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The recent hype around Obsidian Entertainment’s new The Outer Worlds title has drawn an interesting point. AA developers can still lure the attention of the video game industry’s exponentially growing video game audience. It’s a good thing too, because we need those developers now more than ever. First off, before breaking down why we need smaller developers, let’s dig into why The Outer Worlds is getting so much attention right now. Obsidian Entertainment includes members of the development team involved in the original Fallout franchise. Video game titan Bethesda purchased the rights to the franchise before producing Fallout 3, Fallout Shelter, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. Obsidian was later contracted to make Fallout: New Vegas, however. Bethesda has been receiving some heat from fans as of late. Many hardcore fallout fans were seemingly underwhelmed by Fallout 4 following the critical success of Fallout 3. Beyond that, the release of Fallout…

Tim Cain is known as part of the legendary trio behind Fallout 1 & 2. He also worked at Troika and programmed Vampire: The Masquerade and one of my favorite games Arcanum. He recently released a video lambasting Carbine and NCSoft while disclosing some deep interpersonal issues at Carbine. Tim’s video is authentic and his recount is accurate by all means. I covered WildStar heavily from 2011 onward and the stories back then were well known. Carbine was a toxic and unhealthy workplace which had the potential to release the best MMO of the golden age but instead failed with 9 years of development time and a further four post-launch to win back everyone ala Final Fantasy XIV. The video is very misleading in some ways. It argues that there was a lack of unified vision. That’s true, but it was also completely the fact that everyone at Carbine was…

Starfield is an up-and-coming game that’s really releasing, unlike Star Citizen, except that like Star Citizen it seems the game may only be ethereal: the physical edition will follow games like Fallout 76 and not offer a physical disc. Something fun to mention about Fallout 76 is that I got burned hard, I paid more for a physical copy only to get a code in a disc box that, may I add, was made of the absolute flimsiest plastic. Boo on you Todd Howard. This story starts with a tweet on June 25th 2023 where Bethseda said that the game would include only a code in the box. Following that, they immediately deleted the tweet. Screenshot below: The tweet is now missing. No word yet from Bethesda on whether Starfield will include a physical edition or not. It’s quite clear though that if they don’t include physical media then they…

Lore and worldbuilding have the power to ignite passion in players and fuel an immersive experience. At their best, lore-driven games create a sense of mystery and discovery that motivate players to explore each part of the world. However, some recent games have exploited lore and ambiguity primarily as a marketing tactic, rather than using it to enhance gameplay or build meaning. This phenomenon highlights the need for more balanced, player-centered design. When developers commit to transparency and ethical practices, lore can be used to strengthen community trust and craft impactful stories. But that depends on valuing immersion and artistry over profits alone. We’ll dive into the history of lore focused games, what happened and where to go from here. This is all inclusive of the entire indie scene, even if there’s a heavy emphasis on mascot horror. It makes the best example and we’ll avoid referencing mascot horror to…

Update: It’s 2023 and the following still remains mostly true. The EPIC Store continues to be a pain in the gaming community’s side. Fighting Steam is the past time for many people in this world it seems, as we’re now seeing the Epic Store vs. Steam battle keep raging on. Which is much like the golden ages of MMOs where almost every month a new WoW killer was coming to fight the champion, who won the war via attrition and investors tired of sending their money down a bottomless pit. Now Epic Games, Discord and even Kongregate the flash game site is trying to lure you into replacing Steam with their awesome storefront. This isn’t new, Razer started selling games in their zCoin software forever ago. Twitch has the ability to buy some games, but the purchases often help the streamer. Humble Bundle was once a monthly bundle of games…

High on Life released to massive success on Game Pass and is a really fun, but rather short fourth wall breaking adventure. We’ve got a one page sheet on which weapons are best and what’s the best part about them, some top tips and wisdom on missables, a list of confusing parts during each of the bounties and finally we wrap-up with a spoiler free secret ending guide. That’s a lot, but for a simple game it’s the best way to get everything you need in one place to make this is a far-out space adventure. Weapon Tier List A+: Creature Creature’s ability is just really good because it’s offensive and defensive. Their trick shot is almost worthless, absolutely worthless. The mind control just sucks on lower difficulties, on the harder one it gets some heat off of you but ultimately the ability to just non-stop have enemies staggered with…

2022 Update: Atlas is still not worth getting yet. Should you buy into Atlas right now? I’m going to say no, but caveat that clearly with I haven’t played and I’m simply sharing the advice that I’m following myself. Atlas has right now an overwhelming amount of negative reviews and a lot of chatter online about how buggy, broken, etc. that it is. There is also the fact that it’s allegedly just an ARK DLC wrapped around a new standalone game, ala Fallout 76, which was a DLC wrapped around Fallout 4’s engine with multiplayer added. There is also the fact it’s still one of the most watched games on Twitch this far out. So why do I say you should hold off buying? Well, it’s to let the community sort out if it’s going to adopt it or not. If you haven’t bought it yet, I would hold off…

If you want to play Outer Worlds, the new Fallout 3/4-like game by Obsidian, you have a few options. It’s on the PS4, Xbox and on PC via the Epic Games Store. However, instead of buying it full price, you can actually play it (at least for the first month for $1) and not even have to have the Epic Store installed. This “trick” isn’t a trick at all and is an intended play path by the developers. You can get the trial for Xbox Game Pass and install the PC version off of Microsoft’s website (no links – trust no links to it, go to Microsoft yourself to avoid malware). In the games included with the game pass is not only Outer Worlds but other awesome titles like the Gears of War series and Metro. That’s it, all there is to it. Now, you can also buy the game…

Disco Elysium is a RPG with no combat. It’s like Fallout I & 2 or Arcanum but without combat. Imagine if you did all of the town exploration in Arcanum with a Phoenix Wright style exploration mechanic. You basically click on things, talk to folks and explore a world while customizing your character for how you want him to be. One of the biggest helps in understanding the game is that choices seriously matter. There are choices that will open or close various side quests and decisions have permanence. The game tracks most actions in the game and NPCs will treat you based on your current state. Understanding the Writing One of the things about Disco Elysium is that it’s not just written in a sort of artistic way. It’s written from the point of view and perspective of an amnesiac alcoholic cop on a planet that isn’t Earth. Many…