We’ve had a fantastic year for gaming in 2025, with so many amazing titles released across all sorts of genres. It’s been a year filled with memorable experiences that will undoubtedly become new favorites to add to our already long list of beloved games.
It’s tough to admit, but some games just didn’t live up to expectations this year, ending up as the least impressive releases. Let’s take a look at which games fell short and why.
1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
After years of feeling stale, combined with a weak launch and strong competition from games like Battlefield 6, Ark Raiders, and Ready or Not, Black Ops 7 hasn’t revitalized the Call of Duty series. In fact, it’s become the lowest-rated installment in the franchise’s history.
While Black Ops 7 focuses more on quick, action-packed gameplay, it doesn’t really offer anything new or exciting. This is a shame, especially considering the series could benefit from a fresh direction, and with so many great shooting games released this year.
2. Sacred 2 Remaster
Although the original game was groundbreaking when it came out, this updated version unfortunately hasn’t aged well. Simply updating the graphics wasn’t enough to fix the awkward gameplay and outdated visuals of Sacred 2. It’s likely to appeal mostly to players who remember and enjoy the original.
While the game has a creative setting and world, it doesn’t hold up well when looked at critically today. The unique world might encourage some replayability, but the game is so tedious to play that many will likely give up quickly. A complete remake would have been necessary for it to succeed with today’s demanding gamers.
3. Double Dragon Revive
This game disappointed on nearly every level. The fighting felt clunky, aiming was frustrating, and the characters looked uninspired. After waiting over ten years for a new installment, fans – and new players – were let down by its dull visuals and lack of excitement. It was a quickly boring and easily forgettable experience.
The platforming was particularly frustrating. We enjoy a good challenge, but when difficulty comes from poor design instead of clever gameplay, it just feels irritating. Unfortunately, even strong combat couldn’t save the game, as we quickly lost interest after repeated attempts.
It’s disappointing because this game had a lot of promise. Deflecting enemy attacks with your own special moves felt good when it worked, but the timing needed to do it was so strict that it often came down to chance rather than skill. This fighting game could have been truly unique and much more engaging than it ended up being.
4. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
The idea of blending a vampire story with a detective-style investigation is really appealing. Unfortunately, Bloodlines 2 doesn’t live up to that potential. While the game world is nicely designed, simply sending players to explore it doesn’t feel meaningful or rewarding.
Although the game has a decent setting, the fighting feels awkward and isn’t fun. Overall, it just doesn’t come together well, and can become repetitive if you don’t mix things up. Compared to games like Ghost of Yotei, which offered both clever detective work and excellent combat, this one unfortunately falls short.
5. Game of Thrones Kingsroad
The game suffered from poorly made versions of beloved characters and quickly became repetitive after the initial excitement of exploring the Westeros setting wore off. Issues like flawed character designs, visual bugs, and a frustrating progression system undermined the game’s otherwise good graphics and ultimately detracted from the experience.
The battles become predictable after a short time, and unfortunately, the game focuses more on navigating menus than on developing your character’s story. Kingsroad bravely tried to adapt a well-known series into a game, but this version of Westeros doesn’t quite capture the magic that makes the source material so popular.
Unfortunately, we don’t recommend Kingsroad for 2025. The story just isn’t engaging enough to make it worth playing.
6. Drag x Drive Review
If this game were more engaging, people might have been talking about its fun gameplay and how well it runs on the Switch 2. Thanks to its clever use of the new Joy-Con 2’s mouse feature, Drag x Drive had the potential to be a standout title and help boost the console’s popularity when it first came out.
The game is difficult to master and uses unusual controls, and combined with a limited amount of content, this discourages most players from learning its intricacies and experiencing what makes it fun.
If you’re after a fun and different online game to play with friends, this could be a good option if it goes on sale.
7.Killing Floor 3
Despite its promising roots, this game unfortunately doesn’t live up to its potential. Tripwire Interactive didn’t seem to fully address the issues players pointed out during the beta test. Though it can be enjoyable in short bursts, especially when your zombie-killing strategies work perfectly, the game ultimately feels too shallow and isn’t memorable enough to justify the time investment.
Surprisingly, the most fun part of this game, designed for cooperative play, is actually its single-player survival mode. While the game initially drew us in, the classes didn’t work well together, and the limited variety of enemies and bosses quickly made the gameplay feel repetitive once we mastered the controls and combat. It became easy to just power through everything without any real challenge.
While Killing Floor 3 had some good qualities, it ultimately didn’t offer enough to compete with the best games of the year, and unfortunately, it couldn’t avoid being included on this list. It just didn’t quite measure up.
8. Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror
In horror games, a strong setting is just as important as a good story and fun gameplay. Unfortunately, Behind the Broken Mirror didn’t deliver on that front. Its levels were poorly designed, and the story felt predictable and lacked originality, ultimately placing it among the weaker horror games released that year.
The game featured puzzles that were often more irritating than challenging, and progress was frequently stalled by confusing level design. It often felt like the game deliberately tried to frustrate players rather than provide an enjoyable experience.
The plot feels disjointed and confusing, and it’s best to skip following Eliza as she tries to remember her past.
9. MindsEye
Despite its beautiful visuals, MindsEye ultimately failed to deliver on its promise. Beyond a weak story, disappointing combat, and uninspired design, the game’s artificial intelligence felt outdated for a 2025 release. Characters like police officers wouldn’t react to events happening right in front of them, and the empty streets made the world feel lifeless and underwhelming.
The world of MindsEye is visually striking with its bright colors and futuristic architecture, but it ultimately feels empty. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t fill this world with enough engaging characters or activity to truly connect with players.
To make matters worse, the developers, Build a Rocket Boy, didn’t handle problems well after launch, and their promised plan to fix things hasn’t reassured anyone. Unfortunately, MindsEye stands out as one of the biggest gaming disappointments of 2025.
10. La Quimera
Reburn has a strong core idea for a shooter, with a bleak, dystopian setting and a focus on telling its story through the environment. However, the current Early Access version doesn’t deliver on that potential, making it a game you can safely skip for now.
Honestly, I was really hoping for more from this game. The world is so interesting, I expected the story to really grab me and make me invested, but it just didn’t quite build enough tension. And the combat, while it gave you some cool weapons early on, quickly became repetitive. The levels were pretty straightforward, and defeating enemies felt more like going through the motions than a real struggle where you could actually lose. It just wasn’t challenging enough!
One of the most frustrating things about the game is the limited amount of money your character can carry – it doesn’t make sense for a mercenary! La Quimera has a lot of issues like this, holding it back from being a truly great experience.
11. Solo Levelling: Arise Overdrive
Although the game looks and sounds great, potentially reminding you of the anime it’s based on, it’s best to keep your expectations realistic when playing Solo Levelling: Arise Overdrive, especially if you’re already familiar with the source material.
Honestly, I was really excited about this game because the levels looked amazing and the combat system felt promising. But it ended up being a letdown. The bosses had way too much health, which just dragged out the fights and made them frustrating. It’s a shame, because there was a lot of good stuff there, but it just didn’t quite come together. I really wanted to love it, but I can’t really recommend it as it stands.
That concludes our look at this year’s titles that didn’t quite reach their full potential. We’re optimistic that the skilled people who created them will bounce back with even better projects in the future.
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2025-12-30 15:13