Cyberpunk 2077 has effectively rebooted itself with the Phantom Liberty DLC and its 2.0 upgrade. It’s a unique thing in the gaming world to essentially revamp your game from the ground up years after its release, but CD Projekt Red was dedicated to living up to the lofty expectations its IP had in the first place. Shockingly enough, they achieved what many thought was impossible. Now that the dam is broken, what other games could benefit from a reboot like Cyberpunk 2077?
5. Marvel’s Avengers
As a massive superhero and Marvel fan, the failure of Marvel’s Avengers was painful to watch. It was all there — you had the Avengers, gorgeous graphics, multiplayer, and a single-player campaign. How did this game fail so epically? The answer is Crystal Dynamics put their resources in the wrong basket.
Instead of giving us consistent updates filled with new villains, locations, and stories to unlock, we were incrementally fed tiny updates, a new hero here and there. Most importantly, we received nothing in regard to villains. The Avengers roster of villains is the best in comic book history, yet do you know who we fought 90 percent of the time in Marvel’s Avengers? Just Taskmaster and Abomination.
Marvel’s Avengers is approaching its end, but it doesn’t have to. Listening to the fans would give this game a massive resurrection like Cyberpunk 2077‘s reboot, which coincidentally was the other 2020 release that did not live up to expectations. New enemy types, new worlds to explore, and new supervillains would turn this game around in a heartbeat. Will it actually happen? We can hope.
4. Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacy’s presence on this list isn’t due to it not selling well. It’s one of the best-selling games of 2023. The problem is that the shape it released in and still currently sits in is somewhat of a disaster. The loading times are excruciating, and to get the game to run well on a PC above the recommended specs is an absolute chore of the highest order.
Hogwarts Legacy is stunning to look at, but when your frame rate is dropping every time you turn a corner in Hogwarts Castle, something needs to be done. Add to that the shockingly bad enemy variety and lack of specific “highly expected” things, such as Quidditch, and you could easily see Hogwarts Legacy getting a Cyberpunk 2077-esque reboot.
3. Redfall
Arcane Austin could do no wrong. With titles like Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop, this developer was one of the true masters of its craft in the gaming industry. Then came Redfall, which felt unlike them in so many ways that it’s hard to count. First, the game runs terribly, and unlike Hogwarts Legacy, it doesn’t really have an excuse to. Put simply, this feels like a game that Arcane Austin did not want to make, as it lacks the studio’s signature style and wit, and the tone is completely offputting compared to its best outings. This is because the game was initially supposed to be a multiplayer-only, microtransaction-laden game.
Arkane Austin has never been known for this, and it was likely an order from the higher-ups. There begins the clash of ideas at play here. Part of this game wants to have a dark and gritty tone that the studio is known for, and the other is stuck in live service hell. A DLC like Cyberpunk 2077’s reboot with a story and a dedication to gameplay over live service features would bring back Redfall in a big way and make up for what is easily the worst thing Microsoft has done this year.
2. Gotham Knights
Warner Bros., another company with a massive history of success, is stocked full of great games. So, how did Gotham Knights manage to mess up so badly on launch? It wasn’t just the strange limitations on multiplayer, but the game itself felt “muted.” The biggest issue with Gotham Knights was the weightless and awkward combat. It ditched the already-established and great counter system for a dodge-based one that felt so boring by comparison. Warner Bros Montreal also opted to leave vibration completely out of the combat for the most part, making each punch feel like it had very little impact.
There is a lot of content here, but the skill trees for each of the four Gotham Knights are incredibly limited, making you feel like you’ve pretty much unlocked everything after a few hours of play. Taking a cue from Cyberpunk 2077‘s reboot would be huge for this game. A reboot for Gotham Knights that adds better combat, updated visuals, more engaging side quests, and a new story featuring one of Batman’s many enemies would be perfect. Gotham Knights is a solid experience on its own. Still, it had expectations of being the next big superhero game, and just like Avengers before it, it failed to meet them.
1. Biomutant
Biomutant had all the potential in the world to be something truly unique. An open-world game where you take on the persona of a unique creature in a completely bizarre world is a concept we don’t see very often in gaming. Problems with this one started early, though, with a legendary development cycle that pointed towards rough tides ahead. When the game was finally released, it faced the issue of feeling outdated.
Even if you can get past the lackluster combat, the world itself feels low-grade compared to most modern action RPGs. Quests are wholly uninteresting and often devolve into fetch quests or kill-these-enemy simulators. Comparing the game to Cyberpunk 2077’s reboot, Biomutant could repair some damage done to its fanbase by releasing an update that fixes all of this. New quests, feedback implemented into the combat, and meaningful world exploration could inject new life into a game that was unique but behind the times. There is so much to love with Biomutant, from the customization options to the strange world you inhabit. However, too many weaknesses stopped many from ever trying the game in the first place.
