10 Video Games So Bad They're Completely Unplayable

Published Sep 17, 2026, 6:05 AM EDT

Ewan is Deputy Editor for ScreenRant's gaming section. He still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase, and knows more about The Legend of Zelda and Doctor Who than is probably healthy.

Ewan oversees the content operation of ScreenRant's gaming output, working with a talented team of writers and editors to cover everything from the latest GTA 6 news to the indie games you need on your radar. 

Former Editor of GAMINGbible, Ewan also has words at Kotaku, Den of Geek, NME, and UNILAD. He's appeared on various podcasts, including VGC's and BBC's Let's Talk About Tech. 

These days, gamers like to complain that video games are frequently released in a buggy or unfinished state. They're not entirely wrong. We know that developers can simply patch out any issues with regular updates — just look at Cyberpunk 2077 or No Man's Sky now compared to launch. But what I think a lot of younger gamers don't realize is that back in the 80s, 90s, and early 00s, games were still being released that were clearly unfinished. The only difference was they had to stay that way forever.

Over the years, we've seen some genuine clunkers put out there that were barely playable when they released, and haven't exactly gotten any better with age. Take a walk with me, as we look at some of the most unplayable video games to have ever seen the light of day.

A game so bad it nearly sent the entire video game industry down the toilet before it ever had a chance to get going. Released for the Atari 2600 in 1982, it was a confusing mess of a game that made a trip to the dentist seem like a day at Disneyland by comparison. Sales were so poor that millions of unsold cartridges were dumped in a landfill in the desert.

If you've ever wondered why video games based on movies are usually awful, my theory is because this one somehow put a curse on its descendants.

9 Custer's Revenge (1982)

There aren't many video games that are genuinely evil, but Custer's Revenge is definitely one of them. An unlicensed Atari 2600 game, it's based (very loosely) on 19th century American General George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The fact that the game is awful to play isn't even the worst thing about it: it's simply horrific and cruel on pretty much every level, with its greatest sin being that the entire premise of the game centers around the player character moving from one side of the screen to the other to sexually assault a Native American woman. Yes, it's just a crude mess of pixels, but the intent of the game is still clear, which is why we can't even show you a screenshot. Even if you could play this in 2026, you shouldn't.

8 Dr. Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1988)

A game based on the classic Robert Luos Stevenson novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde sounds like a pretty cool concept. It was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and even looked a bit like the gothic platformer Castlevania on the surface, which is a solid place for a Jekyll and Hyde game to draw inspiration from. Alas, it is nothing like as good as Castlevania. Then again, it's also nothing like as good as dipping your face in a bucket of acid, so the bar is very much on the floor.

Multiple reviewers over the years have referred to this game as unplayable, thanks to its confusing levels and frustrating design choices that make it a needlessly difficult experience. Throw in some horrendous controls and you have a winner. By which I mean you have a loser.

7 Shaq Fu (1994)

A fighting game starring American basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal isn't an instant no from me. And, to be fair, the game received mixed reviews at launch rather than outright vitriol. However, over time, this Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis game has come to be regarded as a cynical and shallow cash-grab best left forgotten. There's even a website dedicated to destroying every single copy of Shaq Fu, which seems like a bit of an overreaction.

But is it unplayable? After over four decades of fighting games, it kind of is, yeah. We've been spoiled over the years with luxuries like responsive controls, compelling rosters of fighters, and engaging gameplay. Shaq Fu offers none of this, and less. Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn was released in 2018, but the remaster got dunked on even harder than the original.

6 Zelda's Adventure (1996)

Nintendo really doesn't want you to remember this, but there were actually three Zelda games released back in the 90's for a doomed multimedia console called the Philips CD-i. All three of them are truly dreadful, but the worst of the bunch is Zelda's Adventure. On paper, a top-down Zelda game where you actually get to play as the Princess sounds great! The recent Echoes of Wisdom certainly proved it can work.

However, Zelda's Adventure is a muddy, blurry mess of a game. It looks like a cat threw up on a park bench, and plays like you're trapped in a fever dream where your limbs don't respond properly. The only upshot of this whole mess is that the CD-i indirectly led to the creation of PlayStation because Nintendo blew up its original deal with Sony to work with Philips. Good one.

5 Superman: The New Superman Adventures (1999)

Probably one of the most infamous video games of all-time, the title better known around the world as Superman 64 is hot garbage with extra poop on top. Rather than making the player feel like an all-powerful superhero, it replicates the vibe of a seagull trying to fly home after accidentally getting drunk. Instead of using your laser vision or super strength, you fly through rings for pretty much the entire game, which is about as fun as it sounds.

4 Batman: Dark Tomorrow (2003)

Usually, even when a Batman game is bad, it manages to be pretty good... so it's a real achievement that Batman: Dark Tomorrow manages to be an unplayable mess of a game. Originally released for the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox, a PlayStation 2 version was canceled due to the overwhelmingly negative reception.

What makes this Batman game such a clunker? Horrible combat, a camera you had to constantly fight, repetitive missions, and intuitive gameplay. Given the fact the Arkham trilogy exists, this game has genuinely fallen into unplayable territory.

3 Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

Look. I genuinely love the Sonic franchise. I will defend some of its weaker games any day of the week. But the people who try and tell you Sonic '06 is misunderstood have either not played it since they were six, or are lying to your face. This is a bad game. It's unfinished, broken, horrible to play, and deserves to be forgotten. I will say no more about it.

2 The Day Before (2023)

Usually, when a video game seems too good to be true, it's because it is. Developer Fntastic billed The Day Before as a post-apocalyptic open-world MMO survival game, and it quickly became the most wishlisted game on Steam.

What we got, after multiple delays and controversy, was a shonky extraction shooter riddled with bugs and other serious technical issues. Before long, the developer was being accused of plagiarism, mismanagement, and soliciting unpaid labor. The studio has denied these accusations, but the game was pulled from sale just five days after it launched, and it remains unavailable to purchase to this day.

1 MindsEye (2025)

Much like The Day Before, MindsEye ultimately promised far more than it could offer. A brand-new game from Leslie Benzies, one of the driving creative forces behind the Grand Theft Auto series, obviously had everyone sit up and take notice. He founded the studio Build A Rocket Boy in 2016, and their big project was to be Everywhere, a hugely ambitious open-world multiplayer RPG. However, after years of development and nothing substantial to show for it, Benzies and his team started work on MindsEye in 2023, a more straightforward action-adventure game.

When MindsEye finally released in 2025, it was immediately panned for its shallow gameplay and repetitive missions, not to mention the fact many players experienced frequent crashing. It's worth noting a lot of the game's bigger technical issues have been fixed in subsequent updates, but it remains an incredibly rough, borderline unplayable experience.