Reid Main

I remember when bumps in graphical fidelity was what sold video games. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 eras are filled with titles that caused our jaws to drop when they were announced. Now we're in a sort of arms race where game developers need to spend several years generating high fidelity assets, but not to impress gamers, just to maintain the bare minimum that is expected. It is weird to see so many games released that look prettier and yet play demonstrably worse than the games they are emulating.

1. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is one of the worst games I have played in the last decade. It's existence is a net negative to this universe. I regret every second I spent playing it and would have been more productive if I had mainlined heroin.

2. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

I need to force myself to keep this short or else I am going to rant forever. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 plays like a poorly Xeroxed copy of Gears of War or Halo from 2013 but with modern graphics. If you are a fan of the 40K lore I can total understand how you enjoyed this game. But if you're looking for a fun co-op game in 2024 there is no reason to choose Space Marine 2 over Helldivers 2 or even the Left 4 Dead games.

Also, can I just say that it is fucking embarrassing for you to have a shitty shield / health recovery system in 2024. Has Saber Interactive not played a single fucking shooter from the last 20 years? Start by mimicking Halo and if your modifications don't make the game more enjoyable just stop. The fact that you basically always lose most of your health during the first couple of encounters every map and then spend every second after that scrounging up the three or four health packs that are scattered throughout the level is so god damn stupid. I cannot believe that system made it through any sort of play testing.

3. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

To be very clear, I do not think that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is an inherently bad game that no one should play. It was just not the DLC for Elden Ring that I was looking for. I spent 44+ hours replaying the original game to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree and all of the changes they made were so jarring that it felt like a brand new game. Actually it kinds feels like what a beta version of Elden Ring might have been until FromSoftware realized they needed to encourage more exploration and dial back the difficulty.

What confused me the most was how much more linear and empty Shadow of the Erdtree was. In the base game I found myself roaming across the entire map, never using a guide, just picking a random direction and exploring. In the DLC after 8 hours I had accidentally progressed directly to the final boss even though I had only explored 20% of the map. I then tried figuring out how to access other parts of the map but was forced to look-up guides because so many areas were gated behind esoteric puzzles or platforming. For one of them you even need to perform a gesture in front of a statue which is something the game has never asked you to do. Even after beating the DLC there were still two zones (and therefore multiple bosses) that I had not seen.

Also, in true FromSoftware fashion, the final boss sucked and the build that I had been using throughout the game just would not work against them. For every other boss I found a way to defeat them with my two-handed strength build. But after banging my head against the final boss for over an hour I just looked up the "correct" way and defeated him in four tries. No matter what they do every single FromSoftware game always ends on a sour note.

But to anyone reading this I still think that you should play the base Elden Ring game. It will undoubtedly be looked back at for decades to come. You can just probably skip the DLC.

4. Peglin

I feel bad putting Peglin on this list because the developer obviously put a lot of love into the game. But unfortunately they make the cardinal sin of roguelikes and rely far too much on RNG. I really enjoyed the core concept of playing pachinko to defeat monsters and traverse a dungeon. But after most battles I found that I didn't actually want any of the power-ups I was being presented with. I would defeat multiple monsters and feel that I was not making any progress towards defeating the boss. I kept having to restart my run, get unlucky with RNG again, and end up questioning why the heck I was wasting my time with this game.

I have said it before but I'll say it again, developers need to look at titles such as Hades, Balatro, Monster Train, and Vampire Survivors to understand how randomness can steer players towards trying something new while also ensuring they feel they are constantly getting stronger.