9 Worst Video Games Of 2021

4. Balan Wonderworld

Square Enix are having a bit of a rotter right now. If not for Ubisoft announcing and cancelling a Ghost Recon battle royale and their 95% downvoted NFT project, they'd still be public enemy no.1 for screwing up The Avengers and making a Final Fantasy VII battle royale.

Balan Wonderworld then, is another textbook example of higher-ups just not letting creatives do what's necessary, to get a game out in one piece.

In this case we also have the fact that Yuji "Sonic the Hedgehog creator" Naka hasn't produced anything anywhere near the calibre of the Blue Blur since the character's inception, but Squenix forcing him to turn everything around in two years certainly didn't help.

The clash between Square Enix's want of a story-driven epic with Naka favouriting a 3D platformer resulted in something where every face button does the same thing; where levels are barely finished, and where just moving your character in Balan Wonderworld feels an unseen God directly testing your mental fortitude.

Yuji Naka would retire from gaming after Balan shipped - a status that's largely held intact, save for updates that he might be releasing a mobile game, if we're lucky.