Horizon: Forbidden West – Is Franchising ruining good stories?

This is a reoccurring theme on this blog now; I’m poor as shit. Both financially poor and time poor. Thus I’ve had to become much more selective about which video games I spend my time and my money on. Especially now they are starting at £70 as a minimum.

Which is why I take much more of a wait and see approach to major AAA titles. Like Horizon: Forbidden West for example. The first game in the franchise was one I loved, telling a super unique story full of mystery, compelling characters and settings. While the gameplay was something of a turnoff for some people, the question behind the nature of the world drove many people to see it through to the end, myself included.

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The Inevitable sequels to games that never needed them

Franchising is both a miraculous gift and huge crutch when it comes to media. Without it, we wouldn’t have the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the continuation of Star Wars. Which is great, but not everything was born to be a franchise, sometimes a single movie/video game is all you need. One that sets out to tell a story and spread its message, then it’s done all tied up in a neat little bow as this self contained gem.

Then that story becomes popular, makes a lot of money and people start asking when the story is going to continue. Missing the entire point that the story was only so good because it existed in its own little bubble.

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Wooderon Games of the year 2017: #5

For a lot of people, 2017 was the year of the Battle Royale. Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds took the world by storm when it came out in early access on Steam. I was very tempted to pick it up, but then it was announced that there was going to be a console port at the tail end of the year, so I thought I’d wait. But then Epic jumped on the tailcoats of PUBG and released a new mode for their game Fortnite on console, much to the disgruntlement of the PUBG developers. Especially when it took Epic’s under performing game and breathed new life into it, changing what it was.

I played a little Fortnite but couldn’t get into it really. The 1 vs. 100 gimmick didn’t do a lot for me and I found myself going back to more tried and tested waters for me, Like Overwatch, or Destiny 2. I probably will give PUBG a try when it comes to console. But in case you were wondering my thoughts on that whole genre/flavour of the month, there it is, and why it doesn’t make an appearance on my list. Spoilers, I guess.

#10: Prey

#9: Star Wars Battlefront II

#8: Cuphead

#7: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

#6: Destiny 2

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