We’ve come to the end of 2023, one of the strongest years in gaming, at least in recent memory. Although it’s been said each new year, we can’t deny that, despite all of the troubles caused by delays, layoffs, and AAA companies occasionally trying to push the boundaries of what’s morally acceptable in terms of selling less content for more money, games have been pretty good over the past few years. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been some stinkers in 2023. When they did stink, oh boy, did they stink. It’s time to remember these disappointments for one last time before we move on to a new year, and a new batch of bad stuff to remember in twelve months’ time.

Before we begin, let’s get two things out of the way:

 

• The following games were pretty bad, but they weren’t bad enough to make this list. Our dishonorable mentions are Redfall, Ravenbound, Molly Medusa: Queen of Spit, Minabo: A Walk Through Life, Truck Driver: The American Dream, Adore, Farming Simulator 23, and Flutter Away.

 

• The following games have been listed as bad by gamers and media this year, but we didn’t find them to be as bad as the rest. Some of the titles you won’t find in this list are Forspoken, Skull Island: Rise of Kong, Quantum Error and Payday 3. We also haven’t had the chance to review The Walking Dead: Destinies or Flashback 2 at the time of publishing this list.

 

Alright? Are we good? Grab your barf bag and join us on this disgusting journey.

 

20 – Demonic Supremacy

Kudos to you, Demonic Supremacy. You are the game that made me realize that the retro-styled first person shooter (or boomer shooter) fad has finally reached its point of maximum saturation. Watching demons’ guts fly through the air is fun at first, but the repetitive encounters, poor presentation, atrocious framerate, and minuscule scope all made this game a slog to enjoy. – Leo Faria

 

19 – Baby Shark: Sing & Swim Party

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo… – Leo Faria

 

18 – Pretty Girls 2048 Strike

Have you ever wanted to play 2048, that puzzle game available in pretty much every single mobile phone from the Motorola RAZR onwards, but with anatomically disproportionate waifus? Have you ever wanted to actually pay money for it? Boy, do I have a game for you… – Leo Faria

 

17 – Moving Out 2

All we want are some party games to play with family as we enter the holidays, but this just isn’t it. With no sense of pressure to really put in any effort your guests are going to be walking away from the TV all night. – Aaron Price

 

16 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Call of Duty has been on a slippery slope for the past few installments, but Modern Warfare III has really pushed the boundaries of what you should be able to get away with. An overpriced DLC for MWII and at the time of writing, just released their very buggy Season 1. – Aaron Price

 

15 – Fashion Dreamer

Fashion Dreamer should have been an easy win for fans and devs alike: make a fashion game that was fun and inventive. Instead, we got this weird clout-chasing nonsense that involved dead eyed mannequins and pointless trend forecasting without payoff. Empty and pointless, the potential far exceeds the product. – Oliver Shellding

 

14 – Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The London Case

 From the hilariously awful character animations, to the to the poor controls, and the excessive, pointless filler, Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The London Case is not worth wasting your little gray cells on. – Heidi Hawes

 

13 – PAW Patrol World

When a kids game lacks any depth or creativity that it even bores its target demographic, then you know you have a bad game on your hands. My children an hour in were asking to play something else. – Jordan Hawes

 

12 – Greyhill Incident

A stealth horror game about alien conspiracies and abductions shouldn’t have bored me to death, but Greyhill Incident sure found a way to make one of the most appealing gaming concepts feel like one of the most uninteresting experiences of 2023. Oh, and that hilariously bad voice acting. Beautiful stuff. – Leo Faria

 

11 – Loop 8: Summer of Gods

You ever seen a girl that’s absolutely gorgeous?

You then ask a mutual friend about her, only to find out her father worked on Lunar, a game you adore. It’s a no-brainer at this point – you have to date her. Excitement fills your heart when she agrees, but then you meet. It turns out she’s actually really bland. All she does is drone on about nothing. You try to salvage the night by suggesting something interesting, but nope, she counters with a boring activity. After a couple of hours, you realize you’ve wasted your time. That, my friends, was my experience with Loop 8. – Fernando da Costa

 

10 – Mortal Kombat 1 (the hilariously atrocious Nintendo Switch port)

Our rule of thumb is to not put a particular port of a game into one of these lists for consistency, but we had to make an exception for Mortal Kombat 1‘s Nintendo Switch port this year. It was just the more surreal experience I’ve had with Nintendo’s ageing system in 2023. It’s the perfect definition of so crappy it’s almost good. I would 100% recommend this to all Switch owners if it wasn’t being sold for seventy bucks. – Leo Faria

 

9 – The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Oh boy. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum really made a splash when it released, just not the one the developers were hoping for. And while I find the branding of “Worst Game of All Time” to be a huge exaggeration, what isn’t is how far short of its potential it falls. A unique and intriguing portrayal of Middle-Earth isn’t saved by the poor controls, awful pacing, brain-dead gameplay, lack of advertised choice making, and really the list goes on. Definitely my biggest disappointment in recent years.- Thomas Medina

 

8 – Oaken

I had a lot of hope for Oaken, and I wish the issue was just not being good at the game. Instead, it was very unbalanced in difficulty, either to be overly frustrating for no reason, or to inflate its own game time. Regardless, this isn’t a game I’ve found any desire to return to. – Aaron Price

 

7 – Lunark

Deciding to put very small requirements that blend in with the background ten frustrating minutes before it’s required can make anyone pull their hair out. Add to that combat that favors the AI for no real reason, when there are already an abundance of enemies, in a game that feels like combat was an afterthought, equals a recipe for disaster. – Aaron Price

 

6 – Survivor: Castaway Island

A completely shallow and all around unpolished game that was a pain to play. Not to mention it was just a re-release of the same French version of Survivor called Koh Lanta, but with even less content.  – Jordan Hawes

 

5 – Arcana of Paradise ~ The Tower

Deckbuilding really took me to task this year, and Arcana of Paradise was a bridge too far. The stress of character maintenance, difficult dives, and clunky card mechanics resulted in a dream deferred. This game fell the furthest from my hopes because it SHOULD have been great, and it was just a frustrating, nihilistic mess. – Oliver Shellding

 

4 – Neptunia: Sisters Vs. Sisters

Having covered a few of the Neptunia games, I think I can consider myself somewhat with some knowledge of the franchise, even though I wouldn’t have wanted to get to know them as much, personally. What I would say is that a bland game with iffy gameplay and controls, shows why you shouldn’t be powering out two to three games every year. – Aaron Price

 

3 – Gekisou! Benza Race: Toilet Shooting Star

It’s a game about racing with your turbocharged toilet against other turbocharged toilets. Understanding what the game is all about is not worth the thirteen dollars they are charging. It’s poorly made, confusing, not in English (though being sold in the American eShop), and it’s not funny. It takes some Herculean effort to make such a hilariously dumb concept unappealing to play, but lo and behold, these developers sure managed to crack the code. – Leo Faria

 

2 – Burrow of the Fallen Bear: A Gay Furry Visual Novel

What an absolutely tragic way to start the year. It’s not that the game is horny; many visual novels are. It’s that it’s pointlessly, almost offensively based in the mindset of needing to screw or be screwed by everyone you encounter. The plot takes a back seat to being a top or bottom, and the writing sets furry identifiers back over a decade in claiming legitimacy. But I’d still prefer another read through to our “winning” title… – Oliver Shellding

 

1 – Love Kuesuto

I knew. The second I got to the first question, I knew. Love Kuesuto didn’t even have the decency to be a game. A series of questions lifted from a 60s dating magazine that recommends ketamine “to set the mood,” this BS portrayal of relationship variables leads to either the world ending or existing as a hyperbolic reality to either horrify or appease misogynists. A waste of time, pixels, and life, it’s not even worth the curiosity. – Oliver Shellding

 

What did you think of our list? Were there any disappointing games you played this year that didn’t make our list? Comment below and let us know!