This has a console release? It has a physical console release? Weird.
PC Gaming is dead, after all.
He is a YT streamer, and technically, a beta tester.
Reading through those notes, which are beta testing gold by the way, has kind of confirmed that this is a game to hold on pre-ordering until I see more writing and less streaming. I find the former a better vehicle for expressing articulately critical thinking. Tropico 5 was a major let down for me, too, so burnt once…
The discussion of the whole @tomchick vs. Paradox matter was interesting to read, perhaps more than discussing a game that has been marketed a bit much… Stay strong Tom, you still need to be 20 years more writing about games to be the Roger Ebert of video game criticism. I enjoy reading your reviews, very much as I enjoy reading Roger Ebert’s thoughts. Hence I became a patron of yours. That doesn’t mean that I take[1] at face value what cultural prescriptors I follow/admire, you know, prescribe to be fun, cool or interesting. I think that you’re honest in what you write, that it actually comes from the heart. I trust that.
Like his work, yours endures the test of time remarkably well very often. That is a rare thing. When you wrote about Stellaris I felt I was in deep disagreement with you on some points, like the “lack of character” of the aliens, as if the phoney photocopies of sci-fi tropes that we see regurgitated on every space 4x game was anything else than pap for the mind. But, on the larger picture and general vibe you were pretty much right in the money.
I am “old” too, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have time for the “young” ones who aren’t familiar with the “classics”. On the contrary, and here I am totally with @Nesrie. Quite often those innocent voices will speak truth. Currently I am helping coordinate beta testing of a game, and I am finding extremely tiresome to deal with grandstanding blowhards with lots of “background” who produce very little feedback and are more interested to look clever to their peers. On the other hand, I feel intellectually stimulating to engage with those with “less background” and also less fearful of their perceived intellectual status.
[1] With the notable exception of John Peel, RIP. He was always right.
Ok, this suddenly decreased my interest in the game. Strategy game with concurrent release on console is concerning.
You mean like Aven Colony?
I want to say consoles having it shouldn’t matter, but sadly, my experience has been the same. However a solid not as heavy as Paradox but good strategy title would still be welcome.
Whoa, Aven Colony had a simultaneous console release? That’s a bit of a surprise. I never would have guessed from playing it. It felt thoroughly PC!
-Tom
That was my somewhat snarky point yes. Aven is a fine game, and is on all consoles so I don’t think that particular point is of any significance.
Oh, I definitely agree. I have long since stopped thinking of console releases as design compromises. Seems more often to be the other way 'round.
-Tom
For many of us it was out on PC way before console via beta so I didn’t really think of it that way. But it’s a fair point.
FWIW, my comment wasn’t implying design compromises. Just surprise. This just doesn’t seem like a game that would sell on consoles, especially not enough to justify a physical release.
Right. Just to illustrate, Cities: Skylines sold 5M copies on PC. On PS4 it didn’t make the top-20 PSN downloads for its launch month in the US, and was 14th in Europe. But they probably had to make a call on the console version for Surviving Mars before getting those numbers.
Things I learned today while googling.
We all know these developers made the previous 5 tropico games, but did you know they also made the successful ARPG Victor Vran? I did not!
Tropico 6 is being made by a different studio. This was also news to me!
The dev’s are doing an AMA on Reddit today.
Very well said.
I didn’t either but that is interesting. I still have to try Victor Vran.
It is sad that even at our age you are exceptionally defensive and cannot engage with any criticism without hyperbole and personal attacks. It is sad that at our age I continue to engage with you on the belief that you might not do so some day.
Back to the Surviving Mars discussion.
I did know that. They also have some not great strategy titles under their belt, but…they weren’t terrible which is why i maintain hope for this one.
Victor Vran is a great ARPG for how carefully it was tailored to console controls. If they did Victor Vran, that bodes well for a console version of Surviving Mars.
Switch version incoming!
You mean back to the thing we’ve been doing for a few days before your “no u” post? Gee, thanks. But, yeah, I tend defend myself when people make idiotic claims about me. Sorry if that makes you sad.
-Tom
Almost wish I didn’t know. :-)
The Switch has had me double- and triple-dipping on titles I own on other platforms. In many cases I have found the Switch to be the ideally suited platform for smaller titles that I wouldn’t necessarily fire up while at my PC. One great example is Flame in the Flood; a game I never spent much time with until it released on the Switch and, wow, it is perfectly suited for that console. Great to play in little bite-sized sessions.
Shawn Andrich on the GWJ podcast mentioned how he has played this for several hours and liked what he saw quite a bit.
That’s promising. GWJ?