Numen: Contest of Heroes is a game that sits at about 50% recommended on steam. I beat it years ago and really enjoyed myself, but I knew it was a unique fit for me. I only say “bad” so that we have common ground, but I value that experience.
What are “bad” games you enjoy?
Alpha Protocol, a spy-themed RPG by Obsidian and probably their worst game. The gameplay was absolute garbage, but it had some of the best writing in games and your dialog choices actually affected the plot in dozens of ways. It was the first time I can remember since the old Sierra days where a minor choice you made ten hours ago could come back and screw you over.
In some ways it was the game that Mass Effect claimed to be, one that reshaped itself around your choices and let you lead the plot where you desired. It just sucks that in all other ways it was a buggy piece of crap, where everything from combat to stealth to hacking were miserable chores that weren’t fun even when they did function properly.
Excuse me.
The question was about bad games that you enjoy.
Not about fuckawesome games that are fuckawesome and that Sega needs to burn for not allowing us to have a sequel of.
Alpha Protocol is one of the great tragedies from Obsidian’s days of doing contract work, back when they were never given enough time or money but still put out brilliant but flawed games like AP, New Vegas, and Knights of the Old Republic 2. I would do terrible things for a remake of any of those games where the original team was given the resources to do things properly.
(Though IMO I think AP might work better as a Telltale-style game in the vein of Dispatch or the Walking Dead. The dialog is the star and all the other gameplay only detracted from it.)
Alpha Protocol being rushed was especially tragic because there’s no other game that changes the plot to such an extreme degree based on your actions. It really felt like your story. It also avoided an obvious “best” route by having every choice be a tradeoff, where helping one contact could alienate or even endanger another. It’s not like a Bioware game where you can pick the top option in every dialog and cruise your way to an ideal ending for everyone. You had to pick a side eventually, pitting you against former allies who you genuinely liked.
Bioshock Infinite. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it gets a bad rep for not being the game that Bioshock superfans wanted. I hadn’t been infected by the immersive sim brain worm when I played it and didn’t judge games based on their box-stacking mechanics, nor did I care about how it fit into the lineage of *shock games. Evaluated on its own, It was a fair shooter with great visual style and okay story.
There are other cheap shot meme games that I enjoyed for how bad they were, like Mystery of the Droods.
It’s the #72 highest rated game of all time on Metacritic with a 94/100. I don’t think BioShock Infinite really fits this thread.
It seemed widely decried at release, but it really stood up in the end.
Apparently imsimmers really hate it for not being Bioshock 1 But More.
I don’t get how game that has 94/100 on metacritic and only lost to GTA5 on it’s release year calling it “not bad” is an understatement to say the least.
Back 4 Blood. It was a zombie game marketed as “made by the same people who made Left 4 Dead” but they really didn’t have any of that talent left after 15ish years and just seemed to be pretty unpolished all around. However, they had a card system where you make a deck of bonuses you want and after each mission you get one that you keep until the end of the campaign. But the devs, Turtle Rock, had a habit of nerfing any cards that were strong or fun into the ground even though the game was mostly PvE. Also they made a change halfway through the game’s lifespan so that you get the entire deck at the start of the first level instead of building up to it. I still don’t know if that was a good change or not, but they never rebalanced the game so the first couple levels of every campaign were just ridiculously easy. Unpolished game, horrible devs, but I had fun while it lasted
I had a beta. And all I remember is that on easy game is truly easy. But once you up difficulty by 1, game becomes terribly difficult. Makes it impossible to play with bots and even with real people and voice chat it was quite a challenge.
Card system should be better and they shouldn’t nerf all the fun cards. They shoul’ve taken inspiration from Dead by Daylight. But again, for a PvE game, nerfing fun stuff to the ground is dumb and a way to distance from the community.
As a 1k hours L4D2 veteran, I really wanted to like B4B. Not sure how could they fumble the formula that they participated in creation of. Sad to see it fail.
By all accounts, Quest 64 ranked somewhere between runny dog shit and aggressive bone cancer, but I was just enthralled with it as a kid. Actually kind of bummed when I got a Switch and it wasn’t on the retro games subscription thing.
It’s up there with Carmageddon 64
My general rule is that if the game title ends in “64” and doesn’t start with “Mario”, it probably sucks.
Catmageddon 64 was extra special, though … not because it was a bad game, but because political decisions made it unplayable
Yeah, that’s quite true and it wasn’t the only N64 game that was made worse for the same reasons.
That was my Blockbuster rental one weekend. Coming off of final fantasy games it was a little disappointing, but not a disaster.
Oh also No Mans Sky.
I’ve put hundreds of hours into it, and there’s definitely fun to be had, but it is so buggy and janky, especially in Co-op. It’s great they’re still putting out updates and content, but I really wish they’d spend a cycle or two just fixing bugs.
I bounced off No Man’s Sky hard at first, I just started playing it again 6+ years later and man what a difference. The game was a buggy shell of the game they had promised, but now it is unironically pretty great. I have encountered far, far fewer bugs now, so they may have addressed many of those you rememember.
I love No Mans Sky. I feel like I would tell people to be careful going to others homes as you can easily get past all currency hurdles… that being said, I did that and still had a blast. Also, don’t dig and then build in it, treat he ground like it will swallow you. lol
Worms 3D sits at 70 score on metacritic. I see lots of people mention that this is the worst Worms title.
I still have original double-cd game and it holds a special corner in my nostalgia box.
Yes!!! This was my first Worms game. I think on Playstation 2. I loved it. I also bought the Xbox copy of Worms 4 Mayhem for the Xbox and played it on my 360. I think those games, even with their faults, were so much fun.
It’s got good steam reviews so everyone else liked it too, but Mad Max. I would describe it to people as just a great bad game. It’s not art. The story is crap. The ending was dumb.
The actual gameplay was amazing. Just really really great. Still love that game.
Something key to remember is that when a game gets “Mixed” on Steam, eg 50/50, that still means half the people who play it enjoyed it. Half is not nothing.
For instance, Aliens: Colonial Marines. To my knowledge, AI was kinda shit, but could be fixed in a text file, but apparently a lot of people still enjoyed it otherwise.
So there’s probably a lot of these that have niche appeal to people.
Something key to remember is that when a game gets “Mixed” on Steam, eg 50/50, that still means half the people who play it enjoyed it. Half is not nothing.
No, it means half the people who can be bothered to review it enjoyed it.
For every review theres probably several hundred/thousands of people who play the game and dont review.
Good point. Personally, I basically never review games on Steam (love OR hate).
Same. The people who review are a very very small minority.
Hmm.
eehhh
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Two Worlds and Two Worlds 2 The first one was advertised as the “Oblivion killer”. Which is hilarious, because of how janky bug ridden pile of code it is. Yet I love it. I could create such broken OP characters, which could one shot bosses.
The second one got a bit better production quality, but its still a broken mess. Love it.
If I jumped in right now, should I just start with #2?
2nd is the better game, if you want a little more streamlined experience.
I would not worry about the story, the voice acting is so ridiculously bad in a funny way, you will not remember anything, just the presentation.
Stretching the definition of “bad”, perhaps, I say Far Cry 4/5.
It’s the classic game with a map full of repetitive quests: go there and kill that guy, liberate the outpost, climb the tower, etc. It should have basically 0 replayability value, and yet sometimes I just need to switch off my brain and mindlessly do one quest after the other.
FC4 and FC5 have some structural differences. I think a decent amount of feedback was taken for FC5. It doesn’t have tower climbing puzzles and the collectathoning which had gotten way out of hand in FC4 was toned down a lot in FC5. FC5 replaced some of that with the totally optional survivalist bunkers that give rewards per bunker. It’s hard to go back to FC4 and it’s “collect 300 scraps of paper” nonsense after FC5.
FC5 even has a joke about not making you climb towers in the tutorial island
Earth Defense Force is a terrible looking game with an even worse premise and is fun as hell.
I’ve heard this a lot! I just searched “Earth Defense Force” and it showed me #6 and that makes me happy. Wasn’t the original on 360? I remember thinking it look like a bust and then hearing people pretty much say what you are saying.
Yeah, the first one on the 360 was called Earth Defense Force 2017 (actually the 3rd game in the series). I’ve played a bunch of EDF 2017 and 2025 and they are so fun. I’m glad they’re still making them; those games are so over-the-top. If you don’t care about graphics and just want something fun, I highly recommend.
These might be closer to mediocre than BAD bad but I don’t expect too many people to mention them so why not.
- Drakengard 3 - action adventure game with dated graphics (even at the time of release), terrible performance on the original hardware, huge amount of asset reuse (including whole levels) and writing that can range from childish, crass and annoying to extremely emotional. It’s rough but it’s also my favourite Yoko Taro game.
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2004, PS2) - alright gameplay, decent voice acting, meh story and levels. It’s not terrible but based on the opinions I’ve seen it seems like I enjoyed it a bit more than most. Pretty cool drum & bass soundtrack.
- Kane & Lynch (both games) - most people didn’t like these games due to rough feeling gameplay and presentation (especially in the first game), I can’t help but love it. I feel like all of the elements combine in a coherent and extremely raw experience which might not be “fun” or “polished” but for me it just works.
- Kao the Kangaroo (2000) - extremely basic mascot platformer with (mostly) dated visuals, linear levels and some annoying enemies. Sequel might be an improvement but I still prefer this ugly duckling over anything that came after.
- Oni (Bungie’s action game from 2001) - it has huge empty levels, basic presentation, pretty mediocre story and uneven difficulty curve. It also has a great hand-to-hand combat system which makes those issues easier to swallow. Pretty good Ghost in the Shell game.
- Scarface: The World is Yours - GTA clone set after an alternative ending to the 1983 movie with Al Pacino. Pretty ugly and rough around the edges but it also has some fun mechanics (empire building, customisable mansion, money laundering, ability to bribe cops and more). A competent experience, even if it didn’t reach the heights of GTA or Saints Row titles.
Edit: I remembered another one!
Trespasser - physics based action-adventure game from 1998, intended as a sequel to The Lost World: Jurassic Park movie. It has extremely weird and wonky control scheme where you interact with the world by moving your hand - as in, you physically move it with your mouse, no simple “press button to do things”.
- You want to open the door? Cool, use your hand.
- You want to make yourself a ramp using a plank? You know how physics work so go ahead.
- Interacting with keypads? Just push the buttons.
- Want to attack something with melee? Pick up an object and swing manually.
- You want to aim your gun? No crosshair, move the barrel in the general direction of your target and pray it’ll work.
It’s not super intuitive but it does work pretty well once you get the hang of it. Heck, I even managed to throw a 3-pointer at the court in the residential zone! Man, I wish I still had my Twitch account…
The game also went with a “no hud” approach so no ammo count (only vague call-outs by the character like “about 5 shots”) and to check your health you had to look at the tattoo on your chest (it changed depending on your HP). Also no gun reloading cause your other arm is broken and your character can’t do it one handed, I guess.
It was unfinished, extremely ambitious (both in terms of planned features and implemented technology) and has a bunch of problems. It’s an interesting and very unique experience, worth a try even today in my opinion. It’s also the only piece of Jurassic Park media I actually care about and I wish it was easily obtainable in official distribution again - come on GOG, you can do it!
Oni was fun, but did not age well. By the time I finished the game I had enough combat moves to make it feel interesting, then the game ended.
Absolutely! It’s a very flawed game and a pretty rough experience, even with the Anniversary Edition fixes and mods. I’m still not sure what makes me go back to it but for some reason I end up doing just that every few years. It’s one of a few titles I’d like to see in a remastered or (slightly) modernised form. Not that it’s going to happen but one can dream, right?
You know, now that I think of it, Mirrors Edge Catalyst kinda scratched that Oni itch a while back. Another underrated game that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Still waiting for Oni 2
Catalyst missed the mark for me. Between locking the moves behind skill tree, larger focus on combat and slightly reworked art style it just didn’t grab me the way the original did. It’s not all bad and I still want to play it to completion some day but it was kind of a disappointment nonetheless.
Still waiting for Oni 2
Best I can do is the leaked early build of the project attempted by Angel Studios. It’s rough, obviously unfinished and Konoko looks a bit different but it has a somewhat working combat system you can play with and a bunch of levels to run around in. It’s also prone to crashes but that’s to be expected.
Oni - a certified classic/hidden gem. Bungie cooked there. Just not with the level design and plot of the game.
I think the general idea for the plot and world at large is pretty good (there are some interesting and rather grim details in the background), it’s just that Bungie missed the mark with how to write and present these things to actually hit the mark. It was also rushed out the door due to business shenanigans which cemented the end result.
Kane and Lynch 2 was an amazing experience with a friend. We talk about it as much as Gears of War for all of its impact. Reflecting now, I still think it has style.
It has great style! I love how much the leaned into the found footage/internet video aesthetic, as well as how they decided to go for a more naturalistic approach in regards to game ambiance (environmental sounds, diegetic music etc). It’s such a unique experience in video games, especially bigger published ones.
Yes! Plus there is the ::: naked run ::: level where we squealed our way through it. A hot take to: the online was fun and under appreciated from what I remember.
Edit: I don’t know how spoiler tags work.
They really went all in with setpieces that felt like a serious crime drama. I never got to experience the multiplayer (co-op or otherwise) but what I’ve seen looked cool. I wonder if they’re people playing it these days.
For spoilers it’s:
::: spoiler <spoiler_name>
<content>
:::I remember even back then that the amount of people playing was the issue. It had this “fragile alliance” mode where you all would do a heist, collecting money as you went. The players with the most money “won” by the end. You could turn on your allies and try to take theirs and get to the getaway, but you could also not and then split everything 50/50 from all who make it to the getaway. Pretty sure you could even bribe the driver/pilot with a 50/50 offer to leave early and abandon everyone else. Or something like that. It was a lot of fun and certainly unique in its time. I actually got inspired and just found a video. Good times.
My favorite mechanic of the online mode was that if you betrayed everyone, you were marked as a traitor for the next match you played. Teammates were always sus of one another regardless lol
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
(original PC release)Oh no. That’s on my playlist but the psx version. (It’s for an RA event). I hope I enjoy it…
Far Cry 2.
The game is fundamentally broken in a way that mods apparently can’t even fix. The enemy militia checkpoints instantly fully respawn as soon as you trip an invisible trigger. It makes combat with them pointless, which means getting stuck in a firefight with a checkpoint tedious.
The weapon degradation feature is way overtuned to cause some weapons to start visibly rusting from shot to shot.
These two aspects turn the game into a slog. Not even in a way that makes it immersive and survivalist, but immersion breakingly frustrating.
It’s a shame because the game was so ambitious. The game having a mechanic where a player at 0 health can get randomly saved if they befriended an NPC which will drag them to safety is really cool. The fire spreading everywhere was visually and tactically great. The malaria bouts were controversial, but I think they were a good way to increase the feeling of survival and desperation. There’s a lot good with a bleak, serious, and grounded Far Cry game but it just missed the mark in all the most impossible to ignore ways.
‘Far Cry 2 (2)’ would be amazing.
Ultima 3 Exodus for the NES. Few games incentivize you to wait to level up as much as this one does, not to mention the drudgery.
I forgot about the “not leveling” thing. I thought I was so clever as a kid when I realized it was better.
