat, to name some. However, Outlaws struggled for me. The PC version was littered with performance issues. The game’s focus on stealth felt cheap, and I still don’t like Kay Vess.
Ubisoft Massive has been working on improving Star Wars Outlaws. I am sure the game is in a much better state, but for me, that ship has sailed. Read our review here.
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Princess Peach: Showtime! was the first “Peach-only” adventure, and I had my eyes on it since its announcement. Nintendo was finally giving her the spotlight she deserved. Given the brand’s masterwork ability to create games that cater to both children and adults, I was hoping this would be the same— it wasn’t.
Princess Peach: Showtime! was a kids’ game with clichéd mechanics and a one-pager story. There was zero depth to the experience apart from slapping on a different outfit and running through a level. The best part of the game for me were the levels. They brought back those Puppetteer memories. However, the general gameplay was dull and uninspired. Peach deserved better. Fans deserved better. Read our review.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown
Glaring graphical issues, poor AI implementation, and a general low-budget feel, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a dumpster fire. The game generally feels disconnected from the series. Sort of like it was developed for the Xbox 360 and without even looking back at what fans enjoyed from the previous titles.
This is a bad racing game. I don’t even think another four years of development would help here. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown needs to be shut down, players need to be refunded, and the studio needs to start something new from scratch. It is a disappointing and flawed game that fails to capture the essence of the original Test Drive Unlimited games.
Some Notable Mentions
- Alone in the Dark – For its tedious combat and mild atmosphere marketed as “survival horror.”
- Kong: Survival Instinct – No. Just no.
- Pneumata – For its poor design, unsettling use of camera shake and flashing lights. Poor voice work, and janky movement.
- South Park: Snow Day – Lacklustre writing, horrid gameplay, and general lack of “South Parkness.”
- Funko Fusion – This could have been the next LEGO series, but bad puzzle design, wonky combat, and unpolished gameplay make it an ugly and forgettable experience.
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