"This looks like the Insomniac that's been missing for way too long," is Patrick's quote on their most recent trailer. I've heard a few people on Polygon say that this is looking like the old Insomniac. So which part of Insomniac is the part that's been missing? The humor?

Disruptor was, I suppose, a little more serious with some tongue-in-cheek humor. I don't know. It was the 90s, so it's hard to look back at that and call it "serious."

And of course there was Spyro and Ratchet & Clank which were more lighthearted and goofy, obviously Spyro being down that vein than Ratchet & Clank. Then there was the Resistance trilogy which was more serious, then recently Fuse, which started out the closest thing to Sunset Overdrive but they EA'd (at least I think).

So where am I missing the connection?

not sure this deserved its own thread, and sounds like you answered your own question by mentioning spyro/ratchet and clank...

The most notable and well received part of insomniac is the part that's humorous, and slightly cartoonish. People remember them for ratchet and spyro, not resistance, and definitely not disruptor or fuse. Another aspect of the company that is fondly remembered is their weapon design, which the new trailer for sunset overdrive flaunts. This definitely seems to be a return to the insomniac people actually love. Sure they have tried to do other stuff outside of that label, but none of it has really been successful or as warmly received.

Oh, also it's a return because all of last generation was them cranking out half assed ratchet sequels, the resistance series (which is pretty forgettable to a lot of folks), and fuse (which was down right middling. This is them creating something new, but in a familiar style.

The colours, I suppose. Also, ''old Insomniac'' had already returned last year what with R&C: Into the Nexus.

They are probably referring to the last few offerings from Insomniac, notably Fuse and the Resistance series.

Sunset Overdrive looks like more of the humor, ridiculous weapons, and the bright and colorful color palette that was from the Ratchet & Clank series and what they are much better at doing.

Well, Sunset Overdrive is way more Mature in its "lightheartedness", so I felt there was a bit of distinction between those. And where could I have posted this if this didn't merit a thread? o_O

I see that. I was interpreting the mature themes and humor as what people were calling "old Insomniac."

I would argue that is them just churning out another sequel to a series that should be over at this point. The point is that they are creating something new and fresh, but with some of the same trappings/trademarks of their most popular stuff. Their 2 chances at creating something new last gen resulted in Resistance and Fuse. The former is, arguably, pretty decent, but kind of soulless compared to what they are known for. The latter... well, it was pretty mediocre. This seems like a proper next step for the studio. Or maybe it will crash and burn, who knows.

I think it's kind of like them going back to what made them big but also adding to that. Crazy weapons, colorful art style, humour, mature setting and content, all of these things they'd had in singular games in the past but are now all present in Sunset Overdrive.

@narujoe93: If you're talking about the overall game, I'd say it's new and fresh for Insomniac but not in games as a whole. It looks like a wackier, free-moving Dead Island. And that actually might be just what it needs to be fresh enough for everyone.

To @yummylee point though, I think he was just saying that R&C: Into the Nexus wasn't a Resistance or Fuse. It was true Insomniac. But I do see your point.

@narujoe93: Sure, I see what you meant in that sense. I really like the Resistance series and enjoyed my time with each of the PS3 trilogy... but they were all awfully dry and lacked much personality. The weapons were all pretty crazy least.

Fuse, however, is just a bunch of nothing. A grey, amorphous blob made up of grey, amorphous blobs.

I think Patrick was referring to the darker tone of the Resistance series and Fuse. I really loved Resistance 3, but it wasn't nearly as well received as their Ratchet and Clank games were in the PS2 and early PS3 eras or as well as Spyro was back in the PS1 era. So this is a bright, colorful game that seems to feature the studio's trademark sense of humor and great art direction, as well as a ton of ridiculous weapons. Now as others have said there have been a handful of Ratchet and Clank games since the end of the Future trilogy, but All 4 One and the tower defense one were pretty bad, and the latest one I haven't tried but it looks decent but not especially inspired.

On the same token, Patrick never played the PS2 era Ratchet games so I'm not entirely sure what he is judging them on outside of the Future games. But I guess this looks closer to those games than anything that Insomniac has put out since.

@narujoe93: many of the PS3 R&C games were highlights of the series. While stuff like All 4 One was a misstep, it was never supposed to be a "main" game. All of the Future games are fantastic, with A Crack In Time ranking very high among the entire series for me.

Well, it looks like much denser Infamous, stripped of all its excess fat, with weapons that actually pack a punch - in other words, like a whole lot of fun. I guess some people are saying that Insomniac's recent games weren't as much fun as they were in the past. Having never played any of Insomniac's games, I can't comment on that, but yes - Sunset Overdrive looks like a grand ol' time.

Seeing the trailer the game reminded me of ratchet and clank. Bright, colourful, cartoonish and amazingly ott weaponry! So this looks like a return to form for insomniac if you ask me. But in the same breath I'm very skeptical about this game at the moment as I never trust a trailer, no matter if it's fmv or "gameplay". I need to get my hands on it and feel how it plays before I can say for sure if this is an old school insomniac game for the modern day.

They werent bad, but it was just more of the same. As someone who played all of the ps2 games, even the best of the ps3 games didn't have that much of an impact on me (well, they did graphically. but the rest was been there done that). Up Your Arsenal is still the highlight of the series to me.

It looks promising. A good MS exclusive.

Then he may have been speaking from the experience of the others. Maybe.

@bjorntheunicorn: But it's because I played it after a Crack In Time, but A Quest for Booty was a terrible game.

You're not alone in that. I kept restarting UYA on NG+ so many times that I maxed out all the weapons and had mostly 9's on the bolt counter. Did the same in Deadlocked and Going Commando. By the time I got around to the PS3 games, I was still too burnt-out on the series to really get invested in it anymore. It took until the beginning of this year for the familiarity to wear off enough for me to play Tools of Destruction.

I hope they mean this as 20 year old Insomniac Games.

not fuse

I'm just praying and hoping it's a lot less "designed by committee" than their last few games. It's about time we saw some wackiness in an open-world/shooter game other than Saint's Row

@belgurdo: By the looks of it, there will be not shortage of wackiness.