VargasPrime

Glad to hear that it worked out for Playdead, even though other small developers may not have been so confident or fortunate.

All I know is that I will be buying whatever Playdead's next game is, day 1.

Patrick Klepek This is way late, but if you skip any Penumbra games, skip the third, NOT the first. The third game is more disconnected from the first two chapters, since the plan for the series to be an actual trilogy had been scrapped because of publisher problems, but then later they wound up releasing "Requiem" as an expansion. It has some story hooks that tie in nicely with the previous games, but it does away with a lot of the scariness that the first two games had. It focuses a lot more on puzzles and less on horror/story.

The only knock against the first chapter is that there was combat (or possible combat anyway). It's awkward and completely unnecessary, and you can play the game just fine running away from things or hiding.

At any rate, each game can be completed in around 5 hours or so, so it's really worth playing through all of them.

Ugh... why did I keep reading past the article, into the comments?

@mrpandaman said:

@oasisbeyond said:

More Darksiders... Not if it flops. Red Faction died, Saints Row will die, Darksiders will die too. THQ will die as a company. They make good games, but not amazing.

Way to be totally negative.

Seriously, what's the reasoning? That only companies who make "amazing" games can thrive?

How many universally "amazing" games have YOU played lately? I guess just making a good game isn't a thing anymore.

@dropabombonit said:

I'm about 5 hours into Darksiders and I don't get why Patrick loved it so much. Combat feels like a poor mans god of war and all the ideas in the game are just copied from other games but aren't executed well. It reminds me of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow because that game took existing ideas but adding to them and in some cases done it better than the source material. I will keep playing Darksiders but so far it seems like a 7/10 game, good but not great

"Poor man's God of War" is not exactly how I'd describe it, considering that GoW itself is not exactly groundbreaking when it comes to combat systems.

Much of what Darksiders offers can be found in other games, yes. Sometimes better, sometimes not. But the one thing you can't knock Darksiders on is execution. They borrowed systems, structure, and design from other established franchises, but the end result was, to me, a surprisingly solid, consistent experience that wound up being more fun than I had anticipated.

It's not the end-all of action-adventure games, and I don't think many people would qualify it as such, but I think it shocked a lot of people (like Patrick) with just how well executed it was, even if it wasn't wholly original.

Dust looks amazing, and fun as hell. Can't wait to play it.

Deadlight looks sort of like Shadow Complex set in a zombie apocalypse, which I can get behind. I'm sick of zombies like a lot of other people, but if it's done right, it's still a good setting.

Tony Hawk could be good, but I think I Tony Hawk'd myself out like 10 years ago. Not sure if I'd get back into it now.

Hybrid could be cool, but I'm not much into the cover/shooter mechanic, so I'll probably skip. And I don't have a Kinect, so even if Wreckateer looked worthwhile, it's a pass for me.

@Ley_Lines said:

Nah, there is only one game called wreckateer in my opinion. Also this will be the first summer of arcade that

I don't want a single one of these games; sad.

That is kinda sad, if even Dust: An Elysian Tale doesn't pique your interest. That game looks crazy fun, and seeing how impressed the GB team was at PAX just enhanced my anticipation for it.

@thebigJ_A said:

Thumbs up on Penumbra. Before Amnesia, they were the scariest games I've ever played. They're not as good, but you can see they Frictional guys perfecting their craft, and are plenty unsettling.

Ignore combat as much as possible. The devs put it in as a sort of desperate back-up, but didn't yet realize people would use it if it was there.

Patrick Klepek I agree, wholeheartedly, at least in regards to the first two Penumbra installments. "Overture" and "Black Plague" are great bits of horror and storytelling and are most definitely worth playing.

As for the third chapter, "Requiem", it's a bit detached from the first two in that it's a bit more puzzle-centric, and it is divided up into segregated "levels" that you must solve and traverse, rather than one single cohesive environment that you're exploring. The horror aspect of the first two chapters is also severely lacking in Requiem, as you're faced with environmental challenges, but little else to oppose you in your travels. Due to some publisher/developer issues, the intended "trilogy" was instead chopped down to two installments, with Requiem being more of an expansion, and not meant to be a true chapter in the story.

Story-wise, Requiem manages to tack on an interesting ending to the first two chapters, and if you have the time and inclination, there's nothing wrong with playing it, I just found it somewhat disappointing after white-knuckling my way through Overture and Black Plague.

Between the fact that the game is a ripoff of another

and the dubstep shit in the video

I don't know which is going to make me ignore this game more

I don't buy the online multiplayer argument for including DLC on the disc.

When Ultimate Alliance 2 came out, there were free DLC packs you could download so that you could still play online with people who had bought the additional DLC characters, even if you hadn't. Same should apply to all the stupid costume and skin swaps that Capcom insists on nickel-and-diming people for.