In 2024, we were playing like it was 1997. Games like Metaphor: ReFantasia, Astrobotand the one developed alone Balatro remixed genres from past console generations (or, in Balatro's, remixed the old poker game) to commercial and critical success, while Capcom was one of the most successful companies of the year backed by a healthy mix of titles from different genres. With the industry's biggest publishers increasingly pursuing massive, broadly engaging games intended to be played forever, it was encouraging to see old formats returning with some new tricks. And these successes could provide the blueprint needed to pull the video game industry out of its current tailspin.
Person Developer Atlus has once again innovated the turn-based RPG with Metaphor: ReFantasia. What are you doing? MetaphorWhat's interesting about combat in a way that's hard to replicate with traditional turn-based RPGs is that Atlus has built a unique skill system driven by anticipation and anxiety. Characters have access to powerful summons, each with their own abilities, along with strengths and weaknesses that enemies also share. Hitting an enemy's weakness or getting exploited results in monumental changes to the momentum of the battle. Every attack has consequences, as you don't know what will work against your enemies or what they have to work against you.
Atlus has created a unique skill system driven by anticipation and anxiety.
Despite dominating with games like final fantasy In the late 80s and 90s, turn-based RPGs have fallen behind. (With the notable exception of the Dragon Search series, which consistently sells large copies in Japan.) Modern tastes have evolved to prefer the active, frenetic, combo-dependent combat of the action RPG to the passive, implicit action of turn-based games. But through Person series, and now with MetaphorAtlus has proven that it is uniquely equipped to make turn-based RPGs feel as kinetic and engaging as their action cousins.
The poker rogue Balatro It is perhaps the game that best represents the success that can be achieved by fusing old genres with new features. Roguelikes can be a tough sell, especially for players unfamiliar with the genre. To make them stick, players must not only be okay with the idea of failure as progression, but they must also be invested enough in the broader world of the game to want to keep playing multiple times. for each hellThere are hundreds of games on digital storefronts that blur together into blobs of generic fantasy dungeon crawlers.
(Balatro is) catnip for players who can't resist “increasing the number.”
One of the reasons Balatro It became an instant success because it didn't have that obstacle. Poker is known all over the world and hasn't really changed much in the centuries since its invention. Balatro He took advantage of that familiarity and combined it with great humor and a ingenious progression system that made it catnip for players who can't resist “increasing the number.” More than that, Balatro It feels more forgiving than its roguelike cousins. The best races in hell are usually the result of getting lucky with specific blessings or items, while Balatro It's packed with wild cards, card modifiers, buffs, and more that make scores get stupid fast. Balatro It took home a slew of Game Awards, and probably would have won Game of the Year if it weren't for that meddling robot.
Speaking of…perhaps the biggest example of the 2024 return trend is Astrobot. Developed by the Asobi team, Astrobot is a full-size standalone expansion to the PS5 game pack Astro's game room which takes the adventures of the little robot beyond the limits of the PS5 console and into a wider universe. However, in essence, Astrobot is a mascot platformer reminiscent of games from the early days of PlayStation like crash bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Indeed, Astrobot pays homage to those same characters, featuring them as robots to rescue alongside other characters from PlayStation's 30-year history.
Astrobot It is filled with so many items and secrets to collect. That type of mechanic can be tedious in games adapted to “modern” tastes like assassin's creedsince finding things doesn't feel any better than checking a box on the slow march toward 100 percent completion. But each of Astro's powers, like the jet dog or the shrinking mouse, inject fantasy into the act of collecting. And when I find a secret, I'm rewarded with a little celebration of cheering robots that somehow never gets old.
Platform games with mascots fell out of favor, especially among PlayStation studios, despite initial success. Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch have moved away from the playfulness of Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper to create “serious” games for “mature” audiences, and PlayStation's recent catalog reflects that general trend. Astrobot is an outlier in form and tone and parlayed that uniqueness into a shower of praise. It would be a huge missed opportunity if Sony didn't respond to that success with similar projects.
When I find a secret, I'm rewarded with a little celebration of cheering robots that somehow never gets old.
Over the past two years, prolific layoffs and studio closures have left tens of thousands of developers unemployed, largely because companies spent too much money growing or developing at scale. expensive games That might have made sense years ago, but it doesn't anymore. Companies poured hundreds of millions of dollars and considerable development resources into the next live-action shooter in hopes of replicating it. fortnite and ObligationsRunaway success and profits. But as those games continue to top monthly video game spending charts, refreshed by a steady cadence of new content, the idea that a newcomer like XChallenging competing at that same level becomes increasingly remote. This leaves studios with an expensive product that no one wants to play, along with a pipeline of upcoming games too thin to make up the difference.
But the way out of this precipitous (and avoidable) decline does not necessarily mean giving up on large multiplayer or open world projects. Capcom, for example, has shown that “why not both” can be a winning strategy. The company has made record profits the last seven years with a diverse catalog made up of heavyweights such as monster hunter, resident Evil remakes, and street fighter, along with smaller, weirder games like Dragon Dogma 2 and Kunitsu-gami: The Path of the Goddess. Compare that to Square Enix report lower than expected earnings thereafter failed do foam stars will happen in addition to launching three different AAA final fantasy titles in a period of 12 months. Capcom has the right idea and he's doubling downstating that it plans to “reactivate dormant IPs that have not had a new title release recently” after revealing new entries in its Eyes and Onimusha series.
But more than simply appealing to gamers' nostalgia, these success stories – which also extend to survival horror and Metroidvanias – offer a healthier alternative to the trends pursued by big publishers and studios. (Nintendo, of course, is always exempt from these generalizations.) While there will always be an appetite for big online shooters or bespoke open-world games with hours of Hollywood-rendered voice and motion, these standout 2024 releases demonstrate (or (at least should remind decision makers) that they also There is a lot of value in smaller, more extravagant and, most importantly, cheaper projects. If the big publishers want to stop the bleeding of the last two miserable years, they could learn the lessons from Capcom, Balatro, Metaphor, and Astrobot provide.
