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I think there's room in an awards "presentation" for a negative award or two, but these days simple things like "Worst Game" are dated. It's difficult to find a balance between poking fun at questionable games without just being out-and-out mean about it... plus the odds are that none of us actually played the "worst game" to come out this year because it's probably some 65-cent hentai thing on Steam.

But, then, maybe this award isn't actually negative, right? The idea of buying a game for a friend as a joke might initially sound negative, but maybe you're buying them a great game that you know they don't have time to enjoy. Like "hey, I know you're working two jobs and playing three live games already, but here's a copy of Dwarf Fortress!" Something to that effect.

So what I want to know is: good or bad, what's the game you think would be hilarious to buy for a friend?

(Also, try to include the game name at the top of your response, it makes it way easier for us to tabulate it on this end. I... probably should have said this from the start. Oops!)

Comments

zma1013

Lawn Mower Simulator - I want to hear them do their best Hank Hill impression.

Strangereal

Europa Universalis IV This game, and most Paradox games, have a ridiculously high barrier to entry but most of the people on my various friends lists are into strategy games, RPG games or both. (90% of my friends are from Dynasty Warriors fan communities of which most enjoy the RTK games and/or Nobunaga's Ambition games, FFXIV or all of the above.) I keep trying to learn EU3, because I already have it but as soon as I quit going off a tutorial, it goes off the fucking rails man and watching the world implode is fun but frustrating because for once, I wasn't trying to ruin humanity. That's why the game is so appealing to just bombard my friends with when it goes on sale. I know most would love it but also just don't have the time for FFXIII "It's good 25 hours in after you know what's going on, I swear" levels of shit. Hell, I don't even have the time or patience for it anymore but watching really good, high level play of EU4 or CK3 is a thing of beauty. Suffer for my enjoyment, my friends. Suffer and enjoy it.

ArbitraryWater

Alone in the Dark 2008 is a game I want to subject more of my friends to. It's just a real misguided piece of shit. Every single idea it has is both ambitious and barely functional trash. (I played it for two hours on stream and had a very "good" time before I realized the entire game was going to be that)

zma1013

Bad Rats - Everyone deserves a copy of Bad Rats.

DaddyWarbucks

Furry Hitler is a game my friend bought me as a goof

Lee S

Powerwash Simulator I actually did get a bunch of friends to buy it, one of whom had a major neatness obsession, and I figured it would either ruin him or be deeply therapeutic. Fortunately it was the latter.

Ryan Loring

Crisis Core, can't believe they recorded new voice work but keep the exact same script

Wes Koop

Garfield Kart: Furious Racing, my 10y/o nephews got a laugh at this on Christmas when i dropped a steam code in their stockings. talked to them yesterday, and they told me "it's not very good, we don't play it anymore."

SupeRaven

1-Month of Game Pass Ultimate. So many options, so little time. OK, it's not a game, but I did this to someone and results were as I hoped. 😁

coribald

Sonic Origins would be the meanest joke. Terrible, compromised versions of bad games that everyone already has less terrible versions of.

coribald

i would have been *furious* if they changed a single awful line, that games lives by its melodramatic nonsense!

Mason W

Valkyrie Elysium. It is such a bare and boring character action game that would be great to tell a friend that it is Square Enix Bayonetta and see the joy melt away.

ShadowSkill

Subverse Subverse from internet video game waifu pornographers, Studio FOW Interactive. Steam will notify all of their friends every time they play it they are on a quest to procure more waifus that are totally into any man, woman, and even beast available for their cutscene reward.

Alan Joyce

Pro Cycling Manager 2022

gulpirak

Sex With Hitler. Yes, it's really on Steam.

Jordan Hass

Garfield Party, especially to a good friend named JEFF

Parallax Abstraction

Sex With Stalin, which absolutely exists because I got trolled it by a community member and had to stream it on Discord.

Adam W Hamilton

I have a friend that works as an electrician, and I saw electrician simulator other day on steam.

Stefan

Balan Wonderworld, along with 5 shares of Square Enix stock.

Michael Hash

Trombone Champ. It’s a laugh with you and not laugh at you kind of joke.

Rhett Woody

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin I think SOPFFO is a perfect fit for this category. Jokes should be funny, and everything about this game from the presentation to the writing to the fact that an insane acronym like SOPFFO stuck and is even used in an official capacity by Square Enix is hilarious. A lot of it falls squarely into the “so bad it’s good” category, but at the end of the day it’s also kind of a good game? It’s certainly something that I would buy as a joke, but also not feel bad about spending the money on. It’s a game worth actually playing.

SatelliteOfLove

yah, its Trombone Champ. gag gift that doesnt just get ignored later

Dixavd

Pac-Man World Re-Pac 3D Pac-Man is a nightmare in-and-of itself that I love reminding people of. That said, as far as character playformers go, it seems to be an okay one and friends I remember enjoying old sonic or spyro games with might actually enjoy it.

Joseph

Balan Wonderworld

Phil Holmes

Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires. Not only are they using the engine from the worst DW game, but they made the strategy elements terrible too.

Kacho

Hyper Demon! Not everyone I know is a games sicko like myself, so I’d love to just be like “hey, check out this fun Arcadey Experience!” and watch a friend’s brain melt.

christian ates

Sifu. Give it to the FGC enthusiasts in your life, I mean it was nominated for fighting game of the year at the game awards after all.

AJ

Virtual Hydlide It's a cursed joke, but it's slightly easier then finding a legitimately demon possessed doll. Games these days are too playable to make appropriate jokes.

David P

Trombone Champ is def the real answer. Maybe it's not in the spirit of the award though? It's an actual great game that is also a great gag gift. If Trombone Champ is disqualified then Bad Rats it is.

Kuno Woudt

First Time In Paris - Collector's Edition (Ocean Media, Nintendo Switch) This is a hidden object game, which, if you're not familiar with the genre... check out the 2013 "Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can" quick look with Ryan and Vinny. It is the most casual-ass genre of games, which I expect most "gamers" will absolutely hate. However, "First Time in Paris" is one of the better ones in the genre, and I really enjoyed my time with it. Especially passing the controller back and forth with my partner.

Konrad Kuzmin

Total War: Warhammer 3 Now here me out. Not only is this game baller, but it's a fantastic way to get someone into the Warhammer universe, which leads to Warhammer 40K, which leads to getting someone hooked on the plastic good stuff (the minis). Now I have someone to talk to about painting and how totally badass Warhammer is. It's a totally evil thing to do but someone must fall down this rabbit hole with me, damn it! ~~Konrad Kuzmin

Jamie Dalton

War Gods for N64. I remember walking into an Electronics Boutique at my local mall with my grandma when I was 13 and getting convinced by an employee that it was an incredible game and would make a perfect birthday gift for me. I remember it costing my grandma $90 in 1997. I’d like the joke to come full circle in 2023 😂

Craig Parker

Sonic Frontiers. It's not altogether bad but it is hilariously audacious and meme worthy.

Neon Pop

Succubus with Guns

Limowreck

Subnautica or Rust. Probably one of those games that's like a well regarded survival game that you dump ridiculous amounts of hours into but there's not really a main "end" to the progression thing...?

Joe Lees

Space Marine... Cos the sequel is coming out, it's not a great game but it is always funny to hear the orks go "OIIII, SPOICE MAYREEN!"

R. Ballien

Good gravy, I played this this year, too, and despite it indeed being the most casual-ass casual of games, I enjoyed my time with it as well. Did not expect *anyone else* to ever mention that title, but here we are. I'm considering getting First Time in Rome eventually. Lord help us all.

R. Ballien

I actually don't myself. I backed the Kickstarter and have this game, but I haven't gotten around to playing it, and it seemed to disappear completely after its launch. Is there a notorious reason for that that's escaped my notice?

R. Ballien

Vampire Survivors. While not a bad game, it's a minimal investment, and you get to watch their productivity melt away. (The only down side: they likely already have it.)

Odyssydical

Life of a Black Tiger on PS4. Overlooked masterpiece. It seemed to pass Sony's strict QC tests and given the stamp of approval to end up on the store.

FameDouglas

"Sex Chess" by Evil Boob Cult. It's very NSFW but looks like the sort of game my friends would appreciate not getting. If I wanted to be nice to my friends I would get them Vampire Survivors.

Ben Hewerdine

Elden Ring The idea of one of my friends who is really not a gamer feeling obliged to play it is funny to me

Gary3k

Neopets paid currency, Neopoints. Welcome to hell!

Dillon

Are you smarter than a 5th grader for switch and I’d attach a card that said “I wanted to give you something to aspire to”

AJ

Goat Simulator 3. I love it unironically and I know my friends would play co-op with me, but i would have to buy it for them.

kinto

Genital Jousting has been passed around. It's actually fun but everyone is going "WTF".

PastaPirate

Garfield Kart goes on sale so often and every time I am tempted to buy it for all my friends.

Jeff Giesler

The answer has always been Bad Rats

Andy Robichaud

2022: Trombone Champ. As others note, it's an excellent game that is also a great gag gift game. My brother was a legitimate trombone performance grad, and his comment was "you only need to sound like a 6th grader and it's Perfecto!" All time bad gag gift? I don't know, Dragonquest 7 to a non-JRPG fan. Here's a minimum 100-hour beat of a game style you hate. Happy Birthday, Asshole

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Calvin Tucker's Redneck Farm Animal Racing Tournament (Wii)

Bobby Downey

It’s still “Shower with your Dad Simulator.”

Jordan Jones

Yelled at my friends about Vampire Survivors until I bought it for all of them on their birthdays and keep telling them how it's the best game out this year. The joke being they are initially confused that I'm dead serious but I also won't shut up about it until they play it and I'm not joking at all. Honoring the spirit of what you're trying to do is harder than it used to be which I think is great. Lots of little gremlin games come out but it's more fun and better for everyone to give them "joke" games that are actually fun like Vampire Survivors, PowerWash Simulator, or Oxygen Not Included. ...Postal 4 came out of early access last year?

Steve Francis

Because most of my friends don't play games, it's probably Elden Ring, so I could watch them get fucked up and die a bunch...

Treestump

Trombone Champ Like others have stated, it's both a bad and good example of a gag gift. Someone plays it for either 5 seconds and is done with the bit or they play for 5 hours without understanding why exactly while downloading user made tracks "just to see". Laughs ate had either way.

Berg

Lego Star Wars Skywalker Saga (Or whatever the one that came out 2022) is, this might be a DQ since I bought it as a gift, that was accepted. This friend HATES Lego games. This may be a valid position given the formula, and amount of games and IP under the Lego-games, the friend in question is way to vocal about the issue. I will accept some blame here since he is the proud owner of almost every Lego game thanks to me, and steamsales. Writing this I realize that this practical "joke" that only I laugh at, is perhaps even more worn than the Lego-game recipe.