The absolute worst movies, games and new TV shows of 2022, according to critics

05/01/2023
Daniel Rutledge

As the glow of Christmas and welcoming the New Year wears off and we've finished celebrating the greatest entertainment released in 2022, it's time to wade into muck of the year's worst films, games and TV shows.

We all may have one or two releases of 2022 we personally hated the most, but the pop culture products listed below are those that were most universally hated by reviewers.

Metacritic aggregates reviews from a curated selection of critics around the world for film, game, music and TV releases, giving each a 'Metascore' out of 100 based on the average review rating.

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The absolute worst movies, games and new TV shows of 2022, according to critics

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So what was the most abysmal entertainment of 2022?

According to Metacritic, the worst film was 365 Days: This Day, the worst game was Postal 4: No Regerts and the worst new TV show was The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On.

Both the movie and series are Netflix products, released during a year which was a famously bad one for the global streaming giant - although 365 Days: This Day was exceedingly popular, despite how hated it is.

And the raunchy European erotic thriller sequel sure is hated.

It has a measly Metascore of just eight, while over at fellow review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it has a relatively rare zero, meaning the website couldn't find a single positive review from a reputable critic.

"It's stunning how blatantly this Euro-softcore series rips off Fifty Shades of Grey, itself Twilight fan fiction blown up to mega-hit size. And that's the least of these movies' issues," wrote Katie Rife for RogerEbert.com.

"365 Days: This Day is barely a movie. It's the emotionally bankrupt id of late capitalism, a braindead miasma of choreographed sex and nonsensical fighting driven by greed and violence masquerading as passion."

Ouch.

Meanwhile, there were some amazing games released in 2022 including Elden Ring, God of War: Ragnarok and Persona 5 Royal. But like every year there were also plenty of stinkers and according to critics, Postal 4: No Regerts was the most shocking shocker of them all, with a Metascore of 30.

Postal 4: No Regerts. — Postal 4: No Regerts screenshot. Photo credit: Running With Scissors

IGN's Travis Northup explained in his review the title suffered a multitude of technical issues, but also failed miserably at the sort of provocative humour South Park and Grand Theft Auto are celebrated for doing well.

"It's embarrassingly juvenile stuff to be sure, but if the dialogue were at least well-written or clever along the way I'd have no problem with that. It isn't. Instead it's got all the subtlety and nuance of an enraged ape throwing its dung," wrote Northup.

"Put all of that atop a terrifying pyramid of bugs, glitches, and frequent full-on crashes and you've got one of the most thoroughly unenjoyable mistakes ever created. You shouldn't play this game, and I wish I hadn't."

Amongst the most terrible television of 2022, new shows that made critics cross included Matthew Fox action-thriller Last Light, Chris Pratt action-thriller The Terminal List and women's prison comedy Hard Cell.

But it was Netflix's The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On that was ranked the most altogether awful debut of the year.

Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the show saw American couples "put their love to the test - while shacking up with other potential matches", according to the official website.

While Netflix describes the show as a "provocative reality series" Vanity Fair critic Tracy Moore labelled it a "sadistic twist on reality romance" that is "so torturous it should probably invoke ethical review by the Office for Human Research Protections".

"Seeing round after round of people being tortured by their loved ones, facing day after day with visibly queasy sadness makes the watching experience less guilty pleasure and more Stanford prison experiment," wrote Moore.

For readers interested in torturing themselves, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On is currently available to view via Netflix in New Zealand, as is a French version of the show.

And should you wish to subject yourself to more of the most dreadful, atrocious entertainment releases of 2022, below are five lowest ranked movies, games and new TV shows of the year, with the Metascore of each release is included in brackets.