We got a lot of great games in 2025. Some big, some small. But not every game released over the last 12 months was good. Some were meh. And others, well, others were downright terrible.
As we’ve said before, the best games are only great if we can compare them to mediocre or awful games. And 2025 had plenty of these to choose from. So let’s take a look at some of the worst-reviewed games of 2025.
But before we do that, it’s worth repeating once again that liking a “bad” game isn’t a bad thing. Numbered scores come with all sorts of caveats, which is part of the reason we don’t use them at Kotaku. And Metacritic’s aggregate isn’t perfect by any stretch. If you see a game on this list that you happen to love, don’t get mad, just smugly nod to yourself and remind yourself that the critics got it wrong.
Now, as we’ve done in previous years, here are the 10 worst-rated games on Metacritic (they had to receive at least four reviews to qualify).
10: Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition | 45 Metascore
Even priced at $30, this budget racer port of a so-so arcade game isn’t worth it. You are better off dropping a few quarters into the original arcade version and playing for a few minutes of nonsense before realizing it has little to offer and moving on.
9: Glover | 44 Metascore
Glover is back. I’m so sorry. This port of the OG N64 platformer that someone liked, surely, isn’t much of an upgrade, and even if it was, this is still Glover we are talking about, folks. It’s lucky to make any list.
8: Scar-Lead Salvation | 44 Metascore
Wait a minute, this game has the same metascore as Glover, and yet it is worse? Yeah, I’m ranking it below Glover as it has more reviews, so more people didn’t like this pricey and basic anime spin on a Returnal-esque roguelike shooter.
7: Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator | 44 Metascore
Oh, and look at that, one more game that landed at a 44 Metascore. Ambulance Life slides just below whatever the last game was because even more people played, reviewed it, and didn’t like its AI-generated dialogue, clunky gameplay, and ugly visuals.
6: Tamagotchi Plaza – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition | 43 Metascore
This sequel to Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop falls flat on its face because it plays like a bad mobile game and has some truly repetitive minigames.
5: Gore Doctor | 40 Metascore
Gore Doctor is the first game on the list that I had never heard of before, and now that I do know about it, I’m happy to have avoided this horror game that is apparently a technical mess with terrible controls.
4: Spy Drops | 39 Metascore
Someone wanted to make a stealth-action game like the OG Metal Gear Solid. Sadly, this game is bogged down by a lot of problems, including a bad camera, bugs, and brain-dead enemy AI.
3: Blood of Mehran | 38 Metascore
Critics really disliked this Prince of Persia-like action game, with nearly every review calling it some form of terrible. Avoid at all costs.
2: Fire Emblem Shadows | 37 Metascore
What if Among Us, but Fire Emblem? That was seemingly the pitch for this mobile-only Nintendo-published dud. Even the few good ideas are overshadowed by free-to-play garbage and a lack of content. I’d probably just play Among Us instead.
