Game News Operencia: The Stolen Sun Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Operencia: The Stolen Sun; Zen Studios

Back in December we received the surprising news that Zen Studios, a Hungarian studio that specializes in pinball games, were developing a turn-based dungeon crawler called Operencia: The Stolen Sun. And it looked pretty decent, too! But then in January they announced that it was going to be an Epic Games Store-exclusive and many people were sad. The game had a couple of developer diary videos after that, and then last month's Steam release date leak revealed a launch date of March 29th, which turned out to be accurate. The game is out now, so here's the launch trailer:

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I believe Operencia is the first Codex-relevant title to be released as an Epic-exclusive (though like The Outer Worlds it's actually also available on the Microsoft Store thanks to an Xbox-exclusivity deal on the console side of things). That seems like a bad fit for this sort of game, but it'll be interesting to see how it does. You can grab Operencia from Epic or Microsoft for $30.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Epic-exclusive

 

[GrainWetski]

I really have no idea why they'd make the main platform for a game like this fucking Xbox. Truly boggles the mind. Wonder if they can achieve 3 digit sales on there.

 

[BEvers]

I really have no idea why they'd make the main platform for a game like this fucking Xbox. Truly boggles the mind. Wonder if they can achieve 3 digit sales on there.

They might have had a belated epiphany regarding their sales potential, hence the exclusivity deals.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

I really have no idea why they'd make the main platform for a game like this fucking Xbox. Truly boggles the mind. Wonder if they can achieve 3 digit sales on there.

I guess they're after the Grimrock market, millions of people who never really experienced and are curious about the blobbers of old, but are not interested in dealing with outdated GUIs and graphics, and the lack of hand-holding of the actual classics. I don't think they're making actual old-school games for people like us, but I may be wrong.

 

[V_K]

turn-based dungeon crawler

Epic Games Store-exclusive

$30

Their marketing department is certainly... optimistic.

 

[FeelTheRads]

millions of people who never really experienced and are curious about the blobbers of old

There are millions of people who never experienced blobbers but know enough about them to be curious?

 

[TheGameSquid]

Any prestigious Codexians here that are planning to brave the treacherous swamps of the Epic/Microsoft stores to report their findings? Been curious about this one for a while.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

millions of people who never really experienced and are curious about the blobbers of old

There are millions of people who never experienced blobbers but know enough about them to be curious?

Those who were reading ads or watching other people play blobbers but never cared enough to play more than 10 minutes of Eye of the Beholder because it was "too complex" are certainly more than the actual players, and a streamlined enough game aimed at them can become a huge hit. Again, look at the first Grimrock, and compare its sales with the superior yet not as derivative and nostalgic sequel.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I get it, I'm asking if you think there are millions of them.
Last number I heard for LoG was 600k?

 

[Infinitron]

Legend of Grimrock's success was almost certainly a non-repeatable fluke. As I wrote in my previous newspost, it was very weird to see this game announced less than three months after Bard's Tale IV utterly flopped.

 

[cvv]

Any prestigious Codexians here that are planning to brave the treacherous swamps of the Epic/Microsoft stores to report their findings? Been curious about this one for a while.

I already bought it, was looking forward to it since it appeared on the Epic store, but I'm currently utterly consumed by Sekiro, this will have to wait.

 

[Agame]

Well the strange thing with this genre is there is clearly a market for JRPG blobbers. But if you make a game that isnt full of weaboo/animu nonsense then you have no audience... And I agree with our magnificent Jew-bot, Grimrock was some kind of anomaly, maybe just a curiosity, and I think its very unlikely that kind of success will happen again. Particularly after a DOA turd like BT4.

 

[cvv]

Well the strange thing with this genre is there is clearly a market for JRPG blobbers. But if you make a game that isnt full of weaboo/animu nonsense then you have no audience... And I agree with our magnificent Jew-bot, Grimrock was some kind of anomaly, maybe just a curiosity, and I think its very unlikely that kind of success will happen again. Particularly after a DOA turd like BT4.

True that. I'll always buy any blobber coz I love them and to support the genre but it's super niche.

bt4 has a remaster in june tho i'm sure it'll sell tons

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Legend of Grimrock's success was almost certainly a non-repeatable fluke. As I wrote in my previous newspost, it was very weird to see this game announced less than three months after Bard's Tale IV utterly flopped.

I think Grimrock 2 flopped because Grimrock 1 wasn't very good. It had ultra-fast combat-waltz gameplay which was controversial even in the old Dungeon Master clone heyday. Bard's Tale 4 was just a litany of baffling decisions.

If someone just made Wizardry 8 with modern graphics and conveniences it would probably sell pretty well.

 

[markec]

Seeing how every blobber released after Grimrock 1 didnt come close to its sales I really cant blame the devs for taking easy payout from Epic.

Still not buying the game.

 

[DemonKing]

Mainstream review - 8/10 - might be decent as I doubt any reviewer bribes were forthcoming.

https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/operencia-the-stolen-sun-review-a-journey-far-far-/1900-6417111/

Video Review - "Imagine Might & Magic X but that it looks amazing"":

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

... grab Operencia from Epic or Microsoft ...

How about NO?

 

[LootSeeker]

Please post the official release in the news section when it comes out a year from now

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Legend of Grimrock's success was almost certainly a non-repeatable fluke. As I wrote in my previous newspost, it was very weird to see this game announced less than three months after Bard's Tale IV utterly flopped.

Wasn't Legend of Grimrock's note-worthy sales largely the product of going on sale a very low price for an extended period? Similar to how many people ultimately played Alpha Protocol purely because it was $2.99 USD on Steam.

 

[commie]

Codex: WAAAAHHH We need blobbers! Why don't devs make and sell them so that we can show out lovez??????

Codex: WAAAAHHH It's on another online store that's pretty much the same thing as I use anyway! Boycott, don't buy the POS!!!!

 

[Grauken]

Your articulate logic has utterly convinced me. Off to the EPIC store

 

[V_K]

Codex: WAAAAHHH We need blobbers! Why don't devs make and sell them so that we can show out lovez??????

Codex: WAAAAHHH It's on another online store that's pretty much the same thing as I use anyway! Boycott, don't buy the POS!!!!

Besides going Epic exclusive, there's the issue of it being overpriced (a game in a niche genre from an unknown dev shouldn't cost more that $20) and not, it seems, terribly good - at least in terms of its RPG systems. Granted, good level design can still make it enjoyable, but because of the first 3 points I'll wait until steam sale.

 

[theSavant]

Video Review - "Imagine Might & Magic X but that it looks amazing"":

Absolutely not! Imo MMX visuals look even slightly better and more detailed than the World-of-Warcraft visuals in Operencia.

[Gamespot review] puzzles, puzzles, puzzles

No thanks to yet another puzzle galore.

 

[cvv]

Absolutely not! Imo MMX visuals look even slightly better and more detailed than the World-of-Warcraft visuals in Operencia.

Depends what "visuals". The art style of characters, items etc. and the UI are way better in MMX. But MMX's shitty Unity is hot garbage whereas Operencia's UE4 looks really great. Tho their art style is indeed wowized and their UI elements looks like I made them in MS Paint.