The 10 Worst Video Games of 2021

by Jason Dietz, Metacritic Features Editor – December 20, 2021

Above are the lowest-scoring games released for any platform between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021. Games are ranked by Metascore (as of December 18, 2021) prior to rounding, and any titles with fewer than 7 reviews from professional critics are excluded. If a single title would have landed on the list multiple times due to low scores on more than one platform, we only included the lowest-scoring version.

2 of 11 photo by Buka Entertainment

48 #9: Demon Skin (PC)

A challenging indie hack-n-slash/RPG hybrid released in the spring, Demon Skin is set in a dark fantasy world filled with monsters ranging from zombies to werewolves to golems. Critics described it as Dark Souls shoehorned into the skin of a 2D brawler—but with the results far more boring than that may sound. Sure, it's difficult, but here the difficulty stems more from a poor control scheme than anything else, and the game's overall lack of polish means that it doesn't come anywhere close to Dark Souls' elite standing.

“Demon Skin is a game that tries; it shows potential but fails due to missed opportunities and a lack of refinement. The combat is decent – though it can suffer from movement issues and unfair AI - and the game features good environments, but everything else proves to be a letdown. The story is incomprehensible, with no buildup, engagement or payoff, and the level design features far too many annoying, inexplicable, and often cheap instakill traps. It's not impossible to find some good aspects, but they're fighting a tidal wave of nitpicks and negatives." — Wccftech

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