And I mean, that's maybe where the problems lie. This game is all jank and all generics, with no specific thing to present except "OMG LOOK AT OUR GRAPHICS!!!!". Which are also pretty unoptimized, so you end up with:

Only a tiny tiny fraction of players can even play it.
Then, the game is utterly generic. Despite how it might look to someone not knowing about it, DOOM 2016 and Eternal are quite unique games and have a very well-designed gameplay flow that even differs divisively between the two.
The writing is horrible and would make even an MCU movie/series writer question their decisions in life.
The magic is still just guns with replaced graphics. They didn't lean into the very premise of the game at all. And all they had to do is play Lichdom Battlemage from 2014 to get some ideas and that game already struggled with the concept. But at least it pulled it off.

Can't really say I'm surprised the game flopped hard. But unlike the dev I would call the underlying idea solid, just not anything about the execution.

(page 2) 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 9 months ago

I would love an AAA single player shooter. If it is done well and fun. So no chance EA could do it

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

If you don't have a vision, don't try to turn money into more money by making a game. Everyone loses. Dumping money on assets doesn't make your trope copy/paste any better than the other million cheap Chinese clones on an app store.

[–] Badeendje@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Also EA has to understand more and more people have experienced their garbage launches and will skip their gold plated launch prices because of the risk you end up buying a lemon that is subsequently abandoned.

Making sure the gameplay loop is interesting and the game performs properly is important. Focussing on all the latest engine features that requires people to have top tier hardware is only good for marketing. Marketing then eats up a tremendous amount of budget without adding anything to the offer they make.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] elgordio@kbin.social 12 points 9 months ago

Most notable thing about this game was it was one of the first to launch with FSR3 frame generation. Other than that I think I’d have completely forgotten about it.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

Maybe if you market it at all so that I've actually fucking heard of it that'll help?

[–] rainynight65@feddit.de 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Unlike many people in this thread, I actually have heard of the game. The makers of a podcast I follow loved it, and had the head of the studio on their show for a pretty frank interview, too. When I learned that there was a free demo, I decided I would give the game a try some time.

And in light of the overwhelming negativity in this thread, I did so last night. And what can I say? I spent an hour and change going through the prologue, the training and the first battle sequence, and I really enjoyed it. Movement and ~~shooting~~ slinging magic are great fun, with a diversity of spells available pretty much from the get-go. Just shoot, or throw a massive armor-breaking spell at a wave of enemies, or use a lash to pull a remote enemy close and whack them. I wouldn't have know what to expect from the 'CoD with magic' premise but it's really enjoyable so far.

The voice acting is very good, and while the facial animations are a bit uncanny valley, I am enjoying the snarky dialogues and matching facial expressions. Gina Torres has presence, and the rest of the cast so far blends in fine.

I will definitely spend some more time with the demo, and if it doesn't annoy me too much, I might just buy this. And that seems to be the feedback the devs got from many people - once players actually get their hands on it, they actually enjoy it. According ton the studio head, sales have picked up towards Christmas, and they've been getting a lot of conversions from the free demo.

[–] hswolf@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think the problem is just that, the game is... okay, not bad or good, just okay, unremarkable and forgettable.

If you want good sales you need to do something innovative and interesting, or something cliché but really well done.

Taking a look at Doom 2016 (also a single player shooter) we can see the core gameplay: Shoot demons, Pick up ammo, Shoot more demons. But it's crafted so masterfully that you spend dozens or hundreds of hours doing just that.

Now with this game that I actually forgot the name mid comment, It's... well you get the ideia.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] raptir@lemdro.id 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Why does a game cost that much to make? I'm not saying every game should be an indie, but given what indies can accomplish it's a little ridiculous to spend $125 million.

[–] dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Well you see managers need to be paid more than everyone else and theirs lots of managers. Plus headcount is in the hundreds to pump out all the features and art assets within a few years

[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (4 children)

If I had to guess, texture quality and graphical fidelity is really high, plus this was one of the first games to run in UE5. A mix of extreme amounts of manhours invested into graphics coupled with slow progress due to having to get used to everything.

And rampant corruption at EA, I bet. 40 million marketing my ass, the game barely had any marketing!

load more comments (4 replies)

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago

Or maybe EA is just a garbage corporation that aren't actually good at making video games?

[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

A GENERIC AAA (visual only) single player shooter was a bad idea.

Aveum was literally mid. It just looked good since it was the first game to use UE5.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

It was flawed from the start, clearly people that love COD and magic aren't that big of an intersection, also like people said already the magic acted more like guns and they had a pretty dumb system of calling it by their colors.

Still looked fun though, but I would never pay the asking price for it.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 10 points 9 months ago

I had to look up a video to realise this wasn't the "I guess that's something I do now" game.

Looks like a confusing mess of a game tbh. When a game's failure is blamed on it being released close to fucking Starfield, you know it never had much going for it.

[–] FunnyUsername@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (6 children)

This guy's a tool, Atomic Heart was fantastic and I'd love getting more games of that calibur every year

load more comments (6 replies)

[–] guacupado@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

EA is a truly awful idea. I'm curious if their sports games are the only thing keeping them in business.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] Draegur@lemm.ee 6 points 9 months ago

"(...) AAA (...) was a truly awful idea"
ftfy dev

[–] Tarogar@feddit.de 6 points 9 months ago

"potential customer hears about product for the first time after it's announced a flop"

I mean, a single player FPS... Oh it's an EA game we are talking about! NEVERMIND.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

[–] caut_R@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Whenever I saw that game it looked like a generic, soulless, made-by-committee shooter… All footage had strong tech demo vibes. The only thing I can remember about it is „the guns looked kinda weird.“

load more comments