10 Worst Video Games Of 2023 (So Far)

Because The Settlers series has been on sabbatical for over a decade, Ubisoft thought it was high time to reboot the city-building saga. The Settlers: New Allies was intended for release in 2022, but was pushed back after its closed beta was deemed a bit naff.

Although delays are frustrating, this was a reassuring decision, since it demonstrated the developers weren't going to release some half-baked dud.

And then, that's exactly what they did. As magnificent as the visuals and soundtrack are, the gameplay is childishly simple. Because of the incompetent enemy AI, players can effortlessly defeat them in a straight fight. As such, there's little reason to build farms for food, scour for resources, and fortify structures. This means there is no incentive to strategise... in a real-time strategy game, making The Settlers: New Allies' very existence pointless.

Sadly, that's the tip of a very chunky iceberg. This squandered reboot suffers from a confusing map system, bugs galore, freezing, and an inconsistent save system.

Not only is New Allies a massive disappointment, die-hard fans won't be able to wrap their head around how a game on a next-gen console runs less efficiently than the original did 30 years ago.