domineeto

I think the most cynical period was the PS3/360 era. Introduction of MTX and DLC led to a lot of bad experiments (DLC true endings lmao and purchasable currency for single player games. PC ports were bad across the board and many don't work to this day without fan mods, PS3 ports were also bad. Corporate acquisition of industry standard tools and transition to new architecture meant Japanese devs had to do tonnes of work to get their games running, and many of the games from this time were strained more than usual dev cycles resulting in uneven experiences. This is also the grey/brown/piss-filter era. The Wii was a dumping ground for shovelware, even if it did have a few diamonds in the rough.

Admittedly things are pretty whack in the AAA space right now but at this point I pay attention to about one AAA game a year, everything else I play is smaller, more fun, more original and creative than ever. Games like Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium. Nintendo and Capcom are in their bag putting out classics on a near yearly basis and Game Pass is the best deal in gaming, it's not all bad but the long dev cycles of modern games really mean we get games that are too big and too boring for the majority of the play time.

12 Minutes for me

50

YEAH RORIEE

@ntmBig fan of one and two, some of the finest adventure games ever made. I've been holding off on 3 and watching a long play of it because I didn't like the direction the trailers suggested. Some of my favourite bits of I & II are exploring these massive and intricately detailed worlds on the fringes of civilization, I think the transition from pre-rendered to real time graphics (on Unity no less) really hampers the environment design and what the devs could accomplish on what I assume is a tight budget. It's kinda sad because I think modernizing some elements of the first two and ending Kate's story could have actually been really good but this looks like a mess on so many levels.

I wonder if other Drew reaction gifs will catch on

I recently came back to Splinter Cell Chaos Theory doing a no bullet ghost run. It feels like a different game, I am used to playing the games so slowly, exploring every area and completing every objective - I remember clocking 60-90 minutes on the first level. I was inspired by seeing Hitman speedruns - running everywhere and tossing stuff around to draw attention away from myself. It's impressive how many levels the game works on. The limit of not being able to shoot out lights leads to some really fun and interesting encounters because you have to find something to throw at them or use electric disruptor pistol alt fire. I'm also limiting myself to 3 loads per level - it's really fun.

@csl316: Uncharted 4 was so disappointing to me because it had the elements to be legitimately good, the rope and new stealth mechanics, make jumping in and out of combat and climbing around really fun and rewarding but it's pretty clear that the game wants you to stay behind cover and play it the pop'n stop way if you play on anything higher than normal. It's an alright game (all Uncharted games were alright in the gameplay department, but the fourth time around the formula is getting pretty tired and the seams are starting to fall apart for me)

As for must plays, Hitman is on my list, Tricky Towers, Dark Souls III and Samorost III and The Witness. Inside will probably make it when I get around to playing it and hopefully Obduction delivers!

For some reason this makes me wish we had some sort of historical Hitman game were you take out historical figures, I guess like Assassin's Creed but not trash.

A Swiss train through the Alps would be really nice. To me, there has always been two sides to Hitman locations, lavish places hiding a dark secret. I really enjoy that dichotomy, and I think the old games have a bunch of ideas and locations IO should definitely return to and iterate on.