We know that negativity catches people’s attention, and that there will always be a lot of bad games released in a specific year, but 2024 was a weird case. It was actually really hard to come up with a list comprised of twenty lowly-reviewed titles published over the past twelve months, and we even had to stretch the minimum requirements of what is even a “low score” in order to even be able to come up with such a list.

Maybe WayTooManyGames became too kind? Did we just avoid reviewing what was really bad, out of sheer reflex? Maybe it was just a mere case of fate, of us not being put in front of what was actually stinky in 2024. Or maybe, just maybe, and that’s what we are hoping for, games are starting to come out of the convenyor belt at a decent state. There were lots of disappointing titles released in 2024, as well as purely mediocre outings, but truly bad stuff? Not a lot, to be honest.

As a result, we do not have dishonourable mentions this time around. Some of the games in this list actually have one or two redeeming factors. Some of you might even say they are not bad, and we’d understand some of the cases. Well, we’d weird the hell out if you said that about the actual bottom feeders of this list, but hey, opinions and whatnot. Without further ado, let’s give these unfortunate 2024 contenders a moment to “shine” for the last time.

 

20 – Mario and Luigi: Brothership

Was it an exceptionally good 2024 or a surprisingly bad game that landed Mario and Luigi: Brothership down here? While I liked the graphics and some of the combat, the tedium of padding the game with side quests, the uninspired soundtrack and the dehumanization of Luigi brought this RPG all the way down into our lowest performers. – Oliver Shellding

 

19 – South Park: Snow Day

Everybody loved The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole because of their art style, RPG gameplay loop, and irreverent sense of humor. South Park: Snow Day went for the absolute opposite. It looked more akin to the Nintendo 64 games, with a hideous polygonal look. It ditched the lovely RPG mechanics in favor of a generic third-person co-op shooter loop. Finally, it was simply not funny, with dated references and a clear lack of inspiration. Did we really need to be reminded about Covid-era toilet paper shortages in 2024? – Leo Faria

 

18 – The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty

Visual novels pull no punches, but that doesn’t mean to shock and disgust for shock’s sake. A historically inspired tale, Hungry Lamb was too focused on beating the player down with bad feelings over and over to ever let you recover and feel. Bonus negative points for shoehorning in reasons to sexualize a minor. – Oliver Shellding

 

17 – Geometry Survivor

This should have been an easy, fun and forgettable title. Instead, Geometry Survivor was a stuttering mess that hurt players’ attempts to win through performance issues once the going got tough. If you’re trying to clone Vampire Survivors, make sure you prioritize optimization over soundtrack, since time clearly didn’t go into character design. – Oliver Shellding

 

16 – Skull & Bones

Ubisoft introduced the world to the first “AAAA” game of all time (their words, not mine), and just as we were expecting, it was just another lifeless live service title, yet another disappointing high-budget outing in 2024. The dream of living the ultimate pirate fantasy was let down by a repetitive grind and questionable design decisions. Best to let this one sink. – Kyle Nicol

 

15 – The Rocky Horror Show Video Game

In the nicest way possible, who asked for this? I love Rocky Horror, I’ve watched the movie more than enough times and I’ve seen the stage show a few times. The fact this game extended the story by adding spike balls, floating brains, and skeletons and forcing you to walk through the same sections over and over again, and still only managed to be half the length of the movie is depressingly impressive. I would love to say the soundtrack is great, but once you’ve heard a chiptune version of the same fifteen seconds of “Time Warp” forty times, you’ll want to rip your hair out. – Aaron Price

 

14 – Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded

Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded takes a brilliant game and slaps a terribly optimized  VR port onto it. From the terrible visuals, the lack of VR interactivity, and the fact there was no effort in the cutscenes leaving them 2D, this is by far the worst way to play this fantastic game. – Jordan Hawes

 

13 – Skaramazuzu

If the afterlife is that noisy and boring, I have no choice but to believe in Hell. A series of walking fetch quests interlaced with very empty, shallow philosophy, the nail in the coffin was Skaramazuzu‘s endless yammering from characters with no music whatsoever. Soundtracks really let me down this year. – Oliver Shellding

 

12 – Premier League Player

Once again, I’ll say that some of Premier League Player‘s minigames are actually really fun. I really enjoyed playing as a goalkeeper, or trying to beat my score in the headers minigame. Sadly, everything else was a surefire disaster. Having to re-learn how to kick a ball with your arms felt ridiculous and uncomfortable. I’m not Sebulba. – Leo Faria

 

11 – 34 Sports Games: World Edition

I felt like I was playing your run-of-the-mill, bottom-of-the-bin Wii minigame compilation from, say, 2010. It’s chock-full of content, but when it’s such underwhelming content, is that worth bragging about? 34 Sports Games: World Edition just made me yearn for a brand new Mario & Sonic sports compilation. – Leo Faria

 

10 – Totally Spies!: Cyber Mission

In a year full of shockingly good licensed titles, ranging from Looney Tunes to the Smurfs and the freaking Care Bears, Totally Spies!: Cyber Mission actually stood out. Negatively, in this case. It was one of the few licensed games released this year to completely fail in regards to looking, playing, and feeling like its source material. Cheap, easy, uninteresting. It’s Metal Gear Solid if every enemy had the IQ of a housefly. – Leo Faria

 

9 – Krimson

From its overly sensitive controls to its questionable design choices, Krimson managed to irritate me throughout my entire gameplay. In no moment did it feel challenging and motivating; it was just plain annoying. Oh, and strobing effects. Get that crap away from my face. – Leo Faria

 

8 – Funko Fusion

In the same year we got Astro Bot, we also got Funko Fusion. Trying to pull on the same kinds of nostalgia and love for various brands, this was a messy third-person shooter that absolutely no one asked for. The “cameos” were shoved in just to tell people Chucky or Five Nights At Freddy’s were involved when in reality, the entire game was based around a less funny telling of The Thing and Hot Fuzz in the same vein that the Lego games tell their story. – Aaron Price

 

7 – Neptunia – Game Maker R: Evolution

The worst thing to happen to Neptunia this year, and that includes the original trilogy ports getting cancelled. Combat was a bore, exploration was meandering and difficult to control, and the Switch version chugged during everything that wasn’t reading and listening. A mighty fall for what was once a fun, ridiculous franchise. – Oliver Shellding

 

6 – Saga of the Moon Priestess

Holy balls, I forgot about this unrepentant Link’s Awakening clone. Short, limited, unforgiving and ugly, Moon Priestess was ill designed and crafted as a death threat to anyone who enjoys retro games. I knew it would be bad when I picked it up, I just didn’t know it would hate me as much as I hated it. – Oliver Shellding

 

5 – Willy’s Wonderland

The true worst licensed game of the year, Willy’s Wonderland was baffling from start to finish. The one good thing about the Willy’s Wonderland movie was Nicolas Cage’s presence, not the premise. Making a game based on the movie without Nic Cage is already a bad idea. Releasing it years after everybody had already forgotten about it is an even worse idea. Turning it into one of the lamest beat ’em ups in recent memory, however, is the worst idea. – Leo Faria

 

4 – As Per My Last Email

No game disappointed me in 2024 like As Per My Last Email did. I get you may have never heard of it before, but hear me out. It was supposed to be a game about destroying offices in a fit of rage. That was the perfect premise. It should have been great, it should have been cathartic. It wasn’t. What we got instead was a truly uncooked waste of time with terrible visuals, controls, and purpose. – Leo Faria

 

3 – Hot Blood

Ugh. When a game tries to be a love letter to Dead Rising, but all I could think of while playing it was that it reminded me way too much of the Charlie’s Angels game for Gamecube, considered to be one of the worst games of all time, you know this one is a gigantic failure that should be avoided. – Leo Faria

 

2 – Wrestling Cardboard Championship

It’s never good when I see the name of a game I’d forgotten about entirely, only for memories of how horrendous it is to come rushing back. Wrestling Cardboard Championship was one such game. Just absolutely nothing about it worked, this was a game that tried too hard to be funny and entirely missed the mark, when maybe with a little more effort into the actual insanely easy gameplay would have made it a bit more enjoyable. – Aaron Price

 

1 – Shines Over: The Damned

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a game that managed to fail at so many aspects than I have with Shines Over. It’s a horror game in theory, but the only horror here is the sheer boredom that managed to make a half-hour long experience feel like it was stretching for hours on end. Congrats, you’re the worst game of 2024. – Kyle Nicol