Top 10 Biggest Video Game Fails of 2018

Top 10 Biggest VG Fails of 2018 It’s one thing to have a crushing disappointment or an absolutely terrible product; It’s another when such a disaster could be seen from a mile away. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Biggest Video Game Fails of 2018 For this list, we’re ranking 2018's biggest failures in gaming. Rather than scandals, the focus will be primarily on released or announced games.

#10: “Starlink: Battle For Atlas” (2018)

Failing to crack the UK top 10 charts during its debut week, Ubisoft's space-combat simulator is a solid game hampered by an outdated gimmick and confusing marketing. Following in "Skylanders" and "Disney Infinity's" footsteps, "Starlink: Battle for Atlas" allows players to create cool ships by purchasing toys, and, depending on the console, the $75 physical version includes either one or two vehicles. The problem is that "Starlink" treats ships as lives rather than merely weapons, and new ones can only be purchased using real money. In comparison, the cheaper digital version comes with four ships plus the Switch Exclusive Star Fox Arwing, almost making it seem like Ubisoft wanted to punish customers who purchased the toys.

#9: “Far Cry 5” (2018) Season Pass

On paper, Ubisoft's post-launch plan for "Far Cry 5" sounded too good to be true. Across three expansions, players could look forward to Ramboing through Vietnam, exploring Mars, and shooting zombies. Changing up the map and even slightly altering the gameplay, "Far Cry 5's" season pass tried to accomplish too much, as all three expansions were not only lackluster, but seemed to get progressively worse. The shortest but most enjoyable, "Hours of Darkness" was decent but shallow, "Lost in Mars’s" novelty wore off very quickly, and "Dead Living Zombies" felt more like an overprice Far Cry Arcade map pack. Who knew space travel and a zombie apocalypse could be so boring?

#8: “Agony” (2018)

Set in the underworld, this survival horror game displayed enough promise to more than double its Kickstarter goal. Stuffed with grotesque imagery and hilariously bad voice acting, "Agony's" detailed visuals are dragged down by inept stealth-based gameplay and a slow-moving campaign that instantly overstays its welcome. Lambasted by most critics, including our own Andrew over on MojoPlays, "Agony" is a strange game designed for a niche audience, but the project's main selling point is the art style, and browsing through some screenshots is a lot less painful than suffering through the story.

#7: “The Quiet Man” (2018)

Featured prominently during Square Enix's E3 2018 conference, this 2-hour game promptly slipped into obscurity before randomly being released without much fanfare. It is almost like Square wanted to pretend this never happened. In an attempt to put players in the deaf protagonist's shoes, "The Quiet Man" launched without any audio, making it near impossible to follow the storyline or relate to the main character. Considering the campaign primarily consists of cut-scenes, "The Quiet Man's" brisk 2-hour run-time feels like its last an eternity. The cut-scenes might be almost indecipherable, but they are light-years ahead of the laughably under-cooked beat 'em up combat.

#6: “The Culling 2” (2018)

Lasting approximately a week before being pulled from stores, this "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" clone was a game nobody demanded and, shockingly, nobody played. Released into early access during 2016, "The Culling" was among the earliest entries into the battle royale genre, but its popularity waned once "Fortnite" and "PUBG" hit the scene. Dropping any of the original game's unique ingredients, mainly the first-person perspective and perks system, "The Culling 2" was met with disdain from critics and gamers. Within a couple of days, "The Culling 2" lacked enough players to stage full matches, prompting the developer to cut its losses.

#5: “Fallout 76” (2018)

It was the train wreck that somehow managed to keep on rolling. While originally announced with a divided sense of both skepticism and curiosity, from the gaming community, when the game hit the public Beta: Holy crap did things go sideways quickly! It quickly became evident that Bethesda’s ‘Creation Engine’ was not designed to accommodate a multiplayer server, as adjusting the individual settings made the game exploitable for certain players. Not to mention launching multiple nukes on the map at the same time caused the servers to crash. To top it all of, launch week sales were a whopping 80% lower than Fallout 4, and with the game receiving overwhelming negative reception, that’s unlikely to improve.

#4: “Metal Gear Survive” (2018)

Desperate to tap into any lingering goodwill associated with the beloved series, Konami's spin-off flopped commercially, critically, and in just about every department imaginable. Substituting the franchise's trademark stealth-action mechanics for gameplay revolving around poking zombies in the face with a stick, "Metal Gear Survive" did not even try to add anything to the brand's lore or themes, which are pretty darn important components in a "Metal Gear" game. They even tried to fix the “Metal Gear Solid 5” Sahelanthropus plot hole, but somehow made it even worse. How was that even possible? A blatant attempt to milk the license for all its worth, thankfully, fans did not buy whatever Konami was selling.

#3: Telltale Games

In 2018, Telltale Games closed its doors for good, leaving multiple announced projects up in the air and 250 people out of jobs. Over the years, Telltale became the go-to studio for licensed episodic adventure games, but stagnation gradually set in and the company started struggling to justify its expensive IPs. Eventually, years of poor business decisions took their toll and Telltale ran out of money. What really twists the dagger in the wound though, was the revelation that its employees were let go with only a few hours notice and without severance pay. While "The Walking Dead: The Final Season" would end up being completed by another studio. What a horrible end to such a beloved developer.

#2: “Diablo: Immortal” Reveal

There is a time and a place for everything, and a mobile game should not be the main event announcement during a convention predominantly targeted towards PC gamers. At BlizzCon 2018, Blizzard unveiled the mobile-only "Diablo: Immortal," a prequel set between the second and third entries in the series. If this announcement had coincided with any news about a proper "Diablo IV," or had announce that the game was also coming to PC, Blizzard might have been able to avoid the disastrous backlash. But not only did they crush any hopes of a PC port, this off kilter comment made a bad situation even worse: (“Do you guys not have phones”)

#1: “Radical Heights” (2018)

Learning nothing from the disaster that was "LawBreakers," Boss Key Productions attempted to grab a piece of the battle royale pie but ended up disaster. "Radical Heights" lasted longer than "The Culling 2," but its failure proved to be far more catastrophic for its studio. After attracting some early interest, the battle royale's player base declined at an alarming rate and failed to pick back up. With the studios money all but run out, Boss Key Productions had no choice but to shut down, and it’s iconic game maker Cliff Bleszinski announcing his retirement from making video games. If Bleszinski really is no longer making games, it’s a sad end to such a great career.