It was an unfortunate reminder that Konami clearly doesn't see Silent Hill 2 (or any of its beloved properties, really) with the same eyes that its audience has seen it for years.
The fact that they thought that this is an appropriate level of quality for what is considered by many to be either the best or at least one of the best horror games of all time is incredibly disappointing, but ultimately not surprising. My reaction to this this has been mostly "sigh, of course".
I've seen some people throw blame in Bloober's direction, but the responsability of choosing a developer that was not way over their head with the project lays on Konami, as does the responsability of providing enough time and resources for the project.
Konami clearly wants to have their cake and eat it by intending to get the results that Capcom has gotten out of their RE revival while putting one third of the effort and the care, and at this point all I can say is that I hope it doesn't work out for them.
It really sucks when the owner of the thing is the one that cares the least about it, what else can you say really.
waaaay out of the timeframe you have specified (it is a 2020 game that is still actively updated) but still with the same vibes, I'd check out Easy Red 2, as it scratches that specific itch of a WW2 shooter with scale. It is maybe too open at times for my taste but it is one of the very few modern games covering that niche. It does have optional squad management gameplay elements but you can ignore those in favor of playing a simple soldier, and the AI will do those jobs for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ziR73NhHjY
hhhhmmmmm I don't know, I'm not sure I'm interested in discovering more details
I was interested in the general what, not so much on the specific who's or how's, if that makes sense
But I won't fully knock it until I try it
watch From Software snipe them with the release of the DLC for Elden Ring too, I bet they were waiting for this news to release it on the same week lol
I'm not sure how I feel about this one, because I think that a large part of my enjoyment of the first one was unraveling the mystery of what had happened to the world, and that's all but gone now. We'll see I guess.
I just hope that these companies don't have the gall to complain about a lack of manpower or expertise availability a few years down the line. Because by coordinating all these layoffs, they are currently creating a vacuum in which a lot of professionals in the industry won't have any chance to acquire experience and develop their skills, and many will probably have to change their career trajectory significantly just to ensure their economic well-being. And once they see how greener the grass is outside the videogame industry, let me assure you, they won't be coming back.
If you are not willing to stick with your professionals through your thin, you don't deserve their availability and effort through your thick.
You are walking and see a very high place, that you can't reach with your basic jump, so you decide to continue on your way.
Eventually, you get the power of flight. Your mind goes back to that high place, "oh shit, now I can get there and see what's in that place!".
Multiply that several times, with several paths, with different powers/gadgets/abilities/whatever, and that's Metroidvania.
The nature of the obstacles and the tools that unlock those obstacles doesn't matter, if the world is structured around blocked paths and tools that unlock them in non-linear ways, that's Metroidvania or at least Metroidvania-adjacent.
Reading through it, his suggestion seems rooted on the idea that Metroidvania carries implications in terms of setting, perspective or combat, which is a complete fabrication of his mind not grounded in reality. It's 2024, the people that would know and care about the Metroidvania tag know very well what that tag implies; your "revelation" that Arkham Asylum is also a Metroidvania has been commonplace in discussions for a decade.
This addresses a confusion and an issue that don't exist, and the tag is so standard at this point that changing it would not catch on and would create way more problems than it would fix.
One plan that we’ve always had since the early stages of development on PHARAOH is to expand the size of our campaign map as a free update, and to introduce even more factions and cultures to the game.
and one has to assume that Greece would have to be one of the expanded parts... But that was the original intention before Pharaoh fell on its face so who knows if that's still on the table.
I mean, now that the video streaming industry has shown us how the endgame looks like for subscription models, you'd have to be crazy to want that for the videogame industry.
Whatever short-term gains you can get in convenience or price by buying into their penetration stage are not worth contributing to leading the hobby down that road even an iota.
You can say that again, going faith allowed you to do so much anime shit... Blasting down from the sky with thunder, growing dragon heads with a million different powers, sacrificing your sanity to become Cyclops from X Men on steroids...
And meanwhile, INT is just "blue arrow", "blue arrow, but stronger", "blue sword", "blue sword, but stronger" and "OP Kamehameha that ruins the game", lol.