Some games are like the ugly duckling--they float when placed on water. No wait, that's not what I meant.
Some games are like the ugly duckling because they start off as the underdog, the one that everyone mocks, the one that nobody likes. And then they emerge into a beautiful winged bird, capable of flight faster than the speed of sound and able to dazzle anyone who walks by. Okay, maybe this metaphor got a little stretched…
Point is, many games might not get off on the strongest footing, but some of them eventually recover from their shaky starts to become decent or even excellent experiences. In this gallery we're going to run down some of those games that started poorly, as well as some solid games that have only gotten better with time.
To the duckmobile!
Final Fantasy 14
Upon its original launch seven years ago, Final Fantasy XIV was ... not great. Players complained of incomplete quests, UI issues, repeated assets, poor performance, and plenty more problems. Our Final Fantasy XIV Online review said the game lacked character, cohesion, and joy, and we gave it a 4/10. Square Enix's CEO even said the game "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand. Not a great start, I'm sure you'll agree.
After the game's servers were shut down in 2012 and a PS3 version was canceled, Square Enix eventually decided to replace the MMO with a completely reworked version of the game called Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which launched for PC in 2013. Thankfully, A Realm Reborn improved on pretty much every area of the original Final Fantasy XIV, from crafting to traversal, from its combat to its open world. That PS3 version finally made it out and was joined by a PS4 edition, which we thought was even better than the PC version. In addition, a bunch of free content updates and more extensive DLC packs have continually improved the game: Heavensward added 40 hours of excellent new story content, while Stormblood--released in June--introduced a whole new undersea world along with another 50 hours of campaign content. In short, Final Fantasy XIV is a completely different beast to the one that disappointed fans the world over in 2010--it's never been so good, and it's definitely worth another look if you were put off all the way back in 2010.
No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky was possibly a victim of its own hype machine--it was a cool concept executed fairly well, but it left some disappointed. Its world may have been vast, but much of it was empty or repetitive, and few solid threads to follow meant that players often felt lost or dismayed to carry on exploring.
Since launch, developer Hello Games has responded to the criticism in the best way possible: by making loads of cool, free stuff. In November, it added a Creative Mode and a Survival Mode--allowing you to explore or die to your heart's content--along with a base-building feature. A few months later, another update let you share that base across the internet and also introduced a permadeath option and land vehicles. And just recently, another big new update added multiplayer support, another 30 hours of story content, and much more.
In addition, there's a whole storyline that many players might have missed. A mysterious force known as Atlas offers a purpose, a sprinkling of story that helps direct you in an otherwise directionless world. If you didn't pursue Atlas first time round, it might be worth going back just to see how it pans out.
Rainbow Six Siege
Rainbow Six Siege actually launched with a positive critical reception in December 2015--it was soon after launch that the criticism began to rain down. Players complained of broken matchmaking, connectivity issues and lag, and multiple imbalances in the meta, to name just a few problems.
For months many of these issues remained, and despite player numbers staying consistently high (a testament to the excellent game underneath), matchmaking times and other issues did not improve.
Now, however, Siege is almost a different game. Following months of patches, hotfixes, balance changes, and more, Siege is finally in the state it should have been when it launched, and it's passed 20 million players with more than 2.3 million playing every day. Matchmaking is seamless, balance is much improved, and bugs are much, much rarer. The shooter has also received an extensive program of free DLC, helping the operator dynamics stay fresh and keeping players on their toes. Free maps and skins, plus new, unlockable characters, have continually offered reasons to return to Siege. And with more new free content coming this month, it's a good time to dive back in.
Friday The 13th
Let's not beat around the bush: Friday the 13th was a hot mess when it launched in May. Even excusing the multitude of bugs and an all-around less-than-beautiful appearance, the horror game was pretty much unplayable. Assuming you could even find a match, doing so would take upwards of 10 minutes, leading our critic to award the game a 4/10 in our Friday the 13th review.
While many of its problems remain, it is now just about possible to find a match. And when you do, Friday the 13th is a lot of fun: playing a match with a bunch of friends, when you're invested in you and your buddies escaping from the hell you find themselves in, the game can be a simultaneously terrifying and hilarious experience. There's nothing funnier than your friends screaming, after all.
What's more, developer Illfonic continues to improve the game in patches and content updates, and a single-player mode is planned for this summer.
Rocket League
Rocket League launched with… no problems at all. Or at least, no one really had any problems with it. It was a solid, fun multiplayer game with a great hook (football with cars is one hell of an elevator pitch). These days, however, it's a completely different beast.
Like many, I played Rocket League a decent amount after it launched as a PS Plus freebie in July 2015. After deciding it was indeed a solid, fun multiplayer game, I put it down and probably went back to my backwards one-dimensional games like FIFA or Cars 3: Driven to Win. (One of these is a joke; I bet you can't guess which.)
Two years on and Rocket League has evolved. A multitude of new modes have freshened the game up hugely: Rocket League is now basketball with cars, superheroes with cars, and hexagonal volleyball with cars, and more than 33 million have played the game since launch. And with another new free map launching just last month and a Switch version (featuring cross-play with Xbox One and PC) coming soon, Rocket League continues to provide new reasons to come back.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
After the hugely successful original Mass Effect trilogy, expectations were high for the fourth game in the series. Andromeda took Mass Effect's story to a new galaxy, with new characters, new locations to explore... and a whole new bunch of bugs. Despite many positive reviews, Andromeda was met with huge criticism for the janky state it launched in. Animations and character models looked strange to say the least, and some accused the sci-fi game of launching unfinished. The fallout from Andromeda's troubled launch caused publisher EA to reportedly put the franchise on hiatus, and now developer BioWare Montreal has been absorbed into EA Motive.
However, the developer has continued to support and fix Mass Effect: Andromeda since launch, meaning it is now--finally--in an acceptable state. Underneath the aesthetic issues, of course, was a decent game, and with many of those problems now sorted, the experience is much improved. I's by no means perfect, of course, but it also has some of the best worlds and combat seen in the entire Mass Effect series, and it's certainly worthy of another look.
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