• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Most Overrated game of the year, 2024 edition

CashPrizes

CashPrizes

Member
I just posted this in a thread that was actually for most Overrated game 2022, so I decided to make a post for this year because.......

Balatro is 100% the most overrated game of 2024.

I bought it, played about 3 hours. Have no desire to play it again. A run based game has to have some kind of plot I want to see the finish too, or barring that a cool art design (Hades, Darkest Dungeon) + fun combat I feel like I am mastering over time (Dead Cells). Excellent music also helps.

There is nothing to Balatro, it is just a math game. Yeah you unlock better and better Jokers and new deck types and find new ways to win, but who cares about winning what is essentially a Math problem? I didn't find the music that catchy, the art design is kind of garrish.

I actually really enjoy playing real poker and watching the World Poker Tour. I have also really enjoyed card based run games before (I love Griftlands, Slay the Spire less so but also good) so the fact that it is card based is not an issue.

I also really like Vampire Survivors and acknowledge a big part of the appeal is the Slot machine aspect to it, which this game also shares, so that is not the issue.
 
PeteBull

PeteBull

Member
Every1 has their own opinion, but hype/review score vs how good (or rather terrible)game was, its probably mexican stand off between
Concord vs DA:V vs SW:O
jTtYVB.gif
 
Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
I mean. Come on. It’s obviously Astro Bot. Sony made a solid platformer with tight gameplay and their fans who have to pretend that they like ‘deep narratives’, over the shoulder, walking, talking, press square to inspect gameplay have gone absolutely wild for it.

That being said, it’s still a 9/10. Just not ‘9.4/10 best game eva!’ like our Sony bros would have us believe.
 
Sebastian1295

Sebastian1295

Neo Member
Stalker 2 for me i'm sorry to say. Haven't played the game yet, but i've seen gameplay of it and it looks janky and buggy beyond belief 'deadzone issues on controller are a main complaint'. Also i read watched skillups review of it and he said the story was extremely boring for most of the runtime and not something you're going to play the game for so that lowered my interest in the game as well.
 
Lucifers Beard

Lucifers Beard

Member
Dragons Dogma 2, Dragon Age Veilguard are the two that immediately jump out at me.

I don't think Balatro is overrated, I just don't think it's for you. It's extremely good at what it does and it invokes that 'one more run' feeling in me way more than some other rogue lite type games.
 
bender

bender

What time is it?
Stellar Blade, easily. It's lovely visually and a competent enough action game (just don't expect it to be like NG, DMC3 or Bayo). The semi-open world quest design is a slog and the story is trash. The attention it receives is mostly for obvious reasons but there is also a pretty big hole in the market for character action games, especially those with a production budget.
 
DenchDeckard

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I don't think I have actually played any games that have disappointed me this year. Its been an amazing year for games.

I suppose if I am being really critical, that Astro Bot probably doesnt deserve the 94 MC. More like a 9. I played it for around 5 days 100% and moved on. There was one mind-blowing level, the shrinking one and they didn't revisit it. Its not on the level of a Mario imo opinion at all.
 
M

Mayar

Member
I've never really understood such topics, without the author's explanation, overrated in relation to what? In relation to ratings, press, awards? It's just that if you don't like the game but most players like it, it's just that your opinion didn't coincide with the majority, and that's okay. Not everyone can like all games.

If in relation to the press and awards, well, in this case Elden Ring Shadow of The Erdtree is completely out of competition, I only liked the 3 bosses of this DLC: Romina, Bayle and Messmer, everything else was so-so, and the fight with Radahn is just a cancerous tumor, I have no idea who in the Fromsoft office thought that this was a well-thought-out fight. I finished this DLC and will never play it again. As a nomination for game of the year, sorry, no...
 
GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
Dogma 2, such a wet fart of a game that is somehow even worse than the first one that was already deeeeeeply flawed.

The only good use for it was blacklisting all the youtubers who praised this thing to hell and beyond.

Or space marine 2.
 
Last edited:
CashPrizes

CashPrizes

Member
Mayar said:
I've never really understood such topics, without the author's explanation, overrated in relation to what? In relation to ratings, press, awards? It's just that if you don't like the game but most players like it, it's just that your opinion didn't coincide with the majority, and that's okay. Not everyone can like all games.

If in relation to the press and awards, well, in this case Elden Ring Shadow of The Erdtree is completely out of competition, I only liked the 3 bosses of this DLC: Romina, Bayle and Messmer, everything else was so-so, and the fight with Radahn is just a cancerous tumor, I have no idea who in the Fromsoft office thought that this was a well-thought-out fight. I finished this DLC and will never play it again. As a nomination for game of the year, sorry, no...
Click to expand...

I guess I would consider an equal mix of Critical reception + general buzz in what is most overrated. Like, Dragon Age 2 wouldn't cut it for me because it scored like low 8s critically, and seemingly a wide swath of DragonAge series fans don't like it, and even the people who do like it admit it has some issues.

Whereas Balatro is probably in the low 9's critically, up for Keely Game of the Year and will probably be represented at the Dice Awards and on IGN and Gamespot and every other major outlets GOTY awards. The users who love it are gaga over it and won't shut up about it, and it isn't even ambitious or impressive in it's achievement.

I haven't played Stellar Blade or Black Myth but both of those seem like definite contenders for most Overrated.
 
Darkmakaimura

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I feel like I might have indirectly been the reason this thread was created when I accidentally responded to the 2022 thread about overrated games earlier yesterday.... Heh.

The most overrated game of this year definitely has to go to STALKER 2.

It's a buggy mess with subpar graphics. Not to mention the gameplay looks very repetitive. I'm sure it's fun and all being an open world game and I'm not quite saying the game is bad. In fact, in some ways it's a breath of fresh air in that it's not trying to appeal to modern audiences so to speak. That's the cool thing about Slavic games. But I'm sad to say the game does not seem very good at least to me.
 
Last edited:
GHG

GHG

Member
nemiroff said:
Dragon's Dogma 2

I like it but hate it at the same time. It's so damn unfinished and so disappointingly repetitive and shallow. And yet it's stil at 86 on Metacritic..
Click to expand...

Gets my vote as well:

GHG said:
Allow me to summarise the issue here and why this is an obvious example of how and why they made that portcrystal a microtransaction (if they didn't think people would buy it then they wouldn't have it available for sale):

  • This is a game that encourages exploration and creativity (that we can all agree on)
  • I picked up a side-quest that required me to speak to someone in Battahl. Upon reaching checkpoint rest town, unless you have progressed the main quest far enough then you will get cockblocked when you attempt to go through the gate/border to Battahl.
  • So there's me thinking there must be another way around, look at the map and I can see the river goes around the town and will take you through to the southern area of the map - I go to check it out
  • The river is shallow enough to be traverasable so I rest up at the inn overnight and prepare for the journey
  • The path along the river, through some caves and then on to a main path to Battahl is Hard, there are tons of hard enemies, bosses and a dragon along the path but I press on.
  • To make matters worse along this journey my main pawn dies along the way because they got thrown off a cliff by a boss and I couldn't get down to revive them in time, with that my camping kit is gone, and night falls.
  • As you can imagine, EVEN MORE hard bosses come out to play and at this point I'm simply running for my life trying to survive because I can see on the map I've got less distance to cover to get to Battahl than what's gone before. My other two pawns die along the way.
  • I've travelled through the night, it's now daytime and I eventually make it to Battahl.
  • The journey took me 3 hours of playtime and pretty much all of the curables and potions I had in my possession.
Sounds great right, but did I find it rewarding? No, not in the slightest, in fact it felt like a slap in the face once I reached Battahl and found out there was no port Crystal. One of the motivations to stay the course during that trip was me thinking there will be a portcrystal at Battahl and I would be stupid to go that far and not eventually unlock it. Well, the jokes on me.

To make matters worse, the oxcarts are out of service (again, I've since discovered you need to have progressed the main quest far enough to have them operational in this region) and despite me finding a guy near Battahl who will sell me a portcrystal in exchange for some dragon materials I can't even get that because I don't have enough of those.

At this point I can 100% see what they are trying to do with selling that portcrystal and I suspect it's at this point most people who have purchased it will have done so out of exasperation. I'm left with the following options:
  • Find a dragon (or 2) in the region to kill so I can get the materials to give to the guy who is selling the portcrystal
  • Or get back to Vernworth, especially making the 3 hour trip that I should have been able to look back on fondly worthless and a waste of time.
That's the last time I'm doing a big trip/adventure in this game without having a spare portcrystal in my possession, and that's a shame because you should be free to be able to explore far and wide without fear that it's going to make your life more difficult.
Click to expand...

Bounced off the game and dropped it shortly after. The first DD was far superior in so many ways, what a disappointment.
 
SpiceRacz

SpiceRacz

Member
Banjo64 said:
I mean. Come on. It’s obviously Astro Bot. Sony made a solid platformer with tight gameplay and their fans who have to pretend that they like ‘deep narratives’, over the shoulder, walking, talking, press square to inspect gameplay have gone absolutely wild for it.

That being said, it’s still a 9/10. Just not ‘9.4/10 best game eva!’ like our Sony bros would have us believe.
Click to expand...

Hold it up against any 3D platformer of this generation, the past decade, or even since Mario 64. It’s one of the best ever in the genre. It doesn’t innovate in the way that Galaxy or 64 did. It’s just really well made and has a level of polish that Yooka Laylee, A Hat in Time, Lucky’s Tale, etc do not. It’s as close to a Nintendo platformer from another company that I can remember.
 
M

Mayar

Member
CashPrizes said:
I guess I would consider an equal mix of Critical reception + general buzz in what is most overrated. Like, Dragon Age 2 wouldn't cut it for me because it scored like low 8s critically, and seemingly a wide swath of DragonAge series fans don't like it, and even the people who do like it admit it has some issues.

Whereas Balatro is probably in the low 9's critically, up for Keely Game of the Year and will probably be represented at the Dice Awards and on IGN and Gamespot and every other major outlets GOTY awards. The users who love it are gaga over it and won't shut up about it, and it isn't even ambitious or impressive in it's achievement.

I haven't played Stellar Blade or Black Myth but both of those seem like definite contenders for most Overrated.
Click to expand...
Well, if there is no description of what we are evaluating. Then this topic simply turns into another discussion - "many people like this game, but I don't like it because...". Which is honestly boring, since there are as many opinions as there are people. As for the nomination for game of the year - Dragons Dogma and Slellar Blade don't have nominations for game of the year, but Wukong does have a nomination =)
 
STARSBarry

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Nankatsu said:
Definitely Metaphor: Refantazio.

That game cuts so many fucking corners and becomes a GOTY contender. I don't get it at all.
Click to expand...

Likable characters in an RPG. It's not all it's got going for it, but when you compare them to say the unhinged lunatics of Vielguard for example it starts to make sense why people.enjoy spending time with them.

But your right, it certainly feels like something made on a budget, and that's because it was. I really wish ATLUS would get AAA western dev money just once, Square Enix has this same issue for Final Fantasy, they just don't give them the cash, so corners are cut. They would piss money at their western studios a few years back though, it's a joke really.
 
Last edited:
Lorianus

Lorianus

Member
I dont get the praise for Metaphor's narrative at all, that game is naivety in it's purest form, preaching you over the head with "Man if we just would all get along everything would be so much better !", it treats you like an idiot while hammering this plot point into your head again and again and again, it has good characters and side stories but the main story is mid at best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Astro Bot is officially the second highest-rated game of 2024
News Hype 2
76
6K
Cyborg replied
Hidden Gems or Underrated Games you played in 2024 (Black Friday Recommendations)
2
64
2K
PeteBull replied
Screenrant: We gave Wukong a 6/10 for lacking inclusivity but here are 10 reasons it deserves GOTY At TGA 2024
Drama Cringe 2
92
5K
Sentenza replied
The Game Awards 2024 Nominees List Announcement
Community Hype 6 7 8 9 10
467
18K
NeverYouMind replied
Japan Game Awards 2024 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Wins the Grand Award
News
9
599
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
Top Bottom