15 Video Games That INSTANTLY Felt Out Of Date

It can be very hard to release a video game these days; people always want bigger and better. There's no better example of this than Rockstar's development cycle of Grand Theft Auto VI. Determined to outdo what came before and innovate takes time, money and patience. 

But not every developer succumbs to this notion and ends up releasing a game that feels like it's from the previous generation or older. That doesn't mean to say that these games are bad; some can be a comfort blanket of nostalgia, but others can be a history lesson on why we moved on from certain types of games.

With all that being said, here's a list of games that felt outdated as soon as they were released. 

Rise of the Ronin is a great example of a game feeling outdated without necessarily being a bad time. When it was released, Rise of the Ronin received pretty favourable reviews and currently has a 76 on Metacritic. Coming from the minds at Team Ninja, the team that brought us Nioh and the Ninja Gaiden series, it was safe to assume that Rise of the Ronin was going to have a compelling combat system, and it did. 

In fact, Rise of the Ronin did several things that felt fresh and interesting, with combat and the story being two of the main highlights. However, the game stumbles slightly with its world design and graphics. With an open world to explore, Rise of the Ronin came bundled with all the glamour that you can expect from an open-world game from the 2010s: a large map full of uninteresting tasks, repetitive side content and checklist-style objectives.

Not only was the open-world critiqued as outdated, but the graphics also received a bit of bashing from critics, with many pointing out that it doesn't stand up to other releases from the same year. As a reminder, 2024 saw some absolutely stunning games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2. Rise of the Ronin just didn't stack up to the competition.