V is in Champaign IL; not many game companies in a place like that - away from the big cities, away from the expensive coastlines. That was enough to draw in and retain a fair amount of people. There were a lot of lifers there, and for good reason - even with the churn of people at developers, there were always enough people sticking around that there was definitely a family feel. Once you’ve shipped a game or two, settled down and bought a Midwest priced home, it’s hard to look at cost of living in most game dev hubs and think “Yes, I want to pay five times more for a smaller house.”
Where there a lot of people there who worked on the original Descent over the years (even if they did eventually move to other things)?
I played three times (although the last time I didn’t reach the final mission, I got close). I mention this because it is tremendously rare for me, with the size of my backlog and how usually I jump from game to game.
An incredible studio with a unique oeuvre. Even when they were doing a Grand Theft Auto knock-off, it turned out to have a flavor all its own.
It was time. Neu-Saint’s Row showed that the team there didn’t have the chops any more. Rather see them go than get absorbed a la Raven to make CoD expansions or something.
I forgot about Agents of Mayhem.
There aren’t enough posts about FreeSpace 2 in this thread, so consider this another one.
Fuck yeah, loaded it up today. Directional force feedback is AMAZING.
Damn, they had a hell of a run. I adored Descent, FreeSpace 2, Red Faction (1 + Guerilla), and Agents was super underrated. My heart goes out to those midwestern devs - they’ll likely need to uproot or switch careers to find work.
Game Informer made an awesome documentary over a decade ago, just before Saints Row 3 shipped, that demonstrated how diverse the studio and its output was.
I remember loving Red Faction. That video documentary is super insightful. Thanks for sharing
Yep, this was one of my favorite franchises. RIP Volition.
Man, easily one of the best late 90s PC games.
“Embracer” is such a dystopian name choice.
I salute them!
(With my giant dildo bat, naturally.)
Three, Gat Out of Hell was a bit of a flop as well.
Freespace 2 is forever a classic. I really enjoyed Red Faction: Guerrilla and Saints Row 2 and 3 (4 was OK, Gat out of Hell was… not). Agents of Mayhem was… weird? I enjoyed it more than not, I guess.
Still, some very memorable games in that run. Sad to see Volition go, but maybe it was the right time.
I can’t argue that it was a terrific freestanding SR game, but man did they nail the flight mechanic. Just traversing the map felt great.
Fair enough. It’s just that the rest was so forgettable to me that I don’t really remember even that.
And as far as “flying traversal mechanics” go, it’s hard to compete with Just Cause and Hogwarts Legacy. ;)
Anthem, man!
If grappling counts Spiderman probably needs a word :)
I feel you may have opened a can of worms here.
Oh no, a Qt3 thread derail? That never happens!
At least it’s not cars or Chicago style pizza this time. ;)
BTW, as far as traversal goes, I really enjoyed Prototype. And to bring it a little bit back into the topic, some of the traversal in Saints Row 4 was clearly inspired by that game, too. And the traversal in Saints Row 4 was arguably the most enjoyable part of that game, even if it made cars mostly an afterthought. Still… cool stuff.
Embracer stacking up bodies like cordwood. Who is up next for the Hug of Death?