8 MORE Video Games Critics Hated (But Players LOVED)
2. Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonition is one of the most iconic divisive games of all time. If you could look up “those who get it, get it, and those who don’t, don’t” in the dictionary, finding a picture of protagonist Francis York Morgan’s stoic mug wouldn’t be a surprise.
The 2010 survival horror hits so many notes that just aren’t for everybody and has a fair basket of technical misses resulting in it being a clear middle of the road title for professional critics en masse. Those who loved it outweighed those who didn’t and the rest thought it was just okay landing the game with a 68 Metacritic score but that 8.2 user score tells a totally different story. While critics may have been assigned this one when it just wasn’t their speed, it’s clear that players decided to jump on board with a better idea they’d get a kick out of it, especially after word of the absurdity of the Twin Peaks-inspired B-movie vibes got out.
Delightfully strange, so much so it’s not always easy to tell if the developers are in on the joke, Deadly Premonition is a game that’s hard to categorise and that’s probably half of the appeal.
On release, IGN US hit it with a 2/10, and Destructoid with a 10/10 describing the game with pretty much every adjective in the book between praise for its humour and characterisation, to outlets agonising over its awful controls.
Comparatively, a lot of players adored it, happy to overlook the bugginess and oddities that miss the mark in order to appreciate the unique experience and all of its moving parts that easily endear themselves to you if you give them the chance. In short, many players say the charm is off the charts if you’re up for a deeply strange but rewarding horror excursion.
Both this game and the last on this list could fall into a few categories. Call them B-movie games, cult classics, or so bad they’re good. All we know for sure is a lot of you got a kick out of them.