What's your biggest disappointment of 2014 so far?

Mine is Dark Souls 2. I loved the previous Souls games and played both of them multiple times. I can't even be motivated to finish Dark Souls 2. What a thoroughly unenjoyable game. Not only is it lacking in any of creativity or atmosphere of previous games, the tweaks to the gameplay are mostly just detrimental to the formula and serve to just make it irritating to play. There's also also a much greater focus on cheap difficulty and generally irritating areas to play through. Then there's the community surrounding the game, which seems to be made up almost entirely of incredibly angry, hostile children.

It's just an exhausting, uninteresting, annoying experience and it doesn't seem to be getting better any time soon.

I haven't played any new games as of yet in 2014, so I can't say anything official as of yet. But I heard Ryse: Son of Rome gameplay wasn't that great. Same for Infamous:SS.

Ryse came out last year bro.

I'm loving Dark Souls 2. Sucks you didn't like it TC.

My bad.

@Pffrbt: Dark Souls 2 felt like it came and went. It just didn't stomp the gaming world the same way DS1 did.

No disappointments so far, all were pretty good

Thief Reboot .

City Taxes going up again.

I didn't play anything from 2014 yet.

I'm pretty choosy when buying games these days, so I don't really have a disappointment yet. I've only played a couple hours of Watch Dogs thus far so my opinion on that one will have to wait.

I suppose my biggest gaming disappointment so far this year was finally selling my Sega CD. I just don't have time to play many games these days and it had been collecting dust for a couple years.

I was disappointed in the pacing choices for the second half of Bravely Default. It took an already long game and made it a lot longer. That being said, I still enjoyed the game due to its battle and job systems.

Everything as every game so far is just one BIG MONEY GRAB.

By my count, I have purchased almost 70 games in 2014 between Steam and Consoles. Of those, Hawken was a bit of a letdown since it looked pretty cool but after playing for a bit it felt lacking compared to MWO or Titanfall. A few of the alphas I picked up could have benefited from a little bit more time in the oven, but some of them have already come around.

I know I'm going a little bit outside of the criteria, but the biggest dissapointment I have had in the last year was X Rebirth. I had very high expectations for this game but the final product turned out to be an unplayable mess of shit. Even with the new 2.0 release, the mission scripting is still so broken I can't proceed.

-Byshop

Only one so far. Mercenary Kings. I'm glad it came from PS+. However, the level design glitchfest that the game is had me disinterested pretty quick.

On a support side; I've expected more updates from Sony with the quad. More than what they've delivered, at least.

My biggest disappointment of 2014 will be, if it does not change during E3 or gamescom, Rockstars idea not to release GTA V on NextGen/PC,

Not having enough $$$ for all the games I want.

titanfall- its a good game but its not worth buying a system for...my xbox one goes unused for weeks at a time. not good considering it came out in march

That it feels like it's taking way too long for all 3 new consoles to gain steam. Come on e3

My biggest disappointment was the Thief reboot. It was a glitchy, poorly designed, uninspired piece of trash.

None so far, all the games have been quite good for me.

Well Halo Spartan Assault wasn't too bad, but it certainly didn't live up to the Halo name (The xbox 360 version was released this year) Same goes with Peggle 2, seriously that game is sooo far away from being as good as the original ( again, the 360 version was released this year )

As for retail, I'd have to go with Theif, I couldn't even finish that game I was that bored/over it. Seriously what a drag of a game, it had some good parts to it though, like the creepy haunted house in chapter 5, but after that its pretty mundane.

castlevania LOS 2 and lighting return big dissapoing for me

I haven't played any bad games that came out this year, but Moto GP 13 was a real dissapoitnment on Vita

Mine is going to have to be Titanfall unfortunately. I wish it wasnt as it is still a great game, but I was expecting so much more in terms of customisation and weaponry... some different titan classes etc. I figured since it was multiplayer only they would have put much more effort into it. As I said its still a great game, just not as good as I was hoping for.

Same here. I couldn't believe how much they screwed up this one.

The big red flag for me that made me not really want the game was that they replaced Garrett's voice actor. The original was so damn iconic and awesome. He really was perfect for the role.

The first game is undoubtedly a masterpiece in terms of level design and gameplay. It was just done so damn well, and it's a TRUE stealth game (as in you HAVE to sneak, otherwise the enemies WILL overwhelm you with their sheer numbers). I have yet to play the second one, but Deadly Shadows, while not as good as the first, was still a great game with good level design (my favorite was the haunted asylum... Just so damn creepy) and atmosphere. I enjoyed the open world segments more than a lot of people (even if they made no sense... How come when there are people walking around everywhere a guard can single out your footsteps and find you?).

How they managed to make such a mediocre new game is beyond me. they clearly took inspiration from Dishonored (which is weird since Dishonored clearly took inspiration from the original Thief... There's even a line in one of the levels that's a reference to the original) which is a good stealth game. It's really disappointing that for whatever reason they can't reach the same level of quality as the original few games. I might still get the reboot at a massive price drop just because I like the series, but still... Disappointing.

I would have to say the consumer relationship with microsoft and sony. After years and years of people blindly following one of the two, I was thinking maybe people would smarten up. People seem to not understand that the consumer MAKE the industry. The people that fund the industry decide the direction. There was some level of hope when people stood up and let MS know, essentially, that "we wont buy the console if you go through with this." But shortly after, we have people paying for X and Y dlc, and games like Tomb Raider definitive edition selling well.....

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 both had much more irritating areas (World 5, Blighttown, Lost Izalith, Sen's Fortress, Tomb of Giants) and "cheap" difficulty (Dragon God, Bed of Chaos) compared to Dark Souls 2... DkS2 was incredibly plain and straightforward in comparison, outside of the Chariot. Knowing where the dodge button is on your controller gets you through the entire game.

Not my biggest disappointment, but my complaint would be that it was just too easy compared to the others. They even throw cheap, high scaling, high damage weapons at you from the very first vendor.

@syztem: "Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 both had much more irritating areas (World 5, Blighttown, Lost Izalith, Sen's Fortress, Tomb of Giants)"
Only two of these would I describe as actually irritating: Blighttown and Tomb of Giants, and even those have compelling enough atmosphere to be tolerable. Dark Souls 2's atmosphere is incredibly bland, and there's a lot of areas/bosses/enemies that are just plain annoying.
-Areas where it's pitch black and everything is just the same few shacks over and over with nothing interesting and it drags on forever.
-Areas that are so foggy you can't even see where you're going and the enemies are straight up fucking invisible.
-Areas where the game just floods tiny areas with as many enemies as possible and leaves the player no way of picking them off from afar.
-Bosses that are just repeats from the first game, except you have to fight five at a time so it's just a mess.
-Bosses where the entire arena is covered in poison unless you happened to know to burn something that wasn't really indicated in any way.
-Areas where exploration is outright impossible because of rapid invasions.
-Bosses that are just the game flooding a small room with as many enemies as possible.
-Areas that are lined with literally hundreds of poison spitting statues that you're forced to slowly plod through destroying each one every time you enter the area.
-Enemies and bosses that have 1:1 tracking on you through their attack animations, combined with bizarre hitboxes.
-Bosses that literally have over a million HP and have instant death attacks.

"cheap" difficulty (Dragon God, Bed of Chaos)"
Dragon God isn't cheap though.

No game I've brought has disappointed me, but a few game I haven't got because of disappointing reviews are:

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
• Yoshi's New Island
• Age of Wonders III
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars
• Bound by Flame

Thief, easily. I thought it was going to be really good, but the linear aspects of the world hub and the non-stop loading screens really killed the game for me. Im normally happy with my gaming purchases but not that one.

Pretty much proving my point... everything here is either a) not actually difficult, or b) can be seen in a past game, in either equal or more difficult ways.

Get a bow, dodge better, make use of the vast quantities of ore and the overly simplified upgrade system, or the unlimited healing items, or the bonfires every three feet, or the babysitter covenant, or the easy-to-find, devastatingly strong weapons that will kill a gargoyle before the next one manages to spawn. Read one of the dozen inevitable player messages beside the windmill that say "use torch." I can't relate to most of your list because I never noticed it despite going through the game three times. Every attack can be dodged even without a point in adaptability. I've already seen someone finish the game at level 1 using fists only, because things haven't changed--you dodge, and then you attack. If you got hit, you did it wrong. So it has been and so it will be. It's the exact same formula we've seen twice before, except now they give you more tools than ever. They've even provided you with an entire stat devoted to making your dodges more effective than ever. If you've been along for the ride since Demon's Souls, I can't imagine finding this game to be more frustrating in any way. It's bland in comparison, but mainly because everything is so straightforward. The atmosphere suffers because there's a distinct lack of fear or tension; it never gives you a reason to be afraid. At least NG+ tries some things that Demon's Souls and Dark Souls 1 didn't, but by that point you're still generally a killing machine anyways.

It's fair to call it disappointing, but everything in this game is, for the most part, objectively easier and more friendly than it's predecessors.

@Cloud_imperium: yeah I hated the new thief, they somehow made the game far more linear and small than the original.

That and issues with glitches and dumb A.I

I paid £26.99 for that on steam too, back in November because I was so hyped over it.

The XBOX One. I am no fan boy either way, I have no horse in the race.

I have all the systems, the XBOX One is truly an epic disappointment. Everything about it. It never even gets turned on and when it does it quickly gets turned off. The most basic of stuff does not even work properly. I have no issue with XBOX Music on my X360's or Cell Phones or any devices but it craps out after one song on the XBOX One. Things just a total disappointment. Can;t even do the simplest of tasks without some type of issue.

The lack of mods for Dragon Age Origins. It's so difficult to find really cool stuff whereas Skyrim is bloated with amazing mods.....And more people should buy a Wii U.

Ah c'mon,it's way too early to tell.You shoulda created this topic in late November or December!

The games. There's nothing out there that actually interest me. And I can get Watch Dog or Wolfenstein on my PS3. Which explains why I haven't invested in a PS4 just yet. Fortunately, I'm a very patient man. There's no need to rush, in my opinion. Plus, I still have games to play on PS3. So no biggie. Sure, there's a few PS4 exclusives out there atm, but they aren't earth shattering must haves. I'll get them when they're cheap.

Yeah probably this... Was really excited for it. Still enjoyed it but nowhere near as much as I thought.

How is it too early to tell what's most disappointing so far?

I would also say Dark Souls II is my most disappointing game of 2014 so far. I loved the first Dark Souls. In fact, I still play it every now and then. But Dark Souls II was terrible. It was very boring and just bland. I haven't even bothered finishing the game yet.

Except that's not true in either case and I'm not in any mood to argue. Dark Souls 2 is an exhausting, irritating, bland, unenjoyable experience. I've never felt that way about either of the previous games.

Thief, no contest. Thief 3 Deadly Shadow was also a disappointment for me; it got so many things wrong with preserving the original Thief mojo. So ever since that game I never fathomed that the next Thief could be worse. I fathomed incorrectly. The new Thief is much worse. I struggled finding any redeeming quality about it. The biggest flaw out of many (as was in Deadly Shadows) is the city hub. It is not needed, it is a waste of time, it is uninteresting. It takes too long to get from one mission to the next. The classic Thief games never had a city hub, and those games were absolutely wonderful.

Ok, may a couple small redeeming qualities to be fair. The swoop was a cool addition. As was extinguishing candles. But that 's about all I was impressed with.

None that I've played, but after watching gameplay videos of Watchdogs and Wolfenstein: The New Order I was kind of disappointed with what I saw. Other than that I have mostly just bought games that came out in 2013 and before.

I haven't played any 2014 games either yet. Not sure if theres anything even out this year I want.

I'm hoping Gauntlet is good and not a failure. Same goes with Jagged Alliance Flashback.

things will go either way on these games.

Also hope the new Sid Meier game is good, i forget its name. Beyond earth? i think?

And the guy that made Privateer, hope his game is good.

So no failures yet for me, but the year is only half done.

Thief. I expected much more from the game.