Support NeoGAF

[LectureMaster]

Eternal Strands coming to Game Pass on day one

Eternal Strands will be available for Xbox Series via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC via PC Game Pass on day one when it launches in early 2025, developer Yellow Brick Games announced. The PC versi…

www.gematsu.com

---

Eternal Strands will be available for Xbox Series via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC via PC Game Pass on day one when it launches in early 2025, developer Yellow Brick Games announced. The PC version will also be available via Epic Games Store.

“We’re very happy to share the news with Game Pass subscribers today, and we’re convinced they will enjoy the ‘Cast and Combine’ freedom and the epic battles our game has to offer,” said Yellow Brick Games CEO Thomas Giroux in a press release. “The team is very excited for this partnership with Xbox and the opportunity this will bring to allow more players to experience Eternal Strands when it releases early next year. We can’t wait to see the players’ reactions.”

 

[Heisenberg007]

It seems like they just copy-pasted the code of Immortal Fenyx Rising and just made their own game

 

[Hrk69]

More purple shite

 

[Magic Carpet]

Attack the ankles for massive damage.
Ankle combat.

 

[Putyouinmyoven]

Ah, a new strand-type game

 

[rotorfire]

I feel I've played this game before.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Another exclusive Xbox marketing deal? I had to investigate if it is coming to PS5. This trend of obfuscating this information is tiring.

The trailer? Fine. Xbox maybe paid or worked on the trailer. The article should mention PlayStation, though. Unless it was also paid or worked on by Xbox?

 

[Punished Miku]

Looks like a lot of fun. I havent played anything trying to go this hard on making the spells actually physically impact the gameplay since Dragon's Dogma 1. Hope it delivers. The freeze, wind and fire stuff is interesting.

 

[Cakeboxer]

I identify myself as non-buynary.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Eternal Strands will be available for Xbox Series via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC via PC Game Pass on day one when it launches in early 2025, developer Yellow Brick Games announced.

It's 2024 and there are companies that still do't realize GP is a death sentence to sales? There is only one explanation for that: you know your game will bomb so you take the money.

 

[General Lee]

I'm kinda tired of these western style cartoony graphics in modern games. It reeks of Marvel, which I hate for bringing decades worth of mindless slop to the entertainment industry, and practically killing several of my favorite studios that took the marvel money and made poop games with it instead of continuing my favorite franchises. Not to imply that most anime style games aren't shit either.

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

Attack the ankles for massive damage.
Ankle combat.

 

[MayauMiao]

Game Pass day one​

That's all I need to know.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

Attack the ankles for massive damage.
Ankle combat.

 

[StereoVsn]

It's 2024 and there are companies that still do't realize GP is a death sentence to sales? There is only one explanation for that: you know your game will bomb so you take the money.

New Studio so Xbox money could mean difference between releasing the game or running out of cash and folding.

 

[Punished Miku]

New Studio so Xbox money could mean difference between releasing the game or running out of cash and folding.

New IP bomb constantly. Could also mean they are confident in their game and will benefit if more people play it. Similar to Lies of P.

 

[Gambit2483]

Looks heavily inspired by BOTW and Fenyx Rising (Ubisofts BOTW clone).

Also, it's being made by former Ubisoft/Bioware devs.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

New Studio so Xbox money could mean difference between releasing the game or running out of cash and folding.

What happened before GP was around? Probably nothing, all the games just bombed!

 

[adamsapple]

That's all I need to know.

 

[StereoVsn]

What happened before GP was around? Probably nothing, all the games just bombed!

A lot of games folded before even releasing. They still do, but GamePass can help a new studio with new IP the some cash and visibility.

A bit like how Epic paid devs not to release on Steam for a year. Not ideal situation but when the difference is not releasing the game or they, made sense to take cash.

 

[AJUMP23]

looks uninteresting.

 

[Ozriel]

It's 2024 and there are companies that still do't realize GP is a death sentence to sales? There is only one explanation for that: you know your game will bomb so you take the money.

You mean aside from the companies actively chasing GP deals, or the ones happy to take GP deals?

GP will diminish retail sales on Xbox, but they’re already getting paid for that, anyway. It won’t impact sales on PlayStation and barely impact Steam sales.

What a shit take.

 

[Roman Empire]

I feel I've played this game before.

Idk, it looks like a mish-mash of Fenyx Rising + Flintlock... I'll pass.

 

[MadchesterManc]

This game is probably going to be underwhelming, folk already rolling out the usual 'new game from dev which worked on something you may have enjoyed years ago'

 

[kikii]

Ankle combat.

wana see some ankle combat ?

 

[Fbh]

I don't get the hate, it looks pretty cool IMO.
Like yeah it's another fantasy game with a cartoony art style and purple highlights but the art direction is pretty decent in this one and the gameplay looks fun. They seem to be really focusing on physics based combat with interactive environments which is great

Here is another trailer (this actually seems to have been announced months ago)


The only part I don't like is the mention of "loot" and having to reforge your weapons, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for this one

 

[kruis]

This game (of course) has a diverse female protagonist, other diverse female characters and no men (unless the two figures to the left are masculine). Why are western devs so afraid of male protagonists?

 

[GymWolf]

The game has telekinesis so i have to at least watch some gameplay, i love that shit

Looks like a slightly more adult\realistic fenyx rising like someone else said.

 

[Complistic]

Looks like they had some sort of vision at least but the fortnite visuals instantly takes it off my list.

Another one for the bin.

 

[Nester99]

Looks so generic

Hope it’s fun

 

[The Cockatrice]

I laugh everytime I see these cringe ass threads/news(no offense to OP, he just copy pastes) from "former Blizzard, former Bioware, former X famous company" as if it matters at all and yet people fall for this shit every single time. Ud expect to see a cool as crpg/rpg game from a news title called "former Dragon Age" but here we are with some colorful fornite looking meh game.

 

[Gambit2483]

This game (of course) has a diverse female protagonist, other diverse female characters and no men (unless the two figures to the left are masculine). Why are western devs so afraid of male protagonists?

The diverse strong female is apparently this generation's bald space marine.

I wouldn't be surprised if 80% or more of every new IP since 2018 features a strong female protagonist.

 

[Moochi]

The diverse strong female is apparently this generation's bald space marine.

I wouldn't be surprised if 80% or more of every new IP since 2018 features a strong female protagonist.

Source: ChatGPT4o. I wanted to also include example titles at each bullet point, but I ran out of deep thinking credits. I ran another graph that looked at Indie games as well, and the number of female protagonists outpaced males a few years ago.

 

[Ozriel]

This game (of course) has a diverse female protagonist, other diverse female characters and no men (unless the two figures to the left are masculine). Why are western devs so afraid of male protagonists?

Getting upset because there’s one black lady in the game is a new low indeed. FFS

 

[Moochi]

But it isn't simply an increase of female protagonists to male protagonists. Male protagonist games often have a cast that includes females, whereas we have entered a weird space where increasingly the female protagonist games have a cast that excludes males unless they're flamboyantly gay or have exaggerated and mutant features that maximize diversity by "neutralizing" their straight male traits. Look at Concord for a good example of this.

 

[Gambit2483]

But it isn't simply an increase of female protagonists to male protagonists. Male protagonist games often have a cast that includes females, whereas we have entered a weird space where increasingly the female protagonist games have a cast that excludes males unless they're flamboyantly gay or have exaggerated and mutant features that maximize diversity by "neutralizing" their straight male traits. Look at Concord for a good example of this.

The "modern game" either now has

1. A main female protagonist (sometimes in an IP that formerly featured a male protagonist)

2. A male protagonists accompanied by a secondary female character (often the male character will feature diminished masculine traits)

3. A character creator that allows you to create either your own male or female character.

And that's it. The industry somehow thinks "creativity" now equals "female protagonist". Warhammer was probably one of the few examples of a masculine male protagonist in a videogame in years (especially if you exclude Ragnarök)

 

[Moochi]

By and large you're right. We still have some games with strong male characters, but usually only if the game is made by parties outside Europe, the U.S., and Canada. The decline in risk taking and prioritizing work/life balance is another way the industry has been demasculinized. Real creatives put their everything into their projects, and young men take it to the next level. They will work to prove themselves to the point of self harm. Instead of allowing auteurs to run dream projects, we have bloated the workforces. We've reduced the impact individuals can have on AAA creative projects, and the result is creatively bankrupt and derivative offerings that will lead these companies to ruin.

 

[Alan Silvestro]

Art direction, palette, animations of this game = puke.gif

 

[Games of Today]

More purple shite

People claim this is a conspiracy but nearly every new game I see come out now has this fluorescent purple, blue, red or pink color palette.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I’m a sucker for fun elemental shit, so this could be up my alley. I’ll keep an eye on it.

 

[Sooner]

Another exclusive Xbox marketing deal? I had to investigate if it is coming to PS5. This trend of obfuscating this information is tiring.

The trailer? Fine. Xbox maybe paid or worked on the trailer. The article should mention PlayStation, though. Unless it was also paid or worked on by Xbox?

That's just how things work when revealed at a console's show.

Unless, it's an announcement for a first-party game like Indiana Jones where the developer crazily uses its "one more thing" to announce the game is going to it's competitor.

 

[Cakeboxer]

Source: ChatGPT4o. I wanted to also include example titles at each bullet point, but I ran out of deep thinking credits. I ran another graph that looked at Indie games as well, and the number of female protagonists outpaced males a few years ago.

Duke Nukem help us, we need you more than ever!

 

[kruis]

Art direction, palette, animations of this game = puke.gif

I think the art direction, palette, etc are fine. I'd rather play games with this art style than Unknown 9: Awakening.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Getting upset because there’s one black lady in the game is a new low indeed. FFS

Ah yes, the black woman has of course the most muscles and dreads. If anyone is racist its the devs.