Sadly, it seems that games more often than not fail to deliver on expectations rather than meet them. Sometimes, the marketing for a video game generates blockbuster hype as developers showcase the best part of their games in trailers. That gets fans riled up, expecting more and more as time goes on. However, that feeling is a double-edged sword, as overhyped games usually fail to live up to expectations.
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Whatever the case is, overhyped games will always exist in the industry, and 2025 in particular has seen its fair share. There were some massively overhyped games that have arrived so far this year. This includes games from franchises like Assassin’s Creed that promised big changes but didn’t actually do much. So, if presented with the opportunity to play them, here are the overhyped games from 2025 that you should likely just avoid.
3. Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring was a global phenomenon. A lot of its hype carried over into Nightreign when it was first announced. Every FromSoftware game is a banger, and an Elden Ring spin-off on top of that, made people buy into the idea that Nightreign was going to be the next big thing. Anticipation for Nightreign was through the roof. But now it’s out, and it isn’t how many people envisioned.
Nightreign is a good multiplayer game, but it’s just not as enjoyable as people thought. It takes the multiplayer aspects and the basic workings of Elden Ring and formats them into a complete roguelike co-op game. Runs take place over the course of several in-game days, and the open world is procedurally generated.
Despite this, Nightreign doesn’t have any of the same deep lore and worldbuilding that was found in Elden Ring. And since you can’t play it by yourself, this diminishes so much of the allure of the original game. Unless you have a dedicated group of friends to jump into Nightreign with you, you’re better off steering clear.
2. Avowed
In the months leading up to its launch, Avowed was hyped up as one of the best upcoming RPGs of 2025. A big open-world, fascinating magic combat, interactive quests, and much more. The hype made Avowed seem as if it were the next mainline Elder Scrolls game coming out. Of course, that made people expect a great ride from start to finish, but Avowed wasn’t really close.
Avowed ended up being your average RPG experience. Bad writing and terrible pacing made its narrative disappointing. Visual quality is subpar, especially in the cutscenes, which in some instances are poorly animated. Gameplay isn’t very thrilling either. The magic and melee combat are generic and become repetitive quickly. It has a “been there, done that” vibe to it. Unreal Engine 5 technical issues plagued Avowed at launch, and that led to an increase in negative sentiment.
Avowed’s progression systems allow little room for build variety, which is disappointing for an RPG of its size. Having said that, Avowed is an okay role-playing game. It does a lot of things well, but its biggest problem is that it doesn’t innovate in any way. And since it was overhyped beyond belief, that ultimately led it to take a fall greater than it should’ve.
1. Assassin’s Creed Shadows
The problem with Assassin’s Creed Shadows was exactly the same as it is with every other Assassin’s Creed game for the last decade. In short, Assassin’s Creed has become the poster child for checklist gaming. While Ubisoft did attempt to reinvent the series with Shadows, unfortunately, they still haven’t figured out what works yet. When Shadows was revealed to take place in 16th-century Japan, fans expected a brilliant aesthetic, innovative stealth, and a beautiful open world.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows delivered on the aesthetic. Where it failed was in the same place as its predecessors: the gameplay. Shadows was advertised as having a new parkour system. However, Shadows’ parkour is barely any different from previous games. It’s more refined, but only slightly. The enemy AI is also not challenging and hardly factors into stealth segments as a threat. And once again, Shadows leans too heavily into action RPG elements, which makes the franchise look like a shell of its former self.
What basically happened with Assassin’s Creed Shadows was that Ubisoft overhyped it as the return of the franchise to more of its roots. A return to the old narrative-driven stealth adventures. However, what fans got was the same Assassin’s Creed game they’d been getting for the past decade, but just set in Japan. If you’ve played any Assassin’s Creed game past Origins, then you’ve basically also played Assassin’s Creed Shadows. So, unless you want more of the same, you should avoid Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
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