What is your most disappointing game(s) of 2019?

Pokemon Sword/Shield - Over half the Pokedex getting Thanos snapped absolutely killed any longevity this game could have had. I've barely touched it since finishing the main story. Dynamaxing is the dumbest feature in the history of this series and the raids get old fast too.

Gears 5 - I thought after Coalition played it too safe with 4 that maybe this time they would make a great game. Instead it was just another boring Gears game with some uneventful open world parts thrown in to pad it out. The MP appeals to no one but the most hardcore Gears fans at this point. Why this studio wanted to make Gears over a new IP is beyond me.

Good question. Even though I didn't play it, Left Alive was a disappoint to me. I was hyped for that game due to Yoji Shinkawa being involved in the game. But it ended up being a total disaster apparently.

Only 2 games that comes to mind and they were really disappointing for me:

Now were do I begin? Anthem was good at first, but as you progress the game even more, everything was cut out of the game, the story was lackluster and so it's ending. You kept doing the same damn side missions and not enough to go around. Not the worst loot shooter but disappointing!

Pokemon Sword/Shield:

• They got rid of the National Dex.
• The graphics are uninspiring.
• The animations for most Pokemon moves are low quality.
• Version exclusive gyms should never be a thing, ever!
• Getting rid of all the previous iteration advancements such as mega Evolutions
• Dynamaxing is very lazy design and feels like a terrible gimmick

GameFreak basically did nothing right, right down the the core fundamental things they should be able to do no problem.

Those are my 2 most disappointing games of 2019 but not the worst games mind you. To sum it up:

Take no pleasure in saying it, but Black Mesa.

Definitely Pokemon Shield. It's just so bare bones and uninspired.

It's the weakest entry in the main line series.

Metro Exodus is hot garbage. Garbage gameplay, garbage story, garbage characters, garbage writing, garbage world design.

Genuinely one of the worst games I've ever played, and I love 2033 (the original version, not the terrible "remastered" version) and Last Light

Resident Evil 2: This game sucked. They didn’t fix the horrible game design. I hate games like these. I hate the “puzzles” they do in them.

I hate backtracking. I hate the inventory management.

I will admit the game is better than the original and that they did improve it. It’s still a bad game though. 4/10 I guess.

WWE2K20: I can’t believe they messed up this game so badly. This is one of the worst wrestling games of all time.

It just baffles me because 2K19 was actually decent and had a fun story mode.

The glitches in 2K20 are game breaking. Everything about this game is broken and no matter how many patches they do can’t fix that the underlying gameplay sucks.

And the fact they still don’t have Special Referee matches anymore is aggravating to no end. 0/10. It’s unplayable.

Metro Exodus. I loved the first two and was really hyped for this. Dreary open world shooting, a story that only 'kind of' even existed, awful characters and the worst dialogue and voice-overs I've heard in a long time.

It wasn't completely awful, some of the weapons were good and randomly shooting stuff around the place was okay in a mindlessly enjoyable way but it was a real let-down compared to what I expected and is one of the few games I was just too bored with to finish.

But it's the original Half Life... remade :O

Anthem and gears 5 are the first that comes to mind... anthem had sooo much promise, but ultimately it was just to much of a hassle to get to the good parts.. liked gears 4 and was looking forward to 5, but yeah I was just a very mediocre rehash...

Man of Medan - Until Dawn is amazing and is a top 10 game of the generation for me , and Man of Medan was a big disappointment. It's not good. I wouldn't even recommend it to anyone. They had a good setting an idea for the game , but squandered it.

Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order - Respwan + Stig + Star Wars IP , what could go wrong? Overall I liked the game , but it was still a disappointment. It felt rushed and unpolished both graphically and mechanically. Glitches , bugs , game crashes , loading freezes , loading times , etc .. also hurt the experience. I'm glad it didn't get nominated for anything at The Game Awards.

That's a damn shame I was really looking forward to it glad I decided to hold off on it.

The shooting and AI is significantly different as is the pacing, sound and environments. I mean, it's a remake, to be expected. But I think aspects of it are to it's detriment.

Not saying it's bad, the game itself is something of a miracle and testament to the power of modding and everyone involved should be applauded, I doubt they'd give a shit about my opinion to begin with.

Probably Anthem. It looked and sounded so very promising. It’s a shame that it didn’t pan out. Perhaps they’ll fix it up. We’ll see.

Death Stranding. Having put a few hours into it now, it really is a let down to me. I dont tell people to watch 2/3 of a film because it gets "good" later and I wont do that with a game. Its boring, the gameplay is meh. This isn't genius. Its shit.

Not a lot comes to mind to be honest... I've enjoyed most of what I've played this year.

Maybe Metro Exodus... it was ok, but nothing great. I wished it stayed more linear.

@uninspiredcup: You make some really good points though. I'm someone who holds the original Half Life up as perfection too.

It is a real testament to modding and the team too. Projects like this almost never get finished, and when they do, they turn out bad a lot of the time. Going with a paid mod turned out the best thing in the end, and I'm glad that they made Xen absolutely stunning to look at (the original Xen looks like ass now).

@hrt_rulz01: Going open world in Exodus turned out a blessing and a curse. I absolutely loved the Volga, its different weather systems, the boat rides, it had some of the best atmosphere I've seen in a game.

But then I dreaded the Caspian Sea. It was too expansive, too sandy, and driving that rickety car was just boring. I had a completely different vibe there.

The DLC is more linear, and really good.

I can agree that Pokemon Sword/Shield is a massive disappointment.

It tries so hard to act like it's an evolution and departure for the series, when in reality it's still the same damn Pokemon game you've been playing since Red and Blue.

It baffles my mind how many critics have been nutting over the latest Pokemon game and giving it GOTY ovations when it is the most deeply flawed Pokemon game in the series to date.

Shenmue 3. I mean, I knew what I was getting into, yet I still ended up being far more disappointed than I thought I'd be.

Probably Anthem. I enjoyed most everything else.

@R4gn4r0k:

The Volga had atmosphere? There were no threats or urgency outside of that cheap insta kill whale thing in the water, and there's literally nothing of interest on the map. And that boat was mindnumblingly boring to use.

I mean, one of the quests there involves you having to save Anna because she falls into some random bunker like 100 feet away from the train. Riveting quest design lol. The game's a complete joke.

Metro Exodus imo is most immersive game of 2019. its excellent. you just quit it before it even get interesting. the finale, the last part is one of the best finale i have ever played.

its one of the best game this gen.

i mean how many FPS are there which are this long, engaging, excellent story, atmosphere.

if you ask me, its actually Crysis 1 of this generation. but more ambitious.

The story and writing is retarded

Translation: It's a boring ass game

I'm just sick of open world games in general really... like a lot of games this gen, it seems they added open world elements because that's the go-to move now & artificially inflates the game.

But I haven't tried the DLC yet. I might soon.

I'm sorry, but Wolfenstein II is a much better FPS than Metro Exodus... it's better in all the areas you mentioned.

Anthem. Just makes me sad.

I'll also go ahead and say Metro Exodus is probably my game of the year. Better than RE2: the police station backtracking simulator.

(ok I liked RE2 but it's no Metro Exodus)

This will be a tad controversial. But mines Red Dead 2.

I spent longer down loading the damn thing than playing it! And after all that hype. It sure was beautiful, but not fun like the first one.

It gets my vote because of how high my anticipation was.

Metro EXODUS.....

Gears 5. They souped up assault rifles. Really hate some of the new maps and don't like how the way they're releasing the new ones compared to 4. Don't care about arcade mode.

Wasn't hyped for Anthem before its release but after playing it, it is disappointing in retrospect. Put those flying mechanics in a proper Mass Effect style game instead of this GAAS garbage and we could've gotten something really good.

@NathanDrakeSwag: gears 5 was a disaster, the story went no where and added nothing to the overall plot.

Plus the open world parts where so lackluster there was no point to them but to add filler

Death Stranding ... no doubt.

I mean, i already knew pretty much from the moment it was first showed on E3 that there was no way this game was going to deliever to the massive hype it was getting ... of course from that moment, everything went from bad to worse ... specially when there was no word about progress nor anything like that, everything was a soap opera about Kojima"visiting" studios and designing the freaking studio mascot, it all reeked dissaster.

I had some hope though, i mean, there is no way the man who made Snake Eater to screw this bad right ??? oh boy how wrong was i. One look into Death Stranding and man, the huge dissapointment. This is probably my most dissapointing game since Skyward Sword.

I think 2019 as a whole has been disappointing. The only game that truly captivated ne was Resident Evil 2. I'm getting Metro Redux this weekend, but I don't expect the game to blow me away.

@madsnakehhh: Same. I gave up the second I had to hike more than a few KMs, whilst holding R2/L2 to balance... To f*cking balance... Then you overload, and it becomes more difficult, because you didn't gain enough "likes" to level up certain aspects of TWD to allow heavier loads with ease, thus you struggle constantly with some dumbass balancing act.

I think this might be my least favourite game this year lol.

Metro. Expected GOTY quality, instead got a sleeping pill of a game.

The Outer Worlds. Really thought I'd be in to it being a fan of FONV, but sadly the game is boring and generic.

The anthem picks are trash. What reason did you even have to believe that game was going to be good? Nothing about what they showed made the game look like anything other than Biowares Destiny, so that’s on you fam.

On topic: Astral Chain. I’ve pretty much lost faith in Platinum if Hideki Kamiya isn’t directing.

Borderlands 3. Laggy POS.

Apex gets my vote. They had all the momentum after the surprise launch and the game was great. They then fumbled and stumbled post launch and gave all the momentum back to Fortnite. Apex is a fun game, but the content, updates and support lag far behind the competition. Apex could have been the chosen one, but EA and Respawn let it get away from them.

Wreckfest, by no means is it a bad game, in fact its a good game, but I was expecting greatness, thus it disappointed me the most. I might also add it was the only game I had any expectations on as EVERY other game I played this year I had no expectations for.

Red Dead Redemption 2. Loved the first one and was expecting a similar experience from 2, but not to be. Had to force myself to play it for more than an hour or two in a row, just boring AF. That campsite bullshit was probably what finally turned me off, doing chores and all that bullshit.

Very disappointed. Not sure if I even want to play another Rockstar game, RD2 was just boring and tedious.

Far Cry 5 was the last game I bought. Did it come out this year? I'm not saying it's bad, I just lost interest in it quick.

Devil May Cry 5. I still had a lot of fun with the game and while I do think it's worth the money I spent, a lot of the enemy design decisions really had me wondering how certain things got greenlit in a world where PlatinumGames exists.

King Cerberus and Urizen have attacks that aren't telegraphed at all, so you'll often end up eating a bunch of damage because you can't realistically react to those attacks. In the case of Urizen, you better hope you didn't take a lot of damage by the time you're at the second half of the boss fight because there's no avoiding those ground spikes. From there, the game just becomes a DPS race which is probably out of place in an action game.

Another issue i have which i guess is also in DMC4 is my questioning as to whether or not it's mandatory for Devil May Cry to have an enemy that's just an absolute slog to fight. I don't remember Metal Gear Rising having a counterpart to 4's Blitz or 5's Fury and in NieR Automata, the closest thing i can think of are the Linked Sphere Machines, which go down relatively quickly but I still don't like those guys for disrupting the game flow.

tl;dr: I dunno why Capcom didn't just pony up and outsource DMC5's development to PlatinumGames. It also comes off to me as a bit of a shoddy PC port, too.

Death stranding

Just running.