2020 has been a terrible year for many reasons and the world is still going through tough times. The gaming industry, too, has seen setbacks including delays, cancellations and more. Apart from that there have been game disappointments – quite a few of them to be honest. These are all the games that promised us the world before launch but left us with a bitter heartbreak after release. Here’s our list of the most disappointing games of 2020.
Table of Contents
Most Disappointing Games of 2020
10. Hyper Scape
The Battle Royale genre is getting more and more new additions as time passes simply because of the growing popularity of it. Every one wants a piece of the Battle Royale fun and developers are trying to be innovative with it. Ubisoft did try that with Hyper Scape but it dulled in comparison to its competition. With Fortnite, Warzone, PUBG and other rivals taking up much of the BR audience’s attention, Hyper Scape fell behind due to multiple reasons like generic characters, gameplay feeling too hectic etc. Although it does have some unique elements, what it is missing out on is personality and an identity. What Fortnite, Apex and Warzone have, Hyper Scape doesn’t have yet. Call it an X factor if you will. It isn’t a horrible game, not at all, but it is not one of the best games either.
9. Disintegration
From the co-creator of Halo came Disintegration, a sci-fi game with a unique gameplay, but that wasn’t enough. Since it tried to combine various things like FPS, added exploration to the mix and real-time strategy elements, it became kind of a mess. Unfortunately, neither the single player not the multiplayer aspect of Disintegration stood out and a lot of it seemed mediocre including the voice acting. It is not much of a fail compared to other games on this list, but it still is one of the disappointments of the year.
8. Predator: Hunting Grounds
Another game that has its origins from a movie is Predator: Hunting Grounds but it didn’t match up to expectations at all. The concept was interesting – it’s an asymmetrical multiplayer where one player plays as the Predator while four others take on the role of special operations soldiers. Hopes were high and a lot of expectations were riding on this. But then there were obvious problems related to the game balance, polishing, graphics, boring missions, AI issues, glitches, less maps and overall low replay value. All of this combined gives Predator: Hunting Grounds a spot on our list of the most disappointing games of 2020.
7. Mafia II: Definitive Edition
Mafia II: Definitive Edition is a remaster of a 10 year old iconic game with a slight visual upgrade but it also brought along a number of other issues. There were glitches, frame drops, audio inconsistencies, texture pop-ins as well as objects and characters passing through walls and the ground. The frame rate drops affected gameplay so much that the game became unplayable causing great frustration to long-time fans of the series. The huge number of problems that this game was plagued with makes it one of the most disappointing games of 2020.
6. The Outer Worlds (Nintendo Switch)
This spot on the list is taken up by the Nintendo Switch port of The Outer Worlds. The game at its core is good and includes wonderful exploration elements, nice dialogues but the Switch version performs poorly in other arenas. There’s long loading times for textures, pop-ins, frame rate is choppy and the graphics are highly disappointing. The vibrant environment of this game on other platforms becomes bland and low res on the Switch. Sometimes the game turned blurry, sometimes it stopped working and enemies spawned out of nowhere. It’s a game that you should play, for sure, just not on the switch.
5. Resident Evil 3 Remake and Resistance
Since this game is part of a pathbreaking franchise, the remake of Resident Evil 3 didn’t match up to expectations. One of the main reasons for it is the removal of many parts from the original. So those locations, puzzles and the Mercenaries mode that you loved from the game? They are nowhere to be seen in the remake. Another aspect that made it fall behind was the short runtime and Nemesis being a total letdown. The predictability, repetitiveness and the underwhelming Resistance (multiplayer) made the overall experience of the remake an utterly disappointing release, especially for long-time fans.
4. Fast and Furious Crossroads
Cars, heists, missions, a star studded cast – what could go wrong? Well, a lot. If you thought the popular Fast and Furious movie would transform into a spectacular game, Fast of Furious Crossroads will shatter your expectations. Even Vin Diesel cannot save this one. The graphics look outdated, it is packed with glitches and has a gameplay that is very repetitive and pointless. As soon as the trailer of the game was released, there were countless memes about how the graphics looked like they are from the older generation of consoles. Unsurprisingly, Fast and Furious Crossroads was panned upon release making players furious pretty fast.
3. Bleeding Edge
Ninja Theory who gave us Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice also gave us Bleeding Edge. It’s laudable that they ventured into a new territory and tried something new but some things haven’t really worked out in their favor. In this 4v4 multiplayer game the character design stands out a bit but nothing else does. Gamers have criticized the unintuitive gameplay calling it slow, boring and sloppy. Overall this seems rushed as if it was created by a team just to ensure that a multiplayer game gets pushed out. Other than that, Bleeding Edge left a lot of people angry and disappointed.
2. Warcraft 3: Reforged
The remastered version of the game that originally released in 2002 launched early this year. Unfortunately, it received highly negative reviews (you can even call it an outrage) due to the changes, issues, missing features, and more. It is surprising that a company like Blizzard did this but oh well. Reforged turned into a remaster that fans ended up hating, calling it a massive downgrade. Many promises were left unfulfilled since expectations were high from the Blizzcon footage. There were bugs, crashes, UI problems as well as connectivity issues. Features of automated tournaments, profiles etc. were also not present in the remaster. This isn’t even everything that went wrong, there’s lots more. As you can tell, all of this comes together to make Warcraft 3: Reforged one of the most disappointing games of 2020.
1. Crucible (Most Disappointing Game of 2020)
Amazon Game Studios released Crucible on May 20, 2020 for Windows but it went back to closed beta status on June 30. It basically unreleased itself which is a pretty rare thing. It happened mainly because of the player feedback, poor overall reception due to which Amazon said that they are working on making the game better. What went wrong, you ask? The game is super dull for starters. Basic elements like characters and voiceovers are subpar. Movement speed is too slow and the game is boring. Soon their player base became embarrassingly low. But Amazon has confidence in Crucible which is why they aren’t abandoning it just yet. We hope Crucible can come out from its disappointing launch and bring in a wave of success in its second attempt.
So those were the most disappointing games of 2020. More big launches are coming soon – let’s see if they all live up to their expectations or fail big time.
While you are here, read our list of the Best Indie Games to Play in 2020 and the Best PS4 RPGs that you need to experience this year.