10 Awful Video Game Spin-Offs That Insult The Original

3. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Metal Gear Survive
2K Games

Originally intended to be an FPS reboot of the revered '90s strategy series, the negative reception that 2K's revival attracted for forgoing the series' roots resulted in it scarpering off to tone down the obvious BioShock influences that had seeped in during development.

The new and improved version eventually released in 2013 adopted a third-person perspective and included a strategy-based pause option to satisfy old-school fans, but ultimately, Declassified launched to tepid reception, unable to decide what exactly it wanted to be. Perhaps if 2K had stuck to its guns, the outcome might have been different, but alas, the damage had been done.

For whatever reason, 2K neglected to reveal that Enemy Unknown, a more loyal interpretation of the series' roots, was also in the works and ended up launching first, no less. By the time Declassified had rolled around, every original XCOM fan had what they wanted already. The version made by committee launched with little to no fanfare and faded into obscurity shortly after.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.