Greg “DoubtingThomas396” Decker
I’m not going to throw shade at Red Dead Redemption, even if it is basically Grand Theft Auto with worse shooting mechanics. Instead, here’s a list of notable releases for anyone out there who, like me, would rather play anything but the third Red Dead game.
Luke & Rebecca is a 16-bit heist game for the Nintendo Switch. Details on it are thin on the ground, but it looks like a top-down stealth action game. I generally like two-dimensional stealth games a lot more than three-dimensional ones, so this one might be worth a look.
Lonk's Adventure boasts 100 different endings, but I suspect that’s in the same sense that Oregon Trail had 100s of endings: Most of them involve ignoble and embarrassing death. Come to think of it, that sounds like it could be fun, under certain circumstances.
Posable Heroes is the game for people who like games that involve counting frames of animation, but aren’t fast enough to do it in real time. You have to figure out how to animate the main character in order to solve puzzles and defeat bosses. Something about the trailer makes me think they combined SUPERHOT and Little Big Planet. Sold!
Guns and Ghosts is a wave-based shooter. Ghosts have haunted a village, and the only person who can stop them is you and your vintage collection of firearms. Sure! Why not?
Odd Island piqued my interest by being a side-scrolling roguelike shooter without resorting to pixel-art graphics. The trailer earns points for good use of music, and for evoking the kind of manic, explodey goodness that I want from time to time.
The big title for me this week is Bendy and the Ink Machine: Chapter Five. I’ve been following The Meatly’s BioShock-inspired horror game ever since the first episode came out last year – going so far as to use PAX East 2018 as an opportunity to interview the developer. I’ve bought each chapter on its respective release day, and they threw one heck of a curve ball at us at the end of the last chapter, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they wrap this up.
It’s free for people who own the previous four chapters, which is nice, but the fact that I’d pay money for it anyway is the reason why Bendy and the Ink Machine: Chapter Five is my game of the week.
Felix “Gwent Down to the Crossroads” Threepaper
Time and again we are told to keep politics out of games and just focus on whether a game is fun (whatever that means). But you can’t enjoy a rollercoaster when you are worrying about how it was built.
It’s hard to ignore reports about working conditions at Rockstar, especially its excessive crunch. Maybe they call it Rockstar because if you work there, you’re more likely to be dead at 27. When such reports are juxtaposed with boastful factoids that are supposed to denote Excellence, like the amount of effort that went into animating horse testicles, I wonder: Was it worth it? Sure, Rockstar may not be the only studio that does crunch (which is actually more depressing) but it has form, going back to the previous Red Dead and L.A. Noire. Besides, Rockstar is loaded – GTA V is the most profitable entertainment product ever. If Rockstar can’t afford to institute better work practices, who can?
Further, how much is the content of games influenced by the conditions under which they are made? How can I expect a game to respect my time if it didn’t respect its makers’? What sort of stories and characters get written by 20-somethings who don’t have or see families and don’t have time to do anything outside of work?
As for the game itself, regardless of the new outlaw systems and conversation choices, will we get the patented Rockstar treacle-ish character movement, with the turning circle of a small limousine?
What about the story and characters? The Western genre is where America goes to mythologise itself, and similarly, Rockstar goes there to be Serious after yuckin’ it up in GTA. Unfortunately, Rockstar’s Serious face also involves a lot of hammy stereotypes and puddle-deep plotlines. Will there still be dozens of errand-boy sidequests, but this time with more crafting?
I should also point out I’m a bit over shooting. The open worlds I’ve enjoyed so far this year – God Of War, Spider-Man – have not involved me firing guns.
All this is to say: Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t my GOTW.
My GOTW is coming out on PC on October 23, and later on Xbone and PS4. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is Gwent with a story mode. Gwent has been my sleeper hit of the year, enticing me finally to do online multiplayer after decades of resistance. This time you’re playing against AI, so they’ve made some tweaks to cover the fact that you can’t bluff like you can against humans. There’s also some isometric exploration between matches, but it’s more Gwent, and that’s enough for me.
Runner-up is Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Heist, coming off the back of a patch that just introduced New Game Plus mode. I could complain about how this Black Cat DLC was so thoroughly set up by the main game that it felt like they could have included it, but hey, it’s more Spider-Man.
Here's the list, now in release-date order!
PC
-
10-22
- 3Buttons
- Beat Boxers
- Blades of Worlds
- Disgaea 5 Complete
- Find Differences
- Kontrakt
- Light House Puzzle
- Lonk's Adventure
- Pixel World
- Rainbow Cult
- Running Naked Simulator 2019
- Skeletal Dance Party
- Sky Flight
- Symphonic Mayhem
- Tank Bung
- Thunder Kid
-
10-23
- Abha "Light on the Path"
- Bomber Crew: USAAF
- Buddinpals - Take One Home With You !!
- Cities: Skylines - Industries
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys
- Fleet Star V
- Headliner: NoviNews
- I'm an adventurer
- Light Bearers
- PAW Patrol: On a Roll
- Poker Tower Defense
- Spintires: Mudrunner - American Wilds Edition
- Stay Out of the House
- Surrogate
- The Cells
- The Greater Good
- The Horologist's Legacy
- Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
- Virtual Villagers Origins 2
- Zero spring episode 1 English translation version
-
10-24
- Broken Metal
- Citadale - The Ancestral Strain
- Combo Jumper
- Data mining 2
- Echoes World
- Lethal League Blaze
- Medieval Battle: Europe
- Mojo 2
- Mojo 2: Mia
- Pumpkin Death Garden
- Puzzles for smart: Birds
- Red Blue
- Shrines of Sacred Essence
- Super Jigsaw Puzzle: Space
- Super X Chess
- Thanksgiving Day Mosaic
- Tiger Tank 59 A-Gun
- Time Splatter
- Witch of the Woods
-
10-25
- Another Hardcore Game
- Best Of Fight
- Crazy Machines VR
- Eternum EX
- Kimmie Jong On Nukes the World
- Loca-Love My Cute Roommate
- MOLOCH (Zero)
- NAMELESS
- One-way Ticket
- Party Hard 2
- Pocket Rogues
- Posable Heroes
- Red Beard Labyrinth
- Super Blasting Boy
- Tank survival game
- TITAN HUNTER
- TOK
- Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded
- Warrior Fighter
-
10-26
- Alchemy Classic
- Bendy and the Ink Machine: Chapter Five
- Boat Basketball
- Cab Driver Commander
- Click the Business
- Count Logica
- Guns and Ghosts
- Horror Souls
- Idle Dungeons
- Inside (Garnudo Games)
- Ladies
- Navalny: Posledniy miting
- Nice Shot! The Gun Golfing Game
- NIGHT FALLEN
- Odd Island
- Quiver Dick's Terrible Tale For Terrible Parents To Read To Their Equally Terrible Children
- Radio Violence
- Romantic Journey
- Run Dant Run
- Sabbat of the Witch
- SquareWorld Unpixeled
- Strid
- Suitchi
- Tactics & Strategy Master:Princess of Holy Light
- Talk to Yuno
- The Ditzy Demons Are in Love With Me
- Way-z
- Zen Vs Gravity
-
10-27
- Hell Girls
- Hentai Memory Puzzles
PS4
-
10-22
- Halloween Forever
-
10-23
- GRIDD: Retroenhanced
- Just Dance 2019
- Marvel's Spider-Man: The Heist
- Nickelodeon Kart Racers
- PAW Patrol: On a Roll
- Spintires: MudRunner - American Wilds
- Spintires: Mudrunner - American Wilds Edition
- Word Logic by POWGI
-
10-24
- Skyhill
-
10-26
- Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood
- Chicken Range
- My Hero One's Justice
- Red Dead Redemption 2
PSVR
-
10-22
- Mind Labyrinth VR Dreams
- Neverout
-
10-24
- BugsBoxVR
Xbox One
-
10-23
- Just Dance 2019
- Nickelodeon Kart Racers
- PAW Patrol: On a Roll
- Project Highrise: Architect's Edition
- Spintires: MudRunner - American Wilds
-
10-24
- Skyhill
- Midnight Deluxe
-
10-26
- My Hero One's Justice
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Switch
-
10-23
- Bass Pro Shops: The Strike - Championship Edition
- Cabela's The Hunt: Championship Edition
- Just Dance 2019
- Nickelodeon Kart Racers
- WindJammers
- Paw Patroll: On a Roll!
-
10-25
- 1001 Ultimate Mahjong 2
- 7 Billion Humans
- Aqua TV
- Black & White Bushido
- Car Quest
- Chicken Range
- Dracula's Legacy
- Eternum Ex
- Fairy Tale Puzzles ~ Magic Objects ~
- Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle
- Insect Planet TD
- Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Heavy Burger
- Luke & Rebecca
- Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso
- Pinstripe
- Puzzle Wall
- Storm In A Teacup
- Super Hyperactive Ninja
- Word Puzzles by POWGI
-
10-26
- 911 Operator
- Halloween Pinball
- My Hero One's Justice
3DS
-
10-25
- Insect Planet TD
Vita
-
10-22
- Halloween Forever
-
10-23
- Perils of Baking: Refrosted
- Word Logic by POWGI
-
10-26
- Chicken Range
RIFT
-
10-22
- Megadimension Neptunia VIIR
- No King No Kingdom VR
-
10-23
- Big Breezy Boat
-
10-24
- BATTLE X Arcade
-
10-25
- Witching Tower
Vive
-
10-22
- Megadimension Neptunia VIIR
-
10-23
- Big Breezy Boat
-
10-24
- BATTLE X Arcade
- Mixed Estate
-
10-25
- Witching Tower
Comments
The awkward position about Rockstar's crunch is that you may want to skip the game entirely to punish the publisher for flaunting such work hours, but in doing so you are ultimately making all that hard work on the part of the developers for naught. You either justify the suffering or you make all the suffering pointless.
Granted, there've been a lot of people to come out to Rockstar's defense, but there's also been some quiet and anonymous reports saying it really depends on which department you're in. This further lends to the notion that silence or lack of complaints are not always a result of things being fine, but people feeling pressured to remain silent. From what I've gathered, Rockstar has improved, but conditions are still less than pleasant.
On the other hand, with products like games, I think there are degrees to which crunch is unavoidable. Recently a whole bunch of indies confessed to their games being completed without crunch. That's great, but indies rarely have stakeholders to worry about, and with huge publishers there's always the matter of releasing on time for either a holiday or end of the fiscal year (hence January through March also being incredibly glutted). When you have to make a deadline there may be personal pressure, not just pressure from the top, to work extra hours.
Does that make it okay? Eeeeehhhhhh.... I mean, Days Gone was delayed again, and this time to April, pushing it into the beginning of a whole new fiscal year. However, it could be that Sony's first-party releases this year have not only been successful, but exceeded expectations and will continue to do so (both God of War and Spider-Man are two of 2018's biggest AAA releases, so I can see Sony shrugging at the loss of a Q4 2018 game that already is lacking in hype and would be releasing in an immensely crowded month. Better to push that to Q1 2019).
Anywho. All of that to say the situation's a mess, and my pessimistic attitude still anticipates Red Dead 2 to be loaded with the classic awkward controls and glitchy disasters that Rockstar is pretty well known for. Even with this news about crunch, the vast majority of people looking forward to Red Dead aren't going to be reading news sites that often. The game will sell gangbusters regardless of the conditions it was made in. We can only hope the continued pressure of the press and enthusiasts on social media will change things, but it requires changing the mental attitudes of corporate leadership in America* as a whole. I don't see that happening soon.
Anyway, once I get paid I'll no doubt be snagging the Spider-Man season pass. I think the manner in which Black Cat was teased in the main game is bullcrap, but I like the game enough to reward Sony for awful business practices because I'm the worst kind of consumer that feeds the habits of awful, uncaring corporations.
*
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Lonk's Adventure? Lonk? With Nintendo being so friendly with DMCA I'm not sure I'd court the great eye with a name like that.
As an aside, Disgaea 5 Complete for PC is $10 off for the next couple of weeks. At $30 that seems a really good value, assuming the port is well done.
RDR2 falls right on the GTAV hype meter for me. I still have yet to buy and play GTAV, so ...
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
I loved Lonk's Adventure! Rescuing Princess Zulda, defeating Gonnen. Classic.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
Are they on an adventure for the searching around Highrule looking for the TryForce again? I can only do that so many times.
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
If Lonk is successful, maybe they’ll release that game that Rabbit is always talking about on the Podcast: Super Merio.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Yeah, there isn't crunch in Japan seeing as their culture is seemingly centered around endless crunch in all fields.
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
I worked in High Tech in project-based work for 20+ years. There was *always* a crunch time in every project. Most projects had artificial deadlines within the timeline that caused multiple crunch periods. I didn't like it and when I managed projects I tried to avoid them as much as possible but they seem to be baked into the process.
So while I empathize and sympathize with the Rockstar employees, I do wonder how much of the conditions are typical computer project conditions vs exceptionally bad working conditions.
All of which is moot. As I don't own a console right now, I'll not be playing RDR2 anyway. Unless, that is, I end up getting a PS4 to play Spiderman
Steam: moggy123
I disagree. The people who made the game, in particular the lower-level employees that are, reportedly, treated the worst, have been paid for their work. Whether their wages are fair or not is a topic for another discussion, but choosing not to buy the game, i.e. voting with your wallet, does not affect the fact that the developers got paid for making it.
Disclaimer: I do not own a console, so I don't even have the option to vote with my wallet ... at least until Rockstar decides to release the game on PC, if they decide to. And if that happens, I'll have a tough choice to make. RDR1 is still my favorite game of all time, and the thought of experiencing its prequel is very enticing. Assuming Rockstar does decide to release it on PC at some much later date, I guess the advantage would be that I'll have plenty of time to read reviews from people who played and loved RDR1 and can express how RDR2 compares to it, which is to say that if RDR2 doesn't match the immersiveness of its predecessor, it will make my choice easier.
Steam: [GWJ]MeatMan | "Now I know where to go if I have a hankering for testicles." –Higgledy
I think this misses an important point about the economics of making games. For a company like Rockstar, labor is paid for by the success of the previous game. If previous Rockstar games hadn't turned profits, then there would be fewer people working at Rockstar to make Red Dead Redemption 2. By not buying Red Dead Redemption 2, you will be hurting the employees that are working on the next game (presumably Table Tennis 2) , because that project will be the one to feel the budget pinch. In other words, you can't punish Rockstar without hurting the people who you're trying to help. Consider what happened to the team that worked on Agents of Mayhem: The game didn't sell, so they got canned.
Now, it may be worthwhile to hurt the employees who will get the axe if Rockstar can't afford to pay people because they don't break even on Red Dead Redemption 2. Maybe Rockstar's leadership will connect the dots and improve conditions (which is possible, but no large organization changes quickly), and the laid-off employees they may land on their feet elsewhere Creative Destruction is part of any industry that relies heavily on innovation, but you have to consider whether the short-term pain is worth the long-term gain-- is what's created better than what's destroyed. It may be worth it, but to quote FDR in Annie, people don't eat in the long-term.
TLDR: It's more complicated than most people think, and there are more tradeoffs than might be obvious.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
I dont have enough faith in capitalism to believe in voting with my wallet.
Seems better to vote in political elections instead, and try to unionize as much as possible.
And complain, sh*tstorms is a thing these days I have heard. Complaining is probably an easier message to understand for companies, than why something sold 5% lower than expected, which could be for a bunch of reasons. Not that I would expect much from it either.
Of course nothing prevents one from doing all of these if they want to. Not buying something you want, just seems like the least effective choice - due to unclear signals sent, and unpredictable results - and the only one that "harms" yourself at the same time, by denying you something you wanted.
Only release that currently interests me this week is Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales regardless.
It is easy to have morals when you don't have to give up anything to have them.
Rockstar had already driven me away with the flagrant misogyny of their games, so sh*tty work practices are just gravy at this point.
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
Oh my, did alt-right sh*t hit the fan on this one...
Do I even want to know?
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
Probably not. Some PR person from their company tried to make a joke on Twitter in relation to the whole scary news about Trump wanting to ‘erase’ transgendered.
Which could maybe have been ignored as a bad attempt at humor, except their twitter profile got a history with similar stuff before. Then they added a non-apology which imo seemed worse than the original post.