10 Video Games That Are Painfully Behind The Times

7. Babylon's Fall

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Square Enix

Like Bethesda, Japanese developer PlatinumGames has had some huge wins and some major losses. For every Bayonetta 2, NieR: Automata, and Astral Chain, there’s been a Legend of Korra, Star Fox Zero, and Babylon’s Fall.

Released to mostly negative reviews back in March, Babylon’s Fall encapsulates nearly everything wrong with always-online live service gaming in 2022.

For instance, its capricious loot systems, microtransactions, and the like typify the egregious money-hungry business practices that’ve long plagued the industry. (Then again, it was published by Square Enix, so . . .)

It's also insultingly vapid in several respects – single-player mechanics, graphics, menus, upgrades, co-op, etc. – in ways that evoke the seventh generation of console’s oversaturation of action-RPGs.

Of course, monotonous gameplay can still be quite fun if the characters, environments, and/or storyline are idiosyncratic and appealing. Once again, though, Babylon’s Fall can’t help but upset with its bland and repetitious enemies and locales.

Even the purposes of its myriad collectibles, equipment, and other bonuses are often obscured, killing any incentive the player might have to earn rewards or modify their arsenal.

In the end, then, Babylon’s Fall is nothing more than a transparently halfhearted cash grab, closing down for good in February 2023.

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Hey there! Outside of WhatCulture, I'm a former editor at PopMatters and a contributor to Kerrang!, Consequence, PROG, Metal Injection, Loudwire, and more. I've written books about Jethro Tull, Opeth, and Dream Theater and I run a creative arts journal called The Bookends Review. Oh, and I live in Philadelphia and teach academic/creative writing courses at a few colleges/universities.