Back in the day games were hard (often in unfair ways) to stretch out the game, because there was only like 4 levels and if it was easy you’d be finished in a single afternoon.
Now games are thousands of hours long and they hold your hand every step of the way to make sure you actually see all that content; and then the majority of players quit after completing only about 1/4th of the total game.
This is probably why I love Soulslikes so fucking much. I grew up with the first kind, and have suffered long enough with the latter kind. Soulslikes are the perfect blend of new and old school design philosophy (when done right). Tough, but also not short. They don’t hold your hand, but they don’t exactly keep you entirely in the dark on how to play. They reward community action not just in the game with the message systems, but also because it doesn’t spoon-feed you everything, certain deeper ideas are discovered more from talking to other players who found things you missed; which is something we did back in the day before the internet.
I’d agree with you mostly except that nobody out there making a “soulslike” actually seems to understand what makes Dark Souls so good. There are so, so many garbage soulslikes out there, and exceptionally few good ones.
To be fair, there are also a ton of games using the term “souls like” just because they have a respawn system and checkpoints. I don’t include these, personally.
Some of the good ones not made by From soft, IMO, include Lies of P which is probably the closest to form, and The Surge, but 1 over 2 for level design, and 2 over 1 for boss design.
Mortal Shell could be good if it wasn’t so buggy that enemies only actually appear once they’re in your face. It’s got atmosphere and the weighty combat part pretty good.
Another Crab’s Treasure nails everything while having a totally different, satirical take on the concept.
I haven’t tried Entoria, but the reviews don’t look good. I was hoping it would be at least to the level of Lies.
This is why I want a remaster of Space Channel 5, the timing is impossibly difficult (ESPECIALLY when emulated as video and audio isn’t synced), but it’s on purpose because if you aren’t stonewalled the game will only take one hour.
Nowadays buying a game that only lasts an hour is fine because the game’s usually not sold at full price anyway.
Back in the day games were hard (often in unfair ways) to stretch out the game, because there was only like 4 levels and if it was easy you’d be finished in a single afternoon.
Now games are thousands of hours long and they hold your hand every step of the way to make sure you actually see all that content; and then the majority of players quit after completing only about 1/4th of the total game.
This is probably why I love Soulslikes so fucking much. I grew up with the first kind, and have suffered long enough with the latter kind. Soulslikes are the perfect blend of new and old school design philosophy (when done right). Tough, but also not short. They don’t hold your hand, but they don’t exactly keep you entirely in the dark on how to play. They reward community action not just in the game with the message systems, but also because it doesn’t spoon-feed you everything, certain deeper ideas are discovered more from talking to other players who found things you missed; which is something we did back in the day before the internet.
I’d agree with you mostly except that nobody out there making a “soulslike” actually seems to understand what makes Dark Souls so good. There are so, so many garbage soulslikes out there, and exceptionally few good ones.
To be fair, there are also a ton of games using the term “souls like” just because they have a respawn system and checkpoints. I don’t include these, personally.
Some of the good ones not made by From soft, IMO, include Lies of P which is probably the closest to form, and The Surge, but 1 over 2 for level design, and 2 over 1 for boss design.
Mortal Shell could be good if it wasn’t so buggy that enemies only actually appear once they’re in your face. It’s got atmosphere and the weighty combat part pretty good.
Another Crab’s Treasure nails everything while having a totally different, satirical take on the concept.
I haven’t tried Entoria, but the reviews don’t look good. I was hoping it would be at least to the level of Lies.
This is why I want a remaster of Space Channel 5, the timing is impossibly difficult (ESPECIALLY when emulated as video and audio isn’t synced), but it’s on purpose because if you aren’t stonewalled the game will only take one hour.
Nowadays buying a game that only lasts an hour is fine because the game’s usually not sold at full price anyway.