The Wayward Realms has hit the public...

 Or it's hit public funding at least

The Wayward Realms has always been something of a smallscale proposition even back when it was teasing through sleight teasers and inworld books- (most of which I've perused through at some point or other.) a true successor to the likes of Daggerfall that did not go the more popular action adventure route of The Elder Scrolls but rather remained dungeon crawling focused and doubled down on the sort of scale that Daggerfall purportedly offers. And yes, I say 'purportedly' because for some crazed reason Daggerfall is the only Elder Scrolls game I haven't played extensively. (Yes, I've played oodles of Arena. I don't know what's wrong with me- I promise to get around to it at some point.) Now hearing anyone who has played Daggerfall before go on and on about it- you'll have heard the whimsical dreams of the true freedom Elder Scrolls once offered, and within that find something of an anticipation towards this little project.

Of course back then it was just a promise of something being worked on by the original creators of the Elder Scrolls series- we'd maybe hear something more in a few years and then it would drop. That, by all accounts, was the original idea- and though that hasn't panned out I can't say I'm much surprised given that a title like this, banking on the goodwill towards a decades old cult classic- really was made for Crowd funding, you would think. Either way, The Wayward Realms is threatening to start getting serious, raising public funds for a year of development as well as to raise publisher interest in an audience that are willing to buy the thing- all good steps on the road to making something in a criminally underserved sub-genre which can be the key to becoming another cult hit if all the stars are in alignment. And as of the writing of this blog, that Crowd Funding campaign is currently live.

Now I have to get a little something of my back first- yes the team are still insisting that we call the game a 'Grand RPG' despite giving all the hallmarks of a Sandbox RPG and asking us to take them for their word- however I will relent that some of their phrasing when describing the world does low-key sort of imply a main questline- which isn't a typical hallmark of the Sandbox RPG genre type. Is that enough to create an entirely new subgenre tag? Meh, why not. We've made distinctions for fewer. (I still stubbornly refuse to internalise the apparent differences between Rogue-Likes and Roguelites and intentionally use the two interchangeably whenever talking about one or the other.) That is my biggest gripe with the game because everything else sounds really interesting!

A vast archipelago littered with rich factions vying over control of the various territories, a unique distinct focus on sealife gameplay as you sail from island to island in search of fortune and fame, a Morrowind reminiscent (for me- I'm sure it's a Daggerfall callback) topic-based conversation system which always felt supremely slept on by the RPG world after everyone shifted to direct dialogue text boxes; There's a spark of something interesting here. Last time I spoke quite a bit about the trailer and the ambitions of what the game wants to be, but it really is the little things and the core fundamentals that make all the difference- and I've always had belief in The Wayward Realms for being one of the little games that get's the smallstuff right.

One aspect I've always wished Bethesda would focus more on when it comes to their games is robust and grounded traversal methods- the jetpacks of Fallout and Starfield exist- sure, but what about climbing? How much more clever design opportunities would be opened up by the functional ability to climb a wall? Well that is something we'll be able to find out in person during the Wayward Realms given the climbing vines we saw teased during gameplay. A hint, in my mind, back to the untethered times of level design such as I recall from the days gone of Morrowind- where entire giant secret temples of treasure would be hidden at the very tips of forgotten caves, truly selling the myth of the undiscovered dormant cavern chambers that all these games rely on.

Wayward Realms is also supposed to feature something in the way of early Alpha testing in the way of the tutorial island which will be released to backers- which should serve as a pulse check to see if this really is the kind of product that has the breadth to go the distance or if... well, let's hope for the positive, yeah? We've certainly see early access periods wibble and wobble here and there under the weight of actual players- and right now the game is looking pretty rough in some of it's preliminary departments. Not least of all combat which... well I've seen worse but it's nowhere near ship worthy. I can say that much.

I'm always on the look out for the next fully engrossing fantasy game world I can hide myself within and whether this is a Sandbox RPG or simply a game that carries nearly all the hallmarks of one- I believe I've identified my next target. Choice and consequence teased to some degree across tailored made faction questlines and a mysterious 'Game Master' system which promises to provide mysterious dynamism to 'the player story'. There's so many interesting ideas I want to hear more about- The religion system, the 'major world events' that are supposed to 'shape our characters', their own attempt at Bethesda's patently boring 'radiant quest giving' system that gives me Rimworld feelings.

There's always room for a bit more innovation in how the Western World handles their RPGs, because we're no longer at the point of leapfrogging the bottom of the barrel of 'approachable' titles. Baldur's Gate, Cyberpunk 2077, Pillars of Eternity- experimentation is a heady spice I will never get tired of seeing it's disparate, even messy, strains. Unless every RPG starts making purely zombie slaying titles. Then I'll start getting bored. But we're not there yet and The Wayward Realms seems every bit the envoy of that. Provided they make that $500,000 goal of there's by the end of next month! (I'll do my part, to be sure!)

Falling out

 

This ain't one of those pleasant everyday topics. This is a rant. A complaint against the powers that be that touches on merely the extent of my own burnished ego. No one is made better or whole by my whining, and accepting that in full public is how I'm going to get over the fact that I know Bethesda are working on this, but good lord am I just not in the mood to be understanding. It takes a special kind of idiot to do what Bethesda does so often and so fully, so I am going to rant, I am going to be upset, and there's nothing that logic is going to do about it. Because to be fully honest, it reflects so badly on Bethesda as caretakers that this was ever a conundrum to begin with, and perhaps we should start moving to a future where we tell the big B no! Work on your new damn games for once!

Fallout fever was going haywire for a while, and whilst the knock-on effect is going to be alive for a while- I'd say that the fever pitch has faded somewhat. People are knuckling down and waiting for the second season, passing away their rampant excitement into that box they bury under the church and then slather in concrete next to the emergency sledgehammer should it ever need to be recovered. The production may be talking big talk about how they are rushing to bring the next season "as soon as humanely possible", but considering that now it's not uncommon for a season of a show to take three years of production to bring out- that is straight meaningless. We'll still have buried this show and it's characters long before anything new can be shown off. And do you know what Bethesda did during this golden period of the show? Sabotaged themselves.

Your average gamer flocked to the properties they love in gusto, partaking in all the great vanilla games and stories kept therein, delighting in the eccentricities that the game developers laid out for them. The rest of us are well and used to all of these mods. We've been there, we've gone through the motions, we're fully done with them. We use Bethesda games as springboards to canvass out our adventures through mods- and that concept alone has kept Bethesda RPGs at the very top of single player RPG play charts for years creaking into decades at this point for some. I'd argue it's a core pillar of the company to develop with Mod Making intelligently included in the equation, which is why all the utterly brainless cries to move their new games onto Unreal Engine 5 so they'll look more 'conventionally pretty' always scrapes at my very mind. Unreal Engine games have never, and will never, be as accessible to mod as Bethesda's own propriety engine games, that would be literally the worst move that Bethesda could possibly take towards their future. That being said, that doesn't mean Bethesda don't sabotage their modding scene in other ways...

Fallout 4 has endured so very much, and us with it, in the struggle to be 'recurrently profitable'. The eye-wateringly bad 'Creation club' early days- where Bethesda tried to sell us various recolour mods for every shade of the rainbow, still stings in my mind. And even though they've largely moved past that, and reserve their paid-modding efforts for the largely substantial leaps- we're still scrapping at the dark ages. Make no mistake that this is no the breadth of Bethesda's ambitions, and I suspect what the team really want is to try and get one of those truly seismic mods on their service. Which in actuality would be great for console modders- it would essentially just be a brand new DLC for them to buy. As for everyone else... I shudder to think of the prices cooking up in that twisted head of theirs.

I've said before how insanely 'Bethesda' it is to have Fallout 4's mod-breaking modern version come out directly during the most profitable period for the franchise ever- but I could hardly have predicated just how badly they screwed things up. 'Just wait for the F4SE' I thought, 'as soon as that is updated- we'll have all the mods we need available'! Little did I know the extent of how bad things are. First off, Buffout 4 is AWOL. That near-essential mod that fixes engine problems and provides crash logs- hasn't been updated and no one knows if it ever will be. The creator just can't be found and given that the last time the mod had to be updated was four years ago- that's no great surprise. Who the heck is going to be Fallout modding 4 years down the line- we still don't get any new companion mods in the Fallout modding space!

But what if it gets even worse than that? What if they somehow managed to ship with a mod specifically detrimental to the best the community has to offer, large scale mods? Of course I'm not asking hypotheticals- Fallout 4's current version has a seemingly inherent bug wherein the game stutters whenever an NPC's data is updated- which covers quite a lot of mod types out there. Anything that updates enemies to keep them competitive with the levelling system, for instance, or maybe a mod that changes visual data. The stutters build with the more NPCs added- and though I don't think anyone has been brave enough to try it and post the results online- one could only wonder what big faction remixes do. The more NPCs loaded into the vicinity there are, the worse the stutters become. If you had a Brotherhood remixer and stood under the Prydwen the game would probably crash.

And that has just persisted. Bethesda left that in the final patch. And guess what- the only way it's getting fixed again is if the team go out of their way to patch the game on more time, which means another arbitrary round of updating script mods! In fact, I suspect the only reason we haven't already got the update is because the maintenance team are smartly waiting until they've figured out everything they broke with the latest update so they can safely fix it all with the next one. Because that is just the cursed cycle that all of us live within under the white sun that is Bethesda. Not to imply that Bethesda is dying- I'm sure that Starfield latest DLC reveal went great and we're all talking about how Bethesda is back right now. I don't know because I'm writing this blog literally 15 minutes before Summer Games Fest- but Bethesda wouldn't let us down again... right?

So this was a rant to basically say- good god does this company have it's hand firmly on it's ass recently- they can't even accept a free PR moment correctly. The only net positive thing they did was maybe update Fallout Shelter- oh wait- I forgot that Fallout Shelter has been abandoned for the past few years on every device that isn't a mobile! So that update didn't touch the Switch or PC version! (Yes, the PC version is the un-updated one! Kill me.) I just want to grab at the team and shake them by the shoulders- desperately pleading for them to nail something. Anything! I want to talk about how much I love this studio again but by god- they really don't want me to! I love their games but it's getting harder to convince myself of that as the years go by...

The Dragon of Amazon

 Under the roiling cauldron of the pacific churns a ecliptic ziggurat. A ancient temple of prehistoric build buried beneath the destructive power of earth's primordial waves. That black temple stone sleeps, untouched by erosion, unbowed by Mother Nature's fury, impossible and non-Euclidian- it houses the unspeakable. The unwoken, the ever dreaming, the tyrant, the priest, the mountain, the fish man, the dawn and the twilight. His dreams are our nightmares, and his wake will be our sleep. Cosmic and alien, the God of Dreams waits, harrowing against the thin veil, clawing at the membrane of our psyche, leaking through the cracks, manifesting in our mania. And it is to him, Great Cthulhu, that I credit the recent announcement that Yakuza is getting a life action adaptation.

Because come on- what else am I supposed to believe? I've been bringing up how good of an idea this would be in blog after blog for years now, knowing well just how much brilliant stories and characters the world was missing out on thanks to the barrier to entry of the gaming world. This dreams, this longing, existed solely in my warped and peeling mind- until it didn't anymore! What am I supposed to believe, that Amazon reads this blog? Don't be foolish- 'twas the god king, obviously! In his neverending war to break beyond the waves and reclaim his foot on the head of all mankind, Cthulhu plucked that little gem from my mindscape and went "Oh, that's actually a pretty good idea! I'm going to just insert that in an Amazon exec's noggin' so when I rise there'll be a couple of seasons of the show to binge on!" He's a savvy one, that Cthulhu! Always planning ahead!

With this conflux of realities breaking down comes the apparent rapidly approaching adaptation of Yakuza 1's entire story within later this very year, under Amazon studios! Which would, of course, make this the second attempt to retell the beginning of Kazuma Kiryu's story- the first being a hilariously bizarre movie in which Majima walks around with a shotgun he uses to gun people down- (I suppose that was made back when Majima still flittered between being a good or bad guy) and wore an eyepatch on the wrong eye. But it did spawn that unforgettable image of Majima slyly peaking around the corner of a hallway using his blinded eye to spy on Kiryu and Haruka. (Classic.) Although I have to be honest, I'm not sure if this was the best start for a Yakuza series.

Back when Yakuza 0 was developed it did rest on the back of five Yakuza games before it in order to inform characters and direction, making it a prequel in the truest since balancing the weight of all that came after. But it was also a hail mary to try and score a western audience- which succeeded with gusto. Many people, including myself, were introduced to Yakuza through 0 and thus closely relate the majesty of that franchise with the quality of that original power house of a game and let me be clear- that is because 0 is an incredible introduction. None of that game is dependent on knowing who these characters are or what they will become. Foreshadowing is subtle character work delicately laying out the complexities of the iconic personalities these to-be heroes would adopt, and the overall narrative itself tells the origin of the series' most iconic landmark it returns to so often it even starred in the finale of Infinite Wealth earlier this year- Millennium Tower.

And that isn't even to mention the fact that Yakuza 0's story is, to be honest, actually a lot better than Yakuza 1's. That original was created back in a time when Yakuza was still finding it's identity and thus basing itself around the various rigors of romantic crime drama- in an almost cliché sense. You have the virtuous sacrifice, the 'protect the small girl' subplot, the betrayal, the surprise romance so cold I'll bet people were literally flashbanged by "I love you" in the final moments of the game. Yakuza 1 is a classic, no doubt- but 0 was a legend. Yakuza 0 broke all these characters down to their base most form and dragged them across a complex conspiracy that spanned across Asia and across generations, peppered with genuine slow burn romance, one emotionally shattering confrontation and enough cliffhanger plot-twists to break a gordian knot and worlds collided in a scrabble to seize what would eventually become the most important piece of real-estate in this entire franchise. That would be the way to start this new media journey, if Amazon were taking this serious.

We've already got ourselves a glimpse of our Kiryu's back, bearing a tattoo reminiscent of the classic dragon though slightly different, bringing to mind the most pressing question we should be asking about this adaptation- are we still going to do the one arm strip move? Afterall, how else are we going to demonstrate that tattoo? We can't have Kiryu rip his precious outfit, he needs to take that off in important and impactful moments- and will he perform the physics defining hand rip to pull it off? For that matter- what exact tone are the team looking to strike with this adaptation? Are we going to get ourselves a fun and light-hearted farce, or a serious and intense drama? Or will the showrunners be clever enough to know that in order to match the game franchise, they need to actually strike a balance of both?

An important point of note is the stipulation that 'Like a Dragon: Yakuza' is said to follow a 'loose' adaptation of the events of the first game, which may be their licence to trim the fat in a few areas- or to use the Yakuza franchise as a flesh-suit for the showrunners own failed storytelling ambitions as we've seen happen to 'The Rings of Power', 'The Witcher' and, regrettably, 'Avatar'. Ryoma Takeuchi is playing Kiryu, which means we'll have an actor of the right height at least, and he bares the name 'Ryoma'- so I guess they have to do an Ishin series if this thing makes it off the ground- I just can't shake the feeling he looks a little young for the role. (Which would have made him perfect to play 'Yakuza 0' Kiryu! Ah, I'm never going to shake this, am I?)

But enough misgivings. This is what I want. It's what I've always wanted. For Kiryu to finally shine on the screen in a medium he can genuinely be added to. None of these nowhere adaptations that have no possible ability to improve, or even match, the original- such as with cartoons like Avatar to live action versions of the same scenes, only slower and clunkier. Like a Dragon bases itself over an exaggerated reality which, if given a totally straight face, could elevate the source material in those special moments. Does that mean I want to see blue glowing auras and videogame stuff like that represented? I honestly don't know yet- and the fact that this series could literally go one of a hundred directions and still potentially prove faithful, as proven by the murder happy farce-fest of the movie- is just proof why this is the one video game adaptation that was meant to be.

Finishing off The Outer World

 

As I've grumbled about quite often in the past few years, The Outer Worlds failed to land with me the way I wanted it to, which has grown into something of a dichotomy for me considering it has become readily apparent that the excitingly revealed 'Avowed' was going to be another game in that exact style. I ummed, and ahhed, pulled at my teeth, tore out my hair- but nothing could get to summon up that same level of wonderment I felt when first viewing that trailer all those years ago- this with little else to turn to I have to rely on- bleargh- hope to fuel my wanton ambition. At least that was until I decided to bite the bullet and finally finish of The Outer Worlds the way I had failed to do several times across the years. Over the past few days I finally bit fully into The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition.

You see, the one aspect of The Outer Worlds I had somehow managed to miss were the two DLCs that Obsidian released while the game was still in a support cycle- and considering some of my most favourite moments in previous Obsidian games came from their DLC, I really wasn't giving myself the full picture. This grinding my way through The Outer Worlds so that I can reach the DLC and give the full experience a fair shake was the only thing that made sense to me- plus it would give me an excuse to replay through everything I did like about The Outer Worlds, rather than dwell on that disappointing main narrative which had left such a sour taste in my mouth all these years. And I am glad to report that there has actually been a shift on my feelings and thoughts regarding the game.

First, I totally forgot how sarcastic the game was. Largely in it's characterisation of the Player Character- but pretty much every character has a dry retort packed away somewhere in their unhinged diatribes aside from, probably, Felix- because he is the most boring character. There are so many delightfully inconsequential dialogue trees you can hop down with characters that exist simply to screw with the peace around you- and I really like that unique level of flippancy which is indicative to how the general feel of The Outer Worlds' worldbuilding is. I'm pretty sure every single terminal entry in the entire game has at least one 'corporate hell' joke or pun stuffed in there somewhere. It's like the team committed themselves to only writing lore entries when they thought up a joke to slip in there for prosperities sake.

I also totally missed how decent the game's straightforward levelling system is at allowing you to go crazy with a custom build. Whereas I tried to do my stealth assassin routine for the original game, specialising in pretty much anything I thought that I would need, totally lowballing how much space the game would give me to max out everything. (There is no possible way to max out every stat, I would later learn) This time around I picked a direction congruent with the character I was roleplaying and stuck rigorously to it, a loud violent handgun expert with a healthy heaping of scientific knowledge to make the most out of all those unique science weapons. And with that vague direction in mind, I quickly ended up making a character who was broken pretty much at the start of Act 2 and only got more devastating as the game went on. The final boss of the game, whom I spent 25 frantically desperate minutes carefully whittling down in my original playthrough? I melted it in 15 seconds this time around. Same difficulty. (I guess picking a trade really helps sometimes.)

Peril on Gorgon actually reminds me vaguely of a much more exploration-friendly version of Dead Money from Fallout. Exploring a dead and deserted facility whilst you pick through the corpse learning what secrets were buried when the asteroid was abandoned, all whilst fighting through hoards of Marauders who seem to infest the planet. There are no unique enemies to the DLC, rather disappointingly, but there are some interesting new revelations about the world space that justify such a direction. I actually really love the mystery Gorgon presents and think it's concise but consequential narrative and ultimate choices were honestly superior to the core game- even if the twist was nicked wholesale from Mass Effect Andromeda.

Murder on Eriandos, on the otherhand, feels like Obsidian stretching their chuckle muscles once again to let everyone know that they haven't lost their touch. I'd call this the 'Old World Blues' of The Outer Worlds, with the added stipulation that this is no where near as hilarious as Old World Blues. Eriandos is practically dripping with snark and farce as you investigate the murder of famed starlet Halcyon Helen. Flirting with Noir at times before the sheer weirdness of the meta plot cuts through all that and by the end of the adventure there is no pretense left- the story goes into full silly mode and abandons the veneer of serious murder mystery they teased- which would be a faux-pas if it didn't match the tone so acutely. I definitely laughed the most during this quest mod and though Gorgon had me more invested, Eriandos is a must play for anyone sailing through The Outer Worlds.

I must admit that The Outer Worlds saved their best content for these DLC snippets, and perhaps that is aided by the fact that this arguably flimsy setting works best in bite-sized snippets, rather than stretched across an entire system of people we're supposed to care about. It's kind of like imagining Pillars of Eternity if the entire world was just the Dyrwood and you had to wrestle with the moral weight of bad things happening to those various factions of awful people- who cares! But when you take a small community out of them, such as for The White March, and flesh them out- I can care a bit more about the horrors that befall them. And maybe, taking that feedback into account and learning from it, Obsidian can do what they did with Pillars 2 and make the world of The Outer Worlds 2 feel more real and worthy, thus empowering the weight of the tales they wish to spin. They've done it before, and seeing this formula work in The Outer World's DLC- I'm a little bit hopeful they can do it again.

Okay... so Perfect Dark proved me wrong.

 

In the leadup to the Xbox conference I made a few predictions about what we would be seeing, and I'm proud to say I only got one of them horrendously wrong- the other two were only mostly wrong! I thought we would get a hail-mary years-too-early announcement for an interim Fallout project being developed by a studio in order to capitalise off the last few dying embers of hype from the show- and instead we got Gears 0... (Yay?) I also figured we would get a commitment to hardware from Xbox considering with everything that has happened over the past few weeks it has really felt like this is their last generation- so I expected an announcement of some brand new console, or maybe a tease of the next generation. We got a half-hearted full digital Series X which spits in the face of all their jabbering about 'game preservation' and a slight sneeze about a next generation 'at some point'. And lastly, I predicted we'd finally see Perfect Dark again, and it would be such an insubstantial teaser with the slightest huff of gameplay that we'd be disappointed, and it wouldn't have a release date. (2/3 ain't bad.)

Perfect Dark is the debut game of 'The Initiative', the supposedly vastly funded AAAA studio (yes, that term was coined before Ubisoft said it. Of course it is, those gibbering buffoons can't even grift in an original fashion.) which went 'perfectly dark' years ago after announcing this game and no one had seen hide nor hair of them since. I speculated that the team had died mysteriously, but unlike when I said the same about Team Cherry I might have been a little off pace. Instead it would seem that 'The Initiative', an idea I think most knew was doomed from the start, (blank cheques rarely equal better art) had been wrapped in a turbine of development hell from whence there was seemingly no escape. That was part of the reason I expected absolutely nothing at all- we'd heard so many members of the original team had bailed- I assumed this project would get a reboot because Xbox would be far too embarrassed to cancel the thing. I was very wrong.

When that logo came up during the conference I braced myself for the trainwreck trailer and... I sat up straight the moment we saw actual gameplay. I can't say whether or not it was intentional, but having the first thing we see be a near-futuristic train station immediately drew a parallel to the very first gameplay footage of the last Cyberpunkian immersive sim we had- 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided'. Us stealth fans have wept in the absence of our core franchises, and Deus Ex's hiatus has stung the most often and fully. I want to be the super ordinately powerful solider throwing all manner of cool gadgets and insane gizmos in order to run circles around heavy security checkpoints! Perfect Dark was never really about that, being the predecessor to Golden Eye it was more of a spy-themed 'shoot 'em up'. This gameplay looked nothing like the original game to be honest- and I couldn't be happier!

In my wildest dreams I imagined what Perfect Dark could have been in it's best possible showing. I imagined a fantastic looking Immersive Sim with creative world design and complex layouts. What I didn't imagine was mirror's edge style parkour- blasting the exploration vertical wide open! Nor did I expect gun-fu style first person gameplay making the close quarters engagements look like something out of a high-budget action movie! What I'm trying to say is- Perfect Dark looked better than what I whimsically theorized it could have been on it's best day! The Initiative may have crumbled out of the gate, but they put together a dream game for me on their way to dust- and it has no release date... bugger.

That strange looking woman they've got cosplaying Joanna (they couldn't even match her hair colour, really?) seems to be every bit as resourceful as the original if not more so- recording the voices of a conversation in a crowd in order to use that one as a voice activate lock is such a uniquely interesting gameplay concept- I wonder if that is purely contextual or if they went the Metal Gear route of having that kind of system be nearly fully dynamic. Like playing a voice down an alley to draw attention from guards- that's the kind of gameplay interactions which blow stealth games past the basic set-up tools that Ubisoft always develop for their games- and then call them 'stealth friendly'.

And I simply must extol how simply gorgeous the game looks! I was expecting some form of stylised character design choices but no- they really seem to be making this a high fidelity looker- with the exception of perhaps some later action sections that seem to veer a bit more into the cartoonish, but in the effort of expanding the range of crazy-cool action moves Joanna is feasibly able of pulling off. Even the little touches in the heat of action sell the game- from the way that balcony crumbles when a shot-guard collapses on it, puffs of strategically blasted extinguisher smoke, that snazzy AR vision that gives beyond-wall vision; everything tells me that I was wrong to ever doubt The Initiative... or was I?

Because you see- despite spending all the money and goodwill trying to make this game on their lonesome- Perfect Dark has been half-surrendered to Crystal Dynamics to help bring it life, which is why they share developer credits. And given that team has just finished with the rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy (and Marvel's Avengers) they're a proven enough commodity to push through development of a title like this. So are we really looking at a AAAA swanswong game developed by an XBOX birthed studio? Not really. But then again, do I really care about the circumstances of it's conception when this is a title that is, you know, literally everything I could ever ask for out of entertainment?

Immersive Sims are an incredibly difficult style of game to create, which is probably why we see so few of the buggers. CDPR thought they could make an entire open world game into one through Cyberpunk- but that turned out to be a tragic miscalculation. Perfect Dark seems cognizant of it's ambitions and simply wants to stun- and with everything I've seen so far I not only think it will, I know I'm going to play it as soon as the thing hits shelves. Or theoretical shelves, with how 'full digital' Xbox is heading. I just can't believe after all this time we still have no damned release date- good god, why show us the promised land if we cannot enter?

Sid Meier is real?

 

Okay so hear me out- had anyone else actually ever seen the name behind modern day 4X and tactical gaming until literally the recent announcement of Civilisation 7? Personally I had seen his XCom easter egg character and assumed it was a send up to a father of the genre who had, sorry to say this out-loud, unfortunately passed away at some point. Yeah, I thought the guy was dead! Imagine my surprise when he pops up out of the oblivion to remind me that Civilisation 6 came out 8 years ago and actually it isn't ridiculous that the next game is being announced 'already'. I'm still struggling to process that information for the pretty embarrassing fact that I've... well... I've never actually played Civilisation 6- turns out when you keep putting something off eventually you just miss it.

I actually do own the game, silly though that is. Civilisation is just one of thus crux games you feel like you have to own or play through at somepoint in your life in order to experience the lap of loyalty once or twice before you die. Civilisation is just an incomparable experience, no one else quiet nails the scope of following human history from the cradle to the cold reaches of eternity- and though I wish that modern Civ would try to get a bit more experimental with the way they portray that journey- is there any more grand a tale to tell? And whilst we're in the midst of pondering that, mayhaps we can ask ourselves if Civilisation has ever thought they need to do something about the insane length of even their most average matches- but then I guess that's just inherent to this genre type, ain't it?

Though little has been said about the game yet, what it intends to do differently or similarly to efforts of the past, one of the most curious aspects about the game is what Sid announced to the bewilderment of myself and I'm sure many others who actually engage with these games themselves- the simultaneous release of PC and console. Now that is nothing to really write home about in the modern age it terms of 'great achievements'. If anything it's a point against the competency of your agency if you somehow fail to release on all the major platforms simultaneously, which is probably why Sony have turned it into an actual business strategy which they've gone on record to brag about like the actual ghouls that they are! But with Civilisation specifically- this has never been done before.

As a tactical game of civilisation building that can stretch on upwards to 10 hours for an average sized match, to multiple days for a major match- Civ really is built for a certain type of audience to engage with. And that audience is PC gamers. Those that are used to dedicating themselves to one game for hours at a time without getting bored and switching off- that's why slower and more text-heavy RPGs tend to do well here, rather than on console. And that's probably why Civ has never really taken consoles seriously. The only time they tried to go to the console market, Sid's team correctly identified that a direct port wouldn't cut it and instead worked on an entirely streamlined, and cartoon-styled, version of the Civ 5 base game called 'Civilisation Revolution'. (I also suspect that the processing deficits of that Console Generation might have had something to do with that- but that's just speculation for the moment.)

Now I bring up Civilisation Revolution for one key reason- that was the first Civilisation game I played. And I loved it. Simplifying the Civilisation building process to only the key-most bullet points allowed for focus to be drawn away from the minute of individual city management (which tended to default to easily toggled archetypes) and more on the cool stuff, like expanding new settlements, taking out camps of bandits, rising small strike forces in local skirmishes, and researching giant Metal Gears which you deploy abroad. (Where the Metal Gears in Civ Rev? I think they were.) It understood how to sell the formula to console players- and that the difference in player bases mattered was a testament to the thought that goes into games like these.

Which is why I am so sceptical about the idea to blanket release this game at the same time everywhere- has the market shifted so drastically as to create a user base on the console side of things? I can't see how. Sure, we now get CRPGs released to their full glory on consoles- which is fantastic- but I haven't seen many of the other big tactical companies dedicate themselves that direction. Homeworld 3 never made it to consoles. Bannerlord may be on the consoles but they aren't given the same support as the PC version and suffer bugs unique to their platform. Rimworld was never officially ported to the current generation. Stellaris is, surprisingly, on consoles- and I would love to see those player numbers because I can't imagine who engages with the game like that... Civ is stepping outside of it's comfort zone, is what I'm saying.

But then I only a view of this style of game as the outsider who isn't really a diehard strategy game head, nor a developer in this world. And for someone like Sid Meier, who is still involved with this world at the age of 70, to be told what's what by the likes of me is absolutely laughable. Just like Tom Clancy before him- Sid is such a staple of this franchise that most consider his tag a printed brand intrinsic to the series. And just like Tom Clancy- I couldn't have told you the man was real until I saw him with my own eyes. It is somewhat heartening to know that some of the spirit of the start of gaming is being kept alive not just by the name of the franchise alone, the the legendary names who pioneered it. What a heart warming thought.

Apart from the nitty-gritty of schedules, I will have to say it's special to see another from the legendary reveals of this franchise- even if I spent the entirety of the trailer trying to assert it was another trailer for that 'Humankind' game which I'm not even sure ever came out... (4 years ago? Damn!) Which probably speaks to my general stupidity- but I can't help but shake the feeling this reveal lacked some of the grandiose pomp of Civ games from the past. I miss the storied and unmistakable thespian iconics navel-gazing unfocused drivel about the nature of mankind like they're posturing on the very nature of the universe. But I guess we live in a world were the biggest tactical franchise is moving to consoles day in- so these are unprecedented times all round.  

Black Myth/ Phantom blade and the rise of the Chinese virtuosos

So we just got through the first day of Summer Game fest and guess what- no Silksong. Are you surprised? I'm not. Also, apparently there were folk out there who had their fingers crossed for Bloodborne remastered- presumably because they are gluttons for disappointment totally in denial of the fact that the PlayStation conference was last week! But perhaps the biggest standouts of the show weren't the lack of new reveals, considering the fact we were already told nothing new would be coming down the pipeline in advance to prepare for the crushing disappointment that is daily life- rather it was the reminder that two absolutely draw dropping games from China are flying towards us at a rapid pace and it has to be said- we're on the verge of a whole new market in AAA gaming blossoming at this rate.

China has, of course, always been a huge market for gaming- some might say the biggest if it weren't for the fact that their government is on a warpath to villainise gaming as the downfall of society. And to be fair their country runs 10 times smoother than mine does so perhaps they're 100% right about that, who am I to judge? But because of the way that China runs it's gaming industry into the ground, the only real games developed out there are the cheap and blatant money sinks and the made-for-China isolated ports of games. Dragon's Dogma Online, Call of Duty China, the PUBG where they don't die but float up into space- Chinese gamers would be forgiven for thinking that all Gaming represents is a home casino machine you waste your money on. Unless they use VPNs to play real games- which nearly every Russian gamer does so I would be shocked if that wasn't common in China too.

As such it is something of a bizarre break from the status quo to have anything high quality and promising originating from Chinese developers celebrating Chinese culture- the intentionally isolationist government policies leave very little room for stuff like that typically. But those talented creatives that slide past the police tape and allow themselves to inspired by the greats, Dark Souls, God of War, etc. They go on to carry those experiences to heart, wanting to take those development lessons and replicate them into something that evokes those same soaring emotions. At least I know that's the rough story behind the game that stole our hearts all those years ago, and is finally coming to us- Black Myth Wukong.

Given that the story of Sun Wukong is one of the most enduring pieces of literature of all time, there seems to be appropriate weight behind the significance of this game as the first major AAA video game from the country- unless we count Gatcha games as AAA and... given how risky of a proposition they tend to be- I do not. (In fact, by the actual definition of AAA, any and all Live Services should inherently disqualify for the title by merit of their chosen genre- but that's a rant for another time.) Wukong oozes scale and beauty and grandeur and creativity at literally every single showcase. I can never get enough of seeing it in action and am almost saddened by the fact it awaits literally on the horizon in a few months. But my thirst to touch what might just be one of the greats of our generation neatly overpowers that feeling.

Phantom Blade Zero is a more recent title that absolutely wowed with it's anime-esque scenario excessive action set-pieces which are apparently just in-engine gameplay. The game looks unbelievably fast and fluid, capturing ridiculous feats of impossible athleticism as demon and sword clash against one another in flashes of Shonen violence. Honestly it reminds me a little bit of Sekiro to watch in action- with that immediate 'answer and response' style gameplay which turns every half-decent bout in a deadly dance of dares and bluffs. Only somehow these animations are even more over-the-top than what Shadows Die Twice was doing. And let me remind you that in Sekiro there is a fight in which you parry lightning and use it to stun an celestial dragon in it's cloud-heaven. 

This game's courtesy of yet another Chinese development studio who only have experience working on pretty, but considerably smaller scale 2D-style games before this absolute explosion in 3D animation work. They shot to absolute stardom when this game was revealed about a year back, and whilst Zero hasn't gone quite the rounds in the public eye that Wukong has- and thus I can't quite hitch my wagon to the hype train- I can't deny the fact that literally everything shown has been frankly exceptional just to watch- I hope that frenetic excitement carries even a fraction over to the actual gameplay experience- then we'd have something unreal in our hands.

Perhaps this seemingly random explosion of talent out of China comes from symptoms of strangled ambition bursting out of the cage. Talented developers who go abroad to learn their craft only to be told how little they're allowed to stretch their muscles in their home market- as those reigns sink tighter rogues will end up bursting out of that bubble and trying to strike out on their own, maybe these two companies are examples of those rogues. The first penguins, one might say. And the fact that both these titles appear to be heavily influenced by the work of FromSoftware is yet another ringing endorsement for the work that was slept on by the mainstream for so maddeningly long!

As I've always attested, the wider the pool of artists working in this industry- the better the experiences will be for everyone involved. The richer the stories will be, the more creative the ideas will be, the more competitive the market will become and the higher the overall standards will raise. At this point all we need to do is start getting some superstar Indian developers to form a AAA studio... and make a Souls-like... and then we'd have all the super populated countries funnelling their talents into our beleaguered little industry, maybe bringing some of their base into the hobby too, and hitting an exceptional bar of quality that highlights once more what an absolute festering maggot on taste and goodwill Ubisoft have and always will be.

When is the next stealth kingpin?

 

I am a long-time lover of the Stealth Genre of games. From Deus Ex to Metal Gear to Splinter Cell- you give me the opportunity to proceed through an area in a manner so quiet that I am a veritable ghost, and I'm probably going to grind my way through that room, reload after reload, until I master it's every slight shadow, alternative path and split-second opportunity. Perhaps that stems from my inherent invisible nature as the kind of person you forget about the moment after you've met them, but anonymity and plausible non-existence are my utmost forte. Which is why it can be so gruelling being a fan of a genre of games so poorly served over the past few years that I'm starting to wonder if my genre is one of those 'dead genres' that just doesn't sell games anymore!

Started, quite literally, due to a lack of processing power which resulted in a full action game being impossible to make- stealth created a whole new philosophy to the way we play games. Suddenly the idea of going through rooms of enemies without leaving corpses opened up the possibility to question why people needed to die at all, which would pave the way to complex scenario writing where maybe the opponents are always the defacto villains of the story. Deus Ex itself being a great example of a franchise were sometimes the choice to play stealthily and non-lethally can prevent genuinely unnecessary loss of life that can positively come into play later down the line- all possible because of the concept of alternative gameplay paths.

And to be fair, that might be what makes stealth games such a tough proposition compared to your normal run and gun affair. They need to ideally cater for both games, the violent and the quiet. Sure, there are a few pure stealth games on the market such as the Styx games- but they come across as niche even admits stealth enjoyers like myself. Splinter Cell and Metal Gear need to be half competent shooters on their own to facilitate the consequences of failing at stealth, which is what leads to situations such as 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' just being one of the best third person action games to this day, for the sheer malleability of it's many tools and systems creating near limitless gameplay potential- even for what is ostensibly a 'stealth focused' franchise.

But Metal Gear has rusted to a standstill, unfortunately. Splinter Cell has splintered. Siphon Filter needs a replacement. Deus Ex renounced itself and became secular. And Sly Cooper is trapped in an alternate universe or something. (That last one isn't even a joke. I'm pretty sure the last game ended with Sly being shoved off this entire realm.) Every single significant Stealth genre game is currently dormant and all we have to scratch this itch are the works of one particular studio who include stealth not because of any internal passion for the genre, but simply because it's one of those core pillars that someone long ago instilled in their franchises back when the studio had a soul. Yes, for the fiftieth time in the past hour, I'm ragging on Ubisoft.

Assassin's Creed bitterly tries to shirk it's Stealth Gameplay in favour of hit-and-miss combat that is becoming more and more generic as the RPG sub-series progresses. What began as an Arkham light affair of style, flow and speed has become plodding, slow and tedious. Chipping away massive health bars on big enemies with simple attack cycles that are 12 feet tall for some reason because some one on their team played Dark Souls once and now that has to be all their games. Mirage tried to bring back stealth to the franchise and it was an admirable attempt, but it still felt slightly clunky. As though someone was trying to stuff stealth into an engine it clearly wasn't made for. And otherwise Ubisoft are working on the Ghost Recon games which treat Stealth about as basically as they did fifteen years ago. Do not expect any innovation out of that franchise.

In fact, to this day I think the most innovative and creative stealth game on the market is still Phantom Pain, and that was nine years ago! That was a game which featured complex enemy AI packages that reacted to how badly the player had screwed up their infiltration, oodles of reactivity objects and dynamic interactions that still surprise me to this day, (such as the ability to hide bodies on cots to make passerbys think they're sleeping.) and so many tools and gadgets to work with that sometimes it feels as though you are a god of manipulation terrorising these Russian outposts for your own sick amusement. And you know what? I kind of am! MGS V was the kind of game malleable enough that you could play it a hundred different ways practically forever. But it's not enough.

We need a new prince to worship! A new cadre of Stealth that manages to at least approach what MGS V was doing, let alone surpass it. To this day one of those nagging elements of that game which bothers me is the apparent truth that dogs, with smell based gameplay, were conceived of but ultimately scrapped- surely someone out there has taken that as a challenge to see what new elements to the stealth genre they can bring? I've dreamed about what a successor might look like, how it would feel, the ways it would innovate. Perhaps improving on the companion system to give you a plethora of team interactions mid mission, maybe shoring up melee combat to create more dynamic gameplay moments in those times where you're caught off guard up close- or just giving us actual proper bosses to play around with like previous Metal Gear games. MGS V gives us like... one at the very end.

Who has the nads to try at that? At the time being only the Arkane Immersive Sims seem deeply invested in stealth gameplay but I wouldn't call them especially ambitious in their iterations. Deathloop kind of revealed the fact that the team are basically remixing the same stealth tools and abilities they came up with back in Dishonoured again and again, and though they're still fun- there's no scratching at the cutting edge happening to set my stealthy heart aflame. Maybe their upcoming Blade game will have something special, or Kojima's rumoured new stealth action series will be the successor? All I want is for someone to try. And heck, maybe that's a signal for the fact that it's time for me to start learning how to use an engine and give it a crack myself. (It's better than not doing it, right?)

The best Game of Thrones game

 

Last time I wrote an article talking about the very worst of the worst of Game of Thrones games that languishes across our industry- and it wasn't all that hard of an article to write given the fact that pretty much none of them are good. That's kind of a lay-up when you think about it. Despite the wealth of potential clearly present in the source material, few have risen to the challenge of doing it justice and even in the places where they did for a time, no one could quite keep it up until those last few precious moments. But what if I told you that the only reason I brought up the worst was in order to sally forth my personal pick for what is actually an excellent Game of Thrones game for anyone why wants a bit of Westeros in their life and isn't exactly picky about where they get it. (Hmm. I sound like a back-alley drug dealer selling special cuts of K he labels 'Jon Snow'.)

But then, why did I not bring up such a game during my article on all the Game of Thrones games out there? Why was it not listed as a counterbalance against all the licenced Game of Thrones titles that litter this polluted earth? Well, that might be because the game in question is not, explicitly, a licenced title from the HBO series. In fact, I don't think HBO would ever have even considered a style of game like this one, despite it's aptness, because in the cold vacuum of a board members brain critical thinking and deduction is of no use. Theirs is a breed that see's big number and wants big number to work for them, which is how we get several dozen high budget AAA games dedicate themselves to the same genre year after year and then wonder why diminishing returns ensue. (The snake loves chomping down on it's own tail!)

Never in a thousand years would such a creature ever think that the perfect genre for Game of Thrones would be anything as niche as a tactical game. Even though when it comes to the machinations of large nations moving battlelines across the course of world changing geo politics, 4x Tactics games are kind of the go-to. Based heavily around the War of the Roses, Game of Thrones hardly ever shies away from the wars that wage up and down Westeros in the back and foreground of major series events, and although it seems the very ethos of the story was designed to undercut the significance of it all in that final act- which the show totally bugled to a legendary degree- there's still a large sector of people out there who would simply love to just push those big armies across a virtual board to their heart's content. 

Whilst I'm quite sure of any 4X style Game of Thrones experiences, although I'm sure one sits out there- for my money the best tactical offering is 'Realm of Thrones'- the total conversion mod for 'Mount and Blade: Warband' which brings every bit of the complex geopolitical machinations to the Mount and Blade engine for all your bizarre fan fiction desires. Do you want to rush the Frey's in order to prevent the Red Wedding? Go for it! Is the Stark domination of the north rubbing you the wrong way? Hunt them down like the rapid wolves they are! Does Dani's prolonged faffing about on the otherside of the world for the first 5 years rub on your last nerve? Become her vassal and stoke fires of war on her behalf- I'm sure the Dragon Queen won't mind!

Mount and Blade: Warband is already a fantastic tactical RPG medieval simulator with plenty of flexibility on your rags-to-riches journey through society. Starting a mercenary group, regularly sacrificing your mercenaries on a mad dash to acquire as much reputation as possible, and then breaking the game economy when you figure out how workshops work. The only problem with the game is that it's various factions feel a bit... samey. When you interact with nations mostly my invading them over and over in a never ending war, the only way they stand out is the way in which they fight and in a medieval game- there's not a lot of room for 'individual expression', so to speak. And the solution to that problem? Borrow all of George RR Martin's!

As a supplicant of the Lannister's I of course busied myself hopping about the lands of the south filling out that mental map of Westeros the series intro imbued in my head with all those inbetween locations that usually get brushed over- because now they were places of significance in my conquest! Of course, it was all in  preparation for the time when the Starks would become our enemy, and we'd battle in the frigid northern snows. It's that kind of arcade-style but true to heart franchise experience you get out of games like Star Wars Battlefront. A small hit of the essence of that world injected directly into the veins. Maybe it's not true to the book, or to the show, but does that really matter?

And who doesn't love carving their own path through the familiar? I went through hell and high water to lead a dangerous expedition into the north the moment I learned Arya Stark led her company out into the wilderness for a bit- and though I was being chased by armies literally twice my size all the way back- I returned with a captive Starkling- in doing so preventing the worst twist ending ever conceived by man! No ending the long night early this time around! Can't wait to see what happens when the leaders of the Lannister house start getting picked off, considering my character is currently married to Myrcella and thus has a convoluted path to the Iron throne if things bend the right direction! That's what I'm talking about- the headcannoning is the heart of experiences like these!

Now is it perfect? Not quite. Pretty sure Twin Lannister somehow survived past the events of Season 4 which is... slightly scuppering my marital plans. Kind of hoping he dies of old age at this point, Mount and Blade doesn't really feature any 'covert assassination' mechanics that I know of. I also haven't had the pleasure of encountering the dragons I know this mod has, which could either be very cool or a mistake. We'll see when they get here. But otherwise with the attention to detail in creating the land, the modelling of the various amours and units and dedication to creating a fully immersive Game of Thrones world to play within, unlike literally every other official game before it, Realm of Thrones rises head and shoulders above all other pretenders. Play it, seriously. 

Metaphor ReFantazio looks interesting

 

What is in a name? One's very first glimpse into anything can be as ephemeral as a glance at the colour make-up of a banner ad, too quick to ascertain content or words, spotted for a millisecond as one scrolls through their life. This is the challenge of advertising that I always find so oddly wonderous- breaking down the very elements of catching the corner of someone's scrolling eye- it's a matter of split-second baiting. That means nailing a colour composition that is eye-catching and not overdone, a banner image that can be identified from distance yet is complex enough to inspire imagination and finally a name that is pithy enough to stick in your head after you've moved on for the day. Halo. Starfield. Fallout. Persona. Of course, you could chuck all of that away and just slap a name so bizarre I couldn't forget it if I paid the Men in Black to slap the Neuralyzer on me.

'Metaphor ReFantazio' who comes up with this crap? I mean that in the nicest possible way of course, because the team behind one of my favourite franchises of all time are making it. ATLUS and Studio Zero, formed after the success of Persona 5 by it's director, are preparing to release a more 'fantasy typical' take on the ATLUS RPG genre. Gone are the school children learning to become more full people as they take on threats both mystical and psychological that threaten to undermine society. Here we have a mirror of our real world beset by your typical fantastical happenings- a murdered king, a cursed child and a quest to uncover the truth about oneself whilst maybe, potential, earn the right to seize the monarchy. Okay, the game description doesn't explicitly claim that is the goal but if this is a true RPG- I expect an evil path!

Perhaps the most striking building upon the Persona formula that ReFantazio promises is the idea of gathering individual support across the land in order to win the vote to become King, essentially creating a narrative reason to go off the beaten path and grind out enemy drops for the materials to recreate someone's missing toupee- at least if we're going to keeping to side quests of the level of typical Persona. This actually expands the interpersonal relationship building key to ATLUS's flagship brand and creates a game-wide popularity contest with the world, which I'm sure is going to present some real world parallels to political campaigning and that brand of 'fame' in the way that these developers typically do. Although I'm not sure how that pursuit lines up with finding a way to release a curse from your childhood friend, the Crown Prince. How do 'Crown Princes' even work in a system of voted monarchy? Questions for the game, I suppose.  

Now the very reason that Studio Zero was formed in the first place was because Persona 5's director left the Persona franchise behind after declaring a shift in creative direction in the process of that game. Lacking any personal insight to the man's mind I can only speculate as to what that could be because thematically I found Persona 5 to be largely consistent with 4 and 3. Perhaps the team leaned rather heavily into the 'stylish' nature of the Phantom Thieves, to such a degree that Persona 5 became something of a fashion statement all of it's own, but I find no reason to hold that against the game at all, rather the opposite! Either way, something about ReFantaszio must be a departure from the direction that Persona is headed down- and I'm curious to put a pin on exactly what.

Of course, one of the biggest and most horrifying announcements regarding the actual contents of ReFantazio has already been made and it's ramifications have reverberated around the player base. Because yes, this game will not feature romance of any kind. (Oh, the humanity!) But, of course, those aspects of roleplay have pretty much always been exclusively the domain of the Persona franchise, I'm pretty sure SMT never delved such ways, thus it's absence here is no great shock. Besides, I get the feeling from the premise that our player character is more of a 'vibes vampire' that absorbs the adoration and love of those around him and offers nothing back. A totally callously and unloving politician. The scariest of gods rejects.

Perhaps the most striking thing I can't help but remark on everytime I look up anything about the game is it's graphical design, an aspect of development always worthy of commenting on with ATLUS games. Persona 5 really started their bold and striking push into stark but effective UI design that really worked in an industry that too often overlooks innovation in this area. Persona 3 Reload was kind of a victory lab, interpreting the stylisation in a manner unique to that style of story without losing the striking colouration of it all. This game is going for more of a colour-drained sketch-pad style which evokes an almost concept-esque sensation whilst standing out heavily thanks to it's heavy lined finishing strokes. It leans into the storybook and the creative, flowing back into the theming of this new budding franchise.

Of course I've spent all this time rabbiting on about the Persona influence touching this game when in all honesty I think Metaphor seems to carry more DNA originated within SMT. Not least of all for those monster designs which, like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy before it, are borrowed and remixed from previous titles in a manner that dubs these games almost pseudo anthological. Most systematically significant is the inclusion of the Press Turn gameplay system originated in SMT 3: Nocturne which evolves typical Turn Based combat into a resource consumption affair somewhat similar to how Divinity Original Sin works. The DNA of the franchise still very much rests on the sleeve of this title for all to see. 

Metaphor ReFantazio is a messy title for what could very well be the missing third to the SMT franchise that we didn't even know we wanted. Full fantasy RPG exploration borrowing all the sleekness of modern ATLUS with the pedigree of multiple decades perfecting this genre, distilled down into a special brew of something different. That will always be what draws me to this long running franchise developers in the East like RGG and ATLUS- they know how to touch on and preserve the soul of a property, whilst changing up just enough to keep newer titles feeling interesting and unique. As opposed to some other Western Franchise lovers who are up to their eyes with middle of the road sub-improvements to their titles that drag more and more with each passing day. Thank you ATLUS, I can't wait to lose another 100 hours to your work!

Is Ninja Theory cooked?

 

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.

Passing of Humanities torch

We've spoken a bit about Helldivers 2 because it is the property on everyone's mind for a bunch of very good reasons. It's a glowing reminder that big companies can facilitate small teams to punch out pure gold in the exact right circumstances, and even the absolute pits of the industry itself holds some small nugget of potential that can be nurtured appropriately. Who'd have thought I'd ever consider anything stronger than disdain for Live Service games? Certainly not myself! And whilst Suicide Squad is busy drippling out the remainder of it's content to increasingly lacklustre results, Helldivers is busy sizing up it's theoretical unending war of content. Hell, it all makes me wonder if there's someone out there crazy enough to make a pure survival game which I don't find to be utter pants. Wait... I guess that was already made and it was Minecraft, wasn't it. Shucks- I wanted something to look forward too...

But with Helldivers 2 perched where it is, at the height of their pride and ambition, the danger for them falling off is all the greater. I mean sure, the game has already waxed from being at the eminence of gaming pop culture, but that's natural solidification of 'next big thing' players versus entrenched and enfranchised players. Same thing happened with Palworld and I'm sure we'll see a spike in those game numbers with the coming of their first major content update in the next few weeks. I'm talking about the big blunders that flew across the world like a swift wind. I'm talking about the Sony account debacle that sparked a mass dislike campaign across Steam and cost a community manager their job when they told the audience in too-plain-English how to assert dominance over the big faceless megacorpo. How do you prepare for the stumbles, not just the recovery method, but sheer avoidance from the get-go?

That is surely the great dragon that Arrowhead Games are shaping up to face in the coming years as they buckle down their studio to aim for becoming an evergreen studio with the respect and aplomb of former Blizzard. As essential to Sony as Naughty Dog, but with a focus on Co-op friendly games of a higher class that bring back that much ignored sub-genre of gaming. Their ambition is lofty but I'm glad someone is trying to fill that gaping maw left in the industry after Blizzard lost literally everything that made it a place worthy of respect and devolved into whatever it is you'd call the company now. A mistake? I'm happy with 'A Mistake'. But in that pursuit we've already felt some shockwaves of the changes coming which signal some sort of change in the status quo- even if what that change might be can only be predicted by soothsayers.

Founder of Arrowhead, Johan Pilestedt has stepped down as the CEO of Arrowhead in order to focus more closely on his roles as Chief Creative Officer and Chairman, and needless to say this has sent something of a cold chill across the spines of those investing themselves in Helldivers' continued success. On the hand that Johan is probably favouring, the man appears to be more of a creative than a business man, thus giving ground to people better suited for those roles expediates the running of Arrowhead. On the otherhand- Johan seemed to be one of the few games company CEOs who really had a good head on his shoulders. He believed in the right aspects of the hobby and genuinely seemed to push the company that direction. People born to naturally navigate CEO roles are best suited typically because they don't value the same things that actual humans do. They are clinical, statistical and they tend to ruin creative ventures. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. Inevitably. I can't say whether or not Arrowhead is making the right move.

The history of the games industry is full to the brim of examples presenting player-first studios that lost that special spark chasing something else- typically the corporate mandate. Bethesda, for one, were beloved heroes of their player base after turning out several 'Game of the Year' contending games which ruled both the Fantasy and Sci-fi genre of open world games. Bethesda were the kings of the open world and if you partake in mods one might argue that they still do. However it would be straight ignorant to just brush past the very plain fact that Bethesda don't appear to be where they were in terms of fan respect. Fallout 4 made some very odd choices, particularly with the pricing of genuinely non-functional DLC. Fallout 76 was a strange diatribe off in a direction that Bethesda had no experience in as a company which resulted in an immensely predictable disaster. And Starfield kind of feels like it wasn't made with any of the series fans in mind. Is this the future that awaits going the more corporate friendly route?

Because at the end of the day we're talking about companies that have to abide by a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to increase value, but how that is translated really depends on the mind interpreting the concept of value. A creative mind might deduce that value relates to the goodwill of the brand and the quality of their output, and thus would justify prioritising decisions that raise the prestige of the art championing that knock-on. A analytical and corporate mind might see a much more direct route to value being upping the avenues for which the company can extract funds from the player, decreasing the prestige of the brand, but scoring quicker revenue bumps for show and tell. Arguably both achieve the goals they set out to, but one certainly scuppers the future of the artform and industry much more tangibly than the other.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this is, rather coincidentally enough consider the quoted intent of Arrowhead, Blizzard. Once upon a time that company stood for the very heart of championing the player and what they want out of their games, which fostered the kind of brand loyalty that most other companies would just kill for in the modern age. But somewhere along the way the talent that mattered started to peel off on their own ventures, and the corporate culture began to shift and pervert in a direction that quickly became cynical and out-of-touch. Just comparing the amount of penny-pinching avenues in the Diablo Immortal Mobile scam compared to Diablo 3 is enough to show where modern mandates place the priority for the company- and it's result ended up coring the entire company.

But there's plenty of examples why the move that Arrowhead is doing is exactly what the company needs in order to go that extra level- until we see what comes of this shift in leadership it's impossible to say for certain what direction this will lean them. On one hand I'd like to think that the team know what they're doing, who they're putting in charge and that there's a certain level of trust implicit there. On the otherhand, I've seen plenty bigger companies that very much should have known what they were doing fall the way of the easy payday. You can't ever convince me it wasn't a cognizant decision to ship Cyberpunk 2077 before it was done, it was a gamble made and ultimately lost that the backlash would be outweighed by the profits. I pray Arrowhead never find themselves plopped in front of a similar switch as a direct result of this decision.

The Outer Fields

Very many years ago, when the moons were still young, I remember remarking about how strange it was that the two best Western open world RPG makers in the industry were both striking out to start their space-game franchises in the same moment; as though the stars were aligning. Obsidian's The Outer Worlds was going to be their grand return to action RPGs after the seminal Fallout New Vegas totally rocked our worlds, and although Bethesda had yet to officially announce that Starfield was in development- this was back in their 'leaky ship' days when we knew practically every move the studio was going to do several months in advance. (In fact, it might very well have been those leaks that led to Starfield not being unveiled during that one star-themed Bethesda conference they did at the time. Remember that?)

And, fool that I was, I remember gawking at the fact that The Outer Worlds was going to be with us so soon. "Too bad, Bethesda!" I remember thinking (and maybe writing, but that is far too vague a sentence to go scrubbing through my early years of this blog to prove.)  "Obsidian got you beat!" Because after living with New Vegas bouncing around my head rent-free, knowing how much it ran circles around Bethesda's home grown sequel, I was all in my fandom feelings- celebrating the space opera that was to come. I couldn't imagine a world where the future of these beloved companies wasn't creating vast and impressive space games that brought back all those wonderous emotions of their heyday in a totally expansive playspace unlike any they had made before. And now I kind of wish they went back.

The Outer Worlds was a good game, I attested to such at the time, but it wasn't the classic sequel to Fallout New Vegas that I desperately wanted it to be. Starfield too was a good game, I very much enjoyed my time with it- but to call it a pale imitation of the kind of roleplaying grandeur Skyrim, Oblivion and even Fallout 4 brought to the table feels like a no brainer. (Can't believe I'm calling Fallout 4 superior at roleplaying! God, that hurts!) So now that both those games are out there, I'm starting to feel like maybe I just don't like space games because neither did it for me. Although I am trying, largely because I want to know what was so good about The Outer Worlds that it deserved a sequel and what is so apparently enduring about Starfield that so many people play it day in and day out. I would love to slide into either one of these head spaces. Which is probably why I'm playing both of them.

Yes, I'm finally going through the Spacer's Choice Edition of Starfield (which will be my first time experiencing the DLC packs that came with the game, despite having bought them.) and I'm picking at Starfield's newest update and gawking about just how much more I'm enjoying what was ostensibly a tiny systems update. Both games have some sort of hold on me, it would seem- I just need to decide which is the better all around experience- and therein lies the conundrum. Of course I wish success on Starfield's DLC which is getting revealed in the coming couple of weeks and if The Outer Worlds 2 can really leapfrog my expectations I will be a thrilled as anyone else; but neither will dissuade my opinions on the here and now.

Much has been said about how Spacer's Choice Edition does a number on the original game, and I don't know if any fixes were implemented but personally I don't seem to be having many problems on my end regarding performance. (There's some truly odd stutters in the Groundbreaker, but that's about it.) Most noticeably on my end, however, is the changes to the visuals done with lighting and though there are some sceptical comparison screenshots online, when the set-up is done contrast and gamma are done right, (instead of just set to defaults like I'm sure most people automatically do) Spacer's Choice The Outer Worlds looks darn gorgeous! Too dark in some areas, to be sure- but like a dream in those twilight/dawn hours. Starfield looks good too, in the right instances, but I've never seen a sunrise and paused to take it in like I do for Outer Worlds. Maybe that's the benefit of being able to tailor-make your background for the environment, but The Outer Worlds visually holds up better.

In terms of gun and gameplay there's a bit more nuance here. Both games try at first person shooting in a decent stab, pulling tricks of the trade and giving a satisfying combat experience. I genuinely have no serious qualms about either. Both feel good to shoot, offer satisfying guns that sound and kick great- The Outer Worlds generally has a much more sensible TTK, but with Starfield's newest update that can be totally within the hands of the player with the best adaptive difficultly set of features I've ever seen! (Speaking of- did you know Starfield just added a survival mode secretly in it's difficulty settings? Seriously, they went unexpectedly hard with that update!) In terms of raw shooting gamefeel, I think Starfield just about edges it out for simply how versatile you feel as well as the sheer range of weapons you can collect which are all so much fun to use- although The Outer Worlds still gets points for having actual Legendary weapons instead of the mess that Starfield goes for! 

Story is a bit more nuanced, especially since I don't think either game does an outstanding job here. Both create stories tailor made for their style of game, meaning Starfield's is more open-ended allowing for free exploration and The Outer World's is a bit more hyper focused on it's singular thread. I'd argue both work to the detriment of the overall scenario and though I personally like Starfield's twist after chewing over it a bit, The Outer Worlds does certainly feel like a lot more of a coherent narrative with substantive plot threads and set-ups with arguably satisfying resolutions. Still think neither studio was exactly working with their 'A-game' so-to-speak; but The Outer Worlds certainly leans closer towards my personal preferences with an open world game narrative.

So though it absolutely confuses me to say this, I might think of The Outer Worlds as the better game, when comparing the two in their raw un-DLC state. Seeing everything that Bethesda put into the update for Starfield actually really slapped me around the head and said "Hold on- they are actually paying attention to what people are saying!" Seriously, if Bethesda work a bit more on improving the feel of space travel and improving world generation as well as providing satisfying DLC content- Starfield may have more legs to stand on then I thought. And The Outer Worlds has been keeping me invested in my current playthrough again, not enough to care about the world but just enough to recall how great most of the character writing is. Except for Felix. Felix is boring. I really hope neither one of these studios prematurely throws in the towel and we get to really see the pinnacle of Western Space action RPGs at some point down the line. Any game that can make me feel as many butterflies as Rogue Trader would do me just fine!

PokeRogue

 

Pokémon is an evergreen franchise that has been haunting the Nintendo consoles for nigh on twenty eight years now and to call it a classic of the gaming world isn't doing the thing justice. It's a staple of the gaming world rearing up time and time again in sometimes new, mostly the same, ways. Opinions on the franchise vary, I happen to think Scarlet and Violet was a messy but promising step towards a promising future, whilst many others call it the single worst game in the entire franchise- (because of that disaster they called a launch) but such passions need not be enflamed when we're starting to see genuine competition rise out of the din. Why fight over the scraps of the current Pokémon slate when you can take that same business elsewhere considering The Pokémon Company have pretty definitively not made a claim on Palworld?

But I'm not here to talk about Palworld or any of the other Pokémon clones that dot the landscape, not when we have ourselves something of an inbetween. A complete creative reworking of the foundations of Pokémon, that has unfortunately been executed using the Pokémon names and thus probably won't be long for this world once Pokémon get ahold of it. But until then, let me just gush for a moment about the browser based experience 'PokeRogue' and how it fulfils on a half-baked idea I think the Pokémon company half had and then full abandoned back in Generation 8. Yes, this is a rogue-lite with Pokémon elements and yes- it works incredibly smoothly.

Pokémon is such a full to bursting franchise of great monster designs and not-so-great monster designs, well refined battle mechanics and a comprehensive battle loop that is has managed to sustain itself on the same formula for closing in on thirty years now. And I have no doubt it'll neatly sail by that thirty milestone with just as much popularity as it currently has now. But I never really felt like the team have ever allowed themselves to go the distance of really pushing their gameplay to it's limits. Outside of the competitive circuit, the most anybody can really devote themselves to the minute of Pokémon battling is in a hobbyist sense or perhaps in the pursuit of Battle Towers which we get ever other game. The Undefeated promoted dens from Gen 9 were an interesting step in the right direction- but I yearned for something engrossing and full throttle.

So in comes PokeRogue- a game which strips down the Pokemon experience to it's absolute essentials. You are given a budget, a roster of unevolved Pokemon from every Dex in all generations (although at the beginning you can only select the starters. Which is a slightly questionable design choice since starters are some of the most broken 1st evolution Pokemon out of each generation), and are expected to build a fairly balanced team. From then on you are treated to battle after battle with wild Pokemon, Trainers and Boss Pokemon on a run to last as long as you can, making the genre-typical small improvements along the way so that your next run can be boosted with some of the advantages you were denied the last time around.

After every fight you get offered one of three items to choose from, ranging from a potion that is immediately applied, a revive, a stat boost item or maybe even a rare held item to slap on a 'mon in need. You might also get Pokeballs, which relate back to the most significant way this game tracks 'progress'. Using a slightly sped up formula you can attempt to catch wild Pokemon you might against that immediately become part of your party, but more significantly once you do catch them- these Pokemon become part of your starter selection for your next run. And compounding ontop of that, the IVs of your Pokemon are saved at their best value, meaning if you catch the same Pokemon twice, one with perfect speed and another with perfect attack, when you start your next run and select that Pokemon it will have perfect speed and attack- encouraging you to go Poke' hunting as regularly as possible!

Once you pass your first biome, by winning through ten fights including a trainer, the first battle with your rival and a boss encounter, you'll be gifted the EXP share item and then the real game will begin. We all know what it's like to have that one main being trailed by a group of secondaries that limp behind them, know they've turned that entire experience into a speedrun through a rougelite as you try and keep a fairly competitive team to roll with the big hitters down the line. Unfortunately all items are lost upon losing, including EXP share, (Would have been nice if that kept between runs) making the early game probably the most up-and-down part of the experience until you get a bit more diversity in your beginning roster of Mons. But just as with any Rougelite you'll get that perfect run, where the right Monsters spawn and you get the right TMs drop, that you become a crushing beast.

There's a lot of little charming features of the game that give a veteran fan like myself something to smile about. For one the game features the old-school 2d style of sprite Pokemon battling, although it goes all the way up to the modern gen which means we actually get to see some of the modern Pokemon in a form they've never actually been rendered in outside of their Pokebank image. Your rival features a smattering of snarky lines they can tout, whilst balancing the line of not being too horrifically hateable like some of the early Pokemon lads were. You get the occasional double battle, where any Pokemon expert will tell you the true strategies lie. It's just an expectational experience lacking even an ounce of fat, a trademark of truly talented designers.

PokeRogue can probably go down as one of the most exceptional Pokemon experiences in the modern age of these sorts of games for just how deftly all the core parts of the franchise are disseminated into the new genre. Unfortunately it's also free and not made by Gamefreak, so you can probably expect the powers that be to come falling down on it with the hammer of god like they always do. In fact, I suspect they're just powering up their lawsuit spirit bomb right now which is the only reason why the website is still up. But in these Halcyon few days before that chaos drops, we can lock shoulders and bask in the presence of a Pokemon title that finally feels like a true, refined, breath of fresh air for a franchise that has longed for it.