What's Your Most Disappointing Game of 2017?

2017 seems to be the hottest year in gaming since 07. I'm sure we all have a huge backlog while simultaneously playing through multiple games' it's been really great. But in a year of greatness I've felt the sting of disappointment even harder due to the fact that I could've/should've spent my money else where.

My most disappointing game (so far) is Splatoon 2. I liked the first well enough--cool concept and style--but felt it was held back by some bonehead decisions. So I was excited to see an evolution to those concepts...And I got none of that. It feels and plays and restricts you in the exact same ways as the first. It feels like such a lazy update to the first game. They just needed something to sell on the Switch, and idiots like me bought it.

Even the one new feature, in the wave based mode, got shackled by the same idiotic time restrictions. After the tutorial I was seemingly never able to hop on at a time when I could play it. And after about the 3rd attempt I just quit caring.

I feel like my pick is controversial, as it seemed pretty universally loved, but goddamn if Nintendo didn't just put a new coat of paint on the same package again.

What's your most disappointing game in this hottest of hot gaming years?

Yooka-Laylee. I had a bad feeling about it since the kickstarter, but I still had to know. I went in with lowered expectations and was still bummed out. There's good in there, but it's so bogged down by antiquated design and boring levels that I gave up after 10 hours. These big, open, empty levels were the biggest disappointment for me. A Hat In Time did what Yooka-Laylee was trying to do for me.

Besides that, I haven't really been disappointed with anything this year. GET EVEN I suppose, but I don't really have much to say about that. The gunplay feels unbelievably bad, we're talkin C-Tier 2009 360 shooter bad, and it's a shame that such a neat concept got lost in it.

I played 15-20 hours of Breath of the Wild waiting for it to click and it never did

I think I'm in the same boat with Breath of the Wild. I've played 25 hours and I kind of feel just 'meh' about the whole thing. It is getting better, but not necessarily enough that I'm keeping with it. I've dropped off playing it again and am not sure if I'll get back to it - a lot of other gaming to get through. Hoping to try and tackle it at some point. It's also in part due to the fact that I don't mind linear directions in games and BoTW is kind of a 'you can do whatever, and crazy outcomes can occur' - but I never really am drawn in by that.

@kingbonesaw: BOTW is my #1 game this year, but I can totally see it not clicking for others. The exploration felt so organic to the world and rewarding in a way open world games have never captured for me before. I've easily put over 100 hours into it and haven't beaten it yet; waiting on the final DLC to come out before I finish off Ganon.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is the most disappointing game I’ve ever played in my entire life. I thought people who played the Japanese release were exaggerating when they said the ending to this game retroactively ruined the series for them. I was wrong. Even ignoring that ending, the rest of the game feels overly familiar and like running through the motions. The lewd “humor” in the series finally hit the breaking point for me to the point where I was getting angry every time Miu would open her mouth. The game treats you like an idiot more than any other VN I’ve played and repeats the same thing over and over 50 times. The writing reads as though the person writing it felt they were infinitely more clever than they were. You name something about this game (besides the soundtrack), I probably don’t like it. It’s tragic after DR2, which is easily in my top 5 favorite games of all time. /rant

Oh geez. Probably Destiny 2 to be honest. And that's saying something, because I still really enjoyed Destiny 2.

Easily Nier: Automata, I'll spare everyone my wall of dislike for that game but I really didn't like anything about it beyond the art direction and music.

@sloppydetective:This was the exact opposite experience that I had with BOTW. It was the reason I initially picked up a Switch and largely for the reasons you and many others expressed about it and I felt nor saw any of the open and rewarding exploration. So many parts of the game worked counter to the idea of free unmitigated exploration but it was the stamina bar that by far made the willingness to climb anywhere significantly less worthwhile than it would normally in other games. Going into the game I knew to invest in stamina upfront to avoid that and it still ended up being the case. It really bummed me out because I really enjoy open world games that prioritize exploration or exploring various systems and I never felt like doing that was ever resulted in any worthwhile outcome. All of this has me super cautious about SM: Odyssey because I'm really hoping the mechanics related to Cappy allow for the kind of exploratory play that I really enjoy.

Mass Effect Andromeda. Not the worst game of the year, but compared to its predecessors it doesn't belong. And now the franchise is on hiatus.

Probably For Honor. That game had so much promise, but they took too long to resolve their connection/matchmaking issues and their balance issues. Now the player base has mostly moved on... what a waste.

Also, Law Breakers. Holy FUCK did that game bomb! I never played it but it looked interesting and I thought I might get into it a few months down the line. But there’s no point in doing that now...

I'll agree with Nier. I guess the real satisfaction is supposed to come on the third playthrough, but I really wasn't enjoying myself very much on the second. The first was okay (except the music, which was great)

@goboard: I never found the stamina bar that debilitating early on and I was prepared to find it really annoying after all the coverage I heard. The stamina bar pushes you to explore the cooking and foraging aspects of the game, and to plan out climbing routes while improvising to find angles to rest at when things do go bad. I also didn't find it that frustrating when things went bad and I fell, so obviously to each their own.

Mass Effect Andromeda.. oh that make me so sad it sucked. BOTW too.. but i knew i wasn't going to like it. Played it.. and shocker.. didn't like it :)

Agent of Mayhem goes on the list too.

I was extremely down on NieR throughout the first 2 playthroughs to the point that it took me just about 6 months to slowly slog through them. Boring quests, uninteresting story, really dull (albeit beautiful) combat. But after pushing into the 3rd and getting all 5 endings its probably near the top of my list, which is shocking to me. There's something just fuckin magical about the wrap-up of that game that absolutely won't work on everyone, i sure didnt think it would work on me.

I think my biggest disappointment would be Flinthook. Every single aspect of that game was fucking incredible and had so much potential... minus the run-to-run loop that went left in all the ways rogue legacy and other successful 'rogue lights' went right.

Well, there are reasons for why I keep saying that the Steam version of Senran Kagura Estival Versus is my game of the year, and most people here have said them already: Mass Effect Andromeda sucked for all intents and purposes. I fell off of For Honor after three weeks. I'm not as into character action games to really care too much about Nier: Automata, along with the PC version being fixed with a mod as opposed to a proper patch. I already know the kind of shit I'm getting myself into with Destiny 2, and my anus is prepped accordingly. And more power to those enjoying PUBG; it just isn't my thing.

So, yeah. "Tits are life, ass is hometown." A naked cartoon pussy game is the most entertaining and least disappointing game of the year.

Come at me scrublords, I'm ripped.

Persona 5. Man, that game just drags after awhile. Maybe if I enjoyed the writing more it wouldn't be so bad.

Mass Effect Andromeda by a mile. I set my expectations low going in based on reactions, but even that couldn't compare to the absolute nightmare of playing that game. It genuinely made me question why I loved Mass Effect in the first place.

It's Mass Effect: Andromeda and, man, it isn't even remotely close.

I mean, Mass Effect Andromeda is the easy one, right? Even if you went beyond the ultra-boring open world design (and admittedly competent shooting), the writing in that game is some amazingly inept C-tier sci-fi nonsense. Of course, it's only a disappointment if your expectations are high in the first place, and mine were not by the time I actually came to it. If anything, it was just as bad as I was expecting it to be.

Nah, actually I think my most disappointing game this year might just be Torment: Tides of Numenera. Once you get beyond the whispers of a troubled development and various miscommunication issues from the developers (a lot of promises made during the kickstarter that didn't make their way into the final game, almost 4 years later) it just kind of feels like a pale imitation of Planescape: Torment. It feels like the writers understood the whole "alien world, immortal protagonist, walls and walls of text" things and nothing else. The world is alien to the point of exhaustion, the central conflict of the protagonist is less interesting, and the walls and walls of text are pervasive instead of occasional and sometimes wordy to the point of purple prose. Also the combat is still bad.

I'll be clear: there's some good, weird sci-fi writing in that game when it actually bothers to ground itself. The problem of a world where everything is crazy future technology and every NPC is a multidimensional being, nanomachine swarm, or immortal discarded body is that at some point it all just becomes semi-meaningless gobbldygook with zero logical consistency. I could go on for a while, but I'll stop while I'm ahead.

Ya know, I'm not certain it would've come to mind without your initial post, but Splatoon 2 super didn't grab me the way I expected. Didn't have a WiiU or the first Splatoon, but the whole concept was so exciting to me...and for the the first week or two Splatoon 2 was definitely exciting. And then it very suddenly wasn't, and I barely noticed. I guess it was a fun game while it lasted, but the way people talked about the long tail on Splatoon 1 had me expecting something more.

Andromeda for sure. I was realy looking forward to an epic space adventure but instead we got a turd.

I haven't bought a single game this year that wasn't fun or enriching. I wouldn't Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice was fun, and at some points it was emotionally grueling, but in a good way. Maybe it or Slime Rancher were the least great things I've played so far? But I still adore them.

But looking in from the outside, Mass Effect: Andromeda was a depressing mess. Mass Effect 2 was one of my favorite games I've ever played. 3, not so much. Andromeda looked even less compelling than that, with terrible launch jank, uninspired writing and voice acting. That it might actually have killed the franchise with my favorite SciFi universe is awful - and even worse, that it might have killed it by leaving the cool galaxy they'd already set up. The game I wanted was Citadel Detective, before or during the original trilogy. Do intimate stories within those rich cultures.

In theory, it's Mass Effect Andromeda, although I haven't played it. Half of it is it is not the Mass Effect game I'm looking for. Half of it is between the ending of Mass Effect 3 and the subpar Mass Effect Andromeda, this feels like the death of Mass Effect, which is a tragedy. With the various backlashes over the years, what feels like a decreasing return of investment, and how EA is going to make Star Wars games until they die, why waste all of those resources on a single player space game that doesn't have the words "Star" or "Wars" in the title. Heck, they even killed off their one single player Star Wars game today, so they could back a game like The Division or Destiny. As someone who loves Mass Effect, the disappointing Andromeda and the possible end of all of Mass Effect is pretty damn disappointing.

My actual most disappointing game that I actually played is Breath of the Wild. It's alright. Some parts are pretty good. But going from "Oh my god I'm so sick of people talking about how BOTW is the greatest game ever" to "Yeah, it's ok" is a pretty big step down.

@bobobones: damn son. Going after this website's darling. I agree that the writing is awful in those games. Watching the P4 endurance run over playing the game first was such a good decision cuz it came across as bad YA writing to me. And P5 seemed the same.

*edit you didn't say it was awful, so sorry if I put those words in your mouth

Tales of Berseria. I actually really liked it, but it had problems. Its just that of the games I've played released this year it fell a little flat in the story department.

I can understand why people say Andromeda, but I mostly felt like any of the problems people were complaining about existed in Inquisition as well. I somewhat anticipated that going in. Additionally, my expectations were tempered by the poor reception it received, so buying it on sale I got more than I thought I would.

Guess it’s Destiny 2 or The Evil Within 2. Not completely terrible games, but I kinda went to both and (foolishily) expected more than I got.

It doesn’t really help that there’s been so many other excellent games this year, so the ones that don’t really click with me stand out even more.

@sloppydetective: Persona 4 is easily my favorite RPG. I was deeply into well before I saw Jeff & Vinny play it. I just wish I liked the main characters in 5 more then I did. Maybe it's just where I'm at in life.

I liked Persona 5 but found it strangely disappointing compared to Persona 3 & 4. The story didn't really clicked with me and the location, Tokyo, so boring. I preferred the small towns from 3 and 4 much more original and Tokyo is so over used.

I don't think I really have one out of the games I've played. I guess I could say NiOh, because I was looking forward to someone else making a very direct Souls-alike and yet I ended up not playing it because everything I saw of it did absolutely nothing for me. People keep telling me they came around on it after playing (and I believe them), but I don't think I can get over my disinterest in its entire aesthetic.

Other than that, I guess after how tightly Bastion and Transistor controlled I'm disappointed in myself that I really struggle with Pyre. That's not the game, though - I adore most everything about it - I just have trouble wrapping my head around playing it well.

3 was taking place in the city, wasn't it?

Anyway, for me it's ME: A. Before the game was released I was pumped about another Mass Effect game with a new setting and new characters. After the release I heard the game had problems. Still, it's Mass Effect so I bought it. Played it for like 3 hours and never touched it again.

Mass Effect: Andromeda. Although I still enjoyed parts of it. Also The Evil Within 2 and Nier: Automata. Both decent games but I thought the originals were more interesting despite being flawed in a gameplay/technical sense.

It's gotta be Mass Effect Andromeda, right? Anyone who was a fan of the original trilogy had to be expecting something ranging from pretty good to great. What we got was a mess. The first 5 hours I spent with it were decent but after that I just got fed up and mainlined the story and sold it.

BOTW wasn't really for me, but I went in with tempered expectations since I'm not quite as over the moon with Zelda games in general as some people. It was fun and all, but probably won't make my top ten this year.

@sloppydetective: I agree with Splatoon 2 but at the same time I totally felt like I knew it was just going to be a rehash of the first one going in. This year was a big year and yet nothing stood out to me as something I was hyped for. Lots of quality games but nothing revolutionary or even evolutionary. I really hope Wolfenstein 2 is good and NFS has more burnout than NFS in it.

Nier. I had literally never heard of Nier before this year, but the critical wave built my expectations up to a ridiculous level (even though I remained skeptical). Turns out it's a pretty average action game with some interesting story beats.

@drachmalius: After ME3 being divisive and DA:Inq having a somewhat tepid aftermath, I feel like any massive expectations should at least have been accompanied by a calming skepticism.

I really do think Splatoon 2 by itself is a cool game, but that game is just so disappointing on many levels, its far too much like the first game and fixes zero of the problems.

Prey makes me motion sick, so if ME:A hadn't come out this year it would win.

Horizon. The exposition and characters were so bad I didn't even make it 5 minutes past the hunter trial thing at the beginning

Hell no lol but I am glad you enjoyed it. Mass Effect Andromeda I guess is my answer they basically killed the franchise.

Not just the franchise, the whole bioware name is dead to me at this point - but EA has been working hard killing it. (bioware can now lay next to the grave of Origin systems... sigh..)

While it isn't perfect at all, I kind of expected D2 to have some problems somewhere and was actually surprised it was the endgame that is the issue, which I mind less than some other things they could have fucked up. Also, while I certainly would like better animations and more polish on Andromeda, the buzz around that game made it very clear what was going to be in it, so as I braced myself for that I wasn't disappointed by anything I came to play and actually really liked most of that game.

So I was coming into this thread expecting to say nothing. But then @l33t_haxor mentioned For Honor and I remembered how disappointed I was in that game. That campaign was not what I was expecting it to be, rather just a tutorial. And while a game like D2 might have some endgame issues, at least it has things you can work towards where everything in For Honor felt pointless to me.

Mass Effect: Andromeda. Although the writing was sort of on the wall for a couple of months leading up to release, I still had some faith. I think it's the first Bioware game I haven't finished nor do I think I ever will. Persona 5 didn't quite live up to my expectations but is definitely still a great game.

Looking back so far 2017 has been disappointing Andromeda, Breath of the Wild, Destiny 2 and Shadow of War and Battlefront 2 beta not necessarily bad but I was certainly expecting more well apart from Andromeda.

Don't know how it could be anything other than Mass Effect: Andromeda.

I played the previous 3 games multiple times each and loved them all, but couldn't even force myself to get more than 5 ot 6 hours through ME:A

I have mostly accurate expectations for the games I play. Being disappointed all the time sounds exhausting.

I've only played two 2017 games in 2017: NieR: Automata and Alwa's Awakening and I loved them both for different reasons.

No, wait. One more. My biggest disappointment this year was Cosmic Star Heroine, and it wasn't bad. It just wasn't quite as in-depth as I'd hoped. The story was shallow and dull with little character development. The difficulty wasn't very well balanced either with easier difficulties being a cakewalk and harder difficulties being trial-and-error, mix-and-match-your-party until you have the right abilities puzzles. It's pretty glaringly obvious that development was rushed. Still, it oozes retro-jrpg charm and I'm very thankful someone is maintaining the genre's glory days.

Several candidates, actually.

Mass Effect Andromeda: Given the ME3 shitstorm and being kind of "meh" on DA:I, my expectations going in were pretty low. It somehow still managed to sink under the shallow bar I had set.

Persona 5: This was my first Persona game, but friends endlessly talked up how awesome the series was. What I discovered was a game that, underneath a shallow surface layer of style, is Just Another JRPG(TM). I stopped after the third dungeon and will not go back.

Shadow of War: The loot box thing had kind of soured me on the game before release, but the underlying game is really not that good either. They took a solid game from a couple of years ago, then tacked on a needlessly bloated upgrade system and open world, a comically terrible story, and made the movement and combat feel noticeably worse than the first game. A pretty stunning failure on multiple levels.