Most Disappointing Games
We had such high hopes for these games. But then, tragedy struck. The magic wasn’t there. That special something simply slipped away. Or, in some cases, the devs aimed for quality and landed squarely on pure evil instead. Let’s count down the whole list, from the ‘could have been great’ to the ‘shouldn’t have been made!’ It’s COGconnected’s Most Disappointing Games of 2022!
11. Soul Hackers 2
I’m gonna be very honest, I had to dig deep to find out why Soul Hackers 2 was on this list. Our review of the game was downright favorable, for starters. Nicola says the game “looks and sounds fantastic,” which doesn’t sound terribly disappointing. But the wider player reactions tell a different story. Turns out people were hoping for something more like Shin Megami Tensei V, or Persona 5 Royal. Instead, they got a stock-standard dungeon crawler with a fabulous aesthetic and very little else. Soul Hackers 2 had big shoes to fill, and very much failed to fill them.
10. Rune Factory 5
Rune Factory 5 is less of a mystery. This is an ambitious project with a ton of gameplay styles crammed in. Yet somehow, all these disparate elements failed to properly gel together. Also the menu system is pretty horrendous? The Rune Factory series has a rich history going all the way back to the old Harvest Moon games. Between this lineage and the robust competition, fans expect a lot from a new Rune Factory game. What fans got was a lateral move from its 2012 predecessor that suffered from performance issues and awkward controls. You can read our review of the game here.
9. New Tales from the Borderlands
While we loved New Tales from the Borderlands, ours was the minority opinion. It turns out that when your game lives or dies by its writing, that writing has to be excellent. For a lot of people, this release failed to meet the standards set by the previous game. So what happened? Some theories suggest that Gearbox taking over from Telltale Games had a detrimental effect on the quality. It seems that Gearbox tried to do too much all at once in terms of humor. Comedy writing is a delicate art form! You can’t just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, you know?
8. Soulstice
Soulstice has an incredible premise. You’re controlling two characters, only one of which has a corporeal form. Spirit and flesh unite to make a fantastic fighting team. Awesome, right? Well, not quite. Soulstice is marred by a host of technical issues and clumsy mechanics. Action games require precise, razor-sharp controls. This title’s ‘atrocious lock-on system,’ along with a mess of input cues, make combat more cumbersome than it needs to be. Your concept might be incredible, but the execution has to match. Otherwise things start falling apart fast.
7. Ghostwire: Tokyo
Admittedly this is the last game on our list that feels slightly out of place. Our review was pretty positive, and the metacritic averages aren’t much worse. Instead, Ghostwire: Tokyo falls into the trap of so many AAA games – hype. We were drip-fed a steady stream of tantalizing teasers, trailers, and presentations for this game. It was almost a full year before we knew anything concrete. The end result was… fine? The game is alright, but nothing like the relentless hype train promised us. You fight ghosts in Tokyo with spooky powers! It’s technically impressive but practically forgettable.
6. The Callisto Protocol
See, now we’re getting into truly disappointing territory. The Callisto Protocol landed like a brick in your soup bowl. All the trailers looked incredible. Dead Space devs working on a true spiritual successor? Hell yes! All aboard the hype train! Then the reviews started pouring in. Our review took note of the troubling combat system. Other critics had similar problems. Sure, the game looks great, but actually playing was deeply frustrating. Maybe the magic of Dead Space is more elusive than this? We’ll find out when the remake drops next month.
We’ve got the five Most Disappointing Games on Page Two!