As the discourse around Starfield swirls and swirls around an Internet that can't seem to make up it's damn mind about it, I'm brought back to a game that got totally lost in the flurry. My poor boy Immortals of Aveum! You sleeping on my boy? Immortals of... you know what I'm talking about right? It's about the fast talking protagonist hero who's the chosen one with all the magical powers? They wave their hand out in front of them in a goofy manner and use it to fire spells? What? No, not Forspoken that's the other game with the protagonist who... wow, what is up with game companies recently? How did the exact same game get made twice in the same year by two entirely different development studios? And how did it suck the exact same way both times over? That's got to be double jeopardy at this point- which I guess makes these games secretly great, if I'm interpreting the made-up rules of double jeopardy correctly...
There are times when you just see something and know in an instant it's going to be bad. There's no squinting your eyes and trying to see the good in something so blatantly boring. And to be fair, there's so much trash made daily that we never quite see- common sense typically stops such trite from reaching anywhere near a wide audience. But apparently production studios in the gaming world are starting to lose sight in that commonly shared defence mechanism because we are getting some hot crap this year. I haven't even mentioned Redfall yet- and isn't Suicide Squad supposed to drop this year too? Ah no, they managed to delay themselves just out of 2023. Spread the mediocrity around a bit, I guess. How can it be that games which never stand a chance get massive marketing campaigns?
You might think I'm exaggerating when it comes to 'Indestructibles of Adamantium' as you scratch your head and remark how you've never even heard of that game so it must have never been widely advertised. Au contraire, it's actually seen online adverts, storefront billboards, website banners: they spent some money to make sure everybody knew this game was coming out. And did it pay off? All time peak of 751 players, most played today around 26... eh... maybe the numbers are better on consoles... Although I doubt it. EA probably has on their hands a colossal disasterpiece of a game that managed to do the opposite of grass routes marketing- it dissolved word of mouth out of people's memory by simply looking uninspired and dull from the get go. And that name. Wow, that's an awful name.
I mean to be fair the game is pretty... but what else. I mean, who really cares about pretty games these days? A game really has to be gorgeous in order to pass by on visuals alone in this day and age, and by pure cluttered design and a uninspired palette 'Irreplacables of Argentum' slips past that accolade. Heck, one of the biggest games right now is Starfield, and that's a game widely panned for it's lack of facial emotions- but does anyone really care. I mean outside of the grumblers? No, because we don't give a crap if the person opposite us is smiling with the correct face muscles- there's substance to the actual game. That substance part- unfortunately that might just be the missing ingredient that the folks at the 'Ascendant Studios' forgot before they sent this one to the cooker.
The reason I wanted to talk about the game is partially because I'm low-key proud in the larger gaming community for roundly rejecting this lazy era of writing that has descended and fouled up pop culture around Hollywood. It seems small to call it the 'Marvel' problem of witticisms, quirkiness and millennial cringe- but I mean if the shoe fits then what else can you call it? Saints Row Reboot, Forspoken and now 'Invisibles of Arbroath', all attempted to shortcut their way into audiences brains by coping word for the word the notes they had seen on their latest favourite Marvel movie or TV show, and they encouraged revulsion and rejection on an unprecedented scale! It's often said that no matter who you are or what you do, someone out there will support you- but it seems we've found the exception- making games this unbearable breaks the rule of averages.
Of course, the unfortunately reality is of those games I've just mentioned, the previous two directly resulted in their studios being shut down- which is another symptom of the problem. The main reason why people write like this, in my opinion, is because the developers and publishers are saddled with an idea they don't quite know how to appropriately bring to life, and therefore are inherently risky to sell to a modern audience. If you can limit that risk by emulating other people's routes to success, it may seem lazy but it makes investors less shaky about your prospects. Unfortunately that does mean that when such projects crash and burn, they do so with untold millions in the development wallet which leads to massive and painful consequences on the development team. Which perhaps should form the flare shot into the sky warning folk that perhaps Publishers aren't the way for every development team in the world. Just a thought.
As games become bigger investments, only to fail to the waves of genuine excitement drummed up by realistic passion projects, one should really examine if the route of the problem is perhaps more than "We haven't been charging players enough for our games, quick debut the £150 edition of GTA VI." (More on that supposed leak at a later date, I want some time to process that horrific price point.) Maybe throwing money at a crap idea with no potential won't suddenly erase all the core problems that will stop it from being a success. Maybe not every game needs hundreds of millions in development budget, and maybe not every studio needs to work under the high demands of a franchise pumping studio. Maybe regulation should start from within before it start being used as a punishment for customers.
'Ignobles of Artyom' exists as a lesson. A lesson that bigger doesn't mean better. That we are past the age of 'too big to fail'. That magic systems in games should be more creative than 'Red, Green, Blue'. That marketability is boring. That creativity should exist in a creative field. That the wake up call delivered to the entire gaming industry by way of Baldur's Gate 3 actually meant something. Will that lesson stick? I think so. We're talking titans of the industry being made to look foolish by a Belgian upstart with a wicked impish grin and a dedication to their craft spanning two whole decades. And did I just take a blog about something else and turn it into another appreciation circle head-pat session for Baldur's Gate 3- you freakin' bet I did! Because I've already forgotten the name of the game I started this blog talking about... Mortals in Avernus? Meh, probably wasn't important anyway.
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