The 8 most disappointing games of 2022

Every year, Tom’s Guide rounds up the best games we played, and the best games you might have missed. But there’s a dark side to our “game of the year” stories, too: the most disappointing game. For every Elden Ring or God of War Ragnarök, there’s a game that meant well, but came up short — or a game that just flat-out didn’t work.

The Tom’s Guide staff has combed through the 2022 gaming library and picked out some high-profile titles that come with at least a few caveats. Some of these games are still worth checking out, if you know what you’re getting into; others, you’ll want to avoid entirely. In either case, there are much, much better games that you could play over the holidays.

Babylon’s Fall

Calling Babylon’s Fall “disappointing” is actually a bit misleading — it’s just plain bad. While some games have a fantastic core concept, let down by a shoddy execution, there was almost nothing in Babylon’s Fall that seemed appealing. The game started off on the wrong foot by charging a full $60 to play, then inundating players with expensive microtransactions as soon as they logged in. But underneath the predatory battle pass, there was nothing but repetitive gameplay, a baffling story, an underdeveloped setting and outdated graphics. In fact, we couldn’t even experience the game properly, as there were never enough players to find full battle parties.