THREAD OF HYPE

[Starker]

I have not played Journey myself, but I've seen parts of it played by others. Certainly, it seems to be more closer to Proteus than to Gone Home, but exploration and figuring things out and piecing them together seems pretty central to Journey too. Sure, there's no concrete mystery to figure out and a lot is left to your interpretation, but at least to me it looked as if it was more about the journey than the destination.

Perhaps they should be called "journey games" :P

The way you see Journey probably depends a lot on how you define exploration games as well. For me, as someone whose player type is almost a pure explorer/spade, exploration games are games where curiosity drives you sideways, not forward. And I know I'd explore the hell out of Journey whereas someone with a different player type might make a beeline for the end goal or seek to find other players.

[Thirith]

I see what you're saying, Starker, but I think your impression of Journey isn't altogether accurate. It's not about whether people go straight for the end goal or not, it's that there simply isn't all that much to discover in Journey. There are a handful of identical upgrade items to collect, but it's not the kind of game where you find lots of unexpected nooks and crannies (unless I simply didn't discover them - there is usually one place that gives you some cryptical clues about the game's lore, but that's it). The environments are beautiful, but they are also quite uniform, with one set of dunes looking pretty much like any other. It's more about *being there* than it is about *exploring*, to my mind.

And yes, I hope a moderator moves much of this discussion to the other thread, as henke suggested, because it's not really about hyped new games at this stage.

[Sulphur]

Have you guys noticed that Journey's classified as an 'art game' on Wikipedia? And that art games are a subset of (actual classification here) 'serious video games'? That's some pretty creative labellifying. Me, I'd have gone with a brand new genre like 'third wave avant garde defloccinaucinihilipilification', but that's probably why people frown at my efforts to categorise things sometimes.

[Starker]

For me, exploration is about more than just discovering game mechanics or finding secrets. For example, I spent a lot of time in Shadow of the Colossus just riding around and looking at the wildlife and architecture, taking in the vistas, and collecting powerups. If that's not possible in Journey, sure, it might well be that I have the wrong impression about it, but from what I remember there seemed to be more to Journey than just a lifeless desert.

[Thirith]

@Starker: It's not a black and white thing. There are some touches of what you describe, but much less so than in Shadow of the Colossus. You won't find a neat little ruin or a secluded pond in Journey. The environment is beautiful, but it doesn't feel like a real place so much as it does like an archetype or a mood - "desertness", so to speak.

Some of that is in the eye of the beholder, though; I enjoyed the thing you describe about SotC but didn't find much of that in Journey, but it might feel pretty different to you.

@Sulphur: Personally, I'd just call the genre "First-Person Frank".

[N'Al]

https://www.usgamer.net/articles/dar...rst-teaser-now

[Pyrian]

Have you guys noticed that Journey's classified as an 'art game' on Wikipedia?

It's classed as Adventure/Art game on Wikipedia. And Action/Platformer on Metacritic. ...The only one of those I'd take issue with is "Action"...

[Malf]

Wotever; Flower most certainly isn't a walking sim.
There's a lot of light puzzling, and some definite challenge to be had.
Also, you...
fly.

And I don't think anyone's rushing to call it a flight simulator.

[Thirith]

Don't be silly. It's clearly a flower simulator. A flower petal simulator. A flying flower petal simulator. A third-person flying flower petal simulator. Clearly.

[Jeshibu]

If it's a simulator why don't I have a turn on engine button?

[Brethren]

I see Red Candle's follow up to Detention is out - a game called Devotion (not related to the previous game as far as I can tell). I think I'd pick this up purely based on the strength of the previous game.

[EvaUnit02]

MS won't be forcing Obsidian and InXile to develop for Xbox.


https://twitter.com/TWTHEREDDRAGON/s...59899896004608
https://www.pcgamer.com/phil-spencer...aming-in-2019/

[N'Al]

This is it, no reason not to get a Switch anymore!

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...tual-successor

[EvaUnit02]

This is it, no reason not to get a Switch anymore!

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...tual-successor

If you had a choice between this and Pokemon Sword/Shield, which would you pick?

[Pyrian]

'Koob's Headliner is coming to Switch, too!

[EvaUnit02]

"Defence RTS" from Petroglyph (ex-Westwood) called Conan Unconquered, Q2 2019. Reportedly similar to "They Are Billions".

[EvaUnit02]

Please be true.
Halo the Master Chief Collection PC is Inbound, Tech Journalist Claims; Supposedly Getting Close to Release

[demagogue]

I like the look of this game Cloudpunk, like a poor man's Cyberpunk 2077.
A little bare in places, but I'd like to fly a car around an environment like that.

[N'Al]

If this isn't a reason to buy Devil May Cry 5, I don't know what is.

https://youtu.be/8Uv6TCmjkoU

[Sulphur]

Isn't it? Keep in mind that only comes packaged with the deluxe edition, though. Standard edition owners can buy it separately.

And a PC Master Chief Collection sounds great even if it's been more than an entire freaking decade since Halo 3 came out. Considering I've never felt like owning any Xboxen, I'll take it. I still wanna see how they salvaged Halo 2's rubbish ending.

[N'Al]

While Halo 3 is my favourite of the original trilogy (still prefer both Reach and ODST to any of them), the game does actually expect you to have read a (web) comic set between the end of 2 and the start of 3. I did not, which means story continuity was completely disjointed for me.

[icemann]

Reportedly similar to "They Are Billions".

Which going by the visuals (of "They Are Billions"), is a tower defense game, not really an RTS. So more of stopping hordes of enemies, than building up a base, gathering resources and then attacking enemy bases.

How come no'one's making C&C / Warcraft / Dune 2 style RTS's anymore? I don't get it. I absolutely LOVE those sorts of games, and I'm certainly not the only one.

[Twist]

A spiritual successor to Quake using the Quake engine:



I'm more excited for this game because of skacky's involvement. For those of you who don't visit the Thief FM forum, skacky is the crazy talented author of fantastic Thief FMs like Shadow Politics, Between These Dark Walls, Endless Rain, and most recently, The Sound of A Burrick In A Room.

While the trailer focuses on action and gore -- as trailers often do -- I'm sure Wrath will feature plenty of atmospheric non-linear exploration and discovery gameplay.

[Brethren]

Skacky's Quake levels are also incredible and worth checking out. I was amazed in general at some of the stuff the Quake community is putting out these days, it's very impressive. Just massive, huge towering levels with tons of AI and complex architecture. I hope we see some of that reflected in the levels of this game as well. Can't wait.

[Jason Moyer]

If they capture the weird level design of Quake 1 (as opposed to every "retro" FPS that seems to think Doom/Quake played like Painkiller) I'm 100% onboard. I'm probably 100% onboard anyway, based on that trailer.