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[SprachBrooks]

Why did they green light this sequel again?

 

[Niceguydan8]

Not the best example if you wanted to convince me of anything else. Dark Souls 2 was objectively great and possibly my favourite of the lot. I'd say 86% is a tad low

Objectively great? Do you know how opinions work?

 

[Surfside]

Why did they green light this sequel again?

Because the first one sold well enough.

 

[hughesta]

Also SoW is a better game so it makes sense the hardcore gamer will chose it.

TEW2 is one of the best games of the year.

 

[kromeo]

Why did they green light this sequel again?

Some big publishers are still willing to fund mid budget games that make a modest profit

 

[Kacho]

As someone who thought the first game was incredibly rough around the edges, I'm not surprised.

 

[Kazuhira]

Not too worried tbh,surely there will be a sequel.
This is the only ip that Tango is known for and it's finally starting to build up into something,i don't think they will let it all go to waste.

 

[RandomHopeInc]

I don't see how any of these numbers bare ever valid without digital sales included, The digital sales are just going to ever be a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.

 

[sir_bumble_bee]

I'm not understanding the "zero marketing" standpoint here. I saw loads of ads online, on TV, and in stores. They marketed this game a lot more than what I was expecting to be honest.

Edit: whoops, UK market we're talking about, carry on lmao

 

[Dusk Golem]

Hey everyone, this is Dusk Golem aka AestheticGamer. I have posted on NeoGAF since 2011, and have decided to resign. I have enjoyed posting about horror games here for years, but I no longer wish to support the site and will be leaving for good. I will still be around the internet, I go by AestheticGamer on YouTube, I make games on Steam as Yai Gameworks, and I plan to go by Dusk Golem on other forums. I'll be joining an off-set of the GAF community leaving to try other ventures like ResetEra (Official Twitter for that here: https://twitter.com/reseteraforum ). I hope some of you who read this may consider it, and I plan to try to expose more people to horror games in the years to come. Just not here.

I hope you all are having a good day, and know I always loved the community, and in the end it's the community I'm going to stick with, not the site itself. If you want to follow me, my official Twitter is here: https://twitter.com/AestheticGamer1

 

[bryanee]

I don't see how any of these numbers bare ever valid without digital sales included, The digital sales are just going to ever be a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.

So with an extra 30% of digital sales (the higher end) it would still be down woudn't it?

 

[FallingEdge]

TEW2 is one of the best games of the year.

In all seriousness, I have yet to play it and plan to do so in the future. Cracking my top 5 will be hard enough as is.

 

[Salvadora]

I think a large part of the reason that there is a perception that the U.K is a tough market is because we get data like this (very) soon after a title releases, unlike the U.S where we have to wait for NPD.

 

[Zojirushi]

I don't see how any of these numbers bare ever valid without digital sales included, The digital sales are just going to ever be a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.

Add 20% or so to that number and it's still not great.

But I agree, this physical only sales data starts feeling kinda late to the party more and more.

 

[Floody]

I don't see how any of these numbers bare ever valid without digital sales included, The digital sales are just going to ever be a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.

Digital sales aren't going to come close to making up 75%, especially so in the UK were it's usually more expensive buying digitally.
At best it makes up 20%-30%, but I doubt a game like this will be on the higher end.

 

[MaximusPayne]

It's a pretty drastic change and there's little else like it despite some changes on paper that seem standard.

I know you've been playing it too, but in my opinion TEW2 is sort of like if the original game, Last of Us, Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Silent Hill Downpour, Metal Gear Solid 3, Layers of Fear, Alan Wake, and a few other smaller elements came together and had a baby.

The open world levels are just that, levels, and they're all intentionally designed with no respawning enemies or random placement, pockets of stuff to discover and do, and the sort of side-quests that flow more naturally into exploration and investigating mysteries naturally rather than how most open worlds work. Clearing out an area in those are satisfying and nice to clear them out for good, and there's a ton of events and details sprinkled into each one. Plus the open form of these stages makes it in some ways an open-ended stealth-action game at those points, which is rarer than it should be, with interesting enemies that can fuck your shit up easily on higher difficulties.

But then the game actually has plenty of linear levels and breaks-up the pacing to do more horror set-pieces, boss battles, and the like. The game has a finicky handgun but an incredibly satisfying array of shotguns, a pretty good sniper, and the crossbow with its various elemental types are fun, and upgrading your weapons you can really feel the difference.

With a world that feels somewhere between Alan Wake and Silent Hill, but with dips into much more cult-esque territories like the original game or settings that remind me of Layers of Fear sort of direction with artistic murder and grotesque displays.

While its elements are discernible, it blends them in a way I've never personally really seen before.

This is exactly how I feel. And this is also the first game in awhile that my wife sat down for at least 10 minutes and watched me play. She got a kick out of the coffee health as we are both avid coffee drinkers. I'm still hoping it gets a Pro patch.

 

[Marcel]

It's weird to see Silent Hill Downpour mentioned in a positive light at all.

 

[UrbanRats]

First Blade Runner, now this.

Cant have good things.

 

[HeelPower]

This is...a disaster.

 

[SomTervo]

Is this really experimental? The game design is pretty standard stuff.

The first did some cool stuff with perspective and level design but not really experimental.

The second is doing the same stuff but with a rare "true survival horror" open world. Open worlds are basically action or survival, rarely straight survival horror. The only other one of those we really have is Silent Hill Downpour which had a great world but deeply flawed gameplay.

For The Evil Within 2 they've taken a very unique approach to the open world - it's basically like Resident Evil 4's Village but stretched out to a large environment. Tightly designed to put you under pressure and encourage high-risk exploration for more resources.

Not sure if I'd call it experimental but it's a very unique spin.

Dusk Golem put it very well:

It's a pretty drastic change and there's little else like it despite some changes on paper that seem standard.

I know you've been playing it too, but in my opinion TEW2 is sort of like if the original game, Last of Us, Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Silent Hill Downpour, Metal Gear Solid 3, Layers of Fear, Alan Wake, and a few other smaller elements came together and had a baby.

The open world levels are just that, levels, and they're all intentionally designed with no respawning enemies or random placement, instead with pockets of stuff to discover and do, and the sort of side-quests that flow more naturally into exploration and investigating mysteries naturally rather than how most open worlds work. Clearing out an area in those are satisfying and nice to clear them out for good, and there's a ton of events and details sprinkled into each one. Plus the open form of these stages makes it in some ways an open-ended stealth-action game at those points, which is rarer than it should be, with interesting enemies that can fuck your shit up easily on higher difficulties.

But then the game actually has plenty of linear levels and breaks-up the pacing to do more horror set-pieces, boss battles, and the like. The game has a finicky handgun but an incredibly satisfying array of shotguns, a pretty good sniper, and the crossbow with its various elemental types are fun, and upgrading your weapons you can really feel the difference.

With a world that feels somewhere between Alan Wake and Silent Hill, but with dips into much more cult-esque territories like the original game or settings that remind me of Layers of Fear sort of direction with artistic murder and grotesque displays.

While its elements are discernible, it blends them in a way I've never personally really seen before.

Glad you enjoy it as much as I do, DG.

Also SoW is a better game so it makes sense the hardcore gamer will chose it.

I'm loving Shadow of War but personally I think The Evil Within 2 is a better game.

Am I not enough of a "hardcore gamer" for you?

It's weird to see Silent Hill Downpour mentioned in a positive light at all.

If you literally remove all the enemies from Downpour (or replace them with the enemies and combat from, say, Silent Hill 2), it has a legitimately fantastic open world. Nice to explore, some really clever Arkham-like puzzles and engaging level design. It's not there for the sake of it and many of the meta-puzzles actually link with the open world intelligently.

The combat system just came along and took a massive dump on all this fantastic work. It's literally hard to appreciate any of the game's strengths because it throws immersion breaking and un-fun enemies and combat mechanics at you, then makes them infinitely respawn.

Play on Easy and it's a good lark.

I don't see how any of these numbers bare ever valid without digital sales included, The digital sales are just going to ever be a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.

Truth.

 

[Servbot24]

I will play this eventually but it just isn't my priority among the other games coming out.

Also SoW is a better game so it makes sense the hardcore gamer will chose it.

SoW must be a wild improvement over SoM then, considering how poor SoM was, and TEW2 seems to be quite good. Very cool to hear if true.

 

[Servbot24]

edit: sorry, double post

 

[Dabanton]

Yeah sadly this is not on my to play list yet.

August would have been better late September onwards is when games like this sadly get sent to die.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

3 bombs in row. Let's see if Bethesda has 4 in them.

Fire your marketing person, it's not working.

 

[SomTervo]

3 bombs in row. Let's see if Bethesda has 4 in them.

Fire your marketing person, it's not working.

I wonder how much sending review codes out in the days before release would help

 

[dlauv]

Like I said in the other thread, poor marketing for a sequel to a game that frustrated a ton of people.

The first game had insanely hype marketing.

Also, low-80s metascore.

 

[T.O.P]

@you edited nvm

 

[SomTervo]

Also SoW is a better game so it makes sense the hardcore gamer will chose it.

And sales for SoW are apparently hugely down on SoM, too. How do you feel about that?

 

[lynux3]

What a shame. This game is friggin' excellent.

 

[rtcn63]

While its elements are discernible, it blends them in a way I've never personally really seen before.

What TEW2 does appear to do better than many open-world games is that it continues to emphasize combat and difficulty. Hearing that Nightmare doesn't fuck around (at least early on) but still remains manageable makes me sigh a breath of relief. But the storytelling and aesthetics are vastly different than the original's, and admittedly for me, were half the charm. (I've seen some of the

Spoiler

fire

enemies and they and the environment you face them in look so bland) And the original's far fewer item pick ups of course. (I replay games a lot and that kind of shit always annoys me)

And when I say storytelling, I mean the characters and writing are immediately NOTHING like TEW1. I want to cringe when Seb opens his mouth. Even if the original's Seb was pretty much a throwaway character, he didn't actively hurt your perception of the experience. TEW2's Seb kinda does. From the outset, the game is just so void of the personality the first one simply oozed.

 

[Niceguydan8]

3 bombs in row. Let's see if Bethesda has 4 in them.

Fire your marketing person, it's not working.

Is it only marketing? Is it possible that this specific game might not appeal to the amount of people that it needs to? I get that the first game apparently sold well enough for a sequel, but that doesn't mean that every person that played the first game is going to be willing to play the second game.

 

[AerialAir]

Well, at least all of us waiting will be grabbing this for 20 on base in a month or two... still I wish this game did better, it's a huge improvement over the first one if the reviews are right and the team deserved to see that the results of their work payed off.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

Folks tend to forget that 2014 wasn't exactly an awesome year for gaming. It was also the beginning of the generation and so gamers wanted anything to demonstrate for them what their shiny new hardware can do. Moreover, this game wasn't marketed as well as its predecessor.

There's a combination of factors here, including but not limited to the above. It's not a coincidence that other 2014 titles that got sequels this year (e.g. Destiny) suffered the same fate. It won't surprise me if Wolenstein 2 doesn't do great.

 

[Nirolak]

Why did they green light this sequel again?

The first one did okay, but not astonishing, so they probably felt there was going to be a good chance of sales improvement with a sequel back when they greenlit it in 2014.

Obviously the market has since changed dramatically and they probably regret it.

 

[Blackage]

That's a shame, seems like a good game.

 

[Marcel]

Well, at least all of us waiting will be grabbing this for 20 on base in a month or two... still I wish this game did better, it's a huge improvement over the first one if the reviews are right and the team deserved to see that the results of their work payed off.

I will likely be able to make peace with anything divisive in the game since I will be paying the bargain price, yeah.

 

[RRockman]

It's a pretty drastic change and there's little else like it despite some changes on paper that seem standard.

I know you've been playing it too, but in my opinion TEW2 is sort of like if the original game, Last of Us, Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Silent Hill Downpour, Metal Gear Solid 3, Layers of Fear, Alan Wake, and a few other smaller elements came together and had a baby.

The open world levels are just that, levels, and they're all intentionally designed with no respawning enemies or random placement, instead with pockets of stuff to discover and do, and the sort of side-quests that flow more naturally into exploration and investigating mysteries naturally rather than how most open worlds work. Clearing out an area in those are satisfying and nice to clear them out for good, and there's a ton of events and details sprinkled into each one. Plus the open form of these stages makes it in some ways an open-ended stealth-action game at those points, which is rarer than it should be, with interesting enemies that can fuck your shit up easily on higher difficulties.

But then the game actually has plenty of linear levels and breaks-up the pacing to do more horror set-pieces, boss battles, and the like. The game has a finicky handgun but an incredibly satisfying array of shotguns, a pretty good sniper, and the crossbow with its various elemental types are fun, and upgrading your weapons you can really feel the difference.

With a world that feels somewhere between Alan Wake and Silent Hill, but with dips into much more cult-esque territories like the original game or settings that remind me of Layers of Fear sort of direction with artistic murder and grotesque displays.

While its elements are discernible, it blends them in a way I've never personally really seen before.

Thanks for speaking the truth.

 

[Moon Presence]

The marketing for this game was awful. Fifa seems to be the only thing that matters in the UK.

 

[black cobra]

It's a pretty drastic change and there's little else like it despite some changes on paper that seem standard.

I know you've been playing it too, but in my opinion TEW2 is sort of like if the original game, Last of Us, Resident Evil 1, Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, Silent Hill Downpour, Metal Gear Solid 3, Layers of Fear, Alan Wake, and a few other smaller elements came together and had a baby.

What exactly of TEW 2 reminds you of MGS3? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Namikaze]

I honestly had no idea there was a second game until like a week ago. Why would you spend millions developing a game and not market it. I don’t understand at all.

 

[Exodust]

considering the packed month, lack of marketing and somewhat lukewarm response to the original I'm not surprised.

 

[Marcel]

I honestly had no idea there was a second game until like a week ago. Why would you spend millions developing a game and not market it. I don't understand at all.

Even Prey got things like TV commercials. TEW2 got an E3 trailer and then...basically nothing.

 

[MUnited83]

And sales for SoW are apparently hugely down on SoM, too. How do you feel about that?

Actually, they aren't.

 

[SomTervo]

What exactly of TEW 2 reminds you of MGS3? I'm genuinely curious.

I'm glad Dusk Golem said that because I feel it, too. I'm not sure about MGS3 though, it felt similar to 1 and 2 to me, too.

Basically TEW2 has a very 'Metal Gear' exposition. Very character driven 'one last mission' kind of vibe, where you're a specialist with personal and professional connection to the nightmarish mission context, who has been called in by a larger power and sent in alone to solve a difficult/impossible situation.

• The whole set up of a smaller linear mission then the game opens up is very MGS.
• The actual dialogue and direction is semi-hammy but semi-realistic like MGS.
• The way you deploy alone into a mission, but meet unique characters throughout who have a fixed, believable place in the world, feels very MGS
• The way you have a 'support network' of characters is very MGS
• The way the game is structured around tracking down multiple special creatures/bosses/characters is very MGS
• The way levels/areas are like little open zones is very MGS, and the way you traverse them while gradually accrueing better gear

And on top of it the actual telling of the adventure/story feels quite MGS-like.

Actually, they aren't.

Maybe "hugely" was an exaggeration, but they're down at retail, just like TEW2.

 

[TGO]

Well deserved if you ask me. I watched like 3 to 4 hours of the mid/late game and it looked like a (bad) carbon copy of tlou. The (quite) weak story turned out to be the best part of this game.

Mediocre game gets mediocre sales, I'm ok with that.

You sat and watched 4 hour's

Of a game you didn't like?
Didn't you think when you typed 3 that, you know maybe was kinda obvious? no you just continued to type 4 hours after that.

 

[Boke1879]

I do plan on getting this, but I do have other things to play and get this month. Wolf2 and Mario for one.

So I will get this game, but will most likely wait on a price drop.

 

[Marcel]

Maybe "hugely" was an exaggeration, but they're down at retail, just like TEW2.

You're leaving out the important context that 18% at retail will likely be made up through digital sales of SoW. 75% at retail is a much wider gap.

 

[zoukka]

Too bad, the first game was a goddamn gem.

 

[TGO]

Actually, they aren't.

It literally says it in the same article.

 

[BumblebeeCody]

Seems like a UK thing from the last two thread I read. FIFA and D2?

The UK is generally a crapbag of buying. Factory trash like Fifa and Assassins Creed that sells. Plus this game had barely any promotion and the first wasn't that great either.