Those who have purchased anything within the last 14 days are eligible for refunds. According to this FAQ, even the single-player campaigns developed by Remedy Entertainment will only be available until May 18th. The shop will remain open for spending the remaining currency, but the option to purchase CFP/GP is disabled.

Furthermore, players will only have access to their data, including in-game progression and purchased items, until the game’s closure. As for why support is ending, the company said, “While our team worked hard to push out numerous content updates, including fixes, new maps, modes and in-game events, the game was ultimately not where it needed to be. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close the game.”

Released in February 2022 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, CrossfireX features two single-player campaigns or “Operations” developed by Remedy. The multiplayer is free-to-play, though there are plenty of microtransactions. On release, the campaigns were heavily criticized, with many regarding the entire package as one of the worst games of last year. You can check out our review here.

Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection (on PC)

When the remastered duo launched for PS5 in January, it debuted in fifth place on Gfk’s UK physical sales charts. Pretty good, even if it didn’t hit the top 20 for The NPD Group’s best-selling games for the month. Its PC version is a completely different story, though, hitting a peak concurrent player count of only 10,851 on Steam when it was released in October. Either because there wasn’t much hype around it, or other big titles took all the attention, the collection just didn’t resonate.

CrossfireX

With a whopping 38 out of 100 Metascore and lacklustre marketing, it was somewhat expected that CrossfireX wouldn’t do great. Lo and behold, it didn’t chart anywhere in The NPD Group’s February 2022 sales rankings, nor did it warrant a mention in Gfk’s physical charts for the UK. However, given how popular Crossfire’s multiplayer is in China and South Korea (with over $1 billion in revenue each year since 2014), this won’t hurt Smilegate’s bottom line one bit.

Monark

You could call Monark another victim of Elden Ring’s overwhelming presence, especially in Europe, where it launched on the same day as the Souls-like. That’s probably why it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in Gfk’s physical sales charts for the week. It also had only 177 peak concurrent players on Steam in the West. Then again, when released last year in Japan, it barely hit 16,000 units sold on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Couple that with poor critical reception, and its failure is understandable.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Tango Gameworks’ Ghostwire Tokyo was one of the premiere PS5 console exclusives this year and sadly didn’t perform up to par. It debuted in 12th place for The NPD Group’s March 2022 charts, and in 11thth place for Gfk’s UK physical game charts. Not only that, but it sold 80 percent less than The Evil Within 2 in the UK, which was considered to have performed poorly at launch. Though it managed sixth place in its debut in Japan, it only sold 10,144 units in its first week. Even the Steam numbers were nothing to write home about, with a peak concurrent total of 14,086 players in its lifetime.

Shadow Warrior 3

Shadow Warrior 3 was intriguing in how it not only went with a super-linear approach to its levels but also stuck to previous-gen consoles and PC. Blame it on the lack of marketing buzz, the shadows of Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, or something else, but when released on March 1st, 2022, it was nowhere to be seen in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts or GSD’s digital sales charts. Even the peak concurrent player count on Steam was a mere 1,651 players.

GRID Legends

Another game which likely suffered due to releasing too close to Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West is Codemasters’ GRID Legends. It debuted in 18th place in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts and was pretty much never heard from again after that. Yes, not even in The NPD Group’s best-selling titles for February and March 2022. SteamDB reveals a peak concurrent player count of just 455, which is just a few days after it launched.

Roller Champions

Roller Champions’ success is a bit harder to measure since, well, it’s a free-to-play title. That being said, its digital revenue hasn’t warranted any mention this year. It launched to very little reaction on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and the Switch release did nothing to help this either. Lest anyone thinks the recent Steam release would aid in a resurgence, it has had a peak concurrent player total of 141. Such was the response that reports quickly circulated of the game being sunset, which Ubisoft denied.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

One of the big three releases of December, Marvel’s Midnight Suns has a lot going for it with the XCOM team involved, strong critical acclaim, and some well-known Marvel heroes. It even had 15,500 peak concurrent players on Steam. Sales-wise, the story is less positive, as it debuted in a mortifying 26th place in the UK physical sales charts. Granted, Firaxis is known more for its PC player base (as seen with the Steam user count), and the digital sales could help, but the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 numbers can’t be entirely discounted. Maybe it was just the victim of too many big releases on the same day, as evidenced by The Callisto Protocol performing way better.

Need for Speed Unbound

Due to its release timing, we won’t know how Need for Speed Unbound performed in the US until next month. As for the UK, its launch week physical sales were down a staggering 64 percent compared to Need for Speed Heat, earning it only 17th place. This may seem expected, but it’s the tenth-biggest IP in the region’s history. Things hardly improved the next week when it slipped to 19th place following a 19 percent sales drop. Steam player numbers aren’t so great either, with a peak concurrent total of only 14,063.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Compared to Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean: The Divine Force performed decently when it launched in Japan, with over 44,000 units sold on PS4 and PS5. The problem? It’s the weakest game launch in the series. The first Star Ocean in June 1996 sold over 81,000 copies on the Super Famicom, for crying out loud. The Divine Force failed to crack Gfk’s top 10 in the UK and debuted in 14th place for the US, according to The NPD Group, before quietly fading away.

Gungrave G.O.R.E.

Gungrave G.O.R.E. launched a few weeks after Sonic Frontiers and God of War Ragnarok, and days after Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Shock of shocks, it neither charted in the UK nor the US. On Steam, it has a peak concurrent player total of 138, which says it all.

Harvestella

This one hurts, simply because I loved Livewire’s Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights. Sadly, Harvestella matched up in neither sales nor critical acclaim. It debuted in second place in Famitsu’s Japan sales charts with 26,644 units sold on Nintendo Switch, but only reached 38,704 sales before dropping out entirely. On PC, it had a measly 3,395 peak concurrent players via Steam.

The DioField Chronicle

Square Enix may have some heavy hitters coming in 2023, but this year has been rather disastrous for the publisher. It released a flurry of underwhelming titles and commercial flops, like The DioField Chronicle. The strategy RPG launched at 17th place in Gfk’s UK physical sales charts and sold about 12,068 units in its first week in Japan across Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5. SteamDB notes 1,272 peak concurrent players over its lifetime, which is pretty sad.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PC)

Considering how valuable the PC market has been for Sony with Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War (2018), and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, it was expected that Sackboy would follow up on that success. Alas, it wasn’t to be. It recorded a meagre 610 peak concurrent players since launch, far less than even Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection. Sony hasn’t revealed sales numbers, and maybe it’s unfair to expect much out of a lesser-known IP on PC. Nevertheless, it’s still disappointing.

New Tales from the Borderlands

Released on October 21st, 2022, you’d expect a new Borderlands title, much less the follow-up to Tales from the Borderlands, to get a decent response. But either due to the lack of marketing, Telltale not returning, the premise or a flurry of other releases, New Tales from the Borderlands came and went with very little response. It wasn’t mentioned by Gfk in its UK physical charts for the end of October and throughout November. Even worse, it didn’t even chart in The NPD Group’s US sales charts for October and November.

CrossfireX

Based on Smilegate’s super-popular free-to-play shooter, CrossfireX garnered attention because Remedy was behind its campaign. However, this was little more than two short “Operations” with bad writing, cliched and boring gameplay, and terrible AI. The studio’s trademark panache was missing here, though the Northlight Engine looked decent, and the “revamped” multiplayer didn’t offer much either.

Gungrave G.O.R.E

Some games are developed for years, and you hate to see them launch as Gungrave G.O.R.E has. Any notions of style that Overdose may have had all those years ago are overridden by an ugly visual style, from the characters to the levels. The story sounds like it could make for some B-movie-level fun but ends up confusing and outright time-wasting. Gameplay-wise, the sheer amount of jank in animations, movement, and combat are just awful all around.

Source of Madness

In theory, Source of Madness sounds cool. It uses procedural generation to create its Lovecraftian-esque nightmares and neural network AI to animate them. Unfortunately, this results in unpredictable enemies, further adding to the brutal difficulty alongside the shoddy controls. Even if you can appreciate the aesthetic, the sheer lack of strategy that enemies display, horrible bosses, and lackluster progression ensures little payoff for surviving this nightmare.

Winter Ember

As a dark fantasy stealth title, Winter Ember felt pretty ambitious with its 30 arrow types, 70 passive and active skills, and open-ended gameplay. The interesting aesthetic and setting are hampered by poor combat, awful enemy AI, shoddy cover while sneaking, and the same repetitive gameplay loop. Even the audio design, an essential part of a stealth experience, is not good, executing any hope one could have for this mess.

XEL

A sci-fi adventure inspired by Zelda with an appealing art style – what could go wrong? As XEL proves, quite a lot. The sheer number of bugs and lack of polish will put you off immediately. Once you make it further in, the combat and visuals can be somewhat satisfying, but the awful story undercuts them. Too much repetition and some baffling design decisions will further kill your interest if you’re still somehow playing.

The Last Oricru

Serving as one of the poster games for the new Prime Matter label, The Last Oricru takes clear inspiration from other Souls-like titles. But that’s all it is – a shallow inspiration where everything sticks out for all the wrong reasons. It may be the annoying main character, user interface, controls or how clunky everything looks. Whatever it may be, The Last Oricru doesn’t feel good to play, look at or think about.

Dolmen

Like The Last Oricru, Dolmen is a Souls-like but sci-fi with cosmic horror. It’s also terrible, with combat missing many key features and melee combat feeling janky and poorly tuned overall. Despite how interesting the sci-fi premise looks, it’s all fluff with no real purpose or sense that fails to hook you.

MX vs ATV Legends

MX vs ATV Legends isn’t bad enough to be truly awful, but it’s enough to be annoyingly mediocre. Multiple types of vehicles to race with? Good. The slippery controls and haphazard AI? Bad, though the former has reportedly improved. The open world aspect? Good. The lack of anything to do in it? Bad. We could go on with the physics, sound design, polish, and so on. While the new Trails mode and regular tracks are decent, it’s not enough when everything else is undercooked.

The House of the Dead: Remake

With all the remakes we’ve seen in the past few years, The House of the Dead: Remake could have been something good. Maybe not great, but still good. Developer MegaPixel Studio kept almost everything as is, but the visual upgrades look too dark and ugly. The remixed soundtrack comes across as bland, and the lack of much new content (save for the missable horde mode) makes it feel overpriced. The less said about the controls and performance issues, the better.

Diablo Immortal

Maybe it’s fun on mobile, but Diablo Immortal on PC is a travesty. Its user interface is horrid, with annoying pop-ups – especially during gameplay, resulting in misclicks – and the combat is an even more dumbed-down version of Diablo 3. The campaign is there, but any interesting plot is offset by the stupid progression blockers and grinding required. The sheer scale of monetization is also appalling, to the extent that certain end-game activities are just locked off to free players. Even without it, Diablo Immortal would still be a mess as opposed to the ongoing trainwreck.

Monark

Lancarse’s track record has been a bit spotty this year, as anyone who played The DioField Chronicle will attest. There was some hope for Monark, developed by a few former Shin Megami Tensei series members. It has a school setting, Egos, and an Otherworld to explore, just like SMT and Persona. It differs, however, in the awful pacing, repetitive gameplay, and troubling characterization, to say nothing of the shallow visuals and environments. With so many other great RPG efforts this year, like Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Trails from Zero, and so on, Monark hardly warrants a look.

LEGO Brawls

A platform fighter based on LEGO sets sounds appealing in theory. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. Originally released for iOS in 2019, LEGO Brawls made its way to consoles and PC this past September. Despite its looks, the gameplay quickly becomes boring (with little difference between characters), and the sheer grind required to unlock things is a chore. The lack of stuff to do doesn’t help either.

ELEX 2

I found ELEX to be a drag, but Piranhabytes’ sci-fi action RPG garnered a dedicated cult following after its release. ELEX 2 seemed a good time to capitalize on this and deliver something better. Sadly, it’s also full of clunky combat, dull writing, boring open-world design, monotonous side quests, and an underwhelming presentation. Being able to fly with a jetpack doesn’t count for much when there are so many bugs, and the DirectX 12 rollout is a whole other rigmarole on its own.

IKAI

Despite its low production values, IKAI could have been a nice little horror title, weaving in Japanese folklore in unique ways. Alas, it falls flat. It’s very short, the plot makes little sense, and it abruptly ends with almost no payoff. This wouldn’t be too terrible if the gameplay and horror were up to par, but the former is too restrictive and lackluster, while the latter offers bland jumpscares.

Blackwind

In some alternate universe, Blackwind would have been a decent twin-stick shooter/action RPG hybrid. Unfortunately in this timeline, its premise can’t withstand the horrible story, mind-numbingly dull exploration and progression, and awful combat. The glitches and poor controls further hamper your attempts to squeeze any enjoyment out of the experience.

Here is the complete list of additions to CrossfireX in its Babylon update:

• Two New Maps – Babylon is a new Occupation map available in the Modern multiplayer mode, and the Satellite map is available in the Search & Destroy, Modern and Classic multiplayer modes.
• Reintroduced Maps – The Submarine map has been introduced with Classic Knife-Team Deathmatch for a limited Time. The Transport Ship map was added to Modern Team Deathmatch mode.
• Game Improvements – An improved matchmaking system, updated control customization options and more customization of the minimap and improvements to the standard aim response curve.
• New Weapons, Skins, and Accessories – Four new base weapons added: AP-45, HAMMER MK2, KALASH-LMG and MODEL 1903, each are purchasable with in-game currency (GP), alongside 25 new weapon skins and three new weapon accessories.
• New In-Game Mission: Rise of Babylon – Players can earn the new KALASH-103 Alpine Strike weapon skin and KALASH-103 Base weapon by playing the Babylon map for more than 100 minutes.
• Free Event Battle Pass + BP EXP Boost Event – Players will be able to unlock up to six free weapon skins, boosts, premium currency (CFP) and in-game currency (GP).

CrossfireX has gone through quite a few updates since its debut in February. It has gotten 10 new maps through updates, 12 new weapons, the Shooting Range mode, the Weapon Mastery system, the Specialty system, and control customisations.

https://youtu.be/CPfR0dGCf24

The Waylanders

Developer Gato Studio’s recent The Waylanders is an interesting concept with hints of promise here and there, but all of these good aspects come with their own sets of caveats. While the story is interesting on some levels, it’s marred down by unimpressive voice acting and pacing that’s all over the place. Then there’s the gameplay, which is engaging but is plagued with bugs and glitches galore. Taken as a whole, however – it’s recommended that you pass on this game.

While this was initially thought to be just secrets, Remedy has now revealed that these games are part of a larger universe, rightly dubbed the Remedy Connected Universe. While the only two confirmed games within the universe are Alan Wake and Control, almost every game by the developer somehow fits into this overarching universe – intentionally or not. With Alan Wake 2 slated for release next year and Max Payne 1 and 2 remakes on the horizon as well, it’s the perfect time to dive into this maze of connections that all collectively form the Remedy Connected Universe.

The baseline for this universe was established with 2019’s Control, so let’s start from there. As fans of the game might already know, Control sees players controlling Jesse Faden – a woman who’s on a quest to find her long-lost brother Dylan and uncover the truth behind the mysterious entity called Polaris. This quest leads her to the FBC headquarters, where she is promptly chosen as the director of the institution all while an otherworldly plague known as the Hiss has invaded the building’s premises. Keeping further plot details aside, Control is all about this organization that deals with the supernatural events which the game calls AWE or Altered World Events. Things that bring about these altered world events are called Objects of Power, and they can be anything from a flamingo statue to a slide projector to a well, you guessed it – a typewriter.

This is where Alan Wake fits into the connected universe. You see, Wake’s typewriter is actually considered to be an Object of Power – which combined with some magical properties of Cauldron Lake, makes the works of art created there somehow come true. Control’s DLC expansion AWE establishes even more connections between the two games, such as revealing that Alan’s wife Alice had been visiting the offices of FBC to talk about Alan’s sudden disappearance in Bright Falls. The FBC was, of course, well aware of the strange happenings in Bright Falls and the run-in of the Dark Presence with Wake – and had even nominated him as a prime candidate for the position of director.

According to Control‘s optional documents, FBC had also conducted an extensive investigation of a possible AWE in Bright Falls back in the 70s, when the famous poet Thomas Zane suddenly went missing, but the investigation never reached a definitive conclusion. During the end of the DLC chapter, fans are also teased of a future AWE set to happen very soon in Bright Falls – which we are assuming directly relates to whatever Remedy has in store for Alan Wake 2.

Another solid connection between the two games is Night Springs – a TV show dealing with paranormal activities that players can see throughout Alan Wake. As it turns out, Night Springs is actually produced by none other than the FBC – in an effort to normalize the supernatural for the common people. What’s more is that Alan is said to have written multiple episodes of this TV series, one of which seems a direct nod to the events that take place in Control. Fan theories suggest that Control and FBC may actually be all a part of a story that Wake might be using to somehow climb out of the Dark Presence – although that’s something we will get to know in the upcoming Alan Wake 2.

Control protagonist Jesse Faden found the Slide Projector object of power in the town of Ordinary, which kickstarted an AWE leading to a sudden disappearance of all the adult population of the city. This town of Ordinary connects Quantum Break to the RCU, as players can actually see multiple references to the events of Alan Wake and Control through graffiti and notes scattered around the game. Furthermore, an optional cutscene in Quantum Break shows Will Joyce preventing a critical miscalculation in a time-traveling experiment, which leads to a massive power outage in Ordinary. These are all loose connections and probably wouldn’t be built upon with future games from the developer, since the rights to the Quantum Break IP reside with Microsoft and not Remedy.

Then there’s Max Payne. Since that was the developer’s first proper game (if you exclude Death Rally), there wasn’t any concept of a connected universe, so the game doesn’t have any bespoke connections with Alan Wake or Control. However, we do know that Alan Wake was the author of a neo-noir drama by the name of Alex Casey, which saw an undercover cop exacting revenge for the death of his loved ones. We see a couple of pages of this novel during one of Alan Wake’s early sequences, which match the script for Remedy’s breakout success. Between this and the appearance of Sam Lake in an in-game interview, the original model for Max Payne being the model of the protagonist in Wake’s novel – we can more or less come to the conclusion that the events of Max Payne were indeed fabricated by Alan. It’s possible that we see more of these connections and references fleshed out with the Max Payne remakes, but given the fact that the Max Payne rights are owned by Rockstar and not Remedy – one shouldn’t expect these connections to be further expanded upon even if Max Payne as a series returns with a new entry in the near future.

Remedy also produced an Alan Wake spinoff in the form of 2012’s Alan Wake: American Nightmare, but the game is believed to not be a part of the canon universe – and apart from a mention of the town of Ordinary, there’s little to no connections of the game with the connected universe. Lastly, there’s CrossFireX, whose single-player campaign was developed by the Finnish developer itself. While the game’s narrative still touches upon similar themes such as time travel and supernatural elements, the game seems to be taking place in its own separate universe with no connection to the developer’s other titles – except for the odd mention of them through secrets and whatnot.

This connected multiverse wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Poets of the Fall, a Finnish alternative rock band that has provided music for most of Remedy’s games. The band has appeared under several aliases within the games such as Old Gods of Asgard – and has provided excellent tracks such as the likes of Take Control in Control and Children of the Elder God in Alan Wake alongside tracks like War that are credited with the band’s official name in Alan Wake.

To conclude, Remedy Connected Universe is an interesting premise, and one that the developer has been slowly and steadily building towards. Given how distinct of a style Remedy has perfected with so many of its games over the years, it kind of makes sense for them to have some sort of solid connection to each other. Fans are going to be treated with a ton of related information in the near future, thanks to Remedy’s upcoming releases which include a sequel to Control, its multiplayer spinoff Condor, 2023’s Alan Wake 2, and full remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2 built using the Northlight Engine. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Diablo Immortal

The day it was announced, nearly everyone expected Diablo Immortal to be a pay-to-win shitshow. The final product somehow exceeded their wildest expectations with a battle pass, premium battle pass, empowered battle pass, materials, bundles, cosmetics – anything and everything was for sale. Let’s not even get into entire endgame mechanics – like Awakening – only accessible by spending money. The real tragedy is that even if that was all stripped away, you’re left with a middling, dumbed-down clone of Diablo 3 with a terrible UI and loot.

Horizon Forbidden West

In many ways, Horizon Forbidden West is more of what made Horizon Zero Dawn so good, just enriched further. The increased fidelity fits well with the wider variety of environments, like San Francisco’s coast and the dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge. But even when traversing the deserts and forests, everything looks so crisp and detailed, from sand particle effects to the foliage and skyboxes. Of course, the animation work also deserves a nod for how much it’s expanded and enhanced, particularly in cutscenes and interactions. It helps bring every encounter to life.

Starfield

Starfield is many things for Bethesda at this point – a brand new IP, a showcase for Creation Engine 2.0, a sci-fi game that explores the boundaries of space, the list goes on. But on top of being a more hardcore RPG, it’s also a shooter which can be played in first and third person perspectives. How the weaponry will shape out, much less how the game plays, is still unknown but we’re intrigued all the same. Starfield is currently set to release on November 11^th for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

As detailed on the game’s official website, CrossfireX will be receiving a major update, which includes over 80 bug fixes and other performance-related issues alongside significant rebalances to the gameplay, such as controller sensitivity, fixes to hitboxes, respawn timings, and more. Finally, there’s new content as well- two new maps “Invasion (Spectre Mode)” and “Submarine (melee-only)”, silenced weapons, and a new Battle Pass.

There’s no release window for when the patch will be dropping, so it’s best to keep expectations in check for now. To read our review of CrossfireX, click through here.