I really wanted to like it more because they made some really cool choices in the design of it. I can see why it didn’t sell well, but it should have at least been more influential
Live service games have been failing constantly, so unless the change is happening already I don’t think they’re deterred. That perpetual revenue stream is some exec’s idea of a lottery ticket.
The one hit kill is an incredibly meaningful choice, and I feel like it drives a lot of other decisions as well. It forces the player to be completely unburdened by the weight of their actions, killing without a thought. The second you fret about your next move, the flow is interrupted, and your survival chances drop.
And since you spend so little time on any single enemy, that drives decisions about how success is measured, etc etc. The similarities fall into place when you hew very closely to the single hit kill mechanic.
I don’t fault Ludic at all for the similarities here, it’s an innocent case of carcinization. If you’re going to make a game whose loop is so tight that you can boot up the game and enter an extremely satisfying flow state in a minute flat, you make something like this. I’m definitely going to check out Akane next.
I’m not the guy who can tell from a steam store page whether an indie game is a success or not, so maybe you’re right but I don’t have a dog in that race. I’m more focused on how well they conceived the idea and managed to add nothing that fails to serve their vision.
I should have included that. I didn’t want anyone to think I was selling them something, I was just moved to talk about this game in the spur of the moment.
My Bethesda rant goes something like this: “they think the ideal video game is when you can treat everything like action figures, make anything happen in any combination just to see it happen, bash em together, pull them apart, make them kiss, make them join every team and do every thing, do whatever you want, and then fuck off because it never meant anything”.