A look at the modern state of MMORPGs

 The MMORPG genre has certainly seem some success in the likes of World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, Elder Scrolls Online and Guild Wars 2, but since the year 2014 there has been scarcely anything of note as that year marked the last real success, and even then marginally so, in regards to Black Desert Online. I'm going to do my best to take a deeper look into the genre, it's past, and where it's going, or if it even has a future.

The Past

We go back now to the elder days as it were, and what many would call the golden era of MMORPGs. The prime example I'll be drawing from here (As it is mostly fresh in my memory and the one I've most experience with) is World of Warcraft.

Few things denote the true classic MMORPG experience like multiple stats and long grinds, but also a level of social interaction that was never achieved again. Back then it might've been considered a chore at the time to get certain things done, but as they say, you never know when the 'good times' are until they're gone. When we look back we fondly recall moments of grinding in the Barrens for multiple levels, or working up enough gold for your first mount, or even just trying to find a healer for that one dungeon and then all traipsing across the land together if you didn't have a Warlock. It was moments like these however, the long pauses between progress, that really fueled the social aspects.

When you're waiting for a healer, you're spending time talking to the group you've already formed. You're learning who they are, what they do, when they started playing and many more things. Perhaps you'll even join their guild after you find you meld well together, and then you've a whole new group of people to say hello to. The social aspect of MMORPGs did very much pass its golden age, and it's been dead for a while now. Some games manage to get some of that social aspect back but it'll never be as strong as it originally was.

That being; there's something to be said of the actual mechanics of the game too. Back in the day when I for example played a Hunter in WoW, or a Warlock, I used to enjoy the resource management. Farming some soulshards for an upcoming dungeon I knew I was going to partake in, or restocking ammo for my ranged weapon, or even just buying some food for my pet as a Hunter. It was all small details that really just added to the flavor of the class you were playing. As a Hunter you had more to manage than say a Warrior, because you had a pet and a gun that needed bullets. If you were a class that needed reagents you needed the money for those, and if you were a mage you could straight up make gold for buying reagents, making portals, and asking for payments. Every class had a lovely little niche for itself, true identity that separated you from everything else. Only you as a Mage could make portals, only you as a Hunter needed to buy specific food for your pet, only you as a Warlock needed those soulshards to fuel your spells.

Also the depth with stats was a thing back then. You had multiple, and you needed to pay attention to both what were your prime attributes and what you were lacking in; like hit chance. You found, farmed, purchased and crafted gear based on what you needed, and it wasn't just 'This has a higher item level'. What I mean to say in all is that back in the day things were tougher, but there was a finer aspect to everything, so much more immersion with what you were playing and the being able to really connect with the people around you.

A lot will say it wasn't the game that was good, but the memories spent with your friends. To that I'd say that the game provided the platform for those memories to be made, for I couldn't make them with friends in the modern era of the genre.

The Present

So what stunted all this? What started to occur? I'd say it was about the year 2007 when it began with Wrath of the Lich King. It was during the big mainstream boom of games in general with such hits like the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, along with Halo 3. And if you go look up the year of gaming for 2007 you're going to find a bunch of huge titles that changed the entire scene. Games had become mainstream, no longer were kids picked on in schools for enjoying games, it was suddenly popular and a social norm.

And that meant things had to get easier.

I'm going to straight up say it now. Too much quality of life features is a detrimental thing. Looking for Group became a staple of the MMORPG genre and with it was removed the time spent in hubs looking for some people who wanted to run a particular dungeon. With LFG you just signed up to a dungeon and were thrown in with random people from other servers you'd never see again, so why waste time getting to know them? It was the first and probably most major blow to the social aspect of the genre.

With the realization that the genre was getting more popular and with a desire to draw in a greater crowd, thus began the dumbing down of the genre in general. Long tiresome tasks were shortened, stats were simplified, quests became 'run to the marker on your map' and rare items became more accessible, thus removing any sense of achievement from say getting a rare or epic drop.

But the genre itself isn't completely at fault, it's also due to the evolution of the internet as a whole. Online messaging services became more readily available and common, and so suddenly when you logged out the game, you still had access to everyone from it, and you were still talking to them. It started to blend that whole barrier between in and out of the game, and your friends were no longer exclusive the game itself.

But the biggest killer? Guides.

When was the last time you played an MMORPG and really just explored yourself? Thrown yourself into the world without any idea what you were doing?

Guides became more accessible and more widespread, and then came the meta rearing it's ugly head. Before we knew it everyone was using the same cookie cutter builds, gunning for the same gear, using the same optimal rotations and b-lining to quest objectives with a guide on hand. The meta and guides utterly destroyed most sense of exploration of an unknown fantastical world, and the allure to simply use one instead of asking the people around you became far too strong.

In the modern era of the genre you'll often find people not talking to one another simply because of the fact that they don't need to. They don't need to ask that person where the quest wants them to go, they don't need to ask their party member what rotation they should be using, and they don't need to ask their guildmates what items they need. Everything is done with a google search now, and we've been worse off for it for a good while now.

The modern era might be more accessible to newer players, but those of us who've been enjoyed the genre since before that are certainly left in the wind. And they wonder why our goggles are tinted so heavily in rose.

There's a small footnote to all of this that I'd like to mention, and it's what I call the invasion of the MMORPG genre. To those who've been with it for a while, you likely know what I'm talking about. It's games labeling themselves as an MMORPG without really being one in the traditional sense, and simply because it has some RPG elements and consider themselves, well, large. An example of this would be... Say Conan Exiles. It has RPG elements, it is quite possible a large multiple online game, but would you call it an MMORPG in the traditional sense? No, certainly not. Anything with player-run servers in my opinion is not an MMORPG. It's a small note, but as time goes on the invasion of the genre becomes more apparent. Certainly something to keep an eye on.

I will also point out that the passion for the genre is simply dead. The love is gone and it has been blatant to see for some time in a lot of games. The only exception I find is Final Fantasy XIV, and that's mostly because the work ethic in Japan demands exceptional results. But turning my eye to Western developers? Where's the soul anymore? A lot of the games are just time-gated and stretched out optimally just enough for you to have to subscribe for another month, and everything they do is hellbent on making sure you do just that.

The Future

What does it hold? We haven't seen a success in the genre for almost seven years. Where do we even look to? It's hard to say, I won't lie. A lot of the MMORPGs that come out these days crash and burn in spectacular fashion and it's hard to say that there is even a future for the genre. We've some promising examples in the likes of Ashes of Creation and Blue Protocol, but is that all we have?

MMORPGs are risky, they cost millions of dollars and can fall flat on their face outside of the gate. Take example Amazon's New World. It's had a few betas and I've partook myself, but the combat is shallow, the choices limited, the enemy variety stagnant, and everyone looks the same. That's not an MMORPG, and they don't even know what they want to make, they keep changing what its focus is.

A topic I hear brought up a lot for future MMORPGs is that they should be player-driven. That players should have huge impact on the world around them. In some sense I agree, but I'll always say it's a bad idea. Why? You'd be foolish to ask. We all know what kind of gamers are out there. We get a lot of assholes, and if you think for a second that some guilds won't just dominated the landscape and be complete assholes about it you're living a naive dream. If given the chance players will optimize the fun out of anything, which is why I think player-driven games are such a bad idea. Everything will be worked down to the bare bone of optimization and no one will find any enjoyment in the end result.

Such an example was already present in Black Desert Online, where if a large and powerful enough guild decided it, they'd lock down entire grinding areas for their personal use, and simply say that it is theirs and you're not welcome. It's a toxic idea and it's only ever worked once, with EVE online, and that is kind of an anomaly of a game.

Another point to make is the target audience. I've strong assumptions that the youth of today cares nothing for the genre as a whole, and while of course there'll always be some exceptions, I truly believe most of us that have grown up with the genre are the main audience. So we an assumed lack of new blood, the growth of the genre as a whole is stunted, and that perhaps lends itself to developers not wanting to risk making a game for it.

I'll be personally keeping an eye on titles like Ashes of Creation and Blue Protocal, and perhaps Crimson Desert but it's unclear wherever that's even an MMORPG.

I welcome discussion on this topic with all my heart, because within said heart, I want to be wrong about the future of the genre, I want there to be hope. But try as I might, I simply cannot see it. It's a genre I've long loved, and I wish the best for it in the years going forward, and ponder how long it will be until the next successful entry.

/DEAD

Warner Bros becomes a Nemesis of creativity

Since 2015 game development studio Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment has been trying to patent the popular and innovative Nemesis system from Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War. It comes with great misery and regret to say that they've finally been successful in the attempt, but what is the Nemesis system and why is this patent such a potential blow to the industry?

Released in late 2014 Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor marketed itself as an open-world story driven game with a particular feature that had a lot of people excited; the Nemesis system. It's a system that lets randomly generated NPCs remember you and your actions. An example being that a randomly generated Orc (among the countless unnamed ones) can literally gain a name for himself by killing you, and then he will remember that fight and the way you fought during it. Likewise Orcs that enter conflict with you and escape, be shamed, maimed, or otherwise, will remember the encounter and reference it upon the next appearance, including any physical alterations like burn marks if you used fire, or scars from your blade.

It was and is a innovative and fantastic system that was only built upon further with the later game. Each Orc has one of many personalities, traits, weapons and even rivals and blood brothers amidst the others of its kind. There is also a hierarchy of captains, bodyguards, warchiefs, and so on. It was one of the most creative and fresh systems in recent time and really pushed forward dynamic storytelling and the company should by all means be praised for its creation.

So now we've got this system in the industry and it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for future games and AI development. Great, right? Think of all the games that could adopt a similar system and take a step closer to that holy grail of game design; each playthrough being unique and different.

But no.

Warner Bros decided that the development of AI across the gaming industry needs to be knocked down a notch, and that it needs to patent a system it seemingly has no plan to use again just for the sake of locking it down. Because another company making a good game is just criminal, right?

To get further into the actual direct wording of the patent it protects 'Nemesis Characters, nemesis forts, social vendettas and followers in computer games'. Notice how vague that is? One could argue that 'Nemesis' could be easily slipped by, but social vendettas and followers? If this is enforced heavily that itself has just delivered a glancing blow to interactive AI across all games. The patent not only does that, it goes a step further and protects the concept of characters changing their appearance after an encounter with the player character, as well as their own ability to move within a hierarchy based on the actions of the player character. Again, very vague, which can be both a blessing and a curse.

The patent goes live on the 23rd of February and has the potential to be held for a seriously long time. Here comes the money maker for Warner Bros though; If any other studio wants to use similar systems they have to purchase a license to do so from the patent holder.

With any luck the industry can get by this frankly greedy and selfish patent and make similar systems of their own for the sake of pushing the industry and AI development forward.

I vehemently disagree with any action that prevents the growth of the gaming industry and this patent holds no value to anyone but Warner Bros and their desire to lock down entire game systems and concepts in order to profit from it. Let's hope other companies don't follow in their steps and start patenting more systems, lest we be left with the most creatively starved and samey games we've ever seen to date (And that's already an issue).

/DEAD

Bloodborne - Fear the Old Blood

[Introduction]

It has almost been six years since Fromsoftware's Bloodborne hit the PS4 and to this day the waves that game caused are still felt by many. Riding the increasing popularity of the Dark Souls series it sparked interest as something new and different and it was no surprise that the game itself practically sold consoles for Sony. Indeed, even I myself bought a PS4 just to get my hands on it.

Amidst the distant and longing cries for a sequel or a remaster, or anything to do with it at all, we'll be taking a look into just what made this game give the lasting impression that it did.

[First Impressions]

On initial load-up you might find the game to be strikingly similar in all but theme to Dark Souls and its predecessor Demon's Souls. The menu is familiar, the character creator is familiar, and the UI is also quite very familiar. The formula could be considered the same but where the game quickly set itself apart in was theme and combat.

As is tradition for Fromsoftware you start the game very much at a disadvantage and often faced with a much stronger foe than you'd regularly encounter in the starting area. Many people will likely die to this first encounter and they won't truly know anything about the combat other than 'that dog one-shot me'. Which is still very much in the realms of what any Souls game provides for its starting experience.

It's only once you die and come back with weapon in hand that you get a fair start at the game. What immediately becomes apparent is the speed of the game. You're much faster than you ever were in Dark Souls, you can take very few hits, and your defensive options are limited. There are no shields here, only dodging and shooting. The game rather quickly shows you just how hectic it can be with the 'rally' system. That being should you take a hit a portion of your health bar will turn orange. Striking any enemy will recoup some of that lost health, and the more you do it within the time frame before it decays, the more health you get back. Literally an eye for an eye. This system encourages you to be aggressive, to really just get back into the thick of the action after taking a hit, and it works wonders down the line.

The setting itself lends well to the game. Yharnam is a bleak gothic city with narrow cobblestone roads, bridges and tunnels, houses and wider open streets. Creating a mental map for the city is harder than it ever was with Dark Souls and you can get turned around fairly easily. There are plenty of hidden nooks and crannies too, so exploration is highly encouraged along with a good amount of completely optional bosses.

[Development]

Originally titled with the placeholder name of Project Beast; Bloodborne began development during the Prepare to Die edition of Dark Souls and was developed besides Dark Souls 2. The game came as a result of Sony wanting to collaborate with the studio which leading director Hidetaka Miyazaki was all but too pleased to agree to so long as they got to make it for the PS4 since with his vision he had doubts that older generation consoles would be able to support what he wanted to deliver. Outside of that no hiccups that I can find. Development must've progressed rather smoothly. Some leaks came out a few weeks before the actual reveal of the game, but that's about it.

[Game Mechanics]

Bloodborne plays similarly to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls but only really in a foundation sense. What makes up the combat of Bloodborne after that is vastly different. As mentioned earlier; no shields means no standing and waiting. Enemies are going to rush at you and attack you and you need to be ready to counter. With a well-timed shot from a gun you can stagger enemies into a vulnerable state. Approaching a staggered enemy and attacking will deal a visceral attack, which is essentially a parry and riposte from the Souls series. When you first start out visceral attacks are an exceedingly good way to get through tougher enemies providing you can land those shots.

The weapons in Bloodborne are particularly great too. Every weapon you pick up is called a Trick Weapon and they all have a kind of second, or alternate, form. An example is the saw cleaver. It's basically a giant razor blade and has short range, but it's fast with a decent amount of damage. However, upon pressing L2 you'll activate the trick weapon and the blade of the saw cleaver will fold out in an instant; giving you a weapon with much better range and higher damage but at the cost of speed. The creativity of the trick weapons is fantastic and my only gripe is there aren't more of them.

I think that the moment you're really taught how to play this game is after encountering the first progression boss Father Gascoigne. He's a Hunter like you, only he's been driven mad by the blood. When you fight him he shares much the same kit as yourself. He has swift dodges, a shotgun he can fire suddenly and even stagger you, and he has a trick weapon of his own, the Hunter's Axe (Which is a weapon you too can select at the start). Gascoigne is fast and aggressive and you'll find yourself with scarcely a moment to heal should you take hits. But after numerous deaths it'll finally click for you. The best defense is a good offence. When Gascoigne takes a chunk of your HP, take a chunk of his and heal your own back. Don't backpedal away from him, get up in his face and slip behind him, shoot him during his attacks, don't give him a chance to play by his rules and set the pace yourself. Of course the second part of the fight only makes it all the more intense, but the method remains the same. I adore Bloodborne's combat and the way it forces you to be aggressive, it's great.

Being a game from Fromsoft though we can expect the usual progression in the form of leveling up through increasing your stats. Blood echoes are your new soul currency and you lose them upon death. Sometimes an enemy will pick them up and you'll have to kill them to get it back. You've got your standard weapon upgrades too and this time around we also have blood gems which are slotted into weapons to increase their stats in various ways.

Bonfires are somewhat done away with in favor of lanterns. You can't rest at a lantern; only return to the hub or light a new one that you just found. Bosses seemingly come out of nowhere sometimes as there are no fog gates to clearly show you where they are. The fog only appears after you've first encountered the boss.

There's a bunch of NPC quests to get through too that have some pretty specific conditions but generally provide good rewards for following them through. As expected there's more than one ending too, so if you don't get it the first time you can head into New Game+ with all your stats and gear and take another crack at it.

[Graphics]

I'd personally say the game is only just starting to show its age but Yharnam is still a visual marvel and a delight to navigate. Some areas are less so appealing like the forest or the hamlet, but whenever you're in Yharnam proper the amount of detail is pretty staggering. Visually the combat is quite clear and easy to tell what's happening and when. Sometimes the camera can really freak out when locked onto a large enemy right in front of you though.

I must however commend whoever designed all the armor and weapons for the game though, as they're all visually appealing. I go out of my way to mix and match gear just to get that perfect look, stats be damned.

A nice feature I've always enjoyed was how blood visually appears on your character in dynamic fashion. I liked using the Kirkhammer in the early game, it's just a giant hammer that's also a sword, but after swinging it around enough the hammer itself is completely covered in blood and so are you. You can essentially tell how much progress you've been making by just looking at your character and seeing how much blood is on them, and you can get utterly covered in it.

[Story]

The story this time around is a little more direct than previous Fromsoftware titles as now we've cutscenes with dialogue taking place here and there. There's also the standard method from Demon's and Dark Souls in the form of item descriptions and NPC dialogue letting you essentially fill in the blanks yourself and interpret exactly what's going on. The basis of Bloodborne however is that you're an outsider who came to Yharnam and for reasons unknown you undergo blood ministration and become a Hunter, whisked away to the strange and mysterious Hunter's Dream where you're instructed to just hunt beasts, as that is what Hunters have always done. Of course the story isn't so simple and things do indeed go places down the line. For me though, the setting itself is the story. The world itself will show you exactly what's going on.

[SPOILERS]

Hey do you like H.P Lovecraft? I sure do, and so does Miyazaki. As you're running around more strange occurrences start to appear around Yharnam and its neighboring locations. You start to notice some kind of worship, or reverence of some other entity, and more than one. You start seeing mention of 'Old Ones' more and more, and slowly you begin to really notice the madness taking hold.

As you progress through the story it'll become apparent that we're not playing some simple horror beast hack and slash, we're playing a cosmic horror game and god damn did they pull it off so perfectly. The realization of cosmic horror only increases the further you go as you're exposed to more of it, and they did it so perfectly that I'm more than certain that Lovecraft would've shed a tear at it. I'm not going to go into specifics as usual, because this one really needs to be seen yourself to be experienced fully.

[Pros]

- Great combat.

- Story twist is fantastic.

- Intricate level design.

- Visually still holds up.

[Cons]

- Not enough trick weapons.

- Some stats (Bloodtinge) find little use.

[Conclusion]

Believe me when I tell you I tried pretty hard to think of more cons, but I really can't. There not being enough trick weapons is only my desire for even more variety in a game that has plenty enough already. Everything else from level design, combat, bosses, gear, progression, music, there's really just nothing more I can find to pin against this game as being bad. I suppose one of the greatest sins is that we don't have another? Or that there isn't some kind of remake or a PC port. Bloodborne is an all time classic by now and it wouldn't surprise me if it was even selling a few PS5's to people who hadn't played it before. I don't often give out 9's but when it comes to Bloodborne I just can't give it anything lower. If I were to be asked what game I'd recommend people play when it came to Witcher 3 and this? Then it most definitely has to be this.

Now get out there and hunt some beasts. 

It's just what hunters do.

[Score]

9/10

/DEAD

Ghost of Tsushima - Be the Samurai your Uncle hates

[Introduction]

I'll start with saying that I love the concept around Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima. It's not often (if ever) at all that we get a game grounded in a realistic historical setting. The only ones coming to mind as of right now are games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Red Dead Redemption, as well as the plethora of old FPS games based on the World Wars. That being said I really think the industry should make more of these historical real-world games (Does Yakuza 0 being in the 80's count?), it feels like a largely ignored and untapped market these days.

That being said; to my own knowledge we've never had a historical realistic open-world game set in feudal Japan, and Ghost takes place during the first Mongol invasion. The combat is sleek, the stealth is fine, and the open world is quite beautiful. Jin Sakai makes a good protagonist and for all intents and purposes we've got a fine game in the workings here right?

Well, while I love the concept and find the gameplay all good and well, there are some faults at work here too that are representative of a common flaw in open-world games today.

[First Impressions]

I personally decided that I wanted the real Samurai experience with this game so the first thing I did was crank up the difficulty as far as it could go and turned off on-screen notifications of when archers were shooting at me, instead relying on the very audible and by now burnt into my mind phrase; 'DOSHO!'. I also didn't want anything cluttering up the UI unnecessarily when it came to getting immersed.

I'd say that in regards to the protagonist of the game, Jin Sakai, it's hard not to immediately like the guy. He's level-headed, responsible, a man of conviction and has a heart of gold. He's out there just trying to be the best guy he can be and I think people would be hard pressed to not like him. His personality also only gets more interesting later in the story in regards to how far this man is willing to go to save his home from the Mongols.

The combat at a first glance took me a little while to get used to. On the hardest difficulty it'll take three or so slashes from an enemy to take you down, and so I was conditioned to make the most out of every situation. My first 'wall' as it were came in the form of a duel at the first major bridge of the story, that being Kaneda Castle, but after several deaths it really taught me how to fight well and efficiently, and it made me a better Samurai for later battles.

[Development]

Being revealed back in 2017 Ghost of Tsushima has had some time to be developed, or what time could be considered as average in the industry today. The first gameplay came at E3 and I fondly remember just how blown away everyone was by the beautiful graphics and design of the game. It showcased its grounded combat and briefly the moral dilemmas present within the game.

The game had a lot of work in regards to keeping it as grounded and realistic as they could. Going as far as to getting in contact with historical experts to learn more about the architecture of the period, as well as the clothes people wore to the way they moved and composed themselves. They wanted the authenticity to truly be there and being an American company you could understand why they sought the help. And it paid off, playing the game for the first time you might very well think it to be made by a Japanese studio. The desire for authenticity went so far that Sucker Punch actually went to the real isle of Tsushima to research it, and even record audio directly from sources on the island.

The game takes a lot of inspiration from old Samurai movies too, and there's even a visual and audio filter you can apply to the game to give it such a look. It was desired that the game have such grounded and direct combat, where each swing meant life or death, hence why I believe the game is best played on the hardest difficulty for the experience that the devs intended for you to have.

The only hiccup I can find in regards to any sort of troubled development only comes in the form that many studios suffered under during 2020, that being COVID causing restrictions. But thankfully most of the game was done before that truly came in and hit, causing only a slight delay in release.


[Game Mechanics]

The game's combat should be talked about first. As I mentioned before my experience of the combat is on the most difficult setting with archer UI prompts turned off.

Upon first introduction to the swordplay you're taught to be cautious. If you go in blindly swinging immediately chances are someone will cut you down. While I've had some luck in doing this on initiating a fight that surprises my enemies, usually after one or two kills I have to stop and take note of the situation I'm in.

Parrying and dodging attacks requires timing, especially to follow up with one of your own. But there's almost a methodical approach to the way the combat works. You watch your opponents, you keep your sword ready as you glance from left to right waiting for one to make the first move. Then when you see it, you spring into action and the combat becomes very visceral very quickly. You might kill that guy, you might kill his friend too, or you might only get a few good cuts in, or perhaps whiff entirely. Either way after a bout of such active combat the pace slows again, and you're all waiting for someone to make a move once more.

This approach to the combat is indeed very true to the Samurai movies of old. The patience, the quick back and forth flourish, and then the pause once more. It's combat that I particularly enjoy and with the stances it gets taken a step further. Certain enemies will be more hindered by certain stances that you use. So take for example you're up against two men armed with just swords, and another with a shield. You wait to see which makes a move first, switch to the appropriate stance as you see who does, and then use that stance to quickly throw them off guard and hopefully dispatch them. It's a stretch, but I'd almost acquaint it to styles from DMC. Each stance has a different moveset and focus, and switching them up is key to dealing and dispatching groups of enemies with ease.

But being a katana wielding Samurai is not all you can do. You're given access to 'Ghost' techniques and abilities. To put it simply, anything Ghost is anything the Samurai might consider dishonorable. That being stabbing people with your tanto in the back when they're unaware, throwing kunai, using smoke bombs and black powder bombs, and even outright poison. Eventually you can take down entire settlements of Mongols without them ever knowing you were there, a term commonly referred to as 'Ghosting' an area. It was something I very much enjoyed doing in Metal Gear Solid 5, and it remains something I love doing in Ghost of Tsushima. That being said the stealth itself is rather simple for what it is. You hide in bushes, climb atop buildings and yurts, and distract enemies with thrown objects. Par for the course when it comes to stealth mechanics.

One of my personal gripes with the game however comes in the form of a gripe I hold for a lot of open-world games these days. A lot of people refer to it as a very 'Ubisoft' method of open-world. You're given this huge area to work with, but a lot of it feels pointless to pay attention to because of the 'checklist' you're given in terms of collections and optional content. I'd love to get to know the world better myself, but I'm constantly railroaded by the existence of markers, navigation lines and a minimap that tells me where everything within my vicinity is. This makes it feel like I don't need to pay attention to where I am, that I don't need to remember visual points of interest or waypoints, because the minimap and the all-guiding navigation will be there.

I feel like open-world games these days can only gain from doing away with minimaps and markers. Instead of just telling me where to go give me a plain old map that looks like an actual map and not some high-tech GPS device. Don't show me where I am on it, don't show me where the quests are, and don't show me where the collectibles are. Let me learn myself where I am and where I'm going by looking at the world around me, talking to the people, and remembering paths and unique parts of the world to get my bearings. Let me discover this world you've painstakingly created and let me experience all it has to offer, instead of throwing me on a rail track and sending me on my way.

It's a subject I could rant upon for days, and maybe I will at some point. But in my opinion it's a big flaw with current open-world games and they really need to get away from it.

Moving aside a bit more though; there are duels present in the game that often set you in a one on one katana showdown with a foe in a circular arena. They often have more enhanced and unique movesets than the average Mongol or ronin and they're usually set in thematically beautiful locations. I wish only there were more of these duels as I blasted through all the optional ones in a singular sitting because I enjoyed them so much, and they're also great teachers for the combat in the game.

The rest of the optional content comes in forms of visiting shrines that are preceded with a kind of jumping puzzle. I didn't mind these too much, they kept me engaged as I worked my way up the paths but often it felt very linear. I'd have liked there to be some optional paths and perhaps even dead ends. The fox shrines I was not fond of, they amount to going to the shrine and following a fox to a location to get an upgrade you probably won't use. The bamboo stands were fine, a nice little puzzle distraction. The mongol camps will always be good because you just don't tire of the combat, though sometimes you just want to get them over with and storm in as quickly as you can. The Haiku spots are also pleasant and really show off some of the world design present in the game while you mismatch together a frankly awful Haiku for the simple fact it's translated into English, but they can't avoid that.

But to be frank I felt a lot of the optional stuff just felt like a chore, mostly because I knew where it was and I was led to it, blindly b-lining through fields and forests to the optional bit of content and then chasing a fox and moving to the next. What I did like however were the collectibles I wasn't led to. An example being the vanity items. Sometimes you'll find a straw hat on a scarecrow, you can take and wear it. There were several of these and I enjoyed stumbling on them when I found them. That's exactly the type of content I want to see more of in open world games, hidden things you don't just sprint towards from over a mountain because you know it's there.

[Graphics]

It's hard to call Ghost of Tsushima anything but a beautiful game. The game world is beautifully designed and each area is thematically different from the last. You've got lush green forests (though sadly marred by the Mongols and displays of their butchery), quaint little farm villages, grand temples,  snowy fields, and all with accurate architecture to the time. I'm particularly fond of the autumn-like forests of amber, and the bamboo forests further up north. There are also some dreary places like a land filled with bogs and marshes, war-torn as it is, it was quite reminiscent of the Witcher 3's Velen region.

Visually the combat is stellar with every animation and swing of the sword designed after actual historical techniques, or most of them anyway, you do unlock some more 'mythical' attacks but nothing overly fantastical.

I was hard-pressed to find much of anything to fault with the visuals of the game, and to be honest I can't even recall any glitches. I suppose my only gripe comes from my earlier rant in that I didn't feel like I could really take it all in as much as I'd have wanted to.

The game does also come with a few filters to apply if you want to give it a different look, or even go for that old Samurai movie style. Part of me really wants to, but the other half told me to not to just so I could try and see for myself what the devs had made.

[Story]

The story I rather enjoyed, or up to what I've seen already. I haven't finished the main quest but I am in the last stretch as of this review, so there won't be too many heavy spoilers in the spoiler section in regards to the finale of the game.

You're Jin Sakai, honorable son of the late Lord Sakai. You've been mostly under the guidance of your uncle, Lord Shimura, who leads the Samurai of Tsushima into battle with the first wave of Mongol invaders. You too take part in this battle. But the Samurai weren't ready for the way the Mongol's fought, and the battle at Komada beach ended in utter failure and with it many if not all of the Samurai were killed. You alone, Jin Sakai, survived and are nursed back to health by a roguish woman by the name of Yuna. So you set out not for revenge, but to take back your home from the Mongols and to free your Uncle from their grasp.

But the way of the Samurai is proven to be ineffective against the machinations of the Mongol invaders. The old ways are stale, set in stone, and learned by the enemy who seek to take advantage of it. Jin Sakai must adapt and overcome his foe and take back his home by any means, but with such a way of war he finds his honor at peril. Between being Jin Sakai and the Ghost he must decide what is more important to him. His way of life or that of everyone else's.

[SPOILERS]

The story really has that old Samurai movie vibe to it. Jin's honor is at stake and no Samurai would approve of his methods, yet he understands eventually that it's what needs to be done. The way of the Samurai is predictable and the Mongols don't care for it, they won't even play by your rules. They're here to conquer by any means, and so Jin has to prevent it by any means.

I'll mostly talk about this dilemma of Jin's honor and his Uncle. I think it's a good progression of character to watch Jin who at first is reluctant to even stab a man in the back, to eventually deciding that poison now needs to be used, to grant Mongols a painful slow death gurgling on their own blood. It's a true fall from grace and a 'ends justify the means' story and I love it. While in captivity Lord Shimura is told by big man Khotun Khan that his men are being stabbed in the back unawares, that entire outposts are falling without so much as a fight, and that his nephew is to blame. Lord Shimura refuses to believe Jin is capable of fighting in such a fashion.

But after being rescued it soon becomes evident to Lord Shimura what Jin is doing. The first thing he does is forgive Jin, tell him that he did what he had to do, but now that he is free they can put it behind them and forget it ever happened. Jin gets a clean start but he remains resolute in what he did was the only way, and will continue to be the only way. The rift somewhat simmers between the two and Lord Shimura decides that Jin should finally become his adopted son, to carry his legacy as he has no sons of his own. He had raised the man after the passing of his father and was practically his adoptive father in all but official title. He sends forth a request to the Shogun, one for reinforcements, and one to officially recognize Jin as his heir.

It became clear at this point that Lord Shimura very much loves Jin as his own and desperately tries to steer him back onto the path of the honorable Samurai. He gives Jin more than one chance to renounce the Ghost, pleading with him even. Then comes the battle at Castle Shimura and Jin performs a variety of his most dishonorably string of actions yet, culminating in poisoning the entire final garrison of Mongols against Lord Shimura's wish. He has undermined his Lord and gone against his word, and this time everyone is present to see it, including the Shogun's men.

With hushed voices Lord Shimura tries once more to desperately absolve Jin of his crimes, pleading for him to renounce the Ghost, and going as far as to tell him to blame it on the present innocent Yuna. But Jin remains resolute in his choice, and claims finally that he is no son of the Lord Shimura, and that he is the Ghost. At this point I'd say that Jin Sakai has died, and all that is left is the Ghost. Jin is taken captive and we get a final scene of Lord Shimura hesitantly holding the declaration of adoption in his hand over a brazier before slowly letting it fall to the flames. The hesitation and pain in his face is all but too clear to see.

This entire dynamic was just perfect in my eyes. The struggle between the two and their beliefs, with one's wish for a legacy and a son, and the other's for liberation by any means. This is but one part of the story in Ghost of Tsushima and there are several more good plot lines. I haven't even touched on Khotan Khan or Ryuzo yet, and for this review I won't. As it seems that I'm liable to do I'll only talk about one plot I am rather fond of and leave the rest for you to find out yourself.

[Pros]

- Beautiful game world

- Grounded, visceral combat

- Historically accurate setting

- Good dramatic plot lines

- DOSHO!

[Cons]

- Open-world GPS navigation

- 'Checklist'-style Ubisoft design

- Average stealth gameplay

- Somewhat simple side-quests

[Conclusion]

I enjoy the game and more enjoy the concept around it than the actual result. My gripes with open world are undoubtedly going to hit the score quite a bit, and I've not even talked about the multiplayer aspect as I've yet to get to it. Though it is clear to see that the developers care about the game enough to support it with a free new mode after release, and I hope that Sucker Punch can continue to deliver good consumer practice in the future. If they go the open-world route again however I'd like for them to take less of a page out of Ubisoft's book and more hearken back towards reality and older games. But the combat is good, the world design and story are both good too, but I can't help but feel that railroad.

Being a Samurai is fun, dishonoring your ways is fun, and that's about as much as I could ask for. I wish I could give it a bigger score but that open-world formula is a plague on the industry right now and it needs to leave.

That being said, in my opinion Ghost of Tsushima was robbed of 2020's Game of the Year.

[Score]

6.5/10

/DEAD

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Spins, Pirouettes and Feints.

[Introduction]

With three hundred and twenty hours in CDPR's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I feel myself finally somewhat capable of talking about it. It's a game that frankly needs no introduction and for better (or for worse) set CDPR upon a path to success. Critically acclaimed as one of the greatest games of the last decade, game of its year, and holding no shortage of awards, it truly stood out as a diamond in the rough of what was otherwise considered a mediocre franchise from a small studio out of Poland.


[First Impressions]

If the third installment to the main series was your first one, then it was hardly an issue. The game sets itself up in that you needn't have played the prior two games to get yourself involved in the plot. It starts as if you hadn't, but has plenty to offer for those that did. Through the tutorial start of the game you're immediately greeted by one of the primary themes of the game: maturity. In that being the protagonist Geralt's naked and bathing form, and his romantic interest Yennefer's finely crafted figure. The game also makes a big show of the graphics which still hold up today. Upon entering the balcony you're given a view of one of the best vistas you'll see in the entire game; the mountains of Kaer Morhen.

Shortly after, you're introduced to your basic controls and streamlined downstairs where you'll soon partake in your first bit of combat in the form of training. The combat itself feels fine at first. Parrying and dodging are responsive, you've a lot of evasive actions in the form of short accurate steps or big diving rolls to avoid danger. The combat itself isn't too complex with attacking in the form of light and heavy attacks, though you do learn more moves later, it never really becomes overwhelming. Signs are also a part of your kit; including up to five with these being Aard, Igni, Yrden, Quen and Axii which I'll talk about more later.

After the brief tutorial you're thrown into the actual game world and one of the things that was immediately apparent to me was the difference between fighting people and fighting monsters. You'll be set upon by several Ghouls which are Necrophages (essentially just undead) that are agile and have almost pack-like behavior, they can also regenerate their health. They skitter around on all fours and use leaping attacks. These leaping attacks can't be blocked by a parry of your sword, or well, they can but you'll be staggered if you do. Instead you need to outright avoid attacks from monsters that come in the form of claws, wings and tails, immediately setting them aside from your regular human foe.

The introduction of the game will railroad you up until you get to the first Inn at White Orchard, where the game finally opens up to you somewhat in the form of multiple quests, points of interest, general exploration and smaller activities like the card game Gwent. But White Orchard is still just a beginning zone before you get into the actual world map.


[Development]

Directed and published in-house; the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt began its development in 2011, though that was a delayed beginning for the game as 2008 was its originally planned development start. Interestingly enough for such a widely successful game the Witcher 3 was funded entirely by CDPR. It was first-most a game for the franchise's frankly niche following, and I won't mince words, my own experience only started with the second game.

The development saw its own issues in the form of cut content and nearing deadlines though many of these features were re-introduced to the game free of charge as DLC after the initial release. This is what truly began the foundation of CDPR's good will from consumers. They certainly could have stopped development after release, but at the time they felt they owed it to their dedicated fanbase to release what they were still working on with no strings attached. The DLC was well received, and as a result the game and company were both regarded highly and CDPR was soon considered one of the most consumer-friendly developers in the industry.

The music for the game was directed by Marcin Przybyłowicz who did such work on the previous Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and later went on to direct the music for both expansions to the Witcher 3. Interestingly enough another composer was brought on in the fashion of Percival, a Polish folk band. It was an unconventional work agreement as the band members were not formally trained, and as a result there were difficulties to work around in such regard.

It needn't be said but despite the attempts to reintroduce cut content to the game, there was plenty missing. Some might recognize from the early trailers that the UI was quite different, or that certain quests or scenes simply didn't exist in the final game. The choices behind this may have been to keep people from guessing what quests they were going to undertake, but it could just be as well that they scrapped it for other reasons entirely.

Whatever bumps and turns the development took though, it can't be argued that the end result was nothing short of a fantastic piece of both story and world design.


[Game Mechanics]

In regards to basic movement one might find that Geralt is surprisingly sluggish in responding to analogue inputs. There is however a workaround for this to enable more instant responses in the options. The game can feel somewhat clunky at times in regards to fine movement, but otherwise it works just fine.

Combat while interesting at first can leave a bit to be desired later on. While some sword moves become available later on you're limited by the skill tree in how many you actually get. Going into light attacks will give you a fast spinning attack that deals plenty of damage, and going into heavier attacks allows you to charge each strike for extra damage. When dealing with enemy soldiers wielding a variety of weapons you can parry and counter, and be treated with some delightful finishing animations that play smoothly and then throw you right back into the fight. Dealing with monsters does away with such fanciful flourishes however, and when you're done fighting a monster they'll promptly just fall to the floor.

The Signs are varied but frankly have limited use in combat unless you go hard into the Signs tree. Igni will either send forth a wave of fire or a sustained gout if you spec into it. Axii will stun opponents briefly, or when specced will convert enemies to allies for a duration. Axii can also be used in certain dialogue options to essentially jedi mind-trick peasants. Aard is a knockback effect directed in front of you, or a circular area of effect when specced. Aard can also be used to knock away arrows and bolts. Yrden was a very situational one for me and mostly only gained use when around spectres and ghost type enemies. Yrden can temporarily immobilize or slow down an enemy, or in the case of spirits make them more corporeal. Quen found the most use as it works as a handy shield that will protect you from one or several hits. The enhanced version of Quen forms a spherical barrier around you, but I seldom found much use of it when the original was a shield that also let you stay on the attack.

The tree I found to be most broken however (trivializing the game even on Death March) is also my personal favorite, that being the one that focused on alchemy and bombs. In the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt potions are a large part of your gameplay. They can do many things ranging from simply recovering health, to making your blood deadly to vampires, and to granting you quicker reactions or making your strikes hit harder. There are a dozen to choose from and there's also decoctions that are essentially more powerful, but a lot more situational and unique in what they provide. You can create your potions from herbs and monster materials gathered in the wild, and can imbibe as many as your toxicity cap will allow.

There are also blade oils in the alchemy tree which can be applied to your blades to give you an edge against a particular type of opponent. Going up against Necrophages? You've an appropriate oil to apply to your silver blade. Spectres? Got you covered. Draconic? Definitely. There's an oil for every situation, and later in the alchemy tree you'll also get increased resistance to the enemy type of the oil you're using.

Bombs also come into play with alchemy. They can be simple explosive frag bombs like Grapeshot, or an explosion of bitter frost and cold like Northern Wind. Some are situational, like Dragon's Dream which fills the area with flammable gas that you can then ignite with Igni. These bombs can also work particularly well against certain monsters and foes, which brings me all towards one of my favorite things about the game.

Preparation.

This feature was a lot more prevalent in Witcher 2 but had its shortcomings in when it could be used (And we lack traps in Witcher 3.) But the idea of hunting a particular foe, knowing what you're going up against, and then deciding you need that oil, this kind of bomb, and preferably these types of potions. Then you go about gathering the ingredients to craft what you need, and before you engage you prepare by utilizing them all. Something about it all just clicks with me, for it really makes me feel like I'm a Witcher, hunting my target, studying it, and taking every advantage I can to dispatch of it as easily as possible. In my opinion that is one of the strongest aspects of the game's design. Less so the combat itself, but the preparation of it.

Did I forget to mention you get two swords? Steel is for humans and mundane creatures like wolves and bears. Silver is for anything supernatural or fantastical in nature.

As a side note there's also a crossbow present in the game that comes with several types of bolts, though one in particular, the tracking bolt, makes me think that at some point monsters were meant to flee and be tracked down following a blood trail that you made. It was seen in one of the early demos with a flying feathered beast, but such did not sadly make it into the final game.

I should also mention that alongside side-quests and the main quest there are contract quests. These are quests that specifically have you find a notice upon a board hiring a Witcher. You accept the contract, negotiate the price with the one who placed it, and begin with a point in a direction. As you progress through the contract you'll discover what type of creature it is you hunt, and where its lair is, or how you might trap it. While on paper I love the ideas of contracts, eventually I found that they all played the same. You pick up a contract, you go to the objective area, you find some clues, you find out what the monster is, you prepare and kill the monster. I'd have personally liked there to be less guiding and more twists when it came to these contracts.

All in all though, the Witcher 3 grounds itself as an RPG with stats, items, equippables, upgrades, crafting and numbers. These numbers can be laughably put in your favor, but if an RPG isn't what you're after you might want to look elsewhere.


[Graphics]

The game holds up beautifully, what can I say? Even after almost six years now. You can quite easily tell when something doesn't hold up in texture when you get a close up of a face or a piece of gear, but the world design itself holds true. The dilapidated ruins of Kaer Morhen, an old Witcher keep crumbling away with time and its surrounding untamed wild lands. Ard Skellig and its distant mountains and stormy seas, and that Celtic architecture that tells as many stories as the people that inhabit it. Even the war-torn bogs and marshes of Velen have character to them, a truly dreary place with sorrow down every path, war-crimes on display, and desperate men banding together in shadowed forests.

The game might've lost a bit of its gleam and its luster in the form of texture, but the design itself is timeless, and a good design is always going to show through all else.

I would also be amiss not to mention how keenly crafted each area feels when following along paths. With high cliffs holding narrow passages to quiet streams flowing through a forest, rocky outcroppings, comfy villages, the simple nature that is found around you at most times. I can only feel that much of it would've been enhanced with a first-person view.


[Story]

The story is really where the game shines, and where most of its accolades come from I imagine. The story is based of course upon Andrzej Sapkowski's novels The Witcher, though the games are considered non-canon and take place after the books. As a result there are some heavy Polish folklore themes present within the game, but also of other cultures too.

The story revolves around Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher by trade. Witchers are mutated humans, they have enhanced strength, agility, reactions and live well beyond normal lifespans. Often recognized for their cat-like yellow eyes and the two blades upon their back. Though people don't trust Witchers as much as they used to, seeing less need for them despite the threat of monsters which they are the utmost professional hunters of.

In this chapter of Geralt's story he seeks his long-since absent ward, Ciri, by request, no, demand of the Emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr var Emreis (Otherwise known as the white flame dancing upon the graves of his foes.) Amidst this search for his would-be daughter the land around Geralt heaves under the stress of a war fought on two sides; the ever expanding black empire of Nilfgaard and the Northern Realms, or what remains of them.

Geralt must navigate these torn lands in search for clues and leads, no matter what he gets caught up in along the way, be it powerful lords, treacherous vagabonds, or terrifying beasts. All the while as the mythical Wild Hunt, a mysterious group of armed riders that cross the night sky begin to intervene...


[SPOILERS]

I'll try keep this brief and speak more of what I find the good parts of the story to be.

First and foremost the story really strikes a chord. Geralt is in search for his one-time ward Ciri, it's your father/daughter story that really tugs at the strings in the way only they can, but there is a clear example I want to talk about that really exemplifies the game itself.

The Bloody Baron. This part of the main questline, and later side-quest, cannot be missed under any circumstance. As one of the earliest quest chains you get access to it really sets the morally grey tone of the world itself. Take the scene at hand for example. You arrive at a village, the peasants are downtrodden and fearful. They're all hiding away, telling their daughters to flee into the forest. You begin to question why. You enter the inn and as you ask the keeper your questions, in walks the men of the Baron. They ask questions of you first, and are none too polite about it. You can either rise to the bait and fight them all there and then, and likely make short work of them, or you could keep your calm as asked of you by the innkeep.

In the event you remain calm, and you let the situation simmer down, you find yourself free to leave. Heading outside the inn it becomes apparent what's happening. The Baron's men are stealing food, threatening the raping of children, abusing the elderly folk. Their threats are constant, and the fear is plain to see in the people. At this moment you draw your blade, you've seen enough, and you cut down every single one. You would think yourself heralded a hero, right? No. The peasants disagree with your choice, stating that you've only made things worse. That the next group that comes by will only be so much worse to them, and you can't stay to defend them forever.

And you've not only made it worse for them, but yourself too. You arrive at the Baron's village and find everyone hiding from you, and the guards hostile for recognizing you're the one that butchered their men.

Already you've made what some might consider the wrong choice. It might've been morally correct, but was it the actual correct thing to do?

Many similar situations like this arise with the Baron. You find him at first to be a drunk brutal man, with no care for the peasantry. But there is some truth to his words. He claims that without him his men would do so much worse. He holds the leash to violent dogs, to let them loose would be a foolish choice. You continue to learn of the Baron and these sides to him. He's in search of his own daughter, and his wife, and you agree to help in exchange for information on Ciri. But you soon find proof that he had a dispute with his wife, there's blood, spilled wine, sign of a struggle. It becomes clear that there was some domestic abuse.

But the Baron? For all his apparent misdeeds and flaws, in some strange way, genuinely cares for his wife and daughter and bids you help him, and that he'll do all in his power to see them again. He regrets his actions, claims his wife knew how to infuriate him. Bring in a miscarriage, a cursed creature born of it, and the Baron's acceptance of his mistakes when confronted with them all and you start to piece together your own thoughts on who type of man he is.

I won't say more on the Baron, but the end result is a deeply flawed man, but you can't help but admire his desire to undo all the wrongs, to be a better father and husband, and he would slay anything that gets in his way of that goal. Or maybe you'll outright hate his guts and think him nothing but a vile fiend? There's people on both sides of the fence when it comes to him, and that's fantastic.

The end of the chain is bittersweet no matter which way you slice it and that quest chain was by far one of the most impacting of the game, but there are many more like it.

Nearly all the side-quests have some kind of dilemma like this, a choice that might at first seem the correct thing to do but has the worse results, or in some cases you'll never find out if what you did was right or wrong leaving you to ponder. Even something so small as freeing a tied man at a river under threat of being eaten alive by drowners, but after freeing him you find him to have been a bandit and raided a nearby village, killing all that were there, and then he thanks you.

Your choices in the Witcher 3 are important, but I won't lie to you and say that every single one is. Anyone who expects that from a game is frankly expecting far too much. Technology isn't quite there yet, especially six years ago, but a lot of the major quests in the Witcher will change how the game ends, what wars are won, who lives and dies, what becomes of the island nation of Skellige under its new rulership and even the fate of Ciri.

If you want to play this and you're reading these spoilers without having done so then I urge you to experience it yourself. I won't say anything more of the main storyline itself for I've too much respect for it. Please enjoy it.


[Pros]

- Fantastic story.

- Beautifully crafted world.

- Timeless soundtrack.

- Immersive.

- Prepare for any encounter.


[Cons]

- Shallow combat.

- Repetitive contract quests.

- Distant parts of the map feel empty.

- Clunky movement.

- Easily breakable stat-wise.

[Conclusion]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a timeless classic and I'll often still go back and do entire playthroughs 100% with every objective on the hardest difficulty. The expansions I barely touched on here, but they add just as much story as the base game and are just as entertaining. The Witcher 3 doesn't require you to have played the previous games, but if you really want to know what threw CDPR into the spotlight and set such high expectations for its Cyberpunk 2077, then play this game and find out for yourself.

[Score]

9/10

/DEAD

Devil May Cry 5 - Stunningly Stylish Spectacle

[Introduction]

For the Character Action or 'Spectacle Fighter' (As coined by Yahtzee of The Escapist) genre there are few games that really define the category as a whole like Capcom's Devil May Cry does; a franchise in which might be considered the father of the genre (With Bayonetta being the step-mother). From its humble Resident Evil inspired origins to its latest and long awaited addition to the series the games have left a permanent mark on the industry and sets the baseline for what a stylish character fighting game should look and behave like.

Today we'll be taking a look at the fifth and most current entry to the demon hack and slash. Though fifth is debatable with the existence of the off-shot DmC: Devil May Cry which would make it the sixth, but then also the main audience's desire to rightfully forget 2 ever happened which would make it the fifth again... Despite that we'll be looking at the PC version of the game which sadly does not include the Special Edition which is exclusive to Xbox Series X and the PS5. The Special Edition includes two modes, Turbo and Legendary Dark Knight (LDK) mode, as well as the playable antagonist Vergil from the two previous games. The PC version gets Vergil, but not Turbo or LDK mode.




[First Impressions]

As you might imagine for a game with arguably one of the most in-depth and complex combo systems in any character action, the first impression can be daunting to a newly introduced to the series player. The beginning of the game doesn't help to inspire confidence either, as you'll start as Nero, the blade and revolver wielding cocky youth that was introduced (to mixed reception) in the fourth installment of the series. The reason your confidence is going to take a hit however is that your moveset is as limited as it will ever be during this intro. Nero only has one arm so he loses his Buster moves from the previous game, and you won't yet have access to his full moveset.

The first few enemies you face are weak and easily dispatched (providing you're playing on Demon Hunter mode) and then you'll come face to face immediately with the boss of the game, Urizen, who from upon high his throne will quite efficiently wipe the floor with you. He's not impossible to beat during this intro (and if you do you'll immediately get an ending) but it's very assured that you'll die here, and that's meant to happen. The game here shows you just how inexperienced you are, and how much you've got to learn.

If you've played other entries in the series you'll realize right off the bat that this is a much more serious opening than the last two games. Stakes are dire, Nero is missing an arm and defeated by Urizen, and even the Legendary Demon Hunter Dante seems to be struggling.

The amount of combat you get to do at the start isn't enough to really give you a taste of what the game has to offer either, but we'll certainly get into that much later during the mechanics segment. For now we'll continue on to the development of the game itself.




[Development]

Directed by long-time director of the series Hideaki Itsuno and developed and published in-house by Capcom; for the longest time people assumed that Devil May Cry 5 was never going to happen as there was a long silence after 4 but some time later we finally had an announcement, but it wasn't what anyone was expecting. Indeed it was the controversial DmC: Devil May Cry developed by Ninja Theory. Ninja Theory were given the licence to make a Devil May Cry game and the trailer they showed painted a very concerning picture for long-time fans, completely going against the grain of Devil May Cry's theme of over-the-top whacky action and cheesy dialogue in favor of something more grounded, gritty, dark and mature. Indeed the new Dante couldn't be anymore different from the beloved demon slayer of the series.

As far as most were concerned Devil May Cry was finished.

But then beloved voice actor and motion capture of Vergil, Dan Southworth, let something leak. During a reunion panel at Rangerstop in 2015 alongside Reuben Langdon (Dante) and Johnny Yong Bosch (Nero), Dan quoted the following "You know I think it's great how it happened, because now they're gonna bring us back. We can say that right?" to which Reuben responded simply with "No". This of course sent the resident audience into an uproar. For as he is want to do, Dan had blessed the community with information he probably shouldn't have. Reuben later went on to try and cover for the slip by saying he had spoken to Dan about rumors within Capcom that there could be a Devil May Cry 5, but couldn't stress how much of an unconfirmed rumor that information is.

It wouldn't be until after a long silence that at E3 2018 a reveal trailer was dropped and shocked the entire audience (multiple times), which I'll bring up as to why again later.

The actual development of the game doesn't have a great deal to talk about in regards to hiccups, if they were there, they were kept away from the eyes of the internet. Perhaps the most controversial thing we have is that Johnny Yong Bosch had to undergo several auditions to reprise his role as Nero, allegedly because it had been so long since Devil May Cry 4 but perhaps also because of the mixed reception on the character Nero himself. Regardless, Johnny was able to take up the mantle of Nero once more and couldn't have done a better job.

The game had developers from Itsuno's team which had worked on the previous Devil May Cry games along with action RPG Dragon's Dogma (Of which Itsuno had the choice of making the second game of instead of DMC5) and also Resident Evil 7, the engine of which the game used. Itsuno himself also worked on the widely acclaimed and popular Monster Hunter World.

Devil May Cry 5 would be aimed to appease to a wider audience than its otherwise rather niche crowd of combo-monkeys and fans of all things cheesy and 'cuhrayzee', and so even mechanics and features from the controversial DmC: Devil May Cry were included in the game such as an auto mode for easier combos and the announcer for the style rankings being voiced.

For development Devil May Cry 5 might've had an unsure and slow start, but seemed to have been a smooth ride.




[Game Mechanics]

Where to even begin?

Devil May Cry, being a character action game, is incredibly deep with its combat system which we'll first talk about as it is up front and center for being why people enjoy the series so much.

The game revolves around three characters with wildly different movesets. Nero could be considered at first glance to have the most simple moveset. He brings with him from the fourth game his two iconic weapons, the large single-edged revving blade Red Queen, and the double-barreled silver revolver Blue Rose. Red Queen's moveset is simple and clean, coming with up to four standing combos, three gapclosers, a launcher, two air combos and a back and forth ground input. Red Queen is perhaps the most fleshed out singular weapon in the game, especially when considering that all the attacks can be enhanced and sometimes even changed because of the Exceed system. The Exceed system is a timed-ability with your attacks. When used correctly during a swing you can build a charge of Exceed on Red Queen, up to three. Each charge makes the next attack more powerful, or in regards to moves like Streak or Shuffle, changes them. The timing on Exceed is near frame-perfect if you want to build all three charges in a single strike, and so Nero is easy to learn but difficult to master. He gets another frame-timed ability later on.

His revolver Blue Rose is mainly used to either juggle enemies are launch them into the air with the charged version, but Nero also gets a third mechanic in the form of Devil Breakers that replace his arm from the previous game. The Devil Breakers are consumables that each of their own unique gimmick. Overture for example can be used to release an electrical attack that knocks enemies back and will even stagger a charging boss like Goliath, but the charged version of Overture can be used to set a timed bomb on enemies that explodes later, launching them. There are several Devil Breakers in the game, and they're all unique.

The enigmatic V is the newcomer to the series and with him he brings an entirely new style of gameplay. V doesn't fight directly but instead uses demons to fight for him. On the battlefield you can control up to three separate demons at the same time while moving V around and dodging and taunting. Griffin is an aerial demon that acts like a gun and has wide area attacks, he also assists in your evasive maneuvers. Shadow is a melee demon that hits fast and hard, and then Nightmare is your 'Devil Trigger' equivalent, summoning a huge destructive demon that'll make short work of your enemies until your meter runs out.

While V's gameplay at first is confusing, even for long-term fans of the series, he quickly becomes rather simple and easy to use, and might even be considered the easiest of all the characters to really get good at. The skill ceiling for V isn't that high, and so you'll quickly rack up style meter and chew through content. This does however lead to him being the most shallow of the three playable characters with having the least moves and depth, and sometimes it's easy to just lose track of where your demons are or what they're doing and directional inputs become strange to use when in relation to your own position and that of your demons.

And then we have the guy who started it all, Dante. As in the previous two games Dante's style switching mechanic returns. He gets Trickster, an evasive and mobile style used for avoiding attacks and quickly closing in. Swordmaster, which grants you access to several new moves with all his melee weapons. Gunslinger which works in the same way as Swordmaster but for ranged weapons. And finally Royal Guard, which is a defensive style used to block incoming attacks with good timing, and then build up a meter, and then deliver a huge payload of damage in a singular devastating counter attack.

All of these styles can be switched between freely, constantly changing up the moveset Dante has at his disposal and you're encouraged to make the most of all of them. But it gets even more complex. Dante has several weapons and ranged weapons available to him that each do different things depending on if Swordmaster or Gunslinger is in play, and even without them. They are all wildly different from one another and you start the game off with three; his usual Rebellion, a basic sword, Ebony and Ivory, his iconic guns, and Balrog which gives Dante a brawler type of style. He gets more weapons and guns as the game goes on and so Dante's complexity in how he plays only gets... Well, more complex.

And that's not even the end of it. Without including spoilers Dante gains access to yet another layer of complexity after he has his full moveset already available to him. As of this game Dante is the most complete and in-depth he has ever been, and frankly, it's daunting. Even when playing him myself I struggle to keep up active weapon switching, though I feel my style switching is above average. I can chain some pretty great combos together but there is still so much more I could learn and improve upon.




There is one other character not mentioned here though, and that'd be Vergil. As is tradition he's included with the Special Edition of the game regardless of his place in the story, wherever he's active (DMC3) or completely absent (DMC4). Vergil brings his three standard weapons. His signature katana Yamato has much of its DMC4 moveset included, with a few small additions in the form of a helm-splitter type move and a wide slash that slows enemies down. Yamato is precise and powerful, and you always feel like a badass using it. Vergil also keeps Beowulf, his gauntlet and boot weapon from the previous two games. With Beowulf Vergil can perform fast sweeping kicks and flowing strikes, Lunar Phase is never not satisfying to use. The third weapon available to Vergil his Yamato and Mirage Edge (Formerly Force Edge). With this dual-wielding style you'll get the most rapid strikes available to the character. The individual hits don't deal much damage but they're so fast that they quickly catch up to Yamato and Beowulf in that regard.

Vergil keeps his 'trick' moveset which is much like Dante's Trickster style, and he also gets a ranged weapon in the form of his usual Summoned Swords, though they've been renamed now. Vergil keeps his 'concentration' gauge, otherwise dubbed as the 'motivation' gauge by fans. This system makes it so that you're rewarded for behaving like Vergil, and punished for playing him more like his brother Dante. This meaning that you need to be calm, collected, and precise. Whiffed strikes will lower the meter, as will jumping and running around like a fool. As Vergil you need to ensure every slash hits, every evasion is swift and at the last possible moment, and you need to dispatch your enemies efficiently and even let him finish animations like sheathing Yamato. In addition Vergil gets some new powerful 'finisher' type moves that require his concentration gauge to use. He's as complete as he's ever been, but still nowhere on the level of Dante.




Now that the characters are out of the way, I'll quickly go over other mechanics. The game is structured into missions that let you used predetermined characters. First few missions will have you play as Nero, until later you'll get V, and finally Dante. Some missions will have two characters available to pick from and during these you'll become aware of the 'cameo' system. The cameo system is where for example; you'd pick Nero for a mission where you could have picked V. When playing this you'll get a slightly different route to follow, but as you do so you'll see a replay of whoever chose to play V, and as you progress through your side you'll see them on theirs, killing demons and racking up a style meter too. One mission in particular has active online play, where you'll actually be able to co-op alongside random strangers playing as the other two characters you didn't pick.

The game is also focused around a style meter. Killing your enemies as fast as you can with optimal damage isn't the way to go in DMC unless you're aiming for a speedrun. You'll get a much more favorable end-result after the mission for taking down your enemies in creative and beautiful combos, which racks up the style meter from D - Dismal, all the way to SSS - Smokin' Sexy Style. As a bonus the higher you take that style meter up the more upbeat and loud the music will get. Each music track in the game is dynamic, and so you'll get a slow instrumental from lower styles and full blown choruses and vocals from the highest ones, giving you an audible notification for when you're kicking ass, and it feels great.

Progressing through the game you'll earn Red Orbs (Otherwise known as Rorbs by fans). These orbs serve as your main currency for acquiring upgrades to both your moveset and your health/DT (Devil Trigger) meter. Nero also uses Orbs to purchase more Devil Breakers. This is an essential part of the game as purchasing new moves for each character will allow you to perform more fluidly and stylishly in combat, giving you easier access to that coveted SSS rank.

Level-design is pretty straightforward with each mission being a linear route to the end where you'll face off with a boss. Along this route there are secrets to be found in the form of Blue and Purple orbs (Blorbs and Porbs) that will upgrade health and DT gauge respectively. There are also secret missions that can be accessed that have very specific conditions for completing, and when done will reward you with more of these orbs.

In addition to this there are several modes, including different difficulties ranging from Human (Easy) to Son of Sparda (Hard) and then further. Modes like Dante Must Die, which is extremely difficult, Heaven or Hell where everyone including you dies in one hit, Hell or Hell where only you die in one hit, and Legendary Dark Knight mode available only to Special Edition players which causes a LOT more enemies to spawn during encounters.

An entirely separate mode is available in the form of the Bloody Palace; a type of gauntlet to truly test your skill. Each floor from 1 to 101 is filled with enemies and bosses. Your objective? Fight your way through all of them with limited healing in the form of green orbs (Can you guess? It's Grorbs. (Gorbs is taken by Gold Orbs)). Completing Bloody Palace grants you huge bragging rights, an achievement, and a unique taunt for the character you finished it on.

All of that being said, make no mistake. Devil May Cry 5 is a difficult game if you're even at Normal, never mind the later difficulties. It's difficult in the way that a lot of older games are. It's a linear stage sure, and with a tough boss at the end. But the enemies? They're no face-roll for the uninitiated, and sometimes certain enemies and combo of enemies can give difficulty to even more veteran players. And none of that is without taking into account the difficulty of learning the characters themselves if you want to pull things off stylishly.

If you've been pining for a difficulty like the games of eld we knew and loved, this one might just scratch that itch. Finished it on Demon Hunter? Move to Son of Sparda mode and fight your way through it, and then onto the next difficulty, and then Bloody Palace. It'll keep you busy and challenged for some time. For less competitively inclined players Human mode is about as easy as it'll get, and you'll have a decent chance of breezing through the game. With any luck you'll be inspired to learn your favorite character more and then venture into the harder difficulties.




[Graphics]

As expected it's about as visually stunning as Devil May Cry has ever been. A decent palette of differing environments at the start what with the city streets, neon lights, and crumbling buildings. Later you'll move into some old crypts or ruins, and several times you'll visit the Qliphoth tree, which is the game's weakest environment. It's one of my few gripes with the game, in that the Qliphoth gets used so often as a stage and it has little variation when you're in there. It leads to a lot of the later levels blurring together in my opinion, and they're only broken up by the bosses that you face at the end. The beginning of the game by far has the most visually pleasing areas.

The visual representation of enemies is distinct and easily identifiable amidst a group of foes, letting you know quite instantly which ones are the larger threat and need to be taken out first. With that in mind combat is very easily understandable thanks to the flashy moves and distinct animations that accompany them. You'll never confuse one move for another.

When off-screen enemies will refuse to attack, so there'll be no getting hit from something you had no chance to see coming, but that can also be abused.

In regards to playing Vergil especially, the man has a habit for most of his attacks putting the camera between you and the enemy, hiding him from view. This can get in the way and be bothersome, and often time requires you to readjust Vergil to somewhere more visible.

The Special Edition include ray-tracing which works wonders on the reflection of puddles of water on the ground as well as the glass in the city streets. All in all it's a pretty game that holds up to the current year, and likely will further down the line.




[Story]

The stories in the Devil May Cry games have never been ones to write home about, and more serve as simple guides to allow cool scenes to take place. Taking the story seriously for a DMC game isn't something that should be done, and if you're going in expecting to get engrossed in it then you're going to be disappointed.

The story centers mainly around Nero, the primary protagonist from the fourth installment. Nero has a new haircut now, which certainly gave people a shock during the reveal trailer for people believed it was the DmC: Devil May Cry protagonist. But Nero is extremely unique, and as soon as people saw him rev his sword Red Queen they realized who it was, and the cheering resumed.

Nero mainly rolls around in a mobile version of Dante's demon slaying company Devil May Cry, bringing the demon slaying straight to the client. He's accompanied by Nico Goldstein, daughter of one particularly mad scientist from the previous game and grandaughter of the legendary gunsmith virtuoso, Nell Goldstein, who created Ebony and Ivory for Dante.

Some time has passed since the fourth game and it shows on Nero who is no longer the angsty hot-headed teen he used to be. He's more mature now, takes things less seriously, and might even be reminiscent of a young Dante with a heart of gold (The boy runs an orphanage and feeds homeless people, he also hates smoking).

The story kicks off with Nero having lost his arm to a mysterious cloaked figure before a large demonic tree known as the Qliphoth appears from beneath the city of Redgrave. Demons begin to attack and Nero rolls out with Nico to stop it. The intro will throw you into the Qliphoth for your first mission where you confront Urizen, a mysterious big bad demon, and then promptly get your ass beat.

As far as intros go this is pretty much it. Your objective is to stop Urizen and the Qliphoth, on all three characters. I'll speak about my thoughts on the story as a whole below.




[SPOILERS]

It's DMC. It's what I expected. Big bad guy summons a big structure and you have to stop both him and it. Very reminiscent of DMC3 isn't it? In fact, it couldn't be more so. Vergil (Urizen) raises the Temi-Ni-Gru (Qliphoth) to obtain power. There's your premise.

It does get a little deeper, what with V being the human half of Vergil and Urizen the demon half. As much was hinted very early on, and especially in the scene where V offers the mission to Dante, stating that the demon is 'your reason' (Literally Urizen) for fighting. That reason being Vergil.

The story progress up to the point where Dante defeats Urizen at the bottom of the Qliphoth tree and V fuses with him to re-introduce Vergil to the series. Vergil then goes to the top of the tree, takes part in a fight with Dante and then Nero (Who finally unlocks his Devil Trigger) and then the two fly away to take out the roots of the tree in hell, leaving Nero on the surface.




This was very much a 'passing of the torch' story between Dante and Nero. The old legendary demon hunter making room for the new younger one. I can't write home about the story, it's not the best, it's just what it is. Though I do appreciate Vergil being back, the circumstances for such happening were strange at best, but the end result is a good one at least.

As for the next game, if there is one, it'll be difficult to understand what will happen. I find it hard to believe they wouldn't put Dante back into the game, since he's been the face since the first one. That and they can't quite simply remove his entire completed and in-depth moveset from the game, it just wouldn't be the same.

Can't call it a good story, but I can call it a DMC story. Make of that what you will.




[Pros]

- Among the most in-depth combat you'll ever take part in.

- Varying characters for varying gameplay styles.

- Replayability in difficulties that change enemy spawns and fun unique modes.

- Challenging for those that really want something to sink time into.

- Visually impressive combat.

- Some really fantastic dynamic soundtracks.




[Cons]

- V is a weak character in terms of variety.

- Samey level-design in later stages.

- You fight the same boss Urizen on about four different occasions and he's one of my least favorite bosses.

- Complexity of a character like Dante is extremely daunting.

- Some enemies like Fury is frustrating to deal with and breaks the flow of combat.

- V's first boss enemy is extremely poorly designed when it comes to fighting him as Vergil.

- The story is subpar.




[Conclusion]

DMC is a series close to my heart. I adore the characters and the setting, as bad as the stories are. I play them for the cheese, the silly and zany aspects. The wacky woohoo pizza man Dante himself and his shenanigans.

That being said I've always felt there was more room to personally improve whenever it came to combat, making the replayability viable just to learn to get better at playing a particular character.

I think the industry still has a place for linear action games like Devil May Cry and I only wish the genre had more to offer than it currently does. The only companies really trying to make anything for it are Capcom and Platinum Games, and the latter has been radio silent on Bayonetta 3 for almost four years.

The scene isn't looking good for Character Action games and that's a sad reality, but at least with gems like DMC there'll always be hope that another will be around the corner, despite it's shortcomings as a story-driven game and some strange choices in innovation like V as a character. But hey. At least they're trying to innovate right?

[Score]

8/10

/DEAD