Do We Need a Soulslike Genre? [Video]

[henke]

The always-excellent Mark Brown just uploaded a video on the topic of popular and unique games spawning their own genres, and I think he makes a lot of great points.



I do agree with the bottomline that we shouldn't be too precious about new games sticking to the established "rules" of a genre.

Brown suggests that the deliberate combat, with attack warm-ups and stamina-management are the main distinguishing features of a soulslike, and I agree. My own idea for a soulslike is an FPS where use of your lasergun and lasershield would be limited by an energy-meter, and powerful shots would take a bit of charging up.

[Gryzemuis]

What is the game at 11:40 ?
Oh, it's Bloodborne.

Looks nice. Too bad I won't play it until it is available on a PS-emulator in 2023.
(FYI, I've read that Demon Souls is now playable on an emulator. Whenever I have time to mess around with emulator software I might give it a try).
====

On topic: I think Mark Brown is correct. But what he says is also not very new. What he says is: don't follow other games too much, or the new game will lack any originality or freshness or even fun. Duh.

I think one problem is the fact that games cost a lot of money to develop. And therefor need investors to put money in. And investors rather play safe and make back double their investment, than risk their money to make something "groundbreaking". Too bad someone like Gabe Newell is not into making games anymore. He probably doesn't care about money anymore. He could just make a different game he would really like. Or Tim Sweeney. He's only interested in rendering technology, not games.

It's like with books. The most interesting books were not written because the author wanted to make a lot of money. Or even just make a living. They were written because the author wanted to write a particular book. I'm sure indy-games are more like that. But unfortunately lack of money has a much bigger impact on making games than on writing a book. Even making a good movie can be done a lot cheaper these days. But making a good game is gonna cost ya.

I know exactly what game I would like to make for myself. I would love it. I'm sure there would be more people who'd love it. But most gamers will think it's boring. (I don't care much for combat). And therefor there will never be budget for a game like it.

[Thirith]

On topic: I think Mark Brown is correct. But what he says is also not very new. What he says is: don't follow other games too much, or the new game will lack any originality or freshness or even fun. Duh.

He's more specific than that, though, juxtaposing cloning and more creative ways of drawing inspiration, and how these can and should be different from one person/team to another. He tends to have a practical element in his videos, and I'd definitely say that this one goes beyond saying, "Don't just copy, duh!" for a dozen minutes or so.

[faetal]

The original soulslike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdLX6Ibdnyc

Has 2 things which I think any future soulslike games would do well to consider - dismemberment & key combo special attacks.