No matter how hard developers work on a game, sometimes fans won't like it for different reasons. In the age of social media, fans come in mass to make sure game developers know why they don't like a game, and how they want it to be fixed.
While The Last of Us Part II has been one of the more recent examples of this massive fan backlash towards the game's main story, it's not the only one that fans have been vocal about. Here are some more examples of games that received lots of fan backlash because of their stories. Spoilers ahead for major reveals of these entries.
10 The Last Of Us Part II
The Last Of Us Part II has had negative reviews from so many different angles that it's hard to narrow it down to just one problem that players had with it. Some people chalk up the negative reviews to people being homophobic, racist, or sexist about the characters in the game.
However, most players seemed to have a problem with how the game differed compared to how the marketing gave people the impression that they'd be able to play as Joel and/or Ellie. However, Joel dies pretty early on in the story, and players get to control Ellie and Joel's killer, Abby. The story does reveal Abby's motives for killing Joel, but many players weren't happy with that at all.
9 Mass Effect 3
When players got to the ending of Mass Effect 3, they were quick to voice their disappointment online. No matter what happened, Shepard would almost always die at the end of the game after choosing how to defeat the Reapers once and for all. It made many players feel like all of their choices throughout the game didn't even matter, as there was no easy way to save Shepard.
A new DLC was later released to give players an extended look at how Mass Effect 3 ends. There were still some ways that Shepard could live, but many fans remained upset because the main way to get them is to play the game's multiplayer mode a lot.
8 Assassin's Creed Odyssey
While the main story of Assassin's Creed Odyssey didn't receive too much backlash, the first storyline in the Legacy of the First Blade DLC is where fans voiced their disapproval enough to get Ubisoft's attention.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey had been praised by many outlets for its inclusive same-sex relationship options for both Kassandra and Alexios to pursue. However, the first DLC story ended an episode with the protagonist having a baby to continue their bloodline, and this didn't allow for players who had same-sex relationships in the game to keep those relationships in the DLC. Ubisoft later apologized and changed the ending so that players can choose their motivations for having a baby, letting them keep their romances with same-sex NPCs if they choose.
7 Fallout 76
There were quite a few problems with Fallout 76 upon its release, and one of the main complaints that fans had was about its story and lack of NPCs to talk to. The Fallout series is known for giving players several dialogue options that can affect the outcome of their game's story, but that aspect of the series was gone in favor of encouraging players to travel with others online instead.
This NPCs issue has since been remedied a bit by the release of the Wastelanders update to address the backlash, but it's taken a while for the update to come out, and many potential players might've already abandoned Fallout 76 before the update's release.
6 Anthem
It's hard to talk about fan backlash without bringing up Anthem. It had a mountain of problems that fans were reporting right from the start, and the reception for the game was either that someone loved it or someone hated it with hardly any mixed feelings in between.
Yes, Anthem has plenty of problems with its gameplay, but that didn't distract fans from being disappointed with the story. Many players seemed to think that the story was so short that it hardly made an impact on the game overall. Since this backlash, BioWare has stated that they are going to basically be redoing the game, so let's hope that the next version is fleshed out more.
5 Pokémon Sword and Shield
Fans of early Pokémon games might feel nostalgic when they meet their rival in a game for the first time. Usually, the games' rivals are somewhat skilled, and they tend to talk down to players, making the desire to beat them in a battle even stronger.
This level of rivalry doesn't always transfer over to the newer Pokémon games though, and Pokémon Sword and Shield are no exceptions. Many fans thought that their rival, Hop, was exactly the opposite of a rival. Yes, he is a nice friend, but previous games show that a rival in Poéemon isn't supposed to be a friend all the time.
4 Mass Effect: Andromeda
Yet another sore spot for BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda didn't revive the Mass Effect series like fans were hoping. Not only were the animations buggy, stiff, and even creepy at times, both the story and the characters felt pretty disappointing.
For some fans, the characters felt surface-level, at least compared to companions from previous games in the series. The main story didn't seem to add much to the series as a whole, making it almost forgettable and not very motivating to finish. BioWare didn't produce any DLCÂ either, leaving the game to stick out of the series in more ways than one.
3 Batman: Arkham Knight
Even from the release of its trailers, Batman: Arkham Knight brought skepticism from fans about how good the story would be. One of the main concerns was the appearance of Joker, who was killed in Arkham City, which left fans wondering how he could seem like he's alive now.
The game's release left fans with more complaints about the story overall. While some players were happy with Joker's inclusion after his appearance was explained, others still weren't. Besides that, many players weren't pleased by how much of the story required Batman to use the Batmobile, and how predictable the reveal of the Arkham Knight's identity was.
2 Halo 5: Guardians
When players think of the Halo franchise, the first person to come to mind is most likely Master Chief, so it's a bit odd that Halo 5: Guardians hardly features him at all.
Players seemed to be excited to find out how his story continues in this installment since announcements and trailers said that Master Chief was being hunted down. While this storyline does play out, there are too many other parts of the story that the game makes fans follow that don't involve playing as Master Chief, which led to massive backlash from fans.
1 Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
2015's Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival came out on the WiiU, a system that already didn't have the best reputation or popularity status. However, hardcore fans might've still bought it for the story, but the main criticism here was that it didn't really have one at all. Fans were used to storylines where they get to run a town and meet new villagers.
Instead, they were given a board game that many players thought was boring and just an excuse for Nintendo to encourage fans to buy more amiibos to use in the game.