10 Worst Video Games Of 2023

Something about Gollum's video game debut screamed disaster from the beginning.

Being developed by Daedalic Entertainment (who had never been handed a big product like Lord of the Rings before) and published by Nacon (who, despite a roster of teams working under them, having never released anything notable outside the rally franchise WRC) set this up for failure from the beginning. As a concept, playing as the runt of Middle-Earth wasn't inherently flawed... but the result was comprised entirely of flaws.

Gollum's May release made it the talk of the internet as one of the year's biggest lows. It was buggy, boring and shallow to play, controlled horribly, and ugly as sin. Sméagol himself looked significantly worse in the final game compared to marketing footage. This barely functional mess deserved to be pointed and laughed at, especially when it asked players for $60 at launch and then $10 more for a DLC that simply made Elvish characters speak their native tongue.

It wasn't surprising to learn that development of the game had been extremely troubled, after the two years of delays that had hit it. Despite the poor reception, and Daedalic reportedly moving to focus more on publishing than developing, there is apparently still a Switch port to come.

Cast it into the fires of Mount Doom and never look back.