Weird West: Definitive Edition - top-down immersive sim action-RPG from Arkane founder Raf Colantonio

[Morgoth]

I wasn't expecting this, but I'm still on board.

C'mon guise, let's keep on open mind here!

 

[vortex]

I only want you could build an arcane gunslinger class if you care for that stuff.

 

[Tito Anic]

From co-creators of Prey, Dishonored... Why not Arx Fatalis? Which is successor to DX,SS2

 

[Orma]

hope by 'action rpg' they mean isometric rpg with real time combat rather than DIABLO CLONE

 

[Morgoth]

From co-creators of Prey, Dishonored... Why not Arx Fatalis? Which is successor to DX,SS2

The filthy masses haven't heard of Arx.

 

[RickOmbo]

Looks like that cancelled beamdog game.

Spoiler

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like that cancelled beamdog game.

Spoiler

That's funny. Raf started work on this game around October 2017, Beamdog supposedly canceled their weird west RPG around that time!

Funny coincidence... or not

.

Beamdog's game was going to be a turn-based RPG though.

 

[JDR13]

A " top-down action-RPG immersive sim"?

 

[Turuko]

cel shading is the bane of my existence

 

[Lyric Suite]

Meh.

hope by 'action rpg' they mean isometric rpg with real time combat rather than DIABLO CLONE

I'm pretty sure thinking this is going to be a Diablo clone is being optimistic lmao.

 

[Latelistener]

I only want you could build an arcane gunslinger class if you care for that stuff.

This looks like it is straight out of Grim Dawn (there are guns and magic and you can make that kind of class there). At first I even thought that the art was made for the game (it loves that kind of greenish palette)

 

[toro]

Trailer music by Raf's band Weird Wolves:

She is very talented.

Probably as good as Raf's design skills.

 

[Latelistener]

an immersive sim

Not first person means it's not an immersive sim.

To be honest, I think Gothic is as immersive as a game can be. Same can be said about Underrail for example. Having interconnected emergent systems is much more important than having a first person camera view.

 

[Momock]

I'm pretty sure thinking this is going to be a Diablo clone is being optimistic lmao.

And don't see how this is optimistic to be honest. It's more like the worst case scenario.

I think it will be a top down shooter with RPG elements, like the usual immersive sims are first person shooters with RPG elements.

 

[Saduj]

Some of the screens on the Steam page look like they were pulled straight out of Hard West. From reading the description, they are also going the Hard West route of multiple fixed protagonists with related stories. I'm interested in this but I'm still waiting for a proper wild west RPG.

 

[Orma]

Hard West was actually pretty good, so that's cool

 

[Falksi]

Hard West is fucking mint

 

[CyberModuled]

People probably already saw it in the Steam screenshots but I hope I'm certainly not the only one getting Fallout 1/2 vibes from the map.

Hopefully it's a handcrafted map with minimal random generation (also wonder if the number of days on the top left will have any meaning).

 

[Roguey]

To be honest, I think Gothic is as immersive as a game can be. Same can be said about Underrail for example. Having interconnected emergent systems is much more important than having a first person camera view.

RPGs with sim elements. Immersive sims have a specific set of features.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I'm pretty sure thinking this is going to be a Diablo clone is being optimistic lmao.

And don't see how this is optimistic to be honest. It's more like the worst case scenario.

That was the joke.

 

[LESS T_T]

About "random" generation, since the departure Raf often talked about his interest in "well-done" procedural generation system, citing Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system.

Even in a recent interview about WolfEye studio: https://www.vg247.com/2019/11/20/wolfeye-raphael-colantonio-interview/

Do you still prefer more tailored experiences, or do you think you’ll touch on procedural generation which a lot of indie, immersive sims have done?

RC: Yeah, I think it’s part of the evolution of the practices in development in game design in general. It’s fascinating, some sort of AI, in fact, to the creation of your content, and lead to something that is more per player, per experience, rather than something that has been pre-authored. Yeah, it’s super fascinating. I’ve seen examples of that that was actually really encouraging, because you see on the one hand, often procedural means just random and out of context, which after a while is not very fun. But there are things that actually show really, really big promises, like the first time with some nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor. That was super, super satisfying, right? It’s a credit for procedural generation done well.

When I think of procedural content, I’m thinking of procedurally generated maps, and that doesn’t seem to gel well with your ethos of environmental storytelling.

RC: Yeah, it’s definitely a challenge. Doesn’t mean it can’t be tackled, doesn’t mean that we should not try. I think you have a team who tried to make those generated maps, and they addressed something that actually has meaning from the paintings or in the corridors. And it’s going to happen. I think the designers and developers out there are interested in this. It seems like a really natural condition of where we are right now, because it just costs too much to do, to handcraft everything. And also, we lose opportunity by handcrafting everything.

Also last year: https://www.gameology.ir/en/index.php?pid=read&id=14

Raphael Colantonio: I love it for its nemesis system. it's a little more of same, I loved the first one and I think the nemesis system and overall the feeling of the game is so great that it keeps me interested but there are moments that it feels a little bit like a grind, I wish there were more than the nemesis system, I think they showed that playing a story is actually a little more interesting than writing a story. I wish all games go to this playing story. by the way that's why a lot of indie games go there because I think it’s cheaper and also more powerful for the players which pretty much offer story like a movie ... and there's nothing wrong with that but, games have this thing that is called interactivity activity that allows us to take games somewhere else than trying to mimic movies. So that's why I really appreciate play story games.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Latelistener]

To be honest, I think Gothic is as immersive as a game can be. Same can be said about Underrail for example. Having interconnected emergent systems is much more important than having a first person camera view.

RPGs with sim elements. Immersive sims have a specific set of features.

I don't think of it as a genre, since technically Deus Ex is a shooter with RPG and "sim" elements, same as System Shock. It's exactly what it is: "sim elements" and any game can inherit it.

 

[Roguey]

I don't think of it as a genre, since technically Deus Ex is a shooter with RPG and "sim" elements, same as System Shock. It's exactly what it is: "sim elements" and any game can inherit it.

It's a subgenre.

What I find important is that no immersive sim developer ever called Ultima 6/7 that because it lacked the first person view.

 

[Momock]

In my opinion "immersive sim" elements are just RPG elements of gameplay that -while still depending on your character stats- aren't abstractions, as you execute them directly on the gameworld by acting with your character rather than throwing dice and having a text box telling you what happened. That's why it's immersive, it has nothing to do with FP.