Which popular games are not worth playing? These 13 games score 4/10 or lower for fun on our scale. Most of them are huge, and some are brilliant. They all make you fight cheaters, shops, slow starts or crashes before you get to the fun.
Every game below has a full verdict page, and every entry ends with a game from our list that scratches the same itch and scores higher.
Cheaters, Sweats and Toxic Lobbies
PUBG: Battlegrounds: 3/10
The battle royale that started the genre is now a rough place for newcomers. Cheaters and matchmaking that pairs level 10 players with level 400 veterans mean most first matches end before they get going. Full PUBG: Battlegrounds verdict.
Play this instead: Apex Legends (5/10). No battle royale on our list scores green. Apex Legends is the least painful of them.
Counter-Strike 2: 4/10
Great gunplay, but most matches are decided by the people around you. Toxic teammates and cheaters turn a lot of sessions into stress instead of fun. Full Counter-Strike 2 verdict.
Play this instead: Left 4 Dead 2 (10/10). Tense team shooting where the only enemies are zombies, not your own teammates.
Call of Duty: 3/10
The gunfights still hit fast. Getting there means a huge install and BIOS security settings, and then you meet the cheaters and the sweatiest lobbies in the genre. Full Call of Duty verdict.
Play this instead: Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 (9/10). Fast, loud gunfights with friends, no BIOS settings required.
ARC Raiders: 3/10
Extraction shooters live on tension, but here the winning move is hiding in a corner and waiting. Too many raids end in an instant death you never saw coming. Full ARC Raiders verdict.
Play this instead: Deep Rock Galactic (10/10). Co-op extraction with no other players hunting you on the way out.
Naraka: Bladepoint: 4/10
The melee combat looks and feels great. A heavy gacha shop, cheaters and lopsided matchmaking sit on top of it. Full Naraka: Bladepoint verdict.
Play this instead: Black Myth: Wukong (9/10). Stylish melee combat with no gacha and no cheaters, because there is nobody else in the game.
Shops That Get in the Way
Overwatch 2: 3/10
The hero shooting is still in there. So are region-locked bundles, currency that expires and a shop that never stops selling. Full Overwatch 2 verdict.
Play this instead: Team Fortress 2 (9/10). The class shooter that came first, and every class is free.
Battlefield 6: 4/10
Even long-time fans walk away disappointed. It costs a lot up front and leans on limited-time filler instead of content that stays. Full Battlefield 6 verdict.
Play this instead: Helldivers 2 (8/10). Huge, chaotic battles that are fun from the first drop.
Hours Before the Fun Starts
Dota 2: 2/10
Players describe it as a habit they uninstall again and again. Expect hundreds of hours before it plays well, and a lot of bad moods along the way. Full Dota 2 verdict.
Play this instead: Marvel Rivals (6/10). Team fights with a far shorter road to your first good match.
Red Dead Redemption 2: 3/10
One of the best games ever made and one of the least fun we have scored. The slow, realistic pacing makes you wait hours for the fun and never fully lets go. Full Red Dead Redemption 2 verdict.
Play this instead: Cyberpunk 2077 (9/10). A big story-driven open world that gets to the good part much faster.
Destiny 2: 4/10
The best gunplay in its genre. New players start in the middle of a story, get lost in the menus, and find most of the content sold separately. Full Destiny 2 verdict.
Play this instead: Warframe (7/10). A free looter shooter that is easier to start from zero.
Starfield: 4/10
Ship building and jetpack fights are good fun. The hours in between go to menus, load screens and planets with little on them. Full Starfield verdict.
Play this instead: Fallout 4 (9/10). Bethesda exploration with more to find between the loading screens.
Progress You Can Lose Overnight
Rust: 3/10
You can sink a whole weekend into a base and log in Monday to find a stranger with C4 wiped it while you slept. More stress than game. Full Rust verdict.
Play this instead: Valheim (7/10). Survival building with friends where nobody wipes your base while you sleep.
It Might Not Even Run
Dragon Age: Origins: 4/10
A brilliant RPG, if you can get it running. It crashes on too many modern PCs, and the usual fixes are fan-made. Full Dragon Age: Origins verdict.
Play this instead: Mass Effect Legendary Edition (9/10). Same studio, same era of RPG, remastered so it runs on a modern PC.
Not Worth It Does Not Mean Bad
A red score is not a quality score. It means the fun is too hard to reach for most new players. If you already love one of these games, enjoy it. If you are deciding where your next free evening goes, start with Deep Rock Galactic or Portal 2, both 10/10.
Want the reasoning behind the numbers? Read how we score games, see the overrated games list, or browse all the rankings.