10 HUGE Open World Games That Bombed

Script written by Caitlin Johnson

10 HUGE Open World Games That Bombed

Welcome to MojoPlays! Today, we’re looking at 10 huge open-world games that bombed; bigger doesn’t always mean better.

For this list, we’re looking at open-world games with either large maps, lots of content, or both, but which were abject failures.

“Watch Dogs: Legion” (2020)

The first “Watch Dogs” had enough problems of its own, but with the far more successful sequel, it seemed like things might be looking up for this franchise. Unfortunately, “Legion” got rid of everything people liked about “Watch Dogs 2” – namely its cast of likable, well-written characters. Instead, a new NPC system was introduced, where players would recruit people on the street to DedSec and train them up to go on missions. But even with the permadeath feature, it was difficult to get attached to any of these characters. You were left with a well-made open world on the surface with absolutely no substance; the NPCs were a gamble that didn’t pay off for Ubisoft.

“Mafia III” (2016)

The first two “Mafia” games were amazing stories with large open worlds, but they both got the same criticism: there was a complete lack of side content. Players loved the stories but wanted more things to do in the cities of Lost Heaven and Empire Bay. With “Mafia III”, Hangar 13 took those criticisms on board and gave players plenty more things to do. The problem was that these “things” were boring, repetitive, and mandatory. Lincoln had to painstakingly take over every single district of New Bordeaux and its rackets before moving on with the story. The story itself was still pretty good, but the game was severely wounded by this dedication to bland content. And the glitches certainly didn’t help.

“Two Worlds” (2007)

What happens when an inexperienced studio decides to make an RPG solely to compete with “The Elder Scrolls”? You get a game like “Two Worlds”, which fails on practically every level. “Two Worlds” may have been just as janky as Bethesda’s RPGs are known for, but it didn’t have any of the charm, writing, or worldbuilding that fans of the Elder Scrolls love. With terrible optimization and abysmal dialogue, it’s a miracle that this fantasy failure ever got a sequel. And as if those stinkers weren’t bad enough, the same developers would later make “Raven’s Cry” – yes, that “Raven’s Cry”.

“No Man’s Sky” (2016)

Just like the real universe, for the most part, “No Man’s Sky” was vast, hostile, and almost totally lifeless. Hello Games was slammed after its release for the galactic void the game contained; it was full of planets with no interesting flora or fauna, no real story to speak of, very few alien races, and little pulling you through its endless cycle of crafting and exploring. In the years since its launch, “No Man’s Sky” has only gotten deeper, but many feel too burned by the marketing campaign’s lofty promises to give it a second chance.

“True Crime: New York City” (2005)

A game where you play as a gangster-turned-cop in New York’s seedy underbelly trying to solve a murder definitely sounds good on paper, but “True Crime: New York City” dropped the ball with its execution. Its biggest selling point aside from the cool premise was the incredibly realistic recreation of New York, but it doesn’t really matter that the street names are correct when nobody wants to spend any time in them. With ugly textures and a distinctly unpolished feel, it’s no wonder almost nobody bought it. It even earned the ire of the actual NYPD for its unfavorable portrayal of cops.

“Superman Returns” (2006)

Superhero games can be difficult to pull off because the heroes are often just too powerful to work in a game where balance and challenge are important. This is exactly the problem that plagued “Superman Returns”, a game that gives Clark Kent all of his powers from the get-go. As Superman, you can run and fly faster than a speeding bullet, burn villains with laser vision, and freeze anybody who gets in your way – you can even pick up cars full of civilians and throw them around. You may have 80 square miles to roam through, but those miles are taken up with empty buildings and little else besides. And the game wasn’t helped by being a tie-in to a forgettable movie.

“Far Cry Primal” (2016)

Despite moving the “Far Cry” formula to the Stone Age, “Primal” was a reskin through and through. It completely recycled the map from “Far Cry 4”, which is part of what enabled it to have such a short development time, but didn’t fill it with anything innovative. Yes, you were a caveman, so you didn’t have access to automatic weapons and needed to use spears, arrows, and clubs, but you were still doing the exact same stuff: capturing outposts and hunting animals to craft better items. And “Primal” didn’t even have the charismatic villains “Far Cry” is known for, making this easily the most disappointing entry in the series.

“Fuel” (2009)

With a map over 5500 square miles in size, it was no wonder Asobo Studio couldn’t think of anything to put in it. “Fuel’s” enormous size is down to the fact its tracks are all contained in the open world, but the thing about huge racing games is that you don’t really want to drive around all that open space the rest of the time. And you’ll still have to dive into the menu to actually do those races instead of just being able to drive up to them and go. But the worst thing about “Fuel” is easily the AI’s habit of letting you win every single race, removing the challenge people like so much about popular racing games.

“Crackdown 3” (2019)

Nearly a decade after “Crackdown 2” and this new installment was released, but it was clear to everyone that the series hadn’t developed at all since the days of the Xbox 360. The only good thing about “Crackdown 3” was the fact it had Terry Crews in it, but even then he was sorely underutilized and barely made the game worth playing. It had exactly the same gameplay as its predecessors with almost nothing new; you just go around the bland city of New Providence killing generic enemies and taking over objectives. It also had some of the most lackluster graphics of any Xbox One game.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few Dishonorable Mentions:

“Anthem” (2019)

The Traversal System Might Be Fun, but There’s Practically Nothing You’ll Use It to Go See.

“Metal Gear Survive” (2018)

This Game Was the Killing Blow for “Metal Gear” Without Kojima.

“Sea of Thieves” (2018)

Despite Turning Things Around, Rare’s Fall From Grace Will Live in Infamy.

“Fallout 76” (2018)

The “Fallout” series’ many wastelands are always going to feel a little lifeless – that’s part of being set in a nuclear apocalypse, after all. But “Fallout 76” was the emptiest of all, featuring absolutely no human NPCs at launch. Appalachia was four times bigger than the Commonwealth but had none of the depth. On top of the game just being bad and unplayable due to technical issues, Bethesda messed up the launch in the real world, too, with hazardous collectibles, an unforgiving refund policy, and charging for private servers. Though there were miles of West Virginia to explore and plenty of interesting landmarks, everybody who picked up a copy felt immediate buyer’s remorse.