I know some don’t preorder, but many do, so for them…

the ones you’re excited for, preorder before any reviews or anything and you play it and it’s a total disappointmen.

the one that sticks in my craw, that nobody would agree with, but…Elden Ring. That is always in back of mind. Not really a whole lot of others. I don’t regret many purchases, preorder or later.

Evil Dead The Game

Controversially…? Arkham City. I was head over heels in love with Arkham Asylum, and I remember taking off work to devote the entire day to City. …and I absolutely hated every moment of it. It was a total hate-play; I spent $60, and dammit, I wasn’t going to let it defeat me. Everything I loved about Asylum was pretty well ruined in the bloated, poorly designed sequel.

I’ve had a pretty good run in recent years of not being outrageously disappointed by preorders. There have been some games that weren’t exactly home runs (like Watch_Dogs: Legion), but I think I’d have to go back to 2019 to find a preorder where I felt like I’d made a disastrous mistake: Dead or Alive 6 in particular. (Not a banner year for me, since I disliked Rage 2 and Borderlands 3 too.) And I’m sure being stung a few times in 2018 and 2019 made me more gunshy about preordering, which led to my hit-to-miss ratio being much improved.

State of Emergency

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. I enjoyed the first FFXIII and really liked the sequel so was excited for the conclusion and when I started playing it found out that for the final game they added a in game countdown clock so you have to complete the game in a certain amount of time or the game just ends even if you have open quests and then you have to start over in new game plus. I like to move at my own pace and explore in rpgs so that immediately put me off of it and I sold it off.

Way back in 1987 (when I was 13), I was so excited for The Karate Kid (NES) that I asked the game shop at the mall to let me know when it came in and put $5 down.

The day came, my friends came over, and we played the heck out it and it was sooo short and not good… and they teased me incessantly for the next few few years. In fact, it still comes up in conversation once in awhile.

Far Cry 5. I pre-ordered tbe game and season pass. Didn't even finish the main game. I should have waited for a sale lol

The most recent Saints Row is my regret - my latest one, anyhow. It's still in the wrapper.

There are many, many preorders I regret but mostly that's down to my backlog and not getting around to opening them before they dropped in price. So I'll leave those out.

Most recent one I can remember if Mario Tennis. Preordered it because of some kind of gold coins deal and I figured "hey, I liked Mario Tennis in the past" but had no idea at the time that it was mostly multiplayer with just a little single player content to get the basics down.

Callisto Protocol.
I haven't even started it and knowing myself probably never will.

MW2 2022 - but at least I got a sweet steelbook case.

My local gamestop guy told me to now always call ahead of time and pre-order any new releases I want. He said they no longer stock games. Is this same where anyone else lives?

I have rarely pre-ordered anything.

I don't preorder at gamestop usually, but I've heard it's been a crapshoot whether preordering actually gets you the game in the store on release, much less the bonus. They definitely don't have much new stock just sitting there, though, so I can believe it.

Cyberpunk is my answer. My last Best Buy GCU purchase. Once that shit show launched I returned it, in what was probably my first game return since Babbages was a thing. So in returning that I had to spend the credit, so Far Cry 6 pre-order fit the bill (my true last GCU purchase). It's still in the shrink wrap.

Every time I consider playing it I just think about the time investment. I poured 60+ hours into both 4 & 5 each. It's a huge commitment at this point.

So yeah, Cyberpunk and Far Cry 6. A double bill of pre-order disappointment.

Gran Turismo 7 only because it launched like a week after Elden Ring. Didn't touch it for months and easily could have waited for a sale or used copy.

Cyberpunk sure, not just because of the mess of the game due to all the well-documented reasons, but also because I just didn't like it despite all the technical flaws.