The world of gaming can be a cruel and unforgiving place for a developer. You work for years on a game, you pour your heart and soul into a project, and then you have one shot to market it, share it with the world.
And, if there is even the slightest hitch, you might find that your game is labeled a flop. A fate that just might put you in the same bargain bin asAnthem,Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and many other poorly received launches.
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We aren’t just saying this to protect their feelings. In this case, size doesn’t matter!
However, as a critic myself, I’m not afraid to speak for everyone when I say, we get it wrong sometimes. Occasionally, there is a game that doesn’t get its flowers when the reviews come online but still manages to find a huge fanbase and achieve commercial success. Or, at the very least, a very impressive cult following.
So, this is an act of penance for critics everywhere. Here are ten games that were critically panned but are actually pretty awesome.
Repairing Its Reputation Piece By Piece
It’s a controversial topic, so let’s start as we mean to go on. Despite the outpouring of hate thatKnackreceived upon release as part of the PS4 launch line-up, I unironically quite likedKnack.
Was it a perfectly executed concept? No, not even close. But there’s enough about this rough-and-ready title that made me want to keep playing.
It has a solid base of platforming, beat-em-up, and cartoonish storytelling that have made other PlayStation mascot platformers successful. The factthat Knack 2 went on to be a modest successby improving on this model shows, if nothing else, thatKnack, while flawed, had many redeeming qualities.
It’s not a ‘Mastapiece’ like the memes suggest, but it’s better than the reviews would have you believe.
9Deadly Premonition
A Penchant For The Peculiar
Deadly Premonition
I mentioned that sometimes critics just don’t get a game, and label it as bad or disjointed as a result. Well, when you look back at the Twin Peaks-esque detective gameDeadly Premonition, you may understand that to an extent, as the game is a hodgepodge of ideas.
However, despite oodles of oddness, like sentient cups of coffee and the need to manage your hygiene as you solve cases,Deadly Premonitionis a wonderful game.
It’s the B-movie charm that makes this game such a standout experience. But it’s not without quality, as the life sim mechanics, andcumbersome Silent Hill-esque controlsall work brilliantly here.
Does it feel like a fever dream? Oh, you bet it does, but it’s one I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat.
8Yooka Laylee
It Ain’t Banjo, But It’s Pretty Darn Close
Yooka-Laylee
When a game is touted as a spiritual successor, this can often serve as an albatross around the neck of said game. As the game then only has two options. It needs to outperform an all-time great, or it can accept second best and the consequences that come with that.
Yooka Layleeis a game that falls into the latter category, as it wastouted to be the next Banjo Kazooie, but in the end, couldn’t reach the lofty heights of the Rare-developed great.
But, just because this plucky platformer isn’t quite as refined and acclaimed asBanjodoesn’t mean that it’s not great in its own right.Yooka Layleeis avibrant and satisfying platformerwith fun puzzles, huge open levels, and a sublime soundtrack.
The fact that this game wasn’tBanjo Kazooiewas the stick used to beat this one, but now that the dust has settled, you should go back and try this one, because it’s a genuinely great platformer that will bring back some N64 memories.
7Pathologic 2
A brutal, Horrible, Brilliant Experience
Pathologic 2
While I don’t personally fall into this category, as I love a tough game. You’ll find that a game critic’s kryptonite tends to be a game that’s intentionally obtuse, hard to progress in, and brutally punishing.
As you might have guessed,Pathologic 2ticks all of those boxes by providing a survival game in which simply scraping by in a troubled town is considered a major success.
This game forces players to do unthinkable things to survive, uses devilish mechanics to create impossible situations, and implements cumbersome mechanics to make each action feel awkward and unsatisfying. In short, it’s a game that simply isn’t fun.
But this horrible, brutal, punishing experience is what makesPathologic 2so incredible. It’s a hard sell. Hence the low reviews, but this game really is a work of art and was done dirty. So please, give it a try.
6Rain World
Don’t Rain On Rain World’s Parade
Rain World
Speaking of games getting a bad rep just because they attempt to push the envelope in terms of difficulty and challenge the player.
Rain World, a game with a huge fanbase and one of the most unique and interesting Metroidvania games on the market, was widely and critically panned. But, the only reason for this seems to be that the game has the audacity to be quite hard.
However, for those with patience and a willingness to analyze andunderstand this harsh, unforgiving world,Rain Worldwill be more than just game with a cute Slugcat mascot and a beautiful pixel world.
It’s a game with a grueling setup akin to howDark Soulsfelt when it was new and alien to players, and if you’re willing to stick it out,Rain Worldwill reward you with an experience you won’t soon forget.
5The Order 1886
Blink And You’ll Miss It
The Order: 1886
As someone with a penchant for indie games, I have no issue when a game is a short and sweet experience. However, whenever an AAA game slaps a premium price tag on a title, fans expect a game that’s going to serve not only as a top-tier gaming experience, but one that also offers value for money.
As you might have guessed, certain glaring omissions and issues meant thatThe Order 1886didn’t earn the ‘value for money’ stamp of approval.
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The game was very short, running players about seven hours in total. But the real kicker for fans upon release was that the runtime was largely made up of cutscenes and Quicktime events, which meant that even within that short gaming window, a huge chunk was spent watching and not playing.
However, now that the dust has settled, and you may buy this one on sale for next to nothing. Many have come to accept that this game for what it is.
While not the breakout IP we all expected, it is a title with a brilliant setting, a superb story, and great gameplay, albeit with a limited sample size. So, if you took the reviews at face value, maybe it’s time to giveThe Order 1886a fair shake.
4Days Gone
While I can’t pretend to be the biggest fan ofDays Gone, as Ubisoft-adjacent games with map markers in abundance get my goat, it has to be said that within this particular sub-genre,Days Gonedoes stand out as one of the more unique and interesting examples—from a gameplay perspective at least.
The biggest stick to beat this particular zombie epic with is that the story, vocal performances, and writing are mediocre at best and plain awful at worst. But if you can get past this lack of refinement and motivate yourself to explore the worldDays Goneprovides, you’ll be in for a treat.
The game offers apseudo-survival approach to gameplay akin to The Last of Us, but within a vast open setting. Not to mention, the game has some of the most fantastic zombie hoard physics and combat you’ll likely ever witness in gaming. It sticks out like a sore thumb among the many similar Sony IPs with amazing stories, but even still,Days Gonehas a lot to offer to zombie fans everywhere.
3Atomic Heart
Atomic Heart
Atomic Heartwas released in a pretty broken state when it launched in March 2023, which inevitably led to many reviewers thinking, ‘Crispy Critters, this game is bad’ and giving it a lukewarm reception.
However, many of these issues were soon patched from the game, and the title now serves as an admittedly flawed but unique shooter that takes big swings. While not all connect, some pay off big time.
Firstly, the game is staggeringly pretty, offering what I can only describe as an Issac Asimov wet dream in video game form. But the game isn’t just a looker, it also offers an interesting sci-fi setting, and gameplay that feels like an illegitimate love child ofWolfensteinandBioshockin the best way possible.
Cards on the table.Yes, the main character is a bitDuke Nukem-esqueand, as a result, is super-annoying. But all in all,Atomic Heartis a game that has a lot more to offer than you might think, so maybe take a chance on this one and see what you think.
2Forspoken
AlongsideAtomic Heartand a handful of others, it seemed like a lot of video games in early 2023 were released in an unfortunate period where it seemed to be rather in vogue to label a game as ‘The worst game of the year so far.’ This is exactly what happened to Square Enix’s ill-fated open-world parkour epicForspoken.
The game had some standout issues. Don’t get me wrong. The protagonist had a terminal case of ‘Marvel-quip’ syndrome,the initial hours of the game was incredibly slow, and the world, in general, felt a little barren and lifeless with map markers and landmarks dropped in periodically to fill the space.
However, this game was far from a contender for one of the worst games of all time, as many touted it to be.Forspokenhas a very satisfying and fun traversal system, a neat combat system that gets better as you progress through the game, and neat bosses in the form of the Tantra.
It’s not a world-beater, that much is true. ButForspoken is a solid open-world gamewith a lot to offer fans of the genre. So disregard the haters and give this one an honest try. I promise you you’ll be surprised by how much this game has to offer.
Lastly, we have a game that I’m perhaps cheating by including here, as it wasn’t reviewed badly, per se. But it was met with a resounding ‘meh’ by the gaming community at large, and quite frankly, that was just as big of a slap in the face as many games above received forPrey, as this game is a sci-fi masterpiece worthy of a top-tier reputation.
It’s a game that nails world design, offering suspenseful moments, pockets of intrigue, and expert-level design at every turn. It offers multiple paths of progression, and a multitude of tools to make it possible, and it offers visual and sound design that is meticulously crafted right down to the finest detail.
It’s a truly excellent immersive sim, and yet this game was deemed slightly above average by the mainstream media.
Perhaps the multitude of excellent games and new IPs that 2017 gifted us, but I can’t help but feel thatPreywas robbed of iconic status within the gaming zeitgeist through no fault of its own. It’s a game that never had its moment in the sun, so I hope this placement atop this list goes some way to righting that wrong.
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