Ainu20

I've been in Japan the past few weeks (currently still in Tokyo) and Dragon Quest is simply everywhere. You can find the typical slimes in every claw machine hall, every Donki store, the DQ section in every game store rivals the Nintendo one, etc.

It's a monster of a franchise over here.

@ThatOneSneak Not even remotely comparable of course, but nonetheless it wouldn't be great for the market.

On one hand, Sony increasing its portfolio of Japanese developers would be very welcome news, on the other, I never like seeing multiplatform studios getting the acquisition treatment. All things considered I hope this remains a rumour.

@Shinnok789 You're probably right, but it's not exactly shocking that a company only reacts when they start to feel it financially, is it? Whatever the reason might be, if AC Shadows ends up being a better and more polished day-one experience as a result, that can only be a good thing.

The customer base voted with their wallets and it looks like Ubisoft got the message.

@themightyant I know exactly what you mean and as a long time viewer of Skill Up's channel, I definitely agree he can dislike games to the extent that his reviews stop being as balanced as they usually are. I continue to appreciate him as probably my favourite reviewer, but I do wish he could sometimes take a step back and let the heat of the moment pass, so to speak.

But like you say, it's his opinion and he still goes to great lengths to explain it, so fair enough. What annoys me more is that he is starting to attract a following that treat his reviews as gospel. The sentiment seems to be that he's the only one with any integrity and the rest are all shills.

That's not how opinions work either, the rest of them aren't any less valid. I think his disclaimer at the start, that it's just his opinion, is just as relevant to that line of thinking than it is to those who start hating on him.

@Carck Those games were notionally still sports games, as ridiculous as that sounds! I don't think any of them were straight up dating games, but I admit I didn't actually get any, ehm, hands on experience.

Feels like they've finally arrived at the genre that this IP was meant for. Only took them 28 years but here we are.

@ro-kurorai I get the theory, but if Larian can put Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox without Game Pass, then Sony can do the same with Helldivers. If the demand is there, Xbox players will still purchase games.

Why would it need a Game Pass deal? Not that I think it'll happen anyway, but if it does, it definitely wouldn't be on Game Pass.

@ThomasHL Somehow I doubt Nadella will change his mind. Xbox's leadership have been winging it for so long that he said "enough is enough, this is how it will be from now on."

@Vault_Mcfly It couldn't hurt Sony to have slightly more variety, but it doesn't help your argument when you include such silly statements like 95% of Playstation exclusives being generic open world games. Looking at releases of the last 5-ish years, only 3 IPs could be counted in that category: Horizon, Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima.

This is up against a list that includes Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo, God of War, Astro Bot, Helldivers, The Last of Us and borderline first party titles like Demon's Souls and Returnal. The situation is clearly much better than the picture you're trying to paint, but I'll grant you that a good single player shooter would be welcome. I doubt that the answer is bringing back a franchise that had run its course, whose developer has moved on to vastly more successful things, however.

Yooka-Replaylee is the best terrible remake name I've ever seen. I love it.

@Keyblade-Dan You're definitely not alone in that, it's one of the more absurd recent developments on here, combined with completely fictitious alternative histories where certain older series were wildly successful and beloved.

People on here claim Horizon is being milked to death and we need more Killzone, when there were no less than 4 mainline entries and 2 handheld games in that franchise over a period of 9 years. There's so much stuff being said in comments on here that simply has no basis in reality.

It's not like Sony have never let external devs work on their IP, but they will be very careful in their choice of partners. They're obviously protective of their IP, just like any other company. This appeal seems a little frivolous.

The whole thing is a mess. A colleague of mine who lives like 15km from me still has the €10 option in the app, while I don't even have that. Only differences are that he's on iOS and has Extra while I'm on Android and only have Essential, but who knows.

It's clearly a substantial improvement in detail density, vegetation and lighting, and that's only in stills. In motion, I expect it to be an even bigger difference. It's true to original colour gives it a more unique atmosphere, but that's purely an artistic choice.

The update makes it a little more digestible. It's a shame that they don't get a crack at another game as a team, but good to hear they all kept their jobs.

@DennisReynolds That sounds a bit harsh. At the end of the day, you can't buy every game and even if you could, you can't play them all. Someone might've looked at this game's price and thought, I can buy two other indies instead and support those devs, and then get this one later.

As a side note, I remember getting Tales of Kenzera which was pretty similar and released around the same time, because I felt that studio would need the support more. That team also ended up shutting down, so sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, it all crashes and burns anyway.

@Gewertzx Your posts on this subject lack any sort of nuance. Suggesting the developers didn't do a good enough job when it is among the highest rated games of the year, just because it didn't find commercial success, doesn't make any sense. There's no need to keep repeating it either.

There are obvious other reasons for this apparent failure, such as the unusually high price point for this type of game (seriously, they usually go for half that price), the expectation of deep sales for Ubisoft games and the fact that 2D metroidvanias are still a pretty niche genre after all. It all points to Ubisoft misjudging the market for this type of game, rather than any sort of failure on the dev's part.

And honestly, I'm wondering if it even failed at all. It sold 300,000 copies within 2 weeks, that's a fairly promising start for this type of game. If their expectation was that it would sell millions, well then Ubisoft are even more out of touch than I thought. Not every metroidvania can pull a Hollow Knight.

@get2sammyb Feels very similar to what happened with Hi-Fi Rush. Smaller game, lower price point, universal acclaim, team closed down.

Big AAA games are becoming unsustainable, double A games are becoming more rare and we're seeing critically acclaimed smaller titles fail as well. Do we need a smaller industry, releasing fewer games? No idea what the answer is here.

It pains me to say that I'm part of the problem. Despite loving metroidvanias and having every intention of playing this, I still haven't bought it. There are just so many games and this had a fairly hefty pricetag for this type of game.

It might not have made much of a difference, but still, I wish I had bought it now. Based on my impressions of the demo and the game's reception, the team deserves better than this.

@ZeroSum CoD wasn't really that big of a deal yet back then. When Killzone 1 released, and even when that infamous Killzone 2 trailer aired, we had only had CoD 1, which was more of a cinematic WW2 shooter in the vain of Medal of Honor.

Killzone was actually positioned as a Halo killer, despite the stylistical differences. Obviously, it all went down very differently, but that was how it started.

For what it's worth, I actually thought Killzone 2 was excellent back then, but the series had sort of run its course by the time Shadowfall released. Perhaps it's worth bringing back to life at some point, Space Marine 2 style, but if it never happens, it's worth remembering we got 4 mainline entries out of the franchise.

There are clearly drastic changes going on behind the scenes at Ubisoft, but at least some of these seem to a step in the right direction. Calling what they were offering an "early access" phase was pretty farcical, so I'm all for removing it.

@PuppetMaster I'm sure you'll get people digging into Guerilla's staff history and come up with a bunch of people that left who were the "real talents" behind it all.

@ecurb7 Agreed. We all have our personal preferences but, by and large, the choices made by Sony's first party studios have paid off, both critically and commercially. No one can confidently claim that Guerilla should abandon Horizon and return to Killzone, beyond personal taste, because the reality simply paints a different picture.

@Gewertzx It increasingly feels like commenters (on this site and elsewhere) just see what they want to see so they can complain about it. It's just relentless negativity and misery. Some of us just want to talk about video games, but it's getting harder and harder.

I really don't get where these Ubisoft comments come from. Is that really what people think of when they hear "player freedom"? I'm thinking more along the lines of immersive sims, something I could definitely see ND include elements of in a next game, especially if it's the rumoured sci-fi game.

Do we really see ND suddenly create a big open-world RPG? I can't see it.

Not much to go on here, we'll just have to wait until we get an actual announcement. The idea of ND broadening their gameplay scope does sound appealing, they've basically been iterating on the same gameplay fundaments since Uncharted 1. A change of pace would be welcome.

@GeeEssEff Sadly it seems like it's become almost impossible to simply talk about games. Almost every discussion gets hijacked by shouts of woke or DEI or whatever and it's exhausting. I honestly don't know what the best way to deal with them is. Ignore them and hope they go away? Or call them out and contribute to the derailing of topics?

It's a sad state of affairs. I'd like to think we're witnessing the death throes of a movement that's fighting a losing battle and therefore getting louder and louder. No idea if that's accurate, but I'm trying to stay optimistic.

That seems a bit harsh. I've only played The Medium by them and while that game disappointed me after its promising start, it was definitely not *****. Average at worst I would say. They're clearly ambitious though, so good on them, let's hope they can build on their new-found success.

Edit: it's a little ridiculous that the swear filter doesn't let me repeat a word that appears in the article's title.

It's a shame to see another studio go but not a huge surprise to me. Tales of Kenzera was unfortunately a pretty mediocre metroidvania.

I bought it after hearing Abubakar Salim talk very passionately about it on a couple of podcasts, and I truly believe he was being genuine. While that did come across in the game's setting and story, it definitely didn't in its design.

I know one is Japanese and the other Chinese and they only have one shared word in the titles, but Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty both being really similar games feels a bit unfortunate. Wuchang almost looks like Nioh 3 and Wo Long, well, basically is Nioh 3.

And let's not forget about Wukong.

A shorter and more linear game in a genre that has so many insanely long games is perfectly fine. With how little we know about it though, we should probably be a little cautious with our expectations.

@starbuck2212 Call me crazy but I actually 100%-ed Valhalla and all of its DLCs just last month. It's unquestionably a bloated game, but I found if I limit myself to just one of these types of games every couple of years, it keeps the fatigue away. There's a weird sort of comfort in the bloat and repetition.

I think this one was purely accidental, they just should've had a better vetting process. I'm assuming most Japanese would instantly see that this was a no go. Ubisoft has seen the criticism and are taking action, I take that as a positive.

Some people are suggesting cancelling the game, which is an insane suggestion and I can't really wrap my head around why anyone would want that. What they need to do is release it in a good state (which hopefully the delay will take care of). There's always a place for these massive open-worlds. A lot of people complained about Valhalla, but that sold a ton of copies and there were plenty who loved it.

Paying a signficant extra sum just to play a couple of days early is one of the most pointless phenomena in modern day gaming - at least in my opinion. I will still pay full price if I really want to support the studio, but extra to play early? Not a chance.

That Kingdom Come Deliverance price is crazy. Less than a coffee!

@PuppetMaster I'm also looking forward to this change of pace. I didn't play 7 but I did complete Celceta, 8 and 9 and despite loving them, constantly switching characters to try to max all their skill levels got a bit tiring.

Anyway, it looks great, naval combat looks like a fun addition and these guys can't do much wrong at this point.

Never played the original but I tried to get into Siren Blood Curse multiple times. One time I made it about halfway through the game.

Incredibly unsettling atmosphere but I'd struggle to call it a good game. It's just a chore to play.

@Frmknst I don't share your opinion that Redemption is the only good one, love me some Bloodlines, but I do have very fond memories of it. That mid-game jump was pretty insane back then. I remember the combat being pretty damn frustrating though.

It probably shouldn't be taken too seriously, but carrying the entire video game industry? As in, the biggest entertainment industry on the planet, with numerous games that sell dozens of millions of copies across a wide range of genres and a vibrant indie scene that is bursting with creativity and innovation, being carried by a single man who occasionally releases a triple A game?

Yeah that makes total sense.

@AgentMantis Knowing which character most of the complaints are about and the nature of the traumatic events that define that character's appearance in the original game, just makes the entire "controversy" even more perverse.

I'm not sure if it is ever a legitimate complaint - I can't think of anything - but in this case it absolutely isn't.

They weren't exactly subtle about it. Not sure who would fall for this, I'd like to say no one but that's probably a bit optimistic.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this, I didn't think Bloober were capable of it. Now I'm actually looking forward to giving it a go, which I wasn't really planning to do.

Hopefully it does well so Konami actually considers creating a new Silent Hill that isn't a pachinko machine.

Am I reading this wrong, or is the conclusion of the article the opposite of what Konami said? Konami is saying the new style made the game too easy, the article concludes that the old style camera gives you a better view and thus makes things easier.

@UnlimitedSevens I think the current iteration of Ubisoft has huge problems and they need serious changes, but it would be a very sad day for video gaming if they were to stop existing. They have such a rich history dating back to the 80s, full of memorable games and IPs. It would be a big loss.

We don't need them to go away, we need them to do better.

Nothing wrong with a bit of co-op with friends, it makes almost every game more enjoyable. As long as the single player experience isn't impacted, I'm all for it.

Having said that, I doubt they're in a position to spend extra resources on this at the moment, they need to focus all their attention on the core experience first.

Happy to announce that "Fortnite and the Epic Games Store have hit new records in concurrency and success" and made billions in revenue, but still needed to lay of 800+ people to be financially sound.

Does anyone actually believe a single word coming out of all these exec's mouths? I'm sure all those who lost their job are delighted to hear about all the milestones and peaks their ex-employer reached while they were still working there.

@ChrisDeku Those FF13 trilogy scores are wild. An average rating of 97% across all three games. That's just utterly insane if you stop to think about it.

@playstation1995 Why? I feel like Sucker Punch has been on an upward trajectory with their last few releases, and I don't see why they couldn't continue in that direction. They have the right idea here.