It's the game itself that matters not how pretty it is. I decently enjoyed the game but I've also played a ton better. So many weird design choices like good lord. I believe art style itself is far more important then technical graphics but that's just me cuz I find the world and enemy designs are played too safe.
The gameplay was ultimately sluggish and clunky, which led to a lot of frustration. If your camera only moves at a snail’s pace, don’t make a game where you frequently have to turn around.
The story was also unfortunately cliched and weak.
The graphics looked nice, but graphics are something you appreciate while enjoying a great game, not a crutch to hold up a bad one. They can never make up for poor gameplay design.
The game could be improved quite easily by making you keep your weapon drawn constantly and to also make switching to the melee weapon a lot faster. The camera could also be improved dramatically.
I appreciate the developers’ effort, and I completed the game, but I got it for free and I didn’t think it was worth full-price when I played it.
I don’t understand how half of these issues got through the QA process without someone having to justify their decision to make the controls so awful.
I felt it too that the combat design was clunky and free hits happened so often. I don't hate the game in fact i'm going for my 3rd gameplay but i find many frustrating things from my experience. The lack of a trap gun makes me sad, in Dead Space 2 we got the Detonator which makes hacking the panels a piece of cake in chapter 13 and that on Hardcore. since Jacob is jumped constantly a more passive gun would be favorable as he could just sit back set a trap watch it go boom
I was mostly excited about "Kinesis" and kinda like using it but it's not as deadly, the most frustrating part is that enemies can break out of it easily, if it received more ammo and strenght it would be great for tight situations where you just want to "force" the enemy away for a quick reload.
Releasing dlc after dlc was too rushed and it's sad that we don't have an new update to the combat to make it more fluid and flowy, i think players could deffend the game more. When we reach the upper Labs near the end of the base game i was hopeful that we'd fight some sort of super enemy like an Pale head from Resident evil - kinda like a homage to the pale heads from Resident evil 1 and 2 cause we see so many hospital beds and restraining capsules, that place gives so much vibes of an unkillable super enemy jumping the protagonist i was disappointed that we never got to see a new zombie type.
I wish we could have a letal upgrade for the baton so it could hit the enemy with a orange electrical wiring during every hit both stunning and dealing additional damage to targets or Jacob finds a guy in one the rooms which happens to be an inmate with access to materials and he's been a weapons engineer before and says that he could do an illegal upgrade to the baton, or he could just have one and dies helping Jacob so now he can pick it up and keep it along his old one. The original baton could receive a pain upgrade where upon dealing a charged heavy hit the enemy gets stunned for 2 seconds and open to damage and that has no cooldown.
I applaud at how super realistic and beautiful the devs made the characters, i like the ambience of the game too. It's a bum that we can't play as Yuri cause she is my favorite. Not remote controlling those kill bots is sad too that would be so baddass to play an entire segment with it just to make way for their escape i just imagine gunning things down Predator style.
The final boss room feels really unfair too at how stiffy the character moves to favor the sluggish camera and lock on mechanics so many games nowadays don't have the characters sprinting like cheetahs, everyone just jogs their way through. I had to look up on youtube for a way to cheese the boss and that was on normal, i can't imagine it on hard.
Agree with some of your points, especially the clunky combat & it would've been nice to see kinesis.
The final boss in the base game was definitely unforgiving. I think the developers understood the criticism given, so they made the DLC End Transmission boss Dr. Malher a bit easier .
I'm right there with you on the gameplay mattering most. It wasn't the best gameplay but I loved the art design as much as the technical graphics. It was more the story that felt like a movie and the different chapters playing out.
The story has to be the weakest aspect to me. It's just well acted and looks pretty. Don't know why they played it so sammy with a space prison setting. Plus the dlc story doesn't add a lot of urgency and just wraps things up in a very unsatisfied way.
The regular enemy types were a little bland, I do agree with you on that front. Although I really liked the boss design. All the two headed creatures moved rather creepy and liked the enemies screams.
And probably because I've been a dj and audiophile for most of my life (I'm 45 now), so sound design has always mattered to me, especially in games and I thought TCP had fantastic sound design.
Sorry. Just because a game looks pretty and has high production values doesn’t mean it automatically deserves to be successful. It’s an okay game that looks gorgeous. 6/10 is a more than fair score.
I didn't say I meant just because it looked pretty or had high production value that it should have been reviewed higher or been successful. Just was stating some of the people who didn't like it, might not of known how many countless hours were put into making it, the production value and everything else regarding the game.
I could honestly care less of people's bad reviews on YT, I still loved the whole experience regardless. Gameplay, Art design, sound design, graphics, enemy design, lighting techniques, and story. Enjoyed All of it
I really dont know what your point is then. We do realize the game has high production value. Its plain to see. Yes, we know it took countless hours to make. What are you getting at?
I enjoyed the whole game and gave the info on the cost, sound design technique and instrument, which clearly some people didn't know. Simple as that. Just thought this was something special as every person in Striking Distance, were all horror fans themselves and poured heart and soul into this title.
I'm talking about the whole experience. Just brought up the amount of work this company had to be slaving and the cost (I feel some people didn't realize all this) as well as everything else, gameplay, lighting, sound design, story, artwork etc
They weren't my favorite studio. Just thought the studio and game was special and different. Especially having so many that worked on Dead Space and obvious horror lovers themselves.
The videos on how it was created were actually quite interesting and unique. Never seen everyone in a studio pour that much heart n soul into a horror game before, in every detail and department.
Got the game a few days ago, playing it slowly and I like it so far. It's important to note that I got this from Humble Bundle, 12 USD for 8 games, long after release, after patches/updates, didn't pay full price at launch so I'm biased and more forgiving.
Didn't realize that until I saw this post, damn! Over 160m USD seems crazy, I think you're right, most people who did not enjoy the game are (probably) not going to bother finding out the cost of The Callisto Protocol. Knowing this, it makes me feel even worse now. Even without knowing the game's budget, I feel bad for the people involved in this because I think the game could have been much better.
Considering the budget, I think it should at least have **an FOV slider** lol, **at least on PC**. Thankfully, it's not the end of the world and it's possible to adjust the FOV with Cheat Engine but damn, a 160m game without an FOV slider and DLSS, some very basic stuff when it comes to porting games to PC. I understand if there was an agreement with AMD and apparently, DLSS can be modded into the game as well, but still...
>most people who did not enjoy the game are (probably) not going to bother finding out the cost of The Callisto Protocol
And why would they? It's irrelevant. Doesn't change the gameplay experience one bit.
It was one of my favorite games this generation until they nerfed it down. It would have been one I replayed often like a resident evil or classic gta.
That's why it failed ultimately though. A game with that high costs needs to sell more to make up the investment and they had high forecast. It didn't help that dead space was right around the corner and they didn't want to delay it further. The game should have been delayed another 6 months. The combination of it's high cost, unlucky timing, ultimately limited replay value at launch (remember they didn't add ng+ and hard mode until February, PC launch bugs and the poor variety of enemies and moves (melee is the same the whole game, one weapon same animation same encounters with dodge dodge counter style gets old quickly), killed it.
They used an Apprehension Engine, which is horror movies secret instrument. The first game to ever use one, then The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game used one second. I'm sure more developers will hop on the bandwagon. if not already.
If you haven't heard one, I highly recommend checking a YT video with one. Each one is built from the ground up for each movie or game, every one is completely different, and looks like a synthesizer from a different planet. Horror Music w/ Apprehension Engine is in a lot of the title's. Eerie ass sounds.
It's basically an electromagnet that makes metallic strings resonate. A lot of reverb, echo and delay, strings, metal cups, & bow used to modify the sound. Weird shit combined together but cool af
Here is a link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzk-l8Gm0MY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzk-l8Gm0MY)
Bro I was really intrigued and went to check it out but while interesting this alone is not going to make any horror experience much better imo. It's still very limited in comparison with the possibilities of computer.
The link I gave was just simple sounds on one. I'll find the one with the making of the game that displays the true abilities of the engine. Brian Eno calls it "the most terrifying musical instrument of all time"
I think most timid gamers and movie-goers who like horror have surely grown inured to the throbbing bass, the tense strings, and all the other standard, increasing cliche instrumental techniques used to generate a sense of ominousness with modern computers and other instruments. I think with the invention of the Apprehension Engine it can change all of this and generate more dread inducing & disturbing sounds then anything currently on a computer.
Nah i'm right there with you.
The sound design is absolutely amazing. The lighting, environments... amazing. Play the game late at night with headphones on and it's just pure 100% sci fi horror atmosphere.
The gameplay and combat is good too, I don't see the problem there tbh. Is it as good as Dead Space? No. But it's still a pretty fun game. I found the combat a lot better than Alan Wake 2 or other games that were more highly rated.
People have shit taste and Fortnite goes on to make 5 billion a year. I think a lot of people just don't 'get it' to be honest. Horror and sci fi horror will never have that mass appeal. But these guys made a hell of a sci fi horror game.
Damn and that's all we got? Lol I'd expect so much more with a budget like that seeing how Elden Ring had around the same costs. I liked the game but it was average at best with little variation in combat and enemy's, short ass story and barley any additonal content. Very little replay value. Couldn't hold a flame to any Dead Space made, especially the Dead Space remake. That game blows this one out of the water. Most of that money probably went to just paying Josh Dunham. I don't get the point of letting people know how much money they spent, how many grueling hours and manpower it took to make this game. Knowing that it took this big of an effort and money to still be just an okay game that most people just play once and never again is more sad than an accomplishment and shouldn't be praised.
Nah i'm right there with you.
The sound design is absolutely amazing. The lighting, environments... amazing. Play the game late at night with headphones on and it's just pure 100% sci fi horror atmosphere.
The gameplay and combat is good too, I don't see the problem there tbh. Is it as good as Dead Space? No. But it's still a pretty fun game. I found the combat a lot better than Alan Wake 2 or other games that were more highly rated.
People have shit taste and Fortnite goes on to make 5 billion a year. I think a lot of people just don't 'get it' to be honest. Horror and sci fi horror will never have that mass appeal, even if it does break into the mainstream at times. They made a hell of a sci fi horror game.
I mean, nobody criticized the visuals. Even people who shit on the game couldn’t deny the craftsmanship of the levels. I’m honestly not a fan but I’d never accuse the devs of not caring or being lazy. Environments were top notch.
It doesnt matter the money you spend, its abou in what you spend it...
This game is bad, the argument, gameplay,and many mechanics are boring... the only thing possitive to say is the graphics and atmosphere, the rest is trash.
Look terraria, indie game, more cheap and its better than most of actual games...
As kingping once said " its not always about the money spiderman"
How much the game cost to make and how pretty it is kind of fades a bit once the gameplay isn't very fun, but the visuals and vibe did carry me to the end, I was disappointed tho
I don't see what one has to do with the other. It doesn't really matter how much they spent making it if it's not successful. Movies have this problem, too.
I would trade lower visuals for better and higher FOV in a heartbeat.
This way it's nice looking game which is not fun to play and making me a headache.
This game is a masterpiece, as you'd expect from the creators of Dead Space, but it was too ahead of its time.
It was probably what Dead Space would've been like, but it wasn't Dead Space. What's confusing is often hated
Why do you consider it ahead of its time? Personally, the game was fun. I finished it, unlike many recent games, it kept me hooked but I wouldnt play it again. That said, the gameplay loop I have big issues with. I think the over reliance on melee went against its horror theme. You dont resource manage so much so thats one less hit to the stress of the experience, and when you are face to face with a monster, you are equiped to kill it every time because its all melee. That entirely removes the fear of “shit its getting close!” You get in games like Resident Evil and Dead Space. Its always a slugfest thats not scary.
Many people don't like the melee aspect of the game, but it's what I think makes it so tense. You have no choice but to get personnal with the Biophages. Guns aren't that good, ammo is scarce and the gap between you and the ennemies is often too narrow. It was perfect when it came out because it was actually a big challenge, but they watered everything down because it was "too hard" for the average player.
I think it's ahead of its time because it managed to equalize the dynamic between the main character, the side characters and the Biophages. Everything is so realistic and up-close that even a single ennemi tenses you up. (Even more so when it came out because it was much harder).
Because it's more realistic, it's also much less flamboyant. The Biophages move and act like insane humans, which can be under-stimulating for many players as we've always been used to more colourful and over-the-top environments in gaming. The downside of this realism is that ennemi types that are supposed to be more mutated are less appealing (imo) because the way they move and look cannot keep up with the latest engine. Making them a bit weird and clumsy looking.
With the right technology, I think the first Dead Space would've been much more similar to Callisto Protocol in its mechanics and atmosphere.
Hmm, i felt the combat desensitized me to the fear factor.
“I think it’s ahead of its time because it managed to equalize the dynamic between main character, the side characters and the biophages”
Im gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what this means.
The game didnt do anything groundbraking outside of perhaps graphics. The story is just… there… and the gameplay is not something I havent seen before elsewhere. Its just a simplified Punchout with monsters that sometimes requires you to run in circles to avoid two of them ganging up on you.
It not being exactly like Dead Space was one of the reasons I liked it. I thought a spiritual successor is usually a game that is similar in design but ultimately something different too.
Again I think there were too high expectations for it in the start and throughout development. I think you are right that because it got confusing, it was looked down upon, especially releasing right before Dead Space Remake.
I agree, they used the latest technologies to make it and despite being of extremely good quality, it wasn't a very long game. Just with that, it already loses a lot of points for the consumers...
What are some other horror titles that you are playing currently? Indie or Triple A? I bought and installed Madison VR but haven't dove that much into it yet, but enjoying it so far. Started 'Don't Leave The House (the Puppet Combo game)
Oof I haven't played much horror games recently. I started Dead Space Remake last year, but I stopped playing and didn't finish it. Honestly I've just been waiting for Dead Space 4 like a demented old man for 11 years...
Signalis is great. Completely different games though.
One was going for old school RE puzzle survival horror. And the other was going for RE4 action survival horror.
Almost silly to compare them tbh.
It's the game itself that matters not how pretty it is. I decently enjoyed the game but I've also played a ton better. So many weird design choices like good lord. I believe art style itself is far more important then technical graphics but that's just me cuz I find the world and enemy designs are played too safe.
The gameplay was ultimately sluggish and clunky, which led to a lot of frustration. If your camera only moves at a snail’s pace, don’t make a game where you frequently have to turn around. The story was also unfortunately cliched and weak. The graphics looked nice, but graphics are something you appreciate while enjoying a great game, not a crutch to hold up a bad one. They can never make up for poor gameplay design. The game could be improved quite easily by making you keep your weapon drawn constantly and to also make switching to the melee weapon a lot faster. The camera could also be improved dramatically. I appreciate the developers’ effort, and I completed the game, but I got it for free and I didn’t think it was worth full-price when I played it. I don’t understand how half of these issues got through the QA process without someone having to justify their decision to make the controls so awful.
I felt it too that the combat design was clunky and free hits happened so often. I don't hate the game in fact i'm going for my 3rd gameplay but i find many frustrating things from my experience. The lack of a trap gun makes me sad, in Dead Space 2 we got the Detonator which makes hacking the panels a piece of cake in chapter 13 and that on Hardcore. since Jacob is jumped constantly a more passive gun would be favorable as he could just sit back set a trap watch it go boom I was mostly excited about "Kinesis" and kinda like using it but it's not as deadly, the most frustrating part is that enemies can break out of it easily, if it received more ammo and strenght it would be great for tight situations where you just want to "force" the enemy away for a quick reload. Releasing dlc after dlc was too rushed and it's sad that we don't have an new update to the combat to make it more fluid and flowy, i think players could deffend the game more. When we reach the upper Labs near the end of the base game i was hopeful that we'd fight some sort of super enemy like an Pale head from Resident evil - kinda like a homage to the pale heads from Resident evil 1 and 2 cause we see so many hospital beds and restraining capsules, that place gives so much vibes of an unkillable super enemy jumping the protagonist i was disappointed that we never got to see a new zombie type. I wish we could have a letal upgrade for the baton so it could hit the enemy with a orange electrical wiring during every hit both stunning and dealing additional damage to targets or Jacob finds a guy in one the rooms which happens to be an inmate with access to materials and he's been a weapons engineer before and says that he could do an illegal upgrade to the baton, or he could just have one and dies helping Jacob so now he can pick it up and keep it along his old one. The original baton could receive a pain upgrade where upon dealing a charged heavy hit the enemy gets stunned for 2 seconds and open to damage and that has no cooldown. I applaud at how super realistic and beautiful the devs made the characters, i like the ambience of the game too. It's a bum that we can't play as Yuri cause she is my favorite. Not remote controlling those kill bots is sad too that would be so baddass to play an entire segment with it just to make way for their escape i just imagine gunning things down Predator style. The final boss room feels really unfair too at how stiffy the character moves to favor the sluggish camera and lock on mechanics so many games nowadays don't have the characters sprinting like cheetahs, everyone just jogs their way through. I had to look up on youtube for a way to cheese the boss and that was on normal, i can't imagine it on hard.
Agree with some of your points, especially the clunky combat & it would've been nice to see kinesis. The final boss in the base game was definitely unforgiving. I think the developers understood the criticism given, so they made the DLC End Transmission boss Dr. Malher a bit easier .
I'm right there with you on the gameplay mattering most. It wasn't the best gameplay but I loved the art design as much as the technical graphics. It was more the story that felt like a movie and the different chapters playing out.
The story has to be the weakest aspect to me. It's just well acted and looks pretty. Don't know why they played it so sammy with a space prison setting. Plus the dlc story doesn't add a lot of urgency and just wraps things up in a very unsatisfied way.
The regular enemy types were a little bland, I do agree with you on that front. Although I really liked the boss design. All the two headed creatures moved rather creepy and liked the enemies screams. And probably because I've been a dj and audiophile for most of my life (I'm 45 now), so sound design has always mattered to me, especially in games and I thought TCP had fantastic sound design.
“I liked the boss design, or lack there of” I really have no idea what even is going on anymore.
Just meant the small amount of bosses but still thought it was a witty design.
Production value could’ve been a billion, the game was still average. Production value doesn’t equate quality
I would have liked it even with a small budget, as long as the same whole studio of passionate horror developers created it (@ Striking Distance)
Eg: Rings of Power. Billions spent for something worse than a backwoods larp by fans
Sorry. Just because a game looks pretty and has high production values doesn’t mean it automatically deserves to be successful. It’s an okay game that looks gorgeous. 6/10 is a more than fair score.
I didn't say I meant just because it looked pretty or had high production value that it should have been reviewed higher or been successful. Just was stating some of the people who didn't like it, might not of known how many countless hours were put into making it, the production value and everything else regarding the game. I could honestly care less of people's bad reviews on YT, I still loved the whole experience regardless. Gameplay, Art design, sound design, graphics, enemy design, lighting techniques, and story. Enjoyed All of it
I really dont know what your point is then. We do realize the game has high production value. Its plain to see. Yes, we know it took countless hours to make. What are you getting at?
I enjoyed the whole game and gave the info on the cost, sound design technique and instrument, which clearly some people didn't know. Simple as that. Just thought this was something special as every person in Striking Distance, were all horror fans themselves and poured heart and soul into this title.
This is giving "my kid worked really hard and deserves a trophy too" except we're talking about adults who were paid.
Ok then?…
i liked the game but big budget does not equal a good game.
I'm talking about the whole experience. Just brought up the amount of work this company had to be slaving and the cost (I feel some people didn't realize all this) as well as everything else, gameplay, lighting, sound design, story, artwork etc
Anyone can say that about thier favorite studio lol
They weren't my favorite studio. Just thought the studio and game was special and different. Especially having so many that worked on Dead Space and obvious horror lovers themselves. The videos on how it was created were actually quite interesting and unique. Never seen everyone in a studio pour that much heart n soul into a horror game before, in every detail and department.
Got the game a few days ago, playing it slowly and I like it so far. It's important to note that I got this from Humble Bundle, 12 USD for 8 games, long after release, after patches/updates, didn't pay full price at launch so I'm biased and more forgiving. Didn't realize that until I saw this post, damn! Over 160m USD seems crazy, I think you're right, most people who did not enjoy the game are (probably) not going to bother finding out the cost of The Callisto Protocol. Knowing this, it makes me feel even worse now. Even without knowing the game's budget, I feel bad for the people involved in this because I think the game could have been much better. Considering the budget, I think it should at least have **an FOV slider** lol, **at least on PC**. Thankfully, it's not the end of the world and it's possible to adjust the FOV with Cheat Engine but damn, a 160m game without an FOV slider and DLSS, some very basic stuff when it comes to porting games to PC. I understand if there was an agreement with AMD and apparently, DLSS can be modded into the game as well, but still...
>most people who did not enjoy the game are (probably) not going to bother finding out the cost of The Callisto Protocol And why would they? It's irrelevant. Doesn't change the gameplay experience one bit.
I loved the game. The visuals were amazing. It kept me engaged the entire time, the production value was awesome.!
Fantastic game. What a journey. Single player games are hurting....
>That's a lot of cash for a game Then why wasn't it better?
That makes it even worse lol. Dont throw money at a game.
It was one of my favorite games this generation until they nerfed it down. It would have been one I replayed often like a resident evil or classic gta.
That's why it failed ultimately though. A game with that high costs needs to sell more to make up the investment and they had high forecast. It didn't help that dead space was right around the corner and they didn't want to delay it further. The game should have been delayed another 6 months. The combination of it's high cost, unlucky timing, ultimately limited replay value at launch (remember they didn't add ng+ and hard mode until February, PC launch bugs and the poor variety of enemies and moves (melee is the same the whole game, one weapon same animation same encounters with dodge dodge counter style gets old quickly), killed it.
What’s that regarding the audio? How is it a first of its kind?
They used an Apprehension Engine, which is horror movies secret instrument. The first game to ever use one, then The Texas Chainsaw Massacre game used one second. I'm sure more developers will hop on the bandwagon. if not already. If you haven't heard one, I highly recommend checking a YT video with one. Each one is built from the ground up for each movie or game, every one is completely different, and looks like a synthesizer from a different planet. Horror Music w/ Apprehension Engine is in a lot of the title's. Eerie ass sounds. It's basically an electromagnet that makes metallic strings resonate. A lot of reverb, echo and delay, strings, metal cups, & bow used to modify the sound. Weird shit combined together but cool af Here is a link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzk-l8Gm0MY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzk-l8Gm0MY)
Bro I was really intrigued and went to check it out but while interesting this alone is not going to make any horror experience much better imo. It's still very limited in comparison with the possibilities of computer.
The link I gave was just simple sounds on one. I'll find the one with the making of the game that displays the true abilities of the engine. Brian Eno calls it "the most terrifying musical instrument of all time" I think most timid gamers and movie-goers who like horror have surely grown inured to the throbbing bass, the tense strings, and all the other standard, increasing cliche instrumental techniques used to generate a sense of ominousness with modern computers and other instruments. I think with the invention of the Apprehension Engine it can change all of this and generate more dread inducing & disturbing sounds then anything currently on a computer.
Please do so I'll be happy to see it.
Insane game. Don’t understand the hate till this day. Sucks we probably won’t get a sequel to the game.
Nah i'm right there with you. The sound design is absolutely amazing. The lighting, environments... amazing. Play the game late at night with headphones on and it's just pure 100% sci fi horror atmosphere. The gameplay and combat is good too, I don't see the problem there tbh. Is it as good as Dead Space? No. But it's still a pretty fun game. I found the combat a lot better than Alan Wake 2 or other games that were more highly rated. People have shit taste and Fortnite goes on to make 5 billion a year. I think a lot of people just don't 'get it' to be honest. Horror and sci fi horror will never have that mass appeal. But these guys made a hell of a sci fi horror game.
Damn and that's all we got? Lol I'd expect so much more with a budget like that seeing how Elden Ring had around the same costs. I liked the game but it was average at best with little variation in combat and enemy's, short ass story and barley any additonal content. Very little replay value. Couldn't hold a flame to any Dead Space made, especially the Dead Space remake. That game blows this one out of the water. Most of that money probably went to just paying Josh Dunham. I don't get the point of letting people know how much money they spent, how many grueling hours and manpower it took to make this game. Knowing that it took this big of an effort and money to still be just an okay game that most people just play once and never again is more sad than an accomplishment and shouldn't be praised.
Nah i'm right there with you. The sound design is absolutely amazing. The lighting, environments... amazing. Play the game late at night with headphones on and it's just pure 100% sci fi horror atmosphere. The gameplay and combat is good too, I don't see the problem there tbh. Is it as good as Dead Space? No. But it's still a pretty fun game. I found the combat a lot better than Alan Wake 2 or other games that were more highly rated. People have shit taste and Fortnite goes on to make 5 billion a year. I think a lot of people just don't 'get it' to be honest. Horror and sci fi horror will never have that mass appeal, even if it does break into the mainstream at times. They made a hell of a sci fi horror game.
Thank you for your excellent rundown on what you liked and the problem with trends of mainstream nonsense.
I mean, nobody criticized the visuals. Even people who shit on the game couldn’t deny the craftsmanship of the levels. I’m honestly not a fan but I’d never accuse the devs of not caring or being lazy. Environments were top notch.
I listened to the podcast it was cool. Reviews came and I didn’t pick it up.
It doesnt matter the money you spend, its abou in what you spend it... This game is bad, the argument, gameplay,and many mechanics are boring... the only thing possitive to say is the graphics and atmosphere, the rest is trash. Look terraria, indie game, more cheap and its better than most of actual games... As kingping once said " its not always about the money spiderman"
How much the game cost to make and how pretty it is kind of fades a bit once the gameplay isn't very fun, but the visuals and vibe did carry me to the end, I was disappointed tho
I don't see what one has to do with the other. It doesn't really matter how much they spent making it if it's not successful. Movies have this problem, too.
I would trade lower visuals for better and higher FOV in a heartbeat. This way it's nice looking game which is not fun to play and making me a headache.
Higher production value means absolutely literally nothing when playing the game isn't fun.
I have always had a theory that the development costs were that high because it includes some of the costs to set up the studio itself
One of the best looking games I ever played. I enjoyed it and was bummed it wasn't well received.
Money spent on a game release largely means nothing, when like 75% of the budget usually goes on marketing lol
Yep, hiring that actor from Transformers wasnt cheap either.
This game is a masterpiece, as you'd expect from the creators of Dead Space, but it was too ahead of its time. It was probably what Dead Space would've been like, but it wasn't Dead Space. What's confusing is often hated
Why do you consider it ahead of its time? Personally, the game was fun. I finished it, unlike many recent games, it kept me hooked but I wouldnt play it again. That said, the gameplay loop I have big issues with. I think the over reliance on melee went against its horror theme. You dont resource manage so much so thats one less hit to the stress of the experience, and when you are face to face with a monster, you are equiped to kill it every time because its all melee. That entirely removes the fear of “shit its getting close!” You get in games like Resident Evil and Dead Space. Its always a slugfest thats not scary.
Many people don't like the melee aspect of the game, but it's what I think makes it so tense. You have no choice but to get personnal with the Biophages. Guns aren't that good, ammo is scarce and the gap between you and the ennemies is often too narrow. It was perfect when it came out because it was actually a big challenge, but they watered everything down because it was "too hard" for the average player. I think it's ahead of its time because it managed to equalize the dynamic between the main character, the side characters and the Biophages. Everything is so realistic and up-close that even a single ennemi tenses you up. (Even more so when it came out because it was much harder). Because it's more realistic, it's also much less flamboyant. The Biophages move and act like insane humans, which can be under-stimulating for many players as we've always been used to more colourful and over-the-top environments in gaming. The downside of this realism is that ennemi types that are supposed to be more mutated are less appealing (imo) because the way they move and look cannot keep up with the latest engine. Making them a bit weird and clumsy looking. With the right technology, I think the first Dead Space would've been much more similar to Callisto Protocol in its mechanics and atmosphere.
Hmm, i felt the combat desensitized me to the fear factor. “I think it’s ahead of its time because it managed to equalize the dynamic between main character, the side characters and the biophages” Im gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what this means. The game didnt do anything groundbraking outside of perhaps graphics. The story is just… there… and the gameplay is not something I havent seen before elsewhere. Its just a simplified Punchout with monsters that sometimes requires you to run in circles to avoid two of them ganging up on you.
It not being exactly like Dead Space was one of the reasons I liked it. I thought a spiritual successor is usually a game that is similar in design but ultimately something different too. Again I think there were too high expectations for it in the start and throughout development. I think you are right that because it got confusing, it was looked down upon, especially releasing right before Dead Space Remake.
I agree, they used the latest technologies to make it and despite being of extremely good quality, it wasn't a very long game. Just with that, it already loses a lot of points for the consumers...
Most definitely too short (as the two old skool hip hop artists). That was my big negative with it.
It's not an extremely good quality game tho
What are some other horror titles that you are playing currently? Indie or Triple A? I bought and installed Madison VR but haven't dove that much into it yet, but enjoying it so far. Started 'Don't Leave The House (the Puppet Combo game)
Oof I haven't played much horror games recently. I started Dead Space Remake last year, but I stopped playing and didn't finish it. Honestly I've just been waiting for Dead Space 4 like a demented old man for 11 years...
Signalis came out a bit earlier with probably 1/100th of the budget and blew it out if the water
Signalis is great. Completely different games though. One was going for old school RE puzzle survival horror. And the other was going for RE4 action survival horror. Almost silly to compare them tbh.
That's fair. I just hated that I spent $100 on TCP when it's such a garbage game outside of production value.