Modern gaming is a highly diverse form of entertainment. There are countless genres and subgenres out there for players to enjoy, filled with games that look to entertain andimmerse their audiencesin vastly different ways. Despite this, there is one thing that almost every game ever made has in common; they’re all designed with the intention of being as good as possible.
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There are, however, outliers to this, as some games exist that intentionally fall short in one or multiple areas. This could be for the sake of fun, as some games purposely aim for a “so bad it’s good” experience; alternatively, it could be to prove some form of point, like a couple of games on this list did.
6Goat Simulator
Goat Simulatoris an example of a game that is intentionally bad for the sake of fun. The game was released in 2014, a time when the simulator genre was enjoying a sharp rise in popularity. Players were starting to see the value in games likeEuro Truck Simulator 2and theFarming Simulatorseries, which offer realistic gameplay centered around a seemingly mundane job. The genre was once joked about, but by 2014, many people found that the style of game could actually be quite addictive.
So, when people came acrossGoat Simulator, they may have thought that, for some reason, Coffee Stain Studios decided to make a realistic game about being a goat. Instead, it’s aridiculously over-the-top action gamefilled with absurd tasks that are great nonsensical fun. A sequel toGoat Simulatorwas recently revealed in one of the cruelest ways possible, asthe announcement trailerinitially appeared to be for a newDead Islandgame. Instead, it was forGoat Simulator 3, which is set to release in late 2022.
5Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
Contrary toGoat Simulator,Diaries of a Spaceport Janitoris an example of a game that was intentionally bad for the sake of making a point. Sundae Month’s 2016 release is commonly referred to as an “anti-adventure” game, as, although it’s set in a sci-fi world where adventures are taking place, the player is just a janitor tasked with picking up trash and must endure abuse from the game’s police.
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Players may expect that the game will, at some point, let them break free from their shackles and embark on an exciting mission, though this moment never comes. Along with commentaries on capitalism, the game also has themes of mental health struggles.
Taking this list back to the “bad for the sake of fun” side of the spectrum isOctodad: Dadliest Catch. The game was released in 2014 by Young Horses, the same team that was behindBugsnax.
As the name suggests, the game puts players in control of an octopus that is posing as not only a human but a husband and father too. The theme alone is enough togarner plenty of laughs, but the ridiculously awkward controls make it all the funnier, especially when trying to pose as a regular human. Despite the intentionally bad controls, the game was warmly received by fans, exemplified by itsVery Positive All Reviews score on Steam.
3Don’t Buy This
Don’t Buy Thiswas released all the way back in 1985 on the ZX Spectrum. After receiving so many bad game submissions, publishing company Firebird got fed up and decided that, instead of rejecting a handful of games, they would instead put them in a compilation and sell them under the nameDon’t Buy Thisas a rather cruel way of mocking the developers.
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Don’t Buy Thisincludes five games that Firebird openly criticized, and the publisher even encouraged players to pirate the game. Funnily enough, despite the title and open criticisms from the publisher,Don’t BuyThiswas a commercial success.
2Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy
Getting Over It With Bennett Foddywas developed by the person in the title, Bennett Foddy, and was first released on PC in October 2017.
Theplatform gameputs players in control of a person stuck in a cauldron, who must scale a mountain using only a hammer. This already sounds tough on paper, and, unfortunately, the controls make it even tougher. Despite how frustratingGetting Over It With Bennett Foddyis, it generated a huge player count shortly after its release, thanks in no small part to how popular it was among streamers and YouTubers. The game was the successor toQWOP, another intentionally awkward game to control.
1Surgeon Simulator
Surgeon Simulatorwas developed by Bossa Studios, a team that was comprised of four people, Jack Good, Tom Jackson, Luke Williams, and James Broadley. The game was made in just 48 hours as part of Global Game Jam, a period in which the team was, understandably, sleep-deprived. Because they were so sleep-deprived, they didn’t know if the game was as funny as they thought it was.
However, they soon realized that it wasn’t just a lack of sleep that made their game funny, as the nonsensical surgery game became a huge success and a big hit on YouTube. The game is a perfect example of how a game can intentionally make itself “so bad it’s good.”
