In a Savage Land

 

I've been playing a lot of different games that try to borrow here and there from a genre or two across the road- like borrowing milk from a neighbour. Which has what led to my two blog so far knocking the exploration prowess, or lack thereof, of Lords of the Fallen- a game gradually turning into one of my grumbling chores to endure. But at some point it helps to take stock and go- "Hang on! What even is good exploration in video games?" And in times like that you go to a bit more of a pure exploration title to clear up the confusion. Along with Game Pass recently adding a title I had recommended to me a while back- it was only fair I finally sit down and dedicate a day or two to Journey to the Savage Planet- a pretty tongue-in-cheek exploration focused game set on the deadly frontiers of the planet hopping spaceways. And I happen to think the game is pretty good.

Exploration is really the crux of the gameplay loop as best encompassed by the handy Metroidvania-manner in which this game handles progression. You are set loose in wild and visually popping landscapes of colourful fauna and alien creatures both passive and hostile, with a small bag of tools that slowly, through careful resource collection that doesn't loose itself under the weight of several thousand useless currencies like so many other do, the player becomes equipped with everything the burgeoning explorer needs. And a gun. This game is delightfully Blaise about the fact you interact with so much of their world by callously shooting it dead. Still there's ever the delightful fun of doubling back across environs you've treaded and spotting a new path you couldn't have reached before without your new double jump or ground pound or hand explosive-plant buds. The true scrappy-explorer experience! 

Of course, just padding around alien worlds is not in itself a full gameplay recipe (just ask Starfield) so there are of course platforming puzzles that task you to make use of those upgrades you pick up across the world in order to figure your way around fairly straightforward obstacles. The game is very robust and straightforward in it's design this way, there's little wiggleroom for experimentation or solving a platforming challenge in a way the team didn't explicitly lay out, which speaks both for the consistency of the gameplay experience they created and also the stiffness of the design which comes to bite a little bit down the line.

That being said I think it's worth saying that Savage does not really attempt to challenge with any of it's puzzles, which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Savage is very approachable, and bite sized as far as these kinds of games go, which is absolutely a lot of it's charm. The game doesn't outstay it's welcome at all. But I felt the beginner area where I was learning how the game worked, the intermediary area where systems were reinforced and expanded upon- and the game just kind of ended. There was no 'high level play' area to speak of where you'd maybe get a bit stumped and have to figure your way around a stubborn door or two. I suppose that kind of thinking was preserved for the secrets which do sometimes take a little scouring now and then.

Savage's world is very tongue-in-cheek ultra-corporate in a manner that is faintly 'The Outer Worlds' if that game had turned the farce all the way up to eleven. You are treated to offputting ad videos everytime you enter your homebase, vaguely existentially unnerving products for everything you didn't ever want or need litter the world's lore and the companion AI who walks you through the game with an adorable folksy charm happily reinforces just how expendable your human life, and practically all life you come across, is in the pursuit of discoveries your parent company can exploit on their path to become the number 2 space faring company in the galaxy. It's all very sickly and comedic in a manner I could certainly see wearing thin if this game were a slog- but as I said- bite sized!

Where the game kind of slips for me is the combat, what little of it the game actually has. Of course, fighting isn't really the point of the game but this is 'The Savage Planet' for a reason- and savagery comes in the form of fauna in the need of-a shooting here and there. Rather curiously the decision was made to turn all of the more hardier non-fluff enemies into mini-puzzles of precise dodges and retaliation- which brings up that issue of 'rigidity' I mentioned before. All of these monsters have attack patterns that you need to dodge and retaliate with- and in the manner of a puzzle you need to be exacting. Any puzzle, afterall, needs to have a specific solution- it can't be made to have any old solution, else it wouldn't hold up as a puzzle- but that philosophy doesn't quite gell so natural with combat.

There's nothing wrong with rules to combat, I play enough Souls to recognise the importance of patterns and how they make boss fights fun and engaging. But fights like these are enhanced by order to the chaos, not defined by them. The freedom to strike out of turn and not do as much damage as you were hoping, or get punished for your carelessness, feeds into the dynamic nature of game combat. It needs to feel like by playing to the game's mechanics you are reinforcing your tool set- but even a blunt object can break through a brick wall eventually. Stubborn heads can prevail against mechanics. Unless you set it out like a puzzle where enemies are utterly immune unless you specifically trigger a retaliation window by dodging at the right time. Then it becomes a bit of a chore. Can you tell which direction Savage goes for?

Journey to a Savage Planet is a very solid small-scale game that stands firm on it's foundations as a puzzle explorer and executes a lighthearted and decently engaging journey to embark on. It's is stuffed with collectables to hunt after for the so inclined, and trickled with enough variety to keep interesting throughout it's playtime. I also happen to think the game is perhaps a bit too safe on the gameplay front, a bit too restrictive in some unnecessary areas and maybe a little too rigid in it's design principals. You'll rarely discover a piece of equipment that has several uses beyond it's explicitly designed MetroidVania-style key resolution, and that always felt to me like 'the point' of where these kinds of games were headed. Still, I think it's worth a play. -B Grade.

The problem with money

 

Money is such a fine and fascinating thing, is it not? A great equaliser that cuts through skill, craft and means in order to... well, establish a whole separate class worth of skill, craft and means- but now with in-between currency! So many of the greatest ever to rise has been brought together thanks to the distribution and coalescence of money, as bodies are brought into one, ambitions are taught to soar and the improbable is willed into reality in it's cold pursuit. But it's also pretty much the anti-Christ, isn't it? Money, and it's pursuit, has that tendency to corrupt literally all it touches and I ain't talking about people. I'm talking about art, I'm talking about collaboration, I'm talking about the overall fabric of society in general. And today, I'm talking about Esports.

Now Esports hasn't exactly been in the best of places of late. Well, actually I guess it would really depend on who you ask, now I think about it. The number of Esports teams and tournaments popping up for all manner of competitive game, talent level and proficiency is frankly astounding. To think that we all once ago laughed at Evolve for desperately trying to sell it's game to the Esports crowd before it even hit store shelves when to be honest- that is what sells competitive multiplayer games these days!  Apart from Call of Duty. Call of Duty has it's own gravitational field that summons players to it's doorstep. It's simply the effect of the sweaty shooter- totally inexplicable and undefinable. Nothing you can do about it. But... that doesn't mean Esports is at it's healthiest on a meta level.

Because when we zoom out to the biggest level of Esports, the big games with the big teams, then it looks like a little bit of a graveyard. All the big Esports conglomerates who came out trying to settle into the scene recycling the same basic trad-sports monetisation techniques which turned hobbyists into superstar millionaires- ended up realising the vast difference between digital and physical sports to disastrous effect. Namely they realised that advertising revenue was nowhere near enough to bridge the gap between investment and output, like it is with normal sports. And the results? Most of the big Esports groups that tried to juggle all the popular games at once have fallen apart at the seams, dropping talent, dropping games, juggling liquidation and the worst fate of all- selling their rights back to the hobbyists who started the teams in the first place. So you could argue that is a net positive, but not to the pocket book.

And the pocket book is king. That's where all the eyes are drawn, all the hearts are fed and all the souls ripped from the chests of executives are kept. Therefore when the ol' treasury is looking light you can bet that's when the buttoned-up exec's start turning into straight ravenous animals chomping at any little bite of opportunity no matter who's blood strained hand might be holding the contract. And in that regard- well- to be honest Esports and normal sports aren't all that different. Morality becomes so very murky when multimillion dollar bonus packages start sizzling under your nose- and I'm sure that suffering the odd spitball or two is more than fair enough payment for the surrending of all basic decency. >cough< David Beckham >cough<

But this isn't a dunk on ole Beckham today- no instead I want to point finger at the extreme wealth disparity kingpins. Raid bosses of bad worker conditions. The kings of capitalism. Saudi Arabia, the host country of 2024's ESports World Cup- an event conceived to centralise the medium of Esports as much as possible combing several popular games into one. (Which doesn't make sense when you think about it. It'd be like a world cup event covering Cricket, Football and Tennis at the same time- but again, not the point.) I bet you're wondering if there's any reason why Saudi Arabia was chosen? Why bother, you know. The Crown Prince dropped a stupid prize pool and the organisers went floating after the waft of it like a cartoon dog.

Inclusiveness is already kind of an issue with high level Esports, there are no significant women's teams for a reason. And working towards bridging that gap might go a bit better when so-called scions of the sport aren't saddling up to the kind of folk who spit on their kind. I mean sure- if we're talking pure monetary gain then this could be seen as a lateral move to keep the sport in business- but is it opening up the sport to the world? Is it welcoming in new comers? From different branches? Or is it further insulating Esports in an elitist whirlpool of mega rich benefactors and generalised discrimination? And does anyone care enough to do something about it?

Esports are hardly the only target of this. There was that golf tournament that shimmied it's way off to their luxury pads and I'm just certain once Russia realises it's not getting back into the Olympics they're going to start up their very own counter Olympics with Saudi money- just mark my words. But what's the harm, I hear you say? Well aside from the lives of the ultra poor who are exploited in order to facilitate all this excess- but I suppose we have a blind spot for the strife of those we don't see too often, don't we? How about the spirit of what all sport is about? Professional art and sport is always a balancing act between the monetary gain and the artistry of the craft- but times like these make you feel like that is a tug of war we're losing more than we ever stand to win.

Of course the Esports World Cup has defended their partners with the same vapid affectations you've come to expect in moments like these, but they've lost a little bit of that credibility they once might have maintained. It's never a good look when you're being looked at on the same stage as bloody Fifa- because good lord if money is the Devil than they are a cadre of arch-demons suckling on his goat-milk! In moments like these it helps to take a step back and remember that the things we love are always bigger than the sell out corporations who throw-away their decorum and act like it's for the good of everyone, and maybe the smaller passionate tournaments are worth a watch over the bigger budget wastes of money now and then. 

Finally played that Dead Space 'Successor'.

 

Striking Distance Studios was a studio that launched with such promise behind it- that of a name AAA-level action horror game produced by one of the core minds that birthed Dead Space- one of the greatest horror games of all time- even with everything it shamelessly borrowed from Alien and other Sci-fi properties. (Mostly Alien though.) It was creative, repugnant, thrilling, scary, exciting and mind fogging nearer to the end. I remember distinctly finding the world of Dead Space so very interesting, not only for it's industrial-space-farer aesthetic but for the bizarre ecclesiastical heart of the body-bending disease- leaning into the unknowable unfathomable depth of pure cosmic horror. What's worse than something you can't see in the dark- something you cannot even comprehend higher above it. Which is partially why I was so excited for Striking Distance's virginal title; The Callisto Protocol.

Otherwise I was excited because the original Dead Space was so groundbreaking in the way it worked with Physics engines to create a combat system unlike anything before- where shooting off the limbs of enemies could be used tactically in order to dismantle your way around tough encounters. Dead Space truly was a classic worthy of it's plaudits and the Remake it enjoyed not that long ago. A Remake I have already played and which I love quite a bit, I might add. (It truly adds so much without losing the spirit like I so feared it would.) But I wanted someone who was going to take that next leap and who better than the core team that pushed that envelope the last time around? Who were now free to innovate again, free from corperate boots on their neck? What would the Callisto Protocol bring to the horror world?

I am currently sitting on the other end of a playthrough across the entire game in it's top-most difficulty and I have to say, much as what I heard at the time of it's release, that was largely mediocre. To a decree that actually deeply bothers me. The Callisto Protocol does literally only two things better than Dead Space did- it is visually gorgeous to look at, and I care more about the characters. Although that might be because Dead Space's Isaac was mute and that game purposefully limited contact with the rest of the crew in order to heighten that sense of isolation- as opposed to in Callisto were you have someone nattering across your comm link every two minutes or so- it's actually a little annoying. Everything else that Protocol does feels like pale imitations of what Dead Space achieved fourteen years previously. And I still can't wrap my head around that.

Most importantly, the combat. Wowzer. So the original Dead Space was literally innovative in the way it opened tactical depth in a survival shooter through the dismemberment mechanic- The Callisto Protocol might be innovative in how they made possibly the least engaging combat system possible in their 'horror thriller' game. When I tell you the entire system is literally holding left to dodge an attack and then right to dodge it's follow-up I am not exaggerating. That is the entire combat system. You don't even need to see which direction the attack is coming from- any direction is fine as long as you point the stick the other way for the follow-up. Also, there is no timing window, (As the game stupidly puts in the in-game tutorial. Never talk about what the game isn't- that is so professionally sloppy!) I had several moments where I was fiddling with something on my phone and weaving through attacks without looking because it was that unbelievably simplistic!

And what's worst of all- all the enemies patiently wait in line whilst you kill them one-by-one. Groups add practically nothing to the challenge of the game because they will simply not attack you out of order, even if they surround you. Apparently they did at launch, but because this game's controls are so sluggish there really is no means of effective side stepping or really anything to counter multiple incoming hits- so they just removed that possibility from the AI and ripped any bit of challenge out of the game. Now you can be a bit more active. Shoot to interrupt combos, use the telekinesis power to chuck enemies into spike walls, throw a power attack to knock enemies flying into one another- but you don't need to. You can just slap them around all day and win like that. You have to try to be exciting, which I tried to do because otherwise I'd have torn out my eyes playing this game so lethargically.

Funnily enough, polite zombie monsters who attack you one at a time and can be dodged in your sleep also don't illicit anywhere near the amount of dread of the Necromorphs from Dead Space who could pop out from the floor and tear off your legs at a moments notice. In Dead Space rounding a corner into an enemy was a 'jump out of your seat' fear moment, in Callisto it's a cue to start wiggling the old mouse as your eyes droop shut in boredom. I cannot overstate how badly they dropped the bag with every aspect of the game on a tonal level. And a gameplay level. So let me touch a bit on story and character to wrap it up.

The characters aren't good. They're more present than in Dead Space 1, but that largely serves to show how annoying they all are. Everyone dances around their grievances and meanings with one another as though they have some grand conspiracy to unravel, only for the basic-most explanation for literally everything to end up being the route the writers take every-single-time. Why was Jason specifically taken by Black Gate? Why is Dani so unduly upset with Jason for half the game? What is the guilt stalking Jason? They are all the first guess you imagined when these questions are brought up. The guilt one does confuse me however, because Jason acts like he genuinely did not know the answer until it was unveiled through McGuffin in the third act but... how could he not have? He was literally suffering guilt hallucinations the entire game as embodied by truly pathetic jump scares that were frankly embarrassing to sit through. (I remember the chills that Dead Space Extraction gave when we started seeing the ghosts. That scene at the tram station shook me to my core. I yawned my way through Protocol. I am a horror coward, by the way- I shouldn't have been so blaise!)

The biggest narrative trips are both spoilers unfortunately so if you care I'll save you some time- the game is below average- get Dead Space instead. Now, I need to rant about how unforgivably disappointing the cause of the outbreak was. In Dead Space they uncovered an otherworldly alien 'Marker', an extra-terrestrial counterpart to the human marker which was said to have kickstarted the rapid evolution of early humans into what we are today. The fact that this Alien marker started twisting people into something horrific and destructive felt almost like the hand of an evil mother nature itself fraying the lines of evolution. The Callisto Protocol outbreak is caused by Aliens. That's it. They just... mined up some alien from under Callisto, shot it dead and then decided to start digging up it's glands and shoving it down people's throats. (I cut out a step or two in the middle there.) How generic! How boring! And why is the Warden spreading it around? Because he wants to find a subject who responds well to the virus to kick off the next stage of human evol- >Yawn< what is this, a template script for a sci-fi movie? How do you start with otherworldly cosmic horror and evolve to space Covid? What kind of backwards trajectory is that? 

And then we have the ending. So Callisto actually ends on a cliffhanger. I've got nothing against that, I think it's fine. What I do find a bit objectionable is the fact that this cliffhanger does not lead into the next game, but a paid DLC which contains the true ending. I opted out of the obvious scam and watched someone skim through it on Youtube. (Thank you for your sacrifice, Oboeshoe!) What a waste of time. Truly. Essentially the entire extra four hours amounts to little more than those really lazy after credit scenes in bad 1990's move where the camera zooms in on the bad guy's shut eyes before they open- only in the context of the alien pathogen research being recovered so this franchise can perpetuate itself. Yet there's such an strange actual finale that I think killed any small amount of hype people might have had. 

To cut a story short, the doctor who helped Jason near the end of the game before he cures Dani and shoves her on the last escape pod- (aside: Can't believe the Warden actually left an escape pod. Some evil genius he is!) contacts Jason about a possible second escape option from the planet. Jason rushes through some extra hallways, there's only one new enemy type, you get a new hammer- it's not worth the money. You collect the doctor's research but 'oh no' she is attacked by a monster who turns her into a boss monster. Jason kills her, the research burns along with her, he boards the escape shuttle and rides off into the sunset. And then he wakes up. Turns out it was a dream, he's actually being dissected by the doctor lady who is happy to have her research and presumably go do another war crime in the next game. Yikes, what a crappy way to send us off. Honestly, I think most of us was fine with having Jason's last on screen appearance be him heroically sending off Dani in atonement for his sins whilst he fended off monsters on an exploding station. This just feels... mean spirited and disrespectful. Like a punchline to a joke that no one remembered to set up.

There's a similarly dour ending to Dead Space Transmission- but that game handled it way better. First off, Transmission is a prequel, meaning you're pretty sure from the get-go that it's probably not going to be a happy ending given that no word of the carnage of the Necromophs got out before Isaac showed up. The entire latter half of the game offers a genuine look through the eyes of a mind being slowly broken by the Marker as the player fights to keep it together long enough to escape, and the extent of the physical toil reaches an extreme when the player has to literally cut off their own hand in order to escape the vacuum of space before their oxygen runs out. ( Did I mention this was a Wii exclusive game? It's some crazy stuff!) Only for at the end of game, when the final challenge has been overcome and he is aboard the escape shuttle with Lexi leaving the carnage- only then does the player finally succumb to the Marker and transform into a Necromoph which Lexi has to put down. A grim ending- but a purposeful one. This shuttle is the same one that players of Dead Space will remember seeing at the beginning of that game- tying the threads of story together neatly. Lexi goes on to star in another DLC for Dead Space 2- lateral movement is made in the plot. It's not just a footnote DLC that the team cruelly crucified the protagonist for in order to score cheap shock points. Callisto's DLC's ending was just another lazy move from an all around lazy game.

With embarrassingly lacklustre bossfights, (it's literally one bullet sponge copy-pasted four times and then a finale with a slightly different styled bullet sponge.) a near non-functional enemy they base one and a half chapters around (the 'blind' monsters quite literally can't hear you loudly stab one to death from touching distance.) and a 'twist' that is literally "I can't believe you accused me of facilitating the >bleep< on >REDACTED< Dani, what must you think of me" to "Oh whoops, guess I accidentally did. And I know that I accidentally did too, but also needed to be told for some reason?" You might wonder if there's anything good about Callisto Protocol whatsoever. Well, if you put it in a vacuum, ignore the many numerous ways that Dead Space is better, and turn your brain off- this could be a mildly entertaining enough B-tier horror game that isn't too awfully long. It's got fun set-pieces. You might get through it before the bad combat grates you too much. None of which stops me giving this game a D- Grade mind you. Experience pieces are all well and good, but a horror game with bad combat, crappy plot and near-fundamentally-broken gameplay? That is a mistake. (I'll admit the DLC might have knocked it down a couple of micro-grades.) Their next game is apparently going to be a rogue-lite in this universe... don't know what to make of that honestly... 

Inspiration to the 'Fallen'

 

Lords of the Fallen is the sequel to Lords of the Fallen but also the reboot of Lords of the Fallen so that Lords of the Fallen can exist as it's own Lords of the Fallen irrespective of Lords of the Fallen and move on in order to establish it's own, now confirmed, upcoming real sequel called, tentatively, Lords of the Fallen 2. (Dammit, they had the perfect chance to do the funniest marketing ever!) Lords of the Fallen is also shorthand for 'bad souls-like' in some circles (referring to the original) for decent reasons. The original Lords of the Fallen felt like a holdout for some of the worst prejudices about the genre-type brought to life. Boringly sluggish movement that made every swing feel like it was triggred in the last age of humanity, horrendously tanky bosses that take 10 minutes of blocking the same attack patterns in order to gradually tap to death and a paper thin generic dark fantasy narrative interwoven into a worldspace nowhere near as interesting as it thinks it is. Dark Souls began at a place that felt more advanced than Lords did- and that original released in the same year as Dark Souls 2, by the by.

But it was also the other considerably major Souls-like at the time so we could actually see what it could be like if other developers took to this space. You know, before it became so unending popular that even Respawn Entertainment aped it for their Star Wars franchise. Which might just be the only aspect of the original Lords that kept it alive in the mind of gamers, because god knows the game wasn't doing that for itself! With an indistinct world, uninspired monster designs and a 'save the world from the demon king' plot that lacked the flamboyancy to rise above it's routes like Japanese titles need to have- I doubt many Souls lovers have actually finished the original. I haven't and I tried twice, before giving up to sheer boredom. Which is why I had no intentions of trying out the reboot/sequel.

But then people started talking about how much better it was than that original, praise called it above average for a title of it's calibre, and I got gamepass which made the game pretty much a free grab and after all that I just went "Screw it! I'll play the thing myself!" And since then I've been able to see it for myself and say: "Yeah, this is actually tons better than the original!". For one the game feels absolutely smooth as butter to play, I really like the movement playing as a lightly armoured character when doing so felt like an inside joke the developer's were privy to in the original. And movement counts for a lot when it comes to Souls-likes: it's one of the few reasons why the original Dark Souls can be hard to recommend. That 4-way-directional stickiness is a killer in games requiring precision movement!

I also think the world has a bit more going on with it now, and though I am largely flabbergasted at exactly what medieval period of history the team are trying to evoke- (dialogue sounds nigh-on whimsical at times, with one of the key companions having a hardly disguised American accent.) there's a substance to the world they've made. Monster designs are a bit more interesting, sometimes in a grotesque manner I haven't see really reached since some of the most memorable of Dark Souls 2. Oh, and the biggest win? The main character doesn't speak! Thank the gods! That's means this game actually has a full character creator too, so I can be anyone but tat-face! (Bless the small miracles, for they are few.) Although I have to say- I understand why even after all these years of improvements the game is still only being called 'Average or barely above at best'.

It feels like CI Games are developing their Souls-Like Games (yes, plural- they published for the 'Surge' games too.) in a total vacuum oblivious to literally everything else the rest of the genre is doing. And that perception is only worsened by the absolute trainwreck of development cycles this reboot went through before being dumped on the laps of a fresh studio 'HEXWORKS', who have been treating this game as their own personal war to win since launch. There are huge structural decisions that confound the senses as they press on seemingly solved pressure points in this genre that has been improved upon over the stretch of the past decade and a bit. It's almost as though these developers shun looking at what FromSoft and their contemporaries are doing for fear that would be 'cheating', or perhaps in a desire to strive in a different direction altogether and wiggle upon some new development direction no one else could have. And to that- well, maybe they need to wiggle a bit more- they ain't there yet.

Having extended walk-back periods for difficult bosses is such a Dark Souls 1-coded way to lay out your levels- but even Dark Souls 1 used to hide quicker shortcuts here and there for prosperities sake. But then Dark Souls could have that option, because that game's maps weren't anywhere near as needlessly labyrinthian as Lords' are. Defenders seem to mistake size for size's sake as 'facilitating exploration', but when you endure every environment until the point of frank illness with the aesthetic- maybe you've mistaken your 'open world' design with how a level based game would present itself. Then there's the 'other world'; Umbral, which is such a chore to endure. I get that's supposed to be the point, it's supposed to feel dangerous to travel around the shadow world, but they present that by forcing you into 'the land of chip damage' in order to do something as mundane as climb a ladder- it doesn't feel like embracing this dark world of carnage in order to meet the challenge to save the world- it feels like the game is constantly baiting you into the shadow world for giggles.

And of course then comes the design. As I play the game whenever I enter any location with a visible enemy on screen there is one thing I know- that there's someone else in the rafters waiting to ambush me. It's a funny little gotcha the first time- but after the fifth it becomes a bit of a crutch. Actually, it's a lot of a crutch. And to think this is the problem improved from launch! At launch I heard they actually spawned waves of enemies on top of you! Talk about miserable! And on the topic of combat- why is practically every boss a gimmick fight? Don't get me wrong it's actually somewhat impressive that the team managed to come up with so many gimmicks- but did they know this was a Souls-like whilst they were designing it? Clever and complex enemy patterns just seem to fall into wayside so the team can focus on horse-back fights with mines or mob gank spam, or any number of ancillary crap that get between you and the fight. At the utmost a Souls-Like should make you feel always in control- but half the time during these bosses it doesn't feel like anyone is in control, of even the experience the team is trying to get us to have!

I think there's actually a lot of potential in the bones of Lords of the Fallen- and I like playing the game. They could be a little less stingy on handing out gear to change up my build- I'm still basically rocking the exact same stuff I started the game with simply because the game doesn't offer much at all to play with- but I like seeing the extent of the game, sure in it's tropes but also in it's occasional cool mechanic- 'even if most of their 'cool' mechanics are the one's they borrowed'. Maybe Lords of the Fallen 2 might be a good game from the get-go next time around! (Wouldn't that be a stretch!) So yeah, this ain't a review- but if it were: I'd probably be erring to a C Grade, and I'd be very surprised if that changed as I got any further into the game based on what I've already experienced. Still, that's a passing grade by most metrics!

Hey, Star Wars might actually be interesting again!

 

When I was young Star Wars was pretty much the entire world to me. Funnily enough it was the exact absence of Star Wars within the mainstream that left the franchise open to someone like me to dream within. I collected a bevy of the (now 'Legends') comics, engrossed myself in the dozens of creative and quality licence games that the franchise was treated to each and every year and went back and rewatching the movies regularly enough to be able to quote whole scenes from the Episode 1 and 2. They say absence makes the heart grow stronger and in many ways I think media really does benefit from that exact phenom. I always said that Andromeda failed to really land with the impact it did for many reasons, one of which being it's relatively closeness to the end of Mass Effect 3- and Todd Howard similarly expressed in his recent MrMattyPlays interview how "It's not bad to miss things". That's something I haven't really felt from some of my favourite franchises in a while- I haven't had the room to miss them.

Has Marvel ever given us sufficient room to look back on it's Halcyon days with rose tinted glasses? Of course not, they're too busy pelting the audience with increasingly garish side project feature deconstructions that contradict themselves so fully they need to create other media to explain the inconsistencies! Just wait, I'll bet they're already cooking up some sort of series or show twist to explain why Nick Fury acts so differently in Secret Invasion to The Marvels- when the real reason is simply because they pump this stuff out too quickly to check each other's work- and the same is very much becoming true with Star Wars- even if that universe boasts a much vast swathe of stories to potentially choose from.

So I've just slipped out of touch with it. Ever since Andor I decided the series had finally hit that high note it would never really reach again until the next season of Andor, and thus I avoided all else. But am I really doing myself a favour, or just cutting out something I love out of fear of being hurt? And more importantly, how does this tie back around to games? Well, Star Wars is really paired back on the number of creative and interesting titles they put out and it's gotten to the point where two of the biggest Star Wars games currently or, or close to, circulation seem to be fairly similar to one another. Sure, Fallen Order and Outlaws is different in the nitty gritty genre talk- but they're both riding the coat-tails of uncharted in one way or another, ain't they?

I miss the days when you could play the Star Wars racer games, then the beat 'em ups, then the Doom-likes, then the RPGs. I miss Star Wars being creative instead of becoming constrained by it's own success. And though I think those days died with the Disney acquisition- as the 'newness' of exclusivity fades and the reigns start to loosen, murmurs arise of some of those incredible off kilter, and maybe even super niche, Star Wars projects we'd use to hear about. Kind of like how Squadron's dropped and catered solely towards the sim flight crowd, however small they are, now the tactical squad-based players can rejoice for today is their time to feed!

Respawn Entertainment, yes the guys behind Fallen Order, announced some years ago how they were working alongside a small fresh studio on a Star Wars project. Such could have meant anything at the time, of course- and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to presume this was yet another action adventure given how that was the basis of the game Respawn had in front of them. They could even share assets given aligned engines! But it seems I might have been a bit presumptuous. (No pun intended.) Maybe I should have better paid mind to the makeup of the team. Veterans of 'Elder Scrolls Online', 'XCom', 'Civilisation'- actually solid and innovative titles! Then it wouldn't have been such a flashbang announcement to learn that it actually is a tactics game specifically designed to leverage the team's familiarity with XCom! 

Oh yes, that means those nail biting missions where you have to choose between your objective and the lives of your favourite squadmate, or where the perfect plan that couldn't go wrong slips between the fresh crack of a bad roll, or the impossible crit that downs a monolith in a moment of sheer red-hot desperation; those are all on the holo-table for the Galaxy Far Away! Their creative director, Greg Foertsch seems eager to impress his desire to push the envelope too. He pondered about the "space" of the genre to "grow, through immersion and storytelling and visual presentation and pacing"- which are all very ambitious vectors for a new studio- I can understand why they wanted Respawn along for backup.

I get goosebumps thinking about it- especially when it comes to storytelling- my favourite avenue of games like these. I'm all about dynamic moments where the player's personal war comes to life in most real ways, unexpected events even outside of the raw gameplay the colour the breadth of the personalities you are lording over, breaths life into these games in a way that tickles those same sorts of emotions as my favourite Colony Sims! I'd love to see the ways that a team could make that work across a Star Wars setting- because we can't just be some face squad of clones- give us the chance to build relationships with these characters before they get crushed under the boot of a missed 95% shot. (That's pretty much the end of my relationship with any unit.)

This is the first time in a long while I've looked at anything coming Star Wars' way with genuine wonder and excitement. Perhaps ever since the Mandalorian season 1, given that I actually expected Andor to be a waste of time before I watched it and got my mouth shut solid for how unflinchingly brilliant that show was. XCom is one of my favourite games of all time and I think the developer who sherpards that franchise has lost their way. They don't even seem interested in this style of game anymore, whether because of the lack of public appeal or just growing cold on the genre creatively. Bit Reactor may just be the hands to pass that torch onto- and if those hands also happen to be holding a spare lightsaber or two that'd be sick. Even sicker if that lightsaber was dated back to the Old Republic- but now I'm just getting silly with my hopes, imma stop.

No-fi Blush

 That's a terrible title

We've all heard what happened to the Tango Gameworks for the crime of making an award-winning game- taken behind the barn and shot in the back of the head- a warning for everyone out there to pack up and give up if you find yourself under the Xbox banner. A move that very much seems to have been not appreciated by the former employees of the gameworks as they've let their opinions be sprinkled across social media, postulating on what might have been the cause but lamenting it either way. Above it all, however, is the big green X themselves doing their best to just forget the problem ever happened and praying that makes it go away. It will not. Obviously. This is growing into a bigger black stain with every passing moment.

Let us not forget the moment with President Bond where she was ambushed with this question regarding the reason for Tango being killed off- at least I can call it an ambush for the way she stumbled a response despite the fact it was the most foreseeable talking point in all known existence. Where it comes to Bond and Phil Spencer, their reticence to speak straight, and to squirm around the matter, has led to beliefs on the consistency of the Xbox brand dropping, people speculating how dire circumstance are and just the all around situation worsening. Hell, Phil tried to marble mouth his way out of a response and ended up saying that it's his responsibility to ensure Xbox gamers are afforded everything they expect with the brand, heavily implying that Xbox is so hard up that they needed to kill studios in order to keep the service at status quo- improvements aren't even on the table!

And in this comes a fear. Probably a justifiable one. A fear that this dire, such to the extent that succeed or fail you are up for extermination, then surely anyone could be next on the block. At the very least Xbox had the good grace to tell their team of the shutdown privately before leaking it out to the press, now if only they could exposit what was wrong clearly it would really help cut down on all the rumour and speculation flying about. I feel there's such an unjust level of secrecy that is implicitly tied to corporate movements for literally no reason- where everything from conduct expectations to success quotas are left to the imagination for fear of ever having your own standards held against you. It's the same sort of culture that disincentivises employees discussing wages with on another- it's a supremely outdated and insular move that only fosters distrust and misinformation.

Of course, let me not give off the impression that I am any better a source for elucidating Xbox's actions than the average observer! I've only the bitter cynicism to taint my distrust. For all I know Xbox could be on the verge of tilting off the edge at Microsoft places a boot on their back and asks them "What are you gonna do, little fish?" But what I can comment on is the recent sprinkling of supposed context of yet another Xbox source that, big surprise, contradicts what we've already been told. Because being vague and unspecific has worked out so well for everyone this far, hasn't it? Matt Booty, not exactly in a public setting but rather a 'Variety Business Podcast', spoke someone's truth on the matter. 

Matt acknowledged the success of the studio but went further to analyse what exactly went into that success and the factors that contributed to it, positing the many features that could go in to making a title successful. Of course, I'd imagine this was an attempt to remain somewhat aloof and unspecific that totally fell apart when Matt just came out and said- "What leadership do you have? What creative leadership do you have? Is it the same team that shipped something successfully previously?" And those are the metrics by which the future of studios are apparently weighed, and in this instance, cut short. One might call it a 'lack of faith'.

Essentially what this is slyly referring to is the fact that the founder of the studio, industry legend Shinji Mikami of 'Resident Evil' fame, left the studio after the release of Hi-Fi Rush in order to pursue newer ventures- and that is now being pointed to as the catalyst for the studio's demise. In the same way that losing Kojima was the end of Konami's credibility, a powerful creative lead like Mikami was so intrinsic to the studio, as well as those other heads around him of course, that in his absence Tango Gameworks just weren't the same studio anymore. At least that's what we're supposed to believe and I have to say- I never liked this train of reasoning no matter how many times I hear it parroted.

It's like what everyone has been saying about Bioware whilst casting side eye. "They're not the same studio! All the legends are gone, you can't expect anything out of them anymore!" Which compounds a more complex issue into deeply reductive boxes that restrict the future genealogy of the industry. We're talking about a studio full of people who perfected their craft under the supervision of these 'legends', who worked with them, would have been taught by them, and in some cases probably expected to take what they learnt and added something new now that the stage was open for someone new to take the reigns. We can't have the old legends around forever- they'll need successor's someday! And even if that is too much credit to give a team of colleagues- at the very least these studios by reputation alone would attract a similar style of team to that which existed before. You're not going to get a team of Live Service knuckledraggers signing up to work at FromSoftware, now are you?

Out of all the possible excuses for the firing I think this may just be the most headscratching. Sure, the former team may contest that they had serious plans for the future- but of course they would say that, maybe their upcoming projects sounded weak to someone with an objective look from the outside. Maybe they were juggling the next Redfall and were too self conscious to admit it. But saying they were no longer worthy of keeping alive because some of the make-up of the studio is different now just boggles the mind- at the very least you have to give a bit more to go on. If not, then you owe them the chance to prove themselves. Or you would, if you cared about the industry. Which is becoming increasingly the question we pose when considering Xbox these days...

How hard is too hard?

 Why are you smirking?

Shadow of the Erdtree is here and I'm currently trucking through the thing alongside the three other Souls-Likes I'm playing at the same time. (That is not a joke, I'm doing the new Lords of the Fallen, Wo Long Fallen Dynasty and, to a much lesser extent, Lies of P.) And I have to say that for one- I think this is the greatest From Software DLC that I've played. I put that in bulk because a lot of people seem to insist the best they ever made actually hailed from a game I never, and will never, play because Sony are a bunch of dicks. (Had to be said. I'm sorry.) So in the absence of Bloodborne I am indulging myself, loving my time, and scratching my head at those calling this DLC 'so hard it's unfun.'

Now to be fair I understand what seemingly so very few dedicated souls players seem capable of comprehending- my situation is unique. One of the great glories of Souls games, and especially true in their most vast yet 'Elden Ring', comes in the way that almost no-one can end up with the exact same build unless they're literally following a guide. Even the most supposedly overpowered weapons require specific styles of play and most just like to keep looser constraints on their journey across The Lands Between. Then there's stat building, hidden clothing effects, talisman make-up- Just because I'm having a fine time exploring the Shadowy lands under the Scadutree, that doesn't mean everyone else is simply bubble blowing babies for finding it near unsurmountable.

But the response has been quite puzzling to me- as hoards of the aggrieved have taken to review bombing the DLC calling it 'too hard' and 'badly optimized'. (That last point might have some weight to it- I've uncounted a couple of really bad stutter moments on my Series X version of the game. Atop of the resolution drops everytime you are out in the field.) It seems like such a strange reversal of fortunes for a series that used to be the champion of difficulty now being considered a pariah for it- it makes me wonder exactly what these people expected. And to be honest, I think I might know exactly what the issue is and it's a tale as old as time- I think people are actually making the game too hard for themselves.

Firstly, there is this strange belief that Shadow of the Erdtree is a mid-game DLC to be comfortably challenged- which doesn't seem to track at all. The game marketed as being a challenge to the veterans, who had mastered the main game. Personally I figured it was New Game + 1 at a minimum- and even with that thought process I stumbled into a cryptboss who could two shot me with his casual sword swings! Then, there are the people who stubbornly refuse to use summons... across content perfectly balanced so as to not get totally crushed by summons. The DLC wants you to throw your everything at it! We're talking about players imposing hard challenges on themselves upon characters not strong enough for the content complaining about the game being imbalanced- and I have to wonder about that.

What is it that makes a game too hard? What would I consider to be a game that is too hard? For me it comes down to the gamefeel and the supposed 'fairness' of the challenge. Although obviously both of those are supremely subjective topics so you'll have to forgive the way I explore them. Firstly, I want a game that feels like I'm in control enough with how I move, snappy, punchy, firm-footed so that every death I take is due to my own mistakes and not the games. Which goes for the Camera too- I don't want to be stuck trying to manipulate the Camera so I can see what is even going on in front of me- that sucks and feels cheap. Then there is 'fairness'. Does this feel like a game which is providing me everything I need to handle it? Could I, if I wanted to, adapt to the challenge? Is this game full of fights that respect my time? Is there a two minute walk back to the fight despite the fact your game came out in 2023- Lords of the Fallen!?

FromSoftware games never really struck me as pushing on these button topics too much with the exception of the walk-backs which has improved over the years. But then again, is it really possible to get as bad as Dark Souls 2's Frigid Wastes?  (Surely not!) Elden Ring is the furthest thing from. And Shadow of the Erdtree even bends backwards to provide extras for the player having trouble with it all. Scadutree fragments boost damage dealt and armour resistance, summons can be boosted with a new special ash drop- (which is why I know summons are very much supposed to be used for these fights) all to imbue a new Seiko-style static upgrade system where you can improve purely laterally- without having to put a single errant thought towards build composition!

I'm sorry but that just isn't the kind of intelligent design thought and discretion I would take as indicative of 'the worst balanced content FromSoftware has ever made'. Plus, this is Elden Ring, is it not? The game that made famous the idea that if you can't get through this boss, go off and explore any of the dozen of other objectives until you are strong enough to try again? Since when did that stop being a viable way to play this game? Instead I guess it just feels less of a hassle to throw up your arms and claim it is the game's fault- but is it as fulfilling as trying again and succeeding with a firmer head on your shoulders? I suspect not.

Shadow of the Erdtree is kind of like a whole inbetween game tacked on to the original one, making use of all the content richness of that basegame to fuel a host of new mechanics and enemies that can keep you busy- and I happen to think it's a blast! Do I still get my butt handed to me? Yes. That dancing lion had me sweating for about twenty-to-thirty minutes, but that is kind of what I come to this franchise for. To be challenged. To be placed out of my depth. To cry in frustration as my skill comes up short time and time again until that one moment where I push through the muck. I thought that was what we all came to these games for, but perhaps there are shorter fuses out there than I expected.

 

How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?

 

Often have I heard the term 'time is a flat circle' coined, itself being a reference to 'True Detective' apparently, which makes that show a lot more bizarre sounding than I original expected having just looked that up. I cannot pretend I fully understand what that is trying to denote- but from context I get the gist. Eternal Return. Like the dragon game. Not 'Like a Dragon'. The other Dragon game. With the dogma. (Ah, forget it.) What I'm trying to say is- we never seem to progress because we're so damn stuck learning the same lessons, facing the same tribulations, and staring slack jawed at the exact same stupid nonsense we were last go around. Of course, maybe True Detective meant that more in a metaphysical sense- but I think the lens of cynicism works just fine.

The comment that blasted me back a thousand years today belongs to one Joe Tung on the verge of unveiling the brand new debut title of his studio 'Theorycraft Games'- a studio dedicated to developing '10,000 hour games'! as they posit. This title, a MOBA-looking 'action RPG' Battle Royale game that is certainly entertaining a crowed market both in genre and style- but I'd hardly call myself the foremost expert on what kind of crowd this style of game attracts. For all I know everybody is etching at the neck for another LOL style game with an almost identical artstyle but stretched over what appears to be a few quite different game modes. And I assume it's probably to this crowd that our CEO was talking- however even within that box- it's still some pretty ignorant slop that I can't help but gripe over.

Now, Tung here ain't no spring chicken to the gaming world. He's been around the block, so to speak. Being a Bungie alumni who left around about the time of Halo 4 dropping (that game would've made me quit my job too if I'd played it back then) and going for a long stint at Riot games before growing confident enough to shoot off on his own endeavour- Tung left to find a future creating live service games because his backwards-facing ass declares "the Games as a service model is so much better for developers and gamers"- than the traditional fixed boxed price games. Now already I have so thoughts on that- and already I can see both sides of the argument. Although let's get a bit deeper into these wilding claims first before the rebuttals begin, eh?

As I said, our CEO knows a bit or two about boxed products which has informed the decision of his virginal venture out to studio startership. He's been through the proverbial ringer of games industry marketing. He laments the "E3 Build", calling it the "one opportunity" that developers had to talk to their audience before launch, necessitating "Bull**** vaporwave", as has been experienced and acknowledged often over the years. He believes the "$60 boxed product" approach forced "Decisions that were not in the best interest of the player." To him that style of production prioritised "How do we sell as many copies in the first 48 hours that we can?" Instead of thinking "long term" about "What is best for the player" and "how that overlaps with what is best for the company." My, what an egalitarian utopia Tung paints for us through the canvass of Live, bloody, services! Who'd have thought?

So... let's be objective about this for a second- yeah? He believes that the pressure of trying to score customers leads to design decisions that sacrifices the quality of the game in favour of early week one sales. So we're talking vapid set-pieces, frontloading games, stuff like that, yeah? Sure- why not. What the heck do you think Live Service design mentality does ya dunder head? You know, where it's imperative that players stick around and play your game religiously for months in order to justify it's existence? Jason Schierer's expose into 'Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League' highlighted how it was the Live Service expectation in particular that weighed on how the team needed to design content. Making missions that were supposed to engaging but also easily repeatable, which resulted in trash that achieved neither vector. Redfall lacked quite a deep a dive, but it was game that no one felt comfortable making because of how abrasive the live service model was to the style of game the team were used to. Both these high budgets titles were sunk because of the Live Service model.

But we're being objective, right? So let's just say that those were un-suspecting studios who fumbled the bag. What about those who nail it? Well even they suffer in the long run because of the very nature of the game that they are servicing- the content wheel eventually starts to grate up against the artistic integrity of the game. What happens when you need to create cosmetics for people to buy for years on end but you're making a military shooter? Well COD ran out of military colours and insignias a while back and since then we've had Lilith from Diablo as a skin, Homelander, Snoop Dog- whatever brand they can get their hands on has slipped into this former military shooter- now a more high fidelity Fortnite competitor. Apex Legends has similarly sold itself to Final Fantasy. And Overwatch- once defined by it's creative integrity so powerful that every skin denoted some inner lore that was slowly being uncovered- now just pumps out themed brand deal skins every other month because D.VA wants that Porche money! 

What about the gamers, this was supposed to be good for the gamers right? Because sure, they can get themselves into these games for practically nothing and be supported with new content forever- right? But it's not really about offering players 'new content to play' now is it? No, it's about enticing people to play this game as much as possible- and that is something else entirely. Rather than developing cool new game modes or fascinating new playstyles or aspects of the game to enrich the experience, you'll instead see traps to grip onto a player and never let go. Battle Passes that demand weekly, sometimes daily play in order to get to the cooler rewards before the season's end drags them away forever. Limited time events. Deleted early game content. purchasing loops, dark patterns- Live Services feast off of anything they can to arrest the audience- it is the exception that avoids them, not the rule.

I respect that Tung is invested in Live Services so it makes sense that he is going to big them up a little, but declaring them the healthy alternative to the traditional market is ridiculously naïve at best and insidiously deceptive at worst. Look no further than the general rejection that so many high budget live services have recently received to show you that no- this isn't the player and developer friendly world that Tung wants to insist that it is. It's cut-throat, opportunistic, dehumanising, artistically stifling and conceptually bankrupt: all quite literally the further possible example to the industry possible. I quite dislike those that lie.

Dead Risen: reanimated

 How did they not use 'Reanimated'?

I will forever lament everything we didn't get out of the Dead Rising franchise, but from the space of what was possible, rather than the reality of how it would have actually ended up- you get me? For example, that original idea for a follow-up to Chucks story where we played a co-op kind of Souls-like guiding Katey through Mexico? How different, how unique, how interesting! People would've hated that! The people love knowing exactly what they're going to play, they hate not recognising setting, or gameplay styles or even environments sometimes. And yet- they hate things getting to familiar too. Dead Rising 4 I think did itself no favours returning to the exact same mall from the first game, regardless of improvements and expansions upon that map. And being bad certainly wasn't a major sales driver I guess...

Dead Rising is a franchise I'm pretty sure has been dead for a while now- uhh, that pun slipped out of nowhere, I meant to say that it's 'inactive'... you get what I mean! No one at Capcom really saw the point of hyping up the corpse of what Dead Rising 4 turned into. There were no big pick-up DLCs beyond that one where Frank turns into a zombie or something. No references in connected Capcom properties over the years, and this has been the only game to escape their voracious remaking wrath- at least until now- kind off. Because yes, after all these years waiting and totally forgetting about what this franchise did to make us so wary of it- finally we have ourselves a brand new Dead Rising game coming our way and it is... a semi-remake kinda? (Capcom have been bizarrely vague on the matter.)

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster comes to a world that has already endured a console remake of the original Dead Rising, a more-current generation remaster and a direct spiritual successor or two- now what we have appears to be some sort of... 'visual remake', so to speak. Which is to say that Capcom are only touching what the game looks like, and for some reason the voice talent involved- removing the iconic voice of Frank for those who care. (Personally I always thought this franchise clung too desperately to the character of Frank for no reason but that's neither here nor there.) But it appears that beneath the hood all the gameplay aspects are untouched, making this yet another re-release of the exact same game to a new console generation- but with enough bits flipped around they can internally justify charging full price for it? Is that about right?

Now as far as the headspace that Capcom are at is concerned, they see the original Dead Rising as a point within video game history from which experiences blossomed. They see the experience of the original supermarket zombie-slaying game as a cornerstone moment of that console generation, and that every release since has visited that moment to a new generation. And to be fair- I do think Dead Rising was pretty influential back when it launched, pretty much setting a standard for Zombie games that hasn't really been upended to this day. I just played through Dead Island 2 over the past month and that game owes so much to this franchise... and yet- to be honest I think it was Dead Rising 2 that deserves most of the plaudits.

Dead Rising brought us the concept of 'chop till you drop', living the life of dancing circles around hoards of zombies as you lazed about and survived- casually ignoring the many dying survivors as you watch their timers tick down. (Just me?) Capturing the spirit of that one five minute scene in the middle of Dawn of the Dead where the group enjoyed having all those stores entirely to themselves- yeah, that makes for some fun gaming. But what about the actual surviving, the glorification of zombie murdering the creativity now inherent to zombie games? That was really sharpened to a point with the coming of Dead Rising 2 and their combo weapons when you really think about it. Dead Rising's contributions are noteworthy, but 2 really hit it home!

Instead we're headed back to Willamette with all the individual gameplay elements largely untouched? It just seems bizarre living in a world where we've seen Zombie games pushed beyond the wildest dreams of their original. Resident Evil 2 Remake has to be one of the best Zombie games ever released even now! Couldn't they have taken a better look at the movement of the original? The combat? The Ai? (God, please don't let them ship with the same AI from the original!) They don't need to totally plunge the game into the modern realm, but just apply a layer of modern development standards on what originally worked in order to know them up to snuff- then you can call this a remake. Although come to think of it- that does sound like a lot of work, no?

Dead Rising has been a property that has lost Capcom money most recently, and given we live in the industry of 'what have you done for me lately?' maybe the powers that be aren't willing to reinvest their money into a proven shaky franchise despite the years of separation inherent. Seeing that there are already versions of Dead Rising available on this generation of console, I can't help but wonder if Capcom aren't pushing themselves into something of a self-fulfilling prophecy- half-assing a remaster literally designed to poach their own players without offering a substantial reason to switch- the name alone will push units but how many are going to see the much more cost-effective 'triple pack' and just stick with what they know? I wonder...

Due out for this year Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster seems like a canary dropped into a well to judge whether or not we're due for more from this franchise and I have to be honest- I'm really not sure that we are. What Dead Rising brought to our screens is unforgettable, but also played out- as proved by the franchise which couldn't even reignite that spark by going back to the place that started it all for 4. Dead Island has trounced this franchise in creativity- Resident Evil has surpassed it in sheer gameplay- Far Cry is set to do a typical Ubisoft move and steal their classic timed-game formula- Dead Rising gave so much of itself away I'm not sure there's anything left all of it's own to carry forward onto the future anymore. But hey, maybe if this does well we'll get a Dead Rising 2 'Deluxe Remaster'. That might be fun at least.

Banana game

 

No one is ever truly prepared for what life throws at them. Usually that comes in the negative, where waves of misfortune and bad tides slam into you over and over until it washes you away with the seeping. But every now and then the good will descend, and leave you in just as dire a predicament as you struggle to figure out what exactly to do with it. I have been in both straits and I can say neither which is superior. Too easily are the good poisoned foul unexpectedly. That being said, I cannot say for certain whether the bubbling broil of seemingly impending controversy is a boon or hinderance to the developers of the 2024 smash hit epic game- Banana. (No, it's nothing to do with the Minions- for god's sake leave such thoughts far away from you mind!)

Banana comes across as one of those games that is made as part of a student project to prove programming potential- in both it's simplicity as well as the post-ironic "hah hah, so random!" spirit of the concept. It's a cookie clicker clone where this time it's a banana. It's an idle clicker, meaning just by having the thing open in the background you'll be wracking up the big numbers- and that is the extent of the game. Yep, this isn't one of those slightly more complex clicker games where you have to build up teams in order to take out certain big monsters on a quest of some sort. (I'd recommend 'Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms' for that. Pretty fun game!) This is the absolute bottom of the barrel Steam trash garbage-heap-of-game with little to no creative ingenuity or subversive passion put behind it. So why is it worth talking about?

I mean, Steam is inundated with Unreal Engine powered refuse every other second- it's like the spittoon of the video game publishing world- which I suppose is the price to pay for such an inherently low barrier to entry as Steam naturally possesses. But there is a distinction between the rest and Banana- because you see those other bargain basement games are lucky to score a buy purchases by the curious before the game is lost under the deluge- Banana, on the otherhand, is ranking as one of the most played games on Steam currently. And may I just say how happy I am that this phenom occurred after Summer Games Fest, so we didn't have to see Geoff venerate this embarrassment. (Okay, maybe I'm going a bit too hard on the game. Afterall, it isn't Assassin's Creed!)

But what makes the Banana game so popular? Great question- and I'm afraid the answer is not any hidden inherent creative twist that imbues some otherwise hidden value. Well- actually I guess it could be considered that depending on how you define 'creativity'. I suppose it can be considered somewhat creative to conceive of the idea of turning an idle clicker into a Gacha-esque trading card game using the Steam market place. Oh yeah, every few hours you get 'dropped' a badly made PNG of a Banana- as artistically devoid as NFT trash- with various degrees of rarity that you can sell to others for real money. That's right, it's yet another 'alternative source of money' grift games. Because we haven't had enough of those over the past few years.

At the very least this spits in the face of most of those others by showcasing just how easy a concept like that can be realised without even touching WEB3 infrastructure and avoiding crypto currency like the plague. You don't need to have a special online wallet with a special 36 digit key that needs to be maintained on a separate secure device you keep with you at all times- you just need a Steam account. Sure, that means you can't exactly extract those funds any easy way- but you're exactly going to be making the kind of money to pay for your electricity bill either- just funnel that cash back into buying better games, why not? (Even though the kind of money we're talking about is typically petty cash on the dollar unless you score those millions-to-one drops.)

Of course, nothing has managed to halt the copious levels of discourse the game has generated regarding just who is sitting down and actually running this game- namely what sort of systems the developer is putting in place in order to prevent market manipulation. You see, Banana's are handed out through random lottery, rarities, drop chances, all that important data is handled developer side and considering this is an indie title that dropped out of nowhere- there are absolutely no gaurdrails in place, and no repercussions hanging over them, to engage in a little bit of 'table tilting' so to speak. What if they want to drive up the price of a Banana they have a lot of in order to make a little extra scrip? What if they hand out rare bananas to their friends for free? Who would ever know?

Now to their credit the developers, probably still a little stunned by their joke game which was developed in order to riff on another decidedly less successful joke game from earlier this year, promises that they aren't up to anything untoward behind the scenes. In fact, it's apparently going around that they even let go one of their staff specifically for engaging in that exact form of 'giving friends' bananas, market trickery that people were worried about- which demonstrates both their willingness to try and keep the game clean, as well as the relative ease with which the developers could choose to rip their audience off at any time. Which means that if you choose to engage with this, you might just be grappling onto a ticking timebomb, praying it goes off in someone else's face before it blows up in yours.

This honestly gives me flashbacks of all the endless WEB3 currencies that are still coming out every other day, stuffed full of developers swearing hands down that they never would rug pull their audience and in fact have special tools in place to counter that very issue- who then go on to rug pull within the week. It's inevitable. Everytime. Thankfully this game isn't that deep into people's financial pockets, if they decide to screw with the market- all that will be wasted is people's time and the tiny amount of processing power required to keep this game open in the background. But something tells me people will get bored of this game long before that eventual heel turn will cause anything of a huge uproar. Just my suspicion. 

Along the Mirror's Edge

 

Back during the long-awaited gameplay reveal trailer for Perfect Dark, which so soundly leapfrogged my very meagre expectations, there were a great many parallels drawn to what we were looking at. Those of us who were thirsting for another high profile Immersive Sim to drawn our teeth into saw our potential nirvana, Deus Ex fans saw the sequel they never got to Mankind Divided, the handful of people out there still hankering for Perfect Dark Zero's Multiplayer for some incomprehensible reason apparently saw nothing at all and scratched their heads in confusion wondering what all the active stealth gameplay they just saw was about. (I didn't even know anyone remembered that those games had multiplayer.) But there was one distinction I found utterly affronting- I heard someone compare the gameplay to Mirror's Edge.

Now that's not because I think Mirror's Edge is a bad game, nor that I don't see the connection between the first-person wall-running we see presented: they just reminded me that the Mirror's Edge franchise exists! And yes, thanks to 2016's sequel/reboot it is a franchise! And in the spirit of remembering that I actually went out and finally got around to playing that Reboot for the first time, despite how wary I had been about it all those years, to see what it was about those games that still sticks around in people's mind- all the while recalling what it was about the original that still lingers in mine. Because it does hold some place there, strange though it feels to admit it. I suppose that just goes to merit how impressive that little tech demo was.

I came to the original Mirror's Edge years after the fact, trying it out expecting what would amount to little more than a showcase of parkour gameplay across a largely featureless world and story- and whilst that conceptually may hold true- there's a real underground indie game vibe to the original Mirror's Edge I can't help but resonate to. The uncompromising challenge of the later chapters, like a brick wall daring you to crack through, brings the same sort of sensations as Ghostrunner. And that non-typical story about living on the edge and trying to what's best by you and yours in a world that couldn't care less if you lived or died? Why, that's 'Thief' magic straight up! Which, sure, isn't actually 'indie'- but it came from an era before the confines of the 'safety' box were built around the industry dictating how games should play and what stories they should invariably tell.

Mirror's Edge was so simple yet every bit as evocative as the monochrome streaked with red palette would suggest. Some of those later levels, where the you get deeper into the dark heart of the city, deliver some truly arresting, near liminal, environments to scour through. Places pulled from the page of some graphic artist on the verge of going through a midlife crisis and nervous breakdown in the same day. Wrought iron mazes of industry, gleaming blank city faces over a messy, discordant underbelly. Ever sterile. Ever inhuman. Somehow that world managed to get across that existential dread of systemic stifling homogeny and crushingly tyrannical uniformity without voicing a single directed word. Mirror's Edge Catalyst knows no such subtlety. 

Catalyst gives us something of a washed out generic metropolis which loses quite a bit of that stark uniformity of the original. It's designed to feel more 'tangible' as a world, and that philosophy ironically leads to a watering down of everything the original game pointed towards. The battle between conformists and free-running rebels is made the main topic of every interaction, with player's filtering between revolutionary and proto-Watch_Dogs style 'counter culture' activists- only the narrative also attempts to retain the aloof and unassuming Faith Conners as the protagonist leading to a thematic disconnect where Faith kind of feels like she doesn't belong around anyone. Which would itself be a profound theme if Mirror's Edge Catalyst knew what to do with it.

Giving definitive form and shape to a world like this robs the majesty of implication but rewards in the form of an open world which- is fun enough to learn how to free run around. The iconic free running of this franchise is still actually unmatched across the industry and I'll never get sick of pulling off the right moves to keep your momentum going in a particular busy section of a running route. There is something lost of the 'Ghostrunner' style split-second-or-dead gameplay in this new iteration, however. Enemies don't kill nearly as quickly, you have to put more effort into taking one down with their more robust, but equally frustrating, melee combat. There's no commandeering weapons this time around and levels are ever designed specifically to have you fight the enemy or run past them, never both.

Of course Catalyst gives us a more involved main narrative this time around, and whilst the original didn't offer anything spectacular in this department either I at least respected the unique framing device. Catalyst is almost painfully generic stuffed full of inconsequential techno-babble filler quests across a paper thin narrative with twists so utterly readily transparent that not even the characters themselves sound surprised when they occur. When (sorry if you care about spoilers) Faith learns that the only other Asian woman in the entire story, who happens to look exactly like her, happens to be the sister she thought had died years ago her reaction sounds like she already figured that out about around the time the rest of the audience did. And don't get started on the villains plan to, spin the wheel of generic with the 'evil corporation' modifier turned on... control people's mind with nanomachines. How inspired...

In some ways Catalyst serves as a prequel to the original, though in many more ways it's a reboot. Unless we're to believe that Faith's sister is planning to get cosmetic race-change surgery and give up her high-flying CEO job in order to become a beat cop. Attempts to impart an almost mythical significance to Faith's iconic arm tattoo, which she has inked at the end of the game, fall flat when it amounts to being little more than a meaningless drawing her mom did for no reason. Catalyst felt like it was trying to start something, but lacked either the daring or the funding to really go out and give it that shot. Who knows, maybe the EA Mobile Mirror's Edge app contains that missing sauce- but giving that it looks like a cheap knockoff itself- and isn't even in third person- I suspect not. But still, I'll remember the experience for the running- and isn't that all that matters in a franchise like this?

There is no Silksong

 

On this blessed day I want to sit and talk to you all about a video game. Not just any video game, mind- but a Video game that I love. A spectacular video game. A game called Hollow Knight. Why such a topic comes to mind? Honestly I don't know. Maybe I just want to get things off my chest. Maybe I just want to expel some pent up air that has been stuck behind my heart for the past few years in a throbbing sense of expectation that, at last, I'm giving up on. Maybe I'm just trying to remind myself why it is any of us wanted to see this thing expand into a universe in the first place- and maybe in the exploration of that past I might touch on some nugget of why that can never be. Like a pool gazing at the majesty of the stars through the murky gleam of the gutter- maybe through the murk of defeat some deeper truth can be gleaned.

Hollow Knight was one of those games that I heard about in the same breath as other Indie Platformers that just never seemed to gel with me. Celeste and Child of Light and all those other high fantasy titles that expand some small metaphor out into a grand, and sometimes a little bit overindulgent, tale. (Not to denigrate Celeste by lumping it up with those others, mind- I just didn't like Celeste because precision platforming is not in itself a satisfying game mechanic to me.) It would earn the praise and love of many but I filed the game away as more of the same. I'd try games like that and fell off- which is in itself very unusual for me. I completed the bloody RPG Assassin's Creed games- I stick with trash! But, of course, at some point I was to learn how off base I was.

I couldn't say what drew me to buying Hollow Knight- probably a Steam Sale of some sort- but I know exactly what made me play it. I had tried the game out some little bit and gotten as far as the resting place of The Hollow Knight before kind of drifting away. (Yeah, I really wasn't giving it the time of day.) But if there's one thing you should all know about me, it's that I'm stubborn. And ill mannered. So when I saw someone else playing Hollow Knight on a Youtube steam, and they were clearing in a different area to where I was when I last played, (the background was green instead of blue) the petty in my awoke. "Who the hell does this guy think he is- making me look bad? Why, now I've got to reach this green area so I know what's going on! I didn't stop because the game was hard, I can do this!" Which is what sparked my attention, soon-to-become obsession.

Those familiar with the Metroidvania style of gameplay know well the appeal of exploration that opens up in a manner that feels organic. There's a maze of exploration opened up to you not limited by different coloured doors but rather the movement abilities you unlock throughout the game. It required an impressive amount of forethought on the level designer's end to not only intelligently design these roadblocks but to have them comprehensive and foreshadow-able in the early game so players can file away the complication and remember their way back the moment they earn the solution ability. But not every Metroidvania out there goes the extra step that Hollow Knight goes- to combine their movement abilities with honest to goodness battle powerups!

There's another thing unique about Hollow Knight- platforming is not the key most focus of the game. It's actually the platforming combat that steals the show, showcased in eye-poppingly tight and cut-throat boss fights against some of the most impressive grand, dignified and grotesque creates possible to conceived in the nearly monochromatic, simply cutesy whilst emotionally vacant art style. Style, is the word I'd use to describe the game the best. Across it's bug kingdom you'll find so many layers of horror, faded grandeur and primordial blasphemy it's hard not to envision the insectile world of the game as the stage for some sort of grand epic. And in fact- it pretty much is.

Personally I'd always considered one of the highest pieces of gaming artistry to be the Dark Souls franchise for the way it captures fantastic gameplay, memorable set pieces and unique sensation of reward within a deeply woven world narrative that simply could not be told nearly as completely in any other medium. Which is why it is with the utmost reverence that I consider Hollow Knight, a game which derived clear inspiration from Dark Souls along with other properties, as it's equal. Praise I offer nearly no other non-FromSoftware Souls-Like. The story of the Hollow Knight created to hold back the Radiance is weaved so beautifully into the canvass of the world I just want to jump in an experience it all over again everytime I think about it.

Whatsmore, Hollow Knight is complete. So fully realised. It is a story with a conclusion and wrap up that solves every loose end to such a perfect degree that future additions to the story both added a totally new plot thread to play through- largely disconnected to the happenings of the Hallownest- and added another conclusion to the story that ended in pretty much the exact same way. Just cooler. (I think the original true ending is still canon though. For what it symbolically represents.) That freeing aspect made it so that any follow-up could do literally whatever it wanted. Go anywhere. Star anyone. There was no need for the last surviving member of the Hallownest Royal Family to be seen ever again- and yet still we celebrated when we saw our main girl Hornet take centre stage for the doomed 'Hollow Knight: Silksong.'

It's hard to put into words how ravenous fans have been for this follow up- many champion Hollow Knight as one of the greatest games of all time and I don't exactly disagree with that sentiment at all. I think it's a remarkable game with so much to offer I would be a selfish fool not to recommend it. And perhaps that very hunger- the height to which Hollow Knight was foisted upon it's pedestal, is what is standing between us and our game. We know Silksong started life as DLC, but expanding that out to a full game seemed to have required a total reworking that has utterly floored the team- atop with the ever increasing expectation from a people who expect Team Cherry to match a game they literally consider perfection. 

I'm not going to be one of those terminal pseudo-psyche coded naysayers who will insist it simply isn't possible. Expectations have been built so high that Team Cherry are doomed to disappoint. There are so many examples of the buck being successfully risen to in recent years alone. Across the Spider-Verse, Endgame and I hear preliminary reports declare Shadow of the Erdtree is a legendary DLC- the best FromSoftware have ever put out. But those are examples of sheer excellence, and 'sheer excellence' is a heavy spectre to be sitting on anyone's shoulders, let alone that of an indie team. I can't pretend to know what a group of Australians get up to when totally cut off from the Internet, but I know if I were in their position I'd be doing my best Yoshikage Kira- biting my nails until I draw blood, wondering how far I need to stick a that golden arrow up my neck before the problem goes away. Here's hoping that Team Cherry release the game sometime before turning into time travelling serial killer bombers.  

Star Cheating Citizens

 

Star Citizen remains one of my favourite worlds to catch up on, not just because of the crazed amount of research I put into that first demon-sized article about them that I wrote- but due to the fact that I genuinely believe that this has to be one of the longest running games industry lol-cows of all time. To perhaps match the absurdity of Yandere Simulator- although I suspect we might actually a working game out of Cloud Imperium at this point, as opposed to Yandere Dev who I expect to just give up working on the game and announce it's actually totally feature complete literally any day now. There's just really no matching the comedy of basic conceptual errors on the development front that Chris Roberts has stumbled into time and time again which paint a terrible picture for someone who, I genuinely believe, wants to deliver a game. Although at this point, I'll but wanting to keep the cash cow milking is a petty present concern on his mind at all times too. Considering, you know, he's got half his family employed to the nowhere project at this point!

Of course, even though Star Citizen has good and royally scuppered any chance they had of creating that brilliantly effectively open world swansong game that would have supplanted the industry, through pure merit of turning it into such a money-sink hell hole that no casual gamer will ever touch it in a million years- utterly destroying his potential for building fans with even the most well publicised launch in history: that isn't to say there's nothing of value tucked into Star Citizen. I still remember that sneak peak we got at the long belated Squadron 42 campaign mode for the game which looked- I'm going to be honest- really freakin' good! Like a solid Sci-fi themed COD campaign that you blast through on a spare weekend and walk away with the kind of fond memories that last a decade- I would definitely give that kind of game my time of day! Provided, you know, they ever actually release it!

But of course that single player game is not the draw for them- because that isn't where the Cloud Imperium game get off selling their thousands of dollars worth of ships to people in their Alpha which at this point might as well be considered the full game because you ain't getting nothing better anytime soon! Where's the recurrent monetisation going to come into a product you buy once? Nah, they need to siphon your money and funds as much as possible if Roberts wants to keep eating out the lap of luxury for the rest of his natural life- which is why this promising Single Player footage we've seen probably won't start materialising into anything real for at least another year. Until then, the man must protect his baby at all costs.

Which is what leads to a very interesting conundrum involving where the team place their priorities in development. Namely the amount of effort it has recently been revealed that they put into hunting down and removing 'cheaters' from the game with as much prejudice as possible. Now this is nothing new, of course- Cloud Imperium famously have paper thin skin and jealously guard their inner forums like a cadre of degenerate discord moderators, (they probably have a Discord too nowadays, come to think about it) but the fervour of the cheater problem really drove the team into overcharge. Over 600 cheaters have revealed to have been banned in a recent purge- which is valued work for any multiplayer game. Provided the game is finished.

Because you see- Star Citizen still hasn't launched. It still can only be accessed directly from their storefront as part of a 'starter pack' with fluctuating prices throughout the year. These are supposed to be those gooey formative years where the product is given shape and purpose. Systems are ironed out, scope is- well scope should have probably been solved before entering Alpha but this is Cloud Imperium so I guess they're arguing about scope literally every other day- these are the months that should not matter. Of course, bug fixing is important- but you won't find most developers hunting down the riff raff of their Alpha playtests. Then again how many Alpha playtests last multiple years? These are unprecedented waters we tread.

The big 'cheat' which was brutally afflicting the game wasn't really as fundamentally compromising as the old GTA Online cheat engine issues nor the bot spam in Team Fortress 2. All it actually was was an exploit that allowed players to generate vast amounts of ingame currency at little investment of their own- which of course means it threatened the very fabric of Cloud Imperium as a company. How could they possibly allow such a brazen assault at their supposed bottom line as was present in this glitch? How could they go on when such filth dared to undermine the Star Citizen money mill? When people can get what they want without dedicating their entire lives or wallets to the company, that issue overrides all over concerns- because unfortunately that is bottom line of what Star Citizen is. 

The game exists to funnel you into a never-ending cycle of grinding for the sake of grinding. What once existed as a utopian depiction of open space exploration underlying a championing of 'player chase' has rotted and given away to a much more rank and insidious cycle of locking players into loops that incentivises retention and plays up the 'fear of missing out' for the brand new ship the team squeeze out of the increasingly unfocused universe of design which supposedly unifies the brand. There's talent behind the scenes, programmers, artists, modellers- but it feels like there's no head at the top of it all to bring all those pieces together. Even when it comes to design philosophy, everything has denigrated over time to the point where the game feels past it's prime before release.

There was a time when I thought Star Citizen was a scam that was funnelling money out of the dumb and overly excited. There was a time when I considered Star Citizen to be an overly ambitious project undetaken by a team too high on their own supply to realise the pipe dream they'd fallen into. Now I see Star Citizen as a successor to the Grand Theft Auto Online model. A amusement park of promises, pay extortionate prices to test out some preliminary rides, hear promises about how cool the next update will be and then grimace through your disappointment when it doesn't go the way you want it to. Only in that context, where the visage is all you have, wouldn't it make sense to protect that integrity with everything you have?