Objectively, Hellblade 2 is niche. It just is. The franchise had a niche appeal when it was multiplatform, and that doesn't change with an exclusive sequel.
At the same time, this was THE game to introduce the Series X. The very first trailer went hard and made a very big statement about what to expect.
So... What is the takeaway? Well... Looking at the list of games, we can say that Xbox gamers have a "type" and Hellblade 2 really goes ag...
JingSing,
I would say it works (or worked) if the Xbox is the only place to play those games. Xbox 360 did surprisingly well (relatively speaking) in Japan thanks to Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and timed exclusivity of Tales of Vesperia.
However, where I think it left Japanese gamers a bit furious was Tales. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey were great games, but they were new IPs. Toriyama and Sakaguchi were behind them, but I'm not sure that on its own e...
It depends on who we're talking about. It helps to give some games exposure that otherwise wouldn't. I'm of the opinion that Persona games couldn't break 20K on Xbox otherwise so there's some benefit there.
As for who it benefits, that's an interesting question. Gamers primarily we would think... But it must create entitlement among the consumers. And the quality of titles launching on the service seems lacking, often missing some feature(s) one ex...
Definitely not Bloodborne. I love that game, having literally cleared it over 20 times at this point and hit the level cap.
It does not look better than Hellblade II visually. Not even close. It doesn't even run better than Hellblade II.
This article picks games that don't even have the same art style. None of them go for a photorealism aesthetic as Hellblade II does. All of those games look great, but let's get real here.
...
Druckmann doesn't really beat you over the head with the message of the game. The only thing he said about The Last of Us Part II prior to launch was that it was commentary on the cycle of violence.
In reality, it was also commentary on the decades long Israel-Palestine conflict, which he doesn't really mention until after the fact and is a reflection of his own lived experiences. In fact, I would not be surprised if it was difference of opinion on this issue that ...
"A few of the developers we spoke to said that in the past, they had been the recipients of funds specifically allocated to assist in porting projects, but programs like these had all but dried up. Now, all eyes were squarely focused on Xbox Game Pass deals – which were also not as lucrative as they were just a few years ago, but still enough to consider putting the work in for."
This is an interesting point to me. So there were incentives for Game Pass releases t...
Hellblade II is visually exceptional. It's truly a technical showpiece in the way The Order: 1886 on a base PS4 was insane.
Is it the biggest deal? Depends on the person, of course. Ni-Oh gave us the option, and I run it at 60fps, every time. Been that way ever since. Didn't even play The Last of Us Part II until the PS5 came out.
For a title like Hellblade II, at first, I thought it needed a performance mode. I totally get that point, but I'...
Eh, maybe. Microsoft seems like a phenomenally wealthy company that's (generally) wise with how they handle their finances. What they're not wise with is how they spend social capital. As soon as they get it, they spend it by doing something nefarious. Can't say they're the only ones of course.
Will they get rid of Ninja Theory? No earthly idea. Honestly, I have a hard time even speculating about it because we don't have any details on performance metric...
I think it depends on how we're defining a flop.
Critically, my estimate was 85+ Meta. It doesn't seem far from that at all, which is encouraging. Can't call it a flop there.
Commercially? That's tougher. I can't see a world where this game performs well in sales or even in increasing Game Pass subs.
I could be wrong, but isn't this their first sequel? That's always rough.
I'm not really keen on Ninja Theory games, but they've always been excellent storytellers and masters of squeezing power out of the hardware they work with. It's really tough to follow up on a game like Hell Blade, given how unique it was. I didn't like the gameplay, but it really tackled mental illness in a fascinating way.
All being said, Gamespot is pretty...
8bitAssassin,
I assume you're talking about Nintendo.
I think it works for them. I'm honestly glad that it's nothing like PlayStation or Xbox. It's a great reason to own one.
Photorealism should be reserved for games like Gran Turismo. It costs far too much to incorporate that level of detail.
Even then, if it comes at the cost of physics calculations or frame rate given the shared resources of consoles, I'd scale it back in favor of a smoother experience.
Nintendo was quite smart to never pigeonhole themselves into that. Great foresight on their part, I'd say.
I gave up after Revelations. You've gotten much deeper into the lore than I have, that's certain. Loved 2, but after Revelations, I wasn't willing to give any new entries since a chance.
They might be good games, but you can't play them all, I guess.
Cacabunga,
Possibly, though I think any attempt to win against Nintendo in the handheld space is hopeless.
I loved the PSP and I still enjoy my Vita, but there's something about a full scale Mario and Zelda in your hands that makes it clear Sony should share the space, but never dream of taking it.
It's a very safe bet from Sony to have it run PS4 games too because then neither you nor developers are on the hook to make dedicate...
I sincerely doubt this is going to drive interest in Game Pass. It is not uncommon for people to play a very restricted rotation of games, and Call of Duty is just one game. Knowing people are working longer hours to provide for their families, why remain subbed to a service just because it gives you access to many games when in reality, you only care about very few and it's very low on your list of priorities to do? It's not just about limited interest in offerings, limited time to p...
ThatArtGuy,
All the more reason to get with the program.
They deserve it. They've made it clear this is not necessary.... So don't force it.
Or....in the modern era, it could support real electric guitars and drum sets...?
I think we can do better than the buttons at this point
But the question then is what do consumer spending habits look like on rented games?
I tend to agree that it's pointless, at least for now.
Maybe that changes with GTAVI, but I'm not buying a new PlayStation just for that.