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[thatJohann]

Hot take: Every single player story-based game should be released in weekly 5-hour episodes, just like TV shows.

Drop a new episode every Friday. Keep it tight, focused, and end each one with a banger cliffhanger to get you hyped for the next week.
No more bloated, exhausting 60-hour monsters that sit in your backlog for months.

A 20-hour game? That's a 4-week event. A reason to look forward to Fridays.
Digestible, exciting, and way more sustainable.

Honestly, it would bring back that shared excitement of everyone talking about the latest episode.
Imagine gaming, and still having a life.

The dream.

Games like Red Dead 2, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and The Last of Us Part II practically beg for this kind of format.
Even Alan Wake 2 and Life is Strange already have the structure, just not the schedule.

Imagine the hype if a new episode dropped every Friday and the whole community lit up talking about it all weekend.

What games do you think could've worked better like this?

Updates to clarify:

• This would apply only to single player story-based games that exceed 5 hrs.
• If it's open world, you can still enjoy the open world and side-quests, but MAIN missions that drive the game forward would unlock on Fridays.

 

[Thanati]

Nope.

 

[Valonquar]

 

[Davevil]

 

[RagnarokIV]

The episodic trend already passed with the PS360 gen. It was luckily short lived, but not short enough as it gave us that really shit resident evil game.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

This might be the finest idea I've heard in my whole life. I'd add some commercials, too.

 

[realcool]

I would like to be milked weekly by DDD cutie hoes, not by AAA studios.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

No, it barely works. Valve tried it with HL2, failed so much we couldnt even get a conclusion 20+ years later. SIN tried it, gave up/failed after one episode. Also I want to be in control of how much I play, if theres nothing else to play, I want to play for however long I want a specific game. I dont want to allow developers to tell me how much I can game a week like some timed demo.

 

[deriks]

"sometimes the individual is high on drugs"

 

[diffusionx]

lol do you know how much work it is to release a game

 

[adamsapple]

You're right, that is a hot take.

Good luck finding many people to agree with you.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Absolutely not - an awful idea from my perspective. That's like injecting steroids into all current (negative) conditions we have.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Awful take

 

[reinking]

Even a lot of "TV" shows do not do this anymore. I am all for weekly content for shows but the masses have spoken. For games. Nope. However, you are welcome to limit yourself to five hour episodes of playtime. That option has always existed.

 

[Arsic]

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

This is a terrible idea. My god can you imagine? Can we stop trying to kill single player games?

The good thing is if they started doing this id probably find a new less expensive hobby.

 

[R6Rider]

Weekend is almost over.

 

[FatallyYours]

 

[Generic]

I like the idea because it make games cheaper.

 

[Autistic_Pancake]

Live-service games. Plenty of 'em already.

 

[Negotiator101]

Didn't Halo have something like this?

 

[thatJohann]

Glad that sparked a holy war.
Modern games are way too bloated. Who's ready for cliffhangers instead of hair-pulling side quests?

 

[Von]

 

[Humdinger]

They tried this a while back, but it didn't catch on. I'm not sure of all the particulars, but I don't think people liked episodic gaming all that much. They didn't like waiting to continue, or they found the experience too disjointed, or their schedules didn't line up (e.g., what if you don't feel like spending hours every Friday doing it). A lot of people - me included - would just wait for all episodes to be released before playing them.

 

[Kuranghi]

I enjoyed how Hitman 2016 was at the start (one level, then another every month or so) due to enjoying doing everything in each level and seeing all content/ways dialogue and AI plays out, but they quickly realised they couldn't keep the same quality and quantity with that schedule, they only way that would truly work is if they make the whole thing and then ration it out slowly.

Theres were several factors to why that worked though, one was the game is all about repetition and learning the level so it was fun to replay the same thing for a month, also it was a newer concept at the time to have a huge levels with 300 AIs that could be manipulated and moved to places where they wouldnt normally be and have different interactions. It was all discovery of how the AI worked and how items affected schedules and routes.

By the time Hitman 2018 was coming a lot of the variables were known so having just 1 level at once by then was a bit slow for players returning from 2016.

They kinda did what you're suggesting with Elusive Targets and before that Escalations.

It could work but its very dependant on the type of game, it needs to be something where new AI rules/behaviours and items are constantly introduced to keep it fresh.

 

[Bojji]

You're right, that is a hot take.

Good luck finding many people to agree with you.

We need some poll!

 

[clarky]

When is a hot take not a hot take?

When its a fucking shit take.

 

[Synless]

This is one of the stupidest fucking takes I've read in a long time.

 

[thatJohann]

We need some poll!

Can I add a poll after creating the post?

 

[Fess]

Sounds horrible.
Do you actually like watching a TV show where they upload one episode per week?
I hate that.

 

[semiconscious]

oh, that johann...

 

[thatJohann]

Didn't realize I'd break the Geneva Convention with a gaming opinion lol.

It's a hot take, not a game dev manifesto. Chill lol

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Yeah I think I'm too old for this. Anyone got some good book recommendations?

 

[Bojji]

Can I add a poll after creating the post?

 

[Edellus]

I certainly disagree with the "Every single... " bit.

But I wouldn't mind giving games like that a good try. I particularly like the idea of this format lengthening the discussion of these games.

 

[thatJohann]

Thanks! added a poll

 

[T4keD0wN]

Absolutely nothing stopping you from playing games that way, but let everyone else play how they want.

What games do you think could've worked better like this?

I do approach Ubisoft games this way and i believe its what makes them enjoyable for me.

 

[justiceiro]

Cmom man, 2014 was 11 years ago

 

[forsakkenSoul]

 

[SJRB]

 

[Holammer]

In an age where even tv-series drop an entire season's worth of episodes in one go?
Not really.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Weird... You know you don't have to play a 20+ hour game all at once, right? You could just play a few hours when you get the opportunity.

 

[Topher]

Hot takes should rarely ever apply to "every game"

 

[Danjin44]

Or you could play the game like that without actual game being episodic.

 

[adamsapple]

Can I add a poll after creating the post?

Make the votes public !!

 

[clarky]

I voted yes just to show solidarity with the OP.

 

[Loomy]

Every game? Every week?

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

What the hell.

NO

 

[JayK47]

They already tried this and it failed. You ended up with unfinished stories as they cancelled the game before making all episodes.

 

[Topher]

I voted yes just to show solidarity with the OP.

I'm convinced clarky and thatJohann are sitting in a bar together right now having one hell of a laugh