One of the best starts of 2025 has to be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33which quickly got people on board despite coming from an unknown studio. There were virtually no bugs to hinder progress and people absolutely gobbled it up on tons of systems and are still thinking about it months later. So next time Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 an update comes out, the hype builds again.
This is an example of a good start, but not every start can be solid. Sometimes it takes time and dedication for developers to fix their work and make their game as good as it can be. Yet, MindsEyeanother game from 2025, it didn't fix its mistakes. One day it could be a comeback story like these other examples that ranged from bad to mediocre to game-changing.
Between us
From nothing to everything
Like many indie games that appear on Steam, Between us was trying to gain recognition in 2018. Miraculously, it started gaining traction during the 2020 pandemic, when everyone was stuck at home and needed good games to safely socialize with their friends online.
Due to the boom in popularity, developer Innersloth was about to start work on a sequel, but put that project on hold to focus on expanding the original. Since 2020, they've added tons of updates, crossover promotions, and even have a cartoon in the works along with tons of merchandise for fans to buy.
Cyberpunk 2077
Daft Punks
CD Projekt Red was flying high after success and praise The Witcher 3: Wild Huntwhich means that their next game, Cyberpunk 2077he had a lot of hype behind him. Unfortunately, the start was a bit rushed. Certain platforms, especially previous generation consoles, couldn't run it because they were laden with bugs. This included PC copies of the game.
Gamers lucky enough to have a new system like the PS5 when it launched in 2020 had better running copies, though there were still many reports of crashes. It was a disaster, but the developers stuck with it for two years, and next-gen versions were ready by 2022, with extensive DLC on the way a year later. It took a long time, but CD Projekt Red has corrected its course Cyberpunk ship and even got a hit anime out of the deal.
No Man's Sky
Infinite space
No Man's Sky it's been hyped for years, and when it launched on PC and PS4 in 2016, it couldn't have landed with a clumsier thud. While the game delivered on the promise of being able to fly to an infinite number of planets and was relatively bug-free, there was nothing exciting about the experience.
Players could go to planets and explore life, but space was empty. However, Hello Games kept improving it, with the first big breakthrough coming in 2018 thanks to No Man's Sky Next updates at the same time as the Xbox One launch. It added more features, including multiplayer, and that was the first step towards fulfillment No Man's Sky's promises to make it the space simulator dream it was originally meant to be.
Fallout 76
Apocalyptic start
The Fallout the series reached new heights when Bethesda took it over, helping usher in a new era Fallout 3. Therefore Fallout 76 got so much hype behind it when it was announced in June 2018 as an MMO game with a November release. They hit their date, but unfortunately everything else failed.
There were bugs, a large open world to explore with nothing to do, and the pre-order bonuses were a whole other debacle. The game wouldn't get proper human NPCs until Wastelanders an update in 2020 that came just in time for the pandemic. Although the stigma has not completely left the game, fans who play admit that it is now in a much better state.
Final Fantasy 14
Full reboot
Square Enix launched its first MMO based on Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 11in 2002 in Japan and two years later in North America. It found enough success to prompt the creation of a spiritual sequel Final Fantasy 14 in 2010. The launch was met with a lot of upset fans due to the way the quests appeared, the weird quest system, the combat and much more.
Square Enix stuck with it so much that they retired the game in 2012 to remake it with a relaunch titled Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, launched in 2013. This new version has been a great success, including five major expansions, the last of which was released in 2024. With a giant world, link events, and an improved Job system Final Fantasy fans believe it could be the best game in the series, including its story.
Sea of Thieves
Keep going
Like No Man's Skywhat Sea of Thieves was the most lacking in content when it was released in 2018. It was Rare's first new game in years and fans had high hopes for it. The game ran just fine, and players enjoyed it as a way to hang out with friends, but it wasn't the swashbuckling pirate adventure they were promised, and more like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.
Fast forward a year and the first big anniversary update added a lot more content, beyond what was added throughout 2018. It was finally more of a game and less of a sailing simulator. Today, Sea of Thieves bursting with content, from engaging quests to bombastic ship battles to tie-ins with movies like Goonies and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017)
The story of microtransactions
Not to be confused with Star Wars: Battlefront 2 from 2005, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is a 2017 title that aimed to surpass the first reboot from 2015, which lacked standard content as a large single-player campaign. While this sequel had a campaign, it wasn't something that was well reviewed. The amount of content was still lacking overall, but the real crux of the matter was the microtransactions.
Because Star Wars Battlefront 2 was a full-priced game, the microtransaction system was maligned by critics and fans alike, leading to EA eventually removing the system entirely. Through many patches, the game was finally re-released in 2019 with all content ready and waiting alongside the base game instead of hiding behind in-game purchases. This didn't make the game very popular right away, but since then it's seen steady jumps in player numbers here and there, including one in June 2025. It's a game that keeps Star Wars The fans are certainly satisfied despite the difficult start.
