Gaming continues to surge as one of the most popular forms of media and entertainment in the world, and with the release of the newer consoles this past holiday season and next gen gaming, there are more opportunities than ever for gaming to succeed to a much wider audience. That’s not to speak of the huge successes found in mobile too bringing gaming to a more diverse audience too, with the biggest genres in gambling and a list of sites at the best casinos for example pushing the market forward, there’s a lot to be excited for. There’s also a lot to be disappointed about too, as some recent releases haven’t really lived up to expectation, and the start of 2021 doesn’t seem to be changing that trend for some.
Some of the disappointment comes from building hype that could have never been lived up to – this was seen at the end of 2020 with the release of Cyberpunk 2077, despite the huge praise that CD Projekt Reds previous title of The Witcher 3 received, to many it set a precedent that this game first announced way back in 2012 would be flawless, and the unrealistic expectations that followed. With a less than stellar release filled with bugs and broken gameplay, as well as the unplayability on certain platforms, it had become a sort of beacon of everything wrong with the big AAA titles on offer today.
Whilst some smaller studios had found success as indie games have been thriving, not all were able to hit that sweet spot, and one recently anticipated release has hit that disappointment again – yesterday saw the release of Biomutant by the small 20-man team of Experiment 101, an open world action role playing game that had went through a few initial delays and received quite a lot of hype leading up to release. With a release price of £54.99 or $60, it certainly fits into that bracket of being a huge purchase for some but has already received some less than stellar reviews currently sitting at a 62% on Metacritic and being a game that many reviewers have stated is worth waiting before buying. The biggest criticism is that the game buckled under its own ambitions by trying to do too much without doing the bits it did extremely well.
That isn’t to say there haven’t been great releases – Resident Evil Village was praised extremely highly for example, but there has been a trend with the latest big releases that often leads to disappointment, particularly with this culture of early access and microtransactions that muddy the waters a little too. It’s unlikely to be something changed any time soon, but with increasing price tags on seemingly incomplete games, it does lead to a dull future for many fans.
