What happened to AAA gaming?

You have to wonder what happened to AAA gaming. I have complained about this many times before, but somehow, the state of AAA games just keep getting worse and worse. Beyond all the controversies involved, like DEI, making female protagonists man-like both visually and in behavior, and just poor writing in general, the industry at large seems incredibly stagnated. It seems almost dead-like, with games being copied ad nauseam with a minimum effort of making sure it’s fun or providing anything new. All to serve the almighty dollar, and push it as far as possible doing so.

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Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen – Interview with the lead writer

Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen is one of the biggest cRPG disappointments in recent years. Not because it was bad, or anything like that. The reason it was a disaster is that it got put on ice permanently before it had a chance to wow anyone. It was a Kickstarter success, but unfortunately, the development petered out. It’s unclear as to why, but as game development goes, financial issues were probably one of the problems.

However, I got the opportunity to talk to the mysterious lead writer of the project, who wanted to remain anonymous. The person in question won’t be elaborating much on why Realms Beyond is currently dead in the water, seeing as the focus of the interview will be mainly on the writing.

So, welcome to an interview with the lead writer of Realms Beyond. It’s time to find out what this game was all about, and what kind of grand narrative we are sadly missing out on.

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Busy selling games – let’s see how it went

After months of thinking about selling a few games I have collected over the years, I finally decided to take the plunge. Most of the games I own as physical copies are not too special. They mostly hold sentimental value for different reasons. However, then I have some games whose mere existence on my shelves annoys me. Well, not really. I’m not entirely fair here. They are just purchases made in the spur of the moment. Mostly, I got the titles cheaply with curiosity as my guide. So, let’s see what I have managed to sell after two weeks, and how much it has earned me.

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Fernando Pereira [Ularis Badler] (Archrebel Tactics) – Interview

Welcome to an interview with Fernando Pereira, the solo developer behind the studio Ularis Badler. He is currently busy working on the impressive squad-based tactical game Archrebel Tactics. The demo left me impressed, and if you want to give it a go yourself, you can find it here. Now for the interview.

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[Book Tip] Homefront: The Voice of Freedom by John Milius & Raymond Benson

In my Homefront review, I complained that it didn’t seem very feasible that it was the North Koreans that attacked the USA instead of China. However, the prequel book Homefront: The Voice of Freedom goes into much more detail on the reasons why and how. It makes the idea of North Korea attacking a USA that is on its last legs way more plausible. I was admittedly impressed by how much the book focuses on this aspect, as in building up why things are as they are. Everything from geopolitics to the economics of the world, and the new scary tech within it. While it doesn’t reach the style of Tom Clancy fully, it gave me strong vibes of it.

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