10 Video Game Franchises With ONE Game Everyone Hates
The entire fanbase loathes That One Game.
No video game franchise is perfect - it's just not possible. Even the greatest video game series of all time have their sure flaws, and then, there are those franchises which have That One Game most fans would generally prefer to ignore.
It's unreasonable to expect developers to knock it out of the park every single time, especially with franchises releasing annually or close to it, and yet, sometimes there's just a single dud game that stands out among all the others.
These franchises may have had divisive or polarising entries before, but only one was near-universally rejected by the entire fanbase, enough that it's firmly held up today as the black sheep of the series. A lesson in not what to do in future, basically.
Perhaps these games tried to do something different which abjectly failed, missed the mark creatively, or cynically tried to milk more money from the IP without putting in the required effort.
Whatever the reason, they're the single game in their respective franchise which just about everyone can agree is the one trash instalment. No matter how bad it gets, it probably won't get worse than this ever again, right? Right?...
10. Hitman: Absolution
The Hitman franchise has maintained an impressive consistency for more than 20 years, albeit with one glaring exception - 2012's Hitman: Absolution.
Though Absolution certainly looked the part, it also saw developer IO Interactive severely water-down the series' popular action-stealth formula, presumably in an attempt to make it more appealing to a broader audience and rake in some extra cash.
Yet almost every change made was for the worse, from its more linear levels to its frustrating disguise system, divisive instinct mechanic, and risible mess of a story.
The six-year wait after fan favourite entry Hitman: Blood Money certainly did Absolution no favours at all, and for it to then feel like a supremely dumbed-down experience ensured it became the de facto franchise black sheep.
Absolution isn't a bad stealth game per se, but it is a bad Hitman game, and even the mechanical clunkiness of the 2000 original far outpaces what this cynical sequel had to offer.