Traditionally, the end of December is used as a time to reflect on the very best that this year has served up. Game of the Year lists are aplenty, the Push Square countdown to number one has already begun, and our fellow scribes are penning articles on the games that they think have been overlooked.
But what you won’t find in those upcoming pieces is this set of games, a collection of titles that you’ve probably forgotten even existed. While others can shower the year’s best in compliments, let’s put the spotlight back onto the duds.
These are the PS4 games you most likely forgot even released in 2017.
Agents of Mayhem
As a follow-up to the Saints Row series, Agents of Mayhem brought with it a decent amount of potential if it managed to emulate the chaos and destruction found in the adventures of Johnny Gat. And while the new IP did manage to mimic that absurdity, the forgettable story and lacklustre open-world meant it quickly fell out of the minds of gamers. It’s clear that the world isn’t looking for a sequel.
For Honor
For Honor feels like it’s going to go the same way as Rainbow Six: Siege. Releasing to positive reviews and seemingly good sales, the title has now gone the way of the dodo when it comes to general gaming discussion. However, much like its Ubisoft counter-part, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this one pop up again in six months with a surprisingly strong player base that is being treated to long-term content support. But for now, For Honor hasn’t exactly set the world on fire.
Lawbreakers
If you were to define this entire article by one game, it’s Lawbreakers. Again, this released to generally favourable reviews, but launching in a very crowded genre always spelled trouble for Cliff Bleszinski’s newest project. While Overwatch pretty much killed the game straight from the off, poor marketing and a questionable release date didn’t help the cause either. It has almost become a game in itself to see how low the title’s player count drops to, with the current record sitting at 10. Lawbreakers could have turned out to be an excellent game if it had been treated to even a little bit of a playerbase, but with that being non-existent, we’ll never really know.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
There was a time where it would be utterly barbaric to suggest that a Mass Effect game wouldn’t make a Top 10 list for the year. But then Mass Effect Andromeda released, a title that will top a lot of people’s most disappointing countdowns. Buried beneath a dump of open world clutter, performance issues, and a poor visual palette, it was tough to find the true Mass Effect experience underneath. Associate Editor Robert Ramsey may try and convince you otherwise, but with the cancellation of any potential single player DLC, it’s clear that even BioWare themselves want to turn off the lights on Mass Effect: Andromeda.
RiME
RiME was one of the very first PlayStation 4 games to be shown to the public, and four years later, we finally got to play the final version in May. But that long, long wait clearly had an impact on the overall anticipation for the title as it released to a bit of a whimper, despite another set of positive reviews. Unlike other games such as Journey and The Witness, the game just didn’t have a lasting effect on players. A neat game in the moment, but seven months later, it’s not in our thoughts.
Is there another game that was so utterly forgettable that it didn't even cross our minds when creating this article? Jog your memories in the comments below.
Comments 41
Every single one of these was certainly not forgotten as releasing in 2017. ME:A for example topping the 'most disappointing' for 2017 and I doubt people had forgotten about all the memes etc that were generated.
I guess the others kind of came and went very quickly but I doubt many forgot they were 2017 games. Why not stick in Prey, Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider, Sniper Elite 4, Torment: Tides of Numenera or some of the more obscure indie games that are instantly forgotten. These were not exactly 'big' or got much attention in recent nostalgic looks at the year in gaming...
I'm happy to say that I played none of those. I did want RiME for Switch, but that ain't happening anymore.
Luckily there is enough information out there to make an informed decision when buying a game.
I'm pretty happy with all the games I bought this year. The standard has been fantastic.
Whenever I see Lawbreakers I think of this Louis CK bit.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KwNO1EGzWXA
Then I can't stop saying it all day, either
I think maybe the latest Mass Effect is better off being forgotten.
I still play For Honor! One of my all time favorite games! It had had quite the transformation over the year
Seems like the two horror team based games Dead by Daylight and F13 were quickly forgotten after release as well.
The Eurogamer staff rated Mass Effect Andromeda, Rime and For Honor higher than Nioh, Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn in their 50 Games of 2017 list. And they yet have to reveal Destiny 2 and SW Battlefront 2, which will probably end up in the top ten.
Yes. They did that and now I have to giggle whenever I see the Eurogamer logo, although I actually agree with giving Rime a high spot on the list. It's obviously not on the same level as Uedas games, but it was a great experience nonetheless.
@HefHughner
Yeah, saw that, poor form, anything with loot boxes should not be on any great games list.
I'd legit forgotten about like three of those, but I'll never forget how sour I was playing Mass Effect Andromeda and coming to the grim realisation that they took the bit I hated most about the first in the series and made a whole game out of it.
Rainbow Six: Siege is actually doing really well at the moment (especially on PC) I think. From I've heard the game has actually improved quite a bit since launch.
For Honor is/can be a great game the problem was the launch. Not having dedicated servers is what killed it. Alot of people I know who were excited about this game just couldn't stay connected long enough to enjoy it and now those people have moved on to other games.
As far as Law Breakers goes even though Cliffy B said over and over it's not an Overwatch clone that's not how the public saw it and sad to say but anything going up against Blizzard is pretty much dead before it comes out.
I'd LIKE to forget about Mass Effect Andromeda...
It didn't help Cliff B. that he angered a bunch of VR gamers right as Lawbreakers was launching. Mad props to his prior work, but I hope this has been a bit of a humbling experience for him.
@BAMozzy I was afraid Prey was gonna be on the list but was pleasantly surprised. Playing through it now and I love it so far!
Just bought agents of mayhem for $10. Hoping it’s sort of worth it haha
Funny how Cliffy B was saying that consoles were dead and all, but PS4 is doing great. Can't say the same about his forgettable game.
@HefHughner Seriously? So glad that I never access Eurogamer, they hate everything related to consoles. Disgusting site.
From what I've heard, RiME is a lovely game marred by terrible performance issues. I still intend on giving it a chance: when it's cheap on Steam.
@HefHughner Its funny because Digital Foundry rated Horizon:ZD as the most technically impressive game of 2017.
Nioh and Persona 5 I can understand to a degree. That's not to say they were bad games or worse than others BUT they are more niche than mainstream and that 'niche' appeal could have counted against them.
ME:A in a lot of ways is a much bigger game than H:ZD. More environments, more robust RPG path, more choice, consequence, impact etc, more variation in weaponry and customisation, more quests etc. The story and 'polish' let it down but it is a much 'bigger' game - but I do agree that doesn't make it a 'better' game.
At the end of the day though, its just some-ones opinion. I would much rather play ME:A to Nier, Persona etc because I don't enjoy those games. I would never say Bloodborne is a 'great' game in the same way I would never rate Dark Souls games either because I really do not like them - regardless of how good they look or play. I would rather play a 6-7 rated mess of an RPG like ME:A because I prefer that 'game-play'.
Its the same with games like Destiny 2 and SWBF2, their game-play appeals far more and whilst Destiny 2 has its 'flaws', game-play is great - it must be to keep people playing for hundreds of hours on seemingly 'little' content. It looks and performs superbly too.
Point is, my top 10 of 2017 would differ greatly from the majority of others - some games may well appear on a LOT of peoples lists but no necessarily in the same order. H:ZD for example appears at the top of a lot of peoples lists here but as we see from the individual staff top 5 lists, it doesn't even make their top 5. Some of it may come down to whether they actually played certain games and some have more limited availability because they are only on 1 system.
If you look at the sales, its clear that Nioh and Persona were played by far fewer people than H:ZD let alone multi-platform releases so they are hardly going to appear on 'every' gamers list.
@ShogunRok Not going to happen mass effect andromeda is going to occupy every part of your thought process everytime you wake up in the morning the first word out of your mouth will be my face is tired.
I really really liked Rime but it definitely doesn't have mass appeal. The sooner everyone forgets about Andromeda the better, though.
Knack II’s fall from grace has also seemed meteoric, as positively as it was reviewed. Everyone seemed to sing its praises when it was released, but I haven’t seen it mentioned once in any websites GOTY lists. I’m not sure how it’s sales have been, but I’m guessing we won’t see Knack III.
My takeaway from this article..I need to checkout RiME.
I thought the header image was from Raiders of a Broken Planet, a game that I'm certain would also be on this list if it got, like, any coverage in the first place. It's actually a really cool idea - and it looks gorgeous - but I know I can't play it much because my internet s-u-u-u-c-c-k-k-s-s
Wish more people did know about MercurySteam's asymetrical online shooter though; it's super cool.
Rime is in my thoughts as I got it or Xmas!
@Th3solution
Well I recently saw it discounted 50% on PSN. I picked Yooka Laylee instead as it was cheaper.
No one expected Knack 2 so you never know.
I've still got a physical copy of Rime sealed having bought it the day it came out. Never got round to even opening it *for some reason. I think mixed/disappointing reviews put me off a bit but I think I'd enjoy it.
*definitely didn't buy it on a whim just cuz I saw it had a fox in it..
I quite liked Mass Effect Andromeda and was hoping for dlc. Suppose ill save a bit money now thats not going to happen.
@BAMozzy I see what you're trying to say but you're wrong when you say horizon zero dawn doesn't even appear in the staffs top 5 when there's been 9 staff members top 5 posted and it's shown up in almost half of them with 4 staff choosing it placing it 1st on two of the lists and 2nd on the other two lists. I can almost bet it's going to get overall goty from here just like it did from readers because yes the game is that good
@YummyHappyPills It doesn't change my opinion at all, i really like Push Square and Eurogamer is garbage, imo
Everybody is laughing at that list.
Rime and for Honor definitely forgotten, Andromeda we've all placed a mental block, it should be erased from history. Mayhem should be ignored as it was from the day it was announced.
Lawbreakers had zero players on two days, one in October and another in December. Should say this is on the pc version.
@dark_knightmare2 You miss my point - I didn't say H:ZD doesn't appear in every staff's top 5 list but the fact that over half haven't included it at all and of the 4 that have, only 2 picked it as their best game. 5 out of the 9 didn't include it at all which confirms my statement that it doesn't appear in 'everyones' top 5 - the point I was making. I was also making the point that just because I place it top, doesn't mean everyone else does too - only 2 of the staff place it in the position I do.
Personally, its my Game of the year - easily but obviously not everyones as only 2 out of 9 have picked it as their top choice.
If you then expand that out to a site like Eurogamer and add in the fact that some staff may play predominantly on PC, Xbox or Switch, then games like Horizon, and especially Persona, Nioh etc are unlikely to have been played by most. Persona and Nioh were not exactly 'big' sellers and Horizon, for an Exclusive, has sold well but ~4m for ~70m PS4 consoles sold - that's like 5-6%. Persona 5 sold around 1.1m with 420k of those in Japan with Europe and NA accounting for 580k. Nioh sold around 850k so its not surprising that a LOT of people wouldn't have voted for these games simply because they probably didn't play them.
Horizon:ZD is unlikely to be 'every' PS4 owners game of the year as, according to the 'sales' - over 90% haven't played it.
I was saying that we all have different ideas about our top 5. Not everyone plays every game and they aren't going to rate a game in their top 5 if they didn't play it. Even if the same 5 games appear in more than 1 persons list, they may not necessarily be in the same order either.
I am not sure if this is meant to be a serious article or not? But putting Mass effect in as one people forgot was released n 2017 makes no sense at all. It was more talked about than a lot of games this year. Whether you liked the game or not it still is not a forgotten game.
Accel World vs SAO was also a forgotten release (despite not being reviewed on this site). Rarely have I seen talking about the game. Probably because the game is digital only in the west in both PS4 and Vita, and there was barely any marketing or even hype compared to the previous SAO games. I guess this is why the game got ported to Steam.
I also still play for honor, not as much as I did but it's still up there with one of the best games I've ever played, you don't know what your missing
Get what you mean but I am lovin Mayhem, working towards the plat now which is a bit of a grind but not often a game keeps me entertained as long as this one
This article makes me sad. Personally, LawBreakers and Mass Effect Andromeda are two of my favorite games of the year, and I doubt most of the people talking trash about them played much (or any) of either of these games.
@RedMageLanakyn
Dead By Daylight was released in 2016 and consistently has tons of concurrent players...more than COD WW2 at ANY given time, for example (on PC at least). Not sure why you brought it up, but there’s one underrated gem I highly recommend anyone to try.
@ShiggleMan Raiders of the Broken Planet is my biggest disappointment of the year. It’s a fun game with a great art style, but it’s buried under a super, SUPER grindy gameplay loop and horrendous DLC practices (i.e. one of the characters costs $60 to unlock, and some alternate outfits cost up to $40+). I recommend you play it offline solo (~2 hrs per campaign DLC) or not at all (you’ll be waiting forever to find a match, and don’t get me started on the insanely frustrating 1v4 “Antagonist” mode).
@keihtg Hmm, I'm seeing June 20th, 2017 for a release date on PS4. I brought it up because this is a list of games that were forgotten in 2017, and after it's release I haven't really heard or seen much about here at Push Square, so I had completely forgot about it!
I wish I could forget Mass Effect Andromeda. Sigh.
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