20 Disappointing Video Games That Didn't Fulfil Their Potential

2. Redfall

Released in 2023, Redfall had all the promise in the world before release. It looked like nothing could go wrong. You’re telling me we’re going to get a game that looks a little bit like Left 4 Dead, that I can play with friends, and it’s developed by the same people who made the overlooked Prey? How could this possibly go wrong? I have since learned that this world can be cruel. 

Critics lambasted the game for being undercooked, having a poor story and bugs that would make Fallout 3 blush. The enemy AI was atrocious; half the time, they didn’t even realise you were shooting them, and the other half, they would just run directly at you. Many gamers also had to suffer through awful performance, making Redfall one of the worst gaming experiences you can have in 2023.

Things seemed promising at first after launch, as Arkane Austin. They had a roadmap of promised patches and content that would give us the game that was initially promised to us at launch. Unfortunately, it was announced in May 2024 that development on all future Redfall content would end and as a result, we saw the closure of Arkane Austin. This is a story we see far too often in the video game industry. A game comes out, it’s not great, and rather than give the developers a chance to fix the issues or create a sequel to fix some issues people had with the first game, the developers will instead all get laid off. It’s a never-ending horror story, and the most tragic story takes our number 1 slot.