Evolve stage 2! Very fun and very unique game. Their battle pass monetization scheme fizzled out and they took down the servers. There may be some community run servers going, but getting onto them for a small player base that’s going to beat my ass just doesn’t seem worth.
Yes, the two hour limit affects game design. Based on what I’ve read about Blue Prince, it probably didn’t affect that one much at all. The business model always affects the game design. When games were expecting to be rentals, the first few levels would be front loaded with the best that the game had to offer, and then later levels would be more phoned in. In the arcades, games would be louder to catch more attention, they’d be harder to make you put in another quarter, they’d reduce downtime to get the next person on the machine, etc.
When games were expecting to be rentals, the first few levels would be front loaded with the best that the game had to offer, and then later levels would be more phoned in
Still happens today. First impressions matter, budgets are finite, and sometimes reviewers only play the first few parts.
sometimes reviewers only play the first few parts.
Not just the reviewers unfortunately, games shed players at every step, it's why most games are front-loaded and fall off the further you get into them.
I always find it interesting to see the percentages drop on Steam achievements when you progress through a game. The drop-off curve is very different from game to game. I always wonder about the people who drop off just before finishing the game.
I always wonder about the people who drop off just before finishing the game.
They probably don't want the game to end, there's a certain finality that comes with an ending. I've had this happen to me for a few games and books but i usually power through.
Nintendo games do that a lot. Most Mario games (some of them in Charles Martinet’s voice), StarFox, Metroid (with occasional thumbs-up/waving at player), F-Zero…
IMHO, two hours is not nearly enough to get a feel for a game. At least, not for the sorts of games I tend to play. I spend longer than that just working through initial technical issues, configuration, and (in games that have one) the character generator.
I have to conclude that Steam’s return window is either intended to be just enough to see if you can get it running, or as much as Valve could talk publishers into tolerating.
imo the 2h refund window is not so you can judge if you’ll like the game, it’s so you can judge if you can tolerate it long enough to form an informed opinion
there’s been a few games i played under 2h of and thought to myself “this is terrible, i’m not having fun and i actively dislike playing this”, Steam’s no questions asked refund was a cure for regret i’d have felt if i had to see that game in my library forever. Games that i know take much longer to judge i borrow from a friend who’s into fitness and a girl, that’s what saved me from buying Starfield or Avowed
Two hours is the length of some high-budget media; eg, movies and plays.
I know that some games are slow-burn, but that’s something people have to weigh themselves. Ideally, you’d enjoy the slow burn itself. When I tried to “force myself through to the Good Part of Nier Automata”, I ended up hating the whole thing.
My favorite mod for Fallout 3 was the one that got rid of the awful “green” filter they slapped on it. You’d be amazed how much better the game looks. If this is how Oblivion Remastered looks I’ll wait for a similar mod to come out.
Any sort of sequel to the Tribes series. Talk about a franchise that had, at one point, a massive amount of potential that was completely squandered!
It has momentum (the franchise, not just the gameplay mechanic. Lol) and the visuals and world lended itself to be turned into something with great storytelling of they really wanted to make it into a story as well. Plus, it was fun a hell!
Ascend is technically still online, but any sequel that gets “announced” every one in a while is a lost cause from the start
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Aktywne