Metacritic’s ‘worst’ games of 2023 aren’t surprising anyone
2023 has been pretty big for video games in more ways than one. The obvious example is the games themselves - Baldur's Gate 3 becoming the global champion for GOTY awards was telling enough when faced with stiff competition from the likes of Spider-Man 2 and Tears of the Kingdom.
Along with this, there was a lot of change in the industry itself. Mass layoffs came in waves and dissected talented teams that have put together games that we've loved over the years, with even champions like 343 Industries and Bungie clearly in a lot of trouble.
Of course, there were some real stinkers turned out by the industry. Honouring the disappointing side of gaming in 2023, Metacritic has compiled the worst of the worst. No prizes for guessing what takes the top spot.
Metacritic has revealed its worst games of the year
Click to enlargeA new blog post from Metacritic has revealed the most poorly-rated games of the year on its site, and its crown achievement will come as no surprise to anyone.
The list begins with the much-forgotten remaster of the Disney game Gargoyles, which came away with an aggregated average score of only 49. Trust us, it gets worse still with the likes of Gangs of Sherwood and Hellboy: Web of Wyrd appearing.
But, of course, the number one pick couldn't be anything other than The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The cobbled, strange, and dull adventure title came in at an aggregated score of only 34.
"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," adds the Metacritic team.
"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."
Gollum "puts the mid in Middle-earth"
Click to enlargeThere are some seemingly notable omissions from the list, with the viral Rise of Kong looking like a contender for the title and the recent disaster of The Day Before also putting itself forward. Still, the post notes that games with less than five professional critic reviews were excluded. Kong can count himself lucky.
No matter what, it seems there was no stopping Gollum's trip to the top of 2023's worst of the worst. The entire industry reacted poorly to Gollum, a game that had a lot of potential and yet seemed to flub every corner of its development. Our own Guides Writer, Dani Cross, wasn't particularly keen either.
"A general lack of refinement lurks in every shadowy corner of LotR: Gollum, a game disappointingly barren of interesting ideas or substantial gameplay," she says in our review. "Even the most loyal Lord of the Rings fans will struggle through it. If you value your time, do yourself a favour and avoid it like the Eye of Sauron."
Gollum is admittedly a difficult time, and though we don't relish in slating any video game because of the hard work that goes into their creation, there really couldn't have been another game to take the sad top spot.
