We played a lot of games in 2020 in order to forget about the chaos ensuing outside our homes. Most of the games we’ve played this year were actually pretty good, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few stinkers that made us remember we were still trapped in this nightmare of a year. It’s time to exorcise these disasters from our consciousness, paying one last “tribute” to them before we start repressing our memories.

 

Before we begin, here are a few dishonorable mentions: Roundguard, Tamarin, Street Power Soccer, Death End Re;Quest 2, Waking, If Found, Epic Dumpster Bear 2: He Who Bears Wins, and Prehistoric Dude. You were all pretty bad, but not as bad as the following twenty games.

 

20 – Airplane Mode

They promised me an airplane passenger simulator, and they sure delivered. This is definitely not false advertising. Airplane Mode is as boring as being stuck in economy class for six hours straight. – Leo Faria

 

19 – Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a game about bugs. No, I’m not talking about insects, I’m talking about the one hundred million billion glitches scattered throughout this entire nightmare of an experience. – Leo Faria

 

18 – XIII

The XIII remake isn’t the worst game I’ve played in 2020, but boy, I can’t think of another game I hated more than this one. It crapped all over the 2003 classic, with worse graphics, performance and controls. It’s the shocking case of a remake that is absolutely worse than the original in every single conceivable way. In the words of Vito Corleone, “look how they massacred my boy!” – Leo Faria

 

17 – The Walking Dead Onslaught

Have you ever wanted to take a cheap mobile game design with repetitive missions, pointless upgrades, linear boring story, and over pay just to experience it in VR? Well then, The Walking Dead Onslaught is the perfect game for you! – Jordan Hawes

 

16 – Slide Stars

 At first glance, I thought Slide Stars was going to be a short little homage to the days of Donkey Kong Country. And who wouldn’t want that? Instead, we got a $40 veiled advertisement for various YouTube personalities with janky controls and no one wants that. – Jason Palazini

 

15 – Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories

To everyone saying that Cyberpunk 2077 is the worst performing game on the PlayStation 4, I present you Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories. A clunkier Shenmue (if that’s even possible) set in the middle of an earthquake-ridden city. You can count the frames with one hand and there will still be fingers left. – Leo Faria

 

14 – Fast & Furious Crossroads

Fast & Furious Crossroads is just like The Fanatic, that movie starring John Travolta and directed by Limp Bizkit‘s Fred Durst. You know there’s absolutely no way it’s going to work, yet you still want to witness the trainwreck by yourself. Yet somehow you end up having a great time with it because it’s exactly as disastrous as you wanted it to be. I really recommend playing this game whenever its price tag drops to single digits. It’s so incompetent, it’s charming. – Leo Faria

 

13 – Handball 21

Handball isn’t exactly known outside of its niche circle in a few countries in Europe. Handball 21‘s clunky controls and visuals surely won’t help make the sport more famous around the world. – Leo Faria

 

12 – Speed 3: Grand Prix

Not only is Speed 3: Grand Prix one of the most half-baked racing games I’ve played in years, but it also takes the cake when it comes to having the single most generic title of all time. – Leo Faria

 

11 – Whiteboyz Wit Attitude: The Pursuit of Money

A couple of lads had the smart idea of promoting their brand new hip hop single with a free advergame you can still download for your PS4. I commend them for their interesting marketing ideas, because I now know they actually exist, but this is still a very, very, very bad game. Just like pretty much every single advergame not called Sneak King or Pepsiman. – Leo Faria

 

10 – Kwaidan: Azuma Manor Story

Kwaidan: Azuma Manor Story tried to be a survival horror game, a point-and-click adventure, and an Onimusha clone, all at the same time. Suffice to say, it’s borderline impossible to make these completely opposite gameplay styles work together. – Leo Faria

 

9 – Wanking Simulator

Listen, it’s not like I wasn’t expecting a hot sticky mess of gunk when I decided to get my soft supple hands on Wanking Simulator. I knew what this was, but I got a few drinks in me and decided to see where the night would take me. I’m a consenting adult that likes to have a little wacky fun sometimes, but the night ended in mostly shame and embarrassment.  – Jordan Hawes

 

8 – Goosebumps: Dead of Night

I wasn’t expecting too much much from a licensed movie tie-in game, but I was still shocked at just how bad Goosebumps: Dead of Night turned out to be. It has some of the weakest puzzles, screen-tearing, and gameplay mechanics I’ve ever seen. Yes, I know it’s suppose to be a children’s game. However, not even a super phoned-in vocal performance from Jack Black could add any redeeming qualities to it.- Heidi Hawes

 

7 – What Happened

While I can appreciate games using their platform to bring awareness to a variety of topics like mental health, I cannot excuse them for inflicting actual real-world pain. What Happened was so chocked full of LSD-inspired visuals and unreliable gameplay mechanics that I actually became physically ill. Steer clear at all costs or you’ll also be asking “what happened?”- Heidi Hawes

 

6 – Remothered: Broken Porcelain

Broken Porcelain is a game suitably named with just how fundamentally broken it is. With bugs that range from hilarious to downright frustrating and game breaking to a horribly disjointed story that will confuse you before it has even begun. Initially, the game does show some promise with a great The Shining inspired location, but will very quickly devolve into something you will hate the more you play it. – Kyle Nicol

 

5 – Antares

Not going to lie, I feel a little bit bad giving a game developed by only a handful of people such a low score. However beyond a few interesting ideas Antares has very little to offer. The gunplay is bad, the game is ugly, and it was such a chore to play. – Kyle Nicol

 

4 – Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story

Very few games can drive me to the brink of insanity, but Grey Skies is one of those games. The mid game chase sequence against the Fighting Machine is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. With horrendous controls, a camera that does whatever it wants, and hitboxes that don’t make any sense. Even beyond this one sequence is a terrible stealth horror game that doesn’t respect the source material. – Kyle Nicol

 

3 – Boreal Tales

I feel bad ripping on Boreal Tales too much since it was developed by one person, but the state in which it was released was absolutely unplayable. I gave this weird little mystery tale a few tries simply because I wanted to know what happened at the end of this occultist fever-dream, but I was thwarted at every turn. Not by any degree of in-game challenge, but rather the impossible task of overcoming this game’s myriad of bugs.- Heidi Hawes

 

2 – My Name Is Mayo 2

This is one of the most baffling commercially available products I have ever seen. My Name is Mayo 2 gave me a platinum trophy for my “efforts” in less than an hour. It also gave me carpal tunnel syndrome. – Leo Faria

 

1 – Road Bustle

I want to imagine that there are people around the world who bought Road Bustle, platinumed it in fifteen minutes, and started bragging about their achievement with their friends. Just like there were people back in the day who bought Zunes and N-Gages and bragged about their wise purchase decisions. – Leo Faria