Ffs, there's no conspiracy here mate, the game is meeting expectations. The problem is there are a lot of trolls trying to tear it down because trans people are in it, not that the writers are calling out bigots.

Can I just have a fucking break? I put a cat down three weeks ago, and now a dog has fucking cancer?

Can I just get a month where nothing fucking goes wrong?

Put a cat to sleep yesterday. Feel like I'm being a massive fuckoff inconvenience for booking in some annual for the next couple days, yet I know it'll be worse if I go in.

Not sure what the point of this comment was, but fuck it, sometimes you've gotta vent.

Seriously mate, you didn't warn about the TVTropes link? Some of us need to go to bed!

Quite a lot honestly, but the trailers are really awful in terms of advertising what the game actually is. It's a survival game with management sim elements, using creature collection as its core gameplay loop. It feels weirdly cohesive in terms of mashing together these styles - kinda like Dave the Diver in that regard.

Far as I've been able to tell, it was first announced in 2021, so it's been in development since then, at latest.

There's no evidence whatsoever of AI use (lot of accusations, but actual devs have spoken out and challenged them). Really strikes me that there's a non-zero number of people who feel somewhat threatened by this game's existence, considering the death threats the dev team has reportedly been receiving.

Cool, does this mean they'll actually fucking sell the thing in Australia, or is it just forever going to be dodgy resellers?

OFF TOPIC:

Speaking from a feminstic but also Australian position, I think it's kinda problematic to outright ban language internationally when the connotation of concern is specific to one culture. We use that word pretty liberally here, and it isn't done so with remotely the same definition; instead, it is typically used interchangeably with "dickhead" and "arsehole". Whilst I definitely support your efforts, I don't think this is the right way to go about it, as it's a very clear use of American exceptionalism when Americans, taken as a part of the world, make up a minority of people on the Internet.

ON TOPIC:

Yeahhhh, Elon both frightens and disgusts me. What a selfish twat.

Yeah, ultimately this article reads as if it is questioning the quality of a work on the basis of how the audience engages (or doesn't engage) with it. Ultimately there is one case where the character dies due to a bad dialogue choice, and that response is very clearly a joke one for if you're not roleplaying.

I dunno, it just seems as if the article is clickbait, and if this game dev would prefer playing a game 90% ludonarrative dissonance and 10% no meaningful player choice.

I'm gonna piss a lot of people off, and say that I really, really cannot stand Halo - the whole franchise, not just the 343 stuff.

The way I see it, my problem with the series is twofold: storytelling and gunplay. The storytelling is weak at best: whilst I'm usually a huge fan of environmental storytelling, there's just so little information in game for me to go off! It wasn't until I read the Reach novel that I figured out who the Covenant were beyond just "evil aliens". I questioned this issue on the site we don't talk about and was told to read the books, but put simply, if I have to read a book to understand your plot, then you haven't told your plot well enough. Chief is presented in the game as this incredible figure (as are the Spartans), but the games never really tell you why, and as such I never really care about Chief or his bullshit.

Regarding the gunplay, I find it (and movement) simply too floaty to be enjoyable. There isn't enough recoil from a lot of the weapons, and the SFX on most of the guns don't give a great sense of power.

I understand that it's a massive series of nostalgia for a massive number of people. I understand that it redefined FPSes, and I respect the games for this. They deserve every bit of praise people give them. They aren't bad games, but I just do not enjoy them.

Mate, you have no idea what you're on about. Larian is one of the most transparent studios there is, and they have not once released a game with microtransactions or DLC. Similarly, every game they made has had a free "definitive edition" within twelve months of release.

Research before you make claims like this, Larian are not a AAA studio.

Got a source on the child labour thing? Not doubting you, but as a non-American I'm confused as to how the hell youse aren't in open revolt.

EDIT: Responding individually later. In short, fuck. In long, thanks all for sending me those links, I'm gonna go wash my eyes out with bleach and attempt to un-know all that I now know

Honestly mate? Buy it. This isn't a AAA game; this is a AA game made completely independently, without microtransactions or lootboxes or any of the many bullshit practices of modern gaming. The studio deserves your support.

It does have a multiplayer component, but it's co-op. The game can be played in its entirety either way, and indeed, the single player experience is fantastic. So's the multiplayer experience. The former is similar to Dragon Age Origins, and the latter is literally Dungeons and Dragons. Both are fantastic, and both are worth playing.

Don't skip it. This is a deeply special game, and if you're sick of the AAA bullshit, a great way to show the greater industry is by supporting it. Vote with your wallet.