Your description of the AAA industry rings a lot like the concept of Culture Industry by Adorno and Horkheimer. It was pretty much inevitable for this to happen with gaming since every other kind of entertainment media was already undergoing an immense process of standardization. I don't think it's the fault of anyone in particular, there are no evil executives @Bethesda planning to be assholes to whoever is creating spontaneous content in the form of mods (they might be evil actually, but probably don't think that negatively of modders anyway). This is rather much more likely a by-product of the way we lead our daily lives; we like to think that our life standards have improved more than any previous generation but the same things which empower us also have us hooked to our jobs/studies basically 24/7, if only by at least making us anxious about them. Because our collective life is so focused in the purpose of labor, even our entertainment/leisure and personal life has to look like labor to be digestible, hence standardized and just enough predictable. It heavily hints to this that, like you said, we as players don't really care about the people behind games, just as much as the studios also don't, and we are acutely favorable to something that looks like things we already know beforehand, not merely because of familiarity, which would be ok, but because we're already too tired to meet the new and potentially conflicting. At least, and ironically, the artistic prowess is still what shines through and stands the test of time (the soundtrack by Mick is definitely the only thing I remember vividly from Doom 2016, to echo your example).
Everything you're saying applies mainly to american culture. As a south american I hate working and I'll find some way to leech off the state until the day I die.
The whole premise of this video is wrong. It's based on the idea that id Software is some soulless corporate product machine, which couldn't be further from the truth. 2016 & Eternal have so much love & artistry put into them by what is, by current industry standards, still a small team of risk takers.
@@lindmorn5909The comment is, in fact, based on the substantial qualities of Doom: Eternal, not capitalism. Try harder the next time, without excusing yourself with verbiage about capitalism.
Ok oddly enough this actually aged kinda poorly Doom Eternal ended up being an artistically driven game in game design and actually changed up the formula from Doom 2016, yay
I was going to comment exactly that, the assumption that 'not much has changed' from 2016 couldn't be further from the truth, especially if you remember how much Eternal shook up the gameplay and the outrage it initially caused. But I guess that's what you get when you make a video on a game a year before it comes out :)
I don't think he was saying "Doom Eternal is gonna be a stinky poo poo game!" more of that Doom has become a commercial product that lacks the punk rock diy fan driven legacy Doom 1&2, Doom Eternal is a very good game but he was not wrong about that, especially with how callously Bethesda discarded Mick Gordon
@@jonnysac77 yeah but with the full context revealed it’s not fuck you Mick your out. It’s Mick I know you’re a perfectionist but we’ve delayed twice and need the products you were tasked to make. And then they amicable parted
@@jonnysac77 eh. It felt to me like he was trying to say eternal was going to be more of the same in reference to doom 2016. Which wasn't the case at all. I agree with the videos overall point though. Video game labor needs to be treated better. I just thought these small points where way off base
I do agree that companies are companies, but not all companies ruin their games, and id is still a company, just owned by a company, so its mostly in thier hands what they do, i agree with some of his points but not all of them
People are and were excited for Doom 2016/Eternal because they are the return to form we've been looking for the in the AAA space for a long time. No one is really bent out of shape about the fact the Bethesda bought ID software. Especially not if the end result is a competent, fun, and at least somewhat faithful re-envisioning of the classic doom games. I don't have any doubt in my mind that those same 10 crazy, pizza-devouring mad men would've done it any other way. I know its easy to hate on big companies, especially ones who have the track record that Bethesda had and still for the most part have, But regardless of money or size or labor, they put ID on the path to these games and gave us a little piece of what we had way back when. Gotta commend them for that at least. Good video though.
@@itsgeegra no. it's a game about going to mars to harvest hell for energy as a corporation, and in-game dialogue satirizes the liberal ideologies of the characters in-game.
You briefly mentioned Arkane, but I feel like the Dishonored and Prey games were some of the rare AAA games that earnestly had their creators' fingerprints on them (namely Harvey Smith)
When talking about Arkane don't forget Raphaël Colantonio. Prey was all Raphaël, while Dishonored 2 was all Harvey. Dishonored 1 was them both. Earlier Arkane games, i.e. Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah, was all Raphaël as well. And while you definitely can feel their fingerprints in Arkane games there is no doubt that from Dishonored 1 and onwards there is a pretty thick veil of watered down crap over it. Even Dishonored 1, great as it is, has a bottled and branded feel to it compared to earlier Arkane games.
@@GepardenK Yeah, good point. That song Colantonio wrote for the Prey soundtrack is something I can't believe happened in 2017 and not like 1994. It's great
In a nice turn of events Hugo, Marty and company bring us game that reinvents the fps genre with Doom Eternal, living up to the name of a series of 90s games that invented the genre. Eternal is now widely considered the best fps of all time and it's much deserved. I hope you had your expectations exceeded considering your suspensions with the game because of its name
@Lind Morn Well, if we don't have Elden, Zelda ToTk, SMTV, Hitman3, Psychonauts 2, MH Rise, Ragnarock, or 3d kirby, like good games. Leaving those aside, in general the AAA has been stuck ugly since the beginning of the eighth generation (not to say the beginning of the last decade) only that each time more broken year after year (and this 2023 is the maximum exponent of the moment that that) although I would also say that the indies were standardized a lot, since the less standardized ones are games that you would not play unless you wanted oil to be put in your back (games that you would not play even drunk because of how boring or annoying they are, generally).
As to the limitations of Snapmap, the engine they use uses a unique texture/rendering system. It creates 1 massive texture that is laid out over the geometry and is streamed in when you’re looking at an area, it means that there can be more bespoke detail in the world (you could have zero repeated textures if you wanted) but it massively hinders versatility. In order to change something you need to retexture everything as opposed to having an entity with its own textures, that you move over the ground with its own texture. Everything is connected, which greatly complicates things. The snap map is a lazy solution, they spent a lot of time and money on the system and I bet they don’t want to give the public enough information to be able to mod the thing. It would be unrealistic to expect an average modder to create original content for the game with the way its structured- but they aren’t even letting people try, there are some really talented modders who very well might have been able to work with it. Their engine has a cool concept- and it does make for cool environments but it comes at a pretty great cost. They have been working on it since Rage and they might be able to find a solution to make it accessible but the outlook isn’t great.
@@MichaelSaba They said in a recent-ish interview that they want to incorporate modding but they can't promise it for Eternal, maybe for what is coming after. It has to do with how the engine handles data. It all goes back to Id Tech 5, an engine spearheaded by Carmack and in development before they were bought by Bethesda.
I'm really sorry but you lost me at your hollow assumptions regarding Eternal. It actually ended up quite different, but I'm not gonna explain it all here. The most important thing is that yes, you are right about how AAA games align with Adorno's vision of disposable art, but, quite ironically, you're completely ignoring the actual people who made the game. Look up some Hugo Martin commentary for example, and you'll see how passionate he is about the franchise and his job. Again, I agree with the general point, but Eternal is actually the rare exception and thus a bad example.
You can agree with someone and still not like them. Jim's generally on point with games but I seldom agree with his other opinions and I think he's a nasty, weak person.
Sure, definitely, but it’s not just agreeing. Everything that comes after the Jimquisition photo in this video sounds identical to a Jimquisition episode. It’s also kind of weird to single out Sterling as an angry ranty gamer, of all people, when Sterling’s whole thing has become critiquing capitalism through the lens of the video game industry. Which is what this video is doing.
@@iy42 Personally I think you're being a bit too generous with him. I've seen him whinge about games lacking production values before (and not just the horrendous steam trash) which doesn't really sit well with an anti-capitalist stance. I know this point can be contested to some extent but it tends primarily to be money that puts the polish on games. I really don't think he has a consistent belief system, as far as I can see his see his politics are a transparent attempt to give the impression of substance and the guy underneath is just another angry gamer. When he's not in politically correct mode (Cuphead is racist etc.) I generally agree with his views but he's a lightweight on everything besides gaming. That said, if you'd like to point me to something that will chance my mind I'll check it out.
(Sorry for the long response but I wanted to at least try to answer thoroughly and thoughtfully.) So, first off, my initial point wasn’t about the quality of Sterling or Saba’s content, or about agreeing or disagreeing with their critique and analysis; it was just that it threw me that Saba appears to dig Sterling before making Sterling’s exact argument point by point. I’m still not sure how to read that. It seems unlikely that Saba is unaware that he is repeating Sterling here, so is this a subtle preemptive nod of sorts? Which also seems weird since generally when you’re adding to a conversation it’s polite and respectful to acknowledge those who’ve done the heavy lifting before you and directly credit them. Is the criticism implied by “I’m not going to belabor the point” that Sterling talks about this too much? Because if the criticism is legitimate but overdone then why is Saba making a video about it in the first place? Maybe you have a clearer take on it, which I’d love to hear, but I just found it confusing and kind of rude. What I was hoping for after Sterling’s image popped up was that Saba would further develop the argument, but after having rewatched that portion I can’t say I think he did. He brings up two case studies that Sterling has specifically been very vocal about and then, if anything, presents an abridged summation of an argument Sterling makes repeatedly: people make games, not companies. He also follows up the Sterling photo with a jab at anti-microtransaction arguments, which also bugged me, since the implication here appears to be that consumers don’t like them out of stinginess, as opposed to consumers don’t like being asked to pay for arbitrarily-locked off content after a $60 purchase. Which seems fair. Both of these attacks at other gaming TH-camrs just seem odd to me. When I think of irrationally angry gamer TH-cam, I think of people who make 500 videos attacking Anita Sarkeesian every time she opens her mouth, or people complaining that SJW’s have ruined games by forcing representation of queer and women characters into them, not people arguing against bad business practices in the industry - which is what Saba is doing (while attacking?) Re: Sterling, I by no means watch and listen to everything he puts out so I’m not in a position to be definitive about his positions, but I do mostly keep up with the Jimquisition so I can do my best to give my opinion there. I feel he’s been incredibly consistent and adamant about framing perceived issues in the AAA industry as part of the larger, systemic effects of capitalism. (This stands in contrast to the CAD/PA gamer ranter crowd who seem to believe that EA execs are evildoers who hate art, and aren’t looking at or comprehending the bigger picture.) He’s detailed about the issues and specifically calls out bad labor practices such as “crunch,” (which is referenced in this video), hiring and firing developers based on short-term needs, and preventing unionization. I’m not sure what talking about quality of content has to do with capitalism, as you suggest. Sterling seems pretty consistent that good games are made by passionate developers, regardless of budget or resources. That’s why his Best of the Year lists feature both indie games like Undertale and AAA games like God of War. I find that approach more nuanced than this video’s; it shouldn’t matter whether a game is indie or triple AAA, and to write off the latter because of disagreements with their companies is to write off the developers who choose to seek stable employment within the industry. That’s not labor friendly, it’s just stubborn ideology. Part of anti-capitalist critique is that while there is no moral consumerism within the system, we all have to live in it and we can’t go around punishing people for needing work. That being said, Sterling’s content isn’t for everyone, as he plays a purposefully grating, egotistic caricature of himself. That’s fine with me but I can understand preferring Saba’s smoother, more aesthetically pleasing style. It’s also not that Sterling is the first or only person to make these arguments and that he owns them-obviously anyone can and should make these critiques-but it’s off-putting that Saba decided to put Sterling down while making Sterling’s basic argument, without even advancing or reframing it. Re: Cuphead and racism, I don’t remember and can’t find Sterling making that argument. Are you referring to something specific or was that an arbitrary example? As far as specific Sterling content, I think the episode “Look After Your Workers” is a pretty good example of previous times Sterling made the specific arguments found in this video.
Just as an aside, I touch on this in the comment but I think it’s worth responding to specifically: the idea that money = polish is simplistic and highly questionable. Celeste is more published than Fallout 76 or Anthem, I think it’s fair to say. Most indie games I’ve played have felt less buggy than you’re average recent triple AAA release and I think you can chalk that up to smarter use of resources vs more use of resources. This holds true in all mediums, I can think of plenty of low-budget indie films (Pulp Fiction comes to mind) that make big-budget studio pictures look amateur.
Way too over-romanticized. id Software wasn't some scrappy indie group when they made Doom. They had made huge success with Wolfenstein 3D. And Doom sure as hell wasn't some deeply strategic survival horror game.
How about I play the game anyway because it looks great, sounds great and if it's ANYTHING like DOOM 2016 it is worth the time. The Devs put loads of work into it and if you want to talk about the people who work on it then why not show the people who work on it that you care by actually playing the game they made. I don't disagree with what you are saying, I am showing another point of view.
Well he did show the people responsible for his favorite parts of the game and said their human touches is what made the game great and also said that often the corporate culture often attempts to push down and obscure the very individuals that make it profitable
Driving Off The Map's MGS2 analysis and Masters of Doom are my two favorite pieces of videogame writing. Really good sources of inspiration you picked there.
@@MichaelSaba Same here. It was a moment of realizing games could do all of these things and that this level of thought could go into their creation. I'd previously enjoyed the game, but had never approached it like that. Reading that work made it click, and got me to be a lot more conscious towards how games are structured since.
Ow boy. I disagree with just about every point you made concerning Doom 2016, The original Dooms and Eternal. I agree with your points on how productivity soars but wages stagger and how Indie games are where it's at right now, but your points on the games themselves sound like you really want 2016 and Eternal to be "bad" in your very normie sounding opinion. Where to start: For the originals, yes they are important historical games and very much water shed moments, but they were never perfect. They are very primitive. That's part of their charm, but it's also why a team of 12 could make them. As games have gotten more complex, bigger teams are needed. Carmack learned that the hard way when making Doom 3 and Rage. It really does feel like you're romanticizing these games a bit too much. Romero had great levels, but only in Doom 1, and it was only in Episode 1. A lot of the Sandy maps are trash, like the Chasm, or Slough of despair. It's just as flawed as any modern game is. Part of loving those originals is also admitting when they fucked up. Now, about 2016. Earlier you said "The original Doom is about strategy..." Implying there is no strategy to be found in 2016. I have no clue how you played that game but that is a bitch tier argument. Anyone who has sat down to play it on anything higher then Hurt me plenty can confirm this. You have to constantly mind your surroundings, as mobility is actually a factor in a proper 3D doom game, you have to pick priority targets and consider the best weapon for the job. Weapon switching is so important in 2016, while in the originals it's not even a factor(mostly due to the slow weapon switching itself). In comparison to the old Doom games, 2016 is light years ahead in terms of gameplay . It almost feels like you never even sat down to play 2016, and just looked at gameplay footage. Now, about Eternal, ow boy. I'm using the magical powers of hindsight since I'm writing this way after Eternal came out. This video you made is from before the game came out. This video has aged like milk. Eternal was divisive in the community yes, but it was divisive for all the right reasons. It took risks and did things most people didn't expect. You frame it as if it's just "another cookie cutter Doom game". Eternal was anything but. The strategy is now pumped to 11. The game feels like a sequel to Plutonia in how it fucks you(a positive in my mind). It truly was the chess of FPS games. This is where I disagree with the hole "AAA games have no soul at all due to being worked on by a lot of people bought by a big company" Eternal felt like Doom fans were given a shit ton of money and were told "do what you want". I feel the love when I play that game, cause they wanted to engage you. Hugo really wanted that to be a point in the game, and he and the team succeeded. People still complained about the platforming and the Marauder, much like I complain about shitty maps in the originals and shitty monster closets, but that's not proof of there being "no soul" or whatever. This brings me to the thing that grinds me the most. The whole argument that we "don't remember" or "give credit" to important games. Listen here son, the only people that remember games like the original Doom, are people who were around at that time, or weirdos like me who love Boomer shooters. That's it. Most kids today don't know what those original games are. The only people who care, are the people who love games like that, and not some general large audience. Plenty of people will remember Doom, but it won't be as many as the people playing League of Legends. And there were never even THAT many people into such games back in 1993. Yes some Collage servers were crashed, cause those could only take about 50 people before they shut down. That's nothing compared to the numbers we're dealing with today for something being "important" or "popular". And the whole "people only remember the Doom 2016/Eternal soundtrack"? Bullshit, total bullshit. Those of us who love Shooters(Boomer shooters in particular) know of the Doom reboots in detail, from front to back. The only people who remember just the soundrack, are the passersbys who played 2016 for like 3 hours and then went back to Dota or League. It almost sounds like you wanted 2016 and Eternal to live up to your nostalgia for the original. Well, that didn't happen, and it doesn't happen. For my money, 2016 and Eternal stand as some of the best shooters and games we ever got. Eternal is up there with Half-Life and Serious sam as some of my fav experiences. Clearly you didn't feel the same. That's fine, but to claim these games are shallow and souless is a different matter. The only other thing I agree with, is the modding issue. Yes it would be cool if Eternal or 2016 had mod support, but I also don't EXPECT it. I'm not owed mod support. I paid for an excellent single player experience and that's what I got. The good mods are few and far between as well, let's not romanticize the past.
Cool vid. Glad to find you I was looking for a lefty game channel. What i dont get is using God Of War as a bad example. Its passion project of Corey Barlog co written w his dad (speaking of the workers behind the games), with no microtranactions, dlc shenanigans and a completely new direction for the series. This game shouldnt have been made in the current aaa climate...im glad it was it was my game of the year.
Justin Walker Lefty game channels are a rare breed these days, what with most gamers being either pro gamergate or staunch Conservatives, that refuse to budge on their views.
While Michael’s prediction about Doom Eternal was wrong, I do think that his main point, that AAA games are becoming more and more like disposable corporate products, is right. Just wanted to give my two cents.
At 1:36 when I was expecting him to blast the barrels, I was disappointed like those gifs showing something incomplete, DVD video just not hitting the screen corner, things not being properly aligned, etc, etc. Now I am gonna run Doom with that level, just to blast those damn barrels once and see everyone splattered.
I watched 3 of your videos back to back today. I know you haven't posted in a while, but I want you to know your videos are very well written. Hope you're well.
My WWII vet grandfather sent me Doom in the mail when I was 13. Just showed up randomly. Grandpa Lee got it. Also- real shit: Zio in the game Phantasy Star IV was based on Trent Reznor.
1: I agree. 2: Subbed. 3: This! I found it interesting that this video discusses MGS 2 as I feel the split between Hideo Kojima and Konami is the last glimmer of hope for the games industry. This isn't to say that indie developers don't provide quality entertainment (I am a huge fan of itch.io), but I feel that if Hideo Kojima can craft Death Stranding into a commercial and critical success, it would be a massive victory for the people. Here's to hoping that Kojima can turn the industry on its head!
Kojima then get picked up by another Giant corporation and waste all his time doing cryptic shit and hang out with hollywood celebs instead of giving us actual information about his new "game". What a joke for dissing corporate culture for what they do to Kojima, a millionair corporate boi through and through.
I guess you were half right? Ubi, Acti, Blizz, EA and their ilk continue to show that disposable entertainment can be sucessful even if it's garbage On the other hand Capcom and Fromsoftware show the success, truly lasting success, you can find when you put care and effort into your product Even though Bethesda has lost their way Skyrim, Morrowind, Oblivion and New Vegas (Obsidian, but still Beth published) show the clear preference that audiences have towards games built to last for literal decades as opposed to the slop produced to sate us for a couple of days And Doom Eternal was, and to this day remains, the absolute best single player FPS game in the market
Great to see you coming back, and great video yet again, i'd love if you were to dig a bit more on the labor issues that gaming has, cause there have been a lot of those lately.
This is definitely something I think about a lot, it may be worth the full-length video essay treatment down the road. I'm reminded of how in the 1990s, Japanese game companies made their developers use pseudonyms, effectively making them invisible. It's not so different from how things are these days, with the people who make games being largely invisible to us.
In Doom eternal, They added a grapple hook, melee weaponry, new demons, air dashing, they're evolving the story, new guns gorgeous world design. Also Doom 2016 barely made it through production due to changes in the team. The people behind 2016 are passionate about their project you just had nothing better to do than hate on a passion project
Not to mention his neckbeardy attitude towards the people at QuakeCon. "Hurr durr look at those sheeple getting excited at a new Doom game, how enlightened I am!"
I wish I could adequately convey how much I ducking loved this video!!! I always wish I had more to add to a discussion but I’m terrible at getting my words to match my thoughts. So I’ll just say amazing job! Loved all your points and I am totally picking up what you are putting down.
I agree but Bioshock is my counter to your video. I also grew with DOOM,Duke3d, Blood etc but there are AAA games that are made with care and you as a gamer can feel that.Now I have to be honest I don't play AAAs nowadays because I found my fortress in indie games so I can't add more examples of AAAs that have that human touch. Ken Levine added this human touch to System Shock 2 and the nusproduct Bioshock. Bioshock Infinite is debatable. I am glad I found your channel, Ragnar shared your video. I am looking forward to your future videos .
I'd argue the same is true in a lot of industries, just because we care about the thing we see, which is the end product. I really like what the corridor crew does, where they've turned their studio team into essentially characters in a weekly bts of whats going on. Its really easy to care about a single crew member leaving the team because we've seen them love working on the stuff we loved watching.
This video is so scatter brained I couldnt possibly comment in any constructive way. Good job not mentioning DUSK. You clearly glossed over it like the rest of the gaming community.
Like the video but a little harsh on god of war, think you can see there is love in that game and while not a small personal team of developers you can still see from interviews and videos Corey Balrog put out after launch that game really meant something and has its own achievements like the camera perspective
The *Dreaming in Neon* 【ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ】 becomes sexier with each video! Also, I'm really glad you brought up the huge half-assed disappointment that the Snapmap editor was. Before Doom came out, I was really excited for it because it seemed like it wanted to embrace the spirit of user-generated content that the original games helped to popularize to such an extend. But the game's multiplayer turned out to be such an unfulfilling afterthought, outsourced to an external developer and the editor was so restrictive and tightly shut that it felt like air farting out of a balloon when I finally tried it. As you said, it's almost a joke that this is the best that Bethesda, a company whose games only unleashed their full potential through crowd content, could deliver - or rather wanted to deliver.
There's a huge problem with the engine when it come to modding. The MEGATEXTURE™ technology require a server farm everytime they need to compile anything. It is hell for us with our commercial hardware. There isnt much mods for Rage despite the official mod tools for the same reason. The have no choice but to dumb down the editor. Consoles play a part in this, but the biggest hurdle is still the technology. Also Dishonored, Wolfenstein, Evil within... dont have official mod support at the first place since they transferred to Bethesda. Especially now that they also use megatexture from idtech 5/6. TES and Fallout are their only franchise with extensive community involvement.
Man, your jab at Sterling was so out of place... Also, in certain places, transport fare prices are totally incompatible with the subsidies companies already receive from the government, so...
Next month it will be 20 year anniversary for a gem called Jagged Alliance 2, a game i never stop playing, and always play badly, and on easy, while using cheats, it's so fun, it's a game of thousands replays.
I think the amount of mods for the original Doom and all of the indie games inspired by it's style is a testament to how the spirit of the original Doom games manages to live on in our modern capitilist dystopia.
Time to start seeking out and highlighting great development teams with your amazing journalistic framing. I'd start with motion twin and there philosophy on team management and game development. Just a thought. Love yuh, keep up the good work.
I absolutely loved the level design in the original Doom. I was a bit disappointed with that Doom 2016 was basically a corridor shooter, granted with much better gameplay than most.
@@jordanwright2313 in terms of level design, yeah. There were some interesting parts like the factory however, I don't think it comes at all close to the original doom. Or hell, it doesn't even come close to Titanfall 2's level design.
This was lovely! Though I knew quite little about Doom you really kept me with the topic! You always leave me walking away thinking, and I think that's really something great!
Oh my god, made me so nostalgic for the '90s. I used to crank Further Down the Spiral on my gigantic CD boombox and play doom ALL NIGHT LONG with my buddies via Serial cables, Co-Op all the way through the game then some deathmatch to wrap things up, chugging 2 liters of Mountain Dew until the sun came up lol. Those were the days!
A fellow resident of what world springs forth from the seeds of Nine Inch Nails' influence. I too rode The Downward Spiral through the introduction of my story.
I play more and more indie / small games these days. Oldschool shooters are still alive with Dusk, Iron maiden etc. And soon we will see the release of John Romero's 5th official Doom Episode.
Fantastic video! I think it's a common shift, at least among the PC gaming scene, to increasingly turn towards independent works or those created by small teams, and the sort of cold, impersonal feeling of many AAA titles isn't going unnoticed either. As someone that got into games rather late and almost entirely missed the 'AA' segment of the market it's hard not to think of the divide between major and indie releases as being a real problem - like it's games as art until it can become art as commodity, without much room in-between. Perhaps I'm romanticizing a segment of the industry that never embodied what I feel is missing in it today, but there's still a distinct feeling that something *is* missing. Games are absolutely capable of being art, but after a team gets to a certain size it's almost impossible to avoid the 'designed by committee' feeling a lot of AAA releases invoke. On another topic I'm super keen for the coming Kill La Kill video after recently finishing up my own (even if it'll put mine to shame haha), all your work thus far has been excellent, and gosh it feels like you're speaking directly to my esoteric tastes when you go from talking about Daria to Video Games and how soulless the Major titles have felt recently to Kill La Kill. Anyway, Keep on keeping on, I love your work.
I have switched from AAA games to indie games for this reason, I just can't have fun in a AAA game anymore, just feels wrong playing them now prolonging the same cycle of corporate garbage I have been having a blast with indie games now, so much to explore without feeling overwhelmed
I feel like the vast majority of gamers, even supporters of AAA companies, would say that the future of gaming lies in the indie sector. A lot of truly great games have gotten started there, and are on the top 10 list for many people
yap. rimworld, ori and the blind forest and the will of the wisps, hollow knight, terraria, hotline miami 1 & 2, the bingind of isaac and even freaking rocket league. Divinity original sins if you can call Larian an indie studio anymore. These are all the indie titles i freaking adore. From AAA games there is the witcher 3, Nier automata and Borderlands 2 which are perhaps the best of the best. Most of the most interesting and original games definitely come from indie studioes.
Another great video man, I can’t say I grew up with Doom as I was born after it’s release, however I seem to echo a lot of the same sentiments that you said in this video. Part with your commentary regarding blockbuster releases and indie game releases echoed my sentiments completely, even as a younger person I seem to enjoy and find more personality a passion in indie games. Good to see another great video by you, can’t wait for the next vid, and keep up the great work.
"Maybe the fanbased as stopped caring about the people that create the game" This is a very interesting idea I had never considered and yet seem so obvious...
The "fan base" is actually tiny compared to the "audience" aka people who buy the game just for recreational purposes and post a meme or two. We dont give a damn about people far from our relatives/friends/collegues/communities unless it affect us, has always been this way. Sometimes we do because of media, rumours, hearsay, religion... or we are forced to care about them by outside parties.
Bruno Deschatelets maybe I'm a asshole but, if a games good and has qualitys I want to support. I'll buy it, even if it's made off of John Remaros rotting corpse. Regardless of who's making it.
I realize these are over ten years old, but it seems much ado has been made about Cliffy B.'s and Ken Levine's contributions to Gears of War and Bioshock respectively. Granted that doesn't entirely undercut the fact that there were no doubt a ton of nameless faces behind the scenes.
Oh nice, you've read Masters of Doom as well. Very fun book based on Games Industry. An interesting thing about John Romero in that is just how much eager he was to grow big, it was a major bugging point for the rest of the team. He carried that attitude to Ion Storm when he started developing Daikatana. I believe when that game flopped, there must have been some change in him, given just how super nice he is now. And Daikatana was the big budget game hyped around the time, because of Romero's name and people were clambering for. And despite that, the game flopped. Games are a collective effort, scrappy indie and blockbusters and all, and while associating the whole game to one or two people makes them easier to talk about, it can be very inaccurate to make all of that the entire point of the conversation. In that sense, pinning all good stuff of DOOM 2016 to one creative director feels disingenuous. DOOM 2016 was made great because of attention to things like punchy animations and sound effects, decals, smooth performing engine to carry it all, and a lot of artists, technicians, engineers and sound designers made them possible. Also, on the note of MGS2, all the detailed political commentary was the result of the excellent translator on the project Agnus Kaku adding to the script, and that all the stuff about was absent from the Japanese version, which felt more like a generic military shlock.
Old Id Software is the best what could possibly happened to the gaming industry. They were real progressors of the video games in general. I think that the relentless enthusiasm, absolute care about what you do, and what most importantly the talent are the thing that modern industry misses alot. Money became not the engine of progress, but a stone that is tied to the feet of the drowning sphere of video games. The biggest experience so far that i gained in last recent years was DUSK. New Blood Interactive really showed what can do old but very carefully executed concept if you put enough love and care in it. And that's why they became instantly one of my the most favorite game devs last year. If AAA companies will not change their attitude to the what they do is not ONLY about money but the for the people who want to be entertained, the industry will crash spectacularly.
*Realizing that I make the same compliments every time I watch a good video while I desperately try to think of some new, creative, introspective way to approach complimenting your video*... great analysis.
Just started watching bout two weeks ago and was worried the channel,or you, died. Can’t wait for the content coming. I work anywhere from 48-65 hours a week so I understand the struggle and couldn’t imagine the pressure of routine uploads with that work load. Just keep doing you man.
The reason why Game wages is soo low is pretty much everyone is willing to work for a games company because it is cool. If you work doing boring business apps like myself you end up earning near 6 figures and you work 9-5 or if you really lucky you get to work from home. Also compound this with triple A games costing huge amount of money to produce and developers from poorer countries will often work longer for less pay what do you expect to happen.
I still play Doom II, master levels and Final Doom like once per year or two years. In UV, full campaign through. It is very easy to hop in (no long loading times), and it gives some satisfaction or dopamine hits to my brain while shooting enemies with super shotgun. First time I played when I was like 6-7 years old (ultimate doom), but about 14-18 when I played doom II and final doom, and 18-21 Doom 3. I don't know if there is something else behind it...
Okay, theres a lot here. But just about the modding thing. Anyone Can learn piano and make original music but that wont make the music that inspired them to do so any worse nor better. Both approaches are beneficial. Love your vidéo.
They already did the horror aspect of old doom. It failed. Things change depending on what aspect the majority liked. Also saying that doom is akin to survival horror is... Disagreeable, it had ton of ammo lying around and implying tht the new doom requires less to no strategy is just plain wrong, in fact ammo is more scarce if it werent for the glory kill mechanic. Also saying that te people who made the new doom, arent people that cares about their works and just market shills is just wrong. They were passionate, very passionate, if they were what you described them then we wouldve have had Call of Duty Doom due to what popular today. In my opinion, Doom 2016 was a middle finger to repititive military based shooters.
This is a bad video, dude. I like your general thesis, but you pretty aggressively attacked it from one angle. You can't seriously say that all of the million-plus-copies-sold games these days are AAA cash grabs in a world where indie games are getting more attention than ever. Individual creators are getting more attention than they ever were, and crowdfunding has made it increasingly clear that people are willing to financially and socially support the people who made the games they like. Even more than that, you seemed to kind of casually address the fact that new Doom is good at the beginning of your video and then make fun of people who liked it for the rest - one of the most viewed videos when you look the game up on TH-cam is a documentary produced by Noclip that is interviewing its creators and talking about the people who made it. Plenty of games have died on the vine when it was discovered that the original developers weren't part of it - looking at you, Story of Seasons - and directors joining or leaving is major news. Am I missing something? It seems like you came up with the (valid) statement "it'd be nice if we focused more on the people who created the game instead of the brand name" and built a video around it. (Also, it was weird that you acted like the first response to 2016's Doom wasn't one of complete distrust and only after the game kicked ass did it become a brand we were excited for again, but the video could only be so long.)
SageWaterDragon Gta v single player was developed by 10,000 employees I think and had like invested 100,000 dollars to it, and it’s one of the greatest open world game ever. Also the Doom snap map is batter then nothing, it’s kinda hard to fully mod the id tec 6 engine, it’s really packed.
I'm among the minority I try to take something away from everything I consume.l whether that be games, movies, tv, or books. I have played tons and tons of games and own just as many but I remember every single game that I buy, play, or beat because I don't devote time or effort towards games or media I don't enjoy. Great video btw.
now think of all the employees who had to stare at hell flesh for daayyss at a time . probably get nightmares every time one of their spouses slices a tomato.
This was a great video and really hits an interesting point on seeing humanity in the media we consume. Turns out that is hugely important (who could have known eh?). BTW did you know a bunch of dudes made their own version of Quake Champions in the fan updated doom engine and it's really damn great, probably more relatable than Bethesda's big fancy version. Seriously checkout QCDE it's splendid. Also Ion Maiden is super good and made by a cool team that deserves support too.
At 11:00 it sounds like id was living poorly when they came up with Doom, but they already had sportscars and the office space in the Suite 666. Wolfenstein had sold very well. :P
Very well said! I'm glad I subbed :D We all vote with out dollar and we must ask ourselves, what are we voting for the most and are we happy with what it's gotten us?
Honestly this video aged poorly. Eternal is a very good game, one of the best in the genre I might say and it blended strategy elements and resources management in a way that literally made Doom 2016, another very competent game, unplayable. Guess this is what happens when you speak about a game without actuallty playing it, you open yourself to this kind of mistakes, you shouldn't do it next time and Eternal was anything but a watered down copy of 2016. With that said, I do agree with you conclusion, although I'm way less radical than you on it. The AAA scene is fucked up, we all know that but you can still see magic there, you can still experience unimaginable things with those games and that has been the case for every console generation ever. That's literally why people keep buyinh story driven AAA games. I do agree the indie scene is going way stronger right now and the experiments they do is what is driving forward the industry, but I disagree with your whole notion that having a big team with big money somehow makes a how shittier in comparison, there's simply no basis or that argument. A shitty game is a shitty game whether its indie made or it had 193028330823823$ dollars behind it. On the modding scene you are on point, I still play FNV from time to time and I have around 700 hours with that game just because of the modding potential that game has. I agree with you on all that point.
Hey man, very interesting video I never grew up with the original Doom or its level editor based on what I've seen in videos is that you kind of impressive some of the stuff people can do. I don't personally agree with your opinion on AAA games because there are some games that I played that are pretty mainstream such as God of War that's actually a pretty good game. By the way, I got a question if a indie company gets big do you just stop liking them look for another one? A company's got to go big eventually.
Honestly this is one of the big things that i gravitate more towards smaller dev team/indie darling titles like WRATH: Aeon of ruin/prodeus or HROT for, once the game is properly released and the mapmaker tools are out there in the wild these games will still exist for decades of FPS heads to create new things with but both Nudoom games will be lucky to even still be playable in 10 years time with how ultimately throwaway they are as products to the big brand name giant that is bethesda
Good video, though I do think Doom Eternal plays much differently and turned out better than you predicted it would. Much better than I would say the Diablo franchise did. I would love to see you talk about FromSoft and the souls-like genre, including some of the interesting thoughts there about futility and letting go. And the wake of indie games developed around it, like Dead Cells and Salt and Sanctuary. Have a great day.
Ah, ya put the instrumental list at the end, thanks! So many youtubers don't do this so I really appreciate it! LOVE by Kendrick Lamar if anyone else is wondering
Your description of the AAA industry rings a lot like the concept of Culture Industry by Adorno and Horkheimer. It was pretty much inevitable for this to happen with gaming since every other kind of entertainment media was already undergoing an immense process of standardization. I don't think it's the fault of anyone in particular, there are no evil executives @Bethesda planning to be assholes to whoever is creating spontaneous content in the form of mods (they might be evil actually, but probably don't think that negatively of modders anyway). This is rather much more likely a by-product of the way we lead our daily lives; we like to think that our life standards have improved more than any previous generation but the same things which empower us also have us hooked to our jobs/studies basically 24/7, if only by at least making us anxious about them. Because our collective life is so focused in the purpose of labor, even our entertainment/leisure and personal life has to look like labor to be digestible, hence standardized and just enough predictable. It heavily hints to this that, like you said, we as players don't really care about the people behind games, just as much as the studios also don't, and we are acutely favorable to something that looks like things we already know beforehand, not merely because of familiarity, which would be ok, but because we're already too tired to meet the new and potentially conflicting. At least, and ironically, the artistic prowess is still what shines through and stands the test of time (the soundtrack by Mick is definitely the only thing I remember vividly from Doom 2016, to echo your example).
I'm just glad Saba doesn't have a burning hatred of jazz.
Zarabug yeah. glad to see another Lindsay Ellis fan.
Everything you're saying applies mainly to american culture. As a south american I hate working and I'll find some way to leech off the state until the day I die.
I've stopped reading at Adorno and Horkheimer.
Tro Ivas That's definitely not true. Most game developers went to college.
The whole premise of this video is wrong. It's based on the idea that id Software is some soulless corporate product machine, which couldn't be further from the truth.
2016 & Eternal have so much love & artistry put into them by what is, by current industry standards, still a small team of risk takers.
a small team of risk takers backed by millions of dollars and 2 media behemoths
@@lindmorn5909The comment is, in fact, based on the substantial qualities of Doom: Eternal, not capitalism. Try harder the next time, without excusing yourself with verbiage about capitalism.
Did you end up playing eternal? I think it is crafted with as much love and care as the original doom games.
@Lind Morn That's not true. Before Redfall's disaster, Bethesda also released Hi Fi Rush which is one of the best games of this year.
Ok oddly enough this actually aged kinda poorly
Doom Eternal ended up being an artistically driven game in game design and actually changed up the formula from Doom 2016, yay
I was going to comment exactly that, the assumption that 'not much has changed' from 2016 couldn't be further from the truth, especially if you remember how much Eternal shook up the gameplay and the outrage it initially caused. But I guess that's what you get when you make a video on a game a year before it comes out :)
I don't think he was saying "Doom Eternal is gonna be a stinky poo poo game!" more of that Doom has become a commercial product that lacks the punk rock diy fan driven legacy Doom 1&2, Doom Eternal is a very good game but he was not wrong about that, especially with how callously Bethesda discarded Mick Gordon
@@jonnysac77 yeah but with the full context revealed it’s not fuck you Mick your out. It’s Mick I know you’re a perfectionist but we’ve delayed twice and need the products you were tasked to make. And then they amicable parted
@@jonnysac77 eh. It felt to me like he was trying to say eternal was going to be more of the same in reference to doom 2016. Which wasn't the case at all.
I agree with the videos overall point though. Video game labor needs to be treated better. I just thought these small points where way off base
I do agree that companies are companies, but not all companies ruin their games, and id is still a company, just owned by a company, so its mostly in thier hands what they do, i agree with some of his points but not all of them
The prediction about Eternal aged like milk.
v e r y
V e r y
doom eternal sucks. Cope
but muh marx
@@ThisIsYourGodNow filtered
People are and were excited for Doom 2016/Eternal because they are the return to form we've been looking for the in the AAA space for a long time. No one is really bent out of shape about the fact the Bethesda bought ID software. Especially not if the end result is a competent, fun, and at least somewhat faithful re-envisioning of the classic doom games. I don't have any doubt in my mind that those same 10 crazy, pizza-devouring mad men would've done it any other way. I know its easy to hate on big companies, especially ones who have the track record that Bethesda had and still for the most part have, But regardless of money or size or labor, they put ID on the path to these games and gave us a little piece of what we had way back when. Gotta commend them for that at least. Good video though.
no, its more cause we can support something that is hyper capitalist and shits on the leftist stranglehold on trip a games as of late.
@@ripvanwinkle6449 hyper capitalist ? It's a game about killing demons
@@itsgeegra no. it's a game about going to mars to harvest hell for energy as a corporation, and in-game dialogue satirizes the liberal ideologies of the characters in-game.
@@ripvanwinkle6449 that sounds a lot like a critique of capitalism LOL
@@itsgeegra yeah bro. like i said literal 3 years ago, it's hyper capitalism. Don't you have homework to do? it's a school night.
You briefly mentioned Arkane, but I feel like the Dishonored and Prey games were some of the rare AAA games that earnestly had their creators' fingerprints on them (namely Harvey Smith)
When talking about Arkane don't forget Raphaël Colantonio. Prey was all Raphaël, while Dishonored 2 was all Harvey. Dishonored 1 was them both. Earlier Arkane games, i.e. Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah, was all Raphaël as well.
And while you definitely can feel their fingerprints in Arkane games there is no doubt that from Dishonored 1 and onwards there is a pretty thick veil of watered down crap over it. Even Dishonored 1, great as it is, has a bottled and branded feel to it compared to earlier Arkane games.
@@GepardenK Yeah, good point. That song Colantonio wrote for the Prey soundtrack is something I can't believe happened in 2017 and not like 1994. It's great
Prey was fucking sexy
Love that game
Arcane are the immersive sim people in AAA. All others are dead or moved on to more "mainstream" stuff
Man, I could listen to you talk about doom all day, haha ... Look forward to future uploads! :D
This guy
I feel like you should've explored the labor part of this video in more depth.
maybe hell looking into this with CyberPunk?
In a nice turn of events Hugo, Marty and company bring us game that reinvents the fps genre with Doom Eternal, living up to the name of a series of 90s games that invented the genre. Eternal is now widely considered the best fps of all time and it's much deserved. I hope you had your expectations exceeded considering your suspensions with the game because of its name
@Lind Morn Well, if we don't have Elden, Zelda ToTk, SMTV, Hitman3, Psychonauts 2, MH Rise, Ragnarock, or 3d kirby, like good games.
Leaving those aside, in general the AAA has been stuck ugly since the beginning of the eighth generation (not to say the beginning of the last decade) only that each time more broken year after year (and this 2023 is the maximum exponent of the moment that that) although I would also say that the indies were standardized a lot, since the less standardized ones are games that you would not play unless you wanted oil to be put in your back (games that you would not play even drunk because of how boring or annoying they are, generally).
As to the limitations of Snapmap, the engine they use uses a unique texture/rendering system. It creates 1 massive texture that is laid out over the geometry and is streamed in when you’re looking at an area, it means that there can be more bespoke detail in the world (you could have zero repeated textures if you wanted) but it massively hinders versatility. In order to change something you need to retexture everything as opposed to having an entity with its own textures, that you move over the ground with its own texture. Everything is connected, which greatly complicates things. The snap map is a lazy solution, they spent a lot of time and money on the system and I bet they don’t want to give the public enough information to be able to mod the thing. It would be unrealistic to expect an average modder to create original content for the game with the way its structured- but they aren’t even letting people try, there are some really talented modders who very well might have been able to work with it. Their engine has a cool concept- and it does make for cool environments but it comes at a pretty great cost. They have been working on it since Rage and they might be able to find a solution to make it accessible but the outlook isn’t great.
That's a great bit of technical background info that I didn't know about, thank you for sharing.
@@MichaelSaba They said in a recent-ish interview that they want to incorporate modding but they can't promise it for Eternal, maybe for what is coming after. It has to do with how the engine handles data. It all goes back to Id Tech 5, an engine spearheaded by Carmack and in development before they were bought by Bethesda.
I'm really sorry but you lost me at your hollow assumptions regarding Eternal.
It actually ended up quite different, but I'm not gonna explain it all here.
The most important thing is that yes, you are right about how AAA games align with Adorno's vision of disposable art, but, quite ironically, you're completely ignoring the actual people who made the game.
Look up some Hugo Martin commentary for example, and you'll see how passionate he is about the franchise and his job.
Again, I agree with the general point, but Eternal is actually the rare exception and thus a bad example.
Kinda weird to diss Jim Sterling then go onto just repeat what he’s been saying for years.
You can agree with someone and still not like them. Jim's generally on point with games but I seldom agree with his other opinions and I think he's a nasty, weak person.
Sure, definitely, but it’s not just agreeing. Everything that comes after the Jimquisition photo in this video sounds identical to a Jimquisition episode. It’s also kind of weird to single out Sterling as an angry ranty gamer, of all people, when Sterling’s whole thing has become critiquing capitalism through the lens of the video game industry. Which is what this video is doing.
@@iy42 Personally I think you're being a bit too generous with him. I've seen him whinge about games lacking production values before (and not just the horrendous steam trash) which doesn't really sit well with an anti-capitalist stance. I know this point can be contested to some extent but it tends primarily to be money that puts the polish on games.
I really don't think he has a consistent belief system, as far as I can see his see his politics are a transparent attempt to give the impression of substance and the guy underneath is just another angry gamer. When he's not in politically correct mode (Cuphead is racist etc.) I generally agree with his views but he's a lightweight on everything besides gaming.
That said, if you'd like to point me to something that will chance my mind I'll check it out.
(Sorry for the long response but I wanted to at least try to answer thoroughly and thoughtfully.)
So, first off, my initial point wasn’t about the quality of Sterling or Saba’s content, or about agreeing or disagreeing with their critique and analysis; it was just that it threw me that Saba appears to dig Sterling before making Sterling’s exact argument point by point. I’m still not sure how to read that. It seems unlikely that Saba is unaware that he is repeating Sterling here, so is this a subtle preemptive nod of sorts? Which also seems weird since generally when you’re adding to a conversation it’s polite and respectful to acknowledge those who’ve done the heavy lifting before you and directly credit them. Is the criticism implied by “I’m not going to belabor the point” that Sterling talks about this too much? Because if the criticism is legitimate but overdone then why is Saba making a video about it in the first place? Maybe you have a clearer take on it, which I’d love to hear, but I just found it confusing and kind of rude.
What I was hoping for after Sterling’s image popped up was that Saba would further develop the argument, but after having rewatched that portion I can’t say I think he did. He brings up two case studies that Sterling has specifically been very vocal about and then, if anything, presents an abridged summation of an argument Sterling makes repeatedly: people make games, not companies.
He also follows up the Sterling photo with a jab at anti-microtransaction arguments, which also bugged me, since the implication here appears to be that consumers don’t like them out of stinginess, as opposed to consumers don’t like being asked to pay for arbitrarily-locked off content after a $60 purchase. Which seems fair. Both of these attacks at other gaming TH-camrs just seem odd to me. When I think of irrationally angry gamer TH-cam, I think of people who make 500 videos attacking Anita Sarkeesian every time she opens her mouth, or people complaining that SJW’s have ruined games by forcing representation of queer and women characters into them, not people arguing against bad business practices in the industry - which is what Saba is doing (while attacking?)
Re: Sterling, I by no means watch and listen to everything he puts out so I’m not in a position to be definitive about his positions, but I do mostly keep up with the Jimquisition so I can do my best to give my opinion there. I feel he’s been incredibly consistent and adamant about framing perceived issues in the AAA industry as part of the larger, systemic effects of capitalism. (This stands in contrast to the CAD/PA gamer ranter crowd who seem to believe that EA execs are evildoers who hate art, and aren’t looking at or comprehending the bigger picture.) He’s detailed about the issues and specifically calls out bad labor practices such as “crunch,” (which is referenced in this video), hiring and firing developers based on short-term needs, and preventing unionization.
I’m not sure what talking about quality of content has to do with capitalism, as you suggest. Sterling seems pretty consistent that good games are made by passionate developers, regardless of budget or resources. That’s why his Best of the Year lists feature both indie games like Undertale and AAA games like God of War. I find that approach more nuanced than this video’s; it shouldn’t matter whether a game is indie or triple AAA, and to write off the latter because of disagreements with their companies is to write off the developers who choose to seek stable employment within the industry. That’s not labor friendly, it’s just stubborn ideology. Part of anti-capitalist critique is that while there is no moral consumerism within the system, we all have to live in it and we can’t go around punishing people for needing work.
That being said, Sterling’s content isn’t for everyone, as he plays a purposefully grating, egotistic caricature of himself. That’s fine with me but I can understand preferring Saba’s smoother, more aesthetically pleasing style. It’s also not that Sterling is the first or only person to make these arguments and that he owns them-obviously anyone can and should make these critiques-but it’s off-putting that Saba decided to put Sterling down while making Sterling’s basic argument, without even advancing or reframing it.
Re: Cuphead and racism, I don’t remember and can’t find Sterling making that argument. Are you referring to something specific or was that an arbitrary example?
As far as specific Sterling content, I think the episode “Look After Your Workers” is a pretty good example of previous times Sterling made the specific arguments found in this video.
Just as an aside, I touch on this in the comment but I think it’s worth responding to specifically: the idea that money = polish is simplistic and highly questionable. Celeste is more published than Fallout 76 or Anthem, I think it’s fair to say. Most indie games I’ve played have felt less buggy than you’re average recent triple AAA release and I think you can chalk that up to smarter use of resources vs more use of resources. This holds true in all mediums, I can think of plenty of low-budget indie films (Pulp Fiction comes to mind) that make big-budget studio pictures look amateur.
Way too over-romanticized. id Software wasn't some scrappy indie group when they made Doom. They had made huge success with Wolfenstein 3D. And Doom sure as hell wasn't some deeply strategic survival horror game.
How about I play the game anyway because it looks great, sounds great and if it's ANYTHING like DOOM 2016 it is worth the time.
The Devs put loads of work into it and if you want to talk about the people who work on it then why not show the people who work on it that you care by actually playing the game they made.
I don't disagree with what you are saying, I am showing another point of view.
Well he did show the people responsible for his favorite parts of the game and said their human touches is what made the game great and also said that often the corporate culture often attempts to push down and obscure the very individuals that make it profitable
@@scruffles3838
But Doom 2016 is a different case. If anything they promoted Mick Gordon.
Driving Off The Map's MGS2 analysis and Masters of Doom are my two favorite pieces of videogame writing.
Really good sources of inspiration you picked there.
Driving Off The Map completely changed how I think about games, no joke.
@@MichaelSaba Same here. It was a moment of realizing games could do all of these things and that this level of thought could go into their creation. I'd previously enjoyed the game, but had never approached it like that. Reading that work made it click, and got me to be a lot more conscious towards how games are structured since.
Ow boy. I disagree with just about every point you made concerning Doom 2016, The original Dooms and Eternal. I agree with your points on how productivity soars but wages stagger and how Indie games are where it's at right now, but your points on the games themselves sound like you really want 2016 and Eternal to be "bad" in your very normie sounding opinion.
Where to start:
For the originals, yes they are important historical games and very much water shed moments, but they were never perfect. They are very primitive. That's part of their charm, but it's also why a team of 12 could make them. As games have gotten more complex, bigger teams are needed. Carmack learned that the hard way when making Doom 3 and Rage. It really does feel like you're romanticizing these games a bit too much. Romero had great levels, but only in Doom 1, and it was only in Episode 1. A lot of the Sandy maps are trash, like the Chasm, or Slough of despair. It's just as flawed as any modern game is. Part of loving those originals is also admitting when they fucked up.
Now, about 2016. Earlier you said "The original Doom is about strategy..." Implying there is no strategy to be found in 2016. I have no clue how you played that game but that is a bitch tier argument. Anyone who has sat down to play it on anything higher then Hurt me plenty can confirm this. You have to constantly mind your surroundings, as mobility is actually a factor in a proper 3D doom game, you have to pick priority targets and consider the best weapon for the job. Weapon switching is so important in 2016, while in the originals it's not even a factor(mostly due to the slow weapon switching itself). In comparison to the old Doom games, 2016 is light years ahead in terms of gameplay . It almost feels like you never even sat down to play 2016, and just looked at gameplay footage.
Now, about Eternal, ow boy. I'm using the magical powers of hindsight since I'm writing this way after Eternal came out. This video you made is from before the game came out. This video has aged like milk. Eternal was divisive in the community yes, but it was divisive for all the right reasons. It took risks and did things most people didn't expect. You frame it as if it's just "another cookie cutter Doom game". Eternal was anything but. The strategy is now pumped to 11. The game feels like a sequel to Plutonia in how it fucks you(a positive in my mind). It truly was the chess of FPS games. This is where I disagree with the hole "AAA games have no soul at all due to being worked on by a lot of people bought by a big company" Eternal felt like Doom fans were given a shit ton of money and were told "do what you want". I feel the love when I play that game, cause they wanted to engage you. Hugo really wanted that to be a point in the game, and he and the team succeeded. People still complained about the platforming and the Marauder, much like I complain about shitty maps in the originals and shitty monster closets, but that's not proof of there being "no soul" or whatever.
This brings me to the thing that grinds me the most. The whole argument that we "don't remember" or "give credit" to important games. Listen here son, the only people that remember games like the original Doom, are people who were around at that time, or weirdos like me who love Boomer shooters. That's it. Most kids today don't know what those original games are. The only people who care, are the people who love games like that, and not some general large audience. Plenty of people will remember Doom, but it won't be as many as the people playing League of Legends. And there were never even THAT many people into such games back in 1993. Yes some Collage servers were crashed, cause those could only take about 50 people before they shut down. That's nothing compared to the numbers we're dealing with today for something being "important" or "popular". And the whole "people only remember the Doom 2016/Eternal soundtrack"? Bullshit, total bullshit. Those of us who love Shooters(Boomer shooters in particular) know of the Doom reboots in detail, from front to back. The only people who remember just the soundrack, are the passersbys who played 2016 for like 3 hours and then went back to Dota or League.
It almost sounds like you wanted 2016 and Eternal to live up to your nostalgia for the original. Well, that didn't happen, and it doesn't happen. For my money, 2016 and Eternal stand as some of the best shooters and games we ever got. Eternal is up there with Half-Life and Serious sam as some of my fav experiences. Clearly you didn't feel the same. That's fine, but to claim these games are shallow and souless is a different matter.
The only other thing I agree with, is the modding issue. Yes it would be cool if Eternal or 2016 had mod support, but I also don't EXPECT it. I'm not owed mod support. I paid for an excellent single player experience and that's what I got. The good mods are few and far between as well, let's not romanticize the past.
Exactly. I love playing games with mods but I'm not disappointed since Eternal never promised them before launch.
I'd argue that health and ammo were pretty generous in the original DOOM games
Cool vid. Glad to find you I was looking for a lefty game channel. What i dont get is using God Of War as a bad example. Its passion project of Corey Barlog co written w his dad (speaking of the workers behind the games), with no microtranactions, dlc shenanigans and a completely new direction for the series. This game shouldnt have been made in the current aaa climate...im glad it was it was my game of the year.
Justin Walker Lefty game channels are a rare breed these days, what with most gamers being either pro gamergate or staunch Conservatives, that refuse to budge on their views.
While Michael’s prediction about Doom Eternal was wrong, I do think that his main point, that AAA games are becoming more and more like disposable corporate products, is right. Just wanted to give my two cents.
At 1:36 when I was expecting him to blast the barrels, I was disappointed like those gifs showing something incomplete, DVD video just not hitting the screen corner, things not being properly aligned, etc, etc. Now I am gonna run Doom with that level, just to blast those damn barrels once and see everyone splattered.
It was Daria that brought me in. I remember LAN parties in the 90s, setting up Netware servers and playing Doom. Well done.
I watched 3 of your videos back to back today. I know you haven't posted in a while, but I want you to know your videos are very well written. Hope you're well.
Btw, here from the Resident Evil 2 video over on RagnaRox's channel, watched the Nier video and subbed :)
Next stop, daria
Excellent essay. You really got me thinking, and you've inspired me to think about games differently.
Subbed.
It's cool to find this channel before you hit 100k subs and beyond. I'm quite sure it will.
I just love the pic at 10:27 with John & the boys.
My WWII vet grandfather sent me Doom in the mail when I was 13. Just showed up randomly. Grandpa Lee got it.
Also- real shit: Zio in the game Phantasy Star IV was based on Trent Reznor.
1: I agree.
2: Subbed.
3: This! I found it interesting that this video discusses MGS 2 as I feel the split between Hideo Kojima and Konami is the last glimmer of hope for the games industry. This isn't to say that indie developers don't provide quality entertainment (I am a huge fan of itch.io), but I feel that if Hideo Kojima can craft Death Stranding into a commercial and critical success, it would be a massive victory for the people. Here's to hoping that Kojima can turn the industry on its head!
Kojima then get picked up by another Giant corporation and waste all his time doing cryptic shit and hang out with hollywood celebs instead of giving us actual information about his new "game". What a joke for dissing corporate culture for what they do to Kojima, a millionair corporate boi through and through.
I guess you were half right? Ubi, Acti, Blizz, EA and their ilk continue to show that disposable entertainment can be sucessful even if it's garbage
On the other hand Capcom and Fromsoftware show the success, truly lasting success, you can find when you put care and effort into your product
Even though Bethesda has lost their way Skyrim, Morrowind, Oblivion and New Vegas (Obsidian, but still Beth published) show the clear preference that audiences have towards games built to last for literal decades as opposed to the slop produced to sate us for a couple of days
And Doom Eternal was, and to this day remains, the absolute best single player FPS game in the market
A NEW UPLOAD APPEARS!
Great to see you coming back, and great video yet again, i'd love if you were to dig a bit more on the labor issues that gaming has, cause there have been a lot of those lately.
This is definitely something I think about a lot, it may be worth the full-length video essay treatment down the road. I'm reminded of how in the 1990s, Japanese game companies made their developers use pseudonyms, effectively making them invisible. It's not so different from how things are these days, with the people who make games being largely invisible to us.
Idk man, doom 2016 still has the delicate dance if you're on harder difficulties.
In Doom eternal, They added a grapple hook, melee weaponry, new demons, air dashing, they're evolving the story, new guns gorgeous world design.
Also Doom 2016 barely made it through production due to changes in the team. The people behind 2016 are passionate about their project you just had nothing better to do than hate on a passion project
Not to mention his neckbeardy attitude towards the people at QuakeCon. "Hurr durr look at those sheeple getting excited at a new Doom game, how enlightened I am!"
@@moredetonation3755 "How dare they be excited at a video in a convention room created for the express person of hyping an audience!"
@@moredetonation3755 tbh they took it too far with all that screaming. i get that you're hyped, but please stop screaming over a game trailer
True.
*sip* "Yeah, DOOM: Eternal is a corporate husk with no names to faces. Wait what is this thing called Noclip?"
I wish I could adequately convey how much I ducking loved this video!!! I always wish I had more to add to a discussion but I’m terrible at getting my words to match my thoughts. So I’ll just say amazing job! Loved all your points and I am totally picking up what you are putting down.
I agree but Bioshock is my counter to your video. I also grew with DOOM,Duke3d, Blood etc but there are AAA games that are made with care and you as a gamer can feel that.Now I have to be honest I don't play AAAs nowadays because I found my fortress in indie games so I can't add more examples of AAAs that have that human touch. Ken Levine added this human touch to System Shock 2 and the nusproduct Bioshock. Bioshock Infinite is debatable. I am glad I found your channel, Ragnar shared your video. I am looking forward to your future videos .
I'd argue the same is true in a lot of industries, just because we care about the thing we see, which is the end product. I really like what the corridor crew does, where they've turned their studio team into essentially characters in a weekly bts of whats going on. Its really easy to care about a single crew member leaving the team because we've seen them love working on the stuff we loved watching.
This video is so scatter brained I couldnt possibly comment in any constructive way.
Good job not mentioning DUSK. You clearly glossed over it like the rest of the gaming community.
Like the video but a little harsh on god of war, think you can see there is love in that game and while not a small personal team of developers you can still see from interviews and videos Corey Balrog put out after launch that game really meant something and has its own achievements like the camera perspective
The *Dreaming in Neon* 【ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ】 becomes sexier with each video!
Also, I'm really glad you brought up the huge half-assed disappointment that the Snapmap editor was. Before Doom came out, I was really excited for it because it seemed like it wanted to embrace the spirit of user-generated content that the original games helped to popularize to such an extend.
But the game's multiplayer turned out to be such an unfulfilling afterthought, outsourced to an external developer and the editor was so restrictive and tightly shut that it felt like air farting out of a balloon when I finally tried it.
As you said, it's almost a joke that this is the best that Bethesda, a company whose games only unleashed their full potential through crowd content, could deliver - or rather wanted to deliver.
There's a huge problem with the engine when it come to modding. The MEGATEXTURE™ technology require a server farm everytime they need to compile anything. It is hell for us with our commercial hardware. There isnt much mods for Rage despite the official mod tools for the same reason. The have no choice but to dumb down the editor. Consoles play a part in this, but the biggest hurdle is still the technology.
Also Dishonored, Wolfenstein, Evil within... dont have official mod support at the first place since they transferred to Bethesda. Especially now that they also use megatexture from idtech 5/6. TES and Fallout are their only franchise with extensive community involvement.
Man, your jab at Sterling was so out of place...
Also, in certain places, transport fare prices are totally incompatible with the subsidies companies already receive from the government, so...
Jim Stelring is a bufoon, a clown. He's the wrong person to lead a cause like labor rights.
Next month it will be 20 year anniversary for a gem called Jagged Alliance 2, a game i never stop playing, and always play badly, and on easy, while using cheats, it's so fun, it's a game of thousands replays.
Your videos are great! I really hope you're still making them
I think the amount of mods for the original Doom and all of the indie games inspired by it's style is a testament to how the spirit of the original Doom games manages to live on in our modern capitilist dystopia.
Time to start seeking out and highlighting great development teams with your amazing journalistic framing. I'd start with motion twin and there philosophy on team management and game development. Just a thought. Love yuh, keep up the good work.
I absolutely loved the level design in the original Doom. I was a bit disappointed with that Doom 2016 was basically a corridor shooter, granted with much better gameplay than most.
Doom 2016 was a corridor shooter?
@@jordanwright2313 in terms of level design, yeah. There were some interesting parts like the factory however, I don't think it comes at all close to the original doom. Or hell, it doesn't even come close to Titanfall 2's level design.
This was lovely! Though I knew quite little about Doom you really kept me with the topic! You always leave me walking away thinking, and I think that's really something great!
Oh my god, made me so nostalgic for the '90s. I used to crank Further Down the Spiral on my gigantic CD boombox and play doom ALL NIGHT LONG with my buddies via Serial cables, Co-Op all the way through the game then some deathmatch to wrap things up, chugging 2 liters of Mountain Dew until the sun came up lol. Those were the days!
A fellow resident of what world springs forth from the seeds of Nine Inch Nails' influence. I too rode The Downward Spiral through the introduction of my story.
I play more and more indie / small games these days. Oldschool shooters are still alive with Dusk, Iron maiden etc. And soon we will see the release of John Romero's 5th official Doom Episode.
Fantastic video!
I think it's a common shift, at least among the PC gaming scene, to increasingly turn towards independent works or those created by small teams, and the sort of cold, impersonal feeling of many AAA titles isn't going unnoticed either. As someone that got into games rather late and almost entirely missed the 'AA' segment of the market it's hard not to think of the divide between major and indie releases as being a real problem - like it's games as art until it can become art as commodity, without much room in-between. Perhaps I'm romanticizing a segment of the industry that never embodied what I feel is missing in it today, but there's still a distinct feeling that something *is* missing.
Games are absolutely capable of being art, but after a team gets to a certain size it's almost impossible to avoid the 'designed by committee' feeling a lot of AAA releases invoke.
On another topic I'm super keen for the coming Kill La Kill video after recently finishing up my own (even if it'll put mine to shame haha), all your work thus far has been excellent, and gosh it feels like you're speaking directly to my esoteric tastes when you go from talking about Daria to Video Games and how soulless the Major titles have felt recently to Kill La Kill.
Anyway, Keep on keeping on, I love your work.
I have switched from AAA games to indie games for this reason, I just can't have fun in a AAA game anymore, just feels wrong playing them now prolonging the same cycle of corporate garbage
I have been having a blast with indie games now, so much to explore without feeling overwhelmed
Hey, another video, thx Michael! Ill watch it when i find myself some time
3:40 run the darkness comes, fire doesn't clens it blackens.
I feel like the vast majority of gamers, even supporters of AAA companies, would say that the future of gaming lies in the indie sector. A lot of truly great games have gotten started there, and are on the top 10 list for many people
yap. rimworld, ori and the blind forest and the will of the wisps, hollow knight, terraria, hotline miami 1 & 2, the bingind of isaac and even freaking rocket league. Divinity original sins if you can call Larian an indie studio anymore. These are all the indie titles i freaking adore. From AAA games there is the witcher 3, Nier automata and Borderlands 2 which are perhaps the best of the best. Most of the most interesting and original games definitely come from indie studioes.
Another great video man, I can’t say I grew up with Doom as I was born after it’s release, however I seem to echo a lot of the same sentiments that you said in this video. Part with your commentary regarding blockbuster releases and indie game releases echoed my sentiments completely, even as a younger person I seem to enjoy and find more personality a passion in indie games. Good to see another great video by you, can’t wait for the next vid, and keep up the great work.
"Maybe the fanbased as stopped caring about the people that create the game"
This is a very interesting idea I had never considered and yet seem so obvious...
The "fan base" is actually tiny compared to the "audience" aka people who buy the game just for recreational purposes and post a meme or two. We dont give a damn about people far from our relatives/friends/collegues/communities unless it affect us, has always been this way. Sometimes we do because of media, rumours, hearsay, religion... or we are forced to care about them by outside parties.
Bruno Deschatelets maybe I'm a asshole but, if a games good and has qualitys I want to support. I'll buy it, even if it's made off of John Remaros rotting corpse. Regardless of who's making it.
I realize these are over ten years old, but it seems much ado has been made about Cliffy B.'s and Ken Levine's contributions to Gears of War and Bioshock respectively. Granted that doesn't entirely undercut the fact that there were no doubt a ton of nameless faces behind the scenes.
Oh nice, you've read Masters of Doom as well. Very fun book based on Games Industry.
An interesting thing about John Romero in that is just how much eager he was to grow big, it was a major bugging point for the rest of the team. He carried that attitude to Ion Storm when he started developing Daikatana. I believe when that game flopped, there must have been some change in him, given just how super nice he is now.
And Daikatana was the big budget game hyped around the time, because of Romero's name and people were clambering for. And despite that, the game flopped. Games are a collective effort, scrappy indie and blockbusters and all, and while associating the whole game to one or two people makes them easier to talk about, it can be very inaccurate to make all of that the entire point of the conversation.
In that sense, pinning all good stuff of DOOM 2016 to one creative director feels disingenuous. DOOM 2016 was made great because of attention to things like punchy animations and sound effects, decals, smooth performing engine to carry it all, and a lot of artists, technicians, engineers and sound designers made them possible.
Also, on the note of MGS2, all the detailed political commentary was the result of the excellent translator on the project Agnus Kaku adding to the script, and that all the stuff about was absent from the Japanese version, which felt more like a generic military shlock.
Old Id Software is the best what could possibly happened to the gaming industry. They were real progressors of the video games in general. I think that the relentless enthusiasm, absolute care about what you do, and what most importantly the talent are the thing that modern industry misses alot. Money became not the engine of progress, but a stone that is tied to the feet of the drowning sphere of video games. The biggest experience so far that i gained in last recent years was DUSK. New Blood Interactive really showed what can do old but very carefully executed concept if you put enough love and care in it. And that's why they became instantly one of my the most favorite game devs last year. If AAA companies will not change their attitude to the what they do is not ONLY about money but the for the people who want to be entertained, the industry will crash spectacularly.
Third video from your channel I'm watching, and damn, the sheer quality :O
Excellent, I'm here to stay.
*Realizing that I make the same compliments every time I watch a good video while I desperately try to think of some new, creative, introspective way to approach complimenting your video*... great analysis.
Just started watching bout two weeks ago and was worried the channel,or you, died. Can’t wait for the content coming. I work anywhere from 48-65 hours a week so I understand the struggle and couldn’t imagine the pressure of routine uploads with that work load. Just keep doing you man.
19:22
Salty, much?
The reason why Game wages is soo low is pretty much everyone is willing to work for a games company because it is cool. If you work doing boring business apps like myself you end up earning near 6 figures and you work 9-5 or if you really lucky you get to work from home.
Also compound this with triple A games costing huge amount of money to produce and developers from poorer countries will often work longer for less pay what do you expect to happen.
I still play Doom II, master levels and Final Doom like once per year or two years. In UV, full campaign through. It is very easy to hop in (no long loading times), and it gives some satisfaction or dopamine hits to my brain while shooting enemies with super shotgun. First time I played when I was like 6-7 years old (ultimate doom), but about 14-18 when I played doom II and final doom, and 18-21 Doom 3. I don't know if there is something else behind it...
Okay, theres a lot here. But just about the modding thing. Anyone Can learn piano and make original music but that wont make the music that inspired them to do so any worse nor better. Both approaches are beneficial. Love your vidéo.
They already did the horror aspect of old doom.
It failed.
Things change depending on what aspect the majority liked. Also saying that doom is akin to survival horror is... Disagreeable, it had ton of ammo lying around and implying tht the new doom requires less to no strategy is just plain wrong, in fact ammo is more scarce if it werent for the glory kill mechanic.
Also saying that te people who made the new doom, arent people that cares about their works and just market shills is just wrong. They were passionate, very passionate, if they were what you described them then we wouldve have had Call of Duty Doom due to what popular today.
In my opinion, Doom 2016 was a middle finger to repititive military based shooters.
this is one notification i did not expect but am very happy to see
This is a bad video, dude. I like your general thesis, but you pretty aggressively attacked it from one angle. You can't seriously say that all of the million-plus-copies-sold games these days are AAA cash grabs in a world where indie games are getting more attention than ever. Individual creators are getting more attention than they ever were, and crowdfunding has made it increasingly clear that people are willing to financially and socially support the people who made the games they like. Even more than that, you seemed to kind of casually address the fact that new Doom is good at the beginning of your video and then make fun of people who liked it for the rest - one of the most viewed videos when you look the game up on TH-cam is a documentary produced by Noclip that is interviewing its creators and talking about the people who made it. Plenty of games have died on the vine when it was discovered that the original developers weren't part of it - looking at you, Story of Seasons - and directors joining or leaving is major news.
Am I missing something? It seems like you came up with the (valid) statement "it'd be nice if we focused more on the people who created the game instead of the brand name" and built a video around it. (Also, it was weird that you acted like the first response to 2016's Doom wasn't one of complete distrust and only after the game kicked ass did it become a brand we were excited for again, but the video could only be so long.)
I really don't think you got the message of this video.
What did I miss?
Commenting for notification.
I agree. He completely ignored the fact that Doom 2016 is a masterpiece people still come back to.
SageWaterDragon
Gta v single player was developed by 10,000 employees I think and had like invested 100,000 dollars to it, and it’s one of the greatest open world game ever.
Also the Doom snap map is batter then nothing, it’s kinda hard to fully mod the id tec 6 engine, it’s really packed.
I was 13 when I played Doom 2 back in 1995. It blew my mind.
I'm among the minority I try to take something away from everything I consume.l whether that be games, movies, tv, or books. I have played tons and tons of games and own just as many but I remember every single game that I buy, play, or beat because I don't devote time or effort towards games or media I don't enjoy. Great video btw.
WELCOME BACK!
I was thinking you would talk about Doom Eternal and the controversy it stirred with its trailer, but this works too...
now think of all the employees who had to stare at hell flesh for daayyss at a time . probably get nightmares every time one of their spouses slices a tomato.
This was a great video and really hits an interesting point on seeing humanity in the media we consume. Turns out that is hugely important (who could have known eh?).
BTW did you know a bunch of dudes made their own version of Quake Champions in the fan updated doom engine and it's really damn great, probably more relatable than Bethesda's big fancy version.
Seriously checkout QCDE it's splendid. Also Ion Maiden is super good and made by a cool team that deserves support too.
When the TH-cam algorithm doesn't just throw at you the daily shitpost, but also some *quality* content. Subscribed.
liked and subscribed dude. Solid gaming video.
Whhhaaaattt??? someone who doesn't say that doom 2016 isn't a "return to old school shooter design" O.o !!!
I happy I am not the only one.
It’s not, for sure, Dusk is a game that’s more like a return to form. But DooM 2016 is awesome fun
It’s a return to “old school” as in Quake style but not old “old school” like Wolfenstein or Doom.
I was just desperately googling to see if Michael would do some cool new videos soon.
I miss the days of playing hours of Doom or experimenting with a new mod or spending all night trying to perfect a level in Duke Nukem 3D editor.
At 11:00 it sounds like id was living poorly when they came up with Doom, but they already had sportscars and the office space in the Suite 666. Wolfenstein had sold very well. :P
what do you expect from politically charged "analysis"? The full truth?
@@mdd4296 well nah :D i just wanted to point it out so other people would have more info.
Very well said! I'm glad I subbed :D We all vote with out dollar and we must ask ourselves, what are we voting for the most and are we happy with what it's gotten us?
Song at 8:29?
you just can't wait, you love it. i understand
me too :)
Honestly this video aged poorly. Eternal is a very good game, one of the best in the genre I might say and it blended strategy elements and resources management in a way that literally made Doom 2016, another very competent game, unplayable.
Guess this is what happens when you speak about a game without actuallty playing it, you open yourself to this kind of mistakes, you shouldn't do it next time and Eternal was anything but a watered down copy of 2016.
With that said, I do agree with you conclusion, although I'm way less radical than you on it. The AAA scene is fucked up, we all know that but you can still see magic there, you can still experience unimaginable things with those games and that has been the case for every console generation ever. That's literally why people keep buyinh story driven AAA games. I do agree the indie scene is going way stronger right now and the experiments they do is what is driving forward the industry, but I disagree with your whole notion that having a big team with big money somehow makes a how shittier in comparison, there's simply no basis or that argument. A shitty game is a shitty game whether its indie made or it had 193028330823823$ dollars behind it.
On the modding scene you are on point, I still play FNV from time to time and I have around 700 hours with that game just because of the modding potential that game has. I agree with you on all that point.
WOO! New content. :D
Hey man, very interesting video I never grew up with the original Doom or its level editor based on what I've seen in videos is that you kind of impressive some of the stuff people can do. I don't personally agree with your opinion on AAA games because there are some games that I played that are pretty mainstream such as God of War that's actually a pretty good game. By the way, I got a question if a indie company gets big do you just stop liking them look for another one? A company's got to go big eventually.
All this talk of summoning demons from floppy disks is making me want to watch 'Evilspeak' again
This is a heckin good video
FINALLY A NEW UPLOAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I started doom with doom 3 but I love all of the games. The original game is still amazing.
You call doom satanic but canonically doom guy is catholic. Plus the whole killing demons thing.
Thank you so much for your great content.
Honestly this is one of the big things that i gravitate more towards smaller dev team/indie darling titles like WRATH: Aeon of ruin/prodeus or HROT for, once the game is properly released and the mapmaker tools are out there in the wild these games will still exist for decades of FPS heads to create new things with but both Nudoom games will be lucky to even still be playable in 10 years time with how ultimately throwaway they are as products to the big brand name giant that is bethesda
Will have to watch this later but I'm excited
21:05 I about died.
When I really think about it, indie games really are the future for great stuff
Good video, though I do think Doom Eternal plays much differently and turned out better than you predicted it would. Much better than I would say the Diablo franchise did. I would love to see you talk about FromSoft and the souls-like genre, including some of the interesting thoughts there about futility and letting go. And the wake of indie games developed around it, like Dead Cells and Salt and Sanctuary.
Have a great day.
Redneck Rampage was featured in this news report. Ahh memories
omg the instrumental at 15:45 is so familiar, anyone recognize the song?
Amazing video btw
Ah, ya put the instrumental list at the end, thanks! So many youtubers don't do this so I really appreciate it!
LOVE by Kendrick Lamar if anyone else is wondering