This story is part of Gamepur’s Best of 2022 round-up.
Not every video game is a hit, and sometimes a title you’re anticipating just doesn’t live up to expectations. Whether it’s because of technical issues, icky design decisions, or just a generally lackluster presentation, games can miss when they take big swings. Here are the five most disappointing examples from 2022. At least it was a good year otherwise.
Babylon’s Fall
Platinum Games has a great track record, thanks to action-packed games like Bayonetta and Nier: Automata. Unfortunately, its attempt at a live-service version of an action title fell flat. The free demo peaked at just 30 players, and its concurrent player count even sunk below 10. You can’t have a live game without a community. Babylon fell, indeed.
The Callisto Protocol
If you saw The Callisto Protocol in passing, you might think it was a new Dead Space game. That’s fair, since Dead Space creator Glenn Schofield was also at the helm here. Unfortunately, the final product ended up being very underwhelming. Some players complained about its myriad technical issues, while others simply didn’t like its heavily melee-focused combat.
Chocobo GP
How can a racing game starring cutesy Final Fantasy characters be disappointing? Well, as it turns out, Chocobo GP is downright predatory in its design. It’s a fully-priced game, yet it’s also filled to the brim with microtransactions. Even worse, its in-game currency can expire, meaning the real money you spent could just disappear. Not cool, Square Enix.
Diablo Immortal
Chocobo GP isn’t the only game bogged down by microtransactions. Diablo Immortal, the mobile spinoff of the popular dungeon-looter series, was pelted with dreaded accusations of being a pay-to-win game. Loot boxes and the like are already controversial, but Immortal allegedly gated progress with daily reward caps too — unless you paid money, of course. Also not cool, Blizzard.
Lego Brawls
There are a lot of great Lego video games out there, but Brawls isn’t one of them. The premise is simple: build all the Lego minifigures you want, then throw them into a beat ’em up. Unfortunately, the combat just isn’t good, leaving fans feeling like they built their characters for nothing. Lego Brawls started life as an Apple Arcade game, so its mobile-centric design didn’t sit well either.
