South of Midnight is one of the weakest Game Pass release on Steam ever with only 1500 players
MiguelItUp
Member
Very true. Honestly I'd love this kind of direction existing in something darker and more mature as well. I feel like we haven't seen such a thing before.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Hasn't their website already scrubbed mentions from many projects?
But, yes, thankfully they won't be consulted for much anymore. Almost nothing they've been involved with has done well in the market.
Even in the rare instances where the game has (Spiderman 2), that was in spite of their involvement, not because of it.
Sales say otherwise :/
I've played through the entire thing, there is nothing racist or woke in it. But you have to remember, you're talking to griftees who have been conditioned to believe any woman or minority character is a woke element.
That is good to hear, definitely, and I've seen some gameplay which basically reinforces what you're saying (I don't have plans to play it myself). And yes there will be some people who simply see a woman or minority and scream "WOKE! WOKE!!" like an idiot, because to them context doesn't matter.
BUT, unfortunately for this game, SBI has a reputation of being associated with games that HAVE pushed identity and ideology ahead of, well, being competent games. The worst offender IMO is Dustborn, which wasn't even that long ago, and that just completely torpedoed any chance of SBI gaining good favor ever again. Not to mention, the game itself commercially bombed, so that didn't help either.
South of Midnight's problem (again, from what I've seen) is that it'd of been better off as a film or animated series than a game. Jez & Rand were basically talking about how broken the accessibility options are, that you can skip practically all of the actual "game" parts just to move the story along. Hellblade II had a similar problem for its combat, you could just skip most encounters completely. It's like these video games forget that they're video games, and taking the cheap way out on accessibility (that also denies a core component of what makes gaming what it is), doesn't mean they're even doing that type of thing correctly.
It's a problem most pronounced with some of Microsoft's titles in particular, and these are XGS titles. Very clear why they bought Zenimax & ABK; without those MS would have had to leave the industry altogether because the other studios as a whole (outside of Playground and arguably Rare, Double Fine & Mojang) are just either too inconsistent or mediocre to survive in the market.
Take Obsidian: they're too inconsistent. Grounded came and went, fizzled out. Pentiment went nowhere. Avowed is a mixed bag. Outer Worlds 2 could be solid, but it could also be more mid. 343i are just very mediocre, they don't even have the highs of Obsidian let alone Playground. Coalition are inconsistent, Compulsion are a mix of inconsistent & mediocre, Rare is inconsistent (Everwild is still MIA) etc. How do you survive off of that as a publisher? The answer is, you don't.
Mojang are stable but also complacent, so they're kinda like the COD studios in that respect. Still, Minecraft's probably enough where, had MS not bought Zenimax & ABK, maybe they could've still survived as a publisher banking on Minecraft and turning some of these XGS studios into support studios for that IP.
Fake
Member
Forza Horizon 5 was great. Stop crying.
Hawk The Slayer
Member
No not even close just because you don't want to touch the game doesn't make you racist. Unless you're specifically hating the game just because the character is African which I don't think you are. People disliking this game for other reasons not because they're being racist or sexist like some of these crazy purple supporters want other insane people like them to believe.I am a racist for not wanting to touch this game with a ten foot pole? Then I guess I'm not the only racist since this game bombed hard.
Yep no devs should be saying shits like that, imagine if it was the other way around. This should be unacceptable, same for any devs that decide to say the same thing towards blacks, asians, hispanic etc etc. But they know they can get away with saying it to white people so they reveal who they are and that is they are the racist ones. It's always ends up being the purple mentally insane side that are the actual racist instead of who they tried blaming it on. And it's always them that's the most intolerable instead of the side they accuse it of. So no surprise there.
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HRK69
Member
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
This game was made for people that like games. The issue is Microsoft and the Xbox team.
blacktout
Member
I was initially interested in this, because I love the idea of a game set in the Deep South and the creature designs looked stellar, but then I watched the Xbox Developer Direct and was turned off by the cringe cutscenes, janky-looking combat, and that nauseatingly choppy stop motion effect.
It's too bad, because I authentically wasn't rooting for this game to fail, but it was obviously badly undercooked.
It's too bad, because I authentically wasn't rooting for this game to fail, but it was obviously badly undercooked.
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GHG
Gold Member
Actually just highlighting your victim mentality when it comes to games coming out of this publisher.
Queso de Grande
Member
No one wants to play a game based in the Deep South made by progressive Canadians? I'm shocked.
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MiguelItUp
Member
You can look at a number of people's activity and see the answer yourself, lol. I'm not sure why it's so important to them, but it is.
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Bumblebeetuna
Member
What I don't get is the same people will also claim the console war is over. Make up your minds
Wilhelm_85
Gold Member
It's on Game Pass. I think I'll give it a try.
Kacho
Member
Yep. Square Enix is one I specifically remember being mentioned
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
What I don't get is the same people will also claim the console war is over. Make up your minds
Good point.
MatrixReloaded101
Member
The constant comparisons in gaming is so annoying.
This game was never going to be a big seller and I don't get why steam is even being used to define its success when its in game pass.
Back in the day, we use to get a lot of niche games like this and it was fine. Every game does not have to be a smash hit among the masses.
This game was never going to be a big seller and I don't get why steam is even being used to define its success when its in game pass.
Back in the day, we use to get a lot of niche games like this and it was fine. Every game does not have to be a smash hit among the masses.
NPlusEnjoyer
Neo Member
I was actually super interested in the game. I loved the music, setting and artstyle. Shame it simply is not a good game...
I say this as someone who doesn't even play on Xbox anymore, I play exclusively on PS.What I don't get is the same people will also claim the console war is over. Make up your minds
I love gaming it's one of my favourite hobbies it just depresses me when people celebrate a game performing poorly for platform war reasons.
We've had too much of this for a while now, I think the assassins creed thread broke me a bit.
What The Fox
Member
"Honestly? I hate gamers" &
"White male gamers were a mistake"
- South of midnight community manager
"White male gamers were a mistake"
- South of midnight community manager
Fake
Member
Look to my post history before make such stupid claims.
Unlike you I'm not fanboy of any brand.
Wildebeest
Member
What happens when the industry actually listens to some of you guys and has a policy of regularly releasing xbox 360 era type AA single player games.
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MiguelItUp
Member
I don't think the dumb nonsense their irresponsible community manager said affected the outcome here. If none of that was said this outcome would be the exact same. Because in the end, the game just never looked outstanding. Sure, it may have had elements that enticed some people, but it was just another AA project like their previous games.
MatrixReloaded101
Member
Yup, they don't understand the damage they are doing to this great hobby with the dumb comparisons and anti woke crap.
They basically don't want variety in games anymore which makes zero sense.
KimDongHwan
Member
The thing is we will never know, we will always debate in this forum the same topic where you always have the 2 camps "this game failed because of SBI, Woke, Politics, developer hating gamers" vs "No it failed because no marketing, felt uninterested, it did ok for what it is" but bottom line is we will never know the exact percentage of how both sides affected any release.
Killjoy-NL
Member
Because a 10/10 Xbox game is equivalent to a 5/10 PS game.
Different standards. Should be starting to get obvious by now.
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
It's always the same thing.
Publicly they'll say "oh modern audiences are diverse, there are so many other stories we can tell, gamers want to play as characters who represent them, think of how much we can grow the market by reaching underrepresented identities" etc etc
Then the truth comes out when they're taking to their in group: they really just resent white male gamers and want to take them down a peg or two. And that's not racist because you can't be racist against white people.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
misspelled wokest
What The Fox
Member
I don't disagree; I just have zero sympathy for them
MiguelItUp
Member
Very true, but there is a reality and majority that pays no attention to those things like any of those "sides". They just see new game, and want to play new game. If they have Game Pass, they likely will give it a shot. If they don't, unless the game looks outstanding or enticing to them, they certainly won't be buying it.
Gambit2483
Member
It would be extremely interesting to see the sales numbers for this game...like actual purchases on the Xbox platform.
Edit: Did this game even have a physical release? Do Xbox games in general still do physical releases?
Edit: Did this game even have a physical release? Do Xbox games in general still do physical releases?
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Luipadre
Member
Black woman protagonist = woke? You didnt play a single minute of this game otherwise you wouldnt say stupid shit like this
ChorizoPicozo
Member
when was the last 10/10 Xbox game (Halo3, Gears 3?)
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Draugoth
Gold Member
Blame Microsoft and Game Pass
On the plus side, that's nearly 3x the amount of players as their first game!
MiguelItUp
Member
Yeah, they really haven't knocked anything out of the park, but hey, if they're making the games they wanna make.
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Hollowpoint5557
A Fucking Idiot
This is the best and funniest gaming news I have heard in the last calender year. I can't even begin to tell you how much joy this brings me on an otherwise dreary day. Sucks to suck, fuck you to this game and everyone who backs it.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
forsakkenSoul
Neo Member
From the very first presentation trailer, I already suspected that this game would be a sales disaster.
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Kacho
Member
ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Fully deserved tho. Played for 5 acts (4 hours) and everything bar a few views and absolutley terrific soundtrack by Oliviere Deriviere is just... Bland? Boring? Everything here feels so... dispensable? Gameplay is downright bad also.
The game is offensively tedious even with visuals after a certain point. And honestly (not being American here) I was not even in the slightest emerged into the story, setting or mythos. It was a series of boring cliches that I've already saw elsewhere. Style is a huge hit and miss too, plus MC writing is your typical piss-poor hip and quirky FMC shit that I'm so tired of.
I believe with setting this great and soundtrack this magnificient Compulsion should've done way better job, especially after 6 years. So yeah, it does what it says on the tin. So online this bad is an expected result.
The game is offensively tedious even with visuals after a certain point. And honestly (not being American here) I was not even in the slightest emerged into the story, setting or mythos. It was a series of boring cliches that I've already saw elsewhere. Style is a huge hit and miss too, plus MC writing is your typical piss-poor hip and quirky FMC shit that I'm so tired of.
I believe with setting this great and soundtrack this magnificient Compulsion should've done way better job, especially after 6 years. So yeah, it does what it says on the tin. So online this bad is an expected result.
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bender
What time is it?
The game has no teeth and the difficulty feels like a licensed game aimed at children. It also doesn't do anything new, rather it feels like it borrows elements from games in the PS2/360 era in its' implementation of level design, platforming, ledge climbing, combat, etc. Visuals aside, the most modern thing about it is the obligatory on combat skill tree and combat is certainly the weakest part. And I can see the appeal of a straightforward game and enjoyed the likes of Alice Madness Returns and Psychonauts. Both of those titles had much stronger use of their themes and characterization and Psychonauts is a level or three above in terms of design, but a lot of the core mechanics for both of those titles could feel sloppy.
MiguelItUp
Member
It always looked like it was something that needed more time in the oven. I just don't know if Compulsion Games could deliver something that would make me feel otherwise. We Happy Few came close initially, but the more I saw it, I felt the same way about it.
bender
What time is it?
I didn't really pay much attention to it leading up to release, but I was expecting something more open world or at least those mini-open worlds like TLOU2 had. I played about six hours last night before my GPU subscription lapsed and cleared through 8 chapters (there are a total of 14, I believe). I keep coming back to it, but I get a lot of vibes of Alice Madness Returns and Psychonauts. I don't think this game will ever be as beloved as those, especially Psychonauts, and for good reasons, but like said earlier, I can see someone really enjoying this game for the straightforward design and the setting/themes. I can also understand hating it as it really doesn't do anything new mechanically and doesn't offer up any resistance.