bad games have come a long way, and so have we
introduction – 0:00
2023 and the types of bad games – 2:27
the history of bad games – 28:43
bad games and the internet: a love story – 53:26
the worst game of all time? – 1:03:56
conclusion – 1:21:26
https://www.patreon.com/NeverKnowsBestYoutube
don’t ask why most of the soundtrack for this video is blink 182, for it is a question I cannot answer
45 Comments
Your videos are top notch and always potent likes for me, I almost wish I could give it…. a 10/10 d: For real, thank you for the positivity as this industry could really do with more of it!
It feels like these review responses to bad games are moments where we make examples out of them to other devs. It really can be brutal, but in the case of some games like Starfield, I imagine many people don't think Bethesda will ever change without tough criticisms. On the flip side, my brother LOVED it when it first came out and enjoyed it, even weeks after it came out. By the time he was finishing it, he HATED it and parroted what others who hated it said about Starfield. The hivemind over these reviews can be scary…
I can't believe this guy gave Gollum a 9/10.
It’s 2:30 AM. Earlier in the night watched a content creator’s hyperbolic takes on a number of issues unrelated to gaming and as I was mentally working through why hyperbole is more common than nuance and the degree to which shock value is effective at messaging, I found this gem of a video.
I’ve watched some of your previous video essays, but this is the first that embraces the ambiguity of the subject matter and approaches it with such tact and respect.
Failure gives way to success. Ignorance gives way to understanding. Hopefully passion gives way to reason.
This has been a delight to watch and has implications far beyond “bad” games.
Thank you, Never.
I didn't know that a single good game was released this year
The sad thing about Big Rigs is that this was well before Youtube, so kids were actually given this game as a present unironically
> "Bad PC Ports" may be a new entry in 2023
glances at Dark Souls and Nier Automata, sweats
KUSOGAME HUNTERS UNITE!!!!!!!
Merry christmas dude!
the worst part about starfield is that the people criticising it arent even mad or malicious most of the time theyre huge fan of bethesda theyre completely apathetic with how mediocre it is coming from a studio well beloved as bethesda
I'm now convinced Gamemill entertainment is some kind of money laundering scheme.
Was wondering when deadly premonition would be mentioned. Masterpiece.
What a nuanced take on a modern problem well done sir.
I am not sure how you managed to make a video about bad games inspire me so much, but damn I feel inspired to create something now.
Great video as always.
I think the titles and thumbnails need to be as inflammatory as possible to stand out to the scrolling audience. Saying "my starfield review" is likely to attract less viewers than "starfield is a galactic disappointment".
Edit: my complete thought was that almost all those videos list some positives with the game within them, but the titles make them seem entire negative and and I think that's more to reel in the views than to actually summarise their thoughts
Agreed.
Rip Little One 😢
I haven't played Gollum and I probably never will, but this video is the first one I've seen online that mentions even a single good thing about it. There's so much hatred for so many minor things on the internet it all gets very tiring eventually.
I do appreciate the clear and concise manner in your presentation and how much you've thought about the subject and the efforts into making such a long video.
I was willing to listen up until that moment you brought up starfield saying it is not as bad as it is made out to be.
This may be my personal opinion, but i would say the quality of a game is the culmination and quality of the features in comparison with previous champions in the industry and genre.
The difference between Back 4 Blood and Left 4 Dead exemplifies this.
Back 4 Blood is not bad because its not a Left 4 Dead clone. It's bad because it didn't take all L4D had and then expand it all and add its own features creatively.
You have to treat games like a character in a book, which every game in a genre is another character in another chapter, and if you want to tag along with the MC throughout the journey, or even be an important and memorable side character that provides something essential, you have to at least be able to provide something the MC is lacking in such a way that the MC can not progress without.
You have a point about the rage-flavored hyperbole. But we should be offended at some of these releases. We should be angry. Not because they are bad, but because in most cases, they released misleading trailers that deliberately misrepresented the product while taking pre-orders. That's not an "oopsie". That's not a "we tried but were too ambitious". It's naked, deliberate lying and greed.
Whole latter portion in this video talking about how people don’t formulate their own opinions and are both irony poisoned and negativity poisoned and let content creators and reviewers tell them how to think and feel like damn sheep reminds me a LOT of how people responded to Lightfall.
Destiny is a good game. It’s a great game. No, this does not make me a dickrider or a white knight or a “Bungie employee,” I formulated my own opinions instead of letting Datto or Aztecross or whatever other YouTuber or Twitch streamer or reviewer or person on social media tell me what to think about it. It’s honestly disheartening how the Destiny community likes to harass people and mock people who genuinely honestly like the game.
There’s no shame in liking something other people might think is bad. And if you don’t like something, don’t play it, and dear mother of fuck don’t hate play it. It’ll only make you miserable. And if you’re constantly miserable, it will bleed out onto other people around you and make THEM miserable, too, even if it’s not what you intend, and people would not want to be around you or at least distance themself from you. In other words, where’s your whimsy bro, let some joy into your heart and play a “bad” game. I for one am on my third Skyrim playthrough.
Saying 2023 is objectively one of the best years in gaming ever because a bunch of remakes and sequels got good metacritic scores is kinda odd…
Damn, this was unexpectedly one of the best video.game.esaay I seen all year. This might be the first video I seen of your work, neverknowbest, but really and true, fantastic job.😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉🎉
Morrowind is a disgrace and a total embarrassment, Todd Howard should be ashamed. Todd Howard decided that the game should be full of "get the thing and bring it to me" quests and escort quests. I know most casual plebs think it has a great combat system, but it's actually really… bad? UI is cool to talk about now, and the menus in Morrowind are clunky and inconsistent, like why is the alchemy menu so much worse than the scalable inventory menus? Why is the game so unbalanced and BROKEN? I want my games to be really hard, Todd, I don't want to make the entire game trivial with alchemy and enchanting. Todd Howard is a hack
I would argue that it is catharsis and not negativity per se that sells. Whenever an exciting new title comes out, streamers make bank playing along with their associated chats. But when the industry messes up, and we feel like we have no voice to express our displeasure, it is the "angry game reviewer" that rises.
Starfield really is pretty bad man. Maybe not the worst game ever but that was only 2 of your examples lol
It's TERRIBLE
Plz make a video on baldur’s gate 3 success.
The power move is to put your best games of the year list and your worst games of the year list in the same video.
Man there is love in every inch of this video. And I fuckin love it
I swear to god if someone posts the fucking hbomberguy video in discord after I say I like Fallout 3 one more FUCKING TIME I’m gonna lose it
4:38 it kind of always irks me when content creators admit that they use the 2 hour refund policy for the games they cover, not only because most of the time they're just indie games being used as a punching bag (and that's fair, make fun of it all you want, but you should be able to tell what you're getting into from the images on the steam page) but because they're making content from those games, and if they're a youtube with a subscriber count above 100,000, are probably getting paid for it. it feels scummy to then refund the 5$ you paid for it when it is the significant bredth of your content. that content creator is making money off the video game but then refuses to give any money to the people actually making his content, it just feels wrong. just a little ick of mine.
ngl my guy, if you see all the ass backwards design choices in conjunction to the price tag to Starfield, it literally does everything in its power (from optimization to just fast travel fuckery) to be bad. like, 7/10. We really have to redefine the scale or sum because 7 must be fucking garbage. like, an okay game must like hit at least 50% of what it wa set out to do, starfield didnt even get there so no, if thats the bar for okay fuck no Ill keep my 60.
This is a really good video.
Metacritic is worthless, only user scores matter since ~~5-6 years.
Great video essay. I appreciate your thoughtful, empathic, even-handed approach.
Think it's important to remember that a lot of historically "bad" games are not actually ones that were recieved like that, but rather ones that got retroactively assigned such an assessment.
Such as sonic games, where only really sonic 06 got that reception, as broadly , as it's basically an alpha of a game. SA1 , 2 , even shadow and heroes and riders had plenty of pretty good reception, not excellent, but pretty good, same with unleashed.
Think Castlevania 2 for example
Brilliant video. You put into words my stance on these things: games should be criticized when they are bad so that lessons could be learned, but going overboard should not become a norm. With CDPR and Hello Games working their asses off to fix their mistakes, I think the title of bad releases are punishment enough. People are, in fact, still calling for CDPR to shut down and Sean from Hello Games is being called the biggest liar out there. I honestly hope both of the next projects of these studios will be in great shape when released, as it does seem like they are taking redemption arc pretty seriously. I think both of these studios love games in the end.
I always think that none of the developers want to create a bad game and it absolutely sucks when gamers go after people who worked hard to create them. Especially death threats and horrible wishes are unacceptable. Too much is too much. They are people after all, and go to work just like any of us. I wonder who of us did not make mistakes at work – but at least we are not bashed for them by thousands of people for years because of them. It's really appalling behavior.
The Gollum part was really sad, I loved Daedalic's previous games and it's really unfortunate that it ended that way. As much as I am happy for Larian, not every studio can end up that way.
Disappoinment. . Just like u. . .
But Starfield is outdated and overrated…
I wasn't sure whether to believe all the outrage surrounding Forespoken or not because it seemed like most of the people who were mad about it were reactionaries chanting "Go woke, go broke" because the main character is a woman of colour. All the critics I actually respect and listen to aren't touching the game and don't seem to have any plans to which is sad because it means the only opinions I end up getting are from the shadiest, angriest gamers with the loudest voices.
it feels like every big game has to be the greatest thing ever otherwise its worthless trash
Thanks for the video.
Another good covering of a potentially complex subject matter, well considered and thought through.
Do us a favour though, when you're highlighting people being a$$holes [my words] (aka shouting morons who think their review of a game is somehow funny or clever by being a shouty t**t's etc. including AVGN) PLEASE don't include their irritating and annoying footage, especially of them shouting unnecessarily for children who don't know any better and feel shouting is big (and seemingly do it for view clout). Citing them is well and good, but including their, frankly crap shouting rants, really is off putting.
That said, relatively minor niggle compared the large amount of good content here. So again, thanks ^^
please release the todd howard book
New to your channel, but you had me hooked by the end of the intro. I appreciate the long-form content and I think you did a really excellent job here! I look forward to bolstering your viewership hours
this video is so good. sad not to see Ahoy videos added. but still a very good video.
On negative reviews being more popular – i think there's just something universal in it. Like – i don't care about you praising a 10/10 racing game or the best romantic drama movie – i don't care about these genres. But a rant about the worst, completely broken racing game with horrible microtransactions, gaming industry is ruined, * developer should be ashamed? Yes please.
Think of it like this – you don't care about every birthday party of every person in existance, but when one random party burst in flames and 10 people dead – you're listening. It's not that we don't care about good games, but we all have limited taste in games, our preferences, while bad stuff is universal – i don't need to care about Marver Cinematic Universe to watch 5 hour review on how bad the new movie in it is – i just need a youtuber who does.