However, there are some whose open worlds either don’t live up to the potential of their gameplay and setting, or crash and burn by doing everything that we’ve already seen a million times before but worse. Some are still good games and even classics, while others…not so much. Let’s look at 15 open-world games that wasted their potential.

Forspoken

As dire as the final product ended up being, Luminous Productions’ Forspoken had an interesting premise when first revealed. The idea of exploring a vast fantasy world with magical parkour, sailing over objects and unleashing powerful magic was enticing. It felt like the team, full of Final Fantasy 15 veterans, was using that knowledge and focusing on what players enjoyed the most about that RPG – its open world.

Unfortunately, not only was the story bogged down by awful dialogue and characterization, but Athia felt artificial. The vast empty fields full of endlessly respawning monsters, the fetch quests, and typical towers which unlock new icons on the map, adding to the “to-do” list, didn’t come together well. There are some interesting optional dungeons and bosses, for whatever that’s worth.

At the recent Future Games Show, it was announced that Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is now available on PC via Steam. A PC release of the game was first mentioned by publisher Thunderful Group last year, following which there were no other mentions of it for quite some time, until a PC launch trailer recently went live prematurely (before promptly being taken down). Now, it’s official.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is, like its predecessor (and most games made by Swery65 and his team) a little rough around the edges, so be prepared for that as you go in. You can read our review of the game through here.

Touted as both a prequel and sequel to the original, Deadly Premonition 2 sees players alternating between Agent Davis, who investigates the Le Carré serial murders in the present day and Agent Francis York Morgan who ventures to the town in 2005. Much like the original, players can explore the town, interact with its various citizens and partake in activities like skateboarding, bowling and more.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise originally launched in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. The reception, both from fans and critics, was mixed due to the technical issues and performance problems. Check out our review here for more details. Stay tuned for more details on the PC release in the coming hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtAXrtJKp6M

Two Worlds

The timing of Two Worlds’ release, coming up after The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, might seem like it created lots of unfair expectations. Unfortunately, this wasn’t helped by developer Zuxxez proclaiming it to be “a more focused, grittier experience” than Oblivion with “much more complex” magic, a “more complex society” and more depth to the horse riding. The final result was a mess with graphical issues, a cliched story wrought with awful voice-acting, repetitive combat and bugs galore. Some of the environments looked nice and the world was appropriately large. But that “deep” horse riding was a nightmare to control, souring the experience all the more. Overall, Two Worlds is looked back upon as a meme and an albatross that it’s successor had to bear.

Thanks to its sheer eccentricity and the large number of technical issues that pervade Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise (and its predecessor, for that matter), it is by definition a pretty niche game that won’t appeal to the masses. If, however, it does appeal to you and you don’t have a Switch, you’ve been left waiting on the sidelines for this Switch-exclusive title to make its way to other platforms. Well, that wait might be over soon.

Thunderful Group – the parent company of Rising Star Games, who published Deadly Premonition 2 in the west – recently published their annual report, and interestingly enough, among the games they’ve listed for their 2021 release schedule, a Steam version of Deadly Premonition 2 is also mentioned. No specific release date is mentioned, and a PC version of the game hasn’t yet been formally announced, so this comes as a bit of a surprise. Either way, unless this is a mistake, an official announcement should be coming soon.

Currently, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can read our review of the game through here.

Earlier in the month, we got the release of Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise. The subtitle worked on several levels, considering how fans pretty much never expected to get a sequel to the bizarre cult classic. Unfortunately, it was plagued by technical issues (even more so than the first game, which was infamous for its lackluster performance), leading to some poor reception. Now, a new update is here to help address some of those issues, but we still got a ways to go.

Via his official Twitter, Director Swery announced that the first update for the game is live. Unfortunately, in sort of classic Swery fashion, there is no changelog available, though people on the official Reddit have mentioned that the framerate seems smoother, and that York’s skateboard conversations are no longer automatic and is something now to be triggered, along with some typo changes as well as a character’s misgendering being fixed.

The game’s performance is still pretty rough, but more updates are coming. So, keep your eyes open there. Deadly Premonition 2 is available now on the Switch, with update 1.0.2 live now.

Good evening everyone.
We updated 1st patch!! Still continue to fixing another task.
Please enjoy the journey in Le Carre!!#DeadlyPremonition2 pic.twitter.com/IPkiE4KepP

— Hidetaka SWERY SueHERO (@Swery65) July 21, 2020

Thank you very much for kind messages and great advices, and sorry I’m not able to reply to everything. The first patch is available now.
We are going to release the patch several times to continue improving. We’ll have the camera inversion too.#DeadlyPremonition2 #DP2 pic.twitter.com/veemtUBGGW

— 金沢十三男＠TOYBOX (@TomioKanazawa) July 21, 2020

What I’m trying to say is, Deadly Premonition isn’t the kind of game where a review score tells you the whole story. Given how technically bad and broken the original game is (I’m not even getting into how awful the shooting was, or the banal driving that comprised the traversal across its surprisingly well realized open world), you can’t really give it much of a high score. But that misses a lot of the game’s appeal, which is rooted in things you need to experience for yourself to truly understand (or not, as I am sure will be the case for a lot of people).

"So, a lot of the same problems that plagued the original game? Those still apply here. The framerate is hilariously bad, and I do mean hilariously so, often stuttering worse than a poorly drawn flipbook."

All of that applies to Deadly Premonition 2 as well. In spite of the success(?) of the original game, as well as of subsequent projects by auteur creator Hidetaka Suehiro (better known as Swery to his fans) such as The Missing, this is not a high budget game. It’s not even a budget game, honestly. This is the kind of insane, poorly made low budget experimental game we used to get so much of back in the day in the PS1 and PS2 era, when development costs hadn’t gotten prohibitively expensive.

So, a lot of the same problems that plagued the original game? Those still apply here. The framerate is hilariously bad, and I do mean hilariously so, often stuttering worse than a poorly drawn flipbook. The loading times are interminably long, sometimes literally exceeding minutes upon minutes of waiting. The shooting and aiming? Absolutely awful. As bad as the original game, probably worse given that we’ve had 10 years of advancements made to third person shooters in the intervening period. And the crashes! Oh, the crashes. The game can randomly freeze on an image, buttons can stop responding, necessitating a full restart, and I have never had as many hard locks on my Switch as I did with this game. Deadly Premonition 2 almost seems to revel in its jank, whole-heartedly embracing it along with the unintentional(?) hilarity that can ensue as a result.

None of this is really news to anyone, and I would argue that for a lot of fans of the original, it would have been almost disappointing if the game hadn’t had this kind of jankiness, given how strongly it’s been associated with the first game at this point. But there is a difference between laughing at a minor glitch that makes your character model clip through the floor, and randomly dying because the buttons stopped responding. Deadly Premonition 2 is a test of patience for many players, even veterans of the original.

Wade through that jank, though, and you get… well, you get more Deadly Premonition, really, although it’s hard to say that this outing is as “good” as the original. A Blessing in Disguise is a prequel and a sequel to the original game, following two parallel stories. One follows Francis York Morgan (Francis Zach Morgan now), the batcrap insane self-styled investigator, who is following another murder that seems to eerily invoke the first game’s events in Le Carré, while the other is set in 2019, and follows a far more subdued Morgan as the prime suspect in an investigation.

Much like the Danganronpa series, Deadly Premonition 2 gets extremely meta. The game overtly echoes story beats from the original game, and calls attention to them – this actually works to its credit, because the self-awareness here helps compensate for the sameness of the story, which does make it far less special than the first game as a result. On the whole, however, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this isn’t quite as special a tale as the original.

Some of that, surely, has to do with the fact that while the original game came out of nowhere and practically blindsided everyone, this sequel is a known quantity, and has the baggage and expectations that come from being a sequel. By definition, it cannot feel as delightfully off-beat as the original game. If it tries, it feels like it is trying too hard to recapture the original’s magic. When it doesn’t, it feels like it is unnecessarily more somber. It’s a catch-22 situation.

"In spite of the bevy of criticisms I leveled at it, it’s still a game I feel fans of the original game will enjoy – just not as much as they did the first one."

One area where the game has seen an improvement is the ancillary mechanics. The extremely trite driving from the original game has been replaced with skateboarding, and it’s a lot more fun now. Or at least, it is when the framerate co-operates (it gets especially nasty in outdoor environments). Similarly, for example, the life sim elements all return, and they add hilarity and a solemn weight to proceedings both at once – try going without a bath for a few days, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

Also improved in this game, or at the very least as good as the original, is the dialog. It’s sharp and witty and often surprisingly profound, and more than anything else, is almost singlehandedly responsible for this game’s incredible characterization. A lot of times, the dialog can even spice up the story, which, as mentioned, can feel a bit rote at times. The interactions between York and his assistant Patricia, especially, are a joy.

One area where this game does take a hit – and this one hurts – is the atmosphere. This, again, ultimately comes down to the game’s self-awareness. The original game had a slightly chilling and eerie sense to things, permeating every scene and dialog, every interaction and plot point, standing in sharp juxtaposition to the absurd antics the characters got up to. Deadly Premonition 2… doesn’t? The game’s own self-awareness of what the original game was, and the seeming overt attempts to try and recreate that brand of wackiness, end up undermining a lot of the atmosphere (although there are certainly moments when A Blessing in Disguise outdoes the original in this respect). This is, more than anything else, this game’s biggest failing – the atmosphere of the original game gave it an incredible sense of place, adding a feeling of tangible tactility to the characters, and the supernatural mystery that you were chasing. All of that is, not gone, but greatly diluted in the sequel.

In spite of the bevy of criticisms I leveled at it, it’s still a game I feel fans of the original game will enjoy – just not as much as they did the first one. It’s still got oodles of charm and off-beat humor, the story, while diminished in its impact, still has some great moments (especially as it moves towards its resolution), and it feels nice to get to spend some more time with Morgan. If you liked the original, you will still find something in this one to your liking – maybe you’ll even get more out of it than I did. If you didn’t particularly appreciate the original, or never even got around to playing it, but got intrigued by the sequel once it got prominently featured in a Nintendo Direct, stop. This is not the game for you. Go play something else instead.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Toybox’s Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is available for Nintendo Switch, courtesy of publisher Rising Star Games. Retailing for $49.99, it serves as the prequel and sequel to Hidetaka Suehiro’s cult classic. Check out the launch trailer below which features all manner of strange things happening.

The story follows two protagonist – FBI agent Aaliyah Davis and Agent Francis York Morgan, the former in the present-day and the latter in the past (before the first game’s events). While Davis is busy searching for clues related to the “red tree”, York is venturing through Le Carré in New Orleans. A series of unexplained murders has taken place and it’s up to him to find out why.

Both stories intertwine though how you’ll need to play it to find out how. In the meantime though, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise has been criticized for its overall performance on Switch. Rising Star Games stated that improvements and patches are in the works though a timeline for the same has yet to be revealed.

Rising Star Games’ Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is out tomorrow for the Nintendo Switch but reviews for the horror sequel are already live. Though many pointed out B-movie horror vibes that made the original so beloved, performance was criticized all-around. Over on Twitter, the publisher has acknowledged feedback and provided an update.

“We would like to officially clarify that the development team are constantly working on improving the title and patches are in the works.” When these improvements and patches will go live remains to be seen. However, Rising Star Games promised “more news soon” so stay tuned for more details.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise serves as both a prequel and sequel to the 2010 cult classic. It takes place several years in the future with FBI agent Aaliyah Davis pursuing clues regarding the “red tree” but also follows a younger Agent York in the past as he investigates a series of murders in Le Carré, New Orleans. Along with exploring the town and communicating with his imaginary friend “Zach”, York can also engage in river rafting, stone skipping and bowling.

Thank you all for your feedback regarding #DeadlyPremonition2!

We would like to officially clarify that the development team are constantly working on improving the title and patches are in the works.

More news soon!

— Rising Star Games (@RisingStarGames) July 9, 2020

TrackMania

Serving as a reboot of TrackMania Nations, TrackMania closely follows the series’ formula. You’ll race across 25 different tracks, test out track and replay editors, and even enjoy user-made course. That’s all part of free access though. Standard Access, which costs $10 per year, grants access to the full track and replay editors, the “Track of the Day” selection and all “Track of the Day” and official campaign tracks. There’s also Club Access for $30 per year which provides even more exclusive content and league participation. Honestly, we’ll have to wait and see how the gameplay and content shakes out but the game is looking good. It’s out on July 1^st for PC.

Marvel’s Iron Man VR

After a short delay, Marvel’s Iron Man VR is set to release on July 3^rd, exclusively for PlayStation VR. Based off the Marvel Comics version of the Armored Avenger, the story sees Tony Stark battling the mysterious hacktivist Ghost who’s repurposed old Stark Industries weapons. Set in various locations around the world, players will fly, fight and shoot down drones with the Iron Man suit. Though movement takes some getting used to, Camouflaj’s commitment to immersion and translating the property faithfully to VR seems to have paid. With an 8 to 10 hours of gameplay, there should be enough here to keep fans entertained.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise

Agent York returns but this isn’t a straightforward sequel to Hidetaka Suehiro’s cult classic. The story alternates between FBI agent Aaliyah Davis, who re-opens a once solved case in the present, and a younger Francis York Morgan who travels to Le Carré in New Orleans in the past to investigate some strange murders. Alternating between the two characters, the sequel still offers that signature brand of bizarre humor and horror. Plus, York is capable of skate-boarding and river-riding in the middle of solving murders. Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise releases on July 10^th for Nintendo Switch.

CrossCode

Radical Fish Games’ excellent 16-bit style action RPG is finally coming to Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on July 9^th. CrossCode takes place in a virtual playspace called CrossWorlds with the protagonist Lea trying to recover her memory. The combat is completely real-time and focuses on fast-paced combos, aided by more than 90 Combat Arts. Each console version (along with PC) will have a unique mini dungeon, boss fight and miniquest, all culminating in “something” down the line. Whatever it may be, this is an old-school tribute you shouldn’t miss.

F1 2020

The next iteration in Codemasters’ yearly F1 franchise brings Career Mode revamps, My Team mode, new tracks and much more. My Team is especially interesting since it allows for creating and managing a team, bringing in staff, hiring another driver and partaking in races to keep things afloat. As for Career Mode, players can now adjust the duration of a season, opting for either 10 races or going with the full 22 race stint. With 22 circuits and 20 drivers, F1 2020 will release on July 10^th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia.

NASCAR Heat 5

Though probably not the first racing sim to come to mind, the NASCAR Heat series has nonetheless been chugging along for the past few years, garnering decent critical acclaim. As the latest iteration for PC, Xbox One and PS4, NASCAR Heat 5 promises re-imagined gameplay, changes to pit stops and DNF for races, and a new track-testing mode for single-player. Otherwise, expect a faithful take on the 2020 NASCAR season (such as it is) when the game releases on July 10^th.

Death Stranding (PC)

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding is finally coming to PC with support for higher frame rates, Ultra-widescreen support and other graphical improvements. The story of Sam “Porter” Bridges as he treks across the United Cities of America, fending off the BTs in an attempt to reconnect the country, is still every bit as weird as last year. Except now we can experience it in 60 frames per second and 1080p resolution. The gameplay is unorthodox yet familiar with systems upon systems to manage and that’s not even getting into the whole Strand multiplayer. Nonetheless, Death Stranding should be worth checking out for PC players when it launches on July 14^th.

Ghost of Tsushima

When the Mongol invasion hits Tsushima and wipes out Jin Sakai’s clan, he embarks on a quest to rid the island of the invaders. Hack and slash combat with various stances, parries and deathblows are expected but Jin can also play the Ghost, sneaking into camps and using subterfuge to stealthily assassinate foes. Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima is being touted as the developer’s biggest game till date with a variety of lush environments to explore, foes to battle and sidestories to experience. This is in addition to duels against powerful swordsmen and a black and white filter that channels classic samurai cinema. Ghost of Tsushima is out on July 17^th for PS4.

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Perhaps the bigger Switch title to look forward to in July is Paper Mario: The Origami King. As the long-awaited follow-up in the series, the story sees the Mushroom Kingdom under siege by King Olly. Everything is turned into Origami and it’s up to Mario, Bowser and Olivia to push back against the assault. Along with a variety of puzzles and a stellar origami aesthetic dotting the world – which is exploited by the new 1000-Fold Arms that can tear off parts of the environment – combat is based off of a ring system. Players will need to line up enemies within different sections and then attack. In terms of ridiculous epicness, Paper Mario: The Origami King is shaping up well en route to its July 17^th release.

Destroy All Humans!

It wouldn’t be a line-up of games without some remaster or remake coming out. To that end, Pandemic Studios’ Destroy All Humans!, which is being remade by Black Forest Games, warrants attention. It focuses on an alien named Crypto who’s come to Earth in pursuit of human DNA. Along with gliding, dashing and shooting humans, Crypto also has a flying saucer to spray laser death on unsuspecting folk. The remake features motion capture, updated character models and cutscenes, and the previously cut “Lost Mission of Area 41”. Time will tell just how good it feels but if the remake captures the original’s essence of hilarity and action, it should be a blast. Destroy All Humans! Releases on July 28^th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia.