Over the past few weeks it has become abundantly clear that there's no more dangerous a position in the games industry then being employed at Xbox Studios. Whereas in any other studio they're waiting for a pin drop to get you out the door, at Xbox they're just trolling around trying to remember who they've hired to kick them out. These fools have absolutely no qualms with destroying a successful company and then whine about how they haven't got enough prestige builders in their camp. Which, I might add, is the exact same conduct that EA popularised all those years ago to solidify their reputation as the most hated company admits gamers and developers! Now Xbox seems to have eclipsed EA at their worst in many regards and I can't help but wonder if we're ever going to get a developer we can trust ever again! But those are big-picture issues, let's focus on the now.
Ninja Theory have been a studio that always seems to have earnt furrowed brows as they've truckled along despite always trying to create something spectacular- and I mean that genuinely. I don't think there was ever a time they tried for a game of muted ambition, or put something out that is below their weight level in hopes of cutting down on manpower and maybe even keeping the lights on. They were the developer behind the underloved Heavenly Sword which I recall being spoken about heavily in the months before it launched for it's striking female protagonist and grand sweeping scale- and then was lost in history just a few months after dropping. The same could be said of 'Odyssey: Journey to the West'- but I've never forgotten about that game and the promise it held as a sort of 'Horizon-style' revival of one of the best loved stories in history. And they straight up got themselves booed after putting out the unfortunately angled 'DMC: Devil May Cry'- which probably would have been perfectly fine if they just didn't call the protagonist Dante. Or just made it a prequel. Neither of which would have been decisions made by Ninja Theory themselves. What they worked on, the game itself, they crushed!
In many ways the Hellblade franchise seems to be something of their swansong- as a piece of content they fully developed in house, at their relatively small scale, which has earned them near universal praise for it's artistry, tact and creative ambition- if not for it's meagre length. Telling a story mixed in fantasy and analogy delving into the protagonists struggle with mental illness on the path to confronting the death of her lover- which she bitterly confronts in flashes of denial that ultimately shape her path through that in an evolving story. It really is peak interactive fiction on a narrative level, and whilst the gameplay might leave a little to be desired, some might say, the worth of the art alone makes up for that deficit, which is a praise I don't always visit upon the gaming world. They are Storytellers- with the capital S.
But within that space of game developers a certain contingent of gamers that feel a certain animosity. I'm talking about the people who denigrate narrative based games as pretenders upon the industry- and to be fair I can actually make out where it is these folk are coming from. Afterall, we're not just talking abut games that features themselves prominently around a central narrative. We're talking about the kind of games wherein the 'gameplay' is summed up as watching movies and making dialogue choices every now and then. Maybe an odd QTE is chucked in to make players remember they have some agency over the action. I'm talking about David Cage games- and whilst I disagree with the sentiment that such a breed of games is somehow inherently low quality- There's often a wanting amount of interactivity in this 'interactive' medium.
This is not necessarily a criticism levied at Ninja Theory, but it touches on a certain perception around their newest games. That the Hellblade games carry a kind of 'lazy gameplay' aspect to them which dumps complexity in the hands of the player in favour of telling a story. Now again, the Hellblade games tell good stories, but this is the games industry. If you want to show us a really pretty movie, then become animated movie makers. If you want to make games, then you need to focus on what makes a fun game to play. Hellblade 1 featured a pretty shockingly sad combat system which the player had very little interaction with but which pretty disappointed pretty often. And after all the growth, feedback and development years that Ninja Theory have gone away with- what the gave us seemed to have improved in none of the core-most critiqued areas.
Hellblade 2 is a looker, and it tells a story that some think is quite engaging, but the general perception seems to be that Ninja Theory has delivered another 'lazy game'. 5 hours of gameplay the prioritizes it's visuals above all else, lacklustre gameplay, pathetic puzzles and some lovers of the first game even say the game's heart doesn't beat quite the same way that the original did. Of course, there are those so dazzled by the technical showcase that they call it the second coming, but the same could be said about Starfield- it's still not winning over the average gamer's heart. And in the wake of this, Xbox's latest not-so-spectacular exclusive, it seems somewhat prudent to ask whether or not Ninja Theory as still in a good place of standing with Xbox.
Having put out a thank-you statement to the community, and then vigorously defended that the statement was purely a 'thanks for the support' and not an elaborately disguised 'goodbye'- it would seem that Ninja Theory have been given no indication that their neck is on the line. But then neither was Tango Gameworks. Tango were actually in talks about their next game and led to believe all was trucking along swimmingly before their hardwork and success was rewarded with an unemployment slip. Hellblade 2 feels like another game failing to push the needle, even after years of being flaunted around Xbox showcases as the belle of the ball- who's to say they're not next?
Personally I think there always needs to be space in the industry for the middle weight class of games. The non-block busters who punch in at their weight and maybe try a little something new every now and then, keep the enfranchised on their toes just that little bit. Smaller games really are the lifeblood of the industry, and if you are trying to build the value of a publisher it really helps to acknowledge and feed into that. Under Xbox, making smaller games gets you punished, and if Hellblade 2 doesn't manage to strike out and shirk this initial non-plussed reputation it's been laboured with that is exactly what is going to happen to the Ninja's- sad as it is to say.
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