27 Years, 27 Games

[Moonface]

I think if it wasn't for the domination of the scandals going on with ActiBlizz, OW2 might have garnered more excitement or interest from people. If nothing else it's a sequel to a game that was incredibly successful and could've continued to thrive without a sequel, and the sequel practically murdered all of that through multiple questionable design choices.

[Moonface]

@Maniakkid25: I had a couple of questions for you about this that I figured I'd put here rather than your Ask Me thread:

• In any given year have you seen a game that you immediately thought "This is it, this is the one that will make the list for this year, no contest" only to have another game come out later in the year that unexpectedly topped the game you thought was guaranteed to be the pick?
  
• I doubt this will apply to any game in your list already, but in the event it does were any of the picks a game you expected to actually turn out well initially? Or are they all cases of knowing there's going to be a problem or disappointment to some degree, and just waiting to see how bad it could be?
  

[Maniakkid25]

@Maniakkid25: I had a couple of questions for you about this that I figured I'd put here rather than your Ask Me thread:

• In any given year have you seen a game that you immediately thought "This is it, this is the one that will make the list for this year, no contest" only to have another game come out later in the year that unexpectedly topped the game you thought was guaranteed to be the pick?
  
• I doubt this will apply to any game in your list already, but in the event it does were any of the picks a game you expected to actually turn out well initially? Or are they all cases of knowing there's going to be a problem or disappointment to some degree, and just waiting to see how bad it could be?
  

First question: not that I can think of, but that could have happened with Anthem. I left my prospects open for that year because that one came out in March, but as the year closed in, there really wasn't anything that could steal that crown. I'm willing to bet, however, that 2018 was a year like that, because Fallout 76 came out so late in the year (November, IIRC), and cratered so thoroughly on release that it stole that year outright.

Second question: Even on this list, yes. Bioshock is the obvious answer here. I still remember how hype that game was, but I wasn't as jaded by hype as I was back then, so I thought nothing but good things about it. And don't get me wrong: Bioshock is a GREAT game! But it had the expectation of living up to System Shock 2, which was a GENRE-DEFINING game in '99! It was never going to live up to that mantle. Honestly, it's probably THE game that made me say "I don't care sequel this or spiritual successor that; I' going to judge a game on it's OWN merits!"

[Henrywrites]

The wait is over, and the dishonorable winner of 2022 is...

Overwatch 2!

Give a round of applause for Activizzard, people. We all know they earned it.

I agree that a lot has to be done for the upgrades, but the game was not entirely bad at all or are we talking about a different game?

[Maniakkid25]

This is not NECESSARILY about bad games. Like I keep saying, Bioshock and Fable are good games, and games like FFXIV got better after it initially dropped. I went with Overwatch 2 for the same reason I went with Balan Wonderworld instead of Dark Alliance for 2021: the press. I do try to keep myself somewhat consistent in my lists (which is why I don't like talking about "good" and "bad" games; that's too wild a barometer), but I will be the first to admit that it was a coin flip. It was this or Pokemon SV. Take your pick; both of them deserve to be on this list.

[Moonface]

Any picks in mind yet for this year? I get the feeling Redfall might be a nominee given how the word going around today is it lacks enough players to even put together enough people for a match despite only releasing five months ago, which is what made me remember this thread.

[Maniakkid25]

I was actually thinking about that question for a good moment, searching through the releases of this year, seeing if I could find a good candidate, and then it immediately hit me like a sack of bricks. I won't spoil it now, but let's just say there's a candidate that is tough to beat...

[Moonface]

Well since that probably means it isn't Redfall, was that game at least a consideration or not really?

[Maniakkid25]

Oh, it certainly is; I have heard the reputation. But, uh... yeah, the candidate I have is a little bit bigger, and a little bit worse. Now, granted, like I keep saying, I don't intend this list to be a list of bad games. But someone is gonna have to try pretty hard to beat out what I've got in terms of hype generated, hype lost, the state the game came out in, and its after effects. It'll be...interesting if something else comes along and beats it.

Edit: I do have to say in contemplating it, I don't like the situation I've put myself in. I don't like having to update this year-on-year, because it's a lot harder to see what games impact the hardest when you have to do it at year's end, leading to "bad" games often being chosen. Like, if you'd asked me in 2005 what the most overhyped game of that year was, it probably wouldn't have been Advent Rising, but Advent Rising had SO much material behind it when you go digging! There was a goddamn MTV interview with the creator when that was a thing that actually mattered! But here, it's just like "Eh, which game go received the worst? That's probably a good candidate." The difference is there's pathos to the games that are older. Spore and Bioshock are legitimately good games, and it took YEARS before the critical consensus turned on Black And White. It just...it really sucks!

[Moonface]

I was reading about how all the previews for that upcoming Suicide Squad game are overwhelmingly negative and it made me think about this thread (even though it isn't for outright bad games per se) and if you have come to a decision on what game you're nominating for 2023.

[Maniakkid25]

2023 has left me spoiled for choice, to be honest. Forspoken, Redfall, Gollum, The Day Before, and those are just the ones I remember off the top. I even have (what I think is) a piss-take option, because I think you could make the argument that those game's badness have reinvigorated their hype, just in a negative light. But, I'm still not sure where to go with this, tbh. Give me some time to think about it...

[Moonface]

Hmm. I know that how much hype a game gets isn't necessarily the only factor you take into account but refreshing myself with your first post indicates it does play a decent role in your choices here; would you say any of those games you mentioned are any that had any hype behind them? Like, maybe the developers were trying to hype up those games but I never really saw any signs that actual players were that excited. Forspoken and Gollum were both expected to be bad just from their marketing and didn't surprise anyone that they were as bad as they were. Redfall maybe has a chance because until it launched nothing indicated it would completely miss the mark like it did compared to the others you brought up.

If we're not going for just bad games, there were a fair number of bad PC ports this year for games that were highly acclaimed on other platforms; for example, The Last of Us Part 1 was a total mess on PC and dropped the ball big time on capitalizing on not only a new market with one of Sony's highest rated titles but it also released right off the back of the TV show which really shone a spotlight on it. Part 1 was already seen as a bit of a cash grab in the first place, but I think Sony pushing TLoU so hard with this game and the TV show only to let the PC port be a total train wreck not only damaged the momentum the IP had gained in the year prior to that PC launch but I suspect it made people really cynical of trusting Sony's PC ports going forward when they can't even give care to their golden child IP that came from what is arguably their top studio (I'm aware the PC port was not done by ND mind you).

[Maniakkid25]

Necroing the thread to announce my pick for the most overhyped game of 2023, and it's a curveball. It's Atomic Heart. If you don't remember that game, that's kind of my point for picking it.

[ShiraNoMai]

Ah yes, that game that tried really hard to be edgy and funny. Valid pick.