XEL is officially the worst Switch game of 2022, according to Metacritic

It’s that moment once again where Metacritic fleshes out the “Game of the Year” nominations by publishing a list of the worst games released.

On the Switch front, the worst game of the year goes to the Zelda-esque sci-fi adventure title, XEL. It made its platform debut in July of this year, and according to Metacritic’s rating system (which requires a nominated game to have at least seven professional reviews), it’s the fourth worst game overall of 2022. The Switch version of Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition was also in 10th place.

“Games are ranked by Metascore (as of Dec. 12, 2022) before rounding, and any titles with less than 7 reviews from pro critics are excluded. (In other words, these bad games are all important enough to get reviews from multiple publications.) If a single title would make it multiple times on the list due to low scores on more than one platform, we’ve only included the lowest rated version.”

Metacritic – The 10 Worst Video Games of 2022:

1. POSTAL 4 – No regrets – 30 (PC)
2. CrossfireX – 38 (Xbox Series X)
3. The fall of Babylon – 41 (PS5)
4. XEL-43 (Nintendo Switch)
5. LEGO Brawls – 46 (PS5)
6. Zorro: The Chronicles – 59 (PS5)
7. The Ultimate Oricru – 50 (Xbox Series X)
8. The Wayfarers – 51 (PC)
9. Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief – 52 (PS4)
10. Blade Runner: Improved Edition – 52 ( Nintendo Switch )

Here’s what Metacritic had to say about both Nintendo Switch titles:

XELE extension

“A 3D open-world platformer set in a mysterious world that blends sci-fi and fantasy elements, Xele could get some points for the graphics and its original story. But make no mistake Xele for Zelda: The former is so crude and frustrating that few players will really enjoy playing it. And the problems aren’t just on the Switch: a PC version has received similarly negative reviews.”

Blade Runner: Improved Edition

“An “enhanced” port of a fairly good 1997 point-and-click sci-fi adventure game set in the same universe as the first Blade Runner movie, this remaster was not as successful as the original. In fact, it wasn’t even as good as an unofficial port released for PC a few years ago. Critics and users have complained about the new graphics and numerous glitches.”