Quantum Error

One more leap

Now with the Playstation V event good and covered, (I know that's not how they stylise it but I want to and until I get a 'cease and desist' I'll do as I please!) I might as well start trying to catch my lead on these gaming shows by covering the next large one which aired over a month and a half ago; the Future Games Show. (That's what they call the PC-centric show in order to try and not be exclusionary) Now I'll straight up and admit that this wasn't a games show that I went out of my way to watch but I have a somewhat decent reason for that; my PC is only barely capable of running high tier games. For me to ogle at the biggest and best coming to the PC world is the equivalent of window shopping at a Lamborghini dealership; the view may be nice but in the end I'm just stoking my own inequities. Be that as it may, I have taken the time to cherry pick some titles that did tickle my interest and look them over after the fact to give my opinion because... (Look, I'm going to level with you. I have no idea what to do in these blogs so I just throw in anything I feel like. Until someone tells me to stop I'm going to literally analyse every single new game I see. Okay?)

With that out of the way; 'Quantum Error'. Now if that's a name that doesn't scream 'cool sci-fi premise' then I rightly don't know what does. (although, that just might be because I'm immediately reminded of the classic Sci-fi show 'Quantum Leap' which doesn't get nearly as much credit nowadays as it deserves. Good show.) In a strange and completely unexpected cross over, turns out that this initial trailer for the game was actually shot on a PS5, so I'm kinda still covering that console which is so far out of my price range it's crazy. (How unexpected.) As it so happens this isn't the kind of game that looks like it has any philosophical questions or even mind-bending scenarios; far from it, the whole thing just looks like a straight forward horror-action game. (Which they brand as 'Cosmic-Horror' apparently. Sounds like an 80's dance trend to me.)

In fact, according to the officially synopsis the name of this game is actually starkly literal. The story is about a 'Quantum research facility' (Whatever that means) which comes into some distress after it is attacked by 'unknown entities'. (That's a pretty big 'error' if ever I'm heard of one. 'Don't get attacked by entities', Quantum research 101) Despite the rather spacey vibe this trailer gives off, and the fact that the team describe their own game as a 'cosmic-horror', the facility in question is actually just out to sea from San Francisco. Which means that once the place is engulfed in flames it's only fair that the authorities dispatch their very own Fire marshals and that is exactly the shoes that the player steps into. (Which perfectly slots into my mind another game from a long time ago called 'Hydrophobia'. Who remembers that game? Nobody. Okay...) This premise pretty much begs for some interesting mechanics with fire to come into play, like maybe some systems that dictate how it spreads and the way the player can utilise that against their enemies. (Otherwise you might as well just make the player a passing good Samaritan, no, he must be a fire fighter for a reason!)

Straight away the first impression I got whilst watching this game is that this is a single player, and consequently probably a lot less hardcore, GTFO. We see lingering shots in this trailer of a bevy of dark rooms bubbling with pseudo-scientific ambient clutter and packed with various horror monster staples, like Zombies, bigger zombies and black gunk that's sure to turn out being some sort of extra-dimensional essence leaking into our realm and threatening existence, or something. Okay I'll be completely honest, what I've seen in terms of the design and concept has been frighteningly generic so far, which actually is what kills the GTFO comparison the quickest. (That game had serious eldritch abominations.) I understand the desire to play things close to the chest but I feel as though the folks over at Teamkill Media might have thrown something a little more unique and weird our way to hook attention. I release that the intent is to get into more details fairly soon but they still need to woo me out the gate otherwise why the hell would I ever agree to a second date?

Perhaps knocking on the premise could be seen as a little unfair right now, I'll take that. There's undoubtedly some promise to the idea of some unknown cosmic entity having taken over an island on our precious earth to disastrous consequences; that's pretty bad ass honestly. What's bugging me a lot more (And recognise that this is based purely on a briefly cut together trailer and thus might have no bearing on the final release) it's that the first person combat looks very weak and almost utterly devoid of impact. As an observer, I can see the gunfire and bullets hit but the recoil and connection of the bullet seem almost non-existent, to the point where this looks like the type of gunplay you'd get out of a Source Engine mod. (Yes, I know that Half Life was popular back in the day, but you'd be crazy not to see how dated it is now.)

Now my criticisms have a very understandable retort; this is an indie game. There's no studio of several teams all grinding away to nail the perfect amount of weapon sway, and nor do they have an extensive library of past framework to copy and past from in order to make their game quicker. (>cough< Ubisoft >cough<) But irregardless I do wonder if a game that seems to lean the majority of it's weight on the action elements, as the protagonist isn't vulnerable enough for this to be and out-and-out horror, can sail by on mechanics that look, frankly, weak. Perhaps efforts would have been best spent going another direction with the gameplay, such as towards melee combat, (Not that melee is any easier to nail but there's less of an accepted standard of where that quality bar should hit, you could be more versatile without the drawbacks being too evident.) but I suppose the whole project is too far gone now. I just worry because the gameplay I saw didn't look too exciting to play.

When it comes to the department of visuals, however, my biggest compliant is with the design direction; the textures and environments themselves look crisp. In the reveal trailer there are some pleasing lingering shots of the player exploring the dark abandoned halls of the facility with nothing but a flashlight and here the atmosphere seems to shine. The walls and ceilings all pop in that pleasing next-gen fashion, the light looks absolutely great, if only we could see these hall inhabited by more interesting creatures, then we'd have something worth talking about. (And with a concept as broad as they have I'm sure that there are some cool monsters they're holding back on, I just don't think they should hold them back much longer.)

So I think it's safe to say that my initial impressions of 'Quantum Error' aren't exactly glowing, in that I already know I'm going to forget this game exists the second I delete my tabs. Right now the most noteworthy thing I can see is the fact that it's the first totally indie game I've seen running on a PS5; and it shows off that the power of that console can really benefit everyone, even smaller teams. There is a very good possibility that I'm far off base with my first read of this title and I want to make that abundantly clear, but until I see evidence to the contrary this is a title I'm just going to have to say I'm not interested in. Perhaps you see potential where I don't, but I'll leave that side of the conversation to your direction and foresight.

Horizon: Forbidden West

Journey to the West

If there's one positive that no one can take away from Sony in the last console generation, it was the plain fact that they freakin' nailed it with the exclusives. (And by that I refer to exclusives that they funded, I don't respect the one's that they bought) In fact, Sony made so many great exclusives in the last generation that their worst one was probably 'Days Gone', and even that was an above average game by most standards. And that, at the end of the day, is the single most important thing for any gaming platform to have. It's why the Ouya failed, why EA have started selling their games on Steam, and why Sony have held unparalleled console dominance for the majority of the past decade. Thus it should come to the surprise of literally no one that during their PS5 event Sony continued to put their money in their most successful policy. And hence we have: 'Horizon: Forbidden West'. 

Now seeing as how I'm still in the process of zeroing in on a buyer for my kidney, I never managed to pick up a Playstation 4 and thus haven't tried 'Horizon: Zero Dawn', but I know it's pedigree well enough. It dropped back in 2017 and put it's developers, Guerrilla Games, back on the map after their last game was received a little lukewarm due to it being more a great tech demo than a game with any creative heart to it. (Although in their defence, so was the rest of the Killzone franchise, what did you really expect?) It was a much lauded game which featured an idealised version of the 'Ubisoft-style' open world, an apparently strong narrative with great characters and a engine so beautiful that even today screens of that game look great. (I especially love the way it handles light and particles, it almost gives the current Final Fantasy engine a run for it's money.) It also served as a great reminder to publishers that single player games could still seal a profit in a time when they were eager to forget that, although it was 'God of War' which really shut up the critics on that particular front. (With good reason. Who wants to question Kratos to his face?)

But for some reason the game didn't really manage to settle a place in pop culture, surprising for how popular it was at it's release. That isn't to say that public reception turned, not at all, just that people didn't really talk about in conversations about Sony's success'. You would hear people mention Spiderman, God of War, Last of Us, Uncharted etc, but Horizon only really got an influx of attention when it's DLC dropped. I only remember it being significantly addressed during the hype for 'Death Stranding' were Kojima mentioned working with their team to develop his own engine on their framework. (I think he just ended up sharing their engine in the end.) As someone who never played the title I wasn't really in with the community, so I couldn't accurately claim why the game's light faded like it did, merely speculate; but the result was that a decent number of folk forgot about this franchise until the PS5 reveal event rolled around. (At least it's getting it's day now.)

The immediate take away that I think even those coming fresh to the Horizon train would have, it's that the whole thing looks absolutely beautiful. As I understand it (and I may be hugely off-base here) the whole concept revolves around this pseudo-spiritual sci-fi post apocalypse where nature has taken over and there's also gigantic robots in the form of dinosaurs. (Still don't know what the robots are about. Might wanna look that up.) And although the genre is decidedly Sci-fi, the spiritual elements allow for a more classical fantastical narrative like an epic journey to prevent the end of the world from... something. (Again, never played the game. I'm in the dark here.) If there's a couple ingredients that every epic needs in order to successfully sell it's premise it's scale and diversity; and man-oh-man does this trailer shine in that regard.

I don't know if the original title maybe received some slack for samey environments which caused the team to develop some sort of complex, but I'm astounded by the lengths they've gone to stick popping visuals in every location. They have these vein-like metal tentacles in the tundra-expanses, scarlet fauna beneath stormy skies, vibrant bursting coral and even a bit of desert. (You don't really need to work to make a desert pop. It's just naturally like that.) What this trailer shows specifically which I didn't notice from my brief time looking at promos for the first game, was an abundance of relic ruins from the old world that helps place where you are in relation to things. I mean, this could have been a totally fictional world for all I know but seeing this trailer I think it's pretty evident that we all recognised the Golden Gate bridge poking out above the canopy. This alone strokes my 'Nier: Automata' vibes and makes me excited for all the opportunities for commentary which I'm sure they'll brush by or touch in a manner that makes me wish Nier's writers were in charge. (But I can hope.)

It's hard to really dig into what I hope this game can achieve without knowing the original title, but I will say what I hope the games in general will be once I get my hands on them. (Now that they are no longer exclusives. Yay!) Playing a lot of Ubisoft games I've noticed that they've dived away from their cinematic angle and more towards freedom, which is great for the playability but absolutely abysmal for their storytelling skills. (Which weren't exactly top-notch anyway) As Ubisoft pretty much sets the absolute minimum requirement for an average open world game nowadays, I absolutely cannot let this stand and need them to significantly up their game. (a rising tide lifts all boats, guys.) Now I already know that 'Zero Dawn' had some significant cinematic DNA and I hope that Forbidden West can continue that and set an example for the industry. If the game really did reach this balance of playability and epic narrative crafting as I've heard so many say, then let that shine and stand as a beacon. (I want this game to have a longer presence than it's predecessor did.)

And when it comes to the question of if it was wise to have this showcased at the Playstation 5 reveal event I have to err towards the yes, this was exactly the right kind of game for the show. Horizon does a fantastic job of teasing the power of the console, with gorgeous rendering of the natural fauna and animals as well as the more busy designs of the mechanicals. Nailing both organics and synthetics is impressive, and yet the Decima engine, powered by the Playstation 5, makes it look positively easy. The winning shot in my mind was off this turtle mech, known as an 'Amphibious Shellsnapper' according to the game's twitter, rising out of the ground with a shell covered in moss and foliage. It's like the poster child for goodlooking gaming and Playstation would be insane not to try and attach such images to their new console. This here's a system seller.

In conclusion, I'm happy that Guerrilla Games have managed to press onward with the Horizon series, as it looks worlds more interesting than Killzone, and I'm even more ecstatic now that the franchise has made it to PC alongside Death Stranding. As first party exclusives go I think this will be a power house that Microsoft will have a hard time matching, and seeing as how my schedule dictates that I'm writing this several hours before the Microsoft conference I'm yet to see if they even will. (My money's on a hard no.) If this is indicative of Sony's plan to double down on their high quality first-party games model than I think they've set a stellar example and excuse to buy the PS5. Unfortunately I'm getting word back that my kidney's are apparently 'worthless', so I won't be able to enjoy that promising ecosystem anytime soon. (More's the pity for me.)

Pragmata

Freedom. Our freedom.

And so from the intimately familiar trailers to those where I quiet literally have no idea what I'm looking at, that's how the situation was when I first saw this trailer for a game known only as Pragmata. Now as someone who likes to be courted by a little bit of mystery now and then, I don't mind a little bit of vagueness, even I had to look at the trailer for Pragmata and go "Okay, what was that? And why does it look so vaguely familiar." This is a game that's been almost impossible to research, deduce or even make vaguely educated guesses about; the thing is just a total enigma. I can't even take a balanced look at the developer to see what sort of games they usually front because apparently this is being developed by Capcom. Just Capcom. No 'team USA' or 'Vancouver branch'; just Capcom. (Why do you guys make these blogs so hard to write?)

So the trailer, I guess, let's start with that. We have an armoured Tenno-looking man in a spacesuit standing in the middle of an abandoned Times Square. (Take out your autograph books, Pitbull might be around with a camera!) I'm not kidding when I say that straight away, from this initial shot alone, I could see the parallels between this game and 'Death Stranding'. (A comparison which I think will haunt this game for years to come seeing as how the release date isn't until 2022.) Perhaps that comes from the desolation, bleak palette, or the fact that the player character literally looks like he could be Sam in another suit. It's honestly wild to see how similar this all looks to what Kojima was doing and I can't help wonder if this is Capcom's direct response to his work, like "Well if he can do it then so can we." (If so I can only imagine he's happy with the outcome. He did say he wanted to start a new genre.) And, of course, the observation I make it by no means an original one. Just about everyone who has every laid eyes on this title has parroted something similar so even if the similarities are truly coincidental (Which they absolutely aren't) Pragmata has already been roped into the genre of 'high budget art-house games'. (Guess that means the pressure to perform is on!)

Our spaceman does some important-looking space stuff and we see that he's tracking some sort of little girl through these abandoned streets, clearly an indication that this character is going to be our 'baby in a bottle' throughout the story. (See, the Death Stranding parallels literally write themselves!) We see this girl and her holo-robotic kitten looking up towards the moon and once more I'm struck with information overload. I said that I was a fan of mystery, and I am, but if there comes a point where if I can't even form a basis of context one must ask the question of what exactly the purpose of your trailer was. Death Stranding's initial trailer has a lot of symbolism and foreshadowing to work as a sort of "Ah-hah" vehicle for folk later down the line once they understood things a little more, Capcom are clearly trying to emulate that approach but it feels a little synthetic and forced. I know, I'm being a total "Kojima did it first!" brat about this but there is something to be said about attempting, and failing, to copy the indefinable process of an auteur. That being said I think it's impossible and silly to call 'Pragmata' a crappy clone just yet (You could even call it- 'unpragmatic'! I'll see myself out.) But I won't lie and say that this trailer didn't leave me feeling a little condescended, regardless.

It's after this that the trailer really picks up, however, as we get a glimpse of something truly wild and unique distorting the landscape. There appears to be this black web-like substance that has the effect of seriously twisting and distorting a building to the point that it looks like the aftermath of someone going nuts with the 'swirl' tool on photoshop. It's such an arresting and unique looking sight that draws some questions about the legitimacy of the world you're operating in; I say this as, obviously, physics would never allow such a building to be twisted in that way and, the slightly bigger smoking gun, we're hit with this 'glitch screen' effect throughout the trailer. In fact, I'd say that this little effect that they use can probably go to describe all the supernatural oddities from the trailer; the empty streets, the floating cars, the sudden shift of the earth's polarity; I think it's pretty apparent that Pragmata proposes to offer us a completely digital world, like the Matrix. Of course, such a plotpoint would mean that the sky's-the-limit in terms of mindbending visuals and set-piece moments, so there's already a precursory glimmer of interest from little old me.

As I already mentioned, the tranquillity of the trailer is broken up once the polarity of the Earth shifts and our astronaut and his little companion are shoved haphazardly into the air. Que some stuff that I still didn't follow even on repeat viewings, and he summons a space shuttle in order to guide them both- sigh- to the moon. Yeah, this trailer really flirts between interesting obtuse concepts and moments of "Okay, now you're just being strange for the sake of it!" Trying to decode this trailer is like trying to construct a coherent dream diary after a week on the Hunter S Thompson diet. (Which essentially means swapping all solid foods and potential sleep time with cocaine.) All this needs in order to cap things off is for the little girl to stand on the moon look up at the planet and remark "Wait, it's all a Kojima clone?", with a nice "Always has been" to round things out. (Also, side note, when the girl speaks in this trailer she sounds exceptionally weird. I'm not just talking about an odd accent, though she has one of those too; she literally sounds like a malfunctioning TTS. I found it really haunting for some reason.)

If this was all that we had to go on regarding the ins and outs of Pragmata then we'd have precious little to talk about, wouldn't we? But luckily Capcom, in their infinite grace, saw fit to deign us mere mortals with an official press release. Great, then what exactly can we learn about this title I wonder? Well it's "set in a dystopian near-future on Earth's Moon". (Which does have a name, by the way Capcom. We call her 'Luna', or 'Earth 1' if you're feeling nerdy.) Pragmata is said to be able to take us on an "unforgettable adventure powered by next gen-" blah blah. So essentially Capcom have nothing to share at all. All we've learnt is that this apparently a post-apocalypse (No duh, Time Square doesn't get that empty on accident) and that this is a "Sci-fi setting like never before", and forgive me, Capcom, if I don't drink the coolaid quite so readily. So you put together a headscratcher of a trailer with one interesting effect, I'll going to need a little more citation before you crown yourselves the new kings of Sci-fi innovation, thank you very much.

Which leaves us with The Question, that I ask whenever I see these games and am still curious as to it's purpose. Should this have been at the PS5 reveal event, to which my answer is honestly no. Now sure, the game looks lovely and take advantage of it's next gen systems to look that way, (Though one could argue that Death Stranding looks equally as good on current gen hardware, but let's not split hairs just yet.) but there's still a couple more practical reasons why I feel like this trailer should have waited for it's own reveal. Firstly; the developers had literally nothing to show accept pretty visuals. At an event that is billed to showcase the power of Playstation it's important to showcase what the console is capable of, and rendering someone's high-concept high-fidelity animation project is temporarily arresting, but not exactly symbiotic with the PS5. And secondly; for an event which was billed to showcase the sheer weight of PlayStation's upcoming launch-lineup, why in the heck did they slot in game that's due in 2022? Even by non-console-reveal standards that's a mite early to start spending marketing dollars, especially for something so intentionally vague. Playstation owners and Capcom fans alike are going to forget about this game in a matter of months and absolutely no momentum will have been built for it's popularity. (I can't see what game Capcom and Sony are playing but it's leaving me in the dust right now.)

Ultimately, I find Pragmata to be the kind of title that is just lacking in enough substance to be intriguing mysterious- for a time. But I wager that it's just too similar to Death Stranding to earn a unique audience just yet, (especially with DS coming to Steam, thus overshadowing it, just recently.) and that's a shame for a project that Capcom are so sure is conceptually distinct. Do I find Pragmata interesting and worthy of mental investment? Passingly. But so many other vague and interesting games have given us much more to go on regarding what to expect whilst Capcom have played a little too hard to get so far. Perhaps in a year's time we'll get a Pragmata reveal that really stands out and demands attention from Sci-fi heads (Of which I am a proud member), but until that day I'm just going to blink and forget this game's name as most of you already had.

Resident Evil 8: Village

My, my Chris; how big you've become!

Thus we reach the time, as always we must, where I talk about one of my greatest guilty pleasures of all time. Yes, it's no secret that I inhale as much Resident Evil content as I can legally get my hands on, I'm a RE fiend, I IV that zombie stuff directly into my bloodstream, so it's with no lack of excitement that I cover the one game that still stands between us and that Resident Evil 4 remake that literally has me biting my nails nervously. (Please don't be a train wreck, pretty please!) Today I want to cover the dark horse of the PS5 reveal event, the title which stole my heart more than any other, the one and only; Resident Evil VIII: Village. (How very both foreboding and cliche all in one neat little package)

So as we settle into this let me tell you, dear reader, that Resident Evil has been a big presence in my life pretty much ever since I started gaming. Back when I was far too young to be playing this kind of stuff, me and my father both got together to plough through 'Resident Evil 1' back in the day (90% certain we never reached the end) and we even tried our hand at 'Resident Evil 2'. (As I recall we got to the Licker and then gave up.) Fast forward many years and I returned to the franchise through the Nintendo Wii port of 'Resident Evil 4' (which I loved) and even played and enjoyed RE5 for what it was. (The game wasn't half bad.) After that I sort of fell off the wagon as the series drove itself off a cliff, and only when 'Resident Evil 2 Remake' danced it's way onto shelves did I spark back up my interest once more. Now I've pretty much played ever mainline entry in the franchise, (Which grants me enough knowledge of the series to question why we're moving to a remake of Resident Evil 4 when 'Code: Veronica' is still a thing) and I drool over the prospect of a Netflix show; so the next main line entry aught to have me doing cartwheels, right?

Well it's been a very long while and I actually still haven't got around to REVII, so watching this is kinda of liking seeing a long-estranged family member and kinda recognising them whilst also finding them totally unrecognisable. And that may come because this game proposes to follow the tale of Ethan, the protagonist who was introduced in VII, or maybe because this trailer has made some questionable choices for the franchise. (I know the leaks called this 'the most extreme departure from the franchise ever' but I'm a little concerned with everything I've seen so far.) Which isn't to say that I'm at all repulsed by what I'm seeing, just that I'm a little cautious to see how everything will play out. (Maybe when I get around to VII things'll clear up a lot more for me.)

So the first thing to note about Resident Evil VIII is it's perspective. Yes, yet again this will be a game that takes place in entirely first person. I have to admit that on the topic of technical capabilities, this does impress me as I'm still blown away at how the RE Engine is capable of rending high quality third and first person gameplay without major switch ups. Usually the choice of perceptive has a serious influence on the direction and focus of the design process, but this engine is so versatile that these games are even capable of sharing assets between themselves. (And only weirdos like me notice when the underground area of the Raccoon City Police department has books about the Louisiana Bayou for some reason.) Functionally the use of first person perspectives works wonders in putting the player in the shoes of the character, which is great for horror situations as one-to-one parity between viewer and victim is sought-after, but I do fear it does disconnect the protagonist from the story. Ethan just seems so milk toast next to Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine or Chr- well, we'll get to him later. My thoughts; I appreciate the purpose of first person but I fell in love with third person Resident Evil, so I feel a little let down already.

What Resident Evil VIII's trailer does get right, however, is that classic dilapidated Resident Evil atmosphere that we know and love oh so well. Much of the ruin captured in the Baker Family Ranch is reflected in the environments that we see, with homes that look untouched and filthy, ramshackle defences and mechanisms, (in stark contrast to the oddly advanced mechanisms from early games) and that great dim lighting the RE engine pulls off so well. The village, however, has a great much more variety to it with wide open outside spaces, the likes of which we haven't really seen since Resident Evil 5. (And 6, arguably, but I don't count that as a real game.) There is still that sense of rustic isolationism, however, as this here village looks to be remote AF. I get the sense that there might even be a bit of pagan culture entwined into this entry, though it's hard to pin exactly why. Perhaps it comes from the way some side characters dress, the general 'cult in the middle of nowhere' vibe, or the old crone half-way through the trailer who straight up looked like she'd just popped over from 'Things Betwixt' in Dark Souls 2.

"But hang on", veterans of the franchise might be saying. "This isn't the first time that Resident Evil has taken place inside of a village and, whatsmore, the last time they did there weren't any actual zombies, just angry cultists." (In fact, if you think about it, Resident Evil 4 is about an American agent going into an eastern European town and brutally murdering all of the natives under the the defence of "They were monsters. Probably.") So are Capcom going to pull the same thing here? Just how far afield is this Resident Evil going to go from the norm? How about as far as feasibly possible! Yeah, you already know; Resident Evil 8 got Werewolves, baby! And, in fact, that buxom white-clad lady from the trailer? If you pause during the scene of her close-up it very much looks like she's leaning into one of the character's bloody stumps and drinking the blood. So we've got Vampires too. Yahtzee!

In all seriousness, however, I must say that as a series purist who loves what the team have done in bringing Resident Evil back to it's routes; I am unfathomably hyped about this wild card turn for the franchise. As much as I love RE zombies, it's a formula that would get stale on it's own and the games have already sort of leaned away from it as things have gone on. (Are Hunter Gamma's even zombies? Not really.) Going far afield from what we know just means that we have literally no idea what awaits us in terms of scares, and just imagine what the inevitable transformation boss at the climax will end up looking like! (My money is on the white-dress lady getting mutated; she seems to spend so much time on her appearance that the best irony would be her morphing into a hideous monstrosity.) And yes, I am sad to see the zombies go to the wayside, but I have faith in the team to still put the RE engine's enviable gore system to good use here. (Even if it was noticeably toned down for RE3. In fact, they have to make up for that, I was a little disappointed.)

That's really all there is to talk about. There isn't anything else of note in the Resident Evil 8 trailer at all so you can all stop looking at me lik- Okay. We have to talk about it. The elephant in the room. We have to talk about- Chonkers Chris. I mean, really; are you guys at Capcom okay? You've been working with roughly the same cast of characters for 24 years and yet you still can't settle on a single look for Chris Redfield: it's laughable at this point. Chris has gone from looking like the most stereotypical block of polygons you can imagine In Resident Evil 1, to mister spiky-hair conventionally-handsome in Resident Evil Code Veronica, to a steroid-abusing bodybuilder in Resident Evil 5, (Punch that boulder, Chris!) to a normal looking guy in Resident Evil 7. And now, out of nowhere, Chris has evolved into a literal brick s***house. The man looks like a walking rectangle, here to blot out the sun. And that's not to say that none of the other characters have been redesigned over the years, of course they have, but they remain somewhat recognisable. I am being 100% deadly freakin' serious with you when I say that I did not know this was Chris until Ethan addressed him by name, same as at the end of Resident Evil 7. The man is a gosh darn chameleon, he sheds skins between games. I don't even care that he's apparently the badguy now, this whole shifting looks thing is just too damn funny. If Chris comes back in Resident Evil 9 as a black man, I won't even bat an eye at this point.

In conclusion, Resident Evil 8 looks dope. I want it. Graphically the game looks stunning, but then so does everything on the RE Engine, so I won't reward that as a point towards the Playstation 5 just yet. In concept it looks exciting, and might just give the RE franchise the kick in the head that it needs in this late stage of it's life. And in sheer meme value, the title has already delivered with Chonkers Chris: the world's grumpiest boy. I suppose it's hardly news to announce I'm all aboard the RE hype train, I practically have a permanent residence there, they reserve a carriage for me and everything. But regardless, I am absolutely sold with everything I've seen so far and barring some kind of horrific news regarding exclusivity (Don't you dare, Sony) I'm happy to endorse Bloodborne Evil: 8. I wait with bated, anxious, breath.

Deathloop

Die, Die again

What a tragedy. You know I was really, honest to goodness, excited about this title when it was first announced, I truly was. I was one of the few people in my circle of contacts not rolling their eyes at the premise or the fact that is was 'just a cinematic', (I really need to get into a topic about that later on because I have some strong thoughts in that regard) I saw the potential of this game and really couldn't wait to get ahold of it. And when I saw it pop up at the Playstation event I literally whooped, happy in the knowledge that this wasn't a title that was getting swept under the rug but something that Arkane and Bethesda were proud of! Only- it was at the Playstation 5 reveal event and most of those games turned out to be exclus- oh no. You didn't. After everything we've been through, all the promises that you've made; Bethesda have you really gone the exclusivity route? (Why is this studio so deadset in insulting it's fans, this is freaking wild, it has to be intentional. Either it's intentional or they're playing 5D chess right now and we're all plebeians.)

Yep, that's right. Arkane Studios first next gen title is shaping up to be a Playstation exclusive for at least the first year of it's life, which means that the first person shooter which looks like it has the potential to be hard-as-nails and trail-and-error based; is going to be exclusive to PlayStation  controllers. (Is there even a name for how dumb this is? Oh wait there is, it's called: 'clueless greedy moron syndrome'.) I hate to really hone in on this point but as you can tell it really riles me up. I despise exclusivity culture and the manufactured air of fomo it tries to establish. I can just about stomach it when tied to a game that was funded and published by the studio who covets that exclusive access (I'm genuinely surprised that Death Stranding has come to PC; Sony were absolutely within their moral rights to hold onto that one) but for games like these, where the name was purchased after the fact, it's honestly sickeningly gross. Bethesda have shrunk even further down my list of respectable studios after this one.

And I suppose the reason why this honestly, truly, gets to me is because, like I said, I really do like what this game is trying to achieve! Deathloop is, like much the title implies, a game about a man who's destined to die and repeat the moments of his life over and over again until he can find a way out. The only fun twist on this idea comes in the way that the man in question is a hitman, and the task he has to complete, at least as far as he and we are aware, is the assassination of several high profile targets. That means for every single mistake that he makes, every bullet he catches and every roof he falls off, there's a lesson to be learnt by the player in order to make that final ultimate run. There's such a delicious level of game-ness to that concept inherently that it's truly amazing that it's taken this long for such an idea to make it into the gaming world, but now it's here and it looks as though Arkane have executed it absolutely beautifully. (If one can judge a promo.)

What makes it doubly as exciting, is the fact that Arkane have already built an incredibly solid framework for this sort of gameplay and, judging from the gameplay trailer, this seems to be what they've used. Dishonoured's first person stealth action gameplay was notably simple and exciting to get ahold of to the point where it was almost a detriment to the stealth of the game, because going around killing was just so much fun. You were agile, deadly and fast, capable of sliding, climbing and peeking around corners; with just a little bit of adjustment you can easily see how such a control scheme could be adapted for a title that focused heavily on action, and Deathloop does exactly that. In terms of narrative this really helps the player settle into the shoes of a skilled assassin and, if Dishonoured remains an inspiration, will probably pave the way for some seriously ingenious moments and unexpected gameplay feats down the line. (Shoutout to that moment in 'Knife of Dunwall' where I accidentally sniped the target from the building across from his fortified home. )

We really see that Dishonoured DNA come out in the gameplay trailer wherein it appears that our Hitman has a device on his arm that allows him to literally have the power of the Outsider. I mean he can teleport, he has telekinetic abilities, I even think I saw a little time disruption. (have we checked this guys hand for the mark? This might be an unofficial Dishonoured sequel) That being said, it's the pacing of the title, and the updated physics, that make the powers feel a lot more dynamic than they did in Arkane's previous series. (At least from the trailer) Top that up with the variety of weapons that the player seems to have at their disposal, in stark contrast to the single pistol that Emily and her Father were subject to, and you have quite the toolkit for wrecking up this little island. Now of course the trailer plays up the action and chaos a little, but I don't think it's a hundred miles away from the gameplay itself; this looks like the kind of title that encourages violent action over stealth. (Although, being an Arkane title, I'd imagine the ultimate choice of approach lies with the player.)

If there's one thing that I still feel hasn't been adequately explained thus far it's the second assassin that appears to have a distinct hatred for the protagonist and is trying to kill him. Is this meant to be some sort of pursing main antagonist that'll keep the story going, or is this another player? (I'm unsure about how that works out) Well according to the interviews that have been put out this rival assassin is a playable character, but I don't know how that'll work out for the overall game, or rather what it says for the structure of this game. As it appears to be sold, this is a giant game of cat and mouse between two players from start to finish, but then is this even a full length game at all? Are you telling me that this entire game is basically a long form online death match? Are there going to be levels? Matchmaking? Some sort of mulitplayer components? I feel like an inherently simple and effective premise is slightly muddied with this addition that really needs to be properly explained long before launch. As it stands I have no idea what it is I'm getting into, and I'm confused about if this is supposed to be a full-fledged $60 game or a one-multiplayer-mode $30 title. (And I certainly have a preference for the former right now)

But whilst I'm still enjoying the unique aesthetic perspective of this title I can't wrack my little old head too hard. The marketing for the game has adopted this quaint 80's theme to it and even the game itself has this 80-era game-show type vibe in it's bright flashing signs and technicolor world spaces; it's another heaping of 80's nostalgia, no doubt, but I find it endearing none the less. (And that's not because I have any personal nostalgia, mind you, I was born well after the 80's) There's something Tarantino-esque about the marketing for this title, and though I may not be the biggest fan of his later movies, I cannot deny that the man has an eye. So yes, Deathloop has every single ingredient to be a great game, it's just such a shame that the publishers are such arses.

Without the exclusivity angle this game would absolutely be on my must-have radar, but I can't support that kind of crap so I have to scribble this promising-looking title off my list. I'll still be paying attention, but just so that I can see what I'm missing. If you're not perturbed by such things, then by all means have at this cool looking game from a provenly talented developer that is finally getting their chance to make new things and expand. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope that they finally wriggle out of the shadow of Dishonoured like they've apparently wanted to do for a while now. (Shame that Prey didn't sell so well, I liked that game.) So with that out of the way I'll now proceed to search for some other game to take this one's place in my hype chart; like, for instance, the next I'm talking about...

G4TV

Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time.

Want a blast from the past? How about all the way back to the late 2010's when a bold play was made to push gaming into the mainstream (and profit from that) through the creation of a whole gaming related media channel called 'G4TV'. Yeah, this was before the domination of Youtube, the rise of Streaming services, the establishment of 'Machinima' and other video game-centric ventures. G4TV was a pioneer is it's regard, and I was just about young enough to know of it's existence and yet never watch it because I live, and have always lived, in England. (Get me out of here!) But why am I bringing up this relic from a long lost age now, I hear you ask. Well, it would seem that young Victor Frankenstein is at it again, because out of nowhere the other day the Twitter-scape was struck across the bow by the sudden announcement that G4TV would be returning, somehow in someform with some people. (Cue the Gif.)

Now I try to be positive on this blog where possible, (unless talking about one of my trigger topics, or people, of which there are many) so I'll douse my own sass with a little bit of healthy acknowledgement. In many ways the short reign of this channel did pave the way for the world we see today where gaming is practically adjacent to the main stream and there are *less* prejudices around the topic. So for that fact alone I think it's only fair to scrounge up some level of hype for this grand return, even if it's extremely questionable how much we really need a highly produced show talking about video games. We already have billions of hours of gaming related free-form content on Youtube, 24 hour streams of any game you can ask for over at Twitch and an gaming industry that seems entirely capable of marketing itself even when E3 gets axed off for the year. So as far as the old adage of 'spot a gap in the market' goes, the folks over at new G4TV are going to have their work cut out for them.

Like I said, I never grew up with G4TV as such, though I do remember catching the old gaming related show that I can only assume was put together by their network, so I'm not entirely oblivious to their programming schedule. They used to have a plethora of varied content that attempted to appeal to every demographic they could think of in a profitable sense, so one wasn't subjected to constant godawful opinion pieces like you reading this are. There were some competition shows, shows that focused on relaying cheat codes (remember when those were a thing?) shows with audience interaction and even various genre-split shows that catered to different sectors of news. Now the only thing which ever really appealed to me was the news on upcoming games, which was how I learnt about the very first RPG that made me fall in love with the genre; Fallout 3. That's right, I learnt about Fallout 3 by seeing it on the TV. That's so absolutely wild to think about in today's day and age that I can't rightly process it.

So it was a show of it's time, like all 2000's trash, but you can see how much of what they used to cover is irrelevant today. Gaming competitions no longer need to be held in whatever dingy warehouse that the G4TV team can scrape together on their shoe-string budget, now they are big events hosted by the game publishers and treated like an actual sport. (To most degrees) Guru discussions and cheat code shows were already mildly redundant when they aired, but now the Internet it pretty much part of our bloodstream, I'd argue it's our cybernetic attachment that's yet to be integrated into the human race, so I don't need some dude on TV teaching me how to beat 'Mike Tyson's Punch Out' anymore. Gaming news is the most tragic one, because literally everyone and their mother does that now thanks to Youtube, Twitter, Blog sites, and literally everything. Even morons like me are doing it. (That being said I will remind you that I am not a news outlet and should never be looked on as such. Please take nothing I say with any credence ever.)

I feel like there's another big thing that the old G4TV did which wouldn't work today... hmm, I can't quite put my finger on- oh right! The medium of television is dead. (How could I forget?) Back in the days of the original run, the art of monetising game fandom could be seen on no other medium than TV, for that ruled the roost of the day; but that would be laughable to consider by today's standards. More and more people are forsaking the very prospect of preplanned watch schedules which they have no influence in deciding, and thus prefer to focus their efforts on various streaming sites where they can plan what they watch, when they watch, and even get around having to watch endless ads. This is the world that we are now living in, and if this revived G4TV wants to survive, it better ditch the 'TV' post haste and join the present now. You'd think that'd be the first thing that a teaser for it's return would advertise, but nope. They've failed to announce anything in that regard leaving us high and dry in just about every aspect.

One big question that I think everyone has about this revival, specifically those actually involved with the first G4TV, is how much resources are actually going to be attributed to it. I say this because the original was notoriously mistreated by NBC and given practically nothing to work off of, which resulted in this really crummy quality standard. Of course, back in it's heyday this could be seen as a little endearing, but that's literally the state that 90% of the gaming community operates out of in today's day so I'd say we're all a little 'endeared out.' In my mind, the only way a new G4TV could set the stage for a return would be if came hard with quality that drew the eye and got people excited once again. This goes especially true given that soon this new G4TV revival will have competition in the platform Venn, which aims to pretty much do everything that G4TV did except "Aimed at the streaming generation." Whatever that means. They can no longer have victory by default, this is something they'll have to work for.

And yet with this whole new world all around as today, the G4 folk saw fit to grant the world with naught but a teaser and a prospective launch of next year, what gives? Well, in my mind the folk in charge have their sights firmly placed in the idea of creating a mystery to drum up interest, something which has been mastered by the gaming world and thus in itself shows that there is some critical thinking going into all of this. A simple teaser without any real details (but, crucially, with a release date to latch onto) allows for speculation and romanticism to run rampant before we get our first trailer and everyone remembers "Oh yeah, this sucked". Does that small marketing victory make me think more of the concept itself? No, I still think it's a waste of our precious time in this world, but at least I can say that it's not an entirely stupid plan to revive an antiquated product that has no place in today's ecosystem. (Now it's just a mostly stupid plan)

So in conclusion, G4TV is back and it's playing it's cards very close to it's chest. So close, in fact, that none of the personalities who were involved with the original seem to have any idea what this new iteration might hold. Is there space in the world for a dedicated gaming show? Maybe, so long as they don't get in the way of the staples that gaming has established for itself. (If this airs during E3, they gotta know that I ain't gonna watch their crappy show when I can see the games directly.) But, despite myself, I'll admit that there might be a future for this, provided that the people involved aren't total idiots. Am I excited? No. But I am intrigued, and that may be all it takes to get enough people in the door to give G4TV that hail-Mary first show. (No pressure guys.) But at the end of the day if they're gone by this time next year, I think it's safe to say absolutely nothing of value will be lost.

The problem with Fable

People always enjoy a good Fable. M'aiq has yet to find one.

See, as this is the weekend just after the good old Microsoft Xbox conference, I felt this would be the perfect time to delve into the big showstopper they had to end their show on, because I have no patience or anything else I need to talk about right now. That being said, this 'Showstopper' was unsurprisingly scarce of tangible details (what did you expect? This was a Microsoft showcase) So I'm merely going to jump into what this announcement meant for me. Heh, listen to me playing it so coy when I've literally told you the subject in the title bar. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after years of rumours, waiting, silence, that one weird spin-off, and another ill-fated spinoff, we've finally gotten our confirmation for Fable 4- wait, they just said Fable? (Oh god, this isn't a remaster, is it? I'm going to cross my fingers and labour under the assumption that this isn't a remaster.)

Now let me start by saying that I have something of an interesting relationship with Fable. Usually when it comes to these retrospectives I'm resplendent with praise, talking about how this game was 'my childhood' and how it's 'an example to all developers of today', but that really isn't the case with old Fable. And that's because for me Fable was the kind of series that, for the majority of it's lifespan, was something I always heard about in passing from someone and somewhere else. I saw spots on the TV about Fable 2 and thought (huh, that looks pretty cool) but by that stage I was too deep into all the other great games of the day to pay Lionhead Studios' darling any attention. It was only really around the time of Fable 3 that I really got invested and heard all the stories, read all the previews, drank the cool-aid, so to speak. And as someone who had, up until then, no real experience with the enigma that is Lionhead's founder and Ex-CEO Peter Molynuex, I didn't know the monkey paw twist that would come with every promised feature. Yes there would be an open world, but it would drab and dull, losing all value the second the main quest was done. Sure there was this 'interaction' system that the game pushed, but it was gimmicky, irrelevant and stole development efforts away from systems that mattered. The story had consequence, but all the moral dubiosity faded after the opening choice, from there it was black and white boredom with the potential to make the game-world actually empty if you made the 'wrong' choice. So I bought the game, I played the game, and after it all I just felt a kinda bummed that I'd been sold a game that honestly wasn't good.

That isn't to say that Fable 3, or any of the Fable games, were without their heart or merit; not in the slightest. Playing Fable 3 I got the sense that it was the passion project of an English studio that wanted to make something special, but the vision was bigger than the scope of the team working on it and as far as I can tell that has always been the problem with Fable. Everyone remembers the infamous promise of an acorn that could grow into a tree from the first game, that was more than just an ideal prospective feature tossed around by an overexcited project lead; that was an example of the kind of over the top dreams that fuelled this franchise. Now I would never say that dreams or inspiration is bad for creativity, or even for game making, but when designing for a project there has to be a point where you sanitise and decide to work with the resources at your disposal rather than the ones in your head. I feel like that moment came too late for all of the games in this series.

Everytime I tried to play a Fable game it felt like I was trying a smaller scale game that had been stretched and distorted to fit this mismatched canvas that didn't need to be there. None of these games have ever made their free roam elements work in a laudable manner, most of the games were entirely devoid of meaningful decision making and one of the games couldn't even pull of a well adjusted and cohesive narrative. But what these games could do was conjure up a pleasing fantastical world of satire and swashbuckling adventure, they could establish great and memorable characters, nail a decent ark for the protagonist and even pull of a memorable set-piece every now and then. What I saw whenever I played Fable was potential, which is why I found it so tragic that their developer, Lionhead, kept slipping at it again and again. Something depressingly bookended with the closure of the studio and the cancellation of their next Fable-related project which, to be fair, sounded kinda lame.

So with all that backstory to simmer on, you might be a tiny bit perplexed at to why it is I'm actually totally on-board for this new Fable game. Well the secret for that actually lies in the title of the product itself, in that it's not called 'Fable 4', but just 'Fable'. Early reports suggest that this is indicative of a new dawn for the franchise, which would make sense seeing as how we have a new studio at the helm and everything. Therefore I think it's fair to say that this has the potential to right the wrongs of the past and actually focus on the things that matter, that things which make the Fable franchise unique and great. Maybe with a fresh set of eyes on a familiar concept we could really start to open up a path to the greatness that the Fable franchise has held dormant, and maybe Microsoft will finally get their own quality fantasy franchise. (Got to consider every angle!)

Whilst the footage we saw in the reveal trailer was so frightfully non-specific that I suspect this is likely a title in early development, (bold for emphasis) I think that makes a great opportunity to talk about the directions that this new game could take to make it the best Fable to date. My number one in that category would be for the team to seriously consider shifting course and scrapping the open world aspects in favour of a focused epic adventure. How great could every Fable game have been if they'd approached that model? The struggle against Jack of Blades, Lord Lucien and even whoever it was that was the villain of Fable 3; (I cannot overstate how forgettable they were) they all could held much stronger arks in a focused linear adventure. That would also make it easier to throw-in choice and consequence and would have solved the problem of all that lifeless-feeling world that the Fable franchise suffers from. (I recognise that not everyone shares my feelings on how dull the Fable open worlds' are. But that's how I feel.)

Whatever the case if there's one thing the general public is slowly becoming aware of it's the fact that this will absolutely feel very different to the Fable that they're used to. (Which, again, is a good thing in my books) Rumors that leaked the announcement also say that the game has drastically changed up the gameplay and wants to re-imagine the franchise, in what direction it's hard to say but that alone can be interpreted in some promising ways. (Although, before you go putting too much stock in such leaks, I will remind you that correctly guessing Microsoft would revive a profitable franchise that they own the rights to hardly makes one Nostradamus) Additionally, the studio that has been placed in charge of this project happens to be Playground Games; a studio which, as far as I'm willing to look into it, have up until now only been responsible for making the Forza Horizon games. What I'm trying to say is that we have a wildcard in terms of what to expect and this could result in something really imaginative and unexpected from a genre where they're new. Or the pressure of starting a new genre of game development might overwhelm them and they resort to all the tired cliches of your average Ubisoft game. (It can really go either way at this point.)

As far as reveals go, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed by how sparse this one was. I'm not one of those talking heads that immediately parrot "No Gameplay = bad", but I recognise that the point of a trailer, even a teaser trailer, is to establish a baseline of the product in order to entice the viewer. Fable's trailer opens us up to speculation, but it's rampant speculation where we don't even know if we're looking a sequel, reboot or what the hell's going on. I tend to err towards the positive in situations like this, so I hope that Fable has something shattering to show us next time around, because I'm open to a whole new type of game from that world. Until then, however, it's going to be information scraps and rumours time. (yippee...)

Demon's Souls

Let them return as cinders.

So I wonder what game that the event organisers decided to que after the adorable cute and inoffensive Bugsnax trailer? It would have to be something of a similar vein right, otherwise that would make Bugsnax stick out like a sore thumb and threaten to overshadow some of the other game's of the event; I mean that's just logical decision making, isn't it? Or maybe they just threw up their hands and said "Screw it", instead preferring to stick the audience with a remake of a game that, in retrospect, can be seen as one of the most influential games to the entire modern action/adventure market. That's right, next up we're talking about the game from which Dark Souls was born, the game that everyone pretends to have played, the legendary; Demon's Souls. (Thought it was 'Demon Souls' all these years. Feel like an idiot now.)

Now before I get into this I should probably share with you all just how significant this is for me, if no one else. Dark Souls and From Software are quite literally some of my most beloved entities in the entire gaming industry for what they achieved in design and narrative storytelling; If Hideo Kojima and Metal Gear were the first to show me about the fluidity of storytelling, then these guys were the first to show me the possibilities of video-game-centric storytelling and what that can look like. Their example is the one I constantly look up to in the knowledge that I'll never match them but I'm still ever hopeful to. So to get a chance to play a remastered version of the game which set that studio on the path they are on is something that I'll not waste, unless it ends up as a Sony exclusive like the original game did because I don't have the spare income to deal with that crap. I'd love to see where it all started, and Demon's Souls is that genesis point.

For those that are unfamiliar, all that beautiful Gothic thematic world-building that Dark Souls is known for was born as a spiritual successor to 2009's 'Demon's Souls'. A game that was born out of confusion and an unclear vision which evolved into a title renowned for it's difficulty and unrelenting challenge. As this series later evolved into Dark Souls, that difficulty evolved into part of the identity of the world, with the concept of failing over and over again being one of the narrative themes and even seeding into the tagline for the entire game. This game in particular didn't really hit it off too well in Japan when it first came along, but over in the West folk seemed to enjoy it's European Medieval lore and monsters. To this day one of the chief cited inspirations for the franchise (although some might say it's more-so for Dark Souls) is the famously long-lived manga and Anime; Berserk. (A manga which started before I was born and will probably end after I die)

Now with Demon's Souls' returns comes a recall to a more unburnished period of the Souls mythos which isn't burdened by the aftermath of the First Sin, the fragmentation of Manus or the tardy Lords of Cinder; this is a complete stand alone in that regard. (Somewhat similar to Bloodborne.) Personally, as someone who never had the chance to play the original Dark Souls, I'm just as excited to see another story from the minds over at From Software as I am to see the old school, although I do say that in the knowledge that the 'From Software' brand of storytelling was only really mastered by Dark Souls 2. (Say what you will about that game but you can't deny it knew how to weave a narrative just beyond plain sight) Maybe I'll find it endearing to see the mistakes in that regard, or maybe I'll see absolutely no shortcomings and be once again humbled at how infuriatingly talented these storytellers are. Either way, I'm down.

As for the content of the trailer itself; I mean it's a Souls' trailer, what do you really expect? These are the sorts of narratives that deftly weave themselves around the medium they are served on, which is partially why a Netflix Dark Souls adaptation would be impossible/ terrible, so the team wouldn't waste their plot on anything as mundane as a trailer spot. And aside from that, how exactly would one go about making a story trailer for a souls game? Maybe for DS 1 you could do a quick run-though of the war with the dragons, but that neither conveys the plot of the game in question nor is really necessary given how the first cutscene of the actual game already covered that. I do not envy the marketing team that get given the task to make a cinematic From Software trailer; and we have extra evidence of how hard that is given the trailer for Elden Ring last year. ("Oh, Elden Ring!") What the hell was any of that about?

So instead of coherence we saw something that From Software can easily tease the disparate world of shadow and ruin which characterises Hidetaka Miyazaki's entire career. (Wait, I mean that in a polite way. Not trying to say anything about his success or talent.) In the footage we get an overview of the winged monsters and creatures that threaten the Slayer of Demons and I have to say, it's rather nostalgic to see the ways in which these designs sharpened for their later titles. We see zombies with glowing eyes that obviously became the undead soldiers, a mage wielding a scythe that calls to mind DS' necromancers and Nito and even a towering guard with a huge shield that reminds me of Havel or The Looking-Glass Knight. Whatsmore than that, every single design actually looks, and I mean this with as much respect I can muster, strangely pedestrian for a From Software game.

What I mean by that is that every single creature from this trailer doesn't really look a million miles away from the other games of the action-adventure Gothic genre. Zombies with glowing eyes, winged-drakes, even the big-bad, a huge draconic demon with 8 eyes, lacks the character of later From Software titles. It seems that this was a game designed when they'd just settled on the idea of the look being 'fantastical', before they nailed down to a specific period or source of inspiration. Dark Souls draws heavily from European medieval designs, for example; whilst Bloodborne has a Victorian-tinge to it's world. Sekiro is decidedly Japanese and Elden Ring makes me think of Scandinavian myth right now, though that may be my own tinted lenses skewering perspectives. None of this is said to disparage Demon's Souls, just an observation I made. And I expect to make many more once (if) I get my hands on the game.

The whole 'Remake-economy' is getting a little out-of-hand of late, and I wondering how long it'll be before promising new projects get canned in favour of remaking older ones. (And how often that's already happened.) Given the age and difficult-to-attain nature of Demon's Souls I'm not too perturbed by it's existence specifically, but I worry for the precedent it's perpetuating. Right now I'm about 90% sure that Square Enix have halted production on a new Dues Ex in order to remake the original, and that sucks. (Not the game, the concept.) But until the shark is full jumped I suppose I can celebrate the return of a classic and be happy. Even if that tinged with a hint of dread. (Huh, just like Miyazaki likes it.)

Bugsnax

Not sure how PETA's gonna take this one...

He's another weird one from the Playstation 5 reveal event, another real headscratcher that makes you question what exactly was going through the minds of the event organisers when they threw together their line-up. And I don't mean that in the inherently disparaging way, I mean that as a genuine question; what was their goal to achieve with the games they choose? It clearly wasn't to show off the breadth and power of their new console, despite bragging how this generation would be their largest leap yet in terms of tech. It wasn't showing off the talent of their first party studios as much of the games were third party titles which Sony bought out for timed exclusivity, revealing some of the more gross sides of the company. Maybe they were just going for a, 'throw every dart we can and see what sticks' kind of approach. (And hey, people still seem to think this was the best event so I guess it must have worked.)

Bugsnax was... I dunno. 'Deceptive' would probably be the word I err to most easily when thinking about this game, just in the way that it seems to promise on thing then deliver another, but even then it retains that original innocence, it's a tough one to get a bead on. I think that everyone's initially reaction was 'oh, this is meant to be cute'. With 'meant to be' being very operative in that assessment. Sure, in concept the idea of making a whole bunch of strawberrys sentient and giving them googly eyes sounds adorable but in practice I find it mildly horrifying. (Maybe that's just me.) But aside from that the entire world appears to mimic this child-like innocence to it's aesthetic that is instantly recognisable to all of our inner-kid. There's bright colours, cute sounds, even a friendly Australian voice over. And then things take a little turn.

Yes, then our little walrus friend starts eating the sentient food things and the concept becomes a little more clear. This island is a place wherein the 'bugs' are all replaced with sentient foodthings that the residents carelessly munch down, and honestly with a little bit of head-turning this could prove to be a very morbid concept. If not for the music, colours, and vibes, there might be some serious questions to ask about the morals behind eating things that very much appear to be alive, but then that is kind of the whole MO of Young Horses, the studio behind the game. Previously they released the famous indie title 'Octodad', which placed an Octopus at the head of a household and forced him to go through everyday life whilst expecting the audience not to think too hard about it. They excel in these surreal concepts and situations, which is probably why this Bugsnax trailer tracked so well.

If there's one thing I can say about the world of Bugsnax, aside from that it's rather grim if you think too hard about it, It's that the whole place is dripping in creativity. Just the very idea of replacing the wildlife of an island with food items is refreshingly unique, but the specific way that this team pulled it off is so particularly imaginative and commendable. You have a cut of pork ribs scuttling around like centipedes, a cut-up apple in the shape of a crab, and plenty of vegetables that have been attached with wings. It is, once again, the sort of world you'd find delving into the mind of a child or an insane person, and that's the reason why it stands out so well against the rest of the games that were shown off. That and it has an adorable catchy theme tune with the kind of lyrics that you can sort of make out but can't really. (I don't know those are the songs that stay with you the most, there must be some psychological basis in there somewhere.)

The success of this title is a matter I'm going to be very curious in for the months to come, as it's undoubtedly going to be compared up against their last two title from the Octodad series. Those games were pretty much indie phenomenons when they landed due to their quirky premise and purposefully awkward control scheme which worked great as lazy content for streamers on the Internet. Youtube in particular was instrumental in cementing Octodad's success and I wonder if those same creators and communities will latch on top Bugsnax either out of name recognition or, preferably, because the aesthetic and feel is somewhat similar. (Although I don't believe this is a title that relies so heavily on awkward controls in order to sell it's gimmick, in fact from the little snippet of gameplay this looked more like an adventure title with some customisation options.)

In today's age there is certainly a different relationship between games marketing and online game players, but I think Bugsnax has the potential to restore some of that. 4-5 years back there was a tight knit relationship wherein the big titles could rely on the support of the Internet to get the word out there, but as video games came at odds with advertisers that sort of symbiotic union faded away. (Even as Indie title desperately needed the exposure.) Bugsnax does look like the kind of game that can get past obvious advertiser blockers, however, due to the plain fact that all the worrysome elements appear to just be mostly implication. (I'm sure eating living beings alive won't set off anyone's alarm bells.)

Of course, with developers like these and a game as overtly cutesy like this, there was no way this trailer wouldn't end without a little bit of an edge to it. For this title the 'edge' appears to be that the various food-bugs of the island can form together to create some form of zombie Bugsnax that is no doubt going to prove the conflict of the story. (And here I thought this would end up being an aimlessly cute game like 'Viva Pinata' or 'Slime Rancher'.) It's the kind of cap-off that worked so perfectly in helping turn this title into a bit of meme; already it's achieved that sort of status. As a game that tries to do everything and surprises everyone, people just couldn't help but smile and join in on the joke and that's the sort of pop culture relevance that could end up translating rather well for the developers. (Young Horses does it again, these guys could teach Masters on marketing.)

Once it's all said and done, however, I must admit that this isn't the sort of game that plays to my personal tastes, at least not from what I can tell so far. I gravitate around the sorts of games that either tell a compelling tale or allow me to build one, so the sorts of titles that focus around gimmicks and funny controls just don't land too well with me. That being said I hold nothing against them and can imagine this title doing really well with folk that don't share my sentiments. Whatsmore, I hope this game does land as we need more creativity entering the game market nowadays. So kudos to Bugnax and Young Horses for nailing the landing on this trailer, fingers crossed it tranlsates into a strong game!

Ballbaskets with 2K: 2021 edition

Please make it stop.

Of all the games that Sony decided to show off as being their Playstation 5 line-up, there was but one which actively encouraged to spit in it's direction. A game so bafflingly popular that it positively disgusts me to see it perpetrated year after year, and to whom their community is one of the most embarrassing stains on all gaming culture. (Second only to those Star Citizen mega fans who spend their life savings funding a pipe dream.) Of course I'm talking about the yearly copy-and-repeat job out of the sports world; NBA 2K21, and what sort of world are we in where true game development maestros like Arkane, Oddworld Inhabitants and IOI have to share a digital stage with the gibbering hacks out of 2K who are so lacking in any rudimentary talent or know-how that they forgot to change their executable's Ico file last year. (You just can't make it up.)

"But how can you possibly talk about 2K for an entire blog" I hear you wonder, "They make the same game every year, pull the same crap, and never, ever, learn." And right you are, reader, but that's the very reason why I can't just let it go. This isn't a case of the second or third entry in the row that has made the same stupid mistakes, that's abhorrent and pathetic enough, no this is beyond the 10th entry of the same unrelenting nonsense. It's far beyond a joke; it is a menace upon the once-great sports games world. What was the last great sports game title which still had passion and creativity behind it, and wasn't just another serialised duplicate cash-in? Was it Rocket League? Because that game came out half a decade ago so if it was then this industry has got problems... But another popular argument which could be addressed right here is the claim that "You wouldn't buy this game anyway" (damn right, I wouldn't) "So why waste your breath?" Well I'll tell you, it's because these games invariably contain the portend for whatever dark hell is impending on the rest of industry.

That's right, I'm not some sort of bible-thumping magnanimous do-gooder who campaigns for the good of communities that he actively dislikes, no this is a purely personal squabble as I'm tired of dealing with the ripples that the sports industry splash down with. First came the microtransaction which may owe their popularity just as much to MW3 as anyone else, but still was pushed heavily by sports games and now they're freakin' everywhere. Then came the lootboxes which introduced an element of gambling to our purchases in such an avaricious and transparent manner that even governments are starting to mobilise legislature to get them regulated and/or banned. (Good riddance.) But what kind of control-freak bender could the folk over at 2K be on now? How else will they try to jump the shark and lead the rest of the industry along for the ride? Well it's quite simple actually, so simple I'm amazed they haven't tried it years ago; they've upped the price of games from $60 to $70 coming into the new generation. (Way to start the decade off right you sack of pustulous worms.)

Now, the pricing of triple A games has been something of a debate over the last couple of decades as we've sat rather firmly in the $60 price point for so long now. (With the regional conversions bridging from there.) This price point has stayed mostly stagnant throughout all the shifting tides of inflation and rising production costs to the point where some folk feel it's only right that games start upping the pricing again, to account for all the new variables. But there's some matters folk fail to take into account. Sure prices have remained at $60, but that has been enabled by the absolute explosion of the industry over the past couple of decades as the once-niche hobby has become one of the biggest pastimes across the world. (Thus significantly widening the potential client base) Because of the nature of the product, upscaling the sales of games is minimal and thus the amount of money that AAA games companies rake in has skyrocketed alongside the meteoric growth of the hobby. (Heck, gaming was labelled as the single post profitable entertainment medium last year, and that was without Covid shutting everything down. Imagine how ridiculous that figure is this year!)

Whatsmore, the idea that video games haven't become more expensive over these last 20 years is a complete misnomer as proven by the points and industry trends that I've already bought up. DLC allows for extra content to be sold alongside the game and Microtransactions allow for tiny bits of data to be mass sold on top of games. MMOs allow for subscription services that can secure reliable and regular funding to games and Live Service titles can secure a mix of all three of those extra payment methods.Through all of these little tricks, alongside the rising sales-base, games companies have been fully within their capacity to match the rising cost of development, provided they appropriatly manage funds. (Funny how all the companies who complain about lacking the funding for development coincide with the one's who pay off unearned millions to their executives...)

Yet even with all that to ruminate on, 2K have decided that those who want to buy the next gen version of their latest dumpster fire will have to cough up an extra $10 in order to do so. That's $10 for the exact same game save for some upscaled textures which, knowing 2K, were probably just scaled with the 'expand tool' in Photoshop. (Seems like a great deal to me, no?) And the worst part is that when this inevitably works out great for the company, because all the sheep who buy these games likely lack the awareness to notice the obvious price hike, you already know it's going to start getting forced on the rest of us. EA are already rubbing their hands waiting for an excuse to jack-up all of their first-party titles, I can promise you that. And once they do it, other's will be encouraged to follow suit in order to stay competitive, and then the community will push back, making these companies retreat to a compromise of $65 to appease us all, tricking everyone into putting down their pitchforks under the impression that they won. We've done this song and dance before and I've gotten bored of all the moves.

But that isn't all the stupid tricks that 2K is trying to pull because of course it isn't. This is 2K we're talking about, those guys can't publish a single trailer without simultaneously unveiling something brow and controversy-raising. It's their signature move, their raison d'être, their one armed man. So last year was the gambling, before that was the microtransactions, and this year it's the confusing payment plan again which they've bought up to disguise their scummy replacement for Xbox Smart Delivery. (Which, as a reminder, is a program that allows players to upgrade their current gen versions of upcoming games to next gen versions at no extra cost.) Under 2K's system, folk who buy the current gen version of NBA 2K21 will have to independently buy another copy in order to play on the next generation. This is unless those folk shell out for the $100 Mamba Forever version of the game which offers players a free copy of the standard edition of the next gen game. (They couldn't even give them the special edition for $100.) Oh, and extra points for exploiting the horrific tragedy of Kobe Bryant's death to sell this plan, 2K; that's really on-brand for you.

So yeah, I'm not going to go through my usual cycle of talking about the game, summing up the trailer and discussing if its worthy of representing the new generation, because this is the sort of trash that's not worth that level of consideration. These titles aren't games anymore, they're cynical schemes to wrangle as much blood-sweat-and-cash from their fan base as humanly possible, with a gross tendency of setting just the worst examples on the rest of the industry. These are the titles shunting creativity out of the gaming medium and it sickens me to think about how they get away with this year after year without even the most remote modicum of push-back. So to any sports games fans who read this I implore you, stand up for yourself, stand up for the hobby you claim to love and stand up for all of us, because your games are quite literally the front lines for every repugnant greedy tech executive out there. The next ten years of gaming culture could, quite literally, be in your hands. Don't buy 2K21.