Omnipunctual Godot
Gold Member
In a lot of threads for the past few years, you often see people asking, "Where have the AA games gone?"
And they're not wrong. For a long time, it seemed like you had your choice of big-budget studio games or indies, without much in between.
But looking at some of the games THQ Nordic showcased today, and seeing what studios like Supermassive have accomplished, I'm starting to think that AA might have a resurgence after all.
Look at Tempest Rising.
Does it look like a $100M showcase? No.
But as a C&C clone, it has a lot of potential in a genre that's been pretty starved over the last few years.
The same goes for Alone in the Dark.
Does this look like it has the production value of something like RE VIII? I don't think so. But it does seem like it could fill a budget-horror nitch. And sometimes those are the types of horror games that can be the most enjoyable (like Deadly Premonition, Fatal Frame, and Rule of Rose).
Outside of the horror and RTS genres, they also showed off the Gothic 1 Remake, which looks like it has potential to be pretty great.
And that's what I've missed about AA games. They don't always have to swing for the fences. Sometimes doing something well enough or adding something new to the mix is all you need.
My only question is if they will be AA-priced games. I think the thing we're missing right now is AA games that are priced somewhere between indies and full-budget tentpole releases. This is something that's been largely missing since the PS2 era. I'd love to see it come back and give gamers more options.
Do you think the AA game might be making a comeback? Do you think there's room in the gaming market for a third option between major AAA releases and lower-budget indies?
And they're not wrong. For a long time, it seemed like you had your choice of big-budget studio games or indies, without much in between.
But looking at some of the games THQ Nordic showcased today, and seeing what studios like Supermassive have accomplished, I'm starting to think that AA might have a resurgence after all.
Look at Tempest Rising.
Does it look like a $100M showcase? No.
But as a C&C clone, it has a lot of potential in a genre that's been pretty starved over the last few years.
The same goes for Alone in the Dark.
Does this look like it has the production value of something like RE VIII? I don't think so. But it does seem like it could fill a budget-horror nitch. And sometimes those are the types of horror games that can be the most enjoyable (like Deadly Premonition, Fatal Frame, and Rule of Rose).
Outside of the horror and RTS genres, they also showed off the Gothic 1 Remake, which looks like it has potential to be pretty great.
And that's what I've missed about AA games. They don't always have to swing for the fences. Sometimes doing something well enough or adding something new to the mix is all you need.
My only question is if they will be AA-priced games. I think the thing we're missing right now is AA games that are priced somewhere between indies and full-budget tentpole releases. This is something that's been largely missing since the PS2 era. I'd love to see it come back and give gamers more options.
Do you think the AA game might be making a comeback? Do you think there's room in the gaming market for a third option between major AAA releases and lower-budget indies?
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