Although video games and the experience they provide are quite subjective, some titles that have come out this year have perhaps earned their bad rep. The good news is that they can serve as a lesson in hindsight for their developers and publishers while also allowing the rest of the industry to learn from their mistakes.

With that being said, it’s time to take a look at some of the worst games that 2025 has brought to our libraries.

10. TRON: Catalyst

TRON: Catalyst had the potential to put a unique spin on the popular TRON movies with its unique art style and top-down action perspective. However, Bithell Games dropped the ball here by playing it too safe, with the resulting experience never pushing its players beyond a certain limit and feeling quite underwhelming as a result.

Make no mistake, Exo’s adventures and the central conflict between the Core and Automata are a solid premise for a video game. But Bithell failed to capitalize on its source material in ways that mattered. The result is a game that seems ambitious on the surface but is largely forgettable thanks to its execution.

Its combat never challenges its players while its level design and narrative are merely serviceable instead of being great ways to present complex themes like corporate greed, time travel, and dystopian societies. Although it does have its takers, TRON: Catalyst should have been the definitive TRON experience for fans and newcomers alike. It’s a damn shame it didn’t make the most out of its source material, though.

9. Spirit of the North 2

Just like the previous title on this list, Spirit of the North 2 has the dubious distinction of wasting a fantastic premise. Infuse Studio had an opportunity to build on the mechanics and story it set up in the original game but instead failed to do more with its take on a fox and raven working together to dispel the influence of a truly malicious antagonist.

It’s rare that a game uses its opening act to make its players the catalyst for all the calamity that they will have to deal with as they continue their playthrough. That’s just what Spirit of the North 2 does, however. But that inspired piece of narrative flair soon falls flat in the wake of an uninspired world with insultingly simply puzzles and lacklustre exploration.

While its world-building was on point for the most part, this is a game that remains largely forgettable once you roll the credits on its relatively short adventure. We really hope that Infuse pulls up its socks and does more with a world that looked pretty darn good but had so little in it that it may have been okay to let it succumb to the influence of the dark shaman who was trying to corrupt it.

8. Creature Keeper

While Creature Keeper does deserve some slack considering it’s an indie title developed by a single individual, it does earn its place on this list thanks to the egregious wasted potential on display throughout its runtime. It’s ambitions to be a rival to Pokemon or Palworld are clear to see but it wastes the potential of capturing friendly beasties to battle at your side in favor of a befriending mechanic that’s more reliant on how many treats you currently carry in your inventory.

That lackluster approach carries over to its combat and world-building, seriously limiting its potential to be more than a passing distraction in a world filled with more entertaining titles. Sodland is not a place you might find yourself going back to in the interim between your last great game and the release of your next big one.

7. Captain Blood

A game that broke out of development hell and is based on a fairly interesting pirate novel should have been quite the entertainer, right? However, SeaWolf Studio’s take on piracy quickly disabused us of that notion, with Captain Blood failing to capture the highs and lows of the 1685 Spanish Main in an adventure that certainly needed more time at sea before it became a true swashbuckler.

Its hack n’ slash gameplay loop failed to make the most out of a combat system that seemed reasonably good but was ultimately let down by clunky controls and a main story that failed to dig up any narrative gold. Captain Blood is sadly the worst pirate we ever heard of.

6. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour

It’s puzzling that a behemoth like Nintendo failed to learn from its rival Sony when it came to creating an experience that introduced Switch 2 owners to their shiny new handheld. Unlike Astro Bot, which was a free add-on for PS5 owners, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour fails to highlight any of the new device’s best features in a way that justifies its $10 price tag.

The best way we can explain it is by comparing it to a tour of a large office given to you by an intern who is clearly unpaid, and subsequently disinterested in what they do there. It’s quite disheartening to see such a half-hearted attempt from a studio that generally makes incredible games especially for its homegrown consoles. Nintendo will certainly want to revisit this title and perhaps get back to the drawing board for future additions.

5. Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator

It’s rather surprising that Aesir Interactive followed up its excellent Police Simulator: Patrol Officers with Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator. While one would expect that the studio would take what worked in its last outing and develop it to add new wrinkles to the subsequent one, what we were given was a buggy, uninspired mess that failed to capture the tension and impact of what a paramedic working under pressure would experience in the field.

Instead, we were left trying our best to get our patients loaded up in the ambulance while its day one patch rendered its diagnostic mechanic all but useless, leaving us with a bunch of patients whose pain and suffering were indicative of our own emotions playing this title’s mind-numbing minigames. Honestly, you’d be better off actually training to be a paramedic in the real world if you want to see what that feels like in action.

4. Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest

This DLC chapter to one of 2024’s most terrifying horror games is probably a surprising presence on this list much like the main game’s terrifying threats. However, Siren’s Rest fails to deliver on an exciting promise of uncovering more of what made the Biera D oil rig fall to the depths of Davy Jones’ locker.

With ten years passing between the DLC and the base game, a new protagonist looking to get more answers about the ill-fated oil rig fails to find the answers she needs thanks to a less linear approach to discovering secrets and annoying pathing issues that seriously limited her ability to find what she was looking for. The relatively shorter runtime also worked against it, making Siren’s Rest the weakest part of the experience that The Chinese Room brought to the table in a horror game that had us at the edge of our seats last year.

3. Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror

We’ve seen everything that Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror brings to the table before. There’s an amnesiac protagonist who needs to visit a desolate location filled with the secrets of her past. There are spooky dolls, maniacal clowns, and a whole host of horrors standing in her way. There are puzzles to solve, and secrets to unlock.

But unfortunately, these staples of the horror genre take a backseat to a lackluster narrative, egregious pacing issues, badly synced audio, and severely limiting mechanics that make this game quite difficult to recommend. SODESCO’s attempts to build up its Dollhouse franchise needs a lot of work, and fast.

2. Game of Thrones Kingsroad

netmarbleNeo’s attempt to leverage of the success of HBO’s largely successful take on Westeros may have been a good attempt if it wasn’t for its progression systems that seemed hell-bent on eating into our wallets before allowing us to uncover more of its take on George R.R. Martin’s fictional world.

Trying to worm your way into the affections of the lords and ladies of the land is a tedious grind if you take the free-to-play route, taking a lot away from a Game of Thrones experience that brought an impressive character creator and a lot of cool moments with series staples like Jon Snow. It’s an unpolished take on Westeros that only the Lannisters might be able to successfully navigate given their seemingly deep pockets.

1. MindsEye

Build a Rocket Boy would certainly wish that their gaming debut was not the belle of the ball on this list but here we are. MindsEye brought a gorgeous yet empty open-world to its players, populating it with enemies and NPCs that were quite dumb by modern standards.

Those problems were further exacerbated by a boring combat loop, a mediocre main story, and a very puzzling endgame loop that we still cannot make sense of. Its bugs and frame drops only added to the confusion while Build a Rocket Boy’s poor damage control efforts have relegated their pilot project to the depths of gaming hell. As it stands, MindsEye’s best feature is that it serves as a bad example, and a benchmark in what not to do when making a new game.

What were your thoughts on these titles? Were there any others that you think deserve a place on this list? Hit us up in the comments and fire away at the games you thought were a let-down this year!

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad puts players in the shoes of a brand new character to the franchise. Strange events happen, however, which end up with the player character becoming an heir to a small Northern noble house – House Tyre. The player can choose from one of three roles: Knight, Sellsword and Assassin. Throughout the game, players will be faced with numerous combat challenges that will require them to understand their class abilities in order to take them on in real-time action combat.

The title, based on HBO’s Game of Thrones, which in turn is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, tells an original story that also involves characters from the source material. The looks of these characters have been based on the actors that took on these characters’ roles in HBO’s TV adaptation. Among the notable cameos in the game is the dragon Drogon, who can be taken on as a Field Boss.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad’s release builds on what the studio learned from its short time spent in Early Access on Steam. Now that it is fully out, players can explore the world beyond the two chapters that were available during the Early Access period, including new zones like Storm’s End and Felwood, which have been brought to the game with with the Chapter 3 update accompanying the game’s launch.

Over time, more content will be added to Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, which will bring even more zones from the books and TV series, allowing players to ultimately fully explore the continent of Westeros.

Alongside the launch of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Netmarble has also issued a notice that players who had not purchased the Founder’s Pack DLC for the game, which was available during its Early Access period, might be seeing it show up in their in-game mailbox. The studio has noted that players who did not buy the Founder’s Pack will see it removed from their mailbox soon.

Back in April, game director Hyunil Jang had spoken about future plans for the game, including updates that were being made to the title for better player engagement leading up to its launch. Speaking about how the game’s story will start evolving moving forward, Jang said that there will be darker chapters as well.

“The narrative for this next chapter will be slightly darker as well,” he said. “We’ll dive a little more into the aspects of religion and what it would mean to a medieval society like that of Westeros to have their king suddenly declare that all the people under his rule are now obliged to change their faith to that of a god whose name they can’t even pronounce.”

If you’re curious about Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, here’s everything you need to know.

As part of the announcement, game director Hyunil Jang spoke about future plans for the title in a letter to the community. In the post, as caught by WCCFTech, Jang spoke about various features of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, including the fact that field bosses will be getting matchmaking that allows up to 12 players to team up together. As part of the change, field bosses will also spawn less often.

“During the early access period, we had them spawn frequently so that many players could take part,” said Jang. “However, we noticed that because they appeared so often, players were more spread out and it actually made it harder for groups to come together and enjoy the content fully. To improve this, we’re planning to reduce the number of times Drogon appears each day.”

“We understand this will lower the number of attempts players can make, but we believe it’s more important to create an environment where people can enjoy the content together.”

Jang also spoke about plans to improve on the game’s RP system, which stems from players criticising the shortage of the resource. Feedback has also revealed to the studio that players don’t find much to do once RP runs out. To address this, the studio plans to add more content to the game, including exploration challenges and co-op content, that won’t require the use of RP.

“The original intent of the RP system was to help manage fatigue and ensure players could still earn meaningful rewards even with limited play time,” said Jang. “However, many of you shared that the current RP supply felt too low, which made the overall experience less satisfying. We completely understand this concern, and the team is actively discussing balance adjustments to increase the daily amount of RP provided.”

“Another point we heard was that there isn’t too much to do once RP runs out. Right now, players can still take part in content like field bosses or explore Westeros after using up their RP, but we agree there’s room to offer more. We’re working on adding new types of content, including exploration challenges and co-op content, to keep things engaging even beyond RP.”

While Game of Thrones: Kingsroad currently only has some parts of the setting of A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones for players to explore, the ultimate goal of the studio is to have the entirety of Westeros to the game. The next major update planned in this regard will focus on bringing the Stormlands to the game.

“The narrative for this next chapter will be slightly darker as well,” he said. “We’ll dive a little more into the aspects of religion and what it would mean to a medieval society like that of Westeros to have
their king suddenly declare that all the people under his rule are now obliged to change their faith to that of a god whose name they can’t even pronounce.”

For more details about Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, check out our coverage of its Early Access launch. And in the meantime, also check out the gameplay trailer from back in January.

The Early Access version of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will only be available for those that buy one of the three Founder’s Packs available through the game’s Steam page. The Founder’s Packs are available in three flavours: Standard Pack, Deluxe Pack, and Ultimate Pack.

The Standard Pack just gets you access to the game, along with 350 Iron Banks Marks, the Northern Outfit, and the Jon Snow Emoji Pack.

The Deluxe Pack comes with a host of in-game goodies, including the premium battle pass, the Northern Outfit, the Wandering Crow Outfit, the Darkcloud mount, 50,000 Copper, 750 Iron Bank Marks, the Jon Snow Emoji Pack, the Ghost Nameplate Background, and the Harbginer Nameplate Frame.

The Ultimate Pack comes with the same things as the Deluxe Pack, along with more goodies. This includes the White Fang mount, the Premium+ version of the battle pass, the Brotherhood Without Banners saddle for a Direwolf, the Brotherhood Without Banners reins and saddle for a horse, the Iron Throne Nameplate Background, the Conqueror Nameplate Frame, 20,000 Copper, and 2,000 Iron Bank Marks.

“The wait is nearly over — Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is launching into Early Access on Steam,” wrote the studio in its announcement. “Steel yourselves for the journey ahead, and prepare to carve your path through the Seven Kingdoms.”

The Early Access release of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will include major cities like King’s Landing, Highgarden and Winterfell, along with 50 chapters of the main story, and several side-missions and co-op dungeons. The game will also feature endgame PvE challenges. After its Early Access launch, the game will eventually get more zones added to it, including Storm’s End and Felwood.

The PC hardware requirements for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad were revealed alongside the title’s demo being released back in February. At minimum, players will need either an Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8350 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB of VRAM. The studio recommends players to have PCs running on either an Intel Core i7-9700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 with 8 GB of VRAM or an AMD Radeon RTX 5700 XT.

While taking place in the same setting as HBO’s TV series (based on book series A Song of Ice and Fire), Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will feature an original story that revolves around the player taking on the role of an illegitimate child from a small noble Northern house, House Tyre. As part of the main storyline, players will travel all over the seven kingdoms while also helping out the Night’s Watch and solidifying their own political positions.

The title features a real-time combat system with full manual control over defensive options like blocking, dodging, and parrying. The game’s combat is described by the developers as “emphasizing impactful and exhilarating swordfights.” Players will also be able to further customise their playing style by picking the right class for their character.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad also features co-op content, where players can team up to take on extraordinary challenges together for greater rewards. For more details about the game, check out the original announcement.

While the exact amount of content in the demo hasn’t yet been confirmed, its description indicates that players will get to explore some of the northern parts of the continent of Westeros. This includes iconic places from the TV show and the A Song of Ice and Fire books like The Wall and Winterfell. Along with the demo, Netmarble has also requested players to submit feedback about the game with a survey.

The studio has also revealed the PC specifications required to play the Game of Thrones: Kingsroad demo. The minimum specs required to run the game are either an Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8350 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with 6 GB of VRAM. The studio recommends players to have PCs running on either an Intel Core i7-9700 or AMD Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and either an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 with 8 GB of VRAM or an AMD Radeon RTX 5700 XT.

The FAQ for the demo’s release also indicates that players will need a constant Internet connection to be able to play the game. While an in-game account will be required to play, the studio has confirmed that players can use the same account to play Game of Thrones: Kingsroad once it’s officially out.

During the demo period, Netmarble has also kicked off a host of in-game events that players can participate in. Among some of the rewards players can get during their time with the demo are various Check-In rewards that get players various in-game items for playing the title for up to 5 consecutive days.

There are also rewards that players can earn for hitting certain in-game milestones, such as clearing out all available main quests, defeating Stel, and reaching level milestones for their characters. A lot of these rewards can also be earned throughout the demo by playing regular content like clearing enemy hideouts, taking on ferocious beasts, and completing Echoes of the Past activities.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad was first shown off with a trailer back in December 2024. The trailer gave us a glimpse at what regular gameplay will look like, and notably, showed off some of its fantastic facial capture. Among the characters that will show up in the game are Jon Snow as played by Kit Harrington in the TV show, and even Jamie Lannister as played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

A trailer released last month gave us a better look at the upcoming RPG’s gameplay, showing off both combat as well as exploration and even NPC interactions. Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will feature a real-time action combat system, and players will have access to a host of different weapons. Things can get further complicated thanks to players making use of their special abilities to take down larger foes.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is coming to Android, iOS and PC in Q2 2025.

Among the various aspects of the game, the video showcases a character creator of some sort, as well as fully-voiced cutscenes, and some action gameplay. The trailer also gives us a look at various locations from Game of Thrones having been recreated in the game, including areas on the northern end of Westeros, and even The Wall.

The video also shows off some exploration gameplay, with the player character looking through various nooks and crannies for collectibles, as well as finding evidence to further progress in the story.

The video culminates in showcasing some combat, with the player taking on regular enemies, as well as an epic boss fight where the player teams up with a group of NPCs. The latter follows the trend of other action games, where the boss telegraphs its attacks so that the player has time to get on the defensive.

The combat itself appears low level, since the player character doesn’t have too many options in the way of combos or weaponry.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad recently got an official trailer that showed off some of its combat and exploration-based gameplay. The trailer hinted at the game having a more open world where players could take on side quests and explore the countryside for hidden treasures amongst ruins.

The trailer was a follow-up to one released back in December during The Game Awards, which gave us our first solid look at the game. Notable in that trailer was the detailed facial capture of several characters from the Game of Thrones TV show, including characters like Jon Snow and Jamie Lannister.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad doesn’t yet have a release date aside from a 2025 window, and will be coming to PC, iOS and Android. The game is currently gearing up for a closed beta test, which will take place between January 16 and January 22.

This time around, the trailer gives us an up close look at the hard-hitting combat and some of the exploration in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. The video indicates that the title will feature an open world that players will be able to freely explore to some extent.

The combat itself appears to be combat-based, with different weapons available for varying up play styles. When it comes to exploration, however, there seems to be quite a bit for players to do, ranging from quests from important characters from the show, to finding and exploring ruins in search of treasure.

The trailer also gives us a look at some of the different areas players will be able to explore and fight in, from grassy fields to crumbling ruins, and even seemingly the streets of major cities.

Much like in the previous trailer, the latest one also gives us a great look at some of the great facial capture and animation of important characters.

While no solid release date has been announced for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad as of yet, the game is set for release some time this year. WB Games has also announced a closed beta test for the game for players in US, Canada, and parts of Europe. This beta test will take place on January 16, and will go on until January 22.

Notably, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad has some great facial capture for characters like Jon Snow, with actor Kit Harrington being rendered quite impressively. The trailer gave us a glimpse of a number of characters, ranging from the warriors of the Night’s Watch, to Jamie Lannister all the way in King’s Landing.

On the gameplay side of things, it looks like Game of Thrones: Kingsroad will feature real-time action combat, with the player taking on a host of different threats, from bandits and wild animals, to the ghoulish white walkers.

While there is no definitive release date for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, we do have a release window of 2025 for its iOS and Android release.