Not every video game is lucky enough to reach its full potential let alone make any kind of difference in the market. This is either because the developers are too inexperienced with the concepts or the publishers that lord over them prioritized monetization and releases over quality control.
The result is a title that’s either broken, half-baked, or live serviceable to the point that the in-game content feels sparse in comparison. It’s sad, especially considering most of these titles were practically one tweak away from being award winners.
However, thanks to the commitment of their respected studios, these games have received major updates that are turning their disposition almost completely around. Hence, they are on the road to recovery and could have a second chance at great things. Here is a list of a few making a change in 2021.
‘Warcraft III: Reforged’
For the past few years, legendary game publisher Blizzard has been on a slippery slope when it comes to handling its own releases. Not even a remastered title seems possible for the company as evident by ‘Warcraft III: Reforged.’ This timeless RTS saw its legacy uprooted by poor design choices that made even hardcore fans request refunds. Fortunately, the team is committed to reworking and polishing it until it looks and plays as it should. And it sure looks that way.
‘Cyberpunk 2077’
After years of hype and anticipation, ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ was released in late 2020. But it was nothing more than a polished turd from a shady CD Projekt, leading to one of the biggest scandals in the industry. It wasn’t a good look for ‘The Witcher’ dev and so work needed to be done to salvage the trust of consumers. Now, what started as the biggest slap to the face is on its way to eventually become the title it was destined to be in accordance with the quality of life roadmap laid out ahead.
‘Fallout 76’
Bethesda’s MMORPG ‘Fallout 76’ has come a long way since 2018. At launch, the vanilla build was practically barebones and quite rickety for players to even run properly. However, fast forward to 2021 and the game is now thriving thanks to several quality-of-life updates released between that time. Currently, "Fallout 76" is on its second major expansion called “Cold Steel” and the roadmap laid out for it suggests things will only get better from here.
‘Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’
As the 12th installment in the long-running stealth-action franchise, "Assassin’s Creed Valhalla" should have perfected its craft. But as typical of Ubisoft, there was a prioritization of live servicing over in-game quality. As such, the launch version was missing promised features and was plagued with bugs. Also typical of Ubisoft, the company has since rolled out some features and gameplay improvements in response to the backlash. It’s still a work in progress but it’s coming along nicely.
‘Outriders’
The looter shooter niche isn’t very crowded, but it’s still challenging for a newcomer to become its next success story. Square Enix’s "Outriders," however, was released earlier this year and seems like a great contender. The only catch is the title is being held back by several bugs and server-side issues. Fortunately, the devs have since rolled out some patches that seem to have fixed most of these problems. It’s still too early to tell but "Outriders" could develop into a major player.
