6 Worst Games of 2026 So Far

The year is nearly halfway over, and so far, video game fans are eating well. There have been dozens of great games already, and we haven’t even gotten into the fall when several heavy-hitters will start to hit store shelves. Even with all the good games, there have been a few stinkers. And I’m not just talking about all of the slop that launches on Steam every day. These are relatively big-budget games that had a solid marketing budget behind them. Unfortunately, they couldn’t live up to anyone’s expectations and are easily the worst games of the year so far.

This list is in alphabetical order, so don’t pay attention to the numbering. Here are the worst games of 2026 so far.

6) Code Violet

This PlayStation 5 exclusive tried to capture an audience desperate for a new Dino Crisis game. To be fair, that audience is relatively large and undoubtedly rabid for a new game in the series. Unfortunately, the developer TeamKill Media failed in almost every respect.

Code Violet looks and sounds fine, but that’s where the positives end. The story is a mess. Every character is a bland, cookie-cutter archetype with nothing going for them. Worst of all, the gameplay is nearly unplayable. Sure, it was a financial success for TeamKill, but most players agree that this is one of the worst games in a while.

5) Highguard

Highguard was doomed from the second it appeared on The Game Awards stage. Having it end the show gave players sky-high expectations that were never going to be met. Highguard is a mediocre PvP game that had a few good ideas. Had it launched under lower expectations, maybe there’s a chance the developers could’ve gotten it to a good place and built the community around it slowly.

Instead, players immediately bounced off when they saw what Highguard was. It lost 90% of its peak audience after a week. There’s no way that was going to be sustainable, and the studio shut down the servers after a little over a month. It probably would’ve happened eventually, but that spot at The Game Awards was a kiss of death.

4) Samson

Developer Liquid Swords tried to make its own version of Grand Theft Auto. However, due to some financial difficulties in 2025, the studio had to pivot away from ranged combat and focus on street brawling. That helped add to the gritty atmosphere, which is, admittedly, exceptional. In fact, that atmosphere is Samson‘s biggest strength.

The problem is that almost everything else is a negative. Combat might add to that sense of realism, but it can also feel unresponsive at times, turning fights into a slog. Samson was also somewhat of a technical mess, and most of the gameplay started to feel repetitive quickly. There were some good ideas here; it’s just lacking in execution.

3) Spellcasters Chronicles

Technically, Spellcasters Chronicles is currently in Early Access. You might think that means there’s still a chance that developer Quantic Dream turns things around. Unfortunately, that is not happening. In May, the team announced it was discontinuing development before fully launching the game. That’s relatively rare, but it speaks to what a mess Spellcasters was.

Simply put, Quantic Dream seemed a little out of its depth with this genre mish-mash. The studio is best known for narrative-heavy games, but it decided to make a 3v3 MOBA-like. Similar to Highguard, it could not capture an audience, and Quantic Dream cut bait as soon as it could.

2) The 9th Charnel

Horror is one of the best places for budget games to succeed. I’m not saying it’s easy to make terrifying games, but the genre has always been a haven for weird ideas that punch above their weight. That extends past games and into film, where horror projects are often made on a shoestring budget before blowing up at the box office.

Again, that doesn’t mean making a horror game is simple, and The 9th Charnel proves that to be true. The team at Saikat Deb wanted to make a gorgeous, narrative-heavy horror game, but this one quickly turned into a mess. It’s not scary and runs poorly on most systems. That’s the kiss of death for a horror game. Even with lowered expectations compared to many of the other games on this list, The 9th Charnel stands out for its lack of quality.

1) Tokyo Scramble

I mentioned above that players are dying for a new Dino Crisis game. Tokyo Scramble didn’t wear that inspiration on its sleeve as blatantly as Code Violet, but it’s hard to ignore that this survival game puts dinosaurs into a starring role as the “villains.”

The problem here is that Tokyo Scramble relies heavily on stealth mechanics that just don’t work. This Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive will only frustrate you with how poorly it handles. Granted, the team did have a few neat ideas that could be fleshed out in a sequel or update. That’s more than you could say about a few games on this list, but the base version of Tokyo Scramble is lacking many worthwhile moments, so I doubt the developers bother to expand on the original.

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