Comic: https://www.deathbulge.com/comics/441
Alt text: Yeah yeah, there's always exceptions, I mean look no further than the game in the 2nd panel, not the most thrilling gameplay, is it?
Comic: https://www.deathbulge.com/comics/441
Alt text: Yeah yeah, there's always exceptions, I mean look no further than the game in the 2nd panel, not the most thrilling gameplay, is it?
You’re thinking of a different time; there’s a deluge of indie and “AA” games with graphical fidelity that puts most AAAs to shame; and that’s if you set aside their art direction.
This isn’t 2005. Devs have access to some fantastic off-the-shelf engines. And honestly many AAAs footgun themselves trying to wrangle in-house engines.
Now, the sheer scale of something like RDR2 or an AssCreed; that’s still in the realm of AAAs. But that’s getting cheaper too, and I would cite Kingdom Come Deliverance 2/BG3 as prime examples: those are big studios, but they’re absolutely microscropic compared to (say) Ubisoft or BGS. Yet they made stupendously large, dense, refined worlds.
AAA studios bring the polish. That’s the only thing I really miss from big games, because as they lost the weirdo genius games designers, they lost the only edge they had over indie games. At least for me. Obviously they still have ad budgets, but… Ad block ftw!