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[D.Final]

2019 had some incredible video games, including action titles like Devil May Cry 5 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, as well as the excellent tactical role-playing game Fire Emblem: Three Houses. There were plenty of other games, however, that failed to meet our expectations. Some of these were games we thought would be incredible, only to have them be mediocre, while others failed to reach the very low standards we had set for them in advance. In the end, all of them left us wishing we were just playing something else, including those we had been waiting years to finally get our hands on. These are the most disappointing games of 2019.

Death Stranding

Hideo Kojima is the closest thing the video game industry has to a Werner Herzog or David Lynch — a director who makes the games he wants to make. Normally, that turns out extremely well for players, too, as we saw with the Metal Gear series over the last several decades. Now free of Konami, however, Kojima’s latest game Death Stranding has us scratching our heads. It has moments of brilliance in its storytelling and plenty of atmosphere, but Death Stranding also feels like yet another sign that Kojima should just make movies, instead. The delivery gameplay can get in the way of what makes its world special, rather than enhance it.

Anthem

Following the lackluster Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, all eyes were on BioWare’s original Edmonton studio to show us all why it was so acclaimed in the first place. Instead, we got Anthem, a Destiny-style loot-shooter that somehow managed to tell a meaningless story while also offering a frustrating gameplay loop. The flight controls and Javelin suit powers available to all players were just short of greatness, as well, making the game’s shortcomings even harder to swallow. Anthem is a game made by a BioWare that doesn’t seem to understand what it means to be BioWare and doesn’t give us hope for the developer’s future.

Crackdown 3

We didn’t think Crackdown 3 was going to be a massive revelation or a system-defining game for the Xbox One, but we did at least thing that its leveraging of the Azure cloud and current-generation technology would make it a superior game to its predecessors. We were sadly mistaken, as the game plays almost identically to the decade-old original games, with an ugly art style that can’t decide if it wants to be cartoony cel-shaded goofiness or fully embrace more realistic designs. After Crackdown 2 was already seen as a dud, Crackdown 3 might just be the final nail in the coffin for what was once a promising franchise.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was one of the best first-person shooters of 2017, telling an ambitious and twist-filled alternate history story that wasn’t afraid to show its outrage with far-right and racist politics. It also packed in satisfying-as-hell combat, with protagonist BJ Blazkowicz killing human Nazis and robot Nazis in equal parts. For the spinoff Wolfenstein: Youngblood, MachineGames put his twin daughters in the starring role, and this could have made for a unique take on the existing formula. Unfortunately, the studio seemed worryingly unsure about why people liked the first two games and added in unnecessary role-playing elements and surprisingly little story. It’s not bad, but it is nowhere near as impressive as its big siblings.

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint could have been the game to get Ubisoft’s unfocused series back on the right track, following the enormous and largely lifeless Wildlands two years earlier. Instead, the company chose to make it a bizarre hybrid of other other-world shooters and The Division 2, with gear score limiting your ability to complete missions effectively and a story that could move at a snail’s pace. Jon Bernthal’s terrific performance as the villain could only do so much when the game was also weighed down by several bugs, and what seemed to be a lack of passion or direction in its creation. But at least shooting bad guys in the head still feels good, and that is important in a game like Breakpoint.

Days Gone

Sony’s Bend studio had been working primarily on handheld games over the last decade, but with the death of the PlayStation Vita, it got its chance to shine on PS4 with the exclusive Days Gone. A zombie game with an emphasis on huge numbers of enemies and action-packed gameplay, it is essentially the anti-Last of Us. That could certainly work in Sony’s favor, but poor writing, an uninteresting protagonist, derivative world-building, and a ridiculous length all brought Days Gone down. With so many other zombie games to choose from, there really isn’t any need for this one — even if they call them “Freakers,” instead.

Shenmue III
It’s a miracle that Shenmue III exists at all, and in that respect, it isn’t a disappointment. Crowdfunding and a long development time helped bring the adventure game sequel to life, but anyone hoping for an evolution of the original two games’ formula will not find it here. Shenmue III is essentially “more Shenmue,” and though the characters sport a much higher resolution, their stiff animations and cheesy dialogue make it feel like a parody of itself. With Sega’s Yakuza series doing similar things much better, there seems to be little reason for Shenmue III in 2019, especially when its creators seem so unwilling to actually alter the framework it established two decades earlier.

Mario Kart Tour

We weren’t sure it would be possible for a Mario Kart game to work on devices without dedicates directional pads or buttons, and we were right. Mario Kart Tour is like if you took Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, sucked any semblance of joy or creativity from it, turned the screen to a vertical orientation, and then told players they had to pay to get the real game. Its free-to-play structure and microtransactions are some of the most egregious we’ve seen from Nintendo to date, as the company has already had a bit of a mixed track record with mobile games. With portable versions of Mario Kart available on everything from Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo Switch, there is very little reason to waste any time with this one.

Contra: Rogue Corps

First, Konami turned the Metal Gear series into a shell of its former self with the zombie survival game Metal Gear Survive. Now, the company has similarly morphed Contra into something unrecognizable with Contra: Rogue Corps. Ostensibly a spiritual successor to Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis, Rogue Corps is a twin-stick shooter that features unique upgrading mechanics involving swappable bodyparts but fails to deliver satisfying shooting or enemies. It just doesn’t deliver the same rush we got playing the original games or even Contra 4 on Nintendo DS, and its tremendously bad storytelling and presentation do it absolutely no favors. Luckily, we had Blazing Chrome to carry the Contra torch this year, as well, and that game is far worthier of your time.

WWE 2K20


You never truly know what you have until you lose it, and Take-Two learned that the hard way when it parted ways with longtime WWE studio Yuke’s for WWE 2K20. Instead handing the reigns to Visual Concepts, which already develops other 2K Sports titles, Take-Two likely expected its quality level to match the excellent NBA 2K series. Instead, WWE 2K20 might just be the worst game of the entire year. Its graphics appear to be significantly worse than they were in previous iterations, at times resembling a game from more than a decade ago, and its gameplay shows little innovation or interesting ideas. On top of all that, it’s also comically glitchy, which makes for great YouTube videos and Twitch streams, but not the best way to spend a weekend. After the way Yuke’s was badmouthed, it isn’t likely to return to the series now, either.

From Anthem to Days Gone, these were the most disappointing games of 2019

2019 had several excellent video games release over the course of the year, but it also had a few games that were major disappointments. These are the most disappointing games of 2019, ranging from decent games that didn't match expectations to outright stinkers that we never want to play again.

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[GymWolf]

Some of these games don't deserve to be in the same list of broken shit like anthem or breakdown or crackdown...

 

[Spukc]

Crackdown?
What the fuck was wrong with crackdown 3?
I had a blast.

It was such a joy to finish that map.
Not every damn game needs to be goty ffs.
Let games be games.

Wish i had that kind of fun with other games this year.

 

[ethomaz]

Death Stranding the overall GOTY in 2019 in that list.

Yeap, sure lol

Days Gone?

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Crackdown?
What the fuck was wrong with crackdown 3?
I had a blast.

It was such a joy to finish that map.
Not every damn game needs to be goty ffs.
Let games be games.

Wish i had that kind of fun with other games this year.

Generic, didn't keep its promises, etc. but it wasn't that much of a step down from 2.

3 doesn't suck, they just oversold the cloud computing aspect of the game.

 

[mckmas8808]

Death Stranding, literally is the opposite of this. How can a game with that many GOTYs be on this list?

 

[Spukc]

Generic, didn't keep its promises, etc. but it wasn't that much of a step down from 2.

3 doesn't suck, they just oversold the cloud computing aspect of the game.

Besides that BS PR.
I had a blast. Almost every modern open world game misses.

Also.it was not 100+ hours long.

 

[DonF]

Very very subjective list.
Sorted by aggregated score

Game​	Open Critic Score
Death Stranding​	83
Days Gone​	71
Shenmue 3​	69
Wolfenstein Younglood​	66
Crackdown 3​	63
Anthem​	61
Ghost Recon Breakpoint​	57
Contra Rogue Corps​	52
WWE 2k20​	39
Mario Kart Tour	MTX filled traash

I would say that days gone and death stranding shouldnt be there. Hell, even shenmue 3.
All the games below that are on another tier.

 

[Kdad]

Death Stranding, literally is the opposite of this. How can a game with that many GOTYs be on this list?

"edgy" list making

 

[kraspkibble]

death stranding.

only reason anyone bought that pile of crap is because Kojimbo plastered his name all over it.

 

[JLMC469]

Death Stranding the overall GOTY in 2019 in that list.

Overall GOTY? Where?

 

[ethomaz]

Overall GOTY? Where?

World? It is the game with most GOTY awards up to now and there is no sign to that change.

 

[Jtibh]

I can see most of them deserve to be on that list , i can even understand death stranding.

But days gone? NO

 

[ZywyPL]

It's hard to call any of the games as disappointment if you ask me, I mean - common sens is your best friend:

Death Stranding - the whole marketing hovered around Kojima instead of the actual game, and whenever they actually show a gameplay it was just walking alone on empty landscapes, while people still don't have a clue what's up with this baby living in a container connected to a guy's belly button instead of living in actual women's womb, that's disturbing/creepy as fuck.

Anthem - it's like The Division all over again, but this time it's on EA's side, and given their reputation, especially all the AAA games released in past couple of years, that's exactly what you should've been expecting - a next-gen-looking reveal gameplay, that ended up nowhere near close to what was initially shown, and with tons of technical issues instead.

Crackdown 3 - it never looked like it was even an AA title to begin with, more like something of a ReCore caliber, it was hyped only by the Xbox fans because it is an exclusive, nothing more.

Wolfenstein - it was a quick money grab, if someone expected actually a full fledged AAA sequel then no wonder he got disappointed.

Ghost Recon - another yearly rushed uninspiring series from Ubi, who would've guessed?

Days Gone - it is an AA title, I give it that, but just as Crackdown 3, it was hyped only by Sony fans just because it is an exclusive. And the zombies theme was pretty much oversaturated and boring at the point the game was being released.

Shenmue 3 - this game was made literally for like 100 people, the most die-hard fans of the series, who lived long enough to see the 3rd insno further comment needed.

PS. Wasn't that MS pirate game (I can't recall the name no matter how hard I try lol) also released in 2019? It sure looked good artistically-wise, but that's about it. The cancellation of that 4K Super Duper (or whatever it was called?) add-on to Minecraft, now that's a proper disappointment, it just looked sooo good, way better than RT that kills all Minecraft's charm, technically it did boosted the visual, but it was still cartoonish, childish, it was simply perfect. And they cancelled it

 

[JimboJones]

Death Stranding, literally is the opposite of this. How can a game with that many GOTYs be on this list?

It was very devisive so it won't be surprising to see it turn up on a few people's disappointment lists.

 

[SantaC]

That sums up 2019 pretty well.

 

[Vawn]

Nothing as dissapointing this year as Final Fantasy XV.

Death Stranding is in GOTY category. So people must have really expected too much if that isn't enough.

 

[Terenty]

common sens is your best friend

Common sense and game journalism? Lol not even once.

Judging by how this journo repeats the same retarded mantra as any other enlightened individual "kojima should make movies" he hasn't even played the game.

 

[SleepDoctor]

Really don't care for anything on there besides Days Gone. That game was very underappreciated.

But the responses here will be gold lol

 

[GymWolf]

It's hard to call any of the games as disappointment if you ask me, I mean - common sens is your best friend:

Death Stranding - the whole marketing hovered around Kojima instead of the actual game, and whenever they actually show a gameplay it was just walking alone on empty landscapes, while people still don't have a clue what's up with this baby living in a container connected to a guy's belly button instead of living in actual women's womb, that's disturbing/creepy as fuck.

Anthem - it's like The Division all over again, but this time it's on EA's side, and given their reputation, especially all the AAA games released in past couple of years, that's exactly what you should've been expecting - a next-gen-looking reveal gameplay, that ended up nowhere near close to what was initially shown, and with tons of technical issues instead.

Crackdown 3 - it never looked like it was even an AA title to begin with, more like something of a ReCore caliber, it was hyped only by the Xbox fans because it is an exclusive, nothing more.

Wolfenstein - it was a quick money grab, if someone expected actually a full fledged AAA sequel then no wonder he got disappointed.

Ghost Recon - another yearly rushed uninspiring series from Ubi, who would've guessed?

Days Gone - it is an AA title, I give it that, but just as Crackdown 3, it was hyped only by Sony fans just because it is an exclusive. And the zombies theme was pretty much oversaturated and boring at the point the game was being released.

Shenmue 3 - this game was made literally for like 100 people, the most die-hard fans of the series, who lived long enough to see the 3rd insno further comment needed.

PS. Wasn't that MS pirate game (I can't recall the name no matter how hard I try lol) also released in 2019? It sure looked good artistically-wise, but that's about it. The cancellation of that 4K Super Duper (or whatever it was called?) add-on to Minecraft, now that's a proper disappointment, it just looked sooo good, way better than RT that kills all Minecraft's charm, technically it did boosted the visual, but it was still cartoonish, childish, it was simply perfect. And they cancelled it

My friend the problem with anthem being different from the reveal was the first of maaaaaany problems in that game.
I even played with friends for 30 hours and enjoyed a little, but the game was a fucking mess in almost every aspect...jist the fact that you don't have a fucking page with all the stats and power up in a game like this was mindblowing...

 

[Ichabod]

Fair list, I'd say. Death Stranding, while most definitely unique amongst anything on the market, is not goty material--I'm sorry. If it's someone's personal goty, that's fine, you do you.

I should stress, I'm not knocking the game. Kojima, love him or hate him, is a rock star. DS is gorgeous to look at and the inclusion of so many real life actors is awesome. However, a goty-tier game is one that should have nigh universal praise and mass appeal to the widest number of the gaming population. Death Stranding has neither.

 

[ZywyPL]

Common sense and game journalism? Lol not even once.

How can anyone rely on journalism in 21st century? We're not in the 80s/90s anymore, where there was no internet, no nothing, and the only way you could see the game was on static screens in a magazine. But now? There are gameplays all over the internet, literal GAMEPLAYS, it may be an issue if you are blind, but other than that you see exactly what the actual game is, if you don't what you see then turn around and walk away, it's that simple, rather than keep reimaging the game into what it's not, and never will be.

Sure, there are some retards out there that will always question you with "but have you actually played the game yourself??", like yeah, I'm sure a corridor FPS like Doom will all of a sudden turn into an open-world racing game once I touch the controller... And then into an MMO RPG after I pass the controller to my friend sitting next to me. What are those people smoking? I don't know, but I surely want to try some.

 

[mckmas8808]

Fair list, I'd say. Death Stranding, while most definitely unique amongst anything on the market, is not goty material--I'm sorry. If it's someone's personal goty, that's fine, you do you.

I should stress, I'm not knocking the game. Kojima, love him or hate him, is a rock star. DS is gorgeous to look at and the inclusion of so many real life actors is awesome. However, a goty-tier game is one that should have nigh universal praise and mass appeal to the widest number of the gaming population. Death Stranding has neither.

I completely disagree with your definition of GOTY. Especially with the underlined.

 

[chilleverest]

Good. Another stinking clickbait online dumpster ill make sure to avoid.

 

[diffusionx]

Can people really not see why a Kevin Costner in the Postman simulator with a baby warning system would be disappointing to some? Really?

edit: but for me it was Breakpoint. I really enjoyed Wildlands, it was like a tactical Just Cause, the game worked really well, and for the sequel Ubi just ruined it.

 

[MDSLKTR]

It's a legit list. Days gone especially.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I mean not every game needs to be in the 90s, everyone is buying Days Gone 2, Death Stranding 2 which makes me laugh about threads like this, different, weird, open world games can still struggle.

 

[Fbh]

List seems ok.
People need to remember that disappointing =/= bad. You can find a game enjoyable or even good while still being disappointed by it

 

[Perrott]

"The delivery gameplay can get in the way of what makes its world special, rather than enhance it."

I'm getting tired of all these wrong takes on Death Stranding's gameplay...

 

[Clear]

Death Stranding and Days Gone are both great, and have the user scores pretty much everywhere to prove it.
So whoever wrote this article can go suck a big bag of rancid dicks.

 

[Northeastmonk]

ShenMue 3 was a lot of hype, hype that was generated from the Dreamcast generation. I didn't really like ShenMue III. I'm kinda shocked I'm saying it, but I think its true. It was a lot of work, making money and going to the next spot in my journal. It was a lot of nostalgia and I wasn't exactly excited to use that part of me for the entire game. I feel like playing the Yakuza game(s) and developing more interest in that world now in 2019. There have been some setbacks, but ShenMue III was probably the biggest disappointment for me. I really enjoyed Death Stranding. It felt like a new type of game with a crazy story.

I think people are playing hard ball with Death Stranding. I would look at their favorite list and see how 1:1 it is to every single year of AAA games. A delivery game is a shallow way of putting it. Let's just call every game with guns some "bullet sponge murder sim" while you're at it.

 

[imsosleepy]

Death Stranding, literally is the opposite of this. How can a game with that many GOTYs be on this list?

The walking sim memes were to strong for the general audience

 

[Phase]

How dare you put Death Stranding with those others.

 

[DeepEnigma]

We Have An Attention Span Of A Gnat: The List

 

[manuels]

I can agree with that list... but that doesnt mean my trash isnt someone elses tresure.. i get that lol

 

[Hobbygaming]

It's hard to call any of the games as disappointment if you ask me, I mean - common sens is your best friend:

Death Stranding - the whole marketing hovered around Kojima instead of the actual game, and whenever they actually show a gameplay it was just walking alone on empty landscapes, while people still don't have a clue what's up with this baby living in a container connected to a guy's belly button instead of living in actual women's womb, that's disturbing/creepy as fuck.

Anthem - it's like The Division all over again, but this time it's on EA's side, and given their reputation, especially all the AAA games released in past couple of years, that's exactly what you should've been expecting - a next-gen-looking reveal gameplay, that ended up nowhere near close to what was initially shown, and with tons of technical issues instead.

Crackdown 3 - it never looked like it was even an AA title to begin with, more like something of a ReCore caliber, it was hyped only by the Xbox fans because it is an exclusive, nothing more.

Wolfenstein - it was a quick money grab, if someone expected actually a full fledged AAA sequel then no wonder he got disappointed.

Ghost Recon - another yearly rushed uninspiring series from Ubi, who would've guessed?

Days Gone - it is an AA title, I give it that, but just as Crackdown 3, it was hyped only by Sony fans just because it is an exclusive. And the zombies theme was pretty much oversaturated and boring at the point the game was being released.

Shenmue 3 - this game was made literally for like 100 people, the most die-hard fans of the series, who lived long enough to see the 3rd insno further comment needed.

PS. Wasn't that MS pirate game (I can't recall the name no matter how hard I try lol) also released in 2019? It sure looked good artistically-wise, but that's about it. The cancellation of that 4K Super Duper (or whatever it was called?) add-on to Minecraft, now that's a proper disappointment, it just looked sooo good, way better than RT that kills all Minecraft's charm, technically it did boosted the visual, but it was still cartoonish, childish, it was simply perfect. And they cancelled it

Days Gone is definitely an AAA game

 

[Hobbygaming]

It's a legit list. Days gone especially.

If anything, Days Gone surpassed a lot of people's expectations. It received a lot of hate before it released but gamers stood behind it

 

[SLB1904]

death stranding.

only reason anyone bought that pile of crap is because Kojimbo plastered his name all over it.

And seems like you are buying cyberpunk because has cd pro red name all over it.
Stop being a sheep

 

[Gargus]

Death stranding on that list is one of a few things. 1 trolling. 2 a cheap ploy to get attention, which it most definitely got it. 3 put on there by a contrarian. 4 unlikely but possible that the person really didn't like it which is fine, if they didn't I'd wager it's because they are a dipshit that let's internet hype set their expectations insanely high and probably are disappointed quite a lot because of it.

I liked days gone, shemnue 3 was good but partially misunderstood by most and it's old school roots set in a modern game probably turned off a lot of people but it's still good to me, youngblood wasn't too bad as it was an interesting diversion for a bit.

Everything else was a fucking nasty ass turd though that needed to be flushed 3 or 4 times because it kept trying to cling to the side of the toilet.

I cant comment on crackdown though as I never played it.

 

[Bryank75]

Digital who? A crowd of nobodies that will stay nobodies cause they don't have a single notion about games...

The knives were out for Days Gone and Death Stranding well before they released, both excellent games that were used by some sites to cause controversy and boost their notoriety because they cannot gain respect...which is a lot more valuable and actually requires unique points and some effort and thought.

Despite their every effort, both were very successful and that is a big 'F You' to all the haters.

 

[SLB1904]

Lets be honest if death stranding wasnt on that list no one would care. Misdion acomplished i guesd

 

[McCheese]

Shenmue 3 should not be on this list, you can only be disappointed where expectations are high, and if they were expecting Shenmue 3 to be some huge budget AAA yakuza title they were not paying attention. I expected a love letter to Shenmue 1 and 2, warts and all, which is exactly what they delivered.

"Why didn't they make a Yakuza game" is a weird argument when you know, they release a Yakuza game every year, but not a single Shenmue for 18 of them.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

Nothing as dissapointing this year as Final Fantasy XV.

Death Stranding is in GOTY category. So people must have really expected too much if that isn't enough.

Wow, you got the OP good with that one. Except Final Fantasy XV released three years ago so who cares?

 

[Dane]

Putting DS on the list made the salt flood.

Crackdown?
What the fuck was wrong with crackdown 3?
I had a blast.

It was such a joy to finish that map.
Not every damn game needs to be goty ffs.
Let games be games.

Wish i had that kind of fun with other games this year.

Funny that i've seen lots of people who played it and didn't think it was that bad, but it had big issues that turned off most people (cloud meme, downgrades and shit).

 

[ManaByte]

Anthem has improved a bit from launch. Tried it on the PC the other day and it’s nice at 60fps.

 

[Mista]

Death Stranding and Days Gone? Fuck off Digital Trends

 

[Ogbert]

Harsh on Days Gone. Really enjoyed it.

It’s that rare thing - an underrated Sony game.

 

[TeamGhobad]

Wolfenstein - it was a quick money grab, if someone expected actually a full fledged AAA sequel then no wonder he got disappointed.

but it wasn't touted as a AAA sequel...more like a 40dollar expansion

 

[Later Alligator]

Funny that i've seen lots of people who played it and didn't think it was that bad, but it had big issues that turned off most people (cloud meme, downgrades and shit).

it would have been fine if they just advertised it for what it was - same shit as 2 but with better graphics

"the power of the cloud means unlimited teraflops!" killed it. poor programmers who had to work on it after the marketing department screwed them lol

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

Even though I love Kojima and was really looking forward to DS, I must say that it was indeed the most disappointing game of 2019. I hope the Konami x kojima rumors are true and he redeems himself with an amazing Silent Hills.