This Company Released The Worst PS5 Game Ever Two Years In A Row
The PS5 launched in November 2020, and even though many fans are still having a hard time getting their hands on one, a lot of great titles have come out for it in the years since. The best of them are games that are fantastic on their own, but which are enhanced further by the experience of playing on the PS5 and utilizing the unique features available on the DualSense controller. Overall, the console's lineup has gotten off to a great start and there are still plenty more games to look forward to, but that doesn't mean there haven't been a few misses along the way. While some games are already setting the standard for the modern generation of consoles, others have been a little lackluster (to put it politely). What's even worse is that the two lowest-rated games on the PS5 in the two respective years since its release were both made by the same studio: Square Enix.
While Square Enix is probably most well known for the "Final Fantasy" JRPG franchise, the company develops and publishes games across multiple genres, often putting out several games a year. The last two years have seen a couple of real stinkers from the studio, however. "Balan Wonderworld" and "Babylon's Fall" have each been rated the worst PS5 games of all time by Metacritic.
Balan Wonderworld isn't wonderful
Nintendo might hold the crown when it comes to popular platformers, but that doesn't stop other studios from throwing their top hats in the ring now and again to see if they can compete. "Balan Wonderworld" is a 3D platform adventure game that was co-developed by Square Enix, Arzest, and Balan Company and was released in March 2021. In it, players enter the magical Balan Theater. Here they meet the enigmatic Balan who introduces them to an imaginary land known as Wonderworld, which they can then explore using costumes that grant special abilities. Mario can probably rest easy, though, since it doesn't seem like Balan will be coming for his crown any time soon. The PS5 version of the game received a 51 on Metacritic with an average score of 5.4 from users.
While some of the reviews offered mild praise for the whimsical and surreal environmental designs, it seems that most of the reviewers found very few positive things to say about the gameplay. Neil Bolt of PSU wrote, "all the creativity seems to have gone into the characters and music while the actual act of platforming leaves a lot to be desired," and David Wildgoose of GameSpot stated, "in a different era the rough edges, inconsistent mechanics, and formulaic design may have been things that players could overlook, but in this moment in time, it's a 3D platformer of a quality that can't compete with polished modern-day contemporaries from Nintendo, Sony, and the like." Better luck next time, Balan.
Babylon's Fall fell short of expectations
Scores on Metacritic are color-coded based on the general favorability of the reviews. Games that average scores of 75-100 get green scorecards, 50-74 gets yellow and 0-49 gets red. Out of all the games released in the PS5, "Babylon's Fall" is the only one to receive a red score on Metacritic. That's a shame because it had a promising start. It was developed by Square Enix and Platinum Games, a studio known for the exceptional combat in its titles. Platinum is the developer behind such titles as "NieR" and "Bayonetta," after all. "Babylon's Fall" is an action RPG where up to four players can band together to try and fight their way through a massive tower known as the Ziggurat. It received a Metascore of 42 and a user score of 2.0. Critics didn't enjoy the game much, either.
It seems that while many enjoyed the combat initially, the boring and repetitive nature of the level designs in addition to poor graphics made the experience quickly lose its luster. Ulises Contres of Level Up stated that, "the initial charm of the combat system fades off very quickly and the level design feed that feeling of monotony of boredom" and Justin Koreis of IGN wrote "Babylon's Fall isn't a broken action RPG, but it isn't a good one, either – and it's one of the ugliest games in several console generations." Fans were also critical of the rampant microtransactions.
Hopefully, Square Enix will learn from these failures and use those lessons to make better games in the future.