Critic-proof games in recent years

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Lembu90

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#1  Edited By Lembu90
Member since 2015 • 665 Posts

As I typing this, most of us currently busy with Red Dead Redemption 2, Soul Calibur VI, Fallout 76, and most recently Hitman 2. However there are some stinkers such Quiet Man and Metal Gear Survive for examples. Not even best, spiciest criticism can't stop the consumers emptying the racks of bad games, especially popular, well-promoted bad games.

Here's the rules: Games that older than 5 years, especially from older generations of consoles like PS3, XBOX 360 and WiiU not going to be listed here. No free-to-download smartphone/tablet/browser games either as they are, well, free to obtain. No alpha/beta/early access games which means no Yandere Simulator either despite on how much I wanted to criticize it. No yearly sport games like FIFA/NHL/NFL/PES/Winning Eleven either although recent releases have been acclaimed by critics and consumers alike.

Let's begin with the most obvious and recent of them, Quiet Man. Despite having all-red scores in metacritic, the game sold quite well, thanks for having Square-Enix as its publisher as well as good hype campaigns mostly from TV ads.

Metal Gear Survive is also another trashed game that sold relatively well most likely having "Metal Gear" in its title despite everyone knows that Hideo Kojima have nothing to do with it. Even warnings like microtransactions and limited save slot failed to stop it from becoming a good seller.

Senran Kagura games and its "cousin" which made by same developer Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni also have ascended to this as well. The PS4, Vita and PC versions of these games sold like hot cakes despite having below average reviews.

Much like Senran Kagura above, Gal*Gun and its sequel Gal*Gun 2 got nothing but hate from Japanese and Western critics but its physical copies and digital ones sold extremely well for a fanservice-driven game. Some of its "success" can be contributed to its popularity in anime-related discussion boards.

None of the Hyperdimension Neptunia got good reviews and yet it didn't stop this RPG about moe anthromorpic video game consoles from becoming a cult and good sales.

Despite having no official reviews, Huniepop managed to become one of the highest rated games on Steam platform. Maybe its pornographic theme that prevented critics from reviewing it but this puzzle game with visual novel elements have one more advantage, its low system requirements mean that even the weakest, cheapest available computer can play this game, increasing the chance to be bought by the consumers. Speaking about Steam and its users...

...There's Hatred, a Contra clone where its playable character mow down innocent people with machine guns and grenades. The game, unsurprisingly got trashed to the ground by the critics upon release and in fact even some newspapers that normally don't review games also trashed it as well. I believe the critics have less issues with the game itself but more on its developer, Destructive Creations which made of far-right racist, white supremacists and most likely neo-Nazi as well. In fact DC made games to spread its far-right propaganda such as IS Defense and Ancestors Legacy and it didn't stop each of them becoming best seller in Steam with "mostly positive" user reviews. I believe part of their success is these games "come at the right time, aimed towards right audiences" despite having almost no hype or marketing campaigns.

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RSM-HQ

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#2  Edited By RSM-HQ
Member since 2009 • 11655 Posts

Read the rules, and despite it being dismissive of many games, I'll add the one that comes to mind the most and fits the OP requirements_

War for the Overworld, officially released in 2015. Most Gaming Media simply forgot to review the game and ignored its existence. And it's the real Dungeon Keeper 3 we all wanted!

Steam and GoG User reviews are overly positive. It's a great game. Though at Early Access (2014) WftO did suffer from performance and an annoying sound glitch. And while much less, still had some issues early at launch.

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mrbojangles25

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#3 mrbojangles25
Member since 2005 • 58159 Posts

@RSM-HQ: WftO is an incredible game, definitely worthy to the name of "Dungeon Keeper successor".

Sadly, it's a niche game, independently developed and published, and on only one platform. Mainstream review outlets can only review so many games per week/month/year, with more and more coming out, so they're not going to "waste" time reviewing something like this.

Personally, I am kind of glad about this; would rather people play it based on videos, "let's play" segments, player/consumer reviews, and general interest than be coaxed into buying something because of its score. Unfortunately, with high scores come high sales, so unknown games tend to suffer.

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RSM-HQ

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#4  Edited By RSM-HQ
Member since 2009 • 11655 Posts

@mrbojangles25: While I understand your point of view, games that trend online- streaming, and community spread also get worldwide notice depending on word-of-mouth. This forces mainstream gaming media to take notice; Undertale/ Super Meatboy/ and Bastion being some good examples. And though I know they're all vastly different genres, they come from similar backgrounds in development and (lack of) marketing. Succeeding because they're quality games over much the rest on offer in the respecting genres_

War for the Overworld didn't get the same treatment in notice, but it's my belief with enough push it wouldn't have been ignored so easily. It's a game that sadly never came out the shadows, I can live with it.

But also the perfect game for this thread.