10 Critically-Acclaimed Video Games That BOMBED

There was a time, believe it or not, when Electronic Arts was a developer and publisher renowned for taking risks; EA was known for Dizzy (a game with an Indiana Jones-style adventuring egg), Road Rash (race Ducatis whilst battering rivals with truncheons and flails) and The Sims (virtual sociopath sim) - all games with genuinely brilliant and psychotherapist-worrying concepts.

It was only during the early 00s (I refuse to write "noughties") where EA seemingly settled into a fairly banal rhythm of sure-bets and EA Sports ("...they're all the same!"), but this was simply because their output really ramped up - those niche, esoteric IPs like Garden Warfare and Mirror's Edge were still coming out, except now they were releasing against tougher competition (with EA inexplicably even releasing Titanfall 2 against their own Battlefield 1, causing the internet to go into conspiracy theory overdrive).

Immortals of Aveum is another such EA conspiracy-fodder title - with punchy magic-themed shooter combat and vibrant, saturated visuals, it seemed to embrace gaming audiences' new, more varied palate by mixing fantasy elements with familiar shooter gameplay, but it was seemingly released to very little marketing against the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, Armored Core 6, and Starfield - a seemingly unwinnable contest.

Critically, Immortals of Aveum is considered a good game with some genuinely novel concepts, so some more fervent fans believe it was a sacrificial lamb to prove single-player shooters "aren't worth making any longer."

Whilst EA believes it was simply due to the project being "overscoped," time will surely tell if single-player shooters become a rarity as a result.