#oneaday Day 855: Podweekend

New episode of The MoeGamer Podcast coming tomorrow. This time around we're talking action roguelikes — and in true MoeGamer Podcast tradition, we're (mostly) going a bit off the beaten track to talk about some that perhaps aren't quite so well-known, or which were maybe popular a few years ago but have fallen off the radar since then.

It's a bit sad how that happens with perfectly good games sometimes. In a couple of cases, in preparation for this episode, I picked up a few action roguelikes that I hadn't played for a few years and discovered that since their initial Early Access period, when I originally played them, they had become even better, even more enjoyable games than they once were.

This, for me, represents the fundamental problem with the "games must be updated regularly and as often as possible" culture a lot of gamers seem to favour, particularly on the PC platform. It can sometimes feel like there's not a good time to jump on board with a game because there's always "the next big update" just around the corner — and, of course, the threat of negative Steam reviews that say nothing more than "dead game" or "abandoned by dev". It's like no-one wants to accept that something can be "finished" any more.

This seems to be a particular issue with this type of game. Lots of these games release through Early Access and often stay in that state for several years. In some cases, the games never make it out of Early Access; one game that I didn't talk about in the episode, but which is a good example of this, is Neverinth. This was an immensely promising looking action roguelike that makes use of weighty stamina-management combat, and I was really looking forward to seeing what its "finished" state would be.

Trouble is, it was never finished, and the developer has completely stepped away from it now due to family commitments. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming him at all for that — he should absolutely put the wellbeing of himself and the people around him first — but it's a shame that Neverinth will forever be left in a state where people consider it to be "abandoned" and "dead". And it particularly smarts because Neverinth was looking so great. But oh well; these things happen — and Neverinth is at least in a playable state, so you can enjoy it for a good few hours before running into the digital equivalent of a bunch of scaffolding over the abyss.

In some cases, I get it. Deep Rock Galactic, which is one game I talk a bit about on the podcast, does regular substantial updates because it's an online multiplayer game with a persistent progression system, and those regular substantial updates keep the players coming, which makes the game continually worth playing. Over the course of 34 major updates in the last three years or so, the game has built a thriving community of players, many of whom have hundreds or thousands of hours in the game to their name. Without those regular new additions, many of those players would have reached a point where they felt like they'd "finished" the game and wouldn't come back.

Here's the thing, though; it doesn't really matter if you "finish" a game and never come back. This never used to be a problem, and indeed there are plenty of genres where it still isn't a problem. But there are certain types of game, it seems, where people seem to expect to be able to play forever, and have a regular influx of new stuff to enjoy. That's not practical or feasible for every game out there — and I have to say, I really feel for those devs who end up feeling trapped into having to continually update a ten year old game just because some Steam reviewers might start whining otherwise.

Well, I'm going to go play some Turrican now. That game's finished, and it's still keeping me busy!