Study reveals video games that players cannot bring themselves to finish

• Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies is the video game that is most given up on with 48% of players choosing not to complete it
• Bad Rats: The Rat’s Revenge comes in second place as most retired game with 30% of players opting to abandon play
• Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is the third most-retired video game

Research reveals that Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies is the video game that has the highest percentage of players choosing to abandon gameplay.

Gaming expert Solitaired has analysed retirement rate data from the 50 lowest rated video games of all time on howlongtobeat.com and paired this with user scores and ratings from metacritic.com. The retirement of a game is essentially when a player has given up on attempting to complete the game, for various reasons. The data was filtered by the highest retirement rates, and key words were taken from player reviews to reveal which video games are widely given up on by players, and the possible reasons why.

1. Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies

Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies is found to have the highest retirement rate with 48% of players opting to give up on attempting to complete it. This 2014 first-person shooter game tasks players with shooting down unstoppable hordes of zombies by using tactical strategy. The game has a pretty midrange overall rating of 41% and a user score of 4.9 out of 10. Reviews written by players and critics alike have noted the repetitive and confused nature of the game, whilst others have called it out as being a complete disaster.

2. Bad Rats: The Rat’s Revenge

Bad Rats: The Rat’s Revenge comes in second place for the most retired game with 30% of players giving up. The game is essentially a physics puzzle game that requires players to use real physics principles to make an object hit a target. With a very low overall rating of 22% and a user score of 5.9 it is no wonder that reviewers have described it as a joke of a game.

3. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is found to have the third highest retirement of 27%. The game was released in 2021 making it the most recent release on the top 20 most retired games list. Players must slay monsters and collect loot without the dice rolls and lengthy quests of the board game that it is based on. Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance received an overall rating of 41% and a user score of just 3.3 with reviews calling the game out for being clumsy and half-baked, with some players offering the multiplayer mode up as the redeeming feature of the game.

4. Dead Bits

Dead Bits is a first-person shooter game in a world of colourful cubes and alien zombies. The game takes fourth place in the running for most retired video game with a retirement rate of 22%. Dead Bits received an overall rating of 37% and a metacritic user score of 4 with users complaining that the design of the game is ugly, whilst the gameplay itself is short and boring.

5. Ampu-Tea

Ampu-Tea is essentially a surgery simulation game that tasks players to use a robotic arm to make different types of tea. 19% of players who begin this game decide to give up before they attempt to complete it. The average user reviews of 2.2 may explain this retirement rate as they complain that the game is buggy and a cheap surgeon simulator copy.

6. Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends

Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends comes in sixth place with 16% of players choosing to abandon gameplay before finishing. Players compete in tournaments as the furious five throughout the Valley of Peace. With an overall rating of 40% and a user score of 4.9 the game missed the mark as players deemed the game to be a lazy rip-off of the popular Super Smash Bros. games.  

7. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is the seventh most retired game with a 15% retirement rate. The party game features Animal Crossing characters who move around a dynamic boardgame with the ultimate goal of making your villager the happiest in town. The average user score of 4.1 is explained by the game reviewers who deem the game to be lacking, uneventful and boring.

8. Oil Rush

Oil rush is a real-time naval strategy game set in a world where the ice caps have melted because of nuclear war. Players must send naval squads into battle whilst defending floating oil rigs. 15% of players who began to play the game decided to retire it. The game seems to have very mixed reviews, with some players calling it worthless with clunky gameplay, whilst others have commented on the beautiful graphics and great multiplayer mode.

9. Ride to Hell: Retribution

Ride to Hell: Retribution is set in 1960’s Western America where players can immerse themselves in the hard drinking, bare-knuckle fighting of biker gang culture. This game is the lowest rated game in the list with an overall rating of just 12% and a Metacritic user score of 1.4. The game’s retirement rate, however, is not the highest as 14% of players retired this game after starting to play. The possible reason for disparity between the overall rating and retirement scores may be due to some of the more positive reviewers calling the game so hilariously bad that it is actually enjoyable. Besides these players who play the game to make fun of it, the overall response to the game is mostly negative, with players calling it trashy, dumb, and masochistic.

10. Umbrella Corps

Umbrella Corps is the tenth most retired game on the list with a 14% retirement rate.  The game is a spin-off of the Resident Evil series with gameplay focusing on zombie shooting. Umbrella Corps received a negative reception with an overall rating of 34% and critics referring to the game as low-budget, chaotic and muddled.

op 20 most retired video games of all time

Ranking	Game	Overall rating	Retirement	User Score (out of 10)	Date of release	Review Key Words (critics and players)
1	Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies	41%	47.57%	4.9	2014	Lousy, repetitive, confused, disaster
2	Bad Rats: the Rats’ Revenge	22%	30.21%	5.9	2009	Joke, bad, terrible
3	Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance	41%	26.50%	3.3	2021	A mess, clumsy, half-baked
4	Dead Bits	37%	21.95%	4.0	2014	Short, Ugly, boring, poor design
5	Ampu-Tea	41%	19.39%	2.2	2013	Buggy, stay away, cheap
6	Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends	40%	16%	4.9	2015	Simple, lazy, mediocre
7	Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival	40%	15.28%	4.1	2015	Lacking, uneventful, boring
8	Oil Rush	41%	15.26%	6.5	2011	worthless, clunky
9	Ride to Hell: Retribution	12%	14.48%	1.4	2013	trashy, masochistic, dumb
10	Umbrella Corps	34%	14.16%	2.4	2016	low-budget, chaotic, muddled
11	Postal III	39%	12.50%	3.2	2011	unoriginal, repetitive, poor
12	Agony	41%	12.29%	4.3	2018	boring, frustrating, undercooked
13	Shellshock 2: Blood Trails	37%	11.26%	5.7	2009	sloppy, inadequate, silly
14	Back to the Future	39%	10%	7.1	1989	glitches, crashes, cringe
15	Barro	32%	9.26%	5.4	2018	boring, no music
16	Sniper: Art of Victory	32%	8.77%	3.3	2008	terrible, awful, superficial
17	Sonic the Hedgehog	42%	8.57%	5.1	2006	buggy, unfinished, poor controls
18	Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta – Episode 1	30%	7.73%	2.5	2013	Terrible, useless, avoid
19	Rogue Warrior	30%	7.24%	3.4	2009	Stinker, quit, boring
20	Make It Indie!	28%	6.97%	2.6	2014	Barely playable