10 Awesome Recent Video Games That Didn’t Deserve To Bomb

Sometimes it doesn't matter how good you game is, there are factors you can't control.

The whims of the gaming press, bad timing, clunky launch issues. It's tough to imagine what releasing a video game into the world feels like, and realising there are things that you didn't expect forcing their will on it.

Crafting a piece of art and releasing into the world takes guts, and video games are such a big time investment for developers and publishers that if it doesn't meet expectations that can be devastating. Both personally for those that poured their heart and soul in, but also from a financial standpoint.

The video games industry is constantly moving and there are times where you might not get a second chance, no matter how badly you deserve it.

The games on this list are some of those that, for any number of reasons, landed with a whimper rather than a bang. Whether they bombed with critics, players or when it came to those all important sales figures varies.

What they all have in common is that they are better than most people gave them credit for, but unfortunately their bad reputations might overshadow that fact.

Considering how the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been one of the most valuable entertainment properties of the last decade, you’d think we would’ve had more high-budget video game tie-ins or adaptations.

Still, even though they wouldn’t be using the actors' likenesses, there was excitement when Square Enix started working on several Marvel products.

Square claimed that, even though the game came in at #2 on release (only behind Fifa 2022), Guardians of the Galaxy had “undershot” sales expectations which is a shame and sadly a common situation with the company’s Western releases.

There’s a couple of reasons why this might be that include a marketing campaign and presence that was perhaps a little too overbearing and the fact that it was coming not all that long off the back of Marvel’s Avengers. That game also undersold Square-Enix’s projections, and the critical reaction to Avengers was a lot more divisive.

It’s a shame because Guardians doesn’t have nearly the amount of issues that Avengers had with its grinding, games-as-a-service approach, and was a more streamlined affair geared towards a a good, linear campaign.

Despite the lack of the big screen actors, Guardian’s characters were all well written and identifiable; a goofy but human story amid high-octane combat.