These days, probably Expedition 33, but there lots of others every year. Probably moreso than 15 years ago by raw numbers.
People over focus on AAA budget games, but there are several indie and AA budget games that are comparable or even surpass production quality of AAA games 15 years ago.
AAA budget these days should really be called like S-tier budget. In 2010 and earlier, the top end of budgets were like $50-100 million ($70-140 million after inflation) including marketing. Budgets started ballooning after that and hese days, top end budgets are more like $500-700 million)
As you said, people shouldn’t focus on AAA games as much as they do. Anyone who knows gaming in the modern day can fairly accurately predict that AAA games will be shit on launch, and will only sometimes improve to something playable eventually. Meanwhile, indie and AA games tend to be at least enjoyable at launch, and often don’t have the bullshit gambling or microtransaction scams that AAA games have. Oh, and they also have soul, which a corporation shitting out a new game every year will never be able to replicate.
Honestly, the last AAA game that I enjoyed was Helldivers 2, and I’ll still boo it for its warbond system, even though you can grind for the in-game currency.
Still, I think it’s easy to forget AAA’s successes next to the overall shitty syesten. Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Doom Eternal, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Diablo 4, Armored Core 6 are all AAA with solid launches in the last 5 years as far as I remember, and arguably with distinct soul.
I agree with you on most of those, though personally didn’t find much soul in Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok. Likely just a taste thing.
Would you call HD2 triple A? I understood it was an indie studio until they released HD2, and floored absolutely everyone with how good of a shooter it was (considering HD1 was top down, and they had never done it before). Happy to be wrong, just how I understood it lol
That’s true. I personally consider it AAA, since it was published by Sony, which does fit the wikipedia definition, despite it being developed by Arrowhead.
It did for me too the first time I played. I’m very bad with time limits and feeling rushed. It was never going to be a good fit for me.
But a friend convinced me to try again and it did eventually get better. It’s a combination of things that’s hard to quantify. The log of hints/objectives in your ship is a huge help, as is making liberal use of the autopilot. Then as the game unfolded and drew me in, I couldn’t put it down. Now it’s one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences in my nearly 40 years of gaming.
It starts out as a bunch of random stuff to explore and it didn’t feel to me like there was much direction or even motivation. But the more I explored and learned, the more I started to ask certain questions. I’d find myself thinking I wanted to explore a place with something specific in mind. But it’s a gradual shift that builds and builds and keeps building like a book that you forced yourself to read one chapter a night. Then it’s two, and before you know it you’re keeping yourself up way too late reading until you’re left empty that there’s no more.
I only say this because you always hear about the people who adore Outer Wilds, and I wasn’t one. I utterly bounced off it and set it down for years. But I’m so glad my friend got me to try again. I want other people like me to know that you can still get into the game and end up loving it even if it didn’t click at first. It’s also okay if you don’t want to. But I have only heard one person ever say it wasn’t worth it, and it was someone who spoiled themselves.
You convinced me to give it another shot. My problem is I was looking for a game to play when I needed to relax a bit after getting my ass kicked in Silksong. The intro to Outer Wilds makes it seem like a nice, cozy game to slip into. Which it definitely is not! Black holes, tornado planets, shit’s crazy!
It has its moments of quiet exploration and somber reflection, but it’s nothing if not varied. It’s chill in that there’s no penalty for dying and indeed you’re literally forced to. But it’s still wild and exciting, and sometimes even terrifying.
While I was playing, I had someone ask me my favorite death and I knew my answer right away. That was one of the moments I realized my experience of the game had started to flip, because I had been enjoying even the parts I hated.
Better time control helps a bit too. You can wait at the fire before launch to get a better alignment for where you want to go or for a specific event. I think it was the tornado planet I tended to wait a short bit just so it lined up better? You can also end a loop early, but that you have to be taught. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say, but if you do don’t finish this paragraph (not sure my app is doing spoiler tags right):
spoiler
the guy on the tornado planet will eventually teach you at some point, so just go back and exhaust his dialogue every once in a while until you trigger whatever does it.
As for my favorite death: I was trying to land on the interloper but missed slightly and it flew right past me. I scrambled to change momentum and chase after it. It got farther and farther away but then slowly I started gaining on it again. I gained more speed and started leveling out after what felt like minutes of turning as hard as I could at max thrust. And then the sun appeared from off screen, like an angry father that just caught a misbehaving child. My punishment was immediate and thorough.
I couldn’t stop laughing for the entire loop animation. (and then I went to the interloper as planned)
What game?
These days, probably Expedition 33, but there lots of others every year. Probably moreso than 15 years ago by raw numbers.
People over focus on AAA budget games, but there are several indie and AA budget games that are comparable or even surpass production quality of AAA games 15 years ago.
AAA budget these days should really be called like S-tier budget. In 2010 and earlier, the top end of budgets were like $50-100 million ($70-140 million after inflation) including marketing. Budgets started ballooning after that and hese days, top end budgets are more like $500-700 million)
Expedition 33 is great. Checks all the boxes from the meme, plus has a banger of a sound track!
Expedition 33 is freakishly good and it’s actually more of a AA budget at est $30mil.
As you said, people shouldn’t focus on AAA games as much as they do. Anyone who knows gaming in the modern day can fairly accurately predict that AAA games will be shit on launch, and will only sometimes improve to something playable eventually. Meanwhile, indie and AA games tend to be at least enjoyable at launch, and often don’t have the bullshit gambling or microtransaction scams that AAA games have. Oh, and they also have soul, which a corporation shitting out a new game every year will never be able to replicate.
Honestly, the last AAA game that I enjoyed was Helldivers 2, and I’ll still boo it for its warbond system, even though you can grind for the in-game currency.
Still, I think it’s easy to forget AAA’s successes next to the overall shitty syesten. Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Doom Eternal, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Diablo 4, Armored Core 6 are all AAA with solid launches in the last 5 years as far as I remember, and arguably with distinct soul.
I agree with you on most of those, though personally didn’t find much soul in Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok. Likely just a taste thing.
Would you call HD2 triple A? I understood it was an indie studio until they released HD2, and floored absolutely everyone with how good of a shooter it was (considering HD1 was top down, and they had never done it before). Happy to be wrong, just how I understood it lol
That’s true. I personally consider it AAA, since it was published by Sony, which does fit the wikipedia definition, despite it being developed by Arrowhead.
The thing is, a lot of people want high fidelity games, and you are typically not getting that from a mid size studio without awful mtxs etc.
The Hollow Knights would be my first guess
Outer Wilds
Outer Wilds stresses me the hell out. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the inevitable deaths that happen over and over again.
It did for me too the first time I played. I’m very bad with time limits and feeling rushed. It was never going to be a good fit for me.
But a friend convinced me to try again and it did eventually get better. It’s a combination of things that’s hard to quantify. The log of hints/objectives in your ship is a huge help, as is making liberal use of the autopilot. Then as the game unfolded and drew me in, I couldn’t put it down. Now it’s one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences in my nearly 40 years of gaming.
It starts out as a bunch of random stuff to explore and it didn’t feel to me like there was much direction or even motivation. But the more I explored and learned, the more I started to ask certain questions. I’d find myself thinking I wanted to explore a place with something specific in mind. But it’s a gradual shift that builds and builds and keeps building like a book that you forced yourself to read one chapter a night. Then it’s two, and before you know it you’re keeping yourself up way too late reading until you’re left empty that there’s no more.
I only say this because you always hear about the people who adore Outer Wilds, and I wasn’t one. I utterly bounced off it and set it down for years. But I’m so glad my friend got me to try again. I want other people like me to know that you can still get into the game and end up loving it even if it didn’t click at first. It’s also okay if you don’t want to. But I have only heard one person ever say it wasn’t worth it, and it was someone who spoiled themselves.
You convinced me to give it another shot. My problem is I was looking for a game to play when I needed to relax a bit after getting my ass kicked in Silksong. The intro to Outer Wilds makes it seem like a nice, cozy game to slip into. Which it definitely is not! Black holes, tornado planets, shit’s crazy!
It has its moments of quiet exploration and somber reflection, but it’s nothing if not varied. It’s chill in that there’s no penalty for dying and indeed you’re literally forced to. But it’s still wild and exciting, and sometimes even terrifying.
While I was playing, I had someone ask me my favorite death and I knew my answer right away. That was one of the moments I realized my experience of the game had started to flip, because I had been enjoying even the parts I hated.
Better time control helps a bit too. You can wait at the fire before launch to get a better alignment for where you want to go or for a specific event. I think it was the tornado planet I tended to wait a short bit just so it lined up better? You can also end a loop early, but that you have to be taught. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say, but if you do don’t finish this paragraph (not sure my app is doing spoiler tags right):
spoiler
the guy on the tornado planet will eventually teach you at some point, so just go back and exhaust his dialogue every once in a while until you trigger whatever does it.
As for my favorite death: I was trying to land on the interloper but missed slightly and it flew right past me. I scrambled to change momentum and chase after it. It got farther and farther away but then slowly I started gaining on it again. I gained more speed and started leveling out after what felt like minutes of turning as hard as I could at max thrust. And then the sun appeared from off screen, like an angry father that just caught a misbehaving child. My punishment was immediate and thorough.
I couldn’t stop laughing for the entire loop animation. (and then I went to the interloper as planned)
Loads of them if you stay away from multiplayer slop.
Exactly. Micro transactions are rare to nill in single player and indie games. 98% of AAA can suck it.
Could be anything from Stardew Valley to Baldur’s Gate 3.
Most of them.
Oh I wish. Not these days.
If all you play is pvp then yes. Otherwise, no, 98% of games do not have anticheat
That’s a lot to ask of one game these days. Last one that ticked those boxes for me was Pacific Drive.
runescape