Video games come in all shapes and sizes. Some are decent, some are below average, and some are downright incredible, but regardless of the consensus, there will always be flaws to point out or gripes that often become large talking points among both fans and haters of the game.
8 Beloved Games Everyone Forgets Were Once Hated
These games went from reviled to revered, showing that with dedication and updates, even the most troubled launches can become beloved classics.
However, in some situations, despite the negatives being completely valid, the game as a whole can still be respected as a work of art or an achievement in design. Games like this can have steep learning curves or questionable mechanics that many players despise, but at their core, they remain exceptional experiences that are impossible to hate fully.
Elden Ring
Overwhelming Is An Understatement
- Lack of direction in a huge open world.
- Impressive design and scale that is unlike anything else.
Elden Ring takes the idea of a Soulslike and cranks the scale up by a thousand, throwing players into a massive open world with nothing but a few strands of light to guide them. As impressive as the environments are, many players find the lack of direction to be quite frustrating, especially if they're used to clearer markers or objectives to help them progress through the story.
Another problem players commonly cite is the difficulty. Many are turned away by the more challenging boss fights and lack of easy ways through, like a difficulty slider or an easy mode. Those issues aside, the sheer scope of the game deserves commendation, and despite not enjoying the gameplay loop or the more organic exploration, people can still happily call the game an exceptional work of art.
Pathologic
Frustrating By Design
- Unclear puzzles and obtuse ways to progress.
- Deeply punishing yet incredibly satisfying.
Pathologic is strange, mysterious, and infuriating from start to finish. It's the first in a series that is known for its confusing gameplay loops, and players will find themselves constantly failing and struggling to make any meaningful progress, while not being given any clear routes to follow to change that trend.
For many, the hurdles are simply too high to clear. However, a common sentiment is that behind all the barriers and complexity lies a deeply compelling experience that is truly unlike any other. Pathologic certainly isn't to everyone's taste, yet it still manages to be a memorable playthrough that will have players thinking long after the game either ends, or they give up.
Death Stranding
Gorgeous Yet Strange At The Same Time
- Walking sections that can be tedious.
- Breathtaking narrative and world design.
Death Stranding wears its tedium with pride, not hiding the fact that for a large portion of the game, players will find themselves trudging across landscapes at a snail's pace, with no alternative other than to keep going. The movement and traversal can be incredibly boring, especially later on when players need to march for up to 20 minutes in a single trip.
Explore This: 5 Hardest Exploration Games
Because discovering new places is not only for casual gamers, here are some hardcore exploration games you should try.
Walking simulator puns aside, the game's narrative and world really are one of a kind, equal parts philosophical and emotional in ways that few other games have even tried to be. It is fair to be put off by the slower gameplay sections, but the story is beyond excellent and more than enough to outweigh any criticism that players may have from a mechanical point of view.
League Of Legends
Leading The Charge In The Esports Space
- Questionable balance philosophy and toxic player base.
- Frontrunner in the esports space globally.
League of Legends is a name that people associate with many different things. It is both universally loved and hated at the same time, the latter of which stems from the nearly impossible new player experience, constant imbalance, and player toxicity that has only grown worse as time has gone on.
Individual gripes aside, the esports side of the game alone deserves a huge amount of respect. Over the last 15 years, LoL has managed to dominate the competitive gaming world and has remained near the top the entire time. The cultural impact truly knows no bounds, so despite the in-game issues, it is still an exceptional game that defied all odds and became a sensation virtually overnight.
Hollow Knight
Runback After Runback
- Limited fast-travel and few easy routes back to the surface.
- Beautiful environments, each with a distinctive feel.
Hollow Knight is one of those games that is universally loved, whilst being severely flawed in many ways. The biggest issue is the lack of clear direction, combined with the tedious exploration that forces players to enter new areas completely blind, only to have them run all the way back to fully unlock the map.
However, these issues aside, the game is a mechanical masterpiece that is equal parts challenging and satisfying in all the best ways. It also singlehandedly reignited the Metroidvania genre, opening the doors for many more games to enter the space that simply wouldn't have existed without it.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Rocky Gameplay From Rockstar Themselves
- Overdependence on realism, which can often make mechanics annoying to use repeatedly.
- Unreal story in a league of its own.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has found its way to the top of many players' favorite games lists, but it isn't devoid of problems. For one, many gameplay aspects feel sluggish or slow, focusing more on creating an immersive and realistic experience than actually being engaging mechanics.
8 Open-World Games Where Exploration Is Exhausting, Ranked
These open-world games are a blast to play, but trying to explore the map in full can leave players weary.
The big source of criticism comes from the game's intro, where players need to sit through long stretches of drawn-out walks through the snow without any way of skipping them or speeding things up. These issues are fair to point out, but the dedication to realism and the perfection with which the narrative unfolds are impossible to ignore, even by the game's biggest haters.
Fortnite
Beyond A Cultural Craze
- Insane popularity and a huge number of crossovers.
- Revolutionized live-service games of all kinds.
Fortnite has carved out an interesting space within the gaming world, being both universally loved and hated at the same time. Many players look at the game as a giant mess of chaos with no real cohesion, and with each new content drop, the insanity only gets more absurd.
There is also a perception around the game as being this childish battle royale with a much longer level of competitive integrity than other shooters in the space. Yet in reality, it is one of the most mechanically demanding games at the highest level, and the impact it has had on the wider gaming landscape can never be overstated. Fortnite has captured huge numbers of players who may have never touched a game in their lives.
DOOM 3
Shifting To A Completely Different Genre
- Survival horror style and cramped maps that many fans disliked.
- Undeniable atmosphere and tension throughout
DOOM 3 really does stick out like a sore thumb in the franchise. It's a slower, more methodical experience that leans heavily into survival horror instead of DOOM's trademark non-stop action. Players took issue with the stop-start pacing that forced them to take their time, rather than just running through levels at Mach 10.
After all these years, DOOM 3 stands as a good example of an experiment gone right, where the developers took steps in a new direction, unafraid of the potential consequences. It might depart from the typical DOOM feel, yet it still manages to capture the brutality that put the series on the map in the first place.
BioShock 2
The Black Sheep Of The Franchise
- Less impactful story than the first game.
- Improved gameplay and the same intriguing environments.
BioShock 2 is, for many, the dip in between two massive peaks, sitting alongside some of the best single-player games ever made. Many people pointed out the less impactful narrative and lack of relation to the characters, with the levels feeling more like reused assets than a whole new game.
From a more objective point of view, though, it is still an exceptional FPS game that elevates the combat of the original significantly, while still keeping the DNA of the world intact. Being able to deliver a cohesive experience in a world as complex and mysterious as this warrants praise in itself, and even if fans prefer the original, they can still find something to love in the follow-up.
Jump King
A Poster Child For Rage Games
- Constant failures with very few major checkpoints.
- Ignited a wave of "rage games" that continue to be released today.
Jump King is hardly even a game; it's more a test of patience and will. The only goal is to jump higher and higher, leaping across large ledges and platforms, but a single mistake can easily set the player back many hours of progress. These mistakes are almost impossible to avoid, no matter how far into the game they are.
Despite the rage and agony caused by such a simple concept, the game manages to achieve so much, both in a literal sense through its gameplay, but also in the context of the gaming community. It brought players together in a strange yet charming way and managed to kickstart a rage game revolution that is still in full effect all these years later, showing that sometimes, anger can actually be a good thing.
RPGs That Start Slow But Become Masterpieces
Discover RPGs that reward patient players with epic narratives, deep characters, and unforgettable finales after deliberately slow beginnings.