I was actually really excited by the pre-rendered cut scene that wasn't cel-shaded. I thought they were going to ditch the cartoony aesthetic and try moving the franchise in a different direction. But then it switched to in-game footage, and it looks indistinguishable from footage of any previous BL game. Something about the art direction just looks like it's stuck in 2012, and not in a fun way.
Generally, I like cel shading. I think it's maybe the issue I have is more related to artistic choices; a lot of the designs are very chunky and low-detail. It still looks very distinctly, unmistakably like Borderlands, but it doesn't look like there's been any significant improvement since BL1. If you told me this was a DLC pack for the original 2009 game, I'd probably believe it.
The newer visuals in the cinematic had me thinking that maybe Gearbox is trying to do a soft reboot after how poorly the movie was received.
What in the fucking shit? I didn’t make it past the logo with that obnoxious song blasting. Is that the real trailer? I’m assuming I’m not the demographic this game was intended for.
That song sounds like what AI would spit out if it was told to make a song that sounds like an anime intro that includes every fucking cliche from a superhero team up.
My GOTY personally. Left a really strong impression. Combat is an absolute joy, and the boss fights are my favorite since Sekiro. Story and atmosphere are incredible, you can at times really feel that this is a studio accustomed to making horror games.
They totally nailed it, in other words. Great post-release support as well. Can’t wait to see what they do next
This is purely conspiratorial but I think given the studio’s notable previous controversy, they probably excluded it because Wukong has such a prominent presence this year.
Other than that, yeah it just doesn’t make sense to me. Nine sols has better sales and reviews than other games being honored
The artwork looks great to me, but I can’t really see anything amazing game mechanics wise from the trailer. What do you think makes it GOTY for you? (I’d genuinely want to give this game a try)
For a differing opinion, the artwork is great, but as a metroidvania it’s below rate for my taste. I went four hours with the game and didn’t see any new enemies and virtually the same environments. In this genre, that’s a long time to go without seeing something new.
Maybe I went in with the wrong expectations and should have looked at this as a platformer/2D action game. The combat is certainly the centerpiece of the game, but that wasn’t enough for me.
Oh, the mechanics are superb. I also didn’t see it from the trailer, and originally got the game based on the art alone lol.
But the gameplay feels absurdly good. The main hook I would say is the talisman system. When you parry attacks, you build up charges of what is essentially an explosive that you can then use an another offensive option. Not only that, but it’s applied via a dash, which is a movement option (and can be used to do some cheeky sequence breaking outside of combat, if you’re into that sort of thing in these games). There’s an upgrade tree with several options for it that affect gameplay in a huge way as well.
Other than that I mean, I just like everything about the game. The story was well constructed and emotional. The characters are well designed, especially the bosses who are not just enemies but important characters in the story. The boss fights themselves as I mentioned. Music got me going. Environments are jaw dropping.
To give voice to the other commenter who bounced off the game after 4 hours, it has overwhelmingly positive reviews on steam but even among the good reviews a common complaint is that the game takes a fairly long time to spin up. There’s a lengthy linear section before you get some more freedom of exploration, and even then it never becomes the game’s strongest point. It also takes a long time to get certain essential upgrades. I think this is a good thing in terms of boss design, but can feel like somewhat of a slog if you’re experienced with metroidvanias and really just want your basic dash and double jump etc.
It’s a long game, took me around 40 hours. But I enjoyed it very much in the beginning, and continued to enjoy it more as I progressed and unlocked things. I went in with no expectations however, and was surprised as the game organically developed from “cool little project I’m supporting because I like the genre and the cat is cute”, to “possibly my favorite action game since sekiro”. I hope I’m not doing a disservice by setting expectations too high! But in the end, yes I was left feeling like it was that good
40hrs seems like a good chunk of time. I think I collected everything in Hollow Knight in 60hrs, so this sounds encouraging in terms of money’s worth. From the comments it does sound enjoyable. A game from long ago that I played for the art was Muramasa on the wii, but I remember never finishing the game and selling it. I will give this one a shot!
There’s this theory that if an infinite amount of Bored Apes make games for an infinite amount of time at one point they’ll make a decent one. I don’t buy it.
TBH, I really wish he would’ve just shut up and let the gameplay breathe for a while. They started the showcase explaining how this game isn’t going to hold your hand, but then spent the next fifteen minutes over-explaining every little detail, lol
Note here how little handholding there is. This is a great puzzle because there is no handholding. Note in this scene specifically that we are not handholding. Now let’s go ahead and describe handholding…
Probably the best cozy game that I’ve played in recent times has been Thank Goodness You’re Here. It’s an incredibly quirky and zany romp through a northern British town full of lively characters and great visuals. The soundtrack is honestly probably one of the best OSTs around in recent years, too. Your only controls are movement, jumping, and slapping things to interact with them.
The entire game can be finished in about 3-ish hours depending on how often you stop to just interact with the world. I honestly can’t recommend the game enough, and I’m not even English.
Because people are fucking stupid. It’s the same reason Disney is just mass producing marvel and Star Wars trash. And the rest of the film industry is afraid to gamble on original content now.
The bottom of the cash-printing barrel has been found in entertainment consumerism. And I’ve a feeling it’ll never go back to what it once was was.
I feel like this problem might be somewhat endemic to the US?
In my experience, US culture in general is a lot more positive about everything. Like, if someone from the US is not praising the living shit out of something, that means they didn’t like it.
Whereas here in Germany, it’s usually the other way around. If you don’t find anything to grumble about, that’s the highest form of praise.
Obviously, US culture isn’t one massive blob, the extremely positive folks are probably just those I notice the most, but maybe that’s also what the video author is fed up with.
Well, and then people from the US tend to also be a lot more positive about companies in general, presumably a remainder from Cold War propaganda. The journalists/entertainers from Germany and the UK that I watch, do criticize games quite directly…
Interested how the map expansion will work in multiplayer.
Concerned about the era resets.
I like what they appear to have taken from humankind (eras, leader swaps, outposts/yowns, map elevation?) and old world (tile improvements culture bomb)
Also concerned about how the maps seemed to just be cities, no gradual domestication of the world with farms, mines etc.
What resets? The impression they gave was that you keep what you’ve already accomplished when moving to a new era. (It’s always possible that I misinterpreted something, though. I guess we’ll see.)
There was something said (maybe by a youtuber?) about upgrades merging with your town centre or something on a new era (because so much is specific to a single era). Almost like playing 3 games on the same map.
It also implies that tech disparities will be reset twice a game…not sure if that is good or bad.
From my quick search and bad memory, it can be played solo, but it looks like combat requires a group to enable all the feats and abilities. Doesn’t look like they’re implementing a solo build that can do it without some serious grind. But I’m sure someone will game out a solution.
I will probably still take it for a quick spin if the reviews are good, but as an old dude who can’t dedicate time to MMOs to be good at them, I’d just rather all games be made to suit my particular tastes. /s
Great video. I hope more stealth games learn from Freelancer and create gameplay where making small mistakes don’t induce complete fail states. I like stealth games for the moment-to-moment gameplay and for the puzzle of figuring out how to navigate a level unseen for that 100% rating, but I also hate stealth games for the constant reloading.
Ever since playing Disco Elysium I’ve started thinking more and more about the fail-forward design philosophy and the general desirability of making failure interesting instead of inciting save scumming. It’s a problem in a lot of games, but none more than stealth games, I think.
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