Remedy is one of those devs that have some sentimental sympathy, because of their older games (mainly Death Rally and Max Payne), but they do they to take "fuck customers" deals a bit too much. Also, I have to say that — in my opinion! — they fall a bit into the niche of devs that seem to think their stories are way more amazing than they truely are, when their true strengths are mainly making games that look very pretty and worlds that are fun to explore (with gameplay feeling often like an afterthought).
I dont really share any hype for Alan Wake 2 because I thought the first game was a chore to play (especially the combat), and the story, was not as great or interesting – again, in my opinion – as the consensus seems to be. I probably wouldnt even get it if it was on Steam, to be honest.
I also wanted to chime in on the recent discussions of the quality of Cities Skylines 2 as well as the Metal Gear collection: I totally get the viewpoints of "at least we have it" and I also acknowledge the (even if its a bit tiring) "it works fine for me" stance – but truely, demanding better from publishers benefits everyone, in the end.
If you are happy with barebones ports, okay. If you are happy with subpar performance, okay. I'm sometimes also okay with games that others heavily criticise.
But I hope you can see that this can – and does – set precedents for publishers to think its okay to do less and less (in terms of effort; or more and more in terms of shitty service) and still get away with it. Its a slippery slope, similar to Blizzard, Paradox and other publishers testing "just how much extra DLC and other extra items to buy can we cram into this full-price game and still get away with it?". The more people roll with it, the more they do it.
I wasnt super happy with the negative Steam user reviews of Overwatch 2, because I want Blizzard to release more games on Steam (especially WOW, so I never have to use Battlenet again), but they are deserved, and Blizzard should listen to them and be better.
The same is true for criticising any other publisher – for releasing their games with an exclusivity deal, or with poor performance, or with the barest of effort, or with the maximum of DLC and other monitization.
Whether you are a huge fan of a certain game/series and have been waiting for a long time for a sequel/remaster/Steam release should not matter in that regard.
They want to sell to you, demand better of them.
I dont really share any hype for Alan Wake 2 because I thought the first game was a chore to play (especially the combat), and the story, was not as great or interesting – again, in my opinion – as the consensus seems to be. I probably wouldnt even get it if it was on Steam, to be honest.
I also wanted to chime in on the recent discussions of the quality of Cities Skylines 2 as well as the Metal Gear collection: I totally get the viewpoints of "at least we have it" and I also acknowledge the (even if its a bit tiring) "it works fine for me" stance – but truely, demanding better from publishers benefits everyone, in the end.
If you are happy with barebones ports, okay. If you are happy with subpar performance, okay. I'm sometimes also okay with games that others heavily criticise.
But I hope you can see that this can – and does – set precedents for publishers to think its okay to do less and less (in terms of effort; or more and more in terms of shitty service) and still get away with it. Its a slippery slope, similar to Blizzard, Paradox and other publishers testing "just how much extra DLC and other extra items to buy can we cram into this full-price game and still get away with it?". The more people roll with it, the more they do it.
I wasnt super happy with the negative Steam user reviews of Overwatch 2, because I want Blizzard to release more games on Steam (especially WOW, so I never have to use Battlenet again), but they are deserved, and Blizzard should listen to them and be better.
The same is true for criticising any other publisher – for releasing their games with an exclusivity deal, or with poor performance, or with the barest of effort, or with the maximum of DLC and other monitization.
Whether you are a huge fan of a certain game/series and have been waiting for a long time for a sequel/remaster/Steam release should not matter in that regard.
They want to sell to you, demand better of them.
