{"id":25688,"date":"2015-01-30T11:13:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=25688"},"modified":"2015-01-30T11:14:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T16:14:04","slug":"looking-ahead-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=25688","title":{"rendered":"Looking Ahead: 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t usually spend a lot of time looking forward. It feels dangerously close to buying into the whole publisher-driven hype machine. Too many sites spend all their time looking at the horizon. Rumors. Teaser trailers. Screenshots. Exclusive first looks. Hands-on press demos. Then the game comes out, gets reviewed, and vanishes forever. <\/p>\n

It’s common to discuss movies that are a couple of years old. And it’s routine to discuss books decades after they come out. But games are hurried off stage to make room for the next act and we rarely take time to look at old games with fresh eyes. That’s really unhealthy. Moreover, it sort of leaves the readers out of the conversation. During pre-release, there’s nothing to say except:<\/p>\n

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  1. I am looking forward to this game.<\/li>\n
  2. I’m sick of hearing about this game.<\/ol>\n

    But after a game comes out we can talk about what worked, what didn’t, and why. That’s the good stuff. That’s the reason I’m in this writing gig. The looking back stuff is often more fun than playing the games themselves. In my end-of-2014 wrap-up<\/a>, it was really encouraging to see lots of people talking about how they were playing games from 2013, 2012, or even 2010. <\/p>\n

    Having said all that, I guess there is a time and place to cautiously look forward. Really, I’m just doing this now so I can look back at the end of 2015 and compare my expectations with reality. So I’m only looking forward now so that later I can do a compare & contrast when 2015 comes to and end.<\/p>\n

    With that in mind, here is what I’m looking forward to in 2015:<\/p>\n

    2015_arkham_knight.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

    Arkham Knight<\/a>. Yay! A new Batman. And this time it’s being done by Rocksteady and not the team that bungled Arkham Origins<\/a>. I’m really worried about the way this series constantly feels the need to go bigger. What’s next? Arkham County? Arkham state? Arkham Nation? Super Arkham Galaxy? One of the big drawbacks of Origins was that it was too dang big. We’re looking for Metroidvania here, not Grand Theft Auto. After Arkham Knight I’d be fine if they just dialed everything back to the asylum againAssuming a rebuilt \/ redesigned asylum. I don’t want a remake. I just want something on the same scale.<\/span>. <\/p>\n

    2015_life_is_strange.jpg<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

    Life is Strange<\/a>. Remember the game Remember Me<\/a>? I fell in love with the trailer. It looked like a mix of Deus Ex and Arkham, with wonderful music and fantastic visuals. Then I played it for half an hour and quit because the combat was stilted, dull, floaty, and obtuse. That, and the world that seems so mesmerizing in the trailer became very flat and dumb once the characters started talking. Life is Strange is by the same team, and I’m having the same “I can’t wait to play this” vibe. Will they nail it this time, or will this be another game that looks amazing in trailers and feels boring to play?<\/p>\n