But as much as we hate to say it, there are a few titles that just didn’t click, and now have the dubious distinction of forming the lower end of the year’s releases. Let’s jump into which of this year’s games have made the list, and why.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

With fatigue having set into the franchise for a while, a lackluster campaign, and some heavy competition in the form of Battlefield 6, Ark Raiders, and Ready or Not, Blacks Ops 7 has failed to breathe new life into the franchise, and has plummeted to being the lowest-ranked Call of Duty entry in history.

Despite its emphasis on a more tactical gameplay loop this time around, Blacks Ops 7 has ultimately failed to bring any meaningful innovations that can make it stand out in a long list of titles from a franchise that could use a bit of course correction. That’s especially disappointing in a year where some excellent shooters have made their presence felt.

2. Sacred 2 Remaster

While the original game might have been considered innovative at the time of its release, this remaster’s insistence on preserving the original experience has largely backfired thanks to the passage of time. Sacred 2’s clunky mechanics and dated visuals needed more than a fresh coat of paint, and it’s a game that’s going to be played only for its nostalgia factor.

Although it did many cool things with its setting and world, it simply doesn’t measure up to scrutiny today. The world may be unique enough to give this one so replay value, but every playthrough is such a chore that it could be very tempting to drop off the game and move on quite quickly. This one should have been a remake if it were to have had any chance at succeeding among a very discerning crop of modern gamers.

3. Double Dragon Revive

Basic combat, finicky targeting, horrendous character models, and a failure to live up to the promise of a series that had been dormant for over a decade, this one was all kinds of wrong for both franchise fans and newcomers alike. Its drab environments and lack of the flair that makes a fighter special made this one a very forgettable experience that quickly gets boring.

And don’t get us started on the platforming sections. We’re all for a challenge in our games but bad design being a part of that challenge is a recipe for frustration , not engagement. While it all could have been salvaged by some awesome combat, there were only so many times we could punch the air before giving up on it all.

What’s sad about this one is that it had the potential to be all that it promised. Countering enemy Aura attacks with a Special Attack of your own was quite satisfying but the minuscule timing window on those parries made pulling them off rely more on luck than on skill. As a fighting game, this one should have been very different, and so much more than it was.

4. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

Combining a vampire adventure with a setting that pushes you in the direction of an investigation just like a detective sounds like a great concept, doesn’t it? However Bloodlines 2 fails to capitalize on that premise. Its emphasis on sending you all around its admittedly well-crafted world does little to disguise the fact that its exploration is just unrewarding.

While the setting on offer is reasonably good, the combat is too clunky to be entertaining and this is a game that simply doesn’t click on any level. It can even get tedious from moment to moment if you don’t try and diversify what you’re doing. In a year where Ghost of Yotei gave us a more nuanced take on detective work alongside a brilliant combat system, this one is sadly relegated to the shadows.

5. Game of Thrones Kingsroad

With honestly terrible recreations of popular characters from the franchise, and a gameplay loop that doesn’t stay as entertaining as it is after the initial thrills of being let loose in Westeros in a well-crafted RPG world wear off. Bad character models, visual glitches, and a progression system that actively worked against players looking to make progress were factors that broke the spell of some solid visuals.

The combat gets repetitive too quickly, and as an RPG, having to manage menus more than your character arc was a drag. Kingsroad is an ambitious attempt to bring a popular franchise to life in the gaming world, but unlike its presence in other media, this take on Westeros fails to be one to draw the masses.

It’s disappointing to place this one among 2025’s non-preformers but Kingsroad is one that’s better avoided thanks to the journey being too uninteresting to be relevant.

6. Drag x Drive Review

A reasonably good gameplay loop and solid performance on the Switch 2 might have been factors being praised if this one had managed to be more interesting. With its innovative use of the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode, Drag x Drive Review could have been on the frontline’s of the console’s initial push into popularity after its launch.

But its high skill ceiling and unfamiliar control schemes work alongside a lack of content to keep things interesting to wall off most players from being incentivized to keep pushing forward through its gameplay loop until they get to the meat of why it can be enjoyable in the first place.

However, if you’re looking for a fun, unique 3v3 online title to dive into with your buddies, this one might just be worth picking up on sale when the chance comes along.

7.Killing Floor 3

While the legacy this one carried might tempt you to give it a go, you’re quickly going to find out that Tripwire Interactive failed to capitalize on the valuable feedback it received during the closed beta it held for it. While it can be fun on occasion, and even shines brightly when your plans for the chaotic decimation of Zeds line up well, its lack of content makes it too forgettable to be worth it.

For a game meant ot be played with friends or as a team, its solo survival mode might just be the most entertaining thing it has to offer. There was too little synergy between its playable classes for it to sustain any sort of engagement its initial hours might have garnered, and the lack of enemy types and bosses at launch meant that it soon became a rampage without consequences once we got used to its mechanics and combat.

All in all, there was a lot to like but too little of it to make Killing Floor 3 a game that holds its own against the year’s heavyweights, or enough to ensure it stayed off this particular list. Tough luck, though.

8. Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror

In a genre where the world you craft is as much a part of the experience as your story and gameplay, Behind the Broken Mirror’s poor level design and a fairly predictable and uninspired story made it rank low among the year’s best horror experiences.

Frustrating puzzles peppered a progression path that was often blocked thanks to a lack of clarity on potential solutions stemming from poorly designed levels. It often felt like the game was working against us to be as frustrating as it could be, instead of with us to be entertaining instead.

The story is similarly all over the place, and you’re better off not joining Eliza on her journey to regain her lost memories.

9. MindsEye

In the end, MindsEye’s gorgeously crafted world was ultimately where its ambitions went to die. As if its lackluster story, subpar combat, and uninspired game design weren’t enough, the game’s AI was simply not up to the standard of a 2025 release. Policemen would walk idly by while you slaughtered an enemy in front of them, while the lack of life along the streets you go along made the entire experience feel like a massive letdown.

It’s a world that feels empty despite how its vibrant colors and futuristic buildings immediately stand out as soon as you see them. But MindsEye sadly doesn’t populate that world with enough life to make it matter to its players.

Making things worse was the lack of effective damage control from Build a Rocket Boy, and the eventual promise of a roadmap of fixes has ultimately failed to grab any attention. It’s a pity, but MindsEye is among the biggest failures of 2025 as far as gaming is concerned.

10. La Quimera

It’s a solid premise for a shooter. Its absolutely dystopian premise and environmental storytelling might have been the stuff of a legendary game. But Reburn’s Early Access version of a solid idea does nothing to make this game worth your time.

Its story fails to raise the stakes enough to make you care, which is quite surprising considering the setting it takes place in. Its combat is similarly vanilla, giving you farily powerful weapons and linear levels in which taking down enemies quickly became routine instead of a fight for survival in which either side could end up losing.

And in what’s going to be our top pick for most annoying mechanic of the year, your mercenary’s pockets only let you carry a limited amount of money. That’s counterproductive to the nature of your work, isn’t it? La Quimera makes too many of these blunders to be close to the experience it could be as it stands today.

11. Solo Levelling: Arise Overdrive

While its visuals and excellent audio design might have you believing that this one is worthy of the anime that inspired it, you’re going to want to temper your expectations with Solo Levelling: Arise Overdrive if you’re a fan or someone with a passing interest in what it has to offer.

It’s a story wastes the potential set up by the level designs, while bosses waste its combat system’s potential by having massive health bars whose only effect is that they make each one outstay their welcome. Despite a lot of depth, this one simply fails to make use of its strengths enough for it to be worth a shot.

And that’s a wrap on the year’s titles that might have been more than what they are if things had turned out different. We’re hoping that the talented teams behind these titles lift their chins up and come back stronger than ever with new projects in the years to come.

"As for the combat itself, you get a simplistic combo system with your melee weapons depending on your combination of light and heavy attacks."

Let’s get the basics out of the way. Game of Thrones Kingsroad is an action RPG that features a somewhat open world that slowly unlocks as you gradually progress through its main storyline. The central story revolves around the player character – a child of House Tyre – tasked with two key quests: rallying support for the Night’s Watch to tackle the growing threat of the White Walkers, and getting a letter to King’s Landing that officially marks the protagonist as an heir to House Tyre.

Fans of the show or books will recognise the time period of the game as well after the events of the Red Wedding. Most of the Northern parts of Westeros are essentially under the control of House Bolton – a family so cheerful and happy, their sigil is an upside down flayed man. Since the North’s war for independence was only recently brought to an abrupt end with the events of the Red Wedding (the assassination of most of House Stark), the countryside is still in ruins. Farmers are peasants are still harassed on a regular basis by bandits and corrupt soldiers trying to extort them for money. Through all this, as the protagonist, you have to end up dealing with House Bolton patriarch Roose bolton quite often.

"Fans of the show or books will recognize the time period of the game as well after the events of the Red Wedding."

Generally speaking, the story of Game of Thrones Kingsroad – while initially fascinating – does end up feeling like a futile endeavour, since we know how the story ends courtesy of HBO’s TV adaptation, we know for a fact that House Tyre – a house created specifically for the game – will ultimately be of no real importance. We even know for a fact that the White Walkers will continue to be ignored by just about every major House south of the Wall until Daenerys Targaryen will make landfall on Westeros. Ultimately, the whole story ends up feeling like there aren’t any real stakes at all.

As for gameplay, tying up a grand and epic fantasy story that was considered compelling specifically because of its various characters and their political machinations with action RPG combat feels like a bit of a misstep. Game of Thrones has always been considered a low fantasy setting, which means that magical elements and fantastical creatures are such a rare sight that most people living in the world would have never even heard of them. As such, the action combat you frequently engage in will only really be against human enemies, which starts feeling dull and repetitive after your first few fights. It is worth noting that there are a few more fantasy-styled enemies to fight in the game, but aside from large wolves, these are mostly relegated to being multiplayer-only boss fights.

As for the combat itself, you get a simplistic combo system with your melee weapons depending on your combination of light and heavy attacks. A bow can also be used to initiate fights. However, due to its cumbersome nature, ranged attacks often feel useless after firing a couple of shots to start fights, since you’ll quickly get swarmed by enemies in melee range. Generally speaking, fights are incredibly simplistic. You’re going to spam your preferred combos, occasionally dodging or blocking an enemy’s attack, and sometimes even using a few special abilities – which are essentially just fancier looking combos in most cases.

"You get a simplistic combo system with your melee weapons depending on your combination of light and heavy attacks."

There’s no real challenge in the second-to-second gameplay of Game of Thrones Kingsroad. Rather, the difficulty – when it’s present – tends to come from the progression system and your gear. Being under-geared for combat feels quite rough; enemies take longer to kill and they’ll hit you for much bigger chunks of your health bar. This can be alleviated by partaking in the several forms of progression that the title has to offer. These progression systems include a passive skill tree, another skill tree that lets you boost the damage of specific combos and abilities, a progression system for your gear that involves getting your hands on crafting materials, another one that involves leveling up various House Sigils, and a “research” system that involves your character figuring out how they can get extra bonuses from things they already have. Aside from being too numerous, these progression systems come with their own set of problems.

The two systems for skill progression are simple enough; you get your hands on upgrade books from finishing quests and exploring the world, which can then be spent on various nodes on these trees. These nodes range from offering flat damage boosts and improving your Rage generation, for example, to letting you pick out specific combos that will then start doing more damage. Just about every other progression system will involve quite a bit of grinding, waiting, and if Netmarble is lucky, you pulling out your credit card to pay real money.

Things like this start making it feel very obvious that Game of Thrones Kingsroad was designed with mobile as its priority platform. Along with the insane progression systems, nearly every UI and UX element seems tailored for touch screens in mind, with giant buttons and constant exclamation marks to bring your attention to various notifications that keep popping up during the course of regular play.

Thankfully, once you’re in game, the UX issues don’t really persist. However, other problems gradually become more noticeable. One of the biggest problems I had in my time with it was that the game was seemingly incapable of just shutting up and letting me play. Any time I completed a quest or explored the world to find a new area, I was bombarded with notifications that would try to reward me for my seemingly Herculean tasks.

"Familiar faces like Jon Snow or Roose and Ramsay Bolton appear in-game are also quite well-modelled"

Just killed a few bandits? Here are three separate windows, each offering rewards ranging from currency to RP points. Took down a boss in a group? Here are the rewards from that boss, plus rewards from your Battle Pass progression, PLUS rewards from the daily goal of killing a boss, among other things. This game definitely called to mind my experiences with other modern smartphone titles with action RPG gameplay like Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal, and definitely feels like a result of Netmarble focusing more on “player engagement” statistics than actually creating a fun, worthwhile experience.

In a game filled with all of these annoyances, even the way its inventory system works tends to just pile on to the list of grievances I have with Game of Thrones Kingsroad. While most items are split between your basic bags and your equipment bags, both of them feel absurdly small, and you’ll quickly run out of space after spending just 15 minutes in the wilds. Selling off excess items is also a pain; rather than having a system where you can mark items that you want to sell off, you instead have to sell off each piece of bad gear that you have no intention of wearing individually.

As for visuals, Game of Thrones Kingsroad definitely made some sacrifices to be playable on smartphones. On the PC version, the cutscenes are at a much higher level of quality than regular gameplay. And the visuals in the course of actually playing the title feel like nothing particularly noteworthy. The mountains and plains that dominate most of the game’s depiction of Westeros can start feeling quite dull, and aside from checking the map, figuring out just where you are in the world is a challenge since everything ends up looking the same. This, of course, is aside from the few major landmarks that the title adopted from the HBO show’s depiction, such as the massive Wall in the North, and the awesome-looking castle at Winterfell. Familiar faces like Jon Snow or Roose and Ramsay Bolton appear in-game, are also quite well-modelled, looking incredibly alike with the real-world actors that played these characters.

"Essentially, every time you take on a major boss, you can spend RP to get its rewards. You can run out of RP quite quickly."

On the audio side of things, the game is filled to the brim with either generic orchestral pieces that are quite easily forgettable, or variations on the incredibly-popular HBO adaptation’s theme song. Speaking of which, you better get used to hearing that theme song quite often, since it’s used in a lot of places. A short riff from it even plays when you level up. The voice acting, on the other hand, feels competently done. While Netmarble wasn’t able to get the original actors to reprise their roles for the title, the new voice actors do an admirable job of sounding just like they did in the HBO show. Random quest givers and original NPCs also have voice acting that feels believable for the overall setting.

Generally speaking, Game of Thrones Kingsroad is not a fun game. It is filled to the brim with monetisation systems and roadblocks in progression that eventually forces a choice: wait for pay up. A key example of this is the RP system, which is the main way of getting rewards from multiplayer activities. Essentially, every time you take on a major boss, you can spend RP to get its rewards. You can run out of RP quite quickly, and while the resource does regenerate over time, you can also buy some more RP.

Combine all of the monetisation, the bad UI, the tedious progression systems, and the pointless story with gameplay that devolves into essentially just mindless button mashing through the same uninspired enemies and you get a title that shamelessly chases the success of better games in the market, but with little in the way of redeeming qualities.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Early Access Content and Reception

Kingsroad has been in early access since March 26^th with a full release set for May 21^st. 63 days is not a very long early access period, but the developers at Netmarble are confident in the stability of their game. The early access build is nothing to sneeze at content-wise, boasting a whopping 50 chapters within the main story as well as large number of explorable cities and landmarks including King’s Landing, Winterfall, and Highgarden. That said, regardless of how Netmarble feels about the state of the game, player reception hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. Kingsroad currently sits with a ‘mixed’ rating on Steam across over a thousand players. Most critical reviews cite aggressive pay-to-win monetization as a major hindrance to enjoying the game.

Built in UE5

Epic recently released an interview with the devs of Kingsroad, discussing the methods used to craft the open-world mobile title. So, it’s no secret just how proud the graphics engine leader is in this game. One of the key takeaways from the interview is the world partition technique used to lighten the performance load of the open world. This is done by only loading in zones within proximity of the player. Draw distances are pretty impressive as well, with HLOD being employed to keep the 700 foot wall and other towering landmarks detailed from most vantage points.

Open-World Exploration

While we don’t know the complete surface size of the game’s map, we do know the early access areas are quite large. Opening up the map reveals all of Westeros with the Kingsroad dividing the center. A majority of the early access areas are in the North, including large zones around Castle Black just south of The Wall. Areas are so large that horse mounts are available early on in the game to traverse around with. Like other open world RPGs, the environment is filled with crafting ingredients, shops, treasure chests, quests, and world bosses. If you’re looking for a bunch of open world activities to lose yourself in, this has plenty.

Crafting and Loot

The most ubiquitous of these activities is, of course, ingredient gathering. Kingsroad has a healthy amount of crafting materials that can be plucked from the environment and some are quest rewards and daily bonuses too. Materials have a rarity tier to them, which determines the quality of items you craft. Some of the more common items that can be made from crafting are potions like HP tinctures, but elemental arrows, bolts, and throwing daggers can be crafted as well. Inventory is limited in the game, so frequently crafting and selling items is well advised.

Quests

If it’s the story you’ve come to experience, Kingsroad has a very lengthy main quest. You start out as a heir (shocker) to house Tyre in the North and eventually become entangled in the political escapades the series has been known for. There’s a lot of classic Game of Thrones lore found throughout this game’s quests, with the main character’s journey coming to a head with the ultimate showdown between the Nightswatch and White Walkers. The game is set during the later half of the show’s season 4, so it’ll be interesting to see if the story can fill in some of the holes that season ended on. The hundreds of side quests, faction quests, and artifact quests compliment the main story with faction disputes, hunts, and helping popular characters out from the show. Kingsroad is a very story-heavy game, with 10-long talking sessions and cutscenes being somewhat common.

Fun Action Combat

Since this is an action RPG, the player has full range of movement and manual attack inputs during combat. Dodging, countering, and guarding all come into play here, with enemies also performing the same range of defensive moves depending on their intelligence. Oh, and you can even animation-cancel, which is always one of the key hallmarks of a good action RPG for me. Each class has unique attacks that are set on a timer, so don’t go in expecting a thoughtless button masher. There’s a basic attack, heavy attack, and various skill attacks to choose from with the three classes determining more unique abilities.

Classes

Yes, even the full release of the game is locked to just three classes. Hopefully the limited range of classes is enough to sustain the game for a while. Sellsword is the middle of the line warrior class balancing defense with offense. This is likely the class to choose if you’re planning to use a hybrid swordsman/archer. The Knight is the defensive tank build meant to establish an array of defensive buffs. Knights get the heaviest weapons in the game and excel in heavy attacks. I’m hearing a lot of good things about the Assassin class thanks to their agile DPS output. Flipping around with daggers like a ninja is no doubt going to be the choice for those wanting to really get in close with stealth kills.

Boss Fights

There are plenty of unique boss fights in the game to test a player’s endurance and skill (and maybe bank account but we’ll get into that later). These battles will especially test one’s mastery of cooldowns and inventory management as the pressure to heal and apply antidotes becomes a necessity. The bosses with multiple group enemies require target lock usage more than the larger bosses. If you want a cool Monster Hunter Wilds-like experience, hunt down some of the World Bosses for some jolly cooperation against Westeros’ dragons and the like.

Altar of Memories

And that’s where this dedicated mode comes in. The Altar of Memories mode is where players can join others in raid type boss battles. Teams of up to four players battle through dungeons, where special traps are used to immobilize large bosses like the Ironbeak Griffin and giant ice spiders.

Skills

Skills grant players the more interesting attacks and abilities in the game. Only a set number of Active Skills can be equipped, and they’re typically unique to the a particular class. Skills like the Riposte Stance and Shoulder Charge require Rage (which accumulates by attacking) to perform. Meanwhile, Basic Skills enhance ordinary basic attacks and cooldowns. Levelling up Active and Basic Skills requires Skill Points, which are attained mostly through quests and levelling up your character level.

Trait Trees

Of course, being the RPG that it is, Skills aren’t the only way to progress a character. Traits confer a variety of passive stat increases along with unique abilities. Attack, Defense, and Support are the three Trait trees, and if you’re like me, you’ll be heading straight to the Parry ability located within the Defense tree.

Estate Management ‘minigame’

Being the heir to one of the houses comes with some responsibilities. And in this case, one of those is rebuilding an estate filled with various services and buildings. Building materials and currency are needed to upgrade aspects of the Estate, so there’s a potential for some grind, especially given the free to play live service nature of the game. Estate buildings range from workshops that sell equipment to Stables which sell and store horses.

Daily Activity Caps

So yeah, back to why the game has a mixed rating on Steam. While basic story progression isn’t exactly gated behind any paywall, it can be restricted based on the Recharge Point system. When RP runs out, the player must either spend virtual currencies to buy more or wait until the next day.  The way the developers have addressed RP concerns is not exactly comforting either. Netmarble reassures that the “team is actively discussing balance adjustments to increase the daily amount of RP provided.” So, RP limitations are still a thing with the full release; wonderful. Additionally, there’s timed missions, which just further adds a sense of FOMO in a game where there really shouldn’t be any.

Monetization

Well, this is a mobile live service game after all, so maybe FOMO and monetization is expected. In-game currency can be used to fast travel and share equipment across different characters on the same account. There’s also a lot of cosmetics to purchase within the game’s various menus.

Platforms and Pricing

But at least the game is free to play, right? Well, it will be when it officially launches. To play during the early access period, you have to shell out $24.99 for the standard edition, which grants an additional outfit. Game of Thrones Kingsroad comes out of early access with its official launch on May 21^st on PC, Android, and IOS.