Worst games 2020: The titles that disappointed us the most this year!


Despite some huge highs in gaming, 2020 also brought the inevitable lows for some players.

There's been many discussed across the Stealth office (or Slack channels) about games that we were really looking forward to, but just didn't live up to the expectations.

From remakes to sequels and new franchises, while they may be fun to play in one aspect, overall it left a disappointing taste.

With that, the team at StealthOptional are going to tell you our individual disappointing games of 2020.

Daryl Baxter, Deputy Editor, chooses Resident Evil 3 Remake

Not a complete trash fire, but the Resi 3 remake did disappoint.
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Not a complete trash fire, but the Resi 3 remake did disappoint.

This year saw two huge remakes released; Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 3 Remake. Both were given polarising reviews, arguably FF7 more, but Resident Evil 3 takes it for me for certain reasons.

A remake of a game needs to respect the original but also make its own path for modern systems. It can't be a 1:1 remake for the majority, but it makes sense for other games, such as 'Spyro: Reignited Trilogy' and 'Crash N-Sane Trilogy'. However, it also needs to reflect what made the game work, what made it fun overall.

But with Resident Evil 3, the original was a game I played relentlessly back in 1999. With an innovative boss and a fantastic 'Mercenaries' extra mode, it's a classic.

The remake unfortunately focuses on the parts that didn't work, and makes them worse as a result. This time, Nemesis only follows you religiously for the first third of the game, and when you need to face him, they're set up like monotonous boss stages from the PS1 era, where you must fire a gas canister when he runs on top of one.

The suspense of the 'ClockTower' area and the multiple choices when facing Nemesis are gone, alongside 'Mercenaries' mode, making it a very average Resident Evil entry. While the graphics are still stunning, it doesn't forgive the gameplay choices made here.

Resident Evil 3 remake is a prime example of how not to do a remake. It muddles the waters of the original game if players are experiencing this third entry for the first time, and it leaves you feeling like this would have been better placed as an expansion pack for RE2.

READ MORE: Resident Evil 3 review; Looks fantastic, but short on the originality

Jason Coles, Senior News Editor, chooses Oculus

Look, it's not a game and I know it isn't but it's my biggest disappointment, so I'm going with it. Prior to this year, and for a lot of it up until the announcements regarding the necessity of a Facebook account for an Oculus device, I'd have told you to get an Oculus headset if you wanted to get into VR.

In terms of how they play, they're still incredible devices, but Facebook is a company that's becoming increasingly dystopian as time goes on. Even discounting issues like those with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook is more than happy to allow nonsense claims and hate groups to circulate on top of selling off our data and being responsible for influencing the democratic systems countries have in place.

It's safe to assume that people aren't always comfortable having a Facebook account for these reasons. While Oculus has been owned by the company for some time, this year's decision to make Facebook mandatory (and therefore removing the optional stealth of the ownership) is one that sucks, frankly.

It means that I've sold my Oculus headset because I don't have a Facebook and won't start one just to play on it. I'd rather just buy a different headset at some point. It's upsetting to go from avid advocate of something into a critic, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

READ MORE: INTERVIEW: How 'Immortals' is more like a Mario game than a Zelda one.

Oliver Barsby, News Editor, chooses Super Mario 3D All-Stars

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I just wanted HD Mario 64...

Look, Super Mario 3D All-Stars may not objectively be the 'worst' game released, but this 3D Mario port collection was certainly disappointing and failed to live it to its potential.

I used the word 'port' very carefully above - Super Mario 3D All-Stars is not a remake, nor is it a remaster. Nintendo has essentially taken games from three different consoles and copied them over to the Nintendo Switch. Heck, Super Mario 64 still uses a 4:3 aspect ratio and runs in 720p!

We've all seen the beauty of Super Mario Odyssey, and the fact Nintendo has not read the room and remade or even remastered its old Mario titles to a 2020 standard is telling of the attention this game deserves. It doesn't even include Mario Galaxy 2, for some unknown reason.

To top it all off, Super Mario 3D All-Stars will be pulled from the shelves on March 31 2021, along with Super Mario Bros. 35. This shameless attempt to limit the availability of a game as to inflate its sales figures, or nudge people into buying it earlier than they would, certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.

READ MORE:A classic Super Mario game just became the most expensive video game ever

Rob Leane, Editor-in-Chief, chooses Cyberpunk 2077

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Many fans did not get the game they were expecting.

Although there are clear signs that a great game lurks within Cyberpunk 2077, the title's notorious launch surely makes it one of the biggest disappointments of 2020.

With the game absolutely riddled with bugs and glitches, developer CD Projekt Red even chose to offer refunds to last-gen console gamers. Although the game is playable for some, it's hardly the triumph we'd been expecting.

There's a long road ahead if the studio wants to rebuild its reputation and win back gamers' respect, but for now, 2020 will end with a bitter taste of disappointment for a lot of gamers.

READ MORE:Keanu Reeves "wouldn't recommend playing 70 hours straight"

Rory Mellon, Head of Ecommerce, chooses Marvel’s Avengers

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Even the character designs were uninspired in Marvel’s Avengers 

In many ways, it’s remarkable that it’s taken this long for someone to take a crack at a fully-fledged AAA title focused on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but Marvel’s Avengers was not worth the wait. 

The game has many flaws, from the abundance of technical issues at launch to the truly terrible menu system, but its biggest crime is simply how much of a chore it is to actually play. 

This fundamental issue stems from the decision to chase the games-as-a-service trend, giving Marvel’s Avengers the dubious honour of sitting alongside the likes of Anthem and Fallout 76 as games that priorities aggressive monetisation over crafting an enjoyable experience for the players. 

There are flashes of fun here, especially during the brief but mostly solid main campaign, but once you dig into the repetitive endgame and the unsatisfying loot system the whole thing crumbles in on itself. 

While games like Destiny 2 have perfected the live-service model, keeping players essentially running on a neverending hamster wheel, Marvel’s Avengers presents players with a suite of dry content and asks them to play it endlessly for rewards that don’t justify the time investment. 

Developer Crystal Dynamics has promised regular content updates in the future, the first of which released this month and added in a new playable hero in the form of Kate Bishop, but the game’s problems run too deep to be fixed by mere content drops. 

READ MORE: Marvel’s Avengers game has a long road ahead: Producer urges fans, “Just stick with us!”

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