The Worst Reviewed Games of 2025

Look, not all games can be great. In fact, many of them are not good, and some even fail to be simply okay. If you’re looking for all things good and great, then check out our list of the best-reviewed games of 2025. But this place, sadly, is not where they live. No, this is where I have the job of reminding you of all of the worst games we played this year. The ones that didn’t quite live up to expectations and received a score of five or below from IGN reviewers. Maybe you did enjoy some of these, and to that I say, all the power to you. Let us know in the comments which games featured on this list you did actually love playing. But before you scroll all the way down there, let’s talk about IGN’s worst-reviewed games of 2025.

5 - Mediocre

What better way to kick this off than with a welcome tour? A Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, to be exact. A collection of minigames and digital museum displays designed to give you a better idea of the tech powering your new Nintendo console, this one just ended up committing a criminal cardinal sin by Nintendo standards — it just wasn’t fun. Our review described this “interactive brochure” as “a muddled collection of quaint tech demos and boring factoids”. Not exactly the best way to get everyone excited about a new generation of hardware, was it? And it didn’t even come packaged with the console. A standalone purchase isn’t exactly the best way to deliver your new spin on a digital manual.

At least the tech being shown off in Welcome Tour is very impressive, though, which sadly couldn’t be said for Kaiserpunk. A city-builder that, unfortunately, suffered from significant performance issues at launch, ranging from “huge, save-killing bugs” to an interface that lacks “fairly basic functionality”, it provided unsolid foundations to build any metropolis on. If a fully-built sci-fi city is more your vibe, then maybe you could be tempted by Steel Seed, an action-platform dripping in neon. But when we tell you that it’s actually a “stealth action game cursed by mediocrity”, then maybe you’ll be less interested. Hence, the five out of ten rating, which stands for “mediocre” here at IGN. Along those lines, if “30 mediocre hours of dodge rolling and sword swinging” sounds appealing, then maybe you want to check out AI Limit. A “soulslike without any soul”, this one just lacked the sort of creativity you’d hope for in what’s become a fairly played-out genre these days.

Speaking of souls, Lost Soul Asidewas a hotly anticipated PlayStation console exclusive this summer, which sadly didn’t quite live up to the hype. While it did come packed with some exciting combat, unfortunately, “repetitive story, derivative characters, and bland level design” couldn’t support it. Another game that fell foul of repetition was Full Metal Schoolgirl, which you may not instantly see as a negative when considering it's an action roguelike — a genre grounded in attempting the same objectives over and over again — but when you hear that after “a couple runs, you've pretty much seen it all”, that isn’t ideal.

Feeling like we’d pretty much seen it all before is exactly why we gave the Battlefield 6 campaign a score of five, too. As our shockingly handsome reviewer said, the single-player offering is a “safe, dull reimagining of what Battlefield once was, rather than a bold reinvention of what it could be”, and I, for one, agree with him. It’s a short string of missions that doesn’t embrace the chaos naturally created in Battlefield 6’s multiplayer, instead feeling like a relic of a bygone age of FPSs. We also gave this year’s Call of Duty Black Ops 7 campaign a less-than-shiny score, too, but it narrowly misses out on making this list due to us giving it a 6, because it at least tries to do something new, even if it isn’t very successful.

Now we head into the remaster, reboot, and reimagining section of proceedings. Yooka-Replayeeaimed to bring the 2017 original into the modern day with some tweaks, but while improvements were made, we were of the opinion that “none of its changes do enough to bring it close to the 3D platforming standards of today”. Double Dragon Revive attempted to breathe new life into the classic side-scrolling beat ‘em up, but ended up feeling “less a miraculous resurrection and more like exhuming a shambling corpse”. Similar things could be said for Painkiller, a reboot of People Can Fly’s 2004 cult-favourite, which again fell short, instead playing like a “mediocre resurrection of a classic trying to put a new cover on an old book and hoping it still has some relevance 21 years later”. Shadow Labyrinthdid at least attempt to take something incredibly old and do something new with it. Unfortunately, this gritty, Metroidvania reinvention of Pac-Man was deemed to be “largely dull,” with crimes ranging from “annoying checkpointing to the one-note combat”.

There is no shortage of checkpoints in racing games. Sorry, that’s the best segue I have for this one. Project Motor Racingis the most recent game we have on our list to score a five or below, as it failed to excite our reviewer, who said that “there are certainly glimpses of a competent racing sim here, but it is drastically unfinished”. On the other end of the racing spectrum was Wreckreation, not in terms of quality, as it also received a five, but in its very “arcadey” approach to action of four wheels. Disappointingly, it just didn’t reach the heights of the likes of its Burnout inspiration. Instead, “overflowing with ambition but ultimately plain and with no style to call its own, Wreckreation feels like a supermarket brand homage to a series of better arcade racers.”

Let’s head into fantasy corner now and take a look at those sword-swinging games that just weren’t quite sharp enough this year. Yasha: Legends of the Demon Bladewas yet another action roguelite to come out in 2025, but one that didn’t leave much of an impression, thanks to “repetitive levels and a flimsy story”. Blades of Fire took an interesting approach to third-person action by placing an emphasis on creating your own bespoke swords through an involved blacksmithing process, which was admittedly quite good, but its “overly simplistic combat and a mediocre story mean it doesn’t forge a sharp enough edge to put its customizable weapons to good use”. And, finally, rounding out our list of games that received a review score of five from IGN this year, is Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. A microtransaction-riddled interpretation of George R.R. Martin’s world, in which the recreation of HBO’s visual style is admittedly impressively done, it’s unfortunately hampered “by an overly grindy, pay-to-win live service model, and both its combat and homestead management are too tedious to keep things interesting on their own”.

4 - Bad

Heading into the games that got a four, which represents “bad” on the IGN review scale, let’s stick with another beloved piece of fantasy literature that struggles to produce good video game adaptations. Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Gamewas an attempt to “cosify” Tolkien’s world and asked the age-old question, “What if Animal Crossing, but Hobbits?”. The answer, sadly, was a resounding “no”, as we described it as “a promising idea that turned out dreadfully boring and extremely buggy”.

Arguably, no other game arrived with as heavy a thud as MindsEye did in 2025. The brainchild of former GTA dev, Leslie Benzies, this throwback third-person action-adventure was not only incredibly dull, but borderline broken. Sure, it looked like a blockbuster when viewed from a very specific, narrow angle, but on the whole, it failed to live up to any expectations that may have been held for it. “MindsEye’s flashy graphics and cinematics can’t hide its serious lack of substance and major performance problems”, says our review, and that tells you all you need to know.

To round things off, we have a handful of early access games that we gave a score of four to this year. These include Hyper Light Breaker, which we described as a “roguelite that currently feels hyper light on content and the wrong kind of broken”, and La Quimera, an “FPS version of a direct-to-video movie, with dialogue that is both poorly written and badly acted, middling combat, and an unfinished campaign”. Then there was EA’s reboot of Skate, which we called a “faithful facsimile of the incredible feel of the old games, but its mobile game-style progression, dud dialogue, and cutesy art style make its early access debut drastically inferior to the originals in all other ways”. Unfortunately for Hyper Light Breaker, similar responses from both other critics and players eventually led to developer Heart Machine bringing development to a close. As for the other two, they remain developing projects, so let’s hope that these games fix their respective issues and have a better time in 2026 in the run-up to their full launches.

And that’s it, all of the games that we at IGN scored a five or four out of ten this year. Believe it or not, nothing actually scored lower, so I’m glad to say there are no twos or threes to report this year. Did you actually love any of the games listed here? Let us know in the comments. For more, check out the best-reviewed games of 2025, and our game of the year awards.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.

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How Ex-Just Cause Dev’s Samson Aims to Be Like ‘Mad Max…Payne’

All it took for Samson to pique my curiosity was a very brief teaser on social media, and then a follow-up post by the game director that described it “more like Mad Max…Payne” meant it had my attention. And then, once it was officially announced earlier this month, my interest immediately skyrocketed.

It’s a gritty crime drama being developed by Liquid Swords, a team made up of a number of former Just Cause developers. It’s due out early in 2026 on PC for $25, with console versions planned for later release. In it, you play Samson McCray, who finds himself in the city of Tyndalston after a job he was the getaway driver for went bad in St. Louis. His sister, Oonagh, had warned him not to take the job, and sure enough she was right. But she managed to cut a deal with the St. Louis crew: Samson has to pay back what was lost, with interest. And that’s where this game begins: with our titular anti-hero staring down a debt that’s accruing interest every day, needing to take whatever jobs he can in order to whittle the debt down.

Combat is hand-to-hand. Health pickups are bottles of painkillers (hello, Max Payne!), you’ll do plenty of driving (hello, Mad Max!). And the world, says studio founder and game director Christofer Sundberg, will “push back” on your action. “We've had this motto from the beginning that the city is a character in itself,” he explained. “So the more you poke around, the more the world will react. Interacting with people on the street, objects, doing stuff that is unexpected to the world – it's quite a depressing town. The world will react. We have a special narrative around law enforcement and why guns are exclusive to law enforcement and really hardened criminals. And the world remembers what you've done. You won't get away with everything. There will be a reaction to your actions.”

The more you poke around, the more the world will react.

Oh, and about that “more like Mad Max…Payne” comment? When asked to elaborate on that, Sundberg told me, “[Some of] the team that worked on the Mad Max is working on Samson, and we're taking that [experience] ten years in the future. The tone is equally dark as Mad Max. It's not a post-apocalyptic world. [And] one of the greatest urban game stories ever told is Max Payne. [So] I guess it's the tone that I'm after.”

Samson originally had a much larger scope with a much larger team. But in early 2025, Sundberg and studio leadership made the difficult decision to lay off approximately half of the team.”We made a very tough decision to scale down the team due to market conditions and how much trouble the industry is in right now. It stung a lot to have to let them go and it also meant that we had to change our focus. We shelved more of the heavier RPG stuff we worked on – our version of base-building – because we didn't have the bandwidth anymore.”

And so, the team that remains, it meant trying to deliver a narrower-but-still-deep experience. “It was originally a 100-hour experience. Now it's more of a quick-and-dirty session-based experience. Completionists will get to spend at least 25 hours. But we are very respectful of people's time.” And that reduced scope is reflected in the $25 price point, too. “We see this as the first book in a series of books to be told about the city and character.

“It's tiny compared to Just Cause 2, but it's dense,” he continued. “The size of the world isn't the issue, it's more about how we fill it with meaningful content. We always say that it's ‘big enough’ and it's very scalable.”

Getting back to gameplay, Sundberg says Samson is inspired tonally by films like Heat, Ronin, French Connection – stories, in his words, “where violence is fast and decisive.” And that influence is pretty clear on the screen. Samson looked to my eye like it was set in the 1970s, but Sundberg says it is in fact the ‘90s, chosen specifically for the layer of grit the decade still had caked on it. “We played around with the identity era crisis that the '90s was. Cell phones didn't really exist but they were still around. Cash was still king and people were still smoking.”

I saw a mission played where Samson wandered outside into a seedy neighborhood. He jumped into a muscle car and drove to a mission waypoint that offered $1000 to be a getaway driver. After switching cars and meeting at the pickup point – in an industrial area that was still very seedy – the planned burglary happens, the building’s alarm goes off, your crewmates get in, and you have to escape the pursuing police. The extra wrinkle is that the cops have a helicopter looking for you too, so it means you’ll need to work extra hard to shake them. After plenty of driving around – Tyndalston seems fairly large, but again, don’t expect it to be jammed full of open-world activities to do – you eventually duck off a road in an alley, under an overpass, turn off your headlights, and lose the pursuing police.

This beatdown earned us $1000 to knock off of Samson’s debt.

The next mission I saw was a hit that tasked me with going into a club called Chubb’s, finding the manager, and having to fight my way through – sometimes bare-knuckled, and sometimes with a crowbar in hand. Eventually you can build up your adrenaline meter and trigger an adrenaline rush, allowing you to hit harder for a short period of time. This beatdown earned us $1000 to knock off of Samson’s debt.

Though my demo was brief – maybe 15 minutes or so – I saw enough to really like how Samson is shaping up. The Liquid Swords team is seemingly aiming to deliver a AAA experience at a AA scope and price (there’s more info in an FAQ on the Steam page if you’re interested). If they can pull it off, then Samson has a chance to be well worth its low asking price.

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Deals for Today: Free Xbox Game Pass with Fire TV and Pokémon TCG Price Check

Don't panic, but it's Christmas Day on Thursday. Zero pressure, but if your loved ones really love you, they won't mind a late Christmas gift. If they do mind, they need to stop being silly sausages (who do all these kids think they are?).
Joking aside, I'm still manning the Daily Deals desk, finding some bangers, and it's literally the best excuse to avoid doing IRL shopping. If you need to distract your family from late Christmas presents, buy a Fire TV or Fire Stick at a massive discount and stick on some Christmas films. Amazon has some cracking discounts on their range right now, which also includes a code for one month of Xbox Game Pass. Happy days!

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Purly because I love Pokémon so much, I've taken the liberty of seeing what's available now on Amazon, then telling you where you can buy it from cheaper elsewhere (because I'm a Pokémon Master, as no one has enough badges to train me).

Need an ear buds upgrade? Apple AirPods Pro 3 are currently down to $199 from $249, shaving off a good chunk of brand tax. Side note: If you're not bothered about turning your Apple setup into some kind of Wizarding World mudblood setup, the best earbuds I've tried this year are:

• Status Pro X: Down to $269.10 with an on-site coupon from $299
• Sony INZONE: Down to $198 from $239.99 (Includes a USB-C 2.4Ghz dongle for PC and PS5 gaming too)

Speaking of Sony INZONE, their big beefy H9 headset is also on offer right now for $169.29, a massive 49% off $329. And if you're sick of eye strain or dry eyes whilst gaming or watching Fallout Season 2, Gunnar have saved the day with their limited edition Vault 33-themed gaming glasses. They're also 30% off at the moment, down to $69.33 from $99.

Let's get into today's deals:

Pokémon TCG Price Check

To be fair to Amazon, some of their pricing isn't far off market price, but then again they're being undercut by independent businesses and sellers that will likely have worse rates from distribution than Amazon. Read between the lines there.

So Phantasmal Flames ETB is $79.94 at Amazon, just shy of $4 more than TCGPlayers $76. Mega Evolutions Three Booster Blister is in a similar spot on Amazon right now too, $29.54 compared to $28.93 on TCGPlayer. But if you're after Mega Evolutions Boosters, i'd suggest going on TCGPlayer and buying single sleeved ones for $8.70 each instead.

1 Month Free Xbox GamePass for New Fire TV/Fire Stick Discounted Tech

This deal stretches across the whole 4K line of Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Fire TV 43-inch, and Amazon Fire TV 55-inch. The link above will take you to the offer page with all the products available, with the cheapest Fire Stick coming in at $19.99 for the 4K Select.

Apple AirPods Pro 3

So AirPods 3 have loads of bells and whistles on, including:

• Active Noise Cancellation
• Live Translation
• Heart Rate Sensing
• Hearing Aid Functionality
• Spatial Audio
• USB-C Charging

Apple have also overhauled the acoustic architecture inside the earbud to make sure you're getting some cracking definition. Not a bad bundle of features when taking the discount into consideration.

Gunnar Fallout Vault 33 Gaming Glasses

I've been using Gunnar glasses for years, mostly for getting deals in front of all of your stunning eyes. I've noticed fewer strain headaches from looking at a screen all day and vastly reduced dry-eye symptoms (like having dry eyes). They can also do prescription lenses should you need them, but the main three styles they offer are yellow tint (best blue-light reduction), clear, and sunglasses.

Sony INZONE H9 Gaming Headset

If the INZONE earbuds are anything to go off, the H9 gaming headset should be a banger. The mic features a 360 spatial sound feature alongside solid noise cancelling backed up by a dual sensor and full customization via the INZONE Hub software. At nearly half off and with a 2.4GHz adaptor included, this is a great deal.

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

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Battlefield 6 Fans Accuse EA of Selling AI-Generated Image After Spotting What Looks Like an M4A1 With Two Barrels

Battlefield 6 fans have accused EA of selling an AI-generated image after spotting a sticker of what looks like an M4A1 with two barrels in the in-game store.

Following a similar generative AI controversy for rival shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6 has come under fire for selling what some fans have called “low quality AI generated garbage.”

The sticker in question comes as part of the Windchill cosmetic pack for Battlefield 6, which costs 900 Battlefield Coins. It includes six items, one of which is a player card sticker called Winter Warning. The red flag here are two barrels on the M4A1, but the hand position of the soldier as well as the scope do not look properly aligned.

“Remove this AI s**t from the store,” said redditor Willcario in a thread upvoted 4,600 times. “Two barrels on the M4A1, sure. I would literally prefer to have no sticker than some low quality AI generated garbage. You can look at BO7 and see how many favors AI generated rewards won with them.”

Remove this AI shit from the store
byu/Willcario inBattlefield

The use of generative AI is one of the hottest topics in the video game industry, with the pressure on publishers to cut costs and speed up development in order to boost profits despite the risk of backlash from some fans. Indeed, according to a report by The Financial Times, EA’s new prospective owners (the ones who just spent $55 billion to take the company private) are betting on the use of generative AI to do just that. And EA itself, even before it was bought out, had signalled that it was all-in on generative AI, with CEO Andrew Wilson insisting AI is at “the very core of its business.”

This definitely looks AI Generated right? #Battlefield6 pic.twitter.com/VLYMhEMOqQ

— Battlefield 6 News (@BF6Updates) December 21, 2025

While EA has yet to issue a statement on the Battlefield 6 allegations, fans are digging up past comments from Rebecka Coutaz, general manager of original series developer DICE in Sweden, and Criterion, the UK studio now also a part of what’s collectively called Battlefield Studios, who in October said players wouldn’t see anything made by generative AI in Battlefield 6.

Coutaz said that while generative AI “is very seducing,” currently there is no way to work it into the developers’ daily work. However, Coutaz clarified that generative AI is used in preparatory stages "to allow more time and more space to be creative.”

While this is Battlefield 6's first significant generative AI controversy, Call of Duty has suffered a number of gen AI controversies in recent years, including the now-infamous six-fingered zombie Santa bundle. Earlier this year, Activision was forced to add an ‘AI generated content disclosure’ to the Steam page for Black Ops 6 after Valve changed its storefront rules. Currently, Battlefield 6 has no such AI content disclosure on Steam.

And last month, Activision issued a statement in response to a player outcry regarding the seeming use of generative AI art assets in a number of areas of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Players took to social media to complain about images they believed to be AI-generated across the game, primarily focusing on calling card images that they claimed used Studio Ghibli styling, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year. The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Steam page also includes the following disclaimer: "Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets."

This week, IGN reported on video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which was stripped of its Game of the Year award by The Indie Game Awards over its use of generative AI. Meanwhile, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian plans to address concern over its use of gen AI in upcoming game Divinity following a backlash online.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Displate Denies Warhammer 40,000 AI Art Accusations, Says 'Red Flags' in Official Fulgrim Poster Are the Result of 'Human Error'

Displate has denied that one of its pieces of official Warhammer 40,000 artwork was the product of generative AI, insisting “red flags” spotted by fans were the result of human error.

The online marketplace for collectible metal posters, which features a range of licensed art from major brands such as Marvel and Star Wars, came under fire last week after fans spotted what looked like signs of generative AI use in a $149 3D-printed Fulgrim Limited Edition artwork.

Fulgrim is one of the most prominent characters in the Warhammer 40,000 setting. As one of the Emperor’s 20 genetically-engineered ‘Primarchs,’ Fulgrim played a key role in The Horus Heresy (the civil war that acts as the foundation of the current setting), and recently returned to the Warhammer 40,000 narrative with a new model and lore as the Daemon Primarch of Chaos god Slaanesh.

The issue was raised after popular Warhammer 40,000 YouTuber Luetin pulled a promotional post for Displate’s limited run Fulgrim art over concerns that part of the image “looked AI generated.” A circled part of the artwork appeared to contain misaligned geometry.

“I have no way of confirming this, so I must underline this remains entirely speculative,” Luetin continued. “But based on just the potential for this, I have removed that post - and until I can get a clear answer one way or the other - I do not currently intend to work with them again in the future.

“Its very disappointing, as their production of official 40K artwork that I own, and still look excellent on my office wall I would absolutely recommend.

“If anyone did purchase that image yesterday, I would recommend you to personally evaluate its detail for yourself - and if you felt it necessary cancel or refund.”

That post ended up doing the rounds within Warhammer 40,000 online communities, where the artwork was analyzed for signs of gen AI use. Now, Displate itself has addressed the concerns, insisting “no AI was used in the creation of this piece.”

In a post on the Displate subreddit, company representative WallOverthePlace said the artwork was digitally painted by “one of our top in-house artists as part of our licensed Warhammer project.” The part of the image that had become the focus of the gen AI debate is “a human error that slipped through during the final stages of production.”

Displate continued: “the piece went through multiple revisions - including repaints, composition changes, and moving elements around - and a small cut-off edge from an earlier adjustment wasn’t fully repainted before final delivery. That’s on us. Designing a Limited Edition is a long and complex process, but this mistake should have been caught during QC.

“We understand why this raised red flags, especially given how strongly fan communities feel about AI, and we take that seriously. Limited Editions are our highest-tier releases and we treat them accordingly. To be completely clear: none of our licensed artworks have been or will be AI-generated. Every Limited Edition we release is created entirely by real artists, either by our internal art team or trusted external collaborators, and held to the highest standards we apply as a company.”

As a result, Displate called on customers who already have their order of the artwork to get in touch to get a replacement. “You will receive a separate product with the same Limited Edition print run number and the same certificate,” Displate said. ”If you choose to keep the original piece, we completely understand and respect that choice of appreciating this unique variant.”

Those who have an order yet to ship will get a corrected version, but it will be sent after the New Year.

“We appreciate the community holding creators to high standards - that same standard is exactly what we expect of ourselves, and we’re sorry for the confusion this caused,” Displate said.

The Warhammer 40,000 setting is in many ways built upon the evocative and enduring art drawn by the likes of John Blanche, who shaped its "grimdark" aesthetic alongside other key Games Workshop staff. This official, human-made Warhammer 40,000 artwork is beloved by fans, most of whom take a dim view of the mere whiff of generative AI “art” sold or released in any official capacity by either Games Workshop itself, or its partners.

Indeed, Games Workshop sells expensive Warhammer 40,000 ‘codex’ rulebooks that are packed with stunning official art as well as lore. Any suggestion that this art was created either in part or entirely by generative AI tools would likely cause a community uproar.

The issue of generative AI and its use in entertainment is one of the hottest topics across all industries. This week, IGN reported on video game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which was stripped of its Game of the Year award by The Indie Game Awards over its use of generative AI. Meanwhile, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian plans to address concern over its use of gen AI in upcoming game Divinity following a backlash online.

Image credit: Games Workshop.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Indie Game Awards Strips Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of Game of the Year Over Gen AI, Dev Says 'Placeholder' Textures Were Patched Out After Slipping Through QA Process

Fresh from receiving the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2025, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been stripped of two awards from the Indie Game Awards after its use of generative AI hit the headlines.

Sandfall Interactive’s record-breaking role-playing game launched with some placeholder textures built with generative AI. The developer patched them out five days after release, insisting they made the cut by mistake. This went under the radar until recently, when comments from Sandfall co-founder and producer François Meurisse reemerged.

Speaking to El País for an article published in July, Meurisse said: “We use some AI, but not much. The key is that we were very clear about what we wanted to do and what to invest in. And, of course, technology has allowed us to do things that were unthinkable a short time ago. Unreal Engine 5’s tools and assets have been very important in improving the graphics, gameplay, and cinematics.”

Meurisse’s comment resurfaced amid a backlash to comments from Larian boss Swen Vincke in the wake of the developer’s high-profile announcement of Divinity at The Game Awards. The original news came from a Bloomberg interview in which Vincke said that Larian was "pushing hard" [Bloomberg's phrasing] on generative AI, even though it hasn't led to big gains in efficiency. Specifically, the studio was said to be using the technology to "explore ideas, flesh out PowerPoint presentations, develop concept art and write placeholder text." [again, Bloomberg's phrasing].

Vincke later addressed the backlash, and has promised an AMA to answer questions from fans. All the while, a light has been shone on Clair Obscur, which leads us to the Indie Game Awards.

Clair Obscur had won Game of the Year and Debut Game from the Indie Game Awards, but both awards are now retracted. Explaining the decision, the Indie Game Awards said:

The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself. When it was submitted for consideration, a representative of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination. While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place. As a result, the IGAs nomination committee has agreed to officially retract both the Debut Game and Game of the Year awards.

Each award went to the next highest-ranked game in its respective category; Sorry We’re Closed now has Debut Game, and Blue Prince now has Game of the Year.

Meanwhile, El País has updated its original article to include a statement from Sandfall clarifying its use of generative AI in the making of Clair Obscur:

The studio states that it was in contact with El País on April 25 — three months prior to this publication. During these exchanges, Sandfall Interactive indicated that it had used a limited number of pre-existing assets, notably 3D assets sourced from the Unreal Engine Marketplace. None of these assets were created using artificial intelligence.

Sandfall Interactive further clarifies that there are no generative Al-created assets in the game. When the first Al tools became available in 2022, some members of the team briefly experimented with them to generate temporary placeholder textures. Upon release, instances of a placeholder texture were removed within five days to be replaced with the correct textures that had always been intended for release, but were missed during the Quality Assurance process.

And here’s Vincke's latest statement in full:

It’s been a week since we announced Divinity, our next RPG, and a lot has become lost in translation.

Larian’s DNA is agency. Everything we work towards is to the benefit of our teams, games, and players. A better work day, and a better game. Our successes come from empowering people to work in their own way and bring the best out of their skill & craft, so that we can make the best RPGs we can possibly make.

In that context, it would be irresponsible for us not to evaluate new technologies. However, our processes are always evolving, and where they are not efficient or fail to align with who we are, we will make changes.

To give you more insight, we’ll do an AMA featuring our different departments after the holiday break, in which you’ll get the opportunity to ask us any questions you have about Divinity and our dev process directly.

We’ll announce the date in the new year. In the meantime, I wish you all happy holidays!

Excellent, the AI generated textures in Clair Obscur were indeed placeholders and were replaced with custom assets. The other AI generated poster that was present in the starting area (don't have a screenshot of it now) was also removed. https://t.co/UQbfLuyj8e pic.twitter.com/5xgqsCmZpC

— Nyanomancer (@nyanomancer) April 30, 2025

The use of generative AI in video game development is one of the hottest topics in the industry. Last month, we reported that Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft was forced to remove an image found within Anno 117: Pax Romana that contained AI-generated elements after fans complained, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players took to social media to complain about AI-generated images they had found across the game, following a trend of AI-Ghibli images from earlier this year.

The Alters developer, 11 Bit Studios, and Jurassic World Evolution 3 developer, Frontier Developments, meanwhile, similarly faced fan backlash when they were caught using undisclosed AI images. EA CEO Andrew Wilson has said AI is "the very core of our business," and Square Enix recently implemented mass layoffs and reorganized, saying it needed to be "aggressive in applying AI." Dead Space creator Glen Schofield also recently detailed his plans to “fix” the industry in part via the use of generative AI in game development, and former God of War dev Meghan Morgan Juinio has said: "... if we don’t embrace [AI], I think we’re selling ourselves short.”

As the debate around the use of generative AI to build video games rages on, Tim Sweeney, boss of Fortnite developer Epic Games, has waded in to call on Valve to ditch its AI Generated Content Disclosure for Steam games.

Valve’s rules mean developers must disclose their use of AI-generated content on a game’s Steam store page. For example, the Steam page for Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders includes a note from the developer on how the game uses AI-generated content: “during the development process, we may use procedural- and AI-based tools to assist with content creation. In all such cases, the final product reflects the creativity and expression of our own development team.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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The Best Deals Today: Assassin's Creed Shadows, Battlefield 6, God of War Ragnarok, and More

The holidays are almost here, and we've rounded up the best deals for Sunday, December 21, below. Don't miss your chance to save on these last-minute gifts!

Save on Assassin's Creed Shadows for Nintendo Switch 2

Launched earlier this month, Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally available on Nintendo Switch. Right now, you can save $10 off the physical copy at Amazon. This edition packs in all the game's DLC, updates, and more into one package for Switch 2 owners.

Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $449

The best deal of the weekend is the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle, which is on sale for $449. That's the price of a standard Nintendo Switch 2, which means you're essentially scoring Mario Kart World for free. This model is said to have ended production, so we likely won't see this bundle available much longer. If you're planning on picking up a Switch 2 for yourself or as a gift this holiday season, today is the best time to buy one.

Save $20 Off Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake

One of the most anticipated RPGs of 2025, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, is down to $39.99 this weekend. This remake transforms the original two Dragon Quest games into gorgeous experiences with numerous updates and tweaks to modernize the experience.

PS5 Pro for $649

PS5 Pro is on sale this weekend for $649, saving you just over $100 off Sony's most powerful console. Even if you already own a PS5, the PS5 Pro can still be a solid upgrade, providing enhanced performance and frame rates for numerous games. Newcomers to the PlayStation ecosystem can expect the best PS5 has to offer with this one.

Samsung P9 Express microSD Express Card for $32.99

If you're a Nintendo Switch 2 owner or expecting to become one this holiday season, a microSD Express Card is an absolutely essential purchase. The internal 256GB of storage is nowhere near enough for most players, especially with huge games like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade set to take up over a third of that space next year. You can save $20 off this 256GB microSD Express Card at Amazon and instantly double your Switch 2 storage.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for $35

Black Ops 7 is the latest Call of Duty, with the game releasing just a few weeks ago. Despite this, it's already on sale at Amazon for $40, which makes this a perfect last-minute Christmas gift.

Save on The Art of DOOM: The Dark Ages

Art books are a great way to gain greater insight into the development of your favorite games. This DOOM: The Dark Ages art book was released a few weeks ago, and it's already on sale for just under $31. Featuring over 200 pages, you can dive into behind-the-scenes art of the Doom Slayer, his weapons, and even enemies or locations.

Astro Bot for $39.99

Astro Bot is a must-own game for any PlayStation 5 owner for many reasons. The fun platforming adventure is a trip across PlayStation's iconic history of games, with cameos from many of the beloved characters that shaped each console generation. Today, you can score Astro Bot for $39.99 at Amazon, which is the lowest we've seen it so far.

Star Wars Outlaws for $30

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Star Wars Outlaws is on sale this weekend for $29.99, which is a steal for one of the hybrid system's best third-party games. This version of Star Wars Outlaws is the Gold Edition, packing in all the DLC and updates that released.

Battlefield 6 for $39.99

Best Buy has Battlefield 6 for $39.99 today, with both PS5 and Xbox Series X copies discounted. Out of all multiplayer games released this year, Battlefield 6 might just be the most popular. This is a great gift to give alongside a new console.

ASUS ROG Xbox Ally for $489.99

Amazon has the Asus ROG Xbox Ally on sale for $489.99, which is even lower than Black Friday! You can save $110 on this portable PC equipped with everything you need to play or stream your Xbox games. This deal is almost gone, so don't miss your chance to score!

God of War Ragnarök for $19.97

Finally, Walmart has God of War Ragnarök on sale for $19.97 today. This is one of the best PS5 games available, as it builds off its predecessor in many ways to deliver an action-packed, unforgettable experience. It's hard to beat this price, especially if you're on the hunt for a holiday gift.

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