Support NeoGAF

[TheTurboFD]

It's a £15 game going for £44.99 what do they expect.
Plus the POP:SOT Remake trophies just reappeared on the backend of PSN so once that gets reannounced and released no one will remember this one anyway.

Would definitely have picked it up at $15 , at its current price its gonna be a hard pass. Would love to play it sometime though.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

So where are these numbers coming from? Has UBI disclosed them?
Because there's no way afaik to track players via ubisoft connect.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

It's not 1992 anymore Ubisoft. Gamers don't want this ****.

 

[Sleepwalker]

14.99 and on steam or 14.99 on disc. Those are my terms Ubi.

Currency is CDN so its like $10 usd.

 

[tusharngf]

they will release this game on steam without achievements. Mark my words. This is the reason no one buys ubi games on steam or any store.

 

[Punished Miku]

Mainstream gamer taste strikes again.

 

[Fbh]

Not really surprising. The quality of the game is almost irrelevant.

-The pricing is way too high. Years of indies and even releases from big publishers like Microsoft have gotten people used to 2D Metroidvanias being cheap. Unless you are a Nintendo IP (and maaaaaybe Castlevania) no franchise will get people to pay $50 when the norm is $20-30

- They gambled with the art style and missed. If I had to guess they tried to make gameplay to appeal to older fans but gave it a Fortnite art style with a zoomer main character to appeal to younger players in the hopes that both groups would find the game appealing. Instead zoomers still don't care about these games and older fans were put off by the visuals.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

This is....disappointing to read. I bought three copies (some for some folks that don't have time/access to tracking down some hidden gems) and will pick it up when it lands on steam.

Regarding all the "full price bitching", quick PSA you can get play it at a ridiculous discount now of $14.99....buy one month of Uplay+ and play the game.
I think it's a fantastic Metroidvania, one that I personally enjoyed far more than Hollowknight (which has pacing, and design flaws everywhere IMO)...but when that 3 year old late sequel ships at $70 most of the naysayers will lap that shit up.

 

[radewagon]

Not really surprising. The quality of the game is almost irrelevant.

-The pricing is way too high. Years of indies and even releases from big publishers like Microsoft have gotten people used to 2D Metroidvanias being cheap. Unless you are a Nintendo IP (and maaaaaybe Castlevania) no franchise will get people to pay $50 when the norm is $20-30

- They gambled with the art style and missed. If I had to guess they tried to make gameplay to appeal to older fans but gave it a Fortnite art style with a zoomer main character to appeal to younger players in the hopes that both groups would find the game appealing. Instead zoomers still don't care about these games and older fans were put off by the visuals.

Bro, you nailed it on both counts. I'm interested-ish in the game. Not a fan of the art style, but I'll overlook that for a solid game at a reasonable price. As it stands, my sweet spot for this title is 25 bucks. Thank goodness for DekuDeals. Pricing this at 50 was beyond foolish. They sent the poor thing out to die.

 

[Svejk]

Art direction is gross. Then having to sign in to Ubi just to play? Not surprised it's underperforming.

 

[dottme]

I don’t know but those numbers don’t look completely off. That’s kind of what I expect for this type of game.
i wonder how the team setting the expectation is working.

 

[Efren is G.O.A.T.]

It's a Metroidvania game. How many copies do they expect to sell? Who wants to pay $70 CDN for this kind of game? At that price, it's what? $50 US? lol

I haven't played it yet but what are you implying? That metroidvanias can't sell?

 

[Portugeezer]

Looks like a great game, but not worth £45.

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Sucks. The game is freaking amazing.

 

[BaneIsPain]

I want to play as prince so I’ll wait for deep deep sale.

 

[wipeout364]

Something about the art style didn’t really grab me. I probably will give it a try at some point but I have to agree with the sentiment that it seemed pricey. Nintendo is the only company that can pull off charging high prices for 2D platformers/metroidvania style games.

 

[gothmog]

I liked the demo but it didn't seem like a $50 game. Waiting for the price drop.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I liked the demo but it didn't seem like a $50 game. Waiting for the price drop.

I actually felt the same way, even after buying the game and playing for a few hours. Then the full scope and quality of the game revealed itself. I don’t regret paying full price in the slightest.

That said, I would never buy it from uplay on PC. I have the PS5 disc version. Well worth it. The game even renders at native 4K 120hz.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

It looked like 10000 other indie shit games.

 

[hybrid_birth]

Nintendo does what ubidon't.

 

[Beechos]

Played the demo. It was fine, but the art style is extremely ugly. Fortnite-y, clay looking characters. Can't play it more.

This is the same reason I have no interest I hate this art style. Microsoft also uses this art style in most of their games along with arcane.

 

[gothmog]

I actually felt the same way, even after buying the game and playing for a few hours. Then the full scope and quality of the game revealed itself. I don’t regret paying full price in the slightest.

That said, I would never buy it from uplay on PC. I have the PS5 disc version. Well worth it. The game even renders at native 4K 120hz.

Well that's good that it gets better. Also 4k/120 will be amazing. Any graphical difference?

My sweet spot for Metroidvanias is less than $30. I usually buy it immediately when it's under that.

 

[Tg89]

Too bad. It's a great game. Don't really understand all the "metroidvania/2d games can't cost $50". super reductionist and part of the reason 90% of AAA games these days are generic bloated open world trash. game is far more deserving of the price than anything else ubisoft has made the last 10 years, that's for sure.

 

[Deerock71]

Have no idea what the budget was for it, but 300k is only like $15m for it, and that's not allowing for any of the platform cuts or anything. Now, they could probably get something from it via the subscriptions as well. Any word on what it cost to make?

I really hoped people would give this one a shot, it might open the door for more 2D-ish content from major publishers. I would never expect this type of game to do millions and millions, but hopefully it can cover the budget and make a little on top.

Do you think this cost more than 5 million? There's absolutely no advertising for this, and the Unity engine is powering it.

 

[Punished Miku]

Do you think this cost more than 5 million? There's absolutely no advertising for this, and the Unity engine is powering it.

Of course. They worked on it for 5 years.

 

[Deerock71]

Of course. They worked on it for 5 years.

 

[T-0800]

Played the demo. It was fine, but the art style is extremely ugly. Fortnite-y, clay looking characters. Can't play it more.

I don't have a problem with the characters but the environments look so bland an uninteresting in the demo.

 

[Diddy X]

There are plenty cheap great metroidvanias out there, no need to pay 40€+ for this.

 

[WitchHunter]

Ubi stopped launching on Steam because everyone buys it on Steam, while ignoring Uplay.
They’d rather have 100% of way less sales.

Maybe they think in the long term?

 

[10v12]

damn shame too. Will be on my short list for GOTY.

 

[DaGwaphics]

Do you think this cost more than 5 million? There's absolutely no advertising for this, and the Unity engine is powering it.

I literally have no idea what a game of this type and size costs to make. Your guess is as good as mine.

 

[Smether]

The marketing for this game was embarrassing. The sad part is that it appears to be a great game. In the long view, it might be one of the greatest Metroidvania games ever. But that whole concept appeals to an older generation. Kids these days will look at a 2D game with bewilderment. Yet they stylized the game for a younger audience and advertised it that way. This is the perfect game to sell to nerdier guys on PC, but they had to shoot themselves in the foot by not putting it on Steam. I'm actually a fan of the Epic store so spilt milk for me personally, but it's sad that they keep tripping over themselves.

 

[J3nga]

What happened to this?

A remake of the remake

 

[Larxia]

It's almost full price, here it's 50€, which actually used to be the price for AAA games few years ago until it went up to 60.
It's also not on Steam.

Not sure about console, but the flop on PC is expected, this happens all the time when they do epic exclusives.

 

[nick776]

Based on the demo, I passed it up because it really didn't seem like anything special at the price they are charging. $15 to $20 would be more appropriate, better yet make it a PS Plus or GamePass title.

 

[AJUMP23]

It is overpriced. I would give $20 for it.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Paging sloppyjoe_gamer and @ManaByte

I called it.



Ubi doesn’t do free demos unless they’re afraid it’s not going to sell well.

Why are you paging me loser? lol my original point stands. They gave a free demo because they were confident in their product not because they knew it would fail.

 

[Ribi]

I hear it's good, but I'm not going out of my way to buy and play with for two reasons: Ubisoft so I'm just like meh I know it exists and there are other games that are more exciting to play

 

[StreetsofBeige]

The marketing for this game was embarrassing. The sad part is that it appears to be a great game. In the long view, it might be one of the greatest Metroidvania games ever. But that whole concept appeals to an older generation. Kids these days will look at a 2D game with bewilderment. Yet they stylized the game for a younger audience and advertised it that way. This is the perfect game to sell to nerdier guys on PC, but they had to shoot themselves in the foot by not putting it on Steam. I'm actually a fan of the Epic store so spilt milk for me personally, but it's sad that they keep tripping over themselves.

Personally, I think low sales is simply due to the insane price ($50 US/$70 CDN) and that they made the game more cartoony and bloomy. The traditional games are darker. So for any long time gamers, the art style is totally different. Not because it's 2D, but it being closer to Fortnite or a Disney game than a 10-15 year old PoP 3D adventure game.

I dont think Metroidvania style is an issue unless perhaps that genre bombed the past few years. There's tons of these kind of games that good good reviews and sales in the past. Key thing though is that they were all half the price.

I haven't played it yet but what are you implying? That metroidvanias can't sell?

Not at the current price.

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

Game is good, I subbed to beat it.

The problem is this game at $50 needs next gen Ubisoft graphics to justify the price. It looks like $20, but could have been amazing with some solid effort if they wanted a $50 price tag. I think people would have bought it. Game is good.

 

[Heart_Attack]

Waiting on $20

 

[Yoshi97]

This thread makes me feel like I'm in the early 2000s with all the visuals criticism. An artstyle isn't everything, it's not 2003 anymore. And in terms of visual fidelity it doesn't look as good as it could have because it was built from the ground up on switch so it could run on it. Also, just because it's 50 bucks and "2d" shouldn't matter. This is better then 3d open world bloat.

 

[bender]

Waiting on $20

This brings up a good point too. Since this got a retail release and Ubisoft games usually plummet faster than any other releases, being frugal will be rewarded quickly.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

This brings up a good point too. Since this got a retail release and Ubisoft games usually plummet faster than any other releases, being frugal will be rewarded quickly.

UBI king of bargain bins. Never pay full price.

I remember Ass Creed games being launched in Q4, which at the time was probably $70 CDN. January comes around and the closest Costco to my house would have a table with like 100 copies at $25. This happened 3 years in a row minimum. Probably happened more but just didnt notice or was there after Xmas. A lot of gamers surely Costco'ed it, beat it and traded it in to EB or Best By for $30 or $40.

 

[bender]

UBI king of bargain bins. Never pay full price.

I remember Ass Creed games being launched in Q4, which at the time was probably $70 CDN. January comes around and the closest Costco to my house would have a table with like 100 copies at $25. This happened 3 years in a row minimum. Probably happened more but just didnt notice or was there after Xmas. A lot of gamers surely Costco'ed it, beat it and traded it in to EB or Best By for $30 or $40.

I just remember Black Fridays where games that launched a few weeks earlier were already $25-35.

 

[SolidQ]

It's a 2D platformer. What did they expect? This was never gonna be a huge seller.

Dead Cells has topped 10 million sales worldwide

Motion Twin and Evil Empire believe a consistent stream of updates have delivered that success.

www.gamedeveloper.com

 

[Esppiral]

The fact that it looks like a ps3 game and the art style IS one of the worst I've ever seen does not help.

 

[Salmon]

Played the demo. It was fine, but the art style is extremely ugly. Fortnite-y, clay looking characters. Can't play it more.

Yep! Exactly my words. Wouldn't even try it out for that reason. Can't really stand the cringy visual style that is, for some reason, WAY to common these days.

 

[Fart Knight]

This game is better than Dread which still costs 60 because Nintendo

 

[SleepySlippy]

UBI's legacy it's hard to ignore...so their good games pay the price.

Watch Ubisoft's next dung sell millions of copies and you'll think again.