I guess that depends on where your cutoff is for AAA, but if you’re including FromSoft, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II just came out this year at a similar level of budget and production value. And I know people have their issues with Unreal, but it really has raised the bar for what a “AA” might be capable of. The likes of Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, The Alters, Split Fiction, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 this year (and games like The Thaumaturge last year) are all what we would have expected out of a AAA game in the not-too-distant past, most of which comes down to scope, where a lot of AAAs are arguably doing too much.
I haven’t played any of those yet but isn’t the subject what we’re looking forward to seeing at the Game Awards? I’m not sure if those studios are rumored to be announcing anything on the show.
I’m gonna have to toss a going between Expedition 33 and KCD2. They both seem like my type of game
Well, you said those were the only AAA devs that weren’t making money printing skinner boxes, and we had plenty of counter examples just this year. Obsidian put out 2 or 3 games this year, depending on how you count, and it wouldn’t be crazy for them to have an announcement for a game coming next year.
Absolutely give those two games a try; they’re high on the TGA’s lists for a reason.
I guess that depends on where your cutoff is for AAA, but if you’re including FromSoft, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II just came out this year at a similar level of budget and production value. And I know people have their issues with Unreal, but it really has raised the bar for what a “AA” might be capable of. The likes of Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, The Alters, Split Fiction, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 this year (and games like The Thaumaturge last year) are all what we would have expected out of a AAA game in the not-too-distant past, most of which comes down to scope, where a lot of AAAs are arguably doing too much.
I haven’t played any of those yet but isn’t the subject what we’re looking forward to seeing at the Game Awards? I’m not sure if those studios are rumored to be announcing anything on the show.
I’m gonna have to toss a going between Expedition 33 and KCD2. They both seem like my type of game
Well, you said those were the only AAA devs that weren’t making money printing skinner boxes, and we had plenty of counter examples just this year. Obsidian put out 2 or 3 games this year, depending on how you count, and it wouldn’t be crazy for them to have an announcement for a game coming next year.
Absolutely give those two games a try; they’re high on the TGA’s lists for a reason.