10 Most Disappointing Games Of The Decade (So Far)
4. Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
Pokémon's ninth generation got off to a seriously lackluster start with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which despite the promise of being the series' first "proper" open world game, turned out to be its worst-reviewed mainline entry to date.
The freedom it grants to players is certainly alluring on paper, but on launch the game was widely criticised for its underwhelming graphics, atrocious performance on the ageing Switch hardware, and abundance of bugs.
That's without even getting into the uninteresting open world elements, with many ultimately feeling that it was a step back in quality from 2022's Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
The Pokémon franchise has been regularly taken to task over the years for its overfamiliar, unambitious gameplay formula, but Scarlet and Violet marked the first instance that fans revolted en masse, with many even requesting refunds which were surprisingly granted by Nintendo.
Yet it's easy to see why Nintendo and Game Freak are so complacent about the franchise, given that Scarlet and Violet still became the fastest game in the series to sell 25 million copies.