Video video games and movies have had a very good yr. Baldur’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Alan Wake 2 all entertained us at house whereas Oppenheimer, Barbie, and John Wick: Chapter 4 drew us into cinemas. And although this offers us lots to have a good time, there have been additionally just a few disappointments this yr that we’re nonetheless not over.
Some of the largest and most revered corporations in each industries had some unlucky moments this yr, notably Bethesda in video video games and Marvel in movie and TV. From the previous we noticed Starfield, which wasn’t fairly the open worlds house epic all of us dreamed of, whereas Redfall was an enormous disappointment by any requirements. Marvel premieres like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion additionally left us underwhelmed, however it’s maybe the general lack of route within the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Section 5 that has us most upset.
Not every thing on this listing is essentially unhealthy, of course, as we’re releases which merely didn’t stay as much as their potential. Whether or not it was brought on by unfulfilled guarantees, an oversaturation of related content material, or one thing else solely, these are the eight largest disappointments of 2023.
Starfield
Apart from Tears of the Kingdom and Grand Theft Auto 6, it’s laborious to suppose of a extra extremely anticipated sport than Starfield within the final decade. The studio behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout got down to create an area epic with deep customisation choices, a wealthy story, immersive role-playing mechanics, and a complete universe to discover. Anticipation was excessive, constructed additional by a number of delays, and because the sport that’s stored The Elder Scrolls 6 half a decade away nonetheless, it virtually needed to be sensible.
However Starfield isn’t fairly that. It’s undoubtedly good, and will most likely present hours of leisure to most gamers, however it pales compared to Bethesda’s different video games. Gamers discovered it bland, complaining it was too huge as an alternative of deep. And particularly when in comparison with some of 2023’s different heavy hitters, Starfield felt a tad uninspired.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s unprecedented stage of participant customisation and selection set a brand new customary for RPGs, for instance, whereas the thrilling cinematic storytelling of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is among the many finest ever seen in a online game. Starfield virtually appears a product of the previous as compared, as if Bethesda stored its head down since Fallout 4’s launch in 2015, solely to lookup and realise the style had advanced past it.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Followers lower Section 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe some slack because it adopted Avengers: Endgame, the grand finale of an 11-year saga. An absence of route throughout the likes of Black Widow, Eternals, Moon Knight, and so forth was forgiven as Disney was rebuilding and organising one other epic Avengers second down the highway. This through-line would arrive in Section 5, which kicked off in 2023 with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – or so we thought.
A yr into Section 5 and Disney has launched Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Secret Invasion, Loki Season 2, The Marvels, and shortly, What If..? Season 2. There’s no actual consistency to those in the identical means each movie within the first three phases arrange their subsequent Avengers finales, although a imprecise connection exists in some with Kang the Conqueror. Whereas this maybe gave Marvel a bit traction because it constructed as much as the subsequent Avengers, Kang actor Jonathan Majors was discovered responsible of assault and harassment and dropped by Marvel, placing Disney’s plan right into a tailspin.
The onslaught of in any other case middling MCU entries that started with Section 4 has continued in 2023, inflicting many followers to lose hope Marvel can as soon as once more obtain the heights of Avengers: Infinity Warfare and Endgame. And though the MCU has at all times had ups and downs, the quantity of intertwined content material being launched by Disney is demanding increasingly more consideration and dedication. Section 1, for instance, lasted 12 hours and 24 minutes in whole; Section 4 lasted 54 hours and 40 minutes. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger has admitted the amount of exhibits has “diluted focus and a spotlight,” however any adjustments to deal with this may come too little and too late.
PlayStation VR2’s Launch Line-Up
The PlayStation VR2 headset supplied an enormous improve to Sony’s first try at digital actuality, albeit sacrificing some of the value accessibility the unique supplied. Regardless, with a 4K HDR OLED display screen, specifically designed controllers with haptic suggestions, and a light-weight design, IGN mentioned the PSVR2 set a brand new customary for console VR gaming in our 9/10 overview.
That mentioned, solely a pair of its unique video games have hit the identical customary up to now. The headset launched with greater than 40 titles however solely 4 have been unique: Horizon Name of the Mountain, Fantavision 202X VR, Gran Turismo 7 VR, and Resident Evil Village VR. Whereas the latter two are undoubtedly up there, Horizon and subsequent exclusives like The Darkish Photos: Switchback VR have been good however not nice.
In truth, PSVR2 solely has 10 exclusives in whole, and that’s together with the tip of yr shock of Resident Evil 4 Remake VR. This was a bit disappointing in itself, nonetheless, as Capcom’s normally knowledgeable diversifications, mixed with the masterpiece that’s Resident Evil 4 Remake, may have instantly propelled it to one of the best sport on the platform and significantly bolstered PSVR2’s launch yr. The sport remains to be nice, however the transition from third-person to VR leaves it feeling a bit half-baked in elements.
The Flash
Religion within the DC Prolonged Universe had admittedly already dwindled by the point The Flash premiered, however this one actually did have the potential to be completely different. The mash-up of DC properties introduced Ezra Miller’s Flash along with Michael Shannon’s Basic Zod, Michael Keaton’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Surprise Girl, and plenty of extra in what may have been DC’s tackle Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Approach Dwelling.
As an alternative it was a CGI-flooded cameo-fest that, whereas not essentially unhealthy, left many followers upset. The Flash may have been an unbelievable tribute to DC film historical past and an ideal send-off to the troubled shared universe, however as an alternative grew to become a flashing spotlight reel of shallow fan service. Ben Affleck and Adam West’s Batmen appeared, albeit briefly, alongside George Reeves’ Superman and even a deep-cut Nicolas Cage reference (which Cage himself criticised for its over-use of CGI).
The Flash was additionally anticipated to offer a clear transition to the brand new DC movie universe (the DCU) in a transparent and thematically constant method. It didn’t. An occasion referred to as Flashpoint reset the DC comedian universe again in 2011, and whereas a model of this kind of occurred in The Flash, it additionally sullied itself considerably by that includes one other cameo teaser on the finish which is all however confirmed to go nowhere. The movie subsequently missed its probability to ship the DCEU off with some dignity, and solely made the upcoming revamp extra complicated. Aquaman 2, it is as much as you now…
Secret Invasion
With the MCU’s TV choices in a rocky spot, with most exhibits barely shifting the needle past the occasional spotlight like WandaVision and She-Hulk: Legal professional at Legislation, Disney was determined for a success to kick off 2023. Secret Invasion was the right alternative to perform that, as a no-nonsense, six-episode collection based mostly on one of Marvel Comics’ most beloved tales. Its forged was stacked too, with Samuel L. Jackson, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle all starring.
By some means that potential ended up changing into an completely mundane and monotonous MCU entry, and a far cry from its supply materials. The Secret Invasion comedian did have the same premise, of course, the place the Skrulls infiltrated Earth by impersonating numerous Marvel heroes and world figures. However the comics imposed true thriller, with seemingly any Marvel superhero presumably rising as a Skrull (and Spider-Girl, Captain Marvel, Hank Pym, Elektra, and extra all did). Comparatively, Skrulls within the Disney+ present peaked at James Rhodes and in any other case included Shirley Sagar, Chris Stearns, Sergio Caspani, and a handful of different characters you’ve seemingly by no means heard of.
Secret Invasion subsequently emerged as a thriller with little thrill, an espionage present with little thriller, and an MCU entry with little Marvel color or attraction.
Redfall
Redfall discovered itself in the same camp to Starfield as one of the primary couple of Xbox unique video games from Bethesda. Whereas Starfield was developed by the studio behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, Redfall got here from Arkane, the studio behind Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. That’s a powerful pedigree, and when Redfall was introduced as a trendy, cooperative sport about killing over-the-top vampires, many have been understandably excited.
Whereas Starfield was a disappointment as a result of it was simply good and never nice, Redfall was simply unhealthy – a lot in order that even Xbox boss Phil Spencer personally apologised for it. It appears every thing that would have gone flawed did, as Redfall was criticised for having bland missions, unengaging fight, poor AI enemies, abysmal efficiency, limitless bugs, a weak story, an at all times on-line requirement, and so forth.
Submit-launch help didn’t come rapidly both. It took over a month for Arkane to launch its first large patch for Redfall, and not even the Xbox Sequence X model had 60 frames per second help till October, 5 months after its launch. Moreover, Arkane upset followers once more the next month when it launched one other patch that was headlined by a brand new sniper rifle as an alternative of extremely requested options like an offline mode. Its dependence on on-line additionally doesn’t bode effectively for Redfall’s future, with its participant depend sitting at round 1% of its launch numbers, no less than on Steam.
Name of Obligation: Fashionable Warfare 3
Name of Obligation is commonly the goal of abuse as one of the largest online game franchises round, however the fake criticism of Activision recycling the identical sport yr after yr got here true with Fashionable Warfare 3. It reportedly started as a Fashionable Warfare 2 growth that was spun right into a full launch in simply 18 months, evidenced additional by a rebranded model of final yr’s sport needing to be put in earlier than Fashionable Warfare 3 may very well be performed. The PlayStation 5 model lacked a Platinum Trophy too.
Alongside these logistical frustrations got here uninspired gameplay, with Activision primarily forcing its normally effectively put collectively sport modes like Marketing campaign and Zombies into the maps of battle royale Name of Obligation: Warzone. Fashionable Warfare 3 was unhealthy, and as we mentioned in our 4/10 overview, the only participant is “underbaked, rehashed, and cobbled collectively from multiplayer elements”.
Even its premiere multiplayer mode was a let down, with Activision seemingly hoping the nostalgia of together with basic Fashionable Warfare maps like Highrise and Rust can be sufficient to maintain followers completely satisfied. The sport was missing in any precise steps ahead although, with its largest adjustments corresponding to a slowed down development system solely inflicting extra disappointment.
Steel Gear Stable Grasp Assortment Vol. 1
Nearly a decade after the final mainline launch, Konami lastly gave Steel Gear followers one thing to stay up for when it introduced a group of the primary 5 video games. The Steel Gear Stable Grasp Assortment Vol. 1 can be one of the simplest ways for gamers to get their arms on these basic entries quick of dusting off a PlayStation 3, and would come bundled with some enjoyable fan service extras like comics and soundtracks.
Followers assumed this to be a easy process as Konami primarily launched the identical assortment on PS3 however cracks started to point out even earlier than launch. The writer was criticised when it revealed the primary Steel Gear Stable can be locked to 30 frames per second, then once more when it emerged cutscenes may lastly be paused… however solely after ten seconds. The cherry on prime arrived as Konami itself introduced the Grasp Assortment Vol. 1 would launch with a number of points corresponding to mistimed subtitles, important slowdown throughout cutscenes of the two-decade-old video games, and extra.
However the Steel Gear Stable Grasp Assortment Vol. 1 by some means nonetheless failed to satisfy the very low expectations that had been set. Followers grew annoyed at the Nintendo Swap model solely together with the 2 unique Steel Gear video games on the cartridge (which means Steel Gear Stable 1, 2, and three needed to be downloaded), however it was maybe PC gamers who confronted essentially the most issues. Points included Steel Gear Stable 2 and three being displayed at 720p decision regardless of being marketed as 1080p, none of the video games having audio choices, and your entire assortment being locked in full display screen.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.