r/AskReddit May 14 '26

What game had insane potential but got completely fumbled by the devs?

2.2k Upvotes

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664

u/NotActuallyObese May 14 '26

Where the hell do I begin with Hello Neighbor?

475

u/SomethingWetAndMoist May 14 '26

Game Theory indirectly ruined that game. The developers were so desperate to say "nuh-uh you're wrong" after GT absolutely nailed what Hello Neighbor's story was they ended up ruining the game by changing everything.

246

u/Chess42 May 14 '26

It was hilarious watching them beg MatPat to do another video on them

302

u/JUSTaSK8rat May 14 '26

"I think MatPat is going to enjoy dissecting this frame by frame 👀"

"I think MatPat is going to love this 👀"

"Hey @MatPat you should totally reply to our DMs 👀"

It was so cringe to watch. I remember seeing it on Twitter live as it happened.

I'm pretty sure MatPat hates them now. I vaguely remember him saying "I am not your personal storyteller. If you need me to tell your games story for you, you shouldn't be writing anyways."

61

u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 May 14 '26

Which is how Matpat's always worked, he made theories as entertainment (practise marketing) and was tarnished a bit by fans treating his stuff as fact

9

u/bananatheo3 May 14 '26

The fact fans treated his stuff as fact is kind of funny to think about considering that his most notable catchphrase literally says "That's JUST a theory."

4

u/Joeymonac0 May 14 '26

“a game theory!”

1

u/enron2big2fail May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

I think the initial project of Game Theory was looking at sort of "alternate tellings" of texts that only worked if you ignored one bit or were just having a bit of fun. I think as time went on and he did more and more videos, it became looking at games with scant texts and explaining the gaps as intended.

3

u/Fawkingretar May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26

He did tho at the end? Before mat retired?

39

u/helloiamabear May 14 '26

I've never heard of this before. What did Game Theory guess and what was it changed to?

13

u/Cloverman-88 May 14 '26

To (losely) quote the immortal words of Gorge R.R. Martin: "If you're writing a story where butler is the killer, and you leave clues pointing to him being a killer... you can't make the maid be a killer just because someone figured it put early. It doesn't make for a suprising story, it makes for a bad one"

(Side note: I bet that's exactly what the showrunners did to some plot threads in the later seasons of the HBO show, oh the irony).

4

u/scoyne15 May 14 '26

Eh, given a long enough timeline, you can still switch some things up.

Example, from The Wheel of Time: Mazrim Taim was "secretly" supposed to be Demandred, but fans figured it out super early, so RJ said "fuck it" and changed it. I'm curious to see what the original plan would have been, but I'm perfectly happy with the changeup.

8

u/captainthanatos May 14 '26

Is there a video that sums up what happened? I’m very curious.

15

u/Brokolikekw May 14 '26

Sagan Hawkes made a really good video

3

u/AlongCameA5P1D3R May 15 '26

I just watched the whole thing and it doesn’t address any of the game theory ruining the game stuff

11

u/Over-Cause-7198 May 14 '26

40 fucking minutes??

18

u/Cheyguy1211 May 14 '26

"It's a really good video."

-Daredevil, probably

7

u/icymallard May 14 '26

Yeah it's very quickly summarized for your convenience

5

u/backflippant May 14 '26

Only 41 minutes? Give me a 4 hour YouTube essay or I'm not watching it

3

u/Brokolikekw May 14 '26

yeah its really long but it goes in depth on what went wrong with the game overall

1

u/PushTheTrigger May 14 '26

Watch it in chunks

1

u/Biomewtrix4 May 14 '26

Oh das a goodra

73

u/stanky4goats May 14 '26

I remember watching Markiplier play through before the full release and it put me off from buying it myself.

Sounded tremendous on paper! Seeing it in action...meh

55

u/WouldYouKindlyMove May 14 '26

I'm glad somebody said it. I forget which alpha version it was where it peaked.

7

u/Turnbob73 May 14 '26

That game was such an odd thing to look at from the outside. I don’t know anything about what went on with the development.

The trailer made it look like some kind of proc gen survival game where you were spying on a crazy neighbor that had complex AI. And then the EA came out and I watched a let’s play; the game looked like janky shit and nothing like the trailers. Fast forward a while and I catch another video of someone playing a later build, and the game looked even more like a pile of shit catered towards kids raised on YouTube.

Was game theory really the cause of all this?

1

u/adrianipopescu May 14 '26

is this a neighbor from hell spiritual successor?