The Worst Video Games of 2025
"MindsEye" (IO Interactive Partners)
On this page we rank the lowest-scoring games released for any platform between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025 in North America.
Because we require 4 reviews from professional critics to calculate a Metascore, any titles with fewer than 4 reviews are excluded. (For our best lists, we have a higher cutoff, but we think relaxing the requirements here makes for a more fun worst list. We also opened the list up to mobile and VR releases, DLC, and compilations.) And if a single title would have landed on the list multiple times due to low scores on more than one platform, we only included the lowest-scoring version.
#10: Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition (PS5)
1 / 10
After a fast playthrough, you may indeed be furious that you spent $30 on this console port of an arcade racer bearing the name of a film franchise. Critics say it quickly wears out its welcome thanks to a lack of content and presentation that pales in comparison to other racers available on home consoles.
"Looking like a shadow of the good games in the genre and the film franchise that gives it its name, Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition might be worth a couple of tokens on the dusty arcade machines in a shopping mall, but its shallow concepts and meager content are utterly insufficient for anything even remotely meaningful beyond that." —PSX Brasil
#8 (tie): Scar-Lead Salvation (PS5)
2 / 10
You play as Willow, an amnesiac who awakens in a deserted military facility filled with deadly robots, in this bullet-hell roguelike shooter described by numerous publications as an "anime Returnal." That may sound appealing, but the overly basic game design and too-repetitive gameplay make Salvation feel dreadfully incomplete—especially at its original $60 price.
"A bland, repetitive roguelike that had the potential to be something far greater. Scar-Lead Salvation is disappointing in almost every aspect." —GameGrin
#8 (tie): QUByte Classics: Glover (PS5)
3 / 10
Originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, Hasbro's 3D puzzle-platformer Glover had you playing as, well, a glove. What could you do as that glove, you might ask? Roll a ball around, of course. Glover has never been a favorite of critics, but this year QUByte brought a remastered version of the game to modern consoles. Apparently, it's a faithful reissue: Critics don't like this version, either.
"Even in its remastered form, Glover is really frustrating to play, and not an enjoyable experience at all. With the amount of games out there and the limited amount of time most of us have, you would be better off getting something else, unless you really want a nostalgic trip to experience a rather bland re-release of a 3D platformer." —TheSixthAxis
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator is mostly what its title promises, and comes from the same team behind 2022's lackluster Police Simulator: Patrol Officers. But it is repetitive and tedious to play, thanks to underwhelming minigames and a lot of driving. The presentation—including AI-generated vocals—does nothing to elevate the game. It could also use at least 10cc of bugfixes, stat.
"Ambulance Life is frustrating with its clunky game engine. If you're interested in medicine, it might be worth a try, but its major issues are hard to ignore. I can't even call it "fun." Just go steal an ambulance in GTA V—that's more entertaining." —IGN Turkey
A sequel to the Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop games released for the DS nearly two decades ago (and similarly based on the Tamagotchi virtual pet toys from the 1990s), Plaza tasks you with running a shop in Tamahiko Town. To do that, you complete a series of minigames—at least, that's the idea. But those minigames are so repetitive and simplistic that it's hard to imagine sticking around the otherwise cute town for very long.
"Tamagotchi Plaza is a dull, vapid, and utterly unsatisfying minigame collection that rapidly overstays its welcome. Though charming and visually competent, the underlying gameplay is undercooked, unrewarding, and shallow with its 'free mobile game'-like design. There may be a valid case here for playing with very young children for some very light and simple entertainment, but even then, the price tag is comically high for the shallowness and quantity of content you're getting. I'd suggest you steer clear; it's worth neither your time nor your money." —Nintendo Life
#5: Gore Doctor (PS5)
6 / 10
A gory survival horror game released in March, Gore Doctor asks you to navigate the rooms of an institute run by a doctor who is succumbing to madness. In other words: Pretty much what you'd expect from a game called Gore Doctor. What you might not expect: A thin narrative, poor controls, generic visuals, and technical hiccups.
"Gore Doctor aims to be a creepy, psychological, gore-filled horror game but in the end feels cheap, clumsy and poorly-presented. It doesn't really get anything right." —PlayStation Country
#4: Spy Drops (PC)
7 / 10
A bargain-basement homage to Metal Gear Solid —complete with PS1-era graphics—this stealth game finds you combatting an eco-terrorist organization in randomly generated missions. At launch, however, the execution just isn't strong enough to allow Spy Drops to come anywhere close to its inspiration.
"Spy Drops desperately wants to be an authentic homage to the original Metal Gear Solid, but fails in almost every aspect. Riddled with issues, from the camera, to the AI, to the level-breaking glitches, there's simply little redeeming quality to this low-effort copy. Just do another re-run with Solid Snake himself and save yourself the pain of this." —Finger Guns
#3: Blood of Mehran (PS5)
8 / 10
An indie hack-and-slash adventure drawn from the Arabian Nights tales, Blood of Mehran was criticized for its dated look and gameplay and lackluster storytelling.
"It's hard to find anything positive about Blood of Mehran, a lifeless, derivative action game that never comes close to offering even a shred of originality." —GameOver.gr
#2: Fire Emblem Shadows (iOS)
9 / 10
A rare Nintendo-published game released exclusively for non-Nintendo hardware—that score might tell you why—this second mobile spinoff from the long-running Fire Emblem tactical RPG series ditches the franchise's usual style of gameplay in favor of social deduction (as in Among Us, Mafia, the TV series Traitors, and other titles). Critics and gamers questioned why this even needed to be a FE title, as it offered little to fans of the series. And it offered very little, period: Reviewers called Shadows both shallow and dull, and the game also earned complaints about its pay-to-win financial model.
"There is a nugget of a good idea here, and one that is interesting on paper. Unfortunately, Fire Emblem Shadows' most innovative ideas bump up against its mobile and free-to-play nature, resulting in a game that is both not for Fire Emblem fans and hard to recommend to anyone." —GameSpot
#1: MindsEye (PS5)
10 / 10
Metacritic's Worst Game of 2025. That score seems too high for a game that multiple publications have called one of the worst in gaming history. The debut game from a new indie studio founded by former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies is a sci-fi-tinged, not-quite-open-world action-adventure about neural implant technology set in a fictionalized version of Las Vegas. Intended to kick off not just a new studio but an entire new gaming platform named "Everywhere," MindsEye released in June as a glitchy, boring, and incoherent nightmare with nowhere near enough content to justify its $60 retail price.
"One of the worst video games of the modern era, that clearly isn't finished – but just as clearly wouldn't be worth even a moment of your time if it was." —Metro GameCentral
