There have been so many incredible games released in 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Resident Evil 4, the list goes on and on. However, not every game has hit the mark and lived up to expectations this year, so let’s take a look at some of them. Here are the five worst rated Xbox games of 2023.
5. Romancelvania
Have you ever thought what a game would be like if it combined the Metroidvania style with a dating simulator? Me neither, but The Deep End Games did and they decided to create it. The story and gameplay are good if you can look passed the cheesy dialogue. Unfortunately, it gets let down by the janky controls which can make it very frustrating to play. There’s better Metroidvanias out there, but if the addition of a dating simulator grabs your attention, add it to your wishlist and wait for it to go on sale.
Romancelvania scored 64% on Metacritic, with critics calling the Metroidvania X dating simulator an interesting concept but risky and it didn’t live up to expectations.
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4. Wanted: Dead
Wanted: Dead is a slasher-shooter made by the team behind Ninja Gaiden, which sounds like it would be a surefire hit this year. Unfortunately, Wanted: Dead doesn’t quite live up to expectations. It is not a terrible game, but it could have been so much more. The attacks aren’t smooth and the gameplay is janky which really lets it down. If Wanted: Dead was more polished it could have been an unexpected hit of the year.
Wanted: Dead scored 61% on Metacritic, with critics calling it an incredibly disappointing effort.
3. Madden NFL 24
I think we’re getting to the point where we will see yearly sports games be forced to take a break in order to address any issues and rebuild the experience. It worked for WWE 2K with the cancellation of 2K21 and other sports games would benefit from this too. Madden NFL 24 is a step up compared to the previous entry, but it still suffers from a lot of issues. For every improvement to the on-field experience, everything off the field still needs work and improvements. If you’re an NFL fan then this is your best option to get your gaming fix, but I know many of us are longing for the series to return to its glory days.
Madden NFL 24 scored 61% on Metacritic, with some critics calling it yet another lazy release.
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2. God Of Rock
As a musician, any time I see a rhythm-based game it piques my interest, I am still hopeful that Guitar Hero will be brought back from the dead one day. God of Rock is a rhythm-based 1v1 fighting game where you match notes and timings to beat up your opponent. It is an interesting concept, but some mechanics could have been improved such as making the charting vertical and adding some more variety to the gameplay to give it more replayability.
God of Rock scored 58% on Metacritic, with critics calling it innovative but noting that it misses the mark.
1. Redfall
Redfall is a game that many of us were so hopeful for, an open-world vampire-themed first-person–shooter sounds like a good time, and it should have been. Unfortunately, it missed the mark in almost every way, which is surprising considering it was developed by Arkane Austin and published by Bethesda. One of the biggest controversies when it launched was the terrible graphics which would have looked mediocre during the last generation, never mind as a next-gen game. The good news, if you want to check it out you can on Xbox Game Pass, so if you dislike it then you haven’t really lost anything other than time.
Redfall scored just 56% on Metacritic, with many critics calling it a disappointing experience.
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