Throughout the medium’s history, some incredible games have come out, and it seems every year we crown a new GOAT. But on the flipside, there are always those games that get absurd praise and do not live up to the billing.

I hope you’re in a good mood right now. Soon, your blood will be boiling, and you’ll be calling this article the worst ever written. But hey, that comes with the territory I suppose.

Every game on this list is a good game, but maybe, just maybe, it got more praise than it deserved.

10 Deathloop

Dishonored 3 This Is Not

Deathloop was released in the infancy of the PS5, and perhaps that’s part of the reason for the praise for this game.

We saw incredible ratings left and right, 10/10s, and numbers that would suggest this would be the new “it” game.

Then, the people actually played it and what did they find? A rather generic first-person shooter that relied on an interesting mechanic of dying, then repeating the same scenario in an effort to kill off 8 individuals before the time loop resets.

Is it a bad game? No, far from it, but playing it shows this is far from a 10/10.

You have some great PS5 Dualsense features here to make the combat feel a bit more punchy, but between the built-in repetition, the underwhelming and, frankly, annoying antagonist Julianna, and the somewhat drab world you’re forced to explore, there is no reason this game should’ve been rated as well as it was.

9 Final Fantasy 9

It Just Wasn’t That Great

Final Fantasy 9 is hailed as the best in the series by a good number of fans of the franchise, and they have a point.

It has the classic Final Fantasy trappings and is a tribute to how the series felt pre-Final Fantasy 7.

Despite that, it lacked in certain areas, making it unable to compete with the titans in the series.

Following on from Final Fantasy 8, where you had the controversial junction system, the highly interactive limit breaks, and a handful of ideas that were either hit or miss, Final Fantasy 9 just felt pretty dull by comparison.

On the topic of story, 9 had a good one to tell, but when it came to certain characters, we got very little of their stories, and some of the best characters don’t even become party members when it’s clear they should.

Amarant, a very interesting character who joins you late in the story, is completely left out in the cold regarding backstory.

There’s also Quina, a terrifying creature who just wants to eat everything. That’s all we know about her—she’s hungry.

Final Fantasy 9 is a very good game for sure, but it is pretty overrated when it comes to standing with the greats of its own series.

8 God of War: Ragnarok

A Tone Shift That Doesn’t Fit

Systems

Released November 9, 2022

Publisher(s) Sony

Engine Proprietary Engine

ESRB M For Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

How Long To Beat 26 Hours

X|S Optimized no

Metascore 94

PS Plus Availability N/A

Steam Deck Compatibility no

OpenCritic Rating Mighty

Cross Save Cross-Save in God of War Ragnarok will be available to players who are planning to upload their PS4 save data on their PS5

Cross-Platform Play ps4, ps5

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Winner of many GOTY awards in 2022, God of War: Ragnarok was considered the pinnacle of the series and a masterful conclusion to the series. However, in many ways, it was an underwhelming sequel to the incredible God of War (2018).

The biggest issue is in the combat. While it can be fun at times, there is a severe lack of innovation.

In four years of development, we got one new weapon, and it was an underwhelming one at that.

The game also removed the entirety of the hand-to-hand combat tree, and reduced the frequency of Runic attacks, which made the combat feel incredibly limited compared to the first game, which had Kratos feeling like a true god in combat.

There is also the segment of Ironwood, which, for my money, is the worst 3 hours in gaming history.

This is all before we reference the story, which, to me, dropped the ball several times in terms of being a worthy sequel to the first game.

Due to details like forgetting to follow up on Kratos’s Leviathan ax, being imbued with poison.

Or how Santa Monica Studios also forgot to follow up on the Dark Elves, telling Kratos, “He has made a grave mistake.” and completely dropped the ball with Freya coming at Kratos for vengeance.

Finally, the actual event of Ragnarök is a joke. We don’t even see Thor vs. Jormandgur except in the background of the fight for about 5 seconds, and it felt less like the end of the world and more like a low-budget battle of Helms Deep.

God of War: Ragnarok is still a good game, but it didn’t deserve the near-perfect praise it received when it was released.

What Could Have Been

Metal Gear Solid V is one of the biggest missed opportunities in gaming history.

The issues can be traced back to the tumultuous development cycle that eventually culminated in series creator, Hideo Kojima, leaving Konami for good.

It’s a tough game to hate, because there is so much good here. It has the best third-person combat system ever crafted, with some great stealth mechanics and the freedom to tackle missions as you see fit, which is an amazing achievement.

Unfortunately, surrounding that gameplay is a mess and an unfinished game.

At a certain point in the game, missions just start repeating. I don’t mean the same kind of objectives, I mean the exact same missions.

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The Tokyo Game Show trailer shows many major characters, updated graphics, and the same old iconic voice lines.

Then, it gets even worse. You get to a point where you get this epic slideshow of what is to come in chapter 2. Huge set-piece moments are teased. Following Liquid after he steals Metal Gear, it looks amazing.

It finally looks like the real Metal Gear Solid is coming, and then the game ends. No resolution.

Then there’s the fact that Snake is almost completely silent, the villain, Skullface, is laughable, and all of the lovable weirdness of the series is known for is missing after the first mission of the game.

Compared to the series standard, Metal Gear Solid V falls short in almost every area, and despite glowing reviews when it was released, it was highly overrated.

6 Death Stranding

A Lack of Respect For Your Time

Systems

Franchise Death Stranding

Platform(s) PS4 , PS5 , PC

Released November 8, 2019

Engine Decima

ESRB M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language

How Long To Beat 40 Hours

Release 2022-03-30 (PC)

X|S Optimized no

Metascore 85

PS Plus Availability Extra & Premium

Steam Deck Compatibility yes

Cross Save yes

Cross-Platform Play Yes! Players will share the same server as Steam and Epic users

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Death Stranding was one of the biggest hits of 2019. It was the long-awaited first game by Hideo Kojima’s independent studio, and it was packed with big-name actors, with Norman Reedus in the lead role.

If you scan Open Critic, you’ll see tons of 100s, 90s and generally very high scores, and it seemed for all the world we were getting a new iconic title from the Metal Gear creator.

Unfortunately, Death Stranding fooled most of the critics. The gameplay involves delivering packages across a destroyed United States.

This results in endless retrievals, and hours on end of collecting packages that were dropped for one reason or another and, eventually, you just grow sick of it.

In between this, you’ll have to hide from the terrifying BTs or have to face off against them in one of the strangest ideas for a boss imaginable, where you will throw grenades full of pee and shoot enemies with blood bullets. Innovation folks.

There is also a story that is so convoluted and full of bad writing that it makes Kingdom Hearts seem comprehensible by comparison.

We’re not done in this world, though, so there is hope. Death Stranding 2 is coming in the near future, so perhaps the series can become a less divisive one later down the line. But I’m not holding my breath.

5 Breath of the Wild

Pitchforks At The Ready

Systems

Released March 3, 2017

Publisher(s) Nintendo

Engine Havok

ESRB E for Everyone: Fantasy Violence, Use of Alcohol, Mild Suggestive Themes

How Long To Beat 50 Hours

X|S Optimized no

Metascore 97

Steam Deck Compatibility yes

OpenCritic Rating Mighty

Cross Save no

Cross-Platform Play no

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Breath of the Wild was the rebirth of Zelda and the GOTY in 2017, but even though this one is undoubtedly a special Zelda iteration, I never understood the unanimous praise from all corners of the internet.

The world is barren, and while it can be fun to explore, you’re not finding side quests pop up with the quality of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt; they’re mostly fetch quests.

The exploration is a let-down because no matter what cool weapon you find, it’s going to break.

That’s not hyperbole; it’s a game mechanic that will have you ripping your hair out as you frantically swap weapons on the fly.

Even the iconic Master Sword isn’t immune to this terrible mechanic.

Plus, to further showcase the flaws in this supposed flawless gem, Zelda has always been known for its elaborate dungeons, so answer me why this game decides to offer so very few to explore?

Breath of the Wild does a lot of things well, though, like combat, visuals, and freedom of gameplay.

However, I hold steadfast in my opinion that it ain’t flawless, and people need to accept that.

4 Red Dead Redemption 2

A Cowboy On Rails

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most important games of the past ten years. It’s incredible looking to this day, an achievement in voice acting and character development, and brings the idea of gaming as an art form to the forefront in a big way.

But here’s the big question: Is it fun to play? Many people struggle with this question when playing Red Dead Redemption 2.

We get that Rockstar is trying to create a mood and a theme of suffering and struggle, but in the process, they forgot to add fun gameplay in many places.

The mission structure is woeful, forcing you onto an extremely linear path constantly, and anything outside that path results in ‘mission failed.’

The gunplay is also mediocre and archaic. We get it. The Wild West probably had slower, more cumbersome guns, but not everything has to be a simulation.

Sometimes, a thing can just be fun without being painstakingly realistic, and that’s hilarious to say, considering the game has a Max Payne-esque slow-motion mechanic.

We all know this was a great game, but much like other entries on this list. It’s the unanimous and unwavering praise that seems a little shallow-minded and disingenuous. Still great, but a little bit overrated. Now, put your six shooters away.

3 Call of Duty Series

World War Yawn

Call of Duty has been a mainstay in the gaming community for almost 20 years now, and while it was novel when released, it’s getting long in the tooth.

It’s one of the highest-selling titles year to year, and it does so by innovating little and aggravating a lot.

This is a veritable gaming machine at this point, and the developers aren’t shy about throwing microtransactions at players by the boatload.

Character skins, guns, boosts, and all other manner of nonsense are now only purchasable with actual money or hundreds of hours of grinding.

It’s gone too far. It’s gotten too big. Players buy it year after year, regardless of whether it’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or the next mainline entry. At this point, what’s in the game doesn’t matter; it’s going to get bought.

It’s hard to blame Treyarch or Infinity Ward, but we need a full resurrection.

Something free of microtransactions, something innovative, and something worth the $70 we’re being charged yearly to play largely the same game.

2 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Your Friendly Neighborhood Rehash

Open-World

Action-Adventure

Systems

Released October 20, 2023

Engine Insomniac Engine v.4.0

ESRB T For Teen Due To Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Violence

How Long To Beat 20 Hours

X|S Optimized no

Metascore 90

PS Plus Availability N/A

Steam Deck Compatibility yes

OpenCritic Rating Mighty

Cross Save no

Cross-Platform Play no

PC Release Date January 30, 2025

PS5 Release Date October 20, 2023

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Spider Man 2 had all the hype in the world when it swung into late 2023 with Game of the Year aspirations.

While the game was certainly good, it felt like everyone was just so desperate for it to top Spider-Man 2018 that as long as it wasn’t terrible, it would be seen as a massive success.

The gameplay itself was also just a full rehash of a game from 5 years prior and Spider Man: Miles Morales.

They somehow decided that more Mary Jane missions were the move here, and again, they are awful.

The combat was more or less the same, and on top of that, they made the baffling decision to take away the suit-based powers that made discovering new suits so fun in the original game.

It doesn’t hold a candle to the story of the first game, which had much deeper personal stakes, and while there is the rug pull of Venom being the ultimate villain, it feels rushed and like the two should’ve had separate games to explore each villain more thoroughly.

It’s a solid entry for sure, but between the rushed parts, the lackluster combat, and the overall lack of improvement over the first game, it ended up being a bit overrated.

1 Fortnite

A Stolen Idea, An Empire Born

Fortnite is a phenomenon, the likes of which we’ve never seen in gaming. Over the past eight years, it’s become the most popular game on the planet, and that’s not even hyperbole.

What it’s done for the gaming community is undeniable, but the game itself? It’s just not all that special.

We’ve got the most mediocre third-person shooting you can find, pop-culture character updates, and the most basic building system imaginable.

There are also far better Battle Royale’s out there as well, like Call of Duty: Warzone.

We can also hold Fortnite responsible for this horrific graphic style that is bleeding into games of all genres (Looking at you Dragon Age: The Veilguard).

It’s stretched into being more than just a game at this point, with actual concerts taking place inside the game. Fortnite, for all intents and purposes, is the Facebook of video games.

There’s also the endless microtransactions, season passes, and currency to acquire. It’s also produced such madness as kids spending $1000’s of dollars just to watch this game being played.

This is a bad example to set in the gaming world, and, if anything, it has led to countless awful live-service model games that are poisonous to the industry in the same way.

It’s by no means a bad game, but because of the publicity it gets, you’d think this was the greatest game of all time when, in reality, it’s just the most overrated game of all time.

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