Of course you “don’t”. They’re a legendary game developer who lost their way and disappointed their fans (and investors) so many times that they’ve now pivoted into releasing small, unambitious and safe projects (not even original in concept), that you would expect a small indie dev to put out (minus the lack of originality), all to avoid bankruptcy.
I’d consider this a distinctly uncharitable framing. I mean, it’s your opinion, I just don’t see much point in arguing over it. You need to be able to separate opinion from analysis.
Folks always assume I can’t, and again, fair enough. Not bothered about arguing about things folks have already decided in their heads. But I can. I do. It’s why I’ve always had a passion for games design. There’s a time for vibes (a lot of a good game is about “vibes”), and there’s a time to have a bit more of a rational introspection about things.
Kneejerking all over the shop won’t get you very far.
You don’t need to argue with everything, you know, especially if you don’t want to.
Ofc that’s how I see it. Feel free to disagree and see it differently.
Yeah, they’ve actually gained investors. Sega was stripping them for parts when they bought themselves out.
Also, this is a game made by Relic Labs, not Relic Entertainment. It’s them trying to reinvent themselves, but also it’s them trying to expand their operations. The message is clear: Relic Entertainment and its subsidiaries are focused on making games in the strategy genre.
From the article I linked earlier (which I highly recommend people read, since they lay out VERY CLEARLY their intent):
Now the company is working on something called Relic Labs.
“We can take some chances but again set the expectation that those games are smaller in scope and scale and not necessarily traditional RTS games,” said Dowdeswell. “They might be adjacent to that genre, certainly within our wheelhouse as a strategy studio. Releasing those games on a much more frequent basis. We’re staying close to the players, staying close to the communities we’re trying to create and learning along the way.”
The whole point is to explore their creativity. This needs to be seen more as a growing phase for them.
They’ll be making games like these once or twice a year, and more than likely taking what they learn from that into their next AAA title.
This is what learning from your mistakes looks like: they took the feedback, now they are adapting to it.
This isn’t an attempt to argue with you, but I want to bring something to your attention. When you tell people what to do, or criticize them based off of how you see them, you are inviting conflict. It’s a disrespect towards another persons autonomy, and it’s 100% going to get them to be frustrated with you.
Just my 2 cents.
1 Like
For a studio that used to be known for successful innovation, it’s imo great to see.
1 Like
The way I see it, in best case they turn into next Petroglyph Games.
A company with potential to make great games, but stuck with a budget for mediocre ones.
WOW it looks like this flop Advance Wars Re-Boot
Advance Wars was made first like year 2001, that’s 24 years old concept.
it now even original what they want to sell here.
1 Like
“it’s a turn based game with squares, this makes it Advance Wars”
Speaking as someone who played a lot of those games, has anyone here, uh, done the same?
I’m surprised people didn’t acknowledge the reference to Impossible Creatures with the splicing action they were showing off.
Par for the course with the scathing criticism within minutes of learning about it though.
1 Like
Dawn of War 4 would be fun
1 Like
I own Advance Wars Reboot Camp. Do you think you’re the only gamer in here?
This screen doesn’t remind you of Advance Wars?
Never said I was. I played a lot of the original Advance Wars games. This is why I asked!
You’re comparing things on superficial similarities, and seemingly predicting failure because Reboot Camp didn’t do well. The original franchise did! Reboot Camp is a separate, modern thing.
Those 2 screens side-by-side strike you as superficial similarities? It’s literally Advance Wars on PC with a sci-fi coat of paint.
I never predicted anything as far as I’m aware. But since you’re accusing me of it, no I don’t think this will be a huge success either. Despite being a small project, there are no bold ideas here, they just wanna pay the bills. I’d rather give my money to an indie dev with a dream than this unambitious offspring of corporate cowardice. Not even sure why they’re calling it Relic Labs. What exactly are they experimenting with?
It’s just a game made in the same style, but that applies to games like:
- Tiny Metal
- Wargroove
- Fire Emblem
- Into the Breach
- Field Commander
There’s more to the game than the things that are like advance wars. Saying it is an uncharitable framing is a mild way of putting it.
1 Like
With regards to the overall game, setting, and feature set . . . yes?
Like, a big draw of Advance Wars were the characters. This is why they kept leaning into the roster as a way of developing the original games (to the extent that Dual Strike for the DS let you control two COs at once). The setting isn’t a “coat of paint”. It’s important to the comparison!
Mechanically, the gameplay for Advance Wars (especially the earlier games) was pretty straightforward. The unit “splicing” mechanic in Earth vs. Mars alone looks like a game-changer compared.
You’re right, that was the other poster, my bad.
Then do that. You don’t owe Relic anything. Nor they you.
1 Like
Of course not. What?..
We have seen various big studios try to go indie, free2play, trendy and early access ,to figure out it doesn’t work. As a big company you can’t deliver this special game feeling, like the 1-2 guys who put their souls into games. In the best case how does 100.000 sold copies for 15 Euros in 1 year pay bills for 100 people who work on this? Instead of make games and money, they start make various projects that simply drain their resources, till you can’t pay the bills.
1 Like
How big is Larian again?
Big enough to not qualify.
47 when they made divinity original sin 1, they nearly went bankrupt making it. Numbers pumped up to 150~ when they made 2, now they are around 470 and have 7 studios worldwide.
An interesting comparison to make would be Minecraft before it got sold off to Microsoft, made by 1 guy, compared to Minecraft now. Or literally any indie game dev that gets picked up by a studio/publisher and gets support. The glow up those games tend to get with a larger studio is pretty significant.
Relying on the number of employees to determine quality is going to have wildly different results.
As a side note, Relic now has 51-200* employees in their offices.
World’s Edge has 11-50*, Forgotten Empires has 51-200*.
*Totals from Linkedin
It’s not the size of the studio that determines indie status, it’s the status as a company. Relic is independent of a publisher, therefore they are an indie studio. Larian is an indie studio for the same reason.
1 Like
Not qualify for what? Being able to deliver a special game feeling?
Kinda feel BG3 says otherwise.