Good calls, but I think Harry Potter is a bit unoptimized no?

at least that's the impression I'm getting from most of the recent pc titles that are coming out.


I'll add RE4 Remake to that list, I'm sure it looks fantastic on pc.

A real hardcore gamers game, GOTY contender



Haters stay mad

You know, I was about to give them the benefit of the doubt that the day 1 announcement/launch drop would have worked better if it had been during a big press event or something, butthenI double checked in case my memory was foggy:Hi-Fi Rush was announced at Xbox and Bethesda Developer_Direct on January 25, 2023.



Well, I guess that explains why people didn't hear about it. In all seriousness here, Bethesda now firmly being Xbox exclusive also means that any kind of Bethesda announcement's audience has shrunk down a bit.

In any case, people would be wise to try looking at this through a lens that tries to parse through the veils between whatever warped, cosmic realities corporations reside in, because the initial rumor from this Jeff guy and the contradictory messages from some A-aron guy at Xbox can both be partially correct.

Microsoft Corporate has completely different expectations now based on somewhat conflicting metrics (individual purchases versus game pass subscriptions) that Hi-Fi Rush might not of met in some shape or form.ButHi-Fi Rush seems to have been indeed a "breakout hit," for Tango and Bethesda given the (A) risk of a new IP, (B) scope of the project being smaller and niche, (C) the savings on marketing, and (D) Bethesda publishing's very rocky reception of everything not TES or Fallout in ages.

Something to be noted in respect to confusing corporate reads is how the effect of being on Gamepasswas an intentional design by marketing, but again we only know the angles that they're presenting us and not whether Microsoft Corporate had any other aims. Did the game under-perform on sales, but saw a rise in Game Pass interaction, or was it precisely where it needed to be on sales projections, but didn't add new subscribers? There are a lot of individual gears turning that we're probably never going to get a crystal clear gauge on which direction each are going.If that was all, it probably would have sold better because it's arhythmaction game, which is going to turn a lot of people off.

Speaking for myself, you would have a much easier time selling me a character action game in a similar vein to Devil May Cry, even more so if it has a good soundtrack, but it's an instant pass once you get to it being a rhythm game.

I'd liken it to how after Doom 2016, we eventually got (I think) two different, clearly Doom-inspired shooters except they were actually rhythm based.

In either case, if you're the sort of person who likes to murder demons (or whatever) literally to the beat of your own boomstick, then the rhythm requirement is going to kill 99% of enjoyment regardless of how much the soundtrack might appeal to you. They're basically taking the rhythm genre and trying to nudgethatout a bit more in terms of audience by not being the typical rhythm game setup, but it's still going to be a harder sell.