I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong on this. Part of the problem is new IPs are risky, and I’m sure market research is telling the big publishers that you’d better not suddenly downgrade your graphics on an established property. Nintendo’s very comfortable in this space because they haven’t really gone this route with first party. They’ve even managed to thread the needle on Mario, Metroid, and Zelda by having both 2D and 3D offerings.
My wishlist is Final Fantasy Tactics, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Xenogears. A Xenogears remake likely isn’t ever happening so I’d be happy with a remaster, and it’s practically an open secret at this point that an FFT project is in development. It getting the Tactics Ogre Reborn treatment would be lovely, but what I really want is an orchestrated soundtrack. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get cancelled. 🤞
As a genre, 4X is still kicking around, but I’m not even sure if SMAC is beloved enough to get the treatment. Good voice acting would be essential.
Just heard of this guy for the first time in the chatter around reviews for this game (which has been…interesting, to say the least). Similar tastes to mine, so that’s promising for me for Veilguard. Speaking of which, sounds like I should be trying Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.
Here’s a second person, then. It shouldn’t be too surprising; anyone that works in games media will tell you that new releases are what drive peak engagement.
RSS can be similar to their Twitter feed, with a curated set of highlighted games once a certain amount of reviews are in. I already get a dozen feeds that have reviews in them anyway, and I often read them even if I’m not already interested in the game. Why not an aggregate? I’d subscribe in a heartbeat.
I doubt anyone knows how much of the playerbase it makes up, but the WoW subscription effectively went up to $20 a month for anyone that’s using in-game gold to fund it.
There are certainly people that specifically like that kind of storytelling that puts the onus on the audience to do some digging. It’s why Malazan Book of the Fallen is popular, for example.
It didn’t do as much for me in Elden Ring, but I enjoyed it in Dark Souls 3 and it’s why Demon’s Souls has one of my favorite moments in gaming. Wouldn’t have worked with more explicit narrative.
I don’t think there’s ever been more game demos than there are right now, even going back to the PC shareware era. I can’t even keep up with all of them on Next Fest these days, much less play any significant number of them.
Also, if your desired game is on GOG, they have a friendly return policy. That hasn’t been a thing since the compact disc era started, so it’s nice to have again.
I forgot I had this on my list. I’m neck-deep in Metaphor ReFantazio right now, but I’ve got to try this soon (along with at least half a dozen Next Fest demos). Emperor Rise of the Middle Kingdom is one of my favorite games.
Did the same, although damn is this release ever tempting me. I was done with the first Hades pretty quick, but I could see this one easily sucking me in for 100+ hours. Felt to me like they improved damn near everything, and the vibe is divine. Amelia Tyler is a treasure.