10 Insanely OVERHYPED Video Games
Fable (2004)
Peter Molyneux is no stranger when it comes to controversy about promising gamers the moon and the stars when developing his games. For his fantasy RPG Fable, Molyneux promised gamers a realistic and reactive world unlike anything before it. Plant a tree and watch it grow in real time over the course of the game, get married and have a family and should you die during your adventure, your heir would take up your quest. Seriously ambitious stuff, especially on the original Xbox. In the end, Fable and its sequels were well crafted adventures that developed a dedicated fanbase but were nowhere near the promised end product. Molyneux only recently seems to have learned his lesson because he would continue to hype up his games to ridiculous levels even after all the backlash over his previous broken promises.
Mighty No. 9 (2016)
With the Mega Man franchise a shadow of its former self, series creator Kenji Inafune launched a kickstarter for Mighty No. 9, a spiritual successor that ended up raising four million dollars. However, after numerous delays and a not insignificant change to the games art style, as well as one of the most bizarre marketing campaigns ever that openly attacked the fans that supported the game and helped finance its creation, Might No. 9 released to a resounding thud from both fans and critics. The art style was bland, the gameplay and graphics were unimpressive, and the entire experience was just mediocre at best. Had this simply been another indie Mega Man clone it would have immediately been forgotten to time, but because it had that series creator attached, expectations were naturally much higher and the result was ultimately that much more disappointing.
Daikatana (2000)
If your game promises John Romeros about to make you his bitch, you damn well better deliver. Arguably more memorable for its marketing campaign than anything else, Daikatana was John Romeros first major project after leaving id software, having been instrumental in the creation of classics such as Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake. The game leaned heavily on Romeros involvement, but enthusiasm waned after multiple delays and development issues. Ultimately Daikatana released to widespread ridicule and negative reception critical of everything from the games graphics to its gameplay, story, voice acting and atrocious enemy AI. Daikatana immediately became one of the biggest financial disasters in gaming history and is now remembered more for its failures than anything in the game itself.
Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013)
While there has been no shortage of Aliens-related games since the franchise's inception, Colonial Marines promised to be something special. Acting as a canonical sequel to James Camerons Aliens and picking up immediately after the events of that film (and even managing to get Michael Biehn to reprise his role of Corporal Hicks), Colonial Marines looked to recapture the magic of the films in a way the games never had before. Unfortunately, upon release, it was revealed that most all of the footage demonstrated for fans was pre-rendered or vertical slices and the game itself suffered a substantial graphical downgrade alongside abysmal enemy AI and just an overall mediocre and bug-riddled experience. This flagrant false advertising led to multiple lawsuits against Gearbox and it wasnt until 2017 that a modder found a simple spelling error in the games code that vastly improved the games enemy AI. All too little too late.
Anthem (2019)
After the less than positive critical reception to Mass Effect Andromeda, Bioware was in desperate need of a win, and their upcoming action RPG Anthem looked to be the saving grace for the studio. With slick looking combat and traversal mechanics, anticipation for Anthem was most certainly on the higher end leading up to launch. However, since EA is gonna EA, naturally the game was going to be a live service money printing machine, which alongside EA forcing Bioware to use the Frostbite Engine, which wasnt designed for this type of game, the odds were stacked against Anthem. Upon release, not even the Bioware Magic could save Anthem from itself. Almost nothing about it felt like a game developed by Bioware. The story was lackluster at best and non-existent at worst, the gameplay was incredibly repetitive, and even the worldbuilding was incredibly underwhelming. At least the flying was cool, so there was that.
Duke Nukem Forever (2011)
Initially believed to be nothing more than vaporware after 14 years in development, only to be resurrected by Gearbox, Duke Nukem Forever nearly lived up to its title and never saw the light of day. However, that might have been a more merciful end for the ego-maniacal alien killing machine. Fans didnt care if the game was even going to be good or not, just that it existed. In the end, it felt like a game that came a decade too late, and barely managed the so bad it's good level of enjoyment. Fans were instead forced to slog their way through a pale imitation of not only Duke himself, but essentially every single FPS cliche in the history of gaming. Even the series' trademark humor fell flat with more people ending up laughing at the game rather than with it.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
After the universal acclaim of The Witcher 3, hype and anticipation for CD Projekts next game was through the roof. Adapting the wildly popular table-top RPG, every snippet of new footage or gameplay was meticulously analyzed by dedicated fans and the inclusion of Keanu Reeves only added to the already sky-high hype. You would have thought 2077 was the second coming and going to completely revolutionize the entire gaming industry. Finally released in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was an absolute mess, especially on consoles, full of thousands of bugs and glitches and countless missing promised features. It was so bad in fact, that Sony pulled the game from sale and even offered players refunds. Although CD Projekt did eventually deliver on all their initial promises and then some, the damage was already done, and most people remember the game for its terrible launch rather than for what the game eventually became.
The Day Before (2023)
Initially revealed in 2021, The Day Before immediately became one of the most wishlisted games on Steam, promising an open world, multiplayer zombie apocalypse more realistic and interactive than anything before it. However, many were immediately skeptical of every new piece of gameplay revealed, claiming there was no way this game could achieve this level of detail and suspecting it to be some kind of scam. After multiple delays and the continued sketchy behaviour of the studios founders, The Day Before finally released in late 2023 and was worse than anyone could have imagined. A ridiculously empty world devoid of any of the content promised, countless asset flips and game ending bugs were just the tip of the iceberg. It was just overall a horrendous experience that didnt even seem to know what kind of game it wanted to be for those who tried to play. Fntastic pulled the game from sale only four days after launch and shut down servers a month later.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024)
Rocksteady had earned themselves a lot of goodwill amongst players with their Arkham trilogy being the definitive interactive Batman experience. And with their newest title continuing within that universe and expanding to Metropolis alongside familiar characters from the Suicide Squad taking on the Justice League, anticipation was through the roof. However, the more players learned about the game, the less enthusiastic they became. A multiplayer focused, live service game complete with loot boxes, battle passes and microtransactions was the last thing fans wanted from the studio. With bland repetitive gameplay, a story that insulted the legacy of its characters, and all the greediest practices in the industry crammed into a single game; in the end, Kill the Justice League killed more than just the superhero team, it nearly killed Rocksteady itself.
No Mans Sky (2016)
Sean Murray might be this generation's Peter Molyneux if he's not careful. No Mans Sky promised an open-ended experience unlike anything before it. A galaxys worth of stars and planets to explore, all with procedurally generated wildlife and vegetation, epic star ship battles, and the ability to do all of this with your closest friends by your side. Sean Murrays promises seemed too good to be true as he continued to do the press tour showcasing the game leading up to launch, and in the end, it truly was unlike anything players were expecting, in all the worst ways imaginable. It even led to a couple of lawsuits over misrepresentation. However, to their credit, Hello Games stuck with it and ended up delivering the promised experience and then some, making No Mans Sky one of the best games of the generation. Lets just hope Sean can keep his promises in check from now on.
Which video game do you feel never reached the lofty heights of its promised experience? Share your picks in the comments.
