What are you thinking? General Gaming Edition!

[Jonipoon]

The new artwork for the next Tomb Raider game is exactly what we were all afraid of. Yup, they've finally decided to give Lara Croft the infamous "dude"-face.

It really doesn't matter that she's wearing a more classic outfit either, since they've decided to make her stubby (possibly as a compromise to make up for her revealing more skin). So this is supposed to be a unification of reboot Lara and classic Lara? She looks like neither. Combined with the recent leaks and rumors about the next game focusing on Lara Croft teaching a group of young raiders about tomb raiding, this is starting to look like a trainwreck in the making. What a shame considering the recently released Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Trilogy was SUPERB. Alas, it was developed by another studio called Aspyr so that might explain why they respected the character and history of the games. Crystal Dynamics on the other hand seem to be all about deconstruction and disrespect.

 

[bSTAR_182]

I can't speak for the Tomb Raider series, but I don't think she looks bad. I don't see the "dude face" here but it is only one picture with her looking angry.

 

[Ikawaru]

For comparative purposes, here's OG Laura.

You be the judge!

 

[Turo602]

Looks like Michael Jackson with a bad tit job.

 

[Springhosen]

New design is a definite improvement imo. Original is "dude face" if I ever saw it.

 

[bSTAR_182]

Honestly, if they’re going for more realism and still trying to stay true to the source material, then I think they nailed it. That OG pic really ain’t doing favors to the argument here.

 

[bSTAR_182]

The general gaming section is turning into Silent Hill, but I watched this video analysis of Silent Hill 3 and just loved it. This girl tackles my feelings for this installment and for Heather’s character beautifully.

 

[Ikawaru]

Well this is cool, not sure how many posters on here would be interested, but I'd personally jump at an opportunity to try one of the most visceral, atmospheric survival horror games ever created, and totally refined to function on consoles.

Unfortunately there are no women on the games so some people might find it a little too hyper masculine (that's how it is in Eastern Europe, sadly), but if survival horror is your bag and you haven't played it, it certainly gets (most) everything else right, that's for sure. Its based on hard science fiction (or, "science gone wrong" could be a more apt term) , not occultism or spirituality so it's technically closer to 'Resident Evil' than 'Silent Hill', even though it feels like a totally different beast gameplay wise. It does have some psychological horror elements though, which some SH fans could find appealing.

Cons: Lack of women could be disparaging for some people, restricted to 1st person, lacks RE/SH style puzzle solving which would have been a nice addition.

Pros: Everything else!

@bSTAR_182 , although SH4 was ported to PC and and is available on GOG (which I am finishing up as we speak), none of the other games were ported or remastered for newer systems, which gives me a little hope that remakes for those games are on the drawing board, but of course that probably all depends on how well SH2R does commercially.

 

[UniqTeas]

Currently playing OG FF7 since I haven't gone to the PS5 Generation yet. It's nice to be able to play a classic game and have a speed up button to get through the grindy battle parts.

Also, SUPER addicted to Hades. The only issue I am having is that my daughter just turned 5 months old and is sleeping in a bassinet in my bedroom where I am playing Hades, so I cannot play after 8:30 PM, her bedtime. In small sections, the game is fun!

 

[Jamesy]

According to recent reports resident evil 9 will most likely be an open world game

 

[Jonipoon]

According to recent reports resident evil 9 will most likely be an open world game

I certainly hope not, but it depends on the scale of the "world".

Semi-open world à la the original RE3? Hell yes. Large empty open world with filler missions? Nope.

 

[Jamesy]

I certainly hope not, but it depends on the scale of the "world".

Semi-open world à la the original RE3? Hell yes. Large empty open world with filler missions? Nope.

Well it’s going to take a lot of heavy influence from Dogma 92

 

[Ikawaru]

I'm mostly pessimistic on that one. I am, however, playing 'Skyrim' now as a Dark Elf Bandit/Assassin who murders people for gold and loot, with several mods installed and I am having quite a blast. Traversing the landscape feels quite fluid and "organic" (for lack of a better term, I hate to use new age terminology on the internet because I know it's not particularly popular but I honestly can't think other way to describe it). I'm not sure Capcom has the capability to orchestrate 'Resident Evil' into that kind of "naturalistic" experience as an open world survival horror game though, considering that 'Dragons Dogma' and 'Monster Hunter' aren't anywhere near as good as 'Skyrim' is. They would really have to go above and beyond and I don't believe that is possible what with how full their plate is and their past experience in that regard.

I'd say something on the scale of 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' could be achievable, which is a good example of a "semi-open world" game which has fairly large sections you can explore and plenty of backtracking the make the experience work quite well. I'd say Capcom could work their magic if they kept their ambitions limited and applied classic RE/survival horror elements into a more limited scope (whether it's in a city or in the countryside). It's obvious they want to cash in on the successes with recent wide open world games, there's a whole crap ton of them that are selling in the 20+ million copies range, but I don't think it's appropriate for the series nor can Capcom pull it off successfully.

I hope to be proven wrong of course but I don't see high odds of them pulling it off.

 

[Shroudednightmare]