I know it’ll be worth the improvements, but I’m allowed to be disappointed all the same. I swear they had a November release, so a week or so ago when I tried to find the release date, I couldn’t find it again, and instead just saw Winter 2023. I was bracing for a delay (still disappointed though).
Going from their existing RED engine to Unreal is basically the same idea. Almost nothing from the original Cyberpunk game is going to be easily translated to the new platform. I think CDPR just set their development timeline back by at least 3 years.
Given how massive their game is, I'm doubtful. So much of what they did in the first game will have to be rebuilt. Compared to just reusing most of the original assets and code, this sounds like a lot more work.
Maybe, it might also be easier to reuse portions of the engine in Unreal Engine while using parts of Unreal (like its rendering engine) than you think though. Assets largely I’d expect to be portable or at least comvertable with a custom asset loader.
I’m talking a little out of my ass though, and neither of us is familiar with the code. Point being though, it’s a little different moving engines than rewriting a complicated web server (a project I have been a part of and would not recommend).
I may be wrong, but I think they completely discounted console updates (and probably will do so with PC too). Ellie in VR was something to behold though. Hours of fun.
Yeah, it was amazing. I still haven’t bought the expansion since I only play the game in VR and there was so much reason not to buy it for VR. They have fixed some of it, but even if the original game isn’t really ruined at all, it’s just tough to play now knowing the expansion is out there. So it kinda tainted the whole game even if technically nothing changed for me.
I still have no idea why they decided not to do VR for the on-foot stuff. I don’t know if it was just a cost cutting measure, or if there was some problem they couldn’t sort out. If it was for motion sickness reasons, like not being able to support teleport to move or something, they should probably know motion sickness susceptible people already couldn’t really play the rest of the game. There were some parts that worked ok, their VR demo was ok for most people, but alot of the actual game wasn’t. And even with all the motion sickness reduction options on, driving the SRV didn’t go well for any people I know with motion sickness issues. If it was motion controls they couldn’t support, we have plenty of games with face aim, sure it’s not ideal, but it’s still an upgrade from flat games.
The lack of VR support for in Odyssey, on top of numerous issues at launch, soured me on the whole thing. I know VR is a niche that did not take off so it likely did not make sense for them to prioritize it ; but Elite was the quintessential early killer app for VR, so it stings. Shame, I spent hundred of hours in Elite and would have liked to spend more.
I suppose PC VR can be said to have not really taken off, but there are over 50 million VR headset sales in general so far, that’s pretty good. VR in general is taking off just fine. And PC VR is mostly only suffering from the technical barrier of wireless streaming. Which is clearing up bit by bit, but could be solved with a wireless dongle instead of needing the user to properly configure their router. But newer routers are more and more being able to support VR streaming with their default settings.
While PCVR was mostly abandoned by the big gaming companies, there is still a ton of support from community modders. In the flat2VR community they are up to about 60% of all games working in VR now, about 30% with full motion controls too. So having a VR headset is still getting more and more popular, and being able to use it for PCVR is still getting more and more possible and popular, at some point it’ll come back to the focus of the actual gaming studios too. But for now they don’t have to cuz modders will just do it for free for them if they don’t.
It certainly sucked when VR switched to prioritizing stand alone over PCVR, but I think long-term it will get us to PCVR being mainstream sooner than we would have got there without a focus on the easy stuff first.
The early times of this wave of VR (which really started with the commercial launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive) were very exciting. Lots of “experiences” back then: sometimes mindblowing, often half-baked, always interesting. After a couple of years people realized there was no money in it and lots of them moved on.
7 years in, I’m pretty much over early access promising prototypes and flat screen games being modded to support VR. I want VR-native games-ass games of the caliber of Half-Life: Alyx, or Moss. I want VR support to be a standard feature of any new cockpit-based driving or flying game, not an afterthought. We are not getting the former, and slowly maybe getting there for the latter.
Elite Dangerous is the perfect illustration of this cycle: Frontier started supporting VR very early. My first VR experience was Elite Dangerous on a loaned Oculus DK1. It was mind-blowing ! It was also very very puke-inducing ! Then proper hardware came with the Rift and Vive, Elite had full VR support, and it was fucking great. And now, well VR support is still there, but it’s no longer first class, and slowly decaying.
It’s kind of a nebulous definition, but typically they’re games in which you have a variety of options and systems to complete objectives. So things like Deus Ex where you can stealth, fight or hack your way through the plot. Usually the games will have a robust amount of physics or interaction with various objects so there’s always a variety of things to do in a level.
Typically, the thing that sets ImmSims apart is that they have a number of interlocking systems that allow the player to solve objectives in different ways.
Stealth, Speech, and Shooting are the usual suspects, with hacking, gunplay and conversation trees well represented in the genre.
But generally, it’s a philosophy about designing for extreme player agency.
On one end you have something like, say, Tetris. As the player, you can direct blocks, but you can’t stop them from falling. The game gives the player little autonomy to direct. Blocks arrive and the player places them (or doesn’t) until the game ends.
On the other, you have something like Dishonored, where you can choose to kill everyone or no one. You can choose to accept and make use of the magical powers available to you - or reject them all and fight with only human strength and your own wits. The world itself then reacts to these choices and the flow of the game changes accordingly.
I think Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 can arguably be called an ImmSim thanks to its insane level of player reactivity.
Basically, if your choices as a player can actually alter the game world and your path through the story, thanks to the emergent interactions of interrelated systems… It’s probably an ImmSim.
The part that makes it confusing is that all of that also applies to a stiffer open-world western RPG like Fallout or Elder Scrolls. Nobody’s calling Skyrim (or more recently Starfield) an immersive sim. Half-Life often gets included and that game is completely linear and your three interaction choices for combat are “shoot with gun (including wacky woohoo gravity gun)”, “whack with crowbar”, or “sneak/run past”.
Is Elden Ring an immersive sim?
Honestly, the defining thing that modern “immersive sims” have that “rpg shooters” don’t is usually just “physics gun”. Gravity gun from HL, goo gun from prey, telekinesis in Dishonored. Sure it lets you “use the environment” instead of just shooting the zombie with a bullet, but you’re often just using the environment as a bullet.
Some games don’t even have fucking KEYBINDS, which the most basic of accessibility features.
This will only change when stores (like Steam) start cataloguing these types of features and letting people setup default filters to hide all games without them.
The users have to make them hear that releasing any game without basic accessibility options is unacceptable. This will only happen when the majority is pushing for it, not just those that need the options.
Until then, make sure you leave a negative review and get a refund when you see this kind of thing, even if the game is otherwise good. Pirate the game instead if you still want to play it anyway. They have to be told that this is unacceptable.
I would fucking love to get Nintendo shit off of the switch. And trash every single line of code that run Nintendos online service. Fuck, can Nintendo do even a single decent multiplayer experience?
🙄 screaming monopoly in gaming while stream is a thing is an absurd proposition. Game development has an absurdly low barrier to entry and is easily one of the most competitive markets on the planet. Citing a B tier player who is the most open of the console makers as a monopoly when players like Steam, Nintendo, and Sony exist is insane. Gamepass is a fantastic value, MS is a big reason cross play exists, and people lose their shit if a game isn’t available through steam.
Microsoft is one of the companies innovating TBH and I have no issues getting more games on streaming, console, and my PC for effectively $2.50/month once you convert gold. Easily the best value in gaming I’ve had in 30+ years of gaming.
Not having to buy a$300 outdated phone to enjoy the 5 things I enjoy on Nintendo would be a godsend.
Competition is what causes innovation, the only reason Microsoft does innovate is because of its competition with companies like Sony and Nintendo. You really think game pass would be here to stay without competition? That shits only a good deal because it has to be.
You aren't really giving anyone anything to work with. Plus you call everyone copium for...some reason, so we might as well call you out on fanboyism since you actually remember that Microsoft gold exists
Tell me you couldn’t be less informed lol. Microsoft will let you convert gold into game pass ultimate allowing you to rack up 3 years for like $70. It’s an absurd value and you just want to hand waive it away because it doesn’t support you🤣
But yeah no, I just don't buy any of it to begin with and let the points rot. No interest in getting locked into a system that they'll eventually try to raise the prices on once they muscle out their competitors.
I'm amazed you said these are the best deals you've seen in 30 years. Cause you certainly don't seem to be in my age group. Though maybe you're using the emote spamming to look younger than you are, who knows.
I’ll happily rent most games for absurdly cheap and purchase the few I might play more than once. You can spend significantly more creating a dusty catalog. There is plenty of room for competition 😉
Sims 4 base game is actually already free on steam. I hear from a good friend, not me personally, that it has some great porn mods on the lovers lab site. Some bad mods, too.
I know one of the Long Dark devs – chill AF – and if they are a representation of their company culture, then I would consider this less of a snipe, and more of a business model observation one would make over beers.
But, yeah, it is yet to be seen if Manor Lords is a flash in the pan, or has a long tail (like Paradox games or No Man’s Sky or others).
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