Clockwork Revolution - inXile's steampunk time travel first-person action-RPG led by Chad Moore and Jason Anderson

[MLMarkland]

"it's good because it's popular"

It's a suprisingly common line of argument on the codex the last couple years

It’s a known fallacy.

With rare exception, the popularity of something in the short run is inverse to its quality. Lowest common denominator products have the greatest chance of reaching critical mass in brand equity.

The relationship flips the more time passes. If something is popular 500 years from now, it is very likely that is it also good, or people would not have expended energy preserving and remembering the thing.

Fallout 1 was not popular at launch, but became the longest running top 100 seller on Steam, is a simple example of this in games.

Shakespeare.

Herodotus.

Etc.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

It's good because it's popular

It's good because it's popular on the Codex

 

[Roguey]

"it's good because it's popular"

In the fanta poll it's tied with Troubleshooter (a Korean tactical game) though both lost to "we don't enjoy games anymore but we're still here out of habit." (or the "you and ten other angry guys with tastes that are narrower than a hallway in a camp of pygmy dwarves" option as Josh Sawyer put it a long time ago)

 

[MLMarkland]

"it's good because it's popular"

In the fanta poll it's tied with Troubleshooter (a Korean tactical game) though both lost to "we don't enjoy games anymore but we're still here out of habit." (or the "you and ten other angry guys with tastes that are narrower than a hallway in a camp of pygmy dwarves" option as Josh Sawyer put it a long time ago)

PUBG was a fun game for a while

 

[agris]

"it's good because it's popular"

In the fanta poll it's tied with Troubleshooter (a Korean tactical game) though both lost to "we don't enjoy games anymore but we're still here out of habit." (or the "you and ten other angry guys with tastes that are narrower than a hallway in a camp of pygmy dwarves" option as Josh Sawyer put it a long time ago)

Did you just assume my gender?

 

[Trithne]

I've always hated steampunk, always seemed like a talentless hack's idea of "new and original".

Steampunk is a form of cultural mimicry. Its cogs and bolts are the headjacks and rainy nights of cyberpunk, but without any relevant foundational theme behind it. Where cyberpunk has something to say about the relationship between technology and social dynamics, steampunk can only say "this looks neat, right?".

If you hate steampunk, it's because you intuitively understand it's a skinwalker concept.

"Steampunk" originated with Gibson's Difference Engine, exploring the idea of "What if the Victorians had continued on to invent the computer, and how would this affect their society?". He wasn't really a fan of the term since there wasn't as much of the "Punk" elements as there was in his earlier works, and less "High Tech, Low Life" juxtaposition, although the concept does has room to explore it when you approach it from that sort of direction.

"Steampunk" as seen here is just "Victorian England with robots", purely an aesthetic.

 

[MLMarkland]

I've always hated steampunk, always seemed like a talentless hack's idea of "new and original".

Steampunk is a form of cultural mimicry. Its cogs and bolts are the headjacks and rainy nights of cyberpunk, but without any relevant foundational theme behind it. Where cyberpunk has something to say about the relationship between technology and social dynamics, steampunk can only say "this looks neat, right?".

If you hate steampunk, it's because you intuitively understand it's a skinwalker concept.

"Steampunk" originated with Gibson's Difference Engine, exploring the idea of "What if the Victorians had continued on to invent the computer, and how would this affect their society?". He wasn't really a fan of the term since there wasn't as much of the "Punk" elements as there was in his earlier works, and less "High Tech, Low Life" juxtaposition, although the concept does has room to explore it when you approach it from that sort of direction.

"Steampunk" as seen here is just "Victorian England with robots", purely an aesthetic.

Space 1889 was a rando tabletop game in 80s/90s that was more Gibson limited punk

 

[MLMarkland]

2023 and people still ignore the 2020 game of the year (after fully patched).

It's in decent company.

2020 game of the year was starting in LA, escaping with an insane Russian trucker on cocaine, delivering spooky shit to Navajo Nation through dozens of military checkpoints and continuing east through the wasteland

 

[agris]

2023 and people still ignore the 2020 game of the year (after fully patched).

It's in decent company.

2020 game of the year was starting in LA, escaping with an insane Russian trucker on cocaine, delivering spooky shit to Navajo Nation through dozens of military checkpoints and continuing east through the wasteland

Underrail GOTY description right there

 

[cvv]

I've always hated steampunk, always seemed like a talentless hack's idea of "new and original".

Steampunk is a form of cultural mimicry. Its cogs and bolts are the headjacks and rainy nights of cyberpunk, but without any relevant foundational theme behind it. Where cyberpunk has something to say about the relationship between technology and social dynamics, steampunk can only say "this looks neat, right?".

If you hate steampunk, it's because you intuitively understand it's a skinwalker concept.

A rare opportunity for me to say "couldn't have said it better myself". Well done.

 

[Harthwain]

I've always hated steampunk, always seemed like a talentless hack's idea of "new and original".

Steampunk is a form of cultural mimicry. Its cogs and bolts are the headjacks and rainy nights of cyberpunk, but without any relevant foundational theme behind it. Where cyberpunk has something to say about the relationship between technology and social dynamics, steampunk can only say "this looks neat, right?".

If you hate steampunk, it's because you intuitively understand it's a skinwalker concept.

A rare opportunity for me to say "couldn't have said it better myself". Well done.

It's less problem with steampunk as a concept and more with "It's a kind of magic" approach.

 

[cvv]

"Steampunk" originated with Gibson's Difference Engine, exploring the idea of "What if the Victorians had continued on to invent the computer, and how would this affect their society?".

Didn't know that, never read, can't stand Gibson.

Anyway it's a dumb proposition with a clever looking hat on top, the Victorians actually DID invent a quazi-computer - the aforementioned difference engine, cobbled together from wood and metal cogs - and the reason it never changed their society in any way was because an actual computer needs at least a vacuum tube, or better yet an integrated circuit, to make any difference IRL, and those were only invented a 100 years later. The idea lacks any plausibility, placing a modern-day invention into a technologically incompatible environment, and therefore is stupid and offensive and we should shit on it.

It's like saying "what would happen if Youtube was invented in 1992?" Well nothing would fucking happen coz you can't exactly watch videos over a dial-up can you.

 

[bobocrunch]

Something I've noticed in the games going for a steampunk look is they love the WWI recruitment posters, and it made me think of why steampunk is often jumbled up. It expresses the joyous naivety of progress and individual achievement during the Victorian era but counters it with the paranoid and collectivist statist bend taken towards the Edwardian era and WWI.

I don't know whether it's unconscious or not but a lot of the media mixes Victorian and Edwardian themes, and if they understand that combo it could help carve out a niche for what it wants to say and put the 'punk' in the name with a rejection of these norms rather than just being Dude Cool Cogs

Arcanum touched on this with how (seemingly and self-seriously) advanced the scientific and legal culture was and how it becomes a vehicle for power, and I hope this game can do something other than a hamfisted diet black girl Mosley

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

"Steampunk" originated with Gibson's Difference Engine, exploring the idea of "What if the Victorians had continued on to invent the computer, and how would this affect their society?".

I'd argue it also died with Difference Engine, because alternate history was an established literary concept at that point and it's clear the term was coined as a marketing play on Gibson's fame as the "father of cyberpunk". They needed to put something on the cover, that's about the extent of effort that went into it.

Difference Engine itself felt like very classic spec fiction to me. Not bad, but certainly not a harbinger of a new subgenre.

 

[Netch]

Has InXile been shit or is this a new development? I only know them from Wasteland, and the few hours of Wasteland 2 that I played were pretty good. But this just looks like a shitty Bioshock Infinite ripoff, complete with time travel/tears. I'm honestly baffled that they made this and somehow didn't realize that they were completely ripping off a massively known game (unless they did know? but if they did know then WHY???).

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

As long as Fargo based the villain on me they might have a winner here

Erm..?

Monty transitioned

 

[cvv]

Has InXile been shit or is this a new development?

Kindda shit but so far they've been nowhere near the level of bluehair degeneracy of ObSHEdian.

Wasteland 2 (the DE version) and Wasteland 3 are genuinely great RPGs.
Bard's Tale IV has a great core idea, you can never have enough blobbers with TB combat, but it overstays its welcome half-way through plus I prefer less puzzle-centric RPGs.
Numanuma is unredeemable shit but it does have isometric TB combat.

So inXile has been...complicated. With this they seem to go down the same shitter as ObSHEdian tho. At least the directors are old grognard nerds instead of a SoCal female dangerhair like Carrie Patel.

 

[Roguey]

"Steampunk" as seen here is just "Victorian England with robots", purely an aesthetic.

The premise of this game is in the title itself: starting a revolution against an oppressive regime. How is that not punk?

 

[markec]

2023 and people still ignore the 2020 game of the year (after fully patched).

It's in decent company.

Wasteland 3 is Inxiles best game and it's a mediocre one.

Not something to give much optimism for future projects but you could always argue that its a sign that they are getting better at it.

 

[Roguey]

2023 and people still ignore the 2020 game of the year (after fully patched).

It's in decent company.

Wasteland 3 is Inxiles best game and it's a mediocre one.

Not something to give much optimism for future projects but you could always argue that its a sign that they are getting better at it.

You have to consider the reasons why it's better. The glassdoor reviews support the hypothesis that it comes down to the injection of Microsoft money. Had they not been bought, they likely would have released another disappointing jankfest. But now they're happy, don't have to play the ponzi scheme anymore, and that one employee claims they have complete freedom over the kinds of games they want to make, so apparently Bioshock Infinite-with-more-RPG is what Moore, Anderson, and the rest truly want to do.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

The premise of this game is in the title itself: starting a revolution against an oppressive regime. How is that not punk?

If "opposing oppression" was the sole defining trait of punk, we'd have nothing but punk.

 

[Roguey]

If "opposing oppression" was the sole defining trait of punk, we'd have nothing but punk.

Arcanum wasn't very punk which is probably why they never marketed it as such. You could help a revolution, but that wasn't the main plot, which was about fighting some magic guy in another dimension.

 

[cvv]

If "opposing oppression" was the sole defining trait of punk, we'd have nothing but punk.

Arcanum wasn't very punk which is probably why they never marketed it as such. You could help a revolution, but that wasn't the main plot, which was about fighting some magic guy in another dimension.

I don't rebember Arcanum being steampunky at all.

Might be wrong, been 15 years since I played it last, but steampunk is retrofuturism for me - "what if there are computers and robots and cars in the age of steam?"

Arcanum is more like, what would happen if the age of steam came into a traditional fantasy/magical world. Don't remember any kraaazzyy "look at me-aren't I kewl and shieet?" retrofuturistic elements in Arcanum

 

[Roguey]

I don't rebember Arcanum being steampunky at all.

Might be wrong, been 15 years since I played it last, but steampunk is retrofuturism for me - "what if there are computers and robots and cars in the age of steam?"

Arcanum is more like, what would happen if the age of steam came into a traditional fantasy/magical world. Don't remember any retrofuturistic elements.

There's definitely some weird science stuff you can make https://arcanum.fandom.com/wiki/Chapeau_of_Magnetic_Inversion https://arcanum.fandom.com/wiki/Machined_Platemail https://arcanum.fandom.com/wiki/Automaton https://arcanum.fandom.com/wiki/Charged_Accelerator_Gun

 

[Harthwain]

I don't rebember Arcanum being steampunky at all.

Arcanum has "steamworks" in the title ("Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura"), not steampunk. When people talk about steampunk they mostly mean the steam part of it. It's pretty much just a naming convention based on Cyberpunk (a derivative) without the substance behind it.