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It Is Wednesday: Positive Perspectives
🕑 Added 2024-09-18 18:51:56 +0000 UTCThe driving narrative for the game industry as of late has been one of collapse. Major studios that built up big to capitalize on COVID-19 are now shrinking down, firing people, sinking projects on the weight of unrealistic expectations and trend chasing, and generally things look grim. We're seeing another crash akin to the 1983 Atari Gluttony Crash. All is death. All is despair.
So how do we find anything positive in this mess?
To me, positivity isn't really about trends, because honestly there aren't many positive overall trends. Positivity comes from a place of personal delight and satisfaction with the gems you've found on this road paved with daggers and glass shards. There are still good games coming out (I wrote some! I think they're good!) and people are still having fun.
It's important to share what you love, to spread the message that fun games still exist even in a sea of mediocrity. They may not have massive budgets or mainstream appeal, but there can be an audience for them, if the word goes far and wide. Take what you love and help someone else find love in it too.
(I'll admit this is a self-serving positivity, as the only way Penny Larceny will ever have a hope is through word of mouth... but even if I wasn't a dev I'd suggest this.)
So, let me share a cute little game I've been playing: Donut Dodo.
On steam at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1779560/Donut_Dodo/
This is a cheap, simple, fun little arcade-style game like the classic one-screen action games of the eighties. It shares a lot of DNA with Donkey Kong but has its own unique takes, a much tighter control scheme, and delightful pixel art complete with optional CRT filters. It costs pennies on the dollar and provides a good quick burst of fun when I need it.
Small games like these may not be live service monsters demanding grind and money and time. They don't eat you, you eat them. And that's all they need to do to fill their cubbyhole in your game library so very neatly.
So, let's hear it. What games give you a positive feeling amidst all the negativity we're soaking in? What games do one thing in an interesting manner, that make you sit up and take notice, and want to tell the world what you've found? Sound off in the comments below. Not because this is an engagement farm, I just really want some good tips for cool games to play, y'know? And I bet you do too.
Comments
Jen Pixelscapes Gagne
Koi Farm is so relaxing, self-paced, and zen. (And cheap!) It has a really nice Discord community where people can swap the fish they have exported from the game, too. There is a sequel coming eventually, too.
play.nice.kids
I really love 1000xRESIST from earlier this year. But just this year has seen tons of brilliant games release. Tavern Talk and Vampire Therapist are some excellent visual novels, Balatro is the most addictive card game in years... even though times are very hard in the industry right now, the amount of brilliant games on offer has never been bigger
Stefan Gagne
That's a good point, BG3 is a surprising success in an industry completely fixated on everything that it is not. The fact that it was readily embraced by such a wide audience and has succeeded without needing to be a micro transaction live service action game open world, is very notable.
Demian Katz
I think the one positive counter-narrative out of the mainstream game industry is the ongoing success of Baldur's Gate 3. The game is clearly built with love and designed purely to entertain rather than to exploit its player base, and it's nice to see good intentions rewarded for a change. I've bought it twice (once for myself, and again for my spouse) and hundreds of hours of entertainment between the two of us have made it a bargain. That being said, despite all the praise, BG3 is certainly not a perfect game (because perfection remains unattainable for us all) -- for example, I'd argue that Arcade Spirits actually does a significantly better job of respecting player intent/preferences in its romance system.
Lamp Orchestra
I played Venba https://store.steampowered.com/app/1491670/Venba/ recently and it got me thinking of my own experiences as an immigrant too
Stefan Gagne
I love it when games are titled after their review scores. Makes life much simpler! "You will find this satisfactory." "OK!"
Stefan Gagne
BRC is delightful -- a true exercise in nostalgia, bringing forward what works while bringing it up to speed with modernity.
Toni DoVale
This Dreamcast-esque gem from last year is an easy recommend from me: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1353230/Bomb_Rush_Cyberfunk/
mkb
You're awesome <3 positive games.... lately Satisfactory because it got my sister out of a funk I think!
