2023 is going crazy. Suffice it to say that we have only just been able to celebrate the New Year, and here in a moment July and half of the twelve months are done. Significantly, although the pace seems to be deadly, quite a lot has happened so far – also in the video game industry, where we actually got a real flood of premieres and debuts, for which we have been waiting for a long time.
In fact, every month there were at least a few high-budget and strong (in terms of the brand itself or the studios responsible for the preparation) productions, in the context of which the interest was cosmic long before the premiere. We were dealing with the type of games that are previously tracked, researched, observed and constantly discussed in the circle of loved ones and on thematic forums.
However, as is usually the case, there are better and worse situations. Even with a statistical approach to the subject, it must be that sometimes things just don’t work out. It’s never the case that ten out of ten games will fully meet the expectations of the audience and turn out to be the proverbial “10/10”. Nope – that would be too beautiful (and probably too time consuming). But the problem is that this year… Well, this year is somehow worse.
What about 2023?
I will start a bit enigmatically , but … At the beginning, when I was making a small summary of the past months of this year in my head, I thought that maybe something was wrong with me. I began to think that it was only my imagination and that it was actually an illusion mixed with the psychology of the crowd. Thoughts constantly orbited in my head that if we were to analyze the games in 2023 then … The best turned out to be those we had played before.
I decided to look at a few rating aggregators and it turned out that I wasn’t far from the truth. not at all! Wherever you go and what ranking you don’t look at this year, most of the top places are occupied by titles such as Metroid Prime Remastered, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Persona 4 Golden or Dead Space Remake . Isn’t that telling, Dear Readers? Times fly by, new brands are created, and the older ones are still the best.
And it’s not even about the fact that there are no new ones . Hi-Fi Rush, Octopath Traveler II or Hogwarts Legacy are often mentioned. Nevertheless, usually in slightly further places and usually in a slightly more narrow group of representatives. Meanwhile, on the podium, such a refreshed Resident Evil 4 or a completely renovated Dead Space are almost certain. Very eloquent, isn’t it?
Only, chickens, where does it come from? The answer seems to be, unfortunately, relatively simple. Many new games that are created completely from scratch suffer from uninteresting afflictions at launch. Anyway, it is similar with productions transferred from equipment to equipment – also in the one with the largest budgets and the greatest expectations. In fact, with every new game, there is a lot of controversy about it.
Problems, problems, problems…
It’s actually been going on since the very beginning. One of the most anticipated releases of the year was Forspoken . Yes, this game that hardly anyone remembers today. It was supposed to show us the power of PlayStation 5, and in the end it turned out to be a shell with some interesting moments. However, this is not enough to meet the expectations of recipients, which have been built for such a long time. A dud, unfortunately – and I’m not even talking about optimization.
A moment later we also got Wild Hearts or Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty . Two strong titles, two offering similar experiences, but unfortunately two quite “bugged” from the start. In fact, in both, although it was very pleasant to beat the powerful and bloodthirsty beasts, one could get the impression that everything should debut a bit later. So at least a few weeks to make it work for the premiere. The poor condition, of course, had an impact on interest.
Soon after, probably the most famous case of the whole year, because it concerned one of the largest brands in the industry. And , of course, we are talking about the infamous debut of “The Last of Us: Part 1” on PC. But that was wrong. The game itself is of course excellent, but I feel very sorry for those who, guided by sympathy for the series, reached for the title in this way for the first time. And then they saw these disappearing walls, twisted figures, and much, much more.
The next two titles are the freshest of themes – Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Redfall . In the case of the first, as I mentioned in a separate text, I had no major problems on PS5. A later patch, which appeared a few days after the release, actually reduced them to almost zero. With the second game, the situation was a bit worse, because even at the time of writing this text it is quite average. A pebble to Microsoft’s pickle, unfortunately.
What’s next?
And although, of course, in each of these cases, sooner or later the errors have been (or will be) fixed, the disgust remains . As the famous saying goes, you can only make a first impression once. And unfortunately in this case it is very bad. What’s more, it affects the perspective in which I perceive the year 2023. Great hurry, the desire to close financial quarters and shortcomings.
Will we put an end to this? I can only hope so. I hope that the second half of the year will be better, and even that the upcoming debut of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will put an end to this infamous series. I’m already worried about Starfield and some other works, among other things. Will they also be rushed out ? Will we also wait a few weeks or months? To enjoy the full game? I hope not.
Source: Kajetan Wesierski