It wouldn't necessarily need to be an escort mission in order to feel like she's a part of the game though. There's nothing Elizabeth does that isn't either entirely predictable or something the player tells her to do; there should have been some friction to make her feel like she existed in the world and wasn't just a ghost, basically.

A whole game that's an escort mission would probably not be much fun tbh. Everyone hates missions specifically in shooter games where you have to protect someone because there's usually not good ways to block them from damage, so if she was constantly in danger of dying and you couldn't control where she went it'd be a real slog I think.

It could be fun if done well I just can't think how to do it well

I died to the first boss

whats remarkable to me is how seriously everybody took this game full of blatant schlock. like... throw the ball at the mixed race couple or the bad carnival barker? check out your daughterwife's underwear from her first period. there's infinite lighthouses bro.

I remember thinking it was fun to play, and a more interesting and dynamic experience than bioshock 1 was, and I liked the story more or less but the politics are just dogshit.

I haven't played it since it came out though and it was never that remarkable to me that I had strong opinions beyond "this is fun and the dewit backstory is interesting but it's trying to both-sides the union wars and manifest destiny??"

I felt right at home in it, see?

great review ty

bioschlock

It truly felt like a mass psychosis

Thanks for reading!!

This is the one thing I really liked, but I think also ties in to your later point about being a game for games reviewers. I remember bad companions being a major complaint-du-juor. I remember playing some of those games up until the point an annoying companion appears, and then not playing those games any more.

Making companions both a meaningful presence and also non-annoying is sort of an unsolvable problem in action games, Lol. Like they're either a Major consideration or they're just not there. I think there's a reason we haven't seen much like Elizabeth again, she was a ton of work and the result is sort of creepy feeling.

In general I'm okay with a companion feeling annoying because I'm annoyed by companions in real life all the time. Something would feel wrong if they didn't get on my nerves, Lol

I remember playing Infinite ~10+ years ago, knowing very little else about the series. I thought it was a short and enjoyable shooter RPG as someone who was made tired by New Vegas.

It was never a contender for my Favorite Game or anything though. I think I felt similarly to the things you expressed here. I didn't particularly like mainstream games, and the games I liked were poorly received. I was really waking up to indie games at this time.

To shift topics: It's uncanny how much of this review could apply to Halo Infinite, despite only sharing half a name and half a genre.

Big systems evidently ripped out and added during development? Check. Frictionless environment complemented by an AI companion who also has no friction? Check. Superpower action shooter? Pretends to have the level of map detail you get in an immersive sim? Meant to have a real relationship to Halo to the space? Check, check, check.

I think the developers were so worried that people would make fun of her for being in the way that she’s not really there at all.

This is the one thing I really liked, but I think also ties in to your later point about being a game for games reviewers. I remember bad companions being a major complaint-du-juor. I remember playing some of those games up until the point an annoying companion appears, and then not playing those games any more.

What’s a mainstream game look like these days? Is it Fromsoft?

I think so. It feels like half the games released nowadays are trying to take something from Dark Souls.

I used to consider Nintendo as something which exists in a sort of alter-mainstream of their own making, which I do love, but Nintendo's latest releases really seem to be taking a page from the FromSoft Boss Design Book. (Dread and TotK being big examples.)

That said, the "mainstream" for the 2020s includes Hellblade, Astrobot, Helldivers, Balatro, Alan Wake 2, Psychonauts, etc. I don't think all hope is lost. Those are all games I didn't play yet, but, hey! That includes a AAA 3D platformer from a company not named Nintendo!

Good review, thank you for posting this

I remembering being 15 years old and having had my mind blown away like a year earlier by the original bioshock. It opened my eyes to videogames as something more than just fun toys. I was very excited for infinite, but when i played it I remember being kinda disappointed. I told my friend about it and he told me I must have played it wrong lol.

I appreciate that some people are into these but I watched half an hour of it and man he takes a long time to say very little lol.

it’s fun

I've played Minetest, it's fun

I've played a little Vintage Story, it's alright. I like that it does more with the survival aspect which in Minecraft stops really being a thing pretty quickly once you get good equipment and a farm

I appreciate that vintage story is just, like, minecraft modders' maniacal hubris given form. Absolutely wild to me. Also the nightmarish player models are hilarious I love them.

Terrafirmacraft remains among my very favorite minecraft mods. It is kinda like if that game was just a mod. It also has multiple different independently developed forks for different versions of the game, hilariously

There is something about the "minecraft but everything takes 3000 more steps" concept that drives developers to madness and genius and divine terror. I love it

I don’t even play Minecraft

German Yoda

legal ass ist. deutch für legal ass is

not sure if this needs a crouton or not.... i actually like this post quite a bit. difficult to say

It's small and light and quite a delight.

Rhyme alert!

Nope! It's small and light and quite a delight. I read the first half in one sitting -- not something I get to do often nowadays.

👀 I have been wanting to read Piranesi for ages, since I love Norrel and Strange, I'm surprised that it's that short (I thought it would be a doorstopper too). For what it's worth I have only heard good things about it, but I have so many unread books I would rather read those first, so I never actually get to new releases lol

you might not know this, but you can get them online nowadays!

i'm a certified ROM reseller, i can give you 100 roms for $30 or 300 roms for $50 :D

nice, i'll use this to patch my legally made video game cartridge backups