RUINISM
2024
tl;dr: Palworld = BOTW + Ark/Conan + city-building
Palworld, despite being in an unfinished, very rough state, has rightfully captured the attention of many: it is easily accessible yet very ambitious and deep game. No, it is not "Pokemon with guns" -- the mechanics and design owe primarily to BOTW and Ark/Conan Exiles, which are survival games that feature extensive companion systems (Ark via the dinosaurs, and Conan via the thralls (a polite word for a slave, lol)). Throw in a dash of strategy's subgenre of city-building where each pal has a set of traits and needs once deployed in your base. These are the primary mechanics influences and it is easily a more interesting recipe than what most games can offer. For all intents and purposes, Palworld is an envelope-pushing game.
What I loved about it is how thoroughly pals are integrated within every aspect of the experience: they aid you in combat, boost your exploration acting as riding, flying, or swimming mounts (some with unique exploration abilities, such as double jump, and most with unique movement speed values) -- which is actually crucial to progression as you cannot access other islands without them -- and they have certain proficiencies when assigned at base. Pals have combat abilities, gain experience points and can be upgraded in attack, defense, health or work speed via collectible souls. Their elemental affinity also determines how good they're going to be against certain enemies. Juicy stuff.
Where the game falls short -- as of the date of the writing -- is not being finished. Higher level areas seem sorely lacking in detail and content compared to the beautifully designed main island. The pals, unfortunately, are plagued by a plethora of rough animations. The combat mechanics boil down to rolling out of projectile attacks and shooting, and the progression becomes grindy once you reach the very late stages of the game, approximately last 5 levels or so. Yet despite all of that, it is still a compelling package due to how well all the systems click and synergize with each other, making every bit of progress feel downright exciting and you -- glued to the screen, planning the next venture into unexplored territory, where you will perhaps find an amazing base spot, a boss battle, or a handful of new pals to capture.
I've not even delved into the city-building or survival aspects of the game, but rest assured, acquiring food is easy; it's not one of those games where you constantly scavenge for resources just to survive. Farming becomes not necessary once you set up a base in a location where pals can gather resources passively.
Back when I was heavily into Conan Exiles, I was sure somebody would come out with a more accessible version of the concept and take the bank -- Palworld is that game.
Palworld, despite being in an unfinished, very rough state, has rightfully captured the attention of many: it is easily accessible yet very ambitious and deep game. No, it is not "Pokemon with guns" -- the mechanics and design owe primarily to BOTW and Ark/Conan Exiles, which are survival games that feature extensive companion systems (Ark via the dinosaurs, and Conan via the thralls (a polite word for a slave, lol)). Throw in a dash of strategy's subgenre of city-building where each pal has a set of traits and needs once deployed in your base. These are the primary mechanics influences and it is easily a more interesting recipe than what most games can offer. For all intents and purposes, Palworld is an envelope-pushing game.
What I loved about it is how thoroughly pals are integrated within every aspect of the experience: they aid you in combat, boost your exploration acting as riding, flying, or swimming mounts (some with unique exploration abilities, such as double jump, and most with unique movement speed values) -- which is actually crucial to progression as you cannot access other islands without them -- and they have certain proficiencies when assigned at base. Pals have combat abilities, gain experience points and can be upgraded in attack, defense, health or work speed via collectible souls. Their elemental affinity also determines how good they're going to be against certain enemies. Juicy stuff.
Where the game falls short -- as of the date of the writing -- is not being finished. Higher level areas seem sorely lacking in detail and content compared to the beautifully designed main island. The pals, unfortunately, are plagued by a plethora of rough animations. The combat mechanics boil down to rolling out of projectile attacks and shooting, and the progression becomes grindy once you reach the very late stages of the game, approximately last 5 levels or so. Yet despite all of that, it is still a compelling package due to how well all the systems click and synergize with each other, making every bit of progress feel downright exciting and you -- glued to the screen, planning the next venture into unexplored territory, where you will perhaps find an amazing base spot, a boss battle, or a handful of new pals to capture.
I've not even delved into the city-building or survival aspects of the game, but rest assured, acquiring food is easy; it's not one of those games where you constantly scavenge for resources just to survive. Farming becomes not necessary once you set up a base in a location where pals can gather resources passively.
Back when I was heavily into Conan Exiles, I was sure somebody would come out with a more accessible version of the concept and take the bank -- Palworld is that game.
2020
Grindy ass game that fails to have any meaningful progression system.
2023
I was left miserable and depressed.
2019
Remedy on top of their game and Sam Lake remains one of the best cases for applying auteur theory in games; every aesthetic choice is measured and deliberate. The kinetic, hyper-violent combat and the alienating surrealism guide the experience.
2022
Gears of War meets Devil May Cry in a not a particularly inspired fashion.
Feels like it was made in late 2000s -- down to the simplistic and linear level design.
Feels like it was made in late 2000s -- down to the simplistic and linear level design.
2023
The game lends a great first impression on the account of the visuals -- the highly detailed and carefully designed interiors feel lived in, and the gore is simply the best in video games. But progression feels stale; the game fails to introduce anything new or meaningful even a couple of hours in, rendering every encounter some form of mashing the attack button and occasionally dodging an attack. There are some extra mechanics -- such as using water and a source of electricity to electrocute zombies -- but the game never pushes you to use them. You loot endless amount of items but never find anything exciting, never feel that you've discovered something special.
It is largely the same shallow game as the predecessor except better looking.
It is largely the same shallow game as the predecessor except better looking.
Bethesda should buy this studio and then incorporate into the next TES, only dressed up in fancier art and production values. Now that would be a 5/5 game.
The progression systems are fantastic and immersive and the possibility space is dazzling. Where it falls short is repetitive quests/tasks and presentation -- the stuff that big studios are good at, i.e. dressing up the world with gorgeous assets and countless voiced lines for the characters.
You can go from being a petty peasant into a full-time warlord and emperor. And every step of the way the game stays challenging and engrossing, revealing ever more of its depth. It is seriously just a bump up in production values -- and some combat tweaks -- away from a 5/5.
The progression systems are fantastic and immersive and the possibility space is dazzling. Where it falls short is repetitive quests/tasks and presentation -- the stuff that big studios are good at, i.e. dressing up the world with gorgeous assets and countless voiced lines for the characters.
You can go from being a petty peasant into a full-time warlord and emperor. And every step of the way the game stays challenging and engrossing, revealing ever more of its depth. It is seriously just a bump up in production values -- and some combat tweaks -- away from a 5/5.
2023
No game where you can hold one button standing in one place and progress deserves to be called good. And no, you can't say "but you need to play it for x hours for it to get good," -- that in itself is a condemnation to a game. It is bad design.
Skyrim is junk food: it is filling and feels somewhat okay tasting but you really wonder if you couldn't have eaten something better in the end. Dopamine dripping game with endless progression systems that ultimately feel shallow. Nice presentation.
All these jaw-dropping efforts of countless talented artists only to be subjugated to a terrible, most boring game design. Entirely linear missions that are five steps back from GTA 3; combat that possesses no challenge; an open-world without a reason to explore (i.e. no progression systems where the rewards change the way you play -- see MGS V as a good opposite of this). A gargantuan collection of extremely on-rails missions where the NPCs just can't shut up. Not good, not good at all.
A step back in every meaningful way for the series, if not two.
So to begin with, at the very basic design level, what we have is an array of incredibly simple and short missions; the aspect of previous games that involved an element of exploring and interacting with the environment is gone. Difficulty is also gone.
Secondly, instead of cinematic cutscenes, you get comic book esque presentation of story -- again, a downgrade. I couldn't bring myself to play past a couple of hours.
So to begin with, at the very basic design level, what we have is an array of incredibly simple and short missions; the aspect of previous games that involved an element of exploring and interacting with the environment is gone. Difficulty is also gone.
Secondly, instead of cinematic cutscenes, you get comic book esque presentation of story -- again, a downgrade. I couldn't bring myself to play past a couple of hours.
All the charm of a single-player MMO.
2010
Look, I realize why people love this game: it's the first real Fallout since Fallout 2, it truly allows you to role-play a character and find ways of succeeding due to a staggering amount of solutions to any given quest. It dumpsters Bethesda's effort design and narrative wise. I agree with most common sentiments without a problem.
However, there is ONE problem: the game is god-darn ugly.
And I truly mean it. It is hard on the eyes. I dare you to play this for a couple of dozen of hours and tell me that the vaults do not blend into one indistinguishable mess of bland textures and almost copy-pasted layouts. Video games are a visual art form, too -- we either judge them wholly or not at all.
And yes, Obsidian were hard pressed and under a very rigorous deadline to complete it. That's why there is ultimately a lack of visual polish -- one that gets in front of me enjoying it past a certain point -- which is why I do not herald it nearly as highly as others, despite loving RPGs to death.
However, there is ONE problem: the game is god-darn ugly.
And I truly mean it. It is hard on the eyes. I dare you to play this for a couple of dozen of hours and tell me that the vaults do not blend into one indistinguishable mess of bland textures and almost copy-pasted layouts. Video games are a visual art form, too -- we either judge them wholly or not at all.
And yes, Obsidian were hard pressed and under a very rigorous deadline to complete it. That's why there is ultimately a lack of visual polish -- one that gets in front of me enjoying it past a certain point -- which is why I do not herald it nearly as highly as others, despite loving RPGs to death.
2022
It starts out quite gripping -- as gripping as these crippled interactive movie games can get -- but quickly loses steam by throwing us into badly paced flashbacks and exposition dumps for the characters' background motivations and drama. Shoots itself in the foot, really.
2019
Cool concept but the writing here is terribad: every cutscene is an exposition dump. Exposition dumps would get you Cs in any decent film school but gamers think this is the pinnacle of writing. Not to mention the on the nose metaphors that are hamfisted into the character names (it worked in MGS because the espionage world is full of codenames; here, it is not justified whatsoever). Kojima's humour is also at odds with the deliberately serious tone this game tries to set from the get-go.
Mechanically, there isn't much to stay since holding two buttons is enough to bypass 90% of the obstacles.
Mechanically, there isn't much to stay since holding two buttons is enough to bypass 90% of the obstacles.