The Worst Videogames of 2023

Disney's 1995 Sega Genesis platformer Gargoyles (based on the cartoon series of the same name) got the remaster treatment in 2023, but unless you are a die-hard fan of the IP, the new version has little to recommend it. Critics have complained about the remake's frustrating difficulty level and too-short length and wonder why the game needed to be brought back at all.

"Even those who enjoyed the show, but never played the original game, may have trouble immersing themselves in Gargoyles Remastered. Many of the changes made in Gargoyles Remastered are simply that - changes - and not necessarily improvements, leading to an overall disappointment for the potential this could have had." —Screen Rant

A JRPG set in an alternate reality version of rural 1980s Japan, Loop8 finds your time-looping teenage protagonist battling a race of demons called the Kegai. (The "8" in the title stands for August, the month that you "get" to re-live again and again, theoretically fixing your mistakes each time.) Critics saved the majority of their complaints for the turn-based battle system, though the story and the game's overall repetitiveness also drew their ire.

"The end result is a shallow, disjointed, and undeveloped experience. Rather than reflecting the nuances of our everyday lives, Loop8 most closely resembles the lives of aquarium fish." —GamingTrend

A co-op action game set in Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest in which you play as one of the Merry Men? Not a bad idea for a videogame. But one that is set in a dystopian steampunk sci-fi version of Sherwood Forest filled with far-too-easy boss fights and poor overall execution? That, unfortunately, is what Gangs of Sherwood turns out to be.

"By selling Gangs of Sherwood, Nacon is robbing from the gullible and giving to the inept. I'd have worked on a better closing analogy, but this game isn't bloody worth it." —The Jimquisition

The world still doesn't have a good Hellboy game. Though it's slightly better than 2008's The Science of Evil, beat-em-up roguelike Web of Wyrd fails in its gameplay despite laudable visuals, the casting of the late Lance Reddick as Hellboy, and a clear respect for its source material (Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics). Note that the PC version scored 14 points higher than the console release (which still doesn't make it a good game—just a mediocre one.)

"Between its sticky brawling mechanics, repetitive level design, and extremely low difficulty, Hellboy Web of Wyrd simply feels like an unfinished game that was early on its journey to greatness. There's a heft to its combat, yet the controls aren't nearly snappy enough, and it's too easy to be engaging." —PlayStation LifeStyle

One of 2023's most-publicized flops, new IP Rockay City wastes a well-known cast that includes Danny Trejo, Michael Madsen, Chuck Norris, Kim Basinger, Danny Glover, and Michael Rooker,  among others* on what amounts to an inferior take on the Payday formula. (*In this case, "others" includes Vanilla Ice.) The first-person heist-shooter has you assemble four of their characters into a criminal gang that must complete a series of missions in a fictitious city that's basically 1980s or '90s Miami (though some aspects of the game feel like they are set in the present day). But you'll find much better writing in any of the late-20th century action movies Rockay City is so clearly modeled after.

"For all its faults (and it certainly has many), nothing here is egregiously terrible – which means, ultimately, that Crime Boss' biggest sin isn't that it's a bad game, but rather a very boring one." —Gaming Age

Attempting to blend action-adventure gameplay with Metroidvania and RPG elements, the second release from indie studio Fairyship Games finds you in a fantastical realm plagued by an epidemic of madness. Filled with everything from parkour to swordfighting to puzzle-solving, Testament ultimately fails to make any of its disparate components work well, according to reviewers.

"Simply put, Testament: The Order of High Human is a bad game that isn't fun to play and doesn't really offer anything meaningful to its players, who are better left if they simply avoid it." —IGN Italia

A sci-fi/horror/shooter hybrid set in outer space, Quantum Error puts you in the shoes of firefighter Jacob Thomas as he attempts to rescue survivors from a combination of zombies and terrorists (and, well, fires). The firefighting aspect actually injects a bit of welcome originality into what otherwise amounts to a bland and poorly executed release.

"Quantum Error is a flawed, frustrating and unfun slog that collapses under the weight of its lofty ambitions to blend multiple genres and mechanics on a limited budget and developing skillset." —WellPlayed

An alien invasion-themed stealth/survival horror game from new studio Refugium Games, Greyhill Incident was a failure on almost every level, with critics noting poor acting, bland settings, and rote gameplay.

"Ultimately, Greyhill Incident is a big disappointment. This had real potential to be a short, but cool horror game that leverages tension and aliens in a way we haven't really seen in gaming. What we got instead is a flavorless game that feels like a concept for something much better." —Comicbook.com

The 1992 Amiga game Flashback (later released for other platforms) was a much-loved, Prince of Persia-like sci-fi platformer that was followed by a 1995 sequel under a different title, Fade to Black. This fall brought another sequel (more accurately, a prequel) to the now 31-year-old original, this time bearing the Flashback name—but absolutely none of its charm. Incredibly buggy upon its release, Flashback 2 also suffers from underlying  problems that can't easily be fixed, including an overall dated and too-simplistic approach that results in tedious, unchallenging gameplay.

"The most pointless sequel since Duke Nukem Forever. Every single good idea is crushed by five bad ones." —GameStar

Metacritic's Official Worst Game of 2023

Also the worst Lord of the Rings game adaptation in history, stealth platformer Gollum attempts to deliver an original story for its title character that is set between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Critics note that extensive knowledge of Tolkien's books is a prerequisite for enjoying the game, but that's just the least of Gollum's problems. "Dull" and "tedious" are words that reviewers have used again and again to describe gameplay, while the controls leave something to be desired. But the biggest flaw is the game's visuals—or maybe it's the many game-breaking bugs. At any rate, it's a complete package: completely terrible.

"What could have been Daedalic's chance to break into mainstream has ultimately backfired. A waste of a license, riddled with performance issues and just downright ugly gameplay, Gollum should be cast into any nearest fire, let alone a wasted trip to Mount Doom." —Finger Guns