Yea I wonder how far ahead they record these voice overs. Same thing in another recent Falcon vid, he was mentioning when the Sands of Time remake will come around, which at the time of the video it was already long cancelled.
It's not the studios. It's the publishers that are in charge nowadays. They call the shots. Unless you're referring to self-published studios like Ubi.
You don't understand. This time we are making a -checks note written by ChatGPT full of buzzwords- unique experience with a massive open world game of unprecedented scale where you'll be a hero in a living, breathing world with unforgettable characters and emotional storytelling completely built from the ground up with daily challenges and seasonal progression that will keep players on their toes in this groundbreaking experience that is unlike anything you have seen before.
Investors only chase the billion dollar games. They dont care if 100 of them fail if there's the chance for a Big payout with just 1 succeeding. The games themselves are given zero consideration.
More of a shame seeing single player studios forced to make live services to chase trend, then when the game turn out mediocre because they don't know how to make multiplayer, and inevitably miss CEO's targeted sales, the devs get lay-off and the studio get shut down. And yeah, I'm still salty about Arkane Austin.
ofc the king fence sitter/mc norealopinion isn't gonna narrate anything that requires criticism lmao. so falcon does it (: i just skip jake videos tbh, they're fucking trash.
In regards to Civ 7: it's not even mentioned that the game was launched with so many missing basic features. And they almost immediately started churning out DLC- showing that they could have launched with more content, but they wanted to nickel and dime you instead.
@perkinomics In some cases, maybe many cases, this is due to the conflict between devs and marketing. Marketing likes firm deadlines because it’s easier to manufacture hype if they have firm dates to aim for. And because marketing is about the money and not creativity, they often get more say. So devs are basically forced to release a game before it’s ready because the people who sign their checks won’t take no for an answer. I mean, look how the community reacts when delays are announced. It’s rarely positive. Just that alone makes sales people weep.
@perkinomicsFor Paradox, absolutely. And sure Firaxis to a degree. But this was egregious. And just saying that it’s the business model doesn’t mean that you have to like it.
@danielwyman8990 but i have to argue that dlc and update is lifeblood of 4x game, you can't just play 4x game for three months and then finish and move on. Longtime support id needed, look at stellaris it's 11 years old game yet i still play it big time. Every couple of game i just have to learn the mechanic change again. But yeah civ 7 is underwhelming, I like paradox game more
@r@rocketman-766I’m not saying dlc is a bad thing. But the fact that they so quickly released it for civ 7 shows they had it ready for release but withheld it just to milk the audience. I don’t want to support that.
I came to the comments after realizing the video was 2 weeks old knowing there would be callouts to that comment. You know what they say about assuming! Don’t.
Eh. Sorta. Expedition 33 was one of those "ex dev" from Ubisoft ("big studio") games that did incredibly well and was actually very well made, rather than a failure.
@DrownInLysergic yeah good for them, some that go indie or smaller team got success, prove that they don't need big company or make AAA game to achive that, make good gamplay or solid story is what they need
As sad as a development this is for me the golden rule remains: Ignore 98% of the AAA(A) games. And as long as there are creative people out there awesome (Indie) games won't die, no matter how many studios get eaten by the big bois.
We allow video games to become slot machines using real money, and then are surprised when every company tries to make the most profitable slot machine possible…
Very true. I watched a video about three years ago where they said large studios are chasing the amount of money made from mobile games which is continuous in a sense but as we can see is failing. There is also that to keep in mind.
I got it on a massive sale. I don't know what it was like on launch, but right now it is actually pretty fun. It does still get bogged down a bit by live service systems designed to keep you playing, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is kind of fun. There's also just something really relaxing about traveling across the ocean on your pirate ship.
For Highguard, the question every gamer who played it had to ask was: Is a 5/10 game worth abandoning the other games in the genre you might have put hundreds if not thousands of hours and dollars into? And the consensus seems to be that most people weren't keen on jumping ship from a perfectly functioning ship, to a much smaller boat full of holes while they were trying to plug them out on the ocean
7:30 As many pointed out, the probable reason they made you drive a lot was so that the Refund window would close, and you'll be stuck with that turd of a game.😶
It seems forcing someone to make a live action and not actually having any passion for what your creating is killing these games faster than they come out 😭💀
What seems to be increasingly forgotten with producers and the devs under their thumb: a gamer will play a square killing squares with its trusty square, as long as one condition is met: the gameplay loop is satisfying. A good story is a great addition. Good music is also a great plus. But the important part is *a satisfying gameplay loop that, even if it’s repetitive, keeps you engaged and entertained.*
Exactly this. The amount of absolutely minimalist indie games I've seen show up in the last few years and be an absolute blast is crazy. The big boys need to learn something from all of that. I mean the fact that we're in 2026 and SNES or even NES era graphical style is both accepted and enjoyed as long as the game is fun should be a massive bell going off for big devs. Failing in a world where there are near endless examples of HOW to succeed is just insane.
@HoleInDansSockoversaturated market. It'll probably fail just because of that. It's already failing to meet required numbers to justify its bloated budget.
The general problem with the AAA title: What Studios mean by AAA = Multi million dollar project. What Gamers mean by AAA = A Tier Storyline, A Tier Graphics and A Tier Gameplay mechanics. They are not the same, we are not the same...
The fact that the latest Civ game went with the ages system is wild when Humankind came out with that exact concept and was lambasted for that exact feature.
I dont think Humankind was hated on for that. It overall went pretty smoothly and let you play the same civ in continuing eras. I liked the game, but didmt stop playing it cause the civ switching.
@mullerpotgieter Nah the ages was fun and unique for humankind. The problem is that its the system for Humankind, Civ was different from humankind as it did not have these ages, so when adding the ages they just made civ 7 humankind 2.0 but if i want to play humankind then i would just play humankind, when playing civ i want to play a different game. Which is why ages should never have been added to civ even though it was pretty fun for humankind. And yeah this was shown as correct as civ 6 still have leagues more players than civ 7 as civ 6 is just a better game.
@arstan8092Because of modern strategy game BS where it tajes 5 years of updates and dlc to create an actually finished product and then the sequel has maybe a third of the content with incremental improvements. Looking at you Paradox
Because he’s an overrated, generic has-been. His work might have been profitable in the mid-1990s or early 2000s, but he’s box office and video game poison
@whosaidthat84usually slowly then all at once. If you look at what is happening with Ubisoft and all of the Tencent failures, Microsoft /Sony etc.. we are in it.
I don't get angry at a studio for making a bad game. You can't always hit the target. It can be infuriating when a game that could have been good ends up being rubbish because of publisher decisions.
You would think with all the live services failures people would stop pushing/making them. It goes to show some companies just care about making money rather than making a good product.
They fail to take a good proper look at WHY exactly Fortnite is as successful as it is. It’s not successful because it’s a live service game, it’s successful because it was a cultural touchstone. These CEO’s fail to see the importance of truly putting their resources into a product that truly sets itself apart and stands out, capturing the attention of millions of gamers. Just wait, we’ll see this nonsense all over again once GTA 6 is out. Publishers will be forcing their studios to try and make their own GTA clones (again).
About the no 1 choice, I think it is very important to point out that this was 'pre-slap Will Smith' - back when he was a respected super-star and not an embarrassment that has to use AI to generate his crowds.
6:10 i spent so long waiting for this game and i was so excited for it, got invited to the beta test before release and got a free copy. Played it for a few hours and deleted it. Would not pick it back up.
If only game publishers and developers stopped trying to chase trends (survival, extraction etc)... There's too many extraction shooters and live action trash already. everything is just a cop-paste of everything else.
Love this video because I’m a casual gamer now so I don’t stay up to date with news as much as before. I’ve bought plenty of AAA games that ended up being horrible or just not my cup of tea gameplay wise. The trailers only show so much haha
20:26 for years I was saying that the single player campaigns in COD mattered, but apparently everyone was just playing multiplayer the whole time. Now when they release possibly the worst one ever, now all of a sudden people care? The worst part of the the MP is that it’s basically a clone of BO6, but it’s annoying that people are all of a sudden, pretending to care about the campaigns after all these years of saying, they didn’t matter.
Agreed!! I have bought or played *nearly* every game in the series since its foundation exclusively to play just the single player portion. (Or zombies for a portion of years) MP is a nice bonus, but who had time for that EVERY year?
I got Forspoken for 20 quid on Steam last year and yeah, the story and dialogue are atrocious but it was actually a fun podcast game for me. It's a lot better without sound.
the combat and traversal looks very fun so I'll give it a try when it's cheap. If I don't like the dialogue then I'll do the same and just listen to a podcast.
Good idea. I got the game for free and wanted to see if I could just ignore the dialogue and push through, but I couldn't get more than a half hour in before Frey's total unlikeability convinced me it wasn't worth it.
12:43 when I was at LucasArts I remember our new president coming and giving a company wide speech that highlighted the fact that there would “be no lay offs”. Immediately following the meeting my guys in my cube starting packing there desks and getting each others contacts and setting up referrals. I was confused and so I asked - they said it’s “corporate speak for upcoming lay offs”. I was so blown away. Everyone was pink slipped that Friday. I was offered an extension on my contract, which I refused- because I was going from finishing crunch on a title- and diving into a new title that was *just* starting its crunch cycle. I refused the contract and stopped working in that side of games. (I do music instead now, much more rewarding work- but difficult to find)
I think the problem with Redfall is the studio had no experience doing that kind of game and it showed. I hope they get the opportunity to make another Dishonored.
I can quite sadly agree with this list... I actually enjoyed Skull & Bones for the first ~10 hours I spent in it and I've tried putting more time in it just to see if it at some point starts to grow on me, but it's ended up at me thinking "can I just have all these hours back?!". Not a good thing... However I do enjoy, and I mean really enjoy, Forspoken which I feel is a greatly misunderstood game or maybe it was fixed or something later down the line because I didn't start playing it until very late. Forspoken is just one of those games I always come back to just to have a good time and tbh (and I know this is complete a** behavior) thinking of all the bad I've heard about it before even trying it makes me enjoy it even more since it feels like a very solid game that nobody good reviewed (see I told you that was a** behavior on my part), but it does in fact boost the game for me despite it being a horrible mindset while playing. I just can't help myself but to laugh at things like "why did this get rated so low, this is so cool!" while playing it. Forspoken is a gem, not a perfect gem in any way, but it's definetly better than most seem to admit so I'm happy you enjoyed it as well! ^^
I'll second the praise for Forespoken. Maybe it's because Frey isn't an immediately likeable character or the chatter of Cuff, but the story pays off if you stick with it. As well as becoming OP & able to customize your perks later in the game.
I really am saddened by Forspoken, because it really just did not deserve the hate it got. Oh make no mistake, it absolutely deserved some of of it, but not the critical nuking it received. I do think the DLC elevated it, and I'd be ecstatic for a sequel...but that is highly unlikely now.
I just beat split fiction with my wife the other day. It was so well made & innovative that we were hooked start to finish. It's one of the best co-op experiences I've ever played. I can't recall the last time a AAA game made me feel this way.
I was confused when you mentioned the "microwave room" from Metal Gear Solid 2 because I didn't remember it - apparently it's Metal Gear Solid 4, which is the only Metal Gear I haven't played lol (/end "um ackshually" moment)
Lol, I just made a comment how I respect how you lean positive in what you do, but I guess it's unavoidable to have these at times too... there's just too many of these already and I'd rather focus on good finds rather than something you should forget and move on from.
The fact that no one really complained about Civ locking half of the game behind day 1 "DLC" is insane to me. All that other stuff sucks, but the predatory pricing was absolutely outrageous
redfall was the most disssapointing for me. It was such a cool world and concept. I just wish they made it 4 player co op instead of a live servicelike slop wad
Yea well said, forspoken does seem like a good AA game, with potential to learn from player feedback to put towards a sequel The traversal is awesome and idea is great But for a AAA?! And that price point?!!!
It is a fun game to play. It's not going to blow you away with a story or anything like that, but the magic is fun. The mobility is fun. I had a blast with the game.
With so much goin on in this dark world, gaming dedicated channels are sucha good getaway from it, gaming as a whole really. Its like therapy lol, I make sure home is clean, things are taken care of then a lil later light an incent and start some gaming. So relaxing and enjoyable yo 🔥😌
I finished & even platinumed it. I enjoyed my time with it. Yes, the dialogue is often weak, the protagonist is as likeable as a wet fart & some elements could use a tweak, the battle action, movement system & powers made it all worth it for me.
@YouVSMeTV it got the Deadpool effect treatment. They went for the over the top try hard comedic relief in the dialogue which is ok in spurts but they never do it subtly. Ends up being a cringe fest
I bought Forspoken for like 15 Euros, and for that money it was worth it. Surely it has some weak spots ... a lot of weak spots. The open world is just too empty. There should've been more survivors to find and bring back to your main town, not just that one at the beginning. I still got the platinum trophy and then played the DLC as well ... OH BOY, that fucking DLC ends with a cliffhanger and teaser bait for a sequel ... I wonder when that will never come out.
I wonder at what point in development the devs say "Let's pad this out and make a bunch of driving segments to pad out the length. Let's do that"? And, if you're doing that, which they often do, how can they do that and not realize they're making a bad game? If, at any point in development, you actively decide to pad your game, you've made a bad game.
I just played Highguard during the last week of it's life to get the platinum before it shut down. The movement was smooth, the gunplay was extremely satisfying. I actually didn't think the game was very bad at all. Just didn't get a lot of love early on and I think it was an underwhelming "one last thing" at the game awards.
Cuando un juego se esfuerza más por conseguir dinero y usuarios en vez de calidad y que les guste a los jugadores hicieron algo mal... Deben escuchar a los jugadores!!!
Great list. I agree with all of these. Side note: What was the music playing during the Redfall segment?? I need to get my hands on that. I enjoyed that more than playing all all of these crap games!
Honestly the empty open world in Forspoken could've been forgiven if the writing was better but having both problems? Yeah no. Gameplay and magic wise? AMAZING; absolutely nailed it but that's the only saving grace.
Not long after its release, it was revealed that the developer, Wildlight, had the financial backing of Tencent Games. So it was basically an AAA game masquerading as an AA indie title.
I actually really loved Forespoken and it bothers me that it became such a meme that it was "bad." For a first entry into a brand new IP, they made some mistakes with storytelling but overall I was invested and wanted to see where it went in the sequel. But, I'm the extreme minority so it'll never happen, I'm sure. But I never felt cheated out of my $70.
Redfall is so tragic. Such a fun concept minus the live service multiplayer BS. I trust that original Arkans team could have made such a kick ass vampire game, especially if you took out the guns and gave it a better, more magical/melee setting...
When you consider the amount of marketing and shilling on the internet realize that AAA studio games spend up to 50% of their entire budget on marketing and the industry is about 16 billion dollars per year.
Hot take: Forspoken had an interesting premise, world building, and combat. Heck, even the story for a good portion of it. It was the Avengers level "Hey there fellow kids" dialogue that got annoying. Loved the banter between her and cuff, but she herself ground my gears a bit. Otherwise, I liked it quite a lot. (If you hated it, good for you. You don't need to feel insecure about someone else's opinion)
Bought FORSPOKEN super cheap a while back and agree with everything the bird says here, the cringe bits were cringe but the rest of the game more than made up for it - I enjoyed it enough to hunt down the DLC once I'd 100%ed the base game, and I'd liked to have seen where the sequel hook went, but that's _never_ going to happen.
I know people crap on it a lot, but I honestly thought Suicide Squad was better than people gave it credit for. The problems I had with it were that the cinematics for the DLC were completely removed, and the game was maybe $20 more than it should've been. Had it been $40 with reasonably priced DLC, it would've been fine. The gameplay was solid. The bosses were fun. It had potential, but it just didn't reach what it could've been. I feel similar with the Avengers game. It could've been better, and it would've been forgivable with some tweaks.
Forspoken was really fun to play. Nothing game changing about the game but when you get your magic kit, it is fun flowing across map, seamlessly switching magic and killing enemies. Some of the most fun I have had in a game.
The thing about live service games is most of the fans of that experience are already invested in at least one. A "forever" game means that unlike with single player games your customers aren't always moving on and looking for something new.
Honestly surprised Starfield didn’t make the cut. For me the only game where, whilst playing, I thought “why am I playing this” and turned it off, never to pick it up again.
Honestly my biggest issue with forespoken was how tedious the loot system was. It was a pain in the ass to try to use the map to find these tiny little chests, but you couldn't just ignore them because tanta forbid you don't have the 5 blades of mundane grass to upgrade your necklace from +117 to +118. Yes, gear actually got upgraded that much and while there are a handful of games I'd love to be able to endlessly upgrade builds in, in this case less would have been more.
Forspoken is one of the games of all time. Its cringe inducing story and dialogue was fun to laugh at for a week, but beyond that, it's such a shallow, vapid husk of the game that it wasn't even bad enough to remember. It's not bad, it's certainly not good. It just... is.
Funny thing about me and Forspoken, although I haven’t played it yet, is that every time Falcon shows a clip as an example of how bad the writing is, I’m like wow, that writing is actually very entertaining 😂 Sorry for being one of those people Falcon! But I am one of those who enjoys the MCU’s writing, although I do miss the days when the MCU took itself seriously most of the time. I just don’t mind the recent corniness or whatever the right term is. To me it’s like a downgrade from a nice restaurant to a high end fast food, but I’m ok with it. Also, big fan of Gameranx here, I’ve subscribed and don’t even need the notifications because I come to the channel daily, just don’t comment much, and I think I agree with Falcon on most things, I love your work my man, but I do have to laugh every time you talk about Forspoken and I realize how much we differ on that. 😅 Haven’t joined the 1% club as yet but it’s on my wish list.
Was here to say the same thing lol what does he mean if it lasts that long? Its shutting down in a few days lol. Who didn't see that one coming? I'm still baffled these higher ups in these companies still think live service is the way to go. I want to know what they're smoking up there lol
"Assuming it lasts that long"
Narrator - "It did not."
Still see more people defending it than it has concurrent players 🤣
Lol. I came into the comments to see if anyone mentioned that.
Yea I wonder how far ahead they record these voice overs.
Same thing in another recent Falcon vid, he was mentioning when the Sands of Time remake will come around, which at the time of the video it was already long cancelled.
Corporate studios try not to chase a saturated market challenge: IMPOSSIBLE
"Quick avoid risk and become slop like everyone else"
It's not the studios. It's the publishers that are in charge nowadays. They call the shots.
Unless you're referring to self-published studios like Ubi.
You don't understand. This time we are making a -checks note written by ChatGPT full of buzzwords- unique experience with a massive open world game of unprecedented scale where you'll be a hero in a living, breathing world with unforgettable characters and emotional storytelling completely built from the ground up with daily challenges and seasonal progression that will keep players on their toes in this groundbreaking experience that is unlike anything you have seen before.
Investors only chase the billion dollar games. They dont care if 100 of them fail if there's the chance for a Big payout with just 1 succeeding. The games themselves are given zero consideration.
Its a shame seeing amazing single player studios being wasted on live services.
👆🏻
Rich share holders need to get richer, not realizing it's gonna be wasted
More of a shame seeing single player studios forced to make live services to chase trend, then when the game turn out mediocre because they don't know how to make multiplayer, and inevitably miss CEO's targeted sales, the devs get lay-off and the studio get shut down. And yeah, I'm still salty about Arkane Austin.
Tunnel-visioned, out of touch executives should step aside or get kicked out, even.
Absolutely agreeeed!
Not only have I never heard of the last one, I thought it was a mobile game from the gameplay alone lmao
same here :D
Normally I thought, I am well informed and hear about most of the big storys, but this? No idea
You’ve never heard of the civ franchise?!
@StephenE1991 I meant the last one that appears in the video, being undawn lmao
@StephenE1991 Do you just use 10% of your brain?
You can’t put Skull & Bones on this list. It’s a AAAA game 😆
🤣🤣
Came hear to say pretty much the exact same thing. You are correct!!
It's so good I'll never be able to justify playing it, as it will ruin every other game for me. 😉
Beat me to it.
If any game deserves to be called
AAAA its games like rdr 2
Seeing the title of this video: “I know who’s narrating this one”
Same.
Isn't it always the same person(
Yeah Jake Shilldino would never criticize his masters 😢
ofc the king fence sitter/mc norealopinion isn't gonna narrate anything that requires criticism lmao. so falcon does it (:
i just skip jake videos tbh, they're fucking trash.
@Rascal7777 Whoa, easy there, Sparky. No pizza for you!😂
In regards to Civ 7: it's not even mentioned that the game was launched with so many missing basic features. And they almost immediately started churning out DLC- showing that they could have launched with more content, but they wanted to nickel and dime you instead.
That's the entire business model for 4x games. It goes without saying whether the game is in a good state or not
@perkinomics In some cases, maybe many cases, this is due to the conflict between devs and marketing. Marketing likes firm deadlines because it’s easier to manufacture hype if they have firm dates to aim for. And because marketing is about the money and not creativity, they often get more say. So devs are basically forced to release a game before it’s ready because the people who sign their checks won’t take no for an answer.
I mean, look how the community reacts when delays are announced. It’s rarely positive. Just that alone makes sales people weep.
@perkinomicsFor Paradox, absolutely. And sure Firaxis to a degree. But this was egregious. And just saying that it’s the business model doesn’t mean that you have to like it.
@danielwyman8990 but i have to argue that dlc and update is lifeblood of 4x game, you can't just play 4x game for three months and then finish and move on. Longtime support id needed, look at stellaris it's 11 years old game yet i still play it big time. Every couple of game i just have to learn the mechanic change again.
But yeah civ 7 is underwhelming, I like paradox game more
@r@rocketman-766I’m not saying dlc is a bad thing. But the fact that they so quickly released it for civ 7 shows they had it ready for release but withheld it just to milk the audience. I don’t want to support that.
"Assuming it lasts that long" 4:30 the news didn't reach in time during the script writing it seems
I played highguard for a bit. The concept was decent, but the maps were enormous for 3v3.
@YouVSMeTVthey added 5v5 Idk if it's still there or it was a limited time mode
I came to the comments after realizing the video was 2 weeks old knowing there would be callouts to that comment. You know what they say about assuming! Don’t.
now the trend is "ex-dev" from this "big studio" make new game from new studio and fail, bought by big company or out of investor money
Eh. Sorta. Expedition 33 was one of those "ex dev" from Ubisoft ("big studio") games that did incredibly well and was actually very well made, rather than a failure.
@DrownInLysergic yeah good for them, some that go indie or smaller team got success, prove that they don't need big company or make AAA game to achive that, make good gamplay or solid story is what they need
It's been a trend for quite a few years now with only a few exceptions.
As sad as a development this is for me the golden rule remains: Ignore 98% of the AAA(A) games. And as long as there are creative people out there awesome (Indie) games won't die, no matter how many studios get eaten by the big bois.
Its either that the studio are holding back these talents or theyre just shitty at their job
We allow video games to become slot machines using real money, and then are surprised when every company tries to make the most profitable slot machine possible…
Very true. I watched a video about three years ago where they said large studios are chasing the amount of money made from mobile games which is continuous in a sense but as we can see is failing. There is also that to keep in mind.
The one thing Skull & Bones does well is steal your money, like a real pirate would do.
actual pirates shared the money they stole, Ubi ould never do that
It’s a true pirate experience
I got it on a massive sale. I don't know what it was like on launch, but right now it is actually pretty fun. It does still get bogged down a bit by live service systems designed to keep you playing, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is kind of fun. There's also just something really relaxing about traveling across the ocean on your pirate ship.
@ivonbeton4725 I always thought the same thing with AC Black Flag, no live service nonsense attached.
For Highguard, the question every gamer who played it had to ask was: Is a 5/10 game worth abandoning the other games in the genre you might have put hundreds if not thousands of hours and dollars into?
And the consensus seems to be that most people weren't keen on jumping ship from a perfectly functioning ship, to a much smaller boat full of holes while they were trying to plug them out on the ocean
7:30 As many pointed out, the probable reason they made you drive a lot was so that the Refund window would close, and you'll be stuck with that turd of a game.😶
It seems forcing someone to make a live action and not actually having any passion for what your creating is killing these games faster than they come out 😭💀
I still can’t believe HighGuard was the finale at The Game Awards….
🫠
@gameranxTVMy hopes for a FF7 Part 3 reveal were dashed….
Bruh it didnt last a month... thats not even a bust thats career ending...
Makes sense when you learn Tencent funded the game and is also on the advisory board for Geoff’s Keighley’s Game Awards
@dizceedot21a month and a half
What seems to be increasingly forgotten with producers and the devs under their thumb: a gamer will play a square killing squares with its trusty square, as long as one condition is met: the gameplay loop is satisfying. A good story is a great addition. Good music is also a great plus. But the important part is *a satisfying gameplay loop that, even if it’s repetitive, keeps you engaged and entertained.*
Exactly this. The amount of absolutely minimalist indie games I've seen show up in the last few years and be an absolute blast is crazy. The big boys need to learn something from all of that. I mean the fact that we're in 2026 and SNES or even NES era graphical style is both accepted and enjoyed as long as the game is fun should be a massive bell going off for big devs. Failing in a world where there are near endless examples of HOW to succeed is just insane.
Skull and bones shouldn't be in this list since it was a 4xa game not a 3xa game.
😅
Whys Marathon here? Yall high in 2026.....highguard i can understand but Marathon is amazing
@HoleInDansSockoversaturated market. It'll probably fail just because of that. It's already failing to meet required numbers to justify its bloated budget.
the first 4xA in fact
Thank you, I needed the laugh.
The general problem with the AAA title:
What Studios mean by AAA = Multi million dollar project.
What Gamers mean by AAA = A Tier Storyline, A Tier Graphics and A Tier Gameplay mechanics.
They are not the same, we are not the same...
The fact that the latest Civ game went with the ages system is wild when Humankind came out with that exact concept and was lambasted for that exact feature.
I dont think Humankind was hated on for that. It overall went pretty smoothly and let you play the same civ in continuing eras. I liked the game, but didmt stop playing it cause the civ switching.
@coloringbooks3295 Well its the criticism I read in every review *shrug*
@mullerpotgieter Nah the ages was fun and unique for humankind. The problem is that its the system for Humankind, Civ was different from humankind as it did not have these ages, so when adding the ages they just made civ 7 humankind 2.0 but if i want to play humankind then i would just play humankind, when playing civ i want to play a different game. Which is why ages should never have been added to civ even though it was pretty fun for humankind. And yeah this was shown as correct as civ 6 still have leagues more players than civ 7 as civ 6 is just a better game.
@arstan8092Because of modern strategy game BS where it tajes 5 years of updates and dlc to create an actually finished product and then the sequel has maybe a third of the content with incremental improvements.
Looking at you Paradox
@mullerpotgieter Yupp very much so.
If I ever heard Falcon's voice coming out of a human's mouth, my head would explode.
Microwave scene in MGS 4 you mean ;)
I was coming here to comment that too.
oh okay cool I thought so
I came here for this😂 Falcon either did that to piss off Jake or he just reaaaally pissed him off by accident lol
@basvangeest5485 I was about to say ... what's jake's reaction to this xD
Falcon by far has the most mistakes in his videos compared to Jake and the others.
Will Smith being attached to something would instantly make me say no to whatever it is.
It's crazy how much that has changed because I used to respect the hell out of him
Why?
Because he’s an overrated, generic has-been. His work might have been profitable in the mid-1990s or early 2000s, but he’s box office and video game poison
Bring back infamous
👆🏻
I thought infamous was a good game?
@nuclearfish010yeah the original comment wants more infamous games
@nuclearfish010infamous 2 yes
@Admatesall the infamous was great! Even that little vampire one.
My wallet is happy this season because the slop is neverending lmao.
10:09 i appreciate the acknowledgment of the traversal, captain boomerang especially was sick
The common thread through all of these and most of the rot killing our society these days is unchecked, unfettered greed.
I’m just waiting for the “Crash” to begin any day now. The AAA live-service bubble burst.
Im excited
I've been hearing about it for the last 3-5 years. When it's gonna happen?
@whosaidthat84usually slowly then all at once. If you look at what is happening with Ubisoft and all of the Tencent failures, Microsoft /Sony etc.. we are in it.
@pvince8723 yeah they said we were in it 5 years ago.
I don't get angry at a studio for making a bad game. You can't always hit the target. It can be infuriating when a game that could have been good ends up being rubbish because of publisher decisions.
Rare reasonable reaction from someone in this comment section lol
Windrose did everything that skull and bones could never😂
Great Demo so Far and Can't wait for Release 70+ hrs in Demo.
I love seeing lists like this. I feel like i miss alot of games as they come out. This makes me happy to have missed some lol
2:03 I reference that Jim Norton Spider-Man cameo all the time and no one gets it, so thank you.
HE STINKS, AND I DON’T LIKE HIM!
Home run Chipperson
Tsst tsst
Bro saaame lol
That broccoli haircut is BUSSIN. 😂
You would think with all the live services failures people would stop pushing/making them. It goes to show some companies just care about making money rather than making a good product.
That's pretty much every company but some still care about games and make them good also
They really know how to run a conpany into the ground
They fail to take a good proper look at WHY exactly Fortnite is as successful as it is. It’s not successful because it’s a live service game, it’s successful because it was a cultural touchstone. These CEO’s fail to see the importance of truly putting their resources into a product that truly sets itself apart and stands out, capturing the attention of millions of gamers. Just wait, we’ll see this nonsense all over again once GTA 6 is out. Publishers will be forcing their studios to try and make their own GTA clones (again).
About the no 1 choice, I think it is very important to point out that this was 'pre-slap Will Smith' - back when he was a respected super-star and not an embarrassment that has to use AI to generate his crowds.
Redfall could've been good if it was a real single player Arkane game (i.e. Dishonored with vampires).
This is what I'm hoping Arkane's Blade game will be
I would have played the hell out of that
6:10 i spent so long waiting for this game and i was so excited for it, got invited to the beta test before release and got a free copy. Played it for a few hours and deleted it. Would not pick it back up.
dearest gameranx, could yall go back to nightmode like from about a decade ago lol
(the white burns my eyes)
Track id during forspoken? Song had me vibing. Good vid btw. Fun to recap all the anguished moments of the last few years
If only game publishers and developers stopped trying to chase trends (survival, extraction etc)... There's too many extraction shooters and live action trash already. everything is just a cop-paste of everything else.
Love this video because I’m a casual gamer now so I don’t stay up to date with news as much as before. I’ve bought plenty of AAA games that ended up being horrible or just not my cup of tea gameplay wise. The trailers only show so much haha
20:26 for years I was saying that the single player campaigns in COD mattered, but apparently everyone was just playing multiplayer the whole time. Now when they release possibly the worst one ever, now all of a sudden people care? The worst part of the the MP is that it’s basically a clone of BO6, but it’s annoying that people are all of a sudden, pretending to care about the campaigns after all these years of saying, they didn’t matter.
Agreed!! I have bought or played *nearly* every game in the series since its foundation exclusively to play just the single player portion. (Or zombies for a portion of years) MP is a nice bonus, but who had time for that EVERY year?
Multiplayer killed the single player COD campaign. Whats out now isnt worth trying
Campaign was more so important but I lost that when cod 4 released with no campaign funny that it’s treyarch who did both 4 and 7
@ryanwilcox-wilcoxr2638i find blackops to be inferior to WAW devs
I don't think High Guard was disappointing. No one expected it to be any good, so no one was disappointed.
I got Forspoken for 20 quid on Steam last year and yeah, the story and dialogue are atrocious but it was actually a fun podcast game for me. It's a lot better without sound.
It's a very good game, the dialogue is fine and you can turn it off.
the combat and traversal looks very fun so I'll give it a try when it's cheap. If I don't like the dialogue then I'll do the same and just listen to a podcast.
Good idea. I got the game for free and wanted to see if I could just ignore the dialogue and push through, but I couldn't get more than a half hour in before Frey's total unlikeability convinced me it wasn't worth it.
12:43 when I was at LucasArts I remember our new president coming and giving a company wide speech that highlighted the fact that there would “be no lay offs”.
Immediately following the meeting my guys in my cube starting packing there desks and getting each others contacts and setting up referrals.
I was confused and so I asked - they said it’s “corporate speak for upcoming lay offs”.
I was so blown away. Everyone was pink slipped that Friday. I was offered an extension on my contract, which I refused- because I was going from finishing crunch on a title- and diving into a new title that was *just* starting its crunch cycle.
I refused the contract and stopped working in that side of games. (I do music instead now, much more rewarding work- but difficult to find)
Thank you for talking about Bo7
I’ve been trying to get into the CIV series with Civ 6 but man there’s a lot to learn.
Try civ 5
I think the problem with Redfall is the studio had no experience doing that kind of game and it showed. I hope they get the opportunity to make another Dishonored.
The studio was shut down after Redfall and 70% of the team left during the production of that one anyway.
Hey Falcon!
Thanks for another epic video. You and Jake are the best ✌️
Alternate title: recent mostly live service games that suck
I can quite sadly agree with this list... I actually enjoyed Skull & Bones for the first ~10 hours I spent in it and I've tried putting more time in it just to see if it at some point starts to grow on me, but it's ended up at me thinking "can I just have all these hours back?!". Not a good thing... However I do enjoy, and I mean really enjoy, Forspoken which I feel is a greatly misunderstood game or maybe it was fixed or something later down the line because I didn't start playing it until very late. Forspoken is just one of those games I always come back to just to have a good time and tbh (and I know this is complete a** behavior) thinking of all the bad I've heard about it before even trying it makes me enjoy it even more since it feels like a very solid game that nobody good reviewed (see I told you that was a** behavior on my part), but it does in fact boost the game for me despite it being a horrible mindset while playing. I just can't help myself but to laugh at things like "why did this get rated so low, this is so cool!" while playing it. Forspoken is a gem, not a perfect gem in any way, but it's definetly better than most seem to admit so I'm happy you enjoyed it as well! ^^
I'll second the praise for Forespoken. Maybe it's because Frey isn't an immediately likeable character or the chatter of Cuff, but the story pays off if you stick with it. As well as becoming OP & able to customize your perks later in the game.
I really am saddened by Forspoken, because it really just did not deserve the hate it got. Oh make no mistake, it absolutely deserved some of of it, but not the critical nuking it received. I do think the DLC elevated it, and I'd be ecstatic for a sequel...but that is highly unlikely now.
I just beat split fiction with my wife the other day. It was so well made & innovative that we were hooked start to finish. It's one of the best co-op experiences I've ever played. I can't recall the last time a AAA game made me feel this way.
21:14 That's MGS4, akshually.
Right 😂🎉 We knew what scene he was talking about.
Mgs4 fans unite
every live service turns into a dead service...
I was confused when you mentioned the "microwave room" from Metal Gear Solid 2 because I didn't remember it - apparently it's Metal Gear Solid 4, which is the only Metal Gear I haven't played lol (/end "um ackshually" moment)
Can you do another video for AA games? Or Ridiculously horrible indie games (over 20 bucks or sth) lol
I miss when games were made by gamers instead of shareholders, focus groups, and activists. Gaming going mainstream was a bad thing.
🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Called the last one a mobile game on a non mobile system!!!
😂😂😂that looks so true
Very PS2 2000’s look
Lol, I just made a comment how I respect how you lean positive in what you do, but I guess it's unavoidable to have these at times too... there's just too many of these already and I'd rather focus on good finds rather than something you should forget and move on from.
The fact that no one really complained about Civ locking half of the game behind day 1 "DLC" is insane to me. All that other stuff sucks, but the predatory pricing was absolutely outrageous
redfall was the most disssapointing for me. It was such a cool world and concept. I just wish they made it 4 player co op instead of a live servicelike slop wad
Co-op would have made more sense and probably save the game as they would have made very different decisions while making the game.
Yea well said, forspoken does seem like a good AA game, with potential to learn from player feedback to put towards a sequel
The traversal is awesome and idea is great
But for a AAA?! And that price point?!!!
I bought forespoken for like $12 and at that price I was happy with it I went in with no expectations and it was fun.
It is a fun game to play. It's not going to blow you away with a story or anything like that, but the magic is fun. The mobility is fun. I had a blast with the game.
Losers
I pre-ordered it really enjoyed it....I wasn't disappointed with forespoken at all.....I also pre-ordered skull and bones and wow was I disappointed
@richarddixon3427 you really gotta stop preordering games. I got Forspoken and Skull & Bones for $10 each and still feel like it was an overpay lol
I really liked it, there are a few things I would have changed but I never really understood why so many hate it
With so much goin on in this dark world, gaming dedicated channels are sucha good getaway from it, gaming as a whole really. Its like therapy lol, I make sure home is clean, things are taken care of then a lil later light an incent and start some gaming. So relaxing and enjoyable yo 🔥😌
15:30 Honestly I wanted Forspoken to be a good game and I was looking forward to playing it but it just seems to crash and burn so bad!
I finished & even platinumed it. I enjoyed my time with it. Yes, the dialogue is often weak, the protagonist is as likeable as a wet fart & some elements could use a tweak, the battle action, movement system & powers made it all worth it for me.
@YouVSMeTV it got the Deadpool effect treatment. They went for the over the top try hard comedic relief in the dialogue which is ok in spurts but they never do it subtly. Ends up being a cringe fest
Ah yes, forcing a studio to make a game they don't want to make. Clearly, this can only result in a creative masterpiece.
Forspoken had potential but idk what the hell happened in the development phase
They made the wrong person the hero. If Freys best friend was the hero, the game would have resonated more.
@Abb@Abbeydoobiethat still wouldn’t have fixed this.
From what I heard, it went through changes in the writing after the og writer fired. Something like that.
The dialogue in forspoken sounds like a middle aged person trying to get down with the kids and use the lingo all the "youngsters" are using
I bought Forspoken for like 15 Euros, and for that money it was worth it. Surely it has some weak spots ... a lot of weak spots. The open world is just too empty. There should've been more survivors to find and bring back to your main town, not just that one at the beginning. I still got the platinum trophy and then played the DLC as well ... OH BOY, that fucking DLC ends with a cliffhanger and teaser bait for a sequel ... I wonder when that will never come out.
😭😭😭 I agree with you and I loved it personally and I was looking forward to the sequel😭
I wonder at what point in development the devs say "Let's pad this out and make a bunch of driving segments to pad out the length. Let's do that"? And, if you're doing that, which they often do, how can they do that and not realize they're making a bad game? If, at any point in development, you actively decide to pad your game, you've made a bad game.
I did not hate high guard. But I didn't care enough to ever go back to it
I just played Highguard during the last week of it's life to get the platinum before it shut down. The movement was smooth, the gunplay was extremely satisfying. I actually didn't think the game was very bad at all. Just didn't get a lot of love early on and I think it was an underwhelming "one last thing" at the game awards.
Next, make a list of 100 recent indie games that sucked because that's how much shovelware and indie crap that comes out
list would be to long
Shovelware has become a plague at this point
Microwave room was in MGS 4 btw 😅 but great video!
21:33 MGS4*
Ok so it wasn’t just me bein a nerd 😂
FISSION MAILED Falcon
Cause I was like huh lol
I was like wait… is there another microwave section in 2?! I wouldn’t know since I’ve never played 2 lol
21:25 When I saw this in a review, I thought it was a zombies map... Sigh, I was being too optimistic.
Cuando un juego se esfuerza más por conseguir dinero y usuarios en vez de calidad y que les guste a los jugadores hicieron algo mal... Deben escuchar a los jugadores!!!
Great list. I agree with all of these. Side note: What was the music playing during the Redfall segment?? I need to get my hands on that. I enjoyed that more than playing all all of these crap games!
8:32 bugs pun Intended 😂
Didn’t they release teasers for #2 already!? The bugs in their decision making
For God's sake, I'm subscribed. I'M SUBSCRIBED!!!
Forspoken has bad writing but great gameplay.
Honestly the empty open world in Forspoken could've been forgiven if the writing was better but having both problems? Yeah no. Gameplay and magic wise? AMAZING; absolutely nailed it but that's the only saving grace.
Does Highguard even count as AAA?
Not long after its release, it was revealed that the developer, Wildlight, had the financial backing of Tencent Games. So it was basically an AAA game masquerading as an AA indie title.
And if it does, why
I actually really loved Forespoken and it bothers me that it became such a meme that it was "bad." For a first entry into a brand new IP, they made some mistakes with storytelling but overall I was invested and wanted to see where it went in the sequel.
But, I'm the extreme minority so it'll never happen, I'm sure. But I never felt cheated out of my $70.
Mindseye, Redfall, Slay the Justice League - one of those three pop up in every video
Slay actually kind of sounds cooler
Redfall is so tragic. Such a fun concept minus the live service multiplayer BS. I trust that original Arkans team could have made such a kick ass vampire game, especially if you took out the guns and gave it a better, more magical/melee setting...
When you consider the amount of marketing and shilling on the internet realize that AAA studio games spend up to 50% of their entire budget on marketing and the industry is about 16 billion dollars per year.
If only they just spent that money on making a good game...
Hot take: Forspoken had an interesting premise, world building, and combat. Heck, even the story for a good portion of it. It was the Avengers level "Hey there fellow kids" dialogue that got annoying. Loved the banter between her and cuff, but she herself ground my gears a bit. Otherwise, I liked it quite a lot.
(If you hated it, good for you. You don't need to feel insecure about someone else's opinion)
What game would you swap that one out with?
@gameranxTVWould Babylon's Fall count as a AAA since it's from Square Enix?
Bought FORSPOKEN super cheap a while back and agree with everything the bird says here, the cringe bits were cringe but the rest of the game more than made up for it - I enjoyed it enough to hunt down the DLC once I'd 100%ed the base game, and I'd liked to have seen where the sequel hook went, but that's _never_ going to happen.
A sequel could have cleaned up and refined so much. Sucks that we won't get to see that. It is a fun game to play.
I know people crap on it a lot, but I honestly thought Suicide Squad was better than people gave it credit for. The problems I had with it were that the cinematics for the DLC were completely removed, and the game was maybe $20 more than it should've been. Had it been $40 with reasonably priced DLC, it would've been fine. The gameplay was solid. The bosses were fun. It had potential, but it just didn't reach what it could've been. I feel similar with the Avengers game. It could've been better, and it would've been forgivable with some tweaks.
Forspoken was really fun to play. Nothing game changing about the game but when you get your magic kit, it is fun flowing across map, seamlessly switching magic and killing enemies. Some of the most fun I have had in a game.
The thing about live service games is most of the fans of that experience are already invested in at least one. A "forever" game means that unlike with single player games your customers aren't always moving on and looking for something new.
Black ops 7's problems are my exact issue w fighting games that lack strong single player content..
Honestly surprised Starfield didn’t make the cut. For me the only game where, whilst playing, I thought “why am I playing this” and turned it off, never to pick it up again.
I'll die on the hill defending Forspoken and I don't need a soul to agree with me.
Same. It was fun
Honestly my biggest issue with forespoken was how tedious the loot system was. It was a pain in the ass to try to use the map to find these tiny little chests, but you couldn't just ignore them because tanta forbid you don't have the 5 blades of mundane grass to upgrade your necklace from +117 to +118. Yes, gear actually got upgraded that much and while there are a handful of games I'd love to be able to endlessly upgrade builds in, in this case less would have been more.
Mind's eye needed more time to cook in the oven.. and they should have made it open world with multiple content
The funny thing about Skull & Bones is they wanted to cancel it years ago but by law being it's in Singapore they had to finish it!
Forspoken is one of the games of all time. Its cringe inducing story and dialogue was fun to laugh at for a week, but beyond that, it's such a shallow, vapid husk of the game that it wasn't even bad enough to remember. It's not bad, it's certainly not good. It just... is.
Funny thing about me and Forspoken, although I haven’t played it yet, is that every time Falcon shows a clip as an example of how bad the writing is, I’m like wow, that writing is actually very entertaining 😂 Sorry for being one of those people Falcon!
But I am one of those who enjoys the MCU’s writing, although I do miss the days when the MCU took itself seriously most of the time. I just don’t mind the recent corniness or whatever the right term is. To me it’s like a downgrade from a nice restaurant to a high end fast food, but I’m ok with it.
Also, big fan of Gameranx here, I’ve subscribed and don’t even need the notifications because I come to the channel daily, just don’t comment much, and I think I agree with Falcon on most things, I love your work my man, but I do have to laugh every time you talk about Forspoken and I realize how much we differ on that. 😅 Haven’t joined the 1% club as yet but it’s on my wish list.
4:37 game is shutting down
Yeah probably made this video before it was officially announced
I tried with highguard. Their maps were too big and not enough players live in match. They needed 10v10
Was here to say the same thing lol what does he mean if it lasts that long? Its shutting down in a few days lol. Who didn't see that one coming? I'm still baffled these higher ups in these companies still think live service is the way to go. I want to know what they're smoking up there lol
@HoleInDansSockthis game needed a beta before it got released. All the issues could have been fixed before launch. It’s sad to see but not unexpected
@aidenfair4319yeah