Sometimes games have a long promotion cycle with undeniably high hype before release. Hollow Knight: Silksong is a good example as it was announced in 2019 before being released in 2025. It was almost too big to fail and while there are some who didn't find the game fun due to the difficulty, most would say it was worth the wait.
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These other games had muddier starts. Maybe they were flawed to begin with, leading to poor ratings, or maybe they were released alongside something bigger. Be that as it may, fans they wanted to love these games more, but maybe they never finished them for several reasons.
Star field
Another big Bethesda franchise
Star field was and will be another big project from Bethesda Fallout in space. A lot of hopes were for the game to be as big, if not bigger than Fallout 4 in terms of popularity, especially since it took five years to come out after being teased in 2018.
While Star field launched just fine and some players liked it, it wasn't the space RPG revolution that many had hoped for. Most players probably tried it out and enjoyed the combat improvements and maybe even the ship building mechanics, but most also fell off after a point.
Anthem
Second strike from BioWare
Anthem
- Released
-
February 22, 2019
BioWare has disappointed many fans Mass Effect: Andromedaand Anthem was another game after this project. Fans were hoping this would be an improvement, but it was seemingly strike two for the developers.
The launch was fine, but what pissed off fans the most was the content, as there wasn't much, especially in the ending. What was there wasn't as compelling as BioWare's other RPGs to keep players interested, and the update schedule wasn't clearly explained. The positives were high, as flying mechanized suits, called Javelins, gave players a freedom they had never experienced before, but the lows were too low to recover from.
No Man's Sky
Not the Promised Land
No Man's Sky promised the world when it was revealed in 2013, but the launch was nothing more than a very basic space simulator with a lot of procedural generation. Players could acquire a ship, fly from planet to planet and discover new life, but there didn't seem to be any gameplay behind the quest and exploration.
For example, multiplayer was missing and the action wasn't that exciting. Finally, with No Man's Sky Next update in 2018, the game began to shape up into what was originally advertised. At that point, most players left the game. Maybe they've since heard it was good from others, but they've never been back.
Cyberpunk 2077
Bad start
Cyberpunk 2077 he's also had a rough start, but it's not because he doesn't keep his promise. The console versions on Xbox One and PS4 didn't work well, so everyone had a blurry texture as if it was an Early Access game.
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It ran fine on PC, and if players could buy an Xbox Series X/S or PS5 at launch, then the game looked and ran better, but players still reported crashes after about fifteen minutes of play. It was a lot of nonsense to deal with, so many put it off in the hope that it would eventually come back. They may or may not have done so after CD Projekt Red released several patches.
Ring Fit Adventure
It's a commitment
Ring Fit Adventure it was far more detailed than anyone imagined for a Nintendo exercise game. The motion-based technology worked well, making players work up a sweat, and the game itself was a meaty turn-based RPG with inventive moves to fight monsters.
Like any exercise routine, it's a commitment, and not everyone had the stomach to keep up the game. It wasn't so much the game's fault as it was that people fell out of the training routine because players need the will to keep working out, even if the game itself is fun.
Dead island
Not quite Next Borderlands
In the early 2010s, gamers were desperate for action RPGs with co-op to scale Border. Therefore Dead island it looked so enticing, and while it was fun, players had to suffer through bugs to get to the good stuff.
The story was nothing to write home about, and bugs caused everything from save errors to quest snafus. The core gameplay of teaming up with friends, building weird gear, and thrashing zombies was satisfying, but there were a lot of quality issues to work through that not everyone enjoyed enough to finish.
Shenmue 3
Decades in the Making
Shenmue dazzled gamers on the Dreamcast in 2000 in North America, while another chapter was soon to follow on the original Xbox. After a long period of no news, fans gave up hope for a sequel until Shenmue 3 was finally released in 2019. For better or worse, it was certainly a successor to the franchise, but it also left some fans disappointed.
Shenmue 3 it basically ignored the evolution of video games over the last two decades and it was like playing a Dreamcast game all over again. While fans were curious to see how the story would develop, they couldn't buy into the lackluster adventure that was mechanically outdated.
Death Stranding
Kojima's Phantom Follow-up
Death Stranding was Hideo Kojima's next big game after he left Konami, so all eyes were on it. While it was far from a bad game, a lot of people were put off because it was unlike any other Kojima game that had come before. It was basically a walking simulator.
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The story was also harder to understand than expected, the mechanics could literally trip players up if they weren't careful, and the deliveries that made up the main gameplay loop were long and difficult. Most of the complaints were resolved in the sequel, but all o Death Stranding was divisive.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Not quite Skyrim
Promise Kingdom Come: Deliverance was to give players a giant open world to explore in a medieval setting without being fantasy-based. The historical value was immersive as the city environment and NPCs behaved much like hosts at a Renaissance fair.
However, it was also one of the slowest RPGs to build momentum, as players had to work to gain an established place in a well-equipped company. This buildup wasn't something every player signed up for when they imagined the game would be a quick learn, e.g. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, minus the magic.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Not quite effective
It was a miracle that Larian Studios was able to deliver Divinity series back from the dead s Divinity: Original Singiving players one of the best PC-style RPGs of all time. While the sequel Divinity: Original Sin 2it was just as good, it was less special. It was proof that lightning cannot strike twice to create a cultural phenomenon.
That is, until Larian Studios brought it Baldur's Gate also back from the dead. This begs the question, would Baldur's Gate 4 to be considered less special, as Divinity: Original Sin 2which leads to faster fan churn? Or would momentum from Baldur's Gate 3 enough to ensure further success?
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