Metacritic’s worst games of 2023 is almost what you’d expect

Review aggregator Metacritic has shared its worst games of 2023, all of which we probably expected. The caveat is there are worse games, but it requires at least seven professional critics reviewing them before they make it on this list, so no The Walking Dead: Destinies with its 29 or Skull Island: Rise of Kong, despite its abysmal 23 on the platform.

Unsurprisingly, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum tops the Metacritic list. Despite being among the first PS5 games revealed, it was released in a fundamentally broken state, with many driving home the point that it’s just not a fun experience thanks to its bugs, glitches, and lackluster gameplay and story. It was received so poorly, in fact, that Daedalic Entertainment shuttered its in-house development branch.

Other games that show up sporadically around the list include Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, Quantum Error, Gangs of Sherwood, Greyhill Incident, and more. The full list is below.

• Gargoyles Remastered (49)
• Loop8: Summer of Gods (49)
• Gangs of Sherwood (48)
• Hellboy: Web of Wyrd (47)
• Crime Boss: Rockay City (43)
• Testament: The Order of High-Human (41)
• Quantum Error (40)
• Greyhill Incident (38)
• Flashback 2 (35)
• The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (34)

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief

Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he's been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he's worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what's he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.