One more time you must endure my column, and then you will have successfully brought the year 2015 to a close! As in the past year, I will again crown my 3 gaming flops that have piled up over the year. It is not necessarily about a game “as a whole”, but also individual decisions by the developers can tip the scales here. Basically, the candidates from last year have stealthily crept back to the top spots. But read for yourself…
WildStar – 2 chances, 2 times failed
It actually pains me to write these lines because WildStar was for me one of the most dedicated and best games of recent years. I spent hundreds of hours on Nexus, even during the beta, and was truly glad to have found a game that brought fresh air into the dusty genre. Last year, WildStar was a flop because many promises were broken and numerous bugs were either not addressed or dealt with far too late. This year, the reason is different: even Free2Play could not save the game.
Despite many sensible changes, the game now feels exactly like what nobody wanted: even more blandness. The high feeling lasted just under 2 weeks when the “2nd release” was due before the game disappeared again into oblivion. I loved the game, had a lot of fun in role-playing, and could lose myself in housing forever. But if a game fails to captivate the masses twice in a row, maybe it’s just not meant to be. Rest in peace, WildStar. I fear you won’t survive the next year. But perhaps a miracle will still happen.
World of Warcraft: The sudden end
Speaking of miracles. In second place for me is the unexpected end of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. After it was stated in the spring that the final boss of the addon would be “Gromm Hellscream”, it seemed clear that it would continue after patch 6.2. But surprise. The “Hellfire Citadel” was the only new raid that the game received after release and it ended the story of the expansion in many aspects completely nonsensically.
Severe logical gaps and character distortions led to villains suddenly cooperating with heroes, regardless of what previous events dictated. Especially the character Yrel, who was developed through many quests, was coldly brought to ridicule with this.
Even the area “Tanaan Jungle” could not convince, as it was an endless daily quest area that hardly offered any story-relevant tasks.
But the disappointment still lingers: Fans will have to wait for fresh content for almost a year now, as Legion is still far away and will probably be released no earlier than summer 2016 – this is almost reminiscent of the drought period from “Mist of Pandaria”, which was to be avoided.
Evolve – Failed due to terrible PR
Even the last flop pains my heart. For me, Evolve is still the game of the year 2015, it is a shooter that does a lot right. No other game has made the adrenaline rush through my body like when I slipped into the skin of the monster and ambushed the hunters. But I cannot blame the developers from Turtle Rock Studios. They made the game as well as they could, and for me, it is closer to perfection than any other game has ever achieved. The blame lies (in my opinion) entirely with the publisher 2K, who is responsible for the DLC policy and the information around it.
Although Evolve already offered a lot of variety and content at launch, they failed to convey clearly enough what they were selling in the form of DLCs. Even today, I still hear people saying, who think “With Evolve you have to spend several hundred euros to own all characters and maps” and that couldn’t be more wrong. Although there are many DLCs, most of them are just skins without gameplay relevance. Maps are generally free, and only the characters contained in the season passes are really an extension – and relatively inexpensive, I think.
Nevertheless, 2K has managed, through poor planning and misleading statements, to make many regard Evolve as “DLC – The Game”. This has caused anger and frustration. Even for me. Low player numbers are the result, and this despite Evolve landing in 21st place on Steam’s best-selling games of 2015. I hope that time will do the game good.
So, those were my three harsh disappointments of 2015! What has upset you so much this year? What game made you angry or even sad and why? Let me know in the comments! In 2016, the complaining will continue – I am sure we will find many topics.
