Is there any such thing as "overhyped" or "overrated" video games?

[Clasher]

Overtime on various platforms online or in conversations with other game lovers the term "overhyped" usually comes up when discussing About really popular games that many gamers are getting into.

I came across a discussion which says Elden ring is overhyped and In other places i have seen people say RDR2 is overhyped and even The last of us is not left out of this too.

Do you think there is anything as an overhyped video game or just dissatisfied gamers or people who couldn't get themselves into the game looking for ways to demerit a popular video game.

What are your thoughts on this?

Edited July 29, 2022 by Clasher

[Withywarlock]

Overhyped? Yes, absolutely. My definition - if it can be called that as it's not exactly definitive - is that people get so excited about a game that they'll buy it without any sort of critical thinking. "I'll get it anyway" is why so many games are allowed to come out as rushed, as evidently buggy, with as much content missing as they do. We can talk about the industry-wide problems going on behind the curtain, they absolutely exist, but some of that accountability falls on the consumer. Alternatively, overhyped is when the game turns out to be less than its marketing - who'd've thunk it?

As for overrated, that's a term that gets bandied around too much but then that's typical of most games discourse. It's up there with words like janky, P2W and greed. As @Grungie said in that thread, and I quote,

Quote

I always feel like people use overhyped and overrated as a synonym of “it’s popular and/or well loved and I hate it.” They always talk about how much they hate it.

People are always so baffled when I say I enjoy something and call it overrated. Like somehow you can’t have the two.

Overrated to me means the game's critical/user rating is too high for what it is. That's it. One can like something as Grungie points out, but think that it's liked too much and sometimes for the wrong reasons. I certainly think Gothic is vastly overrated by its fanbase, but I still like what a lot of it does (even if as said in another thread the game is less than the sum of its parts).

Similarly, underrated is another term that gets tossed hither and yon, usually by people who liked the game a lot. It's rare you'll see someone who dislikes a game and say it's underrated, because even if one dislikes it they can see how others should be able to enjoy it.

Good thread, Clasher. Thanks for bringing up the topic.

[NightmareFarm]

Yes but it's really a matter of perspective. To me I find some games overrated like Batman Arkham City, to others some of the popular games I really enjoy like DOOM Eternal is overrated. 

[Grungie]

It’s all opinion. Overrated for me is when I see a game that I think is good or great get perfect scores across the board. It’s like, cool, I enjoyed the game, but not that much.

[Kane99]

When I hear overhyped, I think of something like Cyberpunk 2077. A game that was good, but had tons of problems at release, and wasn't what fans were expecting. That game got decent reviews, but the bugs and other issues held it back. So I considered that overhyped for what we got. Over-rated, I would say is oftentimes a good game, but is given rave reviews when it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Call of Duty these days, is over-rated. Because if you ever look at reviews for COD games, for the most part, are high, usually 8's, 9's, and some I'm sure give them a 10. 

I'd say that's over-rated since COD doesn't change much, and hasn't for years now. I'm pretty sure they use the same engine they've used all of these years, or they use a similar engine. But, it's probably due to them re-using assets from past games to cut corners. If it works, don't bug with the formula, but due to it working so well, they haven't innovated and grown into something fresh and new. That's how I feel anyway. 

But to be fair, it is all subjective, someone could argue that COD is exactly rated the way it should be, and some will say Cyberpunk had no issues for them. We all go by our experiences with the games we play. So over-rated could be anything. But with overhyped, I think it's easier to understand, it's more to do with sales and how much promotion was thrown at it before its release. If the game didn't do well, then I'd say that is overhyped, especially if there was a lot of promo and fans seemed interested. But, maybe those reviews steer some people away and it bombs. 

[killamch89]

2 hours ago, Kane99 said:

When I hear overhyped, I think of something like Cyberpunk 2077. A game that was good, but had tons of problems at release, and wasn't what fans were expecting. That game got decent reviews, but the bugs and other issues held it back. So I considered that overhyped for what we got. Over-rated, I would say is oftentimes a good game, but is given rave reviews when it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Call of Duty these days, is over-rated. Because if you ever look at reviews for COD games, for the most part, are high, usually 8's, 9's, and some I'm sure give them a 10. 

I'd say that's over-rated since COD doesn't change much, and hasn't for years now. I'm pretty sure they use the same engine they've used all of these years, or they use a similar engine. But, it's probably due to them re-using assets from past games to cut corners. If it works, don't bug with the formula, but due to it working so well, they haven't innovated and grown into something fresh and new. That's how I feel anyway. 

But to be fair, it is all subjective, someone could argue that COD is exactly rated the way it should be, and some will say Cyberpunk had no issues for them. We all go by our experiences with the games we play. So over-rated could be anything. But with overhyped, I think it's easier to understand, it's more to do with sales and how much promotion was thrown at it before its release. If the game didn't do well, then I'd say that is overhyped, especially if there was a lot of promo and fans seemed interested. But, maybe those reviews steer some people away and it bombs. 

Cyberpunk 2077 is a perfect example - the game was overhyped beyond belief before its release and CDPR were at the heart of it and that's why the game flopped so bad on release. COD Warzone is also overhyped in my opinion, yes, it is fun to play and some of the events are entertaining but at the end of the day, It's still COD.

[Empire]

Yes to a point, Like the game called Undertale. It's not just overrated, the fandom treats it as if it were God's gift to the world. Pretty good game if you remove the fandom though.

[Grungie]

13 hours ago, Empire said:

Yes to a point, Like the game called Undertale. It's not just overrated, the fandom treats it as if it were God's gift to the world. Pretty good game if you remove the fandom though.

There's a lot of stuff that took me awhile to get into because I couldn't stand the fanbase. Now I can just separate myself from the typical fans and just enjoy it. It helps when you meet "normal" people who like it as well.

[Kane99]

21 hours ago, Empire said:

Yes to a point, Like the game called Undertale. It's not just overrated, the fandom treats it as if it were God's gift to the world. Pretty good game if you remove the fandom though.

I think that's different though. Sometimes fan can take things way too seriously. We saw it happen with Rick and Morty recently, where fans just acted weird. But it in turn made fans look dumb. A great game can have a horrible group of fans. It happens with most popular titles I would say. 

On 7/29/2022 at 4:36 PM, killamch89 said:

Cyberpunk 2077 is a perfect example - the game was overhyped beyond belief before its release and CDPR were at the heart of it and that's why the game flopped so bad on release. COD Warzone is also overhyped in my opinion, yes, it is fun to play and some of the events are entertaining but at the end of the day, It's still COD.

And it wouldn't have been a problem if the game came out as the game everyone was expecting and hoping for. But what we got was false promises and a game that wasn't what we thought. They caused their own overhype because of their promises. They rushed release as well, because of fans wanting it now. If they were just patient, and took another delay, I think people would have accepted it over what we got. 

[Clasher]

@Kane99 @Withywarlock

I actually went through your comments and I have realised that the level of enjoyability of a particular video game is dependant on the gamers themselves.

You could have Played some weird games in the past like in the case of withywarlock the  harvesters is one game I have seen you mention quite a good number of time here and to you it was a game you actually enjoyed but many people wouldn't share that same opinion with you.

There isn't a game that is "overrated" , "overhyped", or "underated" in a real sense but how you enjoyed the game or your own personal experience would determine how you are going to rate the game on a scale of 1 - 10.

[Kane99]

It's all based on personal perspective. I may think a game is overrated, but someone else may think the opposite and that's totally fine. But there are games that do come out with a ton of praise and come out less than what everyone expected. In the case of cyberpunk for example, it was overrated because they promised everyone something that they have yet to deliver. 

But, people are allowed to disagree with my point because if it was what they wanted it wouldn't necessarily been over hyped for that person.

[killamch89]

On 7/30/2022 at 6:11 AM, Empire said:

Yes to a point, Like the game called Undertale. It's not just overrated, the fandom treats it as if it were God's gift to the world. Pretty good game if you remove the fandom though.

The extreme fans are usually the most toxic members of a gaming community especially when they are the majority. I'd argue that COD fanboys are even worse and they get the same game every year!

[Clasher]

43 minutes ago, killamch89 said:

The extreme fans are usually the most toxic members of a gaming community especially when they are the majority. I'd argue that COD fanboys are even worse and they get the same game every year!

I know there are extreme fans but not all COD fans are extreme , some only genuinely enjoy the game and like to talk about , what you said about COD fans is actually a fallacy with no real facts.

[Kane99]

19 hours ago, Clasher said:

I know there are extreme fans but not all COD fans are extreme , some only genuinely enjoy the game and like to talk about , what you said about COD fans is actually a fallacy with no real facts.

To be honest, I have been a COD fan for a long time. I still have major gripes with the series, but the thing about them that I like is that they are easy to pick up and play. COD for me, has always been the same in terms of gameplay, so much so that I could pick up each version and do pretty okay once I got some time with it. Yeah the small changes may take a little getting used to, but I usually get used to the changes fast and it then falls in line with your typical COD experience. 

I know fans who have each game, and just really like playing it. But I also know fans who just get it to play with friends and enjoy the MP experience for a while. And of course the fans who are diehards and wait until midnight day one to get the game, and stay up days playing the MP. I used to be that person lol, but not anymore. 

[Justin11]

- COD vanguard

- GTA trilogy 

- BioShock infinite 

- All FIFA series games 

This games I mentioned are overrated, their prices are way too higher than what they offered to gamers in terms of satisfaction.