Jack of Gamemoir talks about his latest adventure in gaming, Super Time Force, and what he learned about the nature of creativity.
Neil writes: "An exclusive interview with the director of Capybara Games as they talk about the release of Grindstone on Xbox and PlayStation"
GR sat down for a playthrough and a chat with Capy's Dan John Cox.
Below is a top-down roguelike game which focuses on exploration and melee combat. You're tasked with exploring a network of underground areas as you acquire better gear. However, death is permanent and once you're killed, you have to start again.
What they've shown previously looks way different (and way better) than this. It's dark... really dark... you can barely see anything and everything is too zoomed out to see what going on in addition to this which makes an already difficult looking game more difficult for no good reason or payoff. The gameplay I saw previously made it look a lot more appealing. This just looks annoying, which is a shame cuz I like Capybara Games.
Interesting to note that this game is self-published. It will be XB1/Steam at first, likely followed by a PS4/Switch ports a few months after launch.
The perspective looks the same, and has been discussed by the dev a few times now. They used the perspective and zoom as a way to show the scale of the world. What videos have you seen?
The darkness was always there too, but we had not previously seen much of the deeper underground areas (the "below").
Also, they've said it's only timed exclusive since 2013. They've been set to self publish through id@xbox since MS finally changed the old policies against it.
It might take a bit more than a few months to reach the other consoles based on how things have gone in the past, but hopefully it gets there quickly. This one looks really special, and CB deserves the success imo.
It's every single other demo that has been shown before this one. It's never been shown to be this dark before, not even close.
The perspective alone, I have no issue with. It's combined with it being so dark that you can't see much - that is the problem.
The game is set underground where it is typically dark so maybe that's the effect they are going for or do you think it should be really bright or something ?
I would advise you to check out every other demo of this game before this one, and you'll notice what I'm talking about.
The lighting is significantly different. I've been looking forward to this game for a while, and I'm talking about my personal disappointment that the game looks like it could be really frustrating because of how they've chosen to reduce the visibility compared to how it used to look.
-"It's every single other demo that has been shown before this one."
So, I decided to do a bit of digging based on these prerequisites.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
You're either exaggerating your rhetoric with "way different" & "way better" or don't really have a clue what you're talking about. I'm not trying to be an a** here, but there's literally no big night&day difference as you suggest from previous gameplay footage (and what I grabbed is from 2 years ago). Sure, it's not hard to spot some side-by-side contrast but not to the point you're personifying.
The video you posted has a rather wide diameter of light surrounding the main character which makes it clear to see what action is happening. You can see big open stretches of environment due to the lighting. The latest video is so much darker because that diameter has been tightened and shrunk significantly to the degree that I can't make out what is happening more than a couple of inches in any direction, and to me that is way different and way worse and looks like it will be more frustrating.
Now I'm open to it being the case that there are varying degrees of lighting in the game and this is one of the darker sections overall, but the developer of the game came on to ResetEra and clarified that this is a "dark game", and didn't do anything to make those who are concerned about how it's hard to see what's going on any more satisfied. https://www.resetera.com/po...
@Digital
I mean...sure there's some disparity in the amount of light present in environments but the way you're categorizing it is still baffling to me. The scale looks relatively the same and it's been intended to be a 'dark' game from the start so...I still don't buy your personification of its changes.
The game is Xbox Console Exclusive... It will be released for PC as well... No PS4 or Switch versions will come out.
@agnosticgamer sorry but that just isn't true, it is 100% releasing on ps4 not 100% on switch but it's possible
While there's a place for games like this, it's not for me. Where's our god of wars and the last of us at? Strong Narrative and gameplay, adult, gory and dark themes...I want something to get lost in.
You want something to get lost in, in a strong narrative game? Sorry, but youre contradicting yourself there. I am not shunning either of those games but Below looks far more like a game to lose yourself in.
@Saijahn God of war comes out in a few weeks and the last of us 2 is releasing next year hopefully. if you only game on xbox i would also recommend getting a ps4 and with regards to below it's a console launch title so will release on other consoles in the future
