Fallout 4 is more popular than ever (Picture: Bethesda)
The Friday letters page worries that Larian Studios might be getting too cocky, as one reader celebrates 30 years of Super Metroid.
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Movie synergy
I would love to hear what someone who has never played a Fallout game thinks of them after watching the shows. Crazy to see how popular it’s become out of nowhere. Or has it? I’m not clear on whether the games are popular now because people have been put onto them by the show or if everyone was watching it and thought, ‘Oh yeah, I remember Fallout. Let’s give that another go!’
The interesting thing is I don’t remember this happening with Sonic or the Uncharted movie. Not even Super Mario Bros. Wonder seemed to do any better than it would’ve anyway, after the massive success of the Mario movie. So maybe movies don’t have quite the same impact on games? Maybe because a show has more time to put in Easter eggs and act more authentic.
If it wasn’t for the name, I’d never even guess Uncharted was supposed to be based on the games, it was so generic. I’m very interested to see what’s next though, because the number of action games with good stories is pretty limited. In fact, I wouldn’t normally have said Fallout was even one of them. Dark Souls: The Movie, anyone?
Hopkins
Playing it safe
I can’t blame them, given Baldur’s Gate 3’s success, but it seems to me that Larian are getting awful cocky all of a sudden. As we now know, one failure can mean disaster for a whole company nowadays. Wouldn’t it have been safer to make Baldur’s Gate 4 as one game and have the other for their new IP? If the boss guy is confident and is proven right then great but if one or both are flops… Microsoft and whoever are going to come sniffing at the door, offering to buy them up.
Unless… both games are smaller scale, like many have been suggesting should become the new norm? I’d be impressed if that was the case. Imagine getting a new Larian game every two or three years instead of every five or six? And each time it was a new IP. That’s the dream for every developer, as far as I’m concerned, but I have doubts it’ll come true.
Bootles
Play, don’t watch
Anyone else kind of unimpressed by the Hades 2 footage so far? I know it’s only a small section of the game and all that, but it all seems a bit underwhelming. Mind you, I probably would’ve thought the same of the original if I’d seen a three hour clip like that and not just played it after all the great reviews.
It must be a difficult thing to know how much to show with indie games, where the graphics aren’t the main appeal. Although it’s not even that. Hades’ graphics are very good for what they need to be, but they don’t look impressive if you see them in a screenshot or a video.
I guess that’s one reason why you do an early access thing like this. Get people playing it as soon as possible and they’ll realise that looks really don’t matter.
Sover
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Wait and see
Having been a very big gamer all of my life (I have owned every PlayStation and two Xboxes – the original and 360 – NES, SNES, Wii, and Switch) I wonder if I am the type of gamer that companies aren’t looking to aim their releases at going forward.
I’m now 35 and have a young daughter and partner. Gaming is now the odd hour on the Switch, as the PlayStation 5 sits there unused. I don’t really like playing online multiplayer games and enjoy a story driven game (I have played every Telltale title out there).
It seems that the industry is gearing towards more games that are online; I have never enjoyed this. I recently completed Red Dead Redemption on the Switch and thoroughly enjoyed it but I have been thinking that these types of games will be dying out in favour of Fortnite type games, which is disappointing.
Soloplayer35
GC: We’ll answer this question in more detail in this weekend’s newsletter, but it’s certainly true that the industry is going through a period of transition at the moment.
Two options
Having just watched the Japanese trailer for Stellar Blade I’m a bit saddened that the option isn’t available in the worldwide edition. I usually use the Japanese voiceover in a far few titles, so it’s a shame that it’s absent. I know the game is in the hands of media outlets now and you’ll no doubt not admit which language you’ve chosen yourselves, but I’m certainly going with the Korean option myself if it reviews well.
I have a free code for Horizon Call Of The Mountain, should any reader want to get the game for nothing. Currently in Poughkeepsie and picking my feet.
Wonk
GC: It’s odd to leave it out but, unless you speak Japanese, the Korean and English voiceover options are the most obvious ones to go for. And thanks for the code, we’ll pass it on to whoever asks for it, in exchange for a useable Inbox letter.
Bad guts
Sony’s criteria for PS5 Pro games has me suspicious. Do you think Sony are going to charge extra for PS5 Pro enhanced games? I wouldn’t put it past them. They could argue there are extra development costs. When I upgraded from PlayStation 4 to 5 and accessed my digital library, I found it strange I had to choose which version to download. I much prefer how Xbox treats forwards compatibility. If a game was enhanced for Xbox One X that became the default version, whether you bought the console or not. It impacted forwards compatibility in a more seamless way.
If Sony does treat PS5 Pro as a separate entity and charge extra our digital libraries could become even more convoluted once PlayStation 6 arrives. The way the industry is headed, my gut feeling is these PS5 Pro extras won’t be free. I hope I’m wrong. Even if Sony resist the temptation, there are publishers who may be more eager to monetise enhancements, however small they may be.
Maybe the recent revelation that $70 games aren’t selling as well will kibosh this idea? We have gone from a scenario where games weren’t expensive enough to they should be cheaper (like Helldivers 2) but made on a smaller budget. A PS5 Pro which demands extra development, just seems like really bad timing given the current turmoil.
Anon
GC: PS4 Pro enhancements were a non-factor last generation and we doubt it’ll be any different for the PS5 Pro. Given the leaks about how relatively little is needed to qualify as ‘enhanced’ there’s zero reason to believe there’ll be a charge.
Import only
These Rose & Camellia games look hilarious. I’ve never heard of them before either, but I absolutely would’ve played them if I knew about them. On a browser anyway, £18 on some novelty Flash games is not on my to do list at the moment.
I too miss the days of importing weird Japanese games though. The absolute peak was the first Ouendan on the DS, which to this day is one of my favourite games ever. It obviously had an influence too, as they later made the Westernised version, Elite Beat Agents… which wasn’t quite as good. Hopefully the Switch 2 won’t be too expensive to develop for, that this sort of thing won’t die out completely.
Focus
More Trending
Indie saviours
I’m looking forward to Braid, Anniversary Edition on May 16th. The graphics are cleaned up and added to and it’ll have some original new puzzles, as well as remixed stuff and commentary.
Can’t believe it’s been 15 years, Braid is the game that opened my eyes up to the wonderful creative world of indies. The biggest plus of digital distribution, for m,e is providing a financial model for these games to release, that just wasn’t there when games were sold at retail.
It’s also made me reflect on how much of my gaming is outside the triple-A space, with that being a factor in deciding to move over to PC soon.
It’s annoying that more and more indies are timed exclusives on one console or another. I don’t blame the devs, as the money must help, but it’s not a problem on PC where they all release day one.
Then there’s the indie games that don’t come to console or take some time to release across all consoles, due to various reasons like the devs being small and not being able to do simultaneous launches. Pizza Tower and Hyper Demon are big misses on console for me.
Anyway, thank fudge for indies. They’re not perfect, with many falling way short of my expectations, like Somerville and Harold Halibut. And so many indie sequels have fallen flat that it’s now an unwritten rule indie sequels will be rubbish.
But there’s still a steady stream of bangers like Balatro, Pizza Tower, and Hyper Demon. I got my eye on Megacopter: Blades Of The Goddess, which is like Desert Strike. Hopefully it’s as fun as it looks.
Simnudo
GC: It’s actually May 14 for Braid, or May 15 on Xbox. Most indie sequels are not rubbish; why they never sell is an ongoing mystery.
Inbox also-rans
Looks like Apple just made a new enemy in Nintendo. They are going to be livid over the emulator doing so well. If anyone was ever fantasising over a team-up, that’s never happening anymore.
Ollie
Just found out that Super Metroid turned 30 this week. I’ll pour one out tonight, for one of the few perfect video games.
Lester
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