2018 wasn’t the best year in terms of video games when looking at big AAA releases on the whole. Thank goodness for God of War and Spider-Man, at least if you had a PS4, and Red Dead Redemption, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Monster Hunter World for multi-platform releases.

But there were just too many sequels to major franchises that just really dropped the ball in one way or another and sold like weeks old moldy bread. What really hurts is that some of the games on this list are actually pretty good, but just failed to come close to matching the previous entry in said series.

5. The Crew 2

The Crew was a fun enough racing game that fell victim to Ubisoft and their “tower syndrome” that they live by. You’d think that a racing game wouldn’t have you climbing towers to active areas but here you go. The Crew 2 should have built upon the first and offered a bigger game, more cars, better handling and some fun new features.

Instead of listening to me and fans of the first game, Ubisoft decided that instead of slowing building a new franchise and letting it grow naturally, they’d instead cram three different types of games into one underdeveloped product. The idea of jumping between land, sea and air at whim is neat, but it’s just a gimmick at best.

Underneath that sweet honey mustard sauce is a Dollar Tree rib-eye steak. Sure, it’s technically food, but you know there are better options out there. Because you are flying, driving and boating(?), none of them feel like a complete idea. It’s the old adage of doing one thing well instead of lots of things half-assed.

Sales Numbers: Lifetime sales put The Crew 2 almost 55% behind the first, but like the original, sales should increase after more and more update (one hopes).

4. Battlefield V

Battlefield V was fighting an uphill battle after it’s first trailer dropped online and it just never managed to reach the peak, tripping over a bastardized version of WWII. The game itself plays well enough, but other than the new location it sure feels a lot like Battlefield 1 (the names are confusing).

If you want to make an alternate history game, go for it, but don’t take a “realistic” shooter series and stick a disabled woman leading the charge. WWII had a ton of bad-ass women fighting and saving lives that you could have built a story around if you actually cared.

Analysts predicted that Battlefield V would bomb well before release, and with pre-orders lagging ‘Cal of Duty’ by more than 85%, the series was dead on arrival. The fact that the announced ‘Battle Royale’ mode was pushed didn’t help, with COD running wild with their own ‘Battle Royale’ launching with the game.

Sales Numbers: Battlefield V sales were down 63% compared to Battlefield 1

3. Fallout 76

Bethesda is know for releasing huge games that are always pretty borked. So it only makes sense that their follow-up to Fallout 4 is even bigger and even buggier. Oh, and they made it online and took out all the interesting NPCs that helped make the series really special.

People figured the game would be bad as it was a betrayal of everything that Fallout was at it’s core, but it was even worse than anyone could have imagined. All those articles written by “critics” so far up Bethesda’s dick-hole saying Fallout 76 could be the greatest game in the series sure haven’t aged well.

Upon launch the game was damn near unplayable, and even if it worked as well as Fallout 4, it would not be a great experience. Bugs everywhere, servers crashing, long lines as one a single player can interact with a merchant or station at a time and rooms respawing all the enemies because another player entered kill all the fun.

Sales numbers: We knew it would be bad but launch week numbers show Fallout 76 down 80% when compared to Fallout 4.

2. Darksiders III

Darksiders III is not a terrible game (most games on this list aren’t), but it just wasn’t what gamers were expecting for a core follow-up to this much-loved series. Darksiders has never be stellar, but it’s heavy Zelda inspiration with a much darker tone help it stand out.

With four horseman of the apocalypse, this third entry with a new horseman should have continued the basic, yet winning formula. Because it’s on this list you can probably guess that it didn’t. Instead of following in the footsteps of the first two games and adding new features based around a new horseman, the game decided to copy Dark Souls instead.

It’s a fine enough game, but just doesn’t feel like Darksiders. Imagine if the next core entry into God of War was a ‘Battle Royale’ game instead of an action adventure. Sure, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the general idea.

Sales Numbers: Darksiders III sold 84% less than Darksiders II and was killed by Farming Simulator 19, the only other new game to release on the same day.

1. Metal Gear Survive

Yeah, you totally forgot Metal Gear Survive released in 2018 too. We don’t blame you as this glorified mod was laughed at after the first trailer dropped online. Konami hates gamers and the only reason this one exists is to spite Hideo Kojima.

Look, Kojima is no great artist or anything (Death Stranding is going to blow, but critics will praise it because they need to pretend it “makes sense” to them) but this just taints the series, the engine, and Konami even more.

Running on the same engine behind Metal Gear Solid V, Survive feels all sorts of terrible. The zombie rush gamplay wasn’t designed to run on the engine, the story is stupid, and none of this matter. Nothing matters anymore. Back to making Pachinko machines and laughing at gamers.

Sales numbers: We don’t know as Konami omitted them from their annual sales call, but sales research shows Survive sold 95% less copies than Metal Gear Solid 5 on launch week.

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