X Rebirth. The best games killed by bugs and glitches

The situation of X Rebirth is in a way similar to the case of Total War: Rome II, and indeed a large group of PC titles, which first generated huge hopes, only to surprise everyone after the release with terrible performance and zero optimization, killing even the most powerful ideas.

The sixth installment of the X-series by Egosoft studio simply did not work upon release. Constant crashes, notorious problems with framerate, disappearing cursor (and randomly switching the control inversion on); terribly designed interface and crazy artificial intelligence were tip of the iceberg of sorrows poured on forums and in comments sections.

Initially, people compiled methods of remedying the most pressing issues, effectively eliminating some of them. Later updates improved many aspects of the gameplay, but in the long run, it didn't do much good. The elaborate mechanics and addictive gameplay were slain by the technical incompetence of the game.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection

It won't be an exaggeration when I write that currently, the Halo franchise is a mere shadow of its own self. That's not only due to poor reception of Halo 5: Guardians, but also the condition of the remastered collection of appearing on Xbox One (and more recently, the PC). Halo: The Master Chief Collection looked phenomenal on paper. A collection of highly acclaimed games with improved visuals, allowing you to relive the breathtaking stories. What could have gone wrong?

A multiplayer mode that didn't work. While the singleplayer campaign could be completed without major problems, the multiplayer mode was broken to such extent that players got completely mad at 343 Industries. It was mostly impossible to join a game, friends list didn't work, nor anything connected to them. Then, if anyone managed to play a match, it was likely plagued by notorious bugs, including stats that didn't save.

Were these just infancy problems? Unfortunately, no. 343 had absolutely no idea how to deal with the situation. More patches were released, minor problems disappeared, but the online mode was still mostly dead. Again, players saved the day, coming up with great ideas to force the game to look for online matches. Eventually (namely several years after the release), the most serious bugs were eliminated, but for many players, the studio simply butchered their beloved series.

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Grand Theft Auto 4 (on PC)

Another port from consoles to PC? I'll pretend to be shocked. Grand Theft Auto IV is a pretty interesting example of how gamers' opinions change over time. Initially, this title was impressive (note – on consoles) bringing the open world to a new level. Over time, the dull colors and tiresome details bored players, and the real criticism came after the game launched on PC. Currently, we remember this installment with fondness and would love to return to the atmosphere and mood from before GTA Online.

However, let's go back to the PC release of GTA IV. A PC slayer is putting it mildly. Rockstar Games obviously nailed the port and offered much better visuals, adding new, sexy effects. There was also room for a video editor that players could use to make short clips. Reviewers praised the approach to the PC version. However, in order to see GTA IV in full glory, one needed an overpowered machine – and that still didn't guarantee smooth gameplay.

Let's just say that the first time anyone was able to run the game in high framerate at 4K was... last year, when the Geforce RTX 3k series was released. As a piece of trivia, I'll also add that Hayssam Keilany gained much publicity thanks to GTA IV, creating the iCEnhancer mod, which further tweaked graphics, being a real PC fatality. However, for such a setting, it was worth it.

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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords

This list wouldn't be complete without Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords, which has a tragic history of development, unfulfilled potential and gigantic ambitions with a small budget and a few months that Obsidian Entertainment was given to make the game. KotORII was released on schedule, but it came at the price of many bugs and a mass of cut content (in addition to the regular MSRP).

Similar to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the final product, while far from a finished game, enjoys a cult status that's hard to dispute. Unfortunately, Obsidian didn't have a chance to patch their masterpiece up, so we were doomed to the weird game that paired phenomenal story and abhorrent technical condition. And if it weren't for the fans who, after a long time, released mods that eliminated a huge number of bugs and restored deleted content, Knights of the Old Republic II would have remained one of the industry's biggest outrages (which it still arguably is, if you don't take the fan effort into account).

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