The Worst Video Games of 2025 (So Far): From Bad To Terrible

MindsEye

An ambitious near-future action thriller, MindsEye was supposed to be a groundbreaking debut from ex-Rockstar producer Leslie Benzies’ studio. Set in a fictional Las Vegas-like city, it promised open-world exploration and a gripping sci-fi narrative, but the final product left players underwhelmed. The game turned out to be extremely linear, disguising its on-rails missions behind an empty open world where there was virtually nothing to do between story beats. Core gameplay was alarmingly basic: no melee combat, no stealth, and not even a dodge roll – players mostly just shot enemies and took cover with minimal variety. Even its few late-game abilities did little to break the monotony, making every encounter feel the same. To top it off, MindsEye was riddled with bugs and performance issues at launch, further souring the experience. Critics and players alike panned it upon release, with many naming it the worst-rated game of 2025 so far It’s a shame considering the pedigree behind the project, but MindsEye serves as a cautionary tale that big names and big ideas alone don’t guarantee a great game. | © Build A Rocket Boy

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

The Assassin’s Creed series hit a bump in the road with Shadows, a spin-off set in feudal Japan that ended up feeling like more of the same. At first glance, Shadows had a lot going for it – a beautiful open world with changing seasons, dual protagonists, and the rich historical setting fans had long requested. However, once the initial shine wore off, players found the game struggling to escape the franchise’s shadow. The world design, while expansive, leaned heavily on familiar Ubisoft formula, with many villages and castles seeming copy-pasted and side quests that boiled down to repetitive checklist tasks. The stealth and combat were competent but added no fresh ideas to the series’ well-worn mechanics. Some critics actually praised Shadows for polishing the classic AC gameplay, but others labeled it a safe and uninspired entry that failed to leave a lasting impression. Longtime fans noticed that even the story and characters felt derivative, never reaching the heights of earlier titles. While not outright broken, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was disappointing in its mediocrity, standing as a rare miss in a franchise known for reinventing itself. Despite decent sales, its lukewarm reception ensures Shadows is remembered as one of 2025’s more forgettable big-budget releases. | © Ubisoft

FBC: Firebreak

Not even Remedy Entertainment was immune to a misstep in 2025. FBC: Firebreak, a co-op shooter spin-off set in the universe of Control, sounded like a recipe for success – weird paranormal happenings, three-player teamwork, and fully destructible environments inside the Federal Bureau of Control. Unfortunately, the final game turned out messier than anyone anticipated, and not entirely in a good way. Firebreak delivers on the zany premise (you’re essentially a rubber-suited janitor battling otherworldly goo and possessed office furniture), and its missions have delightfully silly setups. However, the execution is hampered by imbalanced gameplay and limited longevity. Some missions are fun chaos, while others devolve into frustrating sludge due to serious balancing issues that leave players either breezing through or hitting brick walls. The game’s structure also proved scant – only five linear “jobs” to tackle – giving it a lack of replay value once you’ve seen the goofy scenarios. There were technical problems at launch as well; on PC, Firebreak struggled to attract players, limping with embarrassingly low concurrent counts (until Game Pass gave it a boost). Critics enjoyed the absurd humor and fresh ideas, but noted the experience felt half-baked and unpolished overall. For a studio as acclaimed as Remedy, FBC: Firebreak was a letdown – a quirky shooter that burned bright but brief, landing it among the year’s disappointments. | © Remedy Entertainment

Civilization VII

Even the venerable Civilization franchise stumbled this year. Sid Meier’s Civilization VII launched in February 2025 with huge expectations – after all, it’s the follow-up to one of the most popular strategy games ever. Yet despite some positive critical reviews, the player backlash was swift and loud. On Steam, Civ 7 arrived to “Mostly Negative” user reviews, a shock for a series known to consistently delight its fan base. The discontent stemmed from several factors: an unfinished-feeling UI, gameplay changes that hardcore fans didn’t appreciate, and a sense that the game was stripped-down content-wise compared to its predecessors. Players complained the interface was clunky, with overlapping menus and missing quality-of-life features, making managing your empire more chore than fun. The new mechanics intended to innovate the formula – like revamped ages and civilization swapping – ended up unbalanced or confusing, leading some to say Civ 7 “is not good, it’s just like [Amplitude’s] Humankind” in its missteps. Moreover, aggressive monetization cast a shadow: the game launched with multiple pricey editions (up to a $120 “ultimate” bundle for extra content), which gave the impression that 2K was carving up features for DLC sales. While patches and developer updates are gradually addressing issues, many longtime Civ players felt Civilization VII was a step backward, forcing them to stick with Civ VI until this installment can right the ship. It’s a rare instance of a mainline Civ game being labeled one of the year’s worst, but in the eyes of disappointed strategists, it earned the spot. | © Firaxis Games

Captain Blood

After over a decade in development hell, Captain Blood finally set sail in 2025 – only to promptly run aground. This pirate-themed hack-and-slash adventure spent years being rebooted, passed between studios, and entangled in legal battles before publisher SNEG resurrected it for modern platforms. Unfortunately, the finished game feels like a relic from 2005, not 2025. Captain Blood’s sword-swinging combat and ship battles come off as repetitive and clunky, with floaty controls that make every slash feel unsatisfying. The audio design is notably rough – reviewers pointed out poorly mixed sound and even missing effects, which sap the excitement from its naval engagements. Visually, the game’s age shows: dated graphics and stiff animations that might have passed in the mid-2000s draw unflattering comparisons to more polished contemporaries. Critics were also frustrated by thin writing and a shallow story campaign. Despite the romantic source material (the classic Rafael Sabatini novel), Captain Blood winds up just being uninteresting and janky, squandering its swashbuckling potential. On OpenCritic, it averaged a dismal 48/100, ranking in the bottom 4% of games – a clear sign of its rough reception. Even the publisher acknowledged it’s “not a game from 2025” in terms of design and polish. In the end, this long-lost treasure might have been better off left buried, as Captain Blood earned its spot as one of 2025’s most notorious flops. | © SNEG

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour

To showcase its much-anticipated new console, Nintendo oddly decided to bundle a “Welcome Tour” experience with the Switch 2 – and it’s safe to say it didn’t exactly become the next Wii Sports. Billed as an introductory mini-game compilation to demonstrate the Switch 2’s features, Welcome Tour turned out to be an underwhelming tech demo that left players bored. Rather than fun, fully fleshed-out games, it offers a handful of simplistic activities (like a basic tutorial race and a motion-controlled painting app) that feel more like interactive system menus than entertainment. There’s little creativity or depth on display; it’s as if Nintendo forgot the magic touch that makes their best pack-in titles instantly addictive. Worse, some users reported the new hardware’s capabilities weren’t utilized well – the HD haptics and improved graphics potential of the Switch 2 barely shine in these bland exercises. For example, one segment has you tour a virtual living room to learn the UI, an experience described as “as fun as a console settings menu.” The overall consensus is that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is dull, forgettable, and feels rushed, doing a poor job of introducing a powerful new system. In an era where players expect even freebies to be engaging, this Welcome Tour was a misstep that earned a share of negative attention. It may not be a traditional game, but its inclusion here is a reminder that sometimes the biggest disappointments come from where you least expect – even Nintendo isn’t immune. | © Nintendo

GeoGuessr Steam Edition

The beloved browser game GeoGuessr made a jump to Steam in 2025, and what should have been a slam dunk turned into a puzzling misfire. On the web, GeoGuessr has entertained millions by dropping players into Google Street View panoramas and challenging them to guess their location – simple, educational, and highly addictive. The Steam Edition, however, left fans scratching their heads. Instead of delivering the full GeoGuessr experience on PC, the initial release arrived with severely limited features: as of launch, it only offered the competitive “Duels” mode and lacked many classic single-player maps and challenges. To make matters worse, the Steam version introduced yet another subscription/payment layer. Players who already had a GeoGuessr web subscription found that the Steam Edition required a separate purchase or “Steam Pass,” essentially paywalling content that was free or already paid for elsewhere. This move was widely seen as a cash grab, and the community was vocal about its displeasure – threads popped up urging others not to buy the Steam Edition due to its scant content and redundant cost. The developers did promise more features would be added over time (it launched as an Early Access title), but first impressions were rough. Essentially, GeoGuessr Steam Edition felt like paying for a demo of a game everyone could already play in full on their browsers. The concept of exploring the world is still as fun as ever, but this release’s mishandling of content and monetization earned it a rocky start and a place on 2025’s worst games list. | © GeoGuessr AB

Neptunia Riders vs Dogs

The Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise is known for its quirky spin-offs, but Riders vs. Dogoos might be one entry fans want to forget. This bizarre game puts the series’ anime girl goddesses on motorcycles and pits them against hordes of “Dogoos” – the cute slime-like mascots of the Neptunia world. If that sounds like a wacky, fun time, sadly the reality is far more undercooked. Neptunia Riders vs Dogoos turned out to be extremely short and shallow, even by spin-off standards. The entire game consists of only five stages (with three bite-sized levels each), all with the same basic objective: drive around and collect every Dogoo in sight as quickly as possible. Most levels can be cleared in just a minute or two, and with almost no variation in mission design, the gameplay becomes repetitive almost immediately. Players hoped for some depth – maybe a true racing mode or car (bike) combat – but instead got what feels like a brief tutorial or mini-game. The lack of content is so glaring that you can finish everything in about two hours. Mechanically, there’s not much to praise either: the motorcycle controls are fine, and you can customize outfits and bike parts, but none of it matters when the core is so thin. Even die-hard Neptunia fans, who normally forgive the series’ budget quirks, found this one half-baked and instantly forgettable. Reviews landed around 4/10, citing the bare-bones gameplay and lack of value. In the end, Riders vs Dogoos feels like a cheeky concept that never got developed into a full game, earning it a spot as one of 2025’s worst. | © Idea Factory

Deck of Haunts

On paper, Deck of Haunts sounds like an indie gem: a roguelike deck-building game where you play as a malevolent haunted house, using spooky cards to scare and slay intruders. The game does nail its atmosphere – creepy ambient sounds, creative card art, and lots of love for campy horror tropes. However, while it’s definitely unique, Deck of Haunts ended up haunting its players for the wrong reasons. The biggest issue is the balancing and progression: some runs can become absurdly overpowered or hopelessly difficult purely due to luck of the draw, making the challenge feel inconsistent. For example, you might stumble upon a combo of cards that lets you annihilate any human invader with ease, or conversely get a bad set that leaves you unable to stop anyone. This wild swing in difficulty undermines the strategic depth of the deck-building, as victory can feel more about random chance than skillful planning. Additionally, the game’s structure is quite limited – despite the cool concept, there isn’t a rich campaign or story to chew on, just a cycle of 28 nights (levels) that starts to feel repetitive. While you can build out new rooms in your haunted mansion, that base-building element also lacks impact; once you discover a few optimal room types and card combos, there’s little incentive to experiment. Many players and critics felt Deck of Haunts could have used more content and refinement to fully realize its potential. As it stands, it’s a game with a fantastic premise and flashes of fun, but ultimately underdeveloped and too easy to break, landing it among this year’s disappointments. | © Dangen Entertainment

Spray Paint Simulator

Chill “job simulators” have become popular, so a game about spray-painting buildings sounded like a relaxing winner. Spray Paint Simulator lets you run your own painting business in the town of Splatterville, covering everything from cars and rooms to bridges and even a giant robot in fresh coats of color. It checks all the boxes for a cozy sim – no timers, easy controls, and the satisfaction of turning rust and grime into bright new hues. And yet, despite a decent foundation, Spray Paint Simulator splashed onto the scene without making much of an impact. The experience ends up too monotonous and bare-bones to hold most players’ interest for long. Each job boils down to the same loop: tape up the surfaces, pick a color, and methodically spray until the percentage counter hits 100%. It can indeed be zen-like at first, but the game offers only seven levels in its career mode – and while later levels are larger (taking a few hours each to paint every nook and cranny), there’s not enough variety in objectives or environments to keep it truly engaging. Some design quirks also chipped away at the fun. For instance, the default controls on PC felt awkward (and even buggy with mouse aiming, requiring a switch to controller). A few objects were infuriating to fully paint due to tiny, hidden spots that the game required you to find. On the presentation side, the visuals and performance were fine – nothing special, but not ugly. However, the simulation aspect is simplified: paint doesn’t behave realistically (it just pixels in textures), and there’s no element of creativity since you must use prescribed colors. In short, Spray Paint Simulator is serviceable but unremarkable, lacking the surprise or depth of better simulators. It won’t ruin your day, but it certainly won’t be remembered, which is why it earned such a lukewarm spot on this list. | © Whitethorn Games

Deliver At All Costs

What do you get when you cross a postal delivery job with open-world chaos and a 1950s B-movie vibe? You get Deliver At All Costs, an action-adventure that at least wins points for originality. In this game you’re Winston Green, a down-on-his-luck courier who must deliver packages through three sprawling cities while literally demolishing anything in your way – the world is filled with fully destructible buildings, and causing wanton destruction is encouraged as part of the fun. It’s a wild premise that promised Grand Theft Auto-style freedom and Just Cause-level explosive antics. And indeed, there’s some enjoyment to be had when you’re plowing a souped-up delivery truck through skyscrapers or using crazy gadgets to fling foes aside. However, Deliver At All Costs ultimately failed to deliver a coherent, polished experience. Reviews were mixed, averaging around 6/10, with many noting that the game is ambitious but confused. The core issue is that it tries to be too many things at once – part story-driven adventure, part physics sandbox, part driving game – and as a result, it doesn’t excel at any of them. Missions can feel repetitive, often boiling down to “cause X amount of damage then drop off a package,” without the narrative ever really taking off despite a quirky setup. The open-world cities, while large, are oddly empty and serve mostly as backdrops for destruction rather than living worlds. There were also plenty of technical hiccups: from frame rate drops when chaos ensued, to a rocky online leaderboard system at launch that didn’t work as intended. Even the multiplayer implementation (a planned co-op mode) was delayed, undercutting what could have been a big selling point. In the end, Deliver At All Costs delivers some mindless fun but goes nowhere fast, as one outlet quipped. It’s a textbook example of a game with a great elevator pitch that just couldn’t fully stick the landing, making it one of this year’s notable letdowns. | © Konami Digital Entertainment

Venus Vacation Prism

The Dead or Alive Xtreme series took a strange turn with Venus Vacation Prism, a spin-off that left many players feeling high and dry. Previous DOAX games were known for their lighthearted beach resort mini-games (volleyball, pool hopping, etc.) mixed with the franchise’s infamous fan service. Prism, however, ditches most of the sports and instead doubles down on being a dating sim/visual novel starring the DOA girls. The result is an “immersive romantic adventure” where you, as the island’s owner, mostly just watch visual novel-style scenes and occasionally make dialogue choices to influence which of the six heroines you woo. While this might sound appealing to some, the execution fell flat. The game is extremely text-heavy and slow-paced, without the gameplay variety that even its fairly shallow predecessors had. There are no volleyball matches or rhythm mini-games here – the main interactive element beyond dialogue is a Photo Mode where you can pose the characters and take pictures, which only goes so far in terms of engagement. Critics and fans found Venus Vacation Prism boring and lacking substance. Essentially, it felt like a stripped-down version of an existing free-to-play PC game (DOAX: Venus Vacation) repackaged for consoles. The storylines and character interactions are mildly amusing but nothing memorable, and once you’ve seen each girl’s scenes, there’s little reason to keep playing. To its credit, the game is visually polished (the characters look as good as ever and now in 4K) and it did include a wardrobe full of unlockable swimsuits to collect, which series devotees appreciated. But eye candy alone couldn’t save Prism from mediocre reviews – it hovered around a 70% score, with many noting that it would only appeal to a very narrow audience. For most players, this was a vacation not worth taking, and it firmly lands on our list of 2025’s worst for failing to deliver anything beyond shallow fan service. | © Koei Tecmo

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree

A dark fantasy Metroidvania with Souls-like combat, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree had a chance to be a breakout indie hit this year – but despite its cool premise, it only managed to cast a middling spell on players. Developed by a small Hungarian studio after a successful Kickstarter, Mandragora offers a 2.5D side-scrolling world filled with gothic monsters, six character classes to choose from, and a tale of witches and entropy in a cursed kingdom. Unfortunately, the game’s execution doesn’t shine as brightly as its concept art. Critics described Mandragora as decent but unremarkable, doing a lot of things adequately but failing to excel or innovate. The combat in particular was called out for being slow and repetitive – you perform the same basic combo-dodge-repeat loop on almost every enemy, and it gets tedious when even low-level foes take a few hits too many to die. While the game does feature multiple weapon styles and some special skills, it doesn’t fundamentally change up the feeling that you’re slogging through similar encounters over and over. Level design also plays it safe: expect the usual Metroidvania setup of mostly linear areas with the occasional locked path that you backtrack to later when you gain a new ability. There are glimpses of fun – some boss fights show creativity, and the camp-building element (where NPCs join your base to provide services) is a nice touch – but even those aspects stumble. Notably, Mandragora was criticized for reusing boss types (you fight giant reskinned spiders and rats multiple times) and for some painfully grindy progression requirements near the end. Many players found they had to stop and farm materials or XP due to imbalance in crafting costs versus what you naturally earn, which hurt the game’s pacing. On launch, the game’s difficulty tuning felt off, though the developers have been patching it to address feedback. All in all, Mandragora isn’t a complete disaster – it has moody visuals and a solid foundation – but in a crowded genre it didn’t leave a strong impression. With mixed reviews and player reception, it ended up labeled as one of the year’s more disappointing RPG adventures. | © Knights Peak

Glover

Sometimes, not everything from the 90s needs a comeback. Case in point: Glover, a 1998 N64 platformer about a magical four-fingered glove, returned on modern consoles in 2025 – and reminded everyone why it had faded into obscurity. The new release of Glover wasn’t a ground-up remake or reimagining; it was essentially a straight port of the original game, with minimal enhancements. This meant all the dated quirks were preserved: the awkward camera, the finicky controls, and the uneven level design that made the game notorious in its day. At a time when fans have seen classic platformers lovingly remastered, this bare-bones approach didn’t cut it. Critics noted that Glover “lacks the charisma and creativity” that could endear an old B-tier game to new audiences. Instead, new players mostly saw a very frustrating experience – one review bluntly stated it’s “not an enjoyable experience at all” in its remastered form. The physics-based puzzles (bouncing a rubber ball through obstacle courses) are still a neat idea, but dealing with slippery physics on modern joysticks and an N64-era checkpoint system tested everyone’s patience. To make matters worse, the Switch version reportedly ran poorly, with frame drops and audio glitches, suggesting the port wasn’t optimized well. At a $20 price tag, it felt like a cash grab for nostalgia. The result? A Metascore in the 40s, and plenty of regret from gamers who realized some childhood favorites are best left as memories. Glover in 2025 ended up highlighting exactly how far game design has come – by showcasing a platformer that, without rose-tinted glasses, just doesn’t hold up. It’s a textbook example of a poor remaster/port, easily landing it among the worst releases of the year. | © QUByte Interactive

Fatal Fury: City of Wolves

SNK’s revival of the classic fighting series Fatal Fury was supposed to be a triumphant return – and in some ways, City of Wolves delivered, but a few glaring issues put this brawler on the ropes. On the positive side, the game features gorgeous 2.5D visuals, hard-hitting mechanics that will feel familiar to King of Fighters fans, and serves as a long-awaited follow-up to the legendary Garou: Mark of the Wolves. So why is it on a “worst of 2025” list? Upon release in April, City of Wolves was marred by several missteps that left the hardcore fighting community fuming. First, the roster raised eyebrows – SNK made some odd character inclusion choices, leaving out a few fan-favorites while adding newcomers that didn’t immediately click with players. The initial lineup felt smaller and stranger than expected for such a storied franchise revival. Second, the game’s menus and UI design were panned for being clunky and outdated, from cumbersome online lobbies to poor training mode options. And speaking of online, Fatal Fury: City of Wolves had a rocky multiplayer launch – matchmaking issues and lag plagued the early days, frustrating competitive players who view stable net code as essential. These flaws didn’t completely tank the game’s reception (in fact, critics generally gave it solid scores for its core gameplay, and it holds around an 81 average on OpenCritic). But among fans, especially on forums and subreddits, the sentiment was that SNK dropped the ball on polish and features, preventing City of Wolves from reaching the heights of its peers like Street Fighter 6. It’s a reminder that even good games can disappoint if they don’t meet the community’s expectations. Fatal Fury: City of Wolves ultimately lands here not because it’s unplayable – it’s actually a strong fighter at heart – but because it highlighted how not to handle a classic series comeback in the eyes of its most devoted fans. | © SNK Corporation