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[Ghost of Caelid]

Gamepass is a god send for a studio like them because some studios produce superb work that just doesn’t work in the sales oriented system but in a subscription oriented system their engagement should go way up. Why it’s good to have a plethora of ways of engagement.

 

[RickSanchez]

100% agree with you. Prey and Dishonored are within my all-time favourite gaming experiences (im actually on a Dishonored 2 playthrough right now).

It's a shame this thread brought out a lot of "hater" type comments saying that Arkane games are not good, or look bad or or boring or whatever. I personally find them to be at the pinnacle of game design. But it just shows that we Arkane fanboys are a minority. I hope Microsoft's support enables them to make more immersive sims like Prey and Dishonored. I desperately want more games like those.

 

[kurisu_1974]

Only played Dishonored and Prey and maybe some stuff before that, but I really don't like their games, the gameplay loop and especially the combat felt like work and was , for me, void of any actual fun. The storytelling and world building is also mid tier at best. I honestly stopped paying attention to their output.

 

[Moses85]

Dishonored 1 was good imo.

Dont get the hype for their other games.

DL is awful

 

[GenericUser]

They suck. I tried prey and it's so bad, I stopped after 30 minutes.

 

[makaveli60]

I love their games, but as soon as I saw that Deathloop is a roguelite + the insuferrable tone turned me away.

 

[winjer]

Only played Dishonored and Prey and maybe some stuff before that, but I really don't like their games, the gameplay loop and especially the combat felt like work and was , for me, void of any actual fun. The storytelling and world building is also mid tier at best. I honestly stopped paying attention to their output.

Combat is never the main option for Arkane games. This is an immersive Sim, not a Doom clone.
But even if someone wants to go full combat, it's possible and can be a lot of fun. But it requires skill and imagination.

 

[Shut0wen]

Dishonoured 2 did poorly because arkane fucked up and made every port shit with the exception of ps4 for about a year until some patches game out to make it atleast playable on pc, games fucked on xbox, also im pretty sure prey broke eben because it actually sold decently in japan

 

[kurisu_1974]

Combat is never the main option for Arkane games. This is an immersive Sim, not a Doom clone.
But even if someone wants to go full combat, it's possible and can be a lot of fun. But it requires skill and imagination.

Then it's even worse because I didn't even notice this was a sim and wasn't immersed at all.

 

[winjer]

Then it's even worse because I didn't even notice this was a sim and wasn't immersed at all.

LOL, you really don't know what is an Immersive Sim. Nor how to play one.
No wonder you couldn't get engaged.

 

[Ywap]

Huge fan since Dark Messiah

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

I got Deathloop for free with PS Extra....god what a boring convoluted mess of a game.

 

[Dr.D00p]

They lost me at Deathloop due to the fact I simply can't stand stealth trial & error game mechanics, but I loved all their previous stuff.

 

[Pfroebbel]

Their Games are great but the Comic Art Style of the People is awful.
If they would go Full reslistic High End Graphic the Games would sell much better

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

I played Deathloop for an hour, too fiddly. Dishonored is a vibe I am pretty sure no one is over the moon enamored with.

I hear Prey is good.

 

[Aion002]

Too convoluted for the casual players and kinda of a chore overall to play.

For example: in Dishonored 1 and 2, you have all these cool powers but you can't use them freely, otherwise the game locks you in a bad ending, which is awesome in my opinion... But many people hate that you can’t go in murder sprees with guns and stuff.


Also, for me in particularly, they add some terrible shit to their games like headbobbing, low fov and other shit that makes me get motion sickness.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Being tied to the company that made Skyrim and Fallout was both a blessing and a curse. Most of the oxygen was soaked up as a result of the popularity of those games. Today's gaming industry reality will be far kinder to Arkane than the past, especially being associated with Xbox. It will lead to the games getting a lot more exposure, especially due to the way Game Pass brings a lot more attention and traffic to a game.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

It's still boggles my mind they never made a sequel for Arx Fatalis, their first game.

Or even a reboot but I would prefer an actual sequel.

 

[kiphalfton]

I think this applies to most games Bethesda publish (not insulting their titles as I enjoy a lot of them)

But I purchased Wolfenstein 2 at launch & 8 days later it was half price (digital too as well to my surprise)

Even doom and doom eternal dropped crazy fast, and rage 1 & 2.

I got doom + season pass for £12 from Amazon 2 months after release.

Rage 1 £6 a month after release brand new & rage 2 for £11.99 a couple months after launch as well.

The games you mentioned are good, but not particularly memorable.

Nobody is going to talk about them years after the fact, let alone months after the fact. And that's the problem.

Even Doom or Wolfenstein, which have name recognition going for them, can't stand toe to toe with more mainstream FPS games.

As a result I honestly wish Bethesda would lean hard into PC gaming and go all out like they used to, and not release watered down versions of games like they do now.

 

[gooner4life_uk]

Because they are all style no substance in the main.

 

[ButchCat]

Why don't immersive sims sell well?*

There OP I've fixed the title.

 

[ANDS]

Then it's even worse because I didn't even notice this was a sim and wasn't immersed at all.

o_0. How? Like even before I understood what the phrase "immersive sim" meant, when I played DH1 (and for sure DH2) the game was clearly about "play the game your way."

They lost me at Deathloop due to the fact I simply can't stand stealth trial & error game mechanics, but I loved all their previous stuff.

Another comment I'm surprised about. DH1/2 (haven't played enough of PREY) are all about "trial and error" in figuring out how to "solve" a combat scenario - unless of course you went full guns blazing through both games (then I can see how DL might be a bit of a letdown).

 

[Slicker than your average]

I'm amazed devs like this and many others who release bomb after bomb manage to keep releasing new games.

Didn't the hitman games and tomb raider games bomb constantly after the first?

 

[kurisu_1974]

o_0. How? Like even before I understood what the phrase "immersive sim" meant, when I played DH1 (and for sure DH2) the game was clearly about "play the game your way."

Never bothered with the second game, first game I finished but like i said it felt like work (same with Prey) , didn't feel experimenting or "playing it like a sim" would make it more interesting.

But yeah, maybe you have to make your own fun in this game and good that some people are into that.

 

[jm89]

Well designed games with intresting mechanics, but boring as shit.

 

[Spukc]

did they do prey?
i liked prey but it was WAAY too fucking long

 

[SF Kosmo]

I'm amazed devs like this and many others who release bomb after bomb manage to keep releasing new games.

Less weird now that they are first party though, because their games are critically acclaimed with a base of loyal fans. They could be seen as "prestige" games that elevate the Xbox brand even if they aren't super profitable in terms of sales.

That said, it's not like their games are unprofitable, they just don't sell as much as it seems like they should. They're not crazy high budget and they usually sell a few million. They just haven't really managed to totally crack into the mainstream.

 

[EDMIX]

Too convoluted for the casual players and kinda of a chore overall to play.

For example: in Dishonored 1 and 2, you have all these cool powers but you can't use them freely, otherwise the game locks you in a bad ending, which is awesome in my opinion... But many people hate that you can’t go in murder sprees with guns and stuff.


Also, for me in particularly, they add some terrible shit to their games like headbobbing, low fov and other shit that makes me get motion sickness.

I agree.

I think narrative is important and I understand they are telling a story, but to some degree free agency should be considered to allow interaction of that world freely to test out those powers, use and abuse them at will as we learn more passively and randomly then we do actively.

Looking at it like this, I realize just how hard it must be to really create those types of stories knowing you must limit the player to satisfy the narrative.