With Starfield releasing this week, hype over its launch has reached a fever pitch. Understandably so, of course, given that Bethesda is one of the true heavy hitters in the gaming industry. It’s a landmark occasion when the team releases another major title. But then again, Bethesda’s last big outing, Fallout 76, didn’t exactly hit the mark and proved the hype train isn’t always a smooth ride. Here we’ll be recapping 5 games overhyped games that flopped spectacularly at launch.
5 Overhyped Games That Flopped At Launch
5. Mass Effect Andromeda
Mass Effect features one of the best sci-fi trilogies ever made, despite its divisive ending, to say the least. Bioware knew this and decided to continue its franchise in 2017. Only, this time, Commander Sheppard and company were long in the past, as Mass Effect Andromeda is a story about an arc of various races leaving the solar system before the Reapers arrived. Exploring a new setting in this beloved franchise’s beloved universe is an intriguing premise, but the game failed to stick to the landing.
As a result, Mass Effect Andromeda has become one of the most overhyped games in recent memory. The tone of the game was goofy, and the originals were deathly serious. Ryder was far too lighthearted about everything, and their party was a mixed bag that failed to reproduce the incredible companions the original Mass Effect is known for. While the combat was fantastic, the enemy variety was bland, the villains were plain, and the bugs were so numerous they fueled countless memes. Needless to say, Mass Effect Andromeda quickly became a punching bag for the gaming community. It’s not the worst game by any stretch, and there is plenty of fun to be had. Still, a 7/10 experience is far from what fans were expecting from Bioware, a company that once stood as a highlight in the industry.
4. Watch Dogs
The hype for Watch Dogs was unreal. While Ubisoft was riding high off several successful Assassin’s Creed games, out came a gameplay trailer that took the gaming world by storm. The graphics on display were breathtaking, and the crowd physics mixed with the atmosphere was enough to send the hype for Watch Dogs to the moon. This is back when Ubisoft was an unstoppable hit machine, so there was no reason to believe this latest franchise wouldn’t succeed.
Unfortunately, the release of Watch Dogs was a major disappointment, as those spectacular graphics were nowhere to be found, and the trailer itself seemed like a complete lie. The game was still solid, with creative uses of hacking to mix up the typical Ubisoft mission design. However, the hand-to-hand combat was laughably bad, and overall, the vibe of that trailer dissipated in what ended up being a fairly by-the-numbers stealth action game. While it was reviewed reasonably well, sitting at an 80 on Metacritic, Watch Dogs was supposed to be the next big thing, but instead, it was just another overhyped flop.
3. Death Stranding
Few names in the gaming industry get the fans talking like Hideo Kojima, so people were all ears when he announced he was opening his own studio. Add in that he had Norman Reedus on board to star in the first game of his new studio, and the hype reached incredible levels. Then, Death Stranding‘s trailer dropped, and it was so bizarre and unsettling that it seemed we were in for an experience unlike anything players had ever seen. As said by Kojima himself, talk of Death Stranding being the first Strand-type game had gamers wondering just what this game would be like. Then came the release in 2019, and it was unlike any game we’d ever seen — except that wasn’t a good thing. Death Stranding is essentially a walking simulator that mixes in sporadic combat, and the resulting experience had many gamers feeling they’d been deceived.
While the story was right in line with what you’d expect from Hideo Kojima, the gameplay just wasn’t that fun. The combat was limiting and clunky compared to the masterwork featured with Metal Gear Solid V. It’s no surprise that the game was quite divisive. Some called it the worst game ever; others praised it for being a work of art and transcending the medium. Most fell somewhere in between, and while the ratings were in the 8/10 range, it felt like a letdown coming from the mind behind one of the most successful game series of all time, Metal Gear Solid.
2. Fallout 76
It goes without saying that Fallout 76 had an incredible amount of hype behind it due to the success of previous games in the series and, at the time, the massively popular Fallout 4. The decision to go fully online with the game was met with mixed reactions, but famously, Bethesda Game Director Todd Howard “It just works.” Clearly, it didn’t; instead of the incredible Fallout experiences we were used to, we got a literal wasteland devoid of any NPCs. Instead, audio logs and robots told us the story. That was not the way to go, and it’s clear Bethesda realized that, too, as it released many expansions over the years that added human characters into the game. The launch was met with so much vitriol over the amount of bugs and unsatisfying gameplay. It greatly disappointed hardcore Fallout fans and also managed to disappoint the MMO community as well.
Nobody was happy, and Fallout 76 received a staggeringly low Metacritic score of 53, which was a massive blow to one of gaming’s most consistent developers. Since its release in 2018, Bethesda has released several extensive updates that improved the experience considerably, but the damage has been done. While it maintains a modest player base to this day and can be quite a bit of fun with friends, this was one of many games that have fallen victim to overhype, becoming one of the biggest disappointments in gaming history. Regardless, many have high hopes that Bethesda will right all its wrongs by having Starfield live up to the hype.
1. Anthem
Bioware makes yet another dubious appearance on this list with 2019’s most overhyped game, Anthem. Coming off of the disappointing Mass Effect Andromeda, Bioware needed to rebound in a big way, and Anthem looked to be its comeback to the top of the gaming world. Early trailers showed breathtaking environments with mech-suited characters soaring the skies like Iron Man. The combat looked like Mass Effect, and the promise of another original story from Bioware was just the cherry on top. Everyone expected the game to be amazing, but they were beyond wrong.
Anthem released some of the worst reviews in gaming history. The gameplay was fine, but the world, the characters, and the story were all incredibly dull. The classic Bioware magic that fueled so many of its hits was nowhere to be found, and what we were left with was a skeleton of a game lacking meat on its bones. The multiplayer was buggy, and the enemies were repetitive. While aerial traversal was fun, it wasn’t well-utilized in combat to reach its potential. Furthermore, the number of places you could explore via flight was surprisingly limited. Add to this a bizarre choice to go first-person in the hub world, uninspired quests, and a lack of overall content, and you have the recipe for a 54 on Metacritic. Bioware released some DLCs, but they did nothing to mitigate the core problems with the game. Eventually, EA officially pulled the plug on the game in 2021.
With Starfield‘s official release in just a few days, here’s hoping that Bethesda returns to the top of the gaming world and won’t have another entry on the overhyped games list years down the road.
