MathiasBS

I think I’m getting too old, to enjoy the same open world games over and over, so I really didn’t like what I played of it. Nothing about it feels unique or particularly inspired

Absolutely LOVED the first when it came out. Played the sequel, and it already felt like a rehash.
Tried the demo for the third, and could already tell the magic is gone. It’s an IP now, a franchise that needs to play it somewhat safe, with generic horror tropes like creepy babies, carnivals etc.

The first one was special, because it had a super unique art direction at the time, combined with underused themes like gluttony and being small, but not tiny.
Now that those ideas are not as much the main focus anymore, it seems like they’re just throwing anything remotely creepy into the game. It feels incoherent, like a mishmash of random horror ideas.

Which they would’ve stuck to their guns more, and went more crazy rather than more safe, as the series went on. Good horror always explores, bad horror ends up like The Conjuring

Looks/sounds great but plays pretty much like any other AAA open world game. In fact, the world feels a lot less interactive then its predecessor

A lot of people might not want to hear this… but Tencent could get away with this, because Horizon is not exactly unique in terms of it’s aesthetics and design. It’s using fairly common sci-fi tropes but mixes it with dinosaurs; something which has also been done many, MANY times before back in the 80s and 90s, everyone just forgot and Horizon added a bunch of modern sci-fi tropes to the genre and called it their own. In my opinion, Horizon has little identity to set it apart from other similar titles, except a few standout dinosaur designs and a character with dreadlocks. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.

Tencent will likely make the argument, that they’re not plagiarising the game, because they’re inspired by broader tropes in the sci-fi scape, which is probably somewhat true, even though anyone can see they obviously copied from Horizon - but since Horizon is a mish-mash of lots of other titles, is that so different?
Can anyone name a single, completely original idea in Horizon, that hasn’t been done before?

My point being, Horizon is quite generic from an aesthetic standpoint, and if it wasn’t for the dinos, it would be hard to tell apart from most other sci-fi games, so is that enough to claim a copyright infringement?

@RS1 If that’s what you got from the story, then I think you missed the point, in my opinion at least. It’s not at all about its being equivalent; it’s about hate and revenge being pointless.

If you don’t know someone to play with, don’t bother with this one. It is very frustrating using matchmaking

Yeah, I’ll just skip this then. Who has time for this?

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I got it today, simply because I want to support Ubisoft and I hope they survive, and the game becomes a success that can send a message, in the currently extremely hateful political climate. I don’t think I’m going to like the game.

I am all for DEI in gaming, and think it is objectively unethical to be against it, but I think the intentions of Ubisoft even caring about inclusivity is only because of greed, which makes it a double edged sword - however, I would rather let them win, because that would still be a win for inclusivity, than giving the victory to this new wave of nazi ideology that’s spreading like wildfire

Started with my wife tonight, and it’s good! Non of us like sci fi very much, so a bit disappointed that’s a heavy theme, but any section outside of that has been excellent so far.

I’m intrigued, but I am every time… and I always end up finding myself bored. It’s still just a grind, right?

I generally try to avoid games that are longer than 20 hours, because a 20 hour game takes me 20@40 days to finish, if I can play 30-60 minutes a day. I wish it was more, but that’s my reality.

Saying that though, there has been games that got their claws into me so deep, I would move work to play them over a couple of weeks (looking at you, Elden Ring). I got KCD2 yesterday, and I’m loving it, but I will probably never see the ending if it’s over 100 hours long.

That sure is a bunch of LinkedIn words

I work in the industry.

We had to port a game to Xbox, and while we actually sold extremely well on Xbox compared to PlayStation (due to Sonys extremely unfair, completely subjective store front, that does not reflect actually which games are doing well), the porting to the Series S was an absolute nightmare.

Having a split platform generation like that, means, most cases, a TON of extra work.

If it wasn’t for the Series S, I would say, as an indie dev, being on Xbox is a lot better, because you get way more visibility rather than paid ads or placements.

Hans Zimmer = one of his ghost writers. He does very little himself these days.

Never in a million years will I understand what people see in this series.
It’s the tried and true Ubisoft formula, but with even more generic design.

Haven’t played too much yet, but there’s definitely some truly magical moments, but the stealth missions are some of the worst I’ve played in a long time. Like old school assassins creed, and it just sucks all the joy out of it

I work in games, and can confirm Xbox is very slow getting back, and it’s hard to pass review.
We had a big update that was supposed to be out two months ago, but still waiting on Xbox approval..

It’s decent. Lots of interesting weapons for sure, but also a little barebones maybe?
I don’t think I’m going back to it to be honest. Not because it was bad, but just because there’s so many other options that’s just as good if not better.

I work on Who’s Your Daddy, so cool to see it here.

I absolutely loved the beta, but man, they slowed the speed of the game down significantly now.
I am not sure if I like it not, it feels kinda sluggish

I loved Multiversus, can’t wait for it to return!
I desperately hope it will get a physical release eventually, so it won’t disappear forever at some point

I think the Pixel Opus rumor is true.
I had a teacher who wrote music for the project, and we heard a few snippets. He couldn’t talk about what it was, but we guessed away, and the moment Sly was mentioned his face turned completely pale 😂
So sad it didn’t happen though, their closure came out of nowhere.

I agere pretty much with your opinion.
It’s cookie cutter, Hollywood horror with anything new to say. The themes, story etc. has been done a million times in recent years, and the pacing is off.

The biggest issue for me though, was the music! It’s CONSTANT, taking away any potential tension, and instead creates a feeling of safeness in every scene, even the supposedly scary “chase scenes”.
I tried turning off the music and it was a much better experience, that actually managed to get me in the right mood, if only briefly, because the sound design is excellent and the graphics quite good..
But watching poorly acted cutscenes with horrible voice over, looking at edgy teenage art and walking so, so slow, took me right out of those brief moments of genuine horror.

So yeah, I think the music drags this game down. It’s made by people who knows what “scary music” should sound like, which makes is predictable and cliche, and since the horror genre relies so much on audio, it’s important they realize constant “spooky” strings, “unnerving” pads and various kitchen stuff being touched with a bow string, is just not scary anymore. Scary sounds, are sounds we can’t comprehend and don’t expect; this Hollywood stuff does not work for silent hill.

At this point, I honestly can barely tell 3D Sonic levels apart. It’s a all blur for me, and not because he’s fast

All the people who were disappointed - what did you expect? More known IP’s, less space games? Genuinely curious to know.

I thought it was pretty good, Killer Klowns was a highlight for me, and some games look intriguing… but damn, the Hollywood-style trailers have taken over, and it’s almost impossible to differentiate between the games, when every trailer is built up in the same way, with the same generic music + every other games has a space theme.