With all the news coming out the past couple days about The Veilguard, I’m starting to piece together a suspicion that Bioware is picking things back up where they last had decent ideas: early to mid 2010s.

I think Veilguard will feel like a stuck-in-time successor to Inquisition, stale by that period’s standards and grossly outdated by today’s, especially in the wake of Larian’s enormous success reinvigorating the kind of game Bioware has forgotten how to make.

That’d be great if it was true but there have been rumors that development largely reset when they left. Guess we’ll have to wait until they release credits to know for sure.

the devs given any reason to doubt them

I agree that it’s super early for much speculation, but Dan Houser and a few other key players left Rockstar after RDR2. He and Michael Unsworth (who I think also left the studio with Dan) were two-thirds of the GTA 5 and RDR2 writing team. Without their involvement, I fear a scenario where the core single-player narrative has less gravitas, around which much of the detail and realism of the gameplay and game world has previously resolved, and the company leans more into the success of its GTA Online style gameplay.

I’m sure they can still be wildly successful with that formula, but it will be a huge disappointment for me personally.

Shame. Shortly after it’s release Best Buy was selling it for like $10, which is such a potent indicator for the state of its reputation on release. Anyway, I couldn’t pass it up. I encountered tons of bugs, but they were all superficial and didn’t impact the gameplay or my progress.

I loved it. World building and atmosphere were grade A, and I even liked Johnny Silverhand and his relationship with V. Like I said in the post, I’ve been waiting for new game plus to replay, but I guess now I’ll just dive back in without.

Thanks! I looked at Graveyard Keeper a while back, might give it a go.

I finally tried out Hardspace Shipbreaker. I’ve played a few hours and just finished the reactor tutorial. So far it’s that diamond in the rough I’m always looking for: an engaging but chill gameplay loop and enticing progression. Something I can turn on to relax and zone out with noncommitally, but that isn’t just an objective-less sandbox ala No Man’s Sky.

If anyone has recommendations for other games that fit the bill please let me know!

As a relatively elder millennial (1987), I’d concede the title of last true pre-internet generation to Gen X. My family got AOL dial-up when I was in 6th grade, which was a little behind the curve compared to my peers, but not much. So I certainly lived through a seminal transition period as the internet developed and became…what it is today.

But the hallmark experiences of the pre-internet times, payphones, paper maps, coordinating with others, I only did so in my limited capacity as a child. I had a cell phone by…10th grade, I could at least print out MapQuest directions, etc.

I remember a lot, but didn’t truly interact with most of it.

Ah interesting, I’m not connected to the letsplay scene, didn’t know they had clout there.

I don’t understand what Bloober is doing to secure these partnerships. I enjoyed Observer for the visual spectacle, and I appreciated The Medium for what it was trying to do despite it feeling mechanically and thematically incomplete.

I’m not attached to Silent Hill so I’m not terribly invested in their remake, but figured it would be a fair proving ground for them to grow up from the ambitious-but-flawed style that has marked their other games. Maybe this deal is a sign that Skybound has already seem something they like?

Interesting that you call out story and visuals, I’d say those are the two elements that actually do rise above standard fare. Not necessarily the graphical fidelity (it’s great, but not ground breaking), but the art and production design, use of colors, they’re all magnificently cohesive and create some really stunning environments. Story’s more subjective but the performances were commendable, the theme of honor and victory was consistent and tragic, pacing was nicely balanced.

It’s the actual gameplay that I’d say was…fine. Combat is tight and varied, but eventually repetitive, and the open world loop is exhaustingly uninventive.

Finished Paradise Killer early last week. I liked it a lot, it got to be pretty addicting uncovering new pieces of the mystery. Whenever I had to put the game down, I’d come back to it thinking “Oh shit, I discovered x last time I played, can’t wait to see how that pans out.” The one negative thing I’ll say is that there’s not a lot of actual detective work on the player’s part. The actual mechanics of the game are pretty much just running back and forth over the island, talking to the same characters, and chasing collectibles. But I enjoyed the loop, so it worked out.

Started up Moonlighter for a low-commitment game. I’ve played about 10 hours and enjoyed it so far. It’s got a pretty well-balanced progression loop (explore the dungeon, sell your stuff, afford a small upgrade, get a little further in the dungeon, sell your stuff…) which is a big draw for me. Not sure it’ll keep my interest to the end but I’m fond of the time I’ve spent.

Spent some time with The Ascent, wish I liked it more than I did. I was looking for a good pick-up-and-play game, but the save mechanics in The Ascent are…not clear. If it supported a save anywhere/anytime feature I probably would have gone a lot further.

But never being quite certain where I’d pick back up killed my motivation to play too many times.

Well, there’s an audience for it. I love long-form critiques, to the point where I’m generally less inclined to bother with anything less than around 45 minutes because it’s just not enough time to explore anything with the kind of depth that interests me the most (that’s a pretty loose rule though, some topics can be incredibly interesting but just don’t need a long-form analysis).

This essay actually covers about…9 games in the series I think? (1, 2, Tactics, Brotherhood of Steel, 3, New Vegas, a mobile game, 4, and 76). That includes all DLC as well, so it averages about 1-1.5 hours per game (variably, BoS and the mobile game both get significantly less time). And it is split into chapters with the YouTube feature.

I do know that’s still not appealing for everyone. I appreciate the top comment on the video: “Sweet baby Jesus.”

Yeah, I feel like I gave the impression this is just a full gameplay video or something. It’s not, it’s a critical analysis.

He does essentially review each game, but he also talks about stuff like the different paradigms of art in games: narrative, gameplay, choice, environmental design and storytelling, as well as their intersections (or their lack). For this series especially, he highlights those elements in contrast between the Interplay/Obsidian games and the Bethesda games.

I’m not actually interested in playing the games, but I love this kind of critique.

Haha ok, just curious. You said pleasantly surprised on both counts, which I took to mean you were happy it didn’t win any awards.

I’m super excited about playing Spider-Man 2 (as well as Alan Wake 2), but I’m also a patient gamer so just keeping an eye out for even a little bit of a sale.

Did you…hate Spider-Man 2 for some reason? (Haven’t played it myself yet)

100%. More Subnautica-style linear progression, much much less live-service-style chaos.

Weird trailer. Not really sure what they were going for with mashing up highlights of the movie but with…unknown custom character in place of the movie characters.

An honest-to-goodness single-player Arkane game, with Dishonored 2’s caliber of level design, would probably be the catalyst that finally convinced me to get an Xbox.

I was almost relieved that Redfall arrived as such a dud because I didn’t have to make this decision on that game’s behalf. Still boggles my mind Bethesda took the minds behind the greatest modern immersive sims and assigned them a live service game. What a waste.

I’m not terribly familiar with the franchise personally. I had twice tried and failed to get into Fallout 3 back when it was released, and I’ve seen a video or two elsewhere (I think Hbomberguy did a video on a couple of the games a while back).

This video goes through every single game in the series (including Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel) sequentially, starting with the main game and then each expansion/DLC. He talks about story and gameplay, but also about the stories of their productions, the various influences that inspired the general feel of the universe, successes and failures, and how the identity of the series shifted as it changed hands.

So to answer your question, the highlight is that I feel like a certified expert without ever having really played any of the games. It’s also just ultimately 9.5 hours (7.5 confirmed) of high quality critical content.