This has been a very busy year for games, with plenty of good and bad news to go around. This extends directly to video game releases as well, with a number of highly anticipated titles releasing one after another. Some of these games were smash hit success stories, while others just couldn’t quite live up to the hype. WithThe Game Awards 2024right around the corner, now is as good of a time as any to look back on some of the year’s biggest headlines, even if some titles drew attention for the wrong reasons.
It’s important to remember that ‘disappointing’ doesn’t always mean downright bad. A game that performs poorly may have plenty of redeeming qualities, and games that are commercially successful aren’t always well received critically. With that in mind, there have been a few games this year that set up some pretty major expectations, only to let fans down upon release in one way or another.Presented in alphabetical order, here are the 10 most disappointing games of 2024.
Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Darkwas conceived of as a revivalof the 1992 game of the same name. The originalAlone in the Darkwas an early pioneer of survival horror, with later installments continuing to advance the genre that much further.Alone in the Dark: Illuminationwas released in 2015, the last entry in the series before this year, and was met with some pretty severe criticism.
Alone in the Dark(2024) was a chance to redeem the series to general audiences, while giving some major fanservice to longtime fans. The game took a similar approach to recentResident Evilremakes, such as the changes in camera perspective. Unfortunately, this survival horror revival wasn’t nearly as successful.Alone in the Darkfailed to meet financial, critical, and fan expectations, which also unfortunately led toPieces Interactive being closed by Embracer Group, its parent company.
Concord
From both a commercial and critical standpoint,Concordwas one of the biggest flops of the year. While its gameplay was fun, many fans took issue with character appearances, and the biggest issue with the title was its price point. In a genre dominated by free to play titles,Concordlaunched with a $40 price tagthat served as a barrier to entry for fans ofOverwatch 2, Apex Legends, and so forth.
Which is admittedly a shame, given the genuine promise exhibited by the game.Concordwas infamously shut down only two short weeks after its launch, meaning it has since been rendered literally unplayable. Unfortunately,Firewalk Studios was shut downshortly after.
Funko Fusion
Funko Fusionoffered a scale of crossoverthat is largely limited to a few ongoing titles likeFortnite, but it was the selection of titles that truly madeFunko Fusionstand out. With the early announcements of franchises likeBack to the FutureandInvincible, it seemed likeFunko Fusioncould stick the landing.
However, the roster only became much more confused from then on, with very little connective tissue to be found. This ended up being theleast ofFunko Fusion’s worries, as it only represented a small piece of a larger problem.Funk Fusionlacks cohesion in many aspects of its design, and it was strongly criticized for offering little in the way of varied gameplay. This lack of variation was only further compounded by a litany of technical issues, all of which came together for an experience that seems difficult to salvage.
Lego Horizon Adventures
LEGOgames are a giantof the industry, especially when it comes to younger audiences. Even with that demographic aside, there are plenty of players that grew up on these games and will gladly return to the series for any major release. Due to perhaps a misguided direction,LEGO Horizon Adventuresseemingly failed to capture the attention of either half of its potential fanbase.
Ultimately, it turns out that a game likeHorizonsimply doesn’t lend itself to theLEGOformat very well. The worst crimeHorizon Adventurescommits is being bland, with its level design in particular being far too limited to capture the appeal ofHorizon Zero Dawn’s open world.
Multiversus
To anyone who has fallen out of the loop on its development,Multiversusmay seem like an odd inclusion. After all, The Game Awards officially namedMultiversusas the Best Fighting Game of 2022 after it was first released in early access. Now that it has received a full launch,Multiversuswas nominated again forBest Fighting Game of 2024. This decision was met by a great deal of controversy in the fighting game community, paving the way for the game to appear here.
Multiversus' accolades don’t do much to soften the disappointment felt after its launch, or even the updates that followed. If anything, it only made the blow hit that much harder.Multiversusshowed a great deal of promise in early access, but certainly had a fair bit of problems to boot. Many hoped the game would be smoothed over, but some of these issues simply grew worse over time, especially as far as balancing and progression are concerned.Multiversushas underperformed in salesas a result of a litany of issues, but given its free-to-play nature, perhaps it can eventually be turned around.
Silent Hill: The Short Message
Silent Hillis one of the most classic horror series around, meaning excitement always peaks whenever a new game comes around. That’s especially true when considering theSilent Hillseries had been on hiatus for more than a decade until the release ofSilent Hill: Ascensionin 2023. Most would say that 2024 was a good year for the series as well, thanks to thesuccessful release of theSilent Hill 2remake. However, the remake was preceded bySilent Hill: The Short Message, which didn’t capture nearly the same acclaim.
The Short Messagewas faced with a pretty high bar, and simply couldn’t reach high enough. Much of this is due to the game’s purposefully small scope, but this also led to a few more seemingly unintended consequences. DespiteThe Short Message’s well-advertised runtime, gameplay gets repetitive fast, and it doesn’t take long for the dialogue to grow old either. For all of its shortcomings,The Short Messagedid finally offer a small picture ofwhatSilent Hillcould be in the modern era. Hopefully, a successor could take this concept and run with it.
Skull and Bones
After the successful release ofAssassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, the demand for pirate games reached an all-time high.Skull and Boneswasn’t able to capitalize on this demand, largely because of the time spent in development hell.Skull and Bonesfirst began development around 2013 and has reportedly changed direction a number of times since. As the dawn of its release finally arrived, Ubisoft’s CEO infamously declared it to be the company’s first-ever “quadruple-A game.”
This statement was met with a decent amount of ridicule, but it was most strongly refuted by the performance of the game itself. It also failed to live up to the pirate fantasy, instead becoming more of a ship fantasy. While there’s room for that, it missed out on all the greatest parts ofBlack Flag.Skull and Boneswas the white whaleof the gaming community for over a decade, and at this point, it will seemingly never deliver on the expectations fans had held on to for all that time.
Slitterhead
Slitterheadgave plenty of reasons to be excited, chief among them being the involvement of theoriginalSilent Hillcreator Keiichiro Toyama. With such a prestigious name behind the wheel,Slitterheadappeared to be in good hands. Moreover, the game seemed to be proudly wearing its inspirations on its sleeves.Slitterheadfeatures terrifying monster designs and fluid action lifted straight out ofSilent HillandGravity Rushrespectively.
Unfortunately, the final product ultimately met some pretty harsh reception, with only 26% of critics recommendingSlitterheadon OpenCritic. This can boil down to a few reasons. The balance between action and horror resulted in neither really shining, the combat felt weak instead of exciting, and the scares felt cheap instead of enthralling. Beyond that, the mission and level design was lacking, and while it has a few cool features like Rarities, they never shined either.
South Park: Snow Day!
BetweenThe Stick of TruthandThe Fractured but Whole,South Parkhas had an impeccable track record with major video game adaptations. This makes it all the more disappointing then thatSouth Park: Snow Day!failed to capture much positive attention. There are a few different ways in whichSnow Dayfell short, including its lackluster story, but its feeling of disconnect fromSouth Parkas a whole is certainly a motivating factor.
For example,Snow Day’s sense of humor seems to represent a caricature ofSouth Park’s crude comedy. The game’s writing lacks the witty edge of its source material, and it mostly relies on the same few cheap punchlines.South Park:Snow Day’s gameplaywasn’t free from criticism either, with many noticing a remarkable decline in depth compared to its more innovative predecessors.
TheArkhamseries is one of the most beloved franchises out there, even though the original trilogy ended nearly ten years ago. TheBatman:Arkhamtrilogywas especially praised as a pinnacle of single-player gaming, soSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueimmediately turned heads upon announcing itself as a multiplayer looter-shooter. Unfortunately, the palpable excitement that filled this moment was quickly overpowered by resounding disappointment.
Fans had been waiting for afollow-up toArkham Knightfor several years, andSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewas anything but. Many saw the treatment of some characters as downright disrespectful, but it was certainly a strange direction to take the series in regardless. The gameplay left many players disappointed as well, with the experience requiring a massive amount of grinding and not offering much that couldn’t be found in a much more polished game likeDestiny 2.
