I remember them saying that they dont want to do another one in the series because they are looking to innovate and make something truly original.
I don’t remember them saying this, but I remember people speculating that this was a reason. The truth is, if you look into The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx, they prototyped a bunch of different single player games that were cancelled because they just weren’t working, including Half-Life 3. Post-Alyx, in recent weeks, we have evidence to suggest that Half-Life 3 may be imminent.
It’s true they’ve always been distracted with multiplayer games as well, things like Counter-Strike or Team Fortress and I did play them for sure, because I was a kid and I had all the time in the world.
These days I’m not a kid anymore and so when I game I tend to look more for memorable experiences instead of mindless grinding.
Boy, I miss the days when multiplayer games didn’t mean mindless grinding. I play fighting games, and the mindless grinding in recent releases is siloed off to a separate mode that I don’t have to think about; otherwise you’re playing the game because it’s fun and/or because you want to get better at it, not unlock the latest costume. I would love nothing more than for campaign FPS games to come back–the kind that postdated the designs of what we now call boomer shooters–and to come with a deathmatch/CTF mode made out of levels recycled from the campaign, playable online and local. You’d play that multiplayer mode for maybe 5 hours or maybe 5000 hours, depending on how much magic they managed to capture in it, but you absolutely would not have some expectation that the devs must keep updating it. Those were good times, and I didn’t appreciate how good we had it.
Valve is not a normal company. As far as I know they still have their fluid work structure in place where projects are dictated by what the devs themselves feel like doing and are inspired by.
Icefrog (who was the lead developer of Dota 2 - and Dota 1 for many years before that) is lead developing Deadlock as I understand it. It has his fingerprints all over it, at least. It seems enough other people at Valve liked his idea of a twist on the MOBA concept to turn it into a full project.
I feel your frustration but there isn’t really any opportunity cost lost here. It’s not that they decided to make “a game” and chose this one out of all available options. If they felt like they had enough ideas to make Half-Life 3 (or any other single player game) then they would have. It’s just that this is the game they want to make right now.
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I’ve found that some games can still play after you’ve cut them off from the internet (in app settings from the phones general settings) but will no longer be able to display ads (and I assume microtransactions also won’t work then). Which might make some of the options you’ve currently ruled out work for you?
I was just looking at Valve’s publishing history. Their catalog is super small, only releasing games every few years. Aperture desk job was amazing (even if very short and sweet). I don’t have VR but Half Life:Alyx was also very well received. Recent evidence suggests there will be a HL3 sometime in the near future.
Do I wish Valve would invest more of the unfathomable amount of money they’re making into producing excellent games? Absolutely.
Am I going to hold it against them if some of the games they make are money-printing machines? Not really.
without having read any comments i bet 99% of them are people telling you that you shouldnt give your daughter girly games even if it is she who wants them.
I should have been more clear; I don’t like gender stereotypes and I am not pushing her towards anything. I’d be perfectly happy for her to play any game she likes, as long as it has no adds or micro transactions.
I literally typed the description she gave me of the game she wants.
My first though was “Hell yea, another Pillars of Eternity game” then I remembered that Deadfire has been out for a long time and Avowed was announced a while ago.
I’m not a kid anymore, I don’t have time for a deep immersive single player campaign, I want a light casual game I can play a few rounds of to relax after work.
I grew up and decided that games have a place in my life to give experiences, you grew up and decided that they are a source of burst distractions. I guess age has nothing to do with it and it’s just about personal preference.
Some games give you a story that sticks with you and you love them for that (Half-Life, To The Moon, Bioshock Infinite). Some give you an experience that sticks with you but no story to speak of (like Doom and Doom II, which I still play).
What I dislike is having to deal with people in my games. I already do that in reality, thank you very much.
I honestly cannot fathom how people find pvp games relaxing. They're toxic as fuck and their competitive online nature makes them inherently stressful.
Nah, I just type gg at the end. They’re just games, like disc golf, volleyball, or airsoft. I lose sometimes, actually I lose a fuck-ton, but that’s just statistics if the matchmaking isn’t actually the worst. It’s those wild unscripted moments. Coordinating with your buddies. Learning your opponents. Learning yourself.
I get the appeal of single player games, but I’ll just share my opinion: to me the most stressful gaming moments are hard bosses in single-player campaigns. If I get my ass handed to me in a multiplayer match, nbd “gg This is Rocket League”. I’ll get them next time. In the single player you’re stuck though. I’ve gotten migraines because I couldn’t beat a boss and I was stressing over the wasted money I spent on the game that I might not ever finish. Beating a boss after <5 tries is satisfying. Beating it after 20+ feels like getting out of the hospital.
I find single player enemies to be mostly easy and usually it is just a pattern logic that you have to figure out. Online games are just engagements with people who clearly take the game and what happens way too seriously, evident when you don't meet the required expectations (that goes for being bad and better than them alike). I also find pvp games way too repetitive. It's always the same matches over and over again. The same map, the same weapons, the same tactics. The randomness of the matchmaking just adds to making it more of a pointless experience. But ultimately, nothing really changes.
After two young kids I’ve pretty much abandoned multiplayer. Singleplayer, even deep ones, can be be paused, saved, interrupted and come back to later. And I’m wanting to go back to more distinct experiences, whereas I find stuff like league or live service games overfills time. I’m trying to avoid sandbox games too currently as well. Crusader kings, Stellaris, civilization are great, but im trying to concentrate on the more story driven games backlog right now
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