Near-Perfect Open-World RPGs That Are Certified Flops

Like many things in life, the video game industry is not fair. Even great games created with clear passion can suffer for a variety of reasons: from the risks of launching a new IP in a saturated market and overly ambitious concepts to budget constraints, constant publisher pressures, and unrealistic expectations. At times, it’s even more complicated than all of that combined, so it’s easy to forget how fortunate many games are to even see the light of day.

As we find ourselves in some of the most turbulent times the industry has ever gone through, with seemingly daily news of massive layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations, now is as good a time as ever to remember some of the most prominent examples of role-playing games that unfortunately flopped despite their clear strengths. These near-perfect open-world RPGs deserved much better, even though a few managed to somewhat course-correct over the years after their underwhelming launches.

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Echo Of A Fantasy Franchise That Never Was

The open-world RPG that instantly comes to mind when thinking of great games that still flopped is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It remains one of the most beloved and recommended RPGs of its era, earning nothing but praise from its players. A fresh universe, the original world of Amalur, along with a really huge map packed with countless dungeons and side quests, flexible character building, and fast-paced, strong combat — it really seems that Kingdoms of Amalur had it all. Well, perhaps the main story could have been better.

While Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning wasn’t a complete flop, especially for a new IP, as it sold over one million copies, it fell notably short of the lofty expectations set by EA, and its massive development cost didn’t help. As a result, a planned sequel was canceled along with the closure of 38 Studios, the team behind the game. However, given the game’s later resurgence and enduring player enthusiasm, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning didn’t simply vanish.

Eight years later, in 2020, the title received an unexpected remaster treatment for modern platforms, known as Re-Reckoning, which included some welcome gameplay adjustments. A year later, the Switch version launched, even featuring the game’s new third expansion, Fatesworn, developed by Kaiko. While definitely a nice thing to have, it was seemingly too little too late to save the franchise. As the original launched some 14 years ago, some of its once “innovative” mechanics haven’t aged well, so Re-Reckoning might not impress modern audiences today.

Pillars Of Eternity 2: Deadfire

Even Great RPGs Can Struggle To Find An Audience

Hot on the heels of the original Pillars of Eternity, which was fully community-funded on Kickstarter, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was bigger, bolder, and simply better in every regard. With the fully established world of Eora and its rich pantheon of gods, the sequel focuses on a story that explores complex themes through greatly fleshed-out characters of various races, each with their own agendas, religions, beliefs, and ties to existing factions amid constant power struggles and colonization. Not to forget the fresh pirate flavor, beloved by fans, as players can freely explore the islands, navigate their ship, and battle enemies at sea.

Unfortunately, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire flopped really hard, and it’s still not entirely clear why. Perhaps it was released too late to ride the resurgence in popularity of CRPGs. By that time, fans already had plenty of modern titles to choose from, including Divinity: Original Sin, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker, among others. Given that text-heavy CRPGs are still a relatively niche genre, the sequel’s nature might also have scared away newcomers who hadn’t played or finished the first game.

Despite Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire’s flop, its legacy lives on. Obsidian has already released Avowed, set in the world of Eora, and could potentially revisit its rich fantasy universe down the road. However, with Xbox’s current shift toward only the biggest franchises, this seems unlikely for the time being.

Divinity 2: Ego Draconis

One Of Larian’s Most Unfortunate Chapters

After Baldur’s Gate 3’s massive success, Larian has firmly established itself as one of the modern pillars of the RPG genre. With all that said, one of the studio’s biggest flops, Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, often gets overlooked today. Way more ambitious than its budget realistically allowed, the game packed robust action, a beautiful world, strong quests, and unique dragon transformation mechanics with seamless aerial combat. Yet Divinity 2: Ego Draconis suffered a rushed launch due to publisher pressure, resulting in mixed reception and weak initial sales that nearly broke Larian.

Despite its initial roughness, flat ending, and weak visibility in the saturated fantasy RPG market of 2009, largely overshadowed by the titan Dragon Age: Origins, Divinity 2 has loads of potential. The studio knew that perfectly, and massive amounts of work to fix its mistakes followed. The game actually received not one, but two enhanced treatments. The Dragon Knight Saga was released a year later, restoring cut content, improving the story, cleaning up the bugs, boosting performance, and adding the Flames of Vengeance expansion as an epilogue. The definitive Developer’s Cut release that followed in 2012 remains the most complete and polished version available today.

Larian’s admirable dedication to its own games definitely bore fruit here and greatly helped build a following for Divinity 2 over time. The series would later evolve into the hugely popular Original Sin games. Now, Larian is returning to this franchise once more with the upcoming Divinity, and after BG3, the stakes and ambition are higher than ever.

Dragon’s Dogma

From Underperformer To Cult Favorite

The late 2000s to early 2010s were packed with fantasy RPGs of all sorts, open-world and not. With such fierce competition, it’s not surprising that, like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, many great games of that era struggled to find their audience at launch. Dragon’s Dogma is another example of a bold new IP that tried something different yet went largely unnoticed at release.

The biggest strength of Dragon’s Dogma was undoubtedly its fast-paced combat system, powered by distinct vocations and monsters that players could climb during fights. The game’s unique companion system, known as Pawns, was another highlight, letting players create flexible parties and use a wide range of the game’s abilities in combat. Despite its many original traits, Dragon’s Dogma wasn’t an instant success. Its enhanced full edition, Dark Arisen, released a year later and definitely helped gain additional traction by addressing fan feedback and implementing several improvements.

While sales of over one million copies meant it wasn’t a complete flop, it still wasn’t enough to guarantee an immediate sequel. Only over the years has Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen grown into a cult favorite, as more players discover its unique and innovative approach to the genre that doesn’t try to mimic anything else. This led to the series getting a second chance over a decade later with Dragon’s Dogma 2. Interestingly, the sequel also mirrors the original by receiving an expanded version known as Dark Arisen later this year.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Not The 7/10 Game Some Still Make It Out To Be

Mass Effect: Andromeda stands among the biggest open-world RPGs that simply didn’t live up to the hype of its predecessors. Don’t get me wrong: the game clearly has issues and suffered from technical hiccups at launch, which contributed to its mixed reception. Even if calling it near-perfect is a bit of a stretch, it’s apparent that a strong foundation and real potential were there. Andromeda could have benefited greatly from some extra time in the oven if EA had been smarter.

The decision to abandon the Milky Way setting in favor of something fresh and unexplored was bold and admirable, reflecting BioWare’s willingness to expand the sci-fi universe beyond anything familiar. The cast of new and mostly young characters, while slightly inferior to the familiar and well-established faces from the legendary Shepard trilogy, have unique dynamics and loads of potential. The new alien worlds to explore were also vast and gorgeous, like nothing ME fans had seen before.

All that hardly mattered, though. Given the game’s underperformance, Mass Effect: Andromeda lost its chance to become something bigger than an unsuccessful attempt to refresh the sci-fi series. It never received its planned story DLC, and the entire branch into another galaxy was seemingly scrapped going forward. It’s a shame, because with a slightly different fate and reception, fans might already have gotten a Mass Effect: Andromeda sequel that builds on the strong foundation and improves upon its weaker elements.