It’s no secret that fans are very passionate about video gaming as a hobby. It may be unfair to expect perfection from these titles, but fans expect their favorite titles to shoot for the moon and reach even greater heights.
While it may be impossible tomake an open-world gamethat caters to the interests of every fan, these titles should be commended for listening to fan feedback. It may be demoralizing for some games to launch in a broken state, but the redemption arcs experienced by some of these titles are so impressive that they bring a smile to people’s faces.
Cyberpunk 2077is one of the greatest video gamesever made, which fans can’t get enough of to this day. This statement would’ve been unthinkable to utter back when this game launched with unfulfilled promises in a downright broken state.
However, CD Projekt Red refused to give up on this title and was open about fan feedback, which was quite toxic at the time. They removed the bugs, improved the UI, and made several changes that eventually culminated in the much-lauded Update 2.0, turningCyberpunk 2077into the masterpiece that fans knew it could be all along.
Elden Ringis one of the greatest video games ever made, and FromSoftware is a developer that listens to the community all the time. The minor balancing issues this title had at launch were ironed out in no time, to the dismay of many Moonveil Katana mains.
Shadow of the Erdtreewas criticized by many fans upon release before they eventually found the Scadutree Fragments that would make things easier for them. However, there were still some balancing issues, and FromSoftware ensured that the beginning of this DLC wouldn’t be so hard that players would struggle with fighting basic enemies.
No Man’s Sky’s infamous launch is something many fans are more than familiar with. Sean Murray and Hello Games' empty promises were criticized after this title was released, but what fans didn’t expect was for this title’s reputation to make an emphatic U-turn over time.
Hello Games listened to fans and patched out the bugs before getting to work adding all the content they had promised and more. It may not have been the perfect launch, butNo Man’s Skyhas slowly transformed to become one of the most feature-rich sci-fi exploration games players can get their hands on.
Far Cry 5was positively received by fans who were elated that Ubisoft was listening to them. Climbing towers and chasing map markers had become very stale, which is why this title felt like a breath of fresh air.
Exploration felt more organic, thestory in this title evolved naturallyas players liberated different zones, and combat was more action-packed than ever before. It’s one of the rare examples of Ubisoft listening to fans in the modern era, and it’s a shame thatFar Cry 6failed to innovate following this title’s rampant success.
The Witcher 3: Wild Huntfelt like a perfect game from the very moment it released, with fans singing praises about this title for years to come. However, even its most ardent defenders agreed that the game’s age was showing slightly with its surface-level perk system and a Sign casting system that didn’t feel too seamless.
So, fans were left pleasantly surprised when CD Projekt Red released a Next-Gen patch for this title to modernize the gameplay. The graphics looked better than ever, a quick-casting system made Signs more viable than ever, and the perk system was overhauled for it to feel more significant. The fact that CD Projekt Red contacted modders and listened to fans makes it clear why this company is in the good graces of players despite a major misstep withCyberpunk 2077’s launch.
Watch Dogs 2is a massive improvement over its predecessor, with the first title being far from the quirky hacking adventure fans expected. The joyfulness of this game is clear from the get-go as players hack to their heart’s content and take down enemies however they wish.
The open world of San Francisco is replicated beautifully in this title, with the story’s tone and gameplay being exactly what fans wanted from this title all along. To see their complaints be heard by Ubisoft was great, given the backlash to the originalWatch Dogs.
Fallout 76had an abysmal launch that led to many people writing this title off. The lack of NPCs and a weird multiplayer integration was far from ideal, and fans hated the idea of looking at terminals to gather information and engaging with a combat loop that featured no evolution whatsoever.
However, Bethesda heard these complaints and went to work.NPCs were added, stories became more cohesive, and regions were expanded on to makeFallout 76better than ever before.
While players were hyped forShadow of War, the inclusion of microtransactions in a single-player game was a brain-dead move. It made no sense, yet Warner Bros. was so focused on profits that they couldn’t see the bigger picture.
Fan backlash was so massive that WB had to concede after a point. Microtransactions were removed, and the game was balanced to make the late-game grind less grating.
