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Most Disappointing Game of 2020

Most Disappointing Game of 2020 - Article

by Brandon J. Wysocki , posted on 16 January 2021 / 6,337 Views

Disappointing is a particularly interesting and subjective category.  Although in truth it’s really not much, if any, less subjective than 'Best'.  That segues nicely into something that warrants being addressed - as you look through some of our other Game of the Year articles, you may notice certain games appearing on those lists as well as this one.  As counterintuitive (or even outright wrong) as that may seem, it speaks to the aforementioned subjectivity, as well as the diversity of our staff and audience. 

Disappointment is correlated to expectations, and expectations are a product of any number of factors, most of which are idiosyncratic.  Beyond that, there are so many variables in how each game is ultimately experienced and enjoyed.  A quick and fitting example would be performance and other technical issues that may be unique to a particular platform.

Even though we tend to want and expect things to be black and white, life is confusing and complicated, and as such more akin to a dizzying array of shades of gray.  Strengths and weaknesses are not mutually exclusive, and their respective weight is tremendously subjective.  In considering these things, we made the conscious decision to not arbitrarily or artificially restrict results to more conventional expectations or outcomes.  With that said, I present the five games that topped the public and staff polls for Most Disappointing Game of 2020.

  

The Shortlist:

  

The Last of Us Part II

  

Marvel's Avengers

Marvel's Avengers

  

WarCraft III: Reforged

WarCraft III: Reforged

  

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077

  

Twin Mirror

 Twin Mirror

   

   

  

  

The 'Winner':

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077

'Runner-up': The Last of Us Part II

Years of development of a new IP by an acclaimed developer/publisher with plenty of accolades to its name is bound to result in high expectations.  Multiple delays and restricted access to, and exposure of, builds of the game on different platforms caused concerns and suspicions, and the eventual launch confirmed the majority of them for most. 

It’s not necessarily that Cyberpunk 2077 is a bad game, indeed our own Kelsy Polnik thought it was great. It does have plenty of strengths, as well as fans and defenders, but beyond any subjective flaws it simply wasn’t ready to launch on most platforms.  In fact, issues on seemingly every platform would indicate that the game wasn’t truly ready to launch period, which is a key reason why I personally got a refund for it.  Furthermore, whether someone likes or enjoys some, or even most of Cyberpunk 2077, that doesn’t preclude it from being disappointing to that same person, and all the more so to someone else.  That is a brief take on how I think it managed to 'win' this award.


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26 Comments
badskywalker (on 17 January 2021)

Huh, I guess that goes to show how divisive The Last of Us Part II was.

  • +23
KLAMarine badskywalker (on 18 January 2021)

People really love Joel... Here! Have Abby!

  • +1
xMetroid (on 17 January 2021)

The way I saw people hyping Cyperbunk for YEARS and the fact this happened is SICK. I'm so sorry to everyone that was so excited for this game and waited that long.

  • +6
TheTitaniumNub xMetroid (on 17 January 2021)

It really hurts, man.

  • +1
ironmunkee (on 21 January 2021)

Cyberpunk 2077 was touted as a kind of revolution to the gaming industry, I had never seen anything like that.
And like most all revolutions in history it was a house of cards presented as a castle that eventually fell, and fell hard, and all that was left behind it was a trail of angry disillusioned people.

I have never seen so much, almost spiritual, fervor for a goddamn video game. It's diehard fans who even now refuse to admit what a letdown it was. They're bred like some kind of sociopolitical zealots who began to look at a business like a god.

It was bad, people would do best to forget it and move on.

  • +2
Manlytears (on 18 January 2021)

I know this is just a piece of opinion, an individual view of someone who was arbitrarily disappointed with "X games", but...
You see, I am still surprised to see Last of Us II as the Runner-up... one of the most awarded games of all time (242 and counting, https://www.gameawards.net/), game with 93 metascore and impeccable in technical aspects (graphics, absence of bugs, etc.) mixed with a group of games "sub. 70" metascore and a game that came with a multitude of bugs.
With all due respect, this is as arbitrary and subjective opinion, and that's a ok. Although 200 testify to having seen gold, 1 may well say that it is pyrite.

  • +2
TioRogerioAndrade Manlytears (on 23 January 2021)

Getting lots of awards does not mean that the game can´t be dissapointing. A game may get many technical awards and still be dissapoiting for not reaching the expected excellency in other aspects as, in this particular case, story and character development.
Besides, most of those awards were given by journalists, not videogame fans.
This is just an example of how mass media has become totally out of sync with fans of the entertainment industry. We´ve seen this sort of thing in movies and TV series too.

  • 0
Dgc1808 (on 17 January 2021)

One of these seems out of place.

  • +1
pikashoe Dgc1808 (on 18 January 2021)

Yeah, everyone new avengers was going to suck from the first trailer. So it really wasn't that disappointing.

  • 0
Red_Beard (on 17 January 2021)

Surprised War3 Reforged was even remembered to be listed. It released with a whisper, there was outrage for a day, and then that was the last most people heard of it. And that was all back in what, January?

  • +1
KratosLives (on 23 January 2021)

tlou2 was game of the generation and won't be topped till the next naughty dog game. Infact it may never be surpassed again , unless we get a ps5 version running at 60fps

  • 0
LMU Uncle Alfred (on 18 January 2021)

Funny thing about TLOU2, I fall on a different spectrum for that game than most. I did think the game was highly overrated but based on the gameplay far more than the story. If anything I finally commend ND for actually taking a risk for once at some form. It was a failed risk, but at least they finally took one.

  • 0
Azzanation (on 17 January 2021)

Warcraft 3 Reforged was over hated. Game was okay at best. its hatred stemed from Blizzards buisness behavior towards an Esport player than the game itself. Cyberpunk deserved this title this year as it was and still is a mess. TLOU2 is a good game all round, just the story and writing sucked. I would place Marvels Avengers as runner up. Just my 2 cents.

  • -2
mjk45 (on 17 January 2021)

Seems to me that The Last of Us Part 2 being in the most disappointing game category is a case of right game wrong category , now if only VGchartz had a category for most disappointing video game story . that would have been the perfect category for it since that was where the criticism was aimed and the game side getting good reviews across the board is further evidence that most disappointing story is where it would have really shone.

  • -7
LivncA_Dis3 (on 17 January 2021)

last of us aint close to cyberpunks level of disappointment lol!

  • -10
Lucca (on 17 January 2021)
  • -13
hunter_alien (on 17 January 2021)
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UnderwaterFunktown Ka-pi96 (on 17 January 2021)

I was pretty damn hyped for Reforged as Warcraft III is one of my all-time favorites. It was a pretty similair situation to Cyperpunk with an otherwise great game clearly being released too early in an unpolished state with way too many bugs. Difference is that in the case of Reforged, while the game has certainly improved since launch, it still feels unfinished a year later. I very much doubt that will be the case for Cyperpunk. But of course it is true that a much larger number of people were looking forward to Cyperpunk, and therefore a much larger number of people were dissapointed, so it's not suprising that it takes the vote.

  • 0
Darwinianevolution mZuzek (on 17 January 2021)

The more hype they have behind, the bigger the fall.

  • +2