ll_Exile_ll

Another one I still think about every once in a while is fourthline. Pretty sure they had like 10 burners they made after that as well.

I am with you on this to some extent. I have always hated when games are dismissed for "not being a game" because they don't have combat or fail states or whatever.

My problem with this game specifically is that it puts on the pretense of being an action game when it really doesn't need to. As far as I'm concerned, everything about the game that takes it closer to be a more traditional video game makes it worse. They pad it with lame puzzles that barely take thought or effort and most combat scenarios have way too many successive enemies. The combat isn't deep or engaging, so throwing 10 consecutive guys at you is just so transparently trying to inject as much "video game" into the experience as possible. They even go as far as having extended combat encounters in multiple dream sequences, which just seems so obvious as padding.

I think the game would be better if it got rid of all puzzles and 90% of the combat. It should have just embraced the fact that it's really a cross between a walking simulator and an interactive cinematic narrative. I like both those genres and I would have liked this game a lot more if it wasn't trying so hard to pretend like it's a regular action game so often.

A lot of the discussion about it at the time, aside from its mental health portrayal, was focused on its unique status as a AAA-like indie game. It was seen as leading the charge in a new wave of self published high production value games with a modest scope and middle ground price point. With that never really becoming a major trend and now the sequel having the full backing of Microsoft, that aspect is completely gone. Now it's just a AAA game that was in development forever and looks nice while lacking in depth or scope.

@av_gamer: To me it always felt like they showed the game as part of the Series X hype cycle because it was simply one of the few they actually had to show, rather than it being a game they wanted promote on its own merit. Fact remains it hasn't gotten a real push in the lead up to release, which is far more important than the fact it appeared in some press conferences four years ago.

I already played this last week. It's a cute little game with some fun dialogue, but not an overly memorable experience. In the "Cat Game" genre I definitely preferred the setting, tone, and overall vibe of Stray over this.

@av_gamer:

Especially, since they put so much of their faith and energy behind supporting the game, while they abandoned others.

Am I missing the sarcasm here? It feels like this game has basically been sent out to die. The idea that it has somehow been pushed hard by MS does not match reality.

CDPR being an industry leader in crunch culture seems to indicate things may not be much better there for game developers.

I think it's as simple as the fact it's cheaper to operate in Poland than it is in Tokyo or Texas. Poland is a growing game development locale thanks to CDPR, so it's full of developers with AAA experience and you can produce a AAA quality game for less than you can in Japan or North America.

This just seems like a return to the broadcast format where you'd get an autumn half season, holiday break, and then a spring half season. And that was just the best case scenario, often you'd have sporadic broadcast schedules with maybe a few weeks of regular episodes and then weeks with repeats (remember those?) thrown in here and there.

Like, if the "2025" block of episodes happens by March that's basically a classic September - May length TV season but starting and ending at different times of the year. Not crazy, but I personally wouldn't be a fan of returning to the days dragging a TV season out over almost a whole year. I already wait for all the episodes to be out before watching with the shows that will do like 8-10 weeks of week to week episode releases. Turning that into 8 or 9 months instead of 2 would be disappointing.

I played this game 25 years ago! I don't need any excuses.