Eighth Console Gaming Generation Retrospective - Part 2: Games and Developers

 Last time, I did the first part of my eighth console generation retrospective on the systems themselves - or, at least, the major home consoles. But… what about the games? What games did I really like from this generation? What games did I not like so much? On that note, what about the companies developing the games - what practices have come into play that have resulted in some level of controversy?

I think before I start, I should detail what I consider to be an “eighth generation” game. The eighth generation technically started in 2012 with the Wii U (or 2011 with the 3DS if you want to count that), but didn’t really get into full swing until a year later when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was launched, plus the Wii U was getting a strong library of games, but even then the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were still going pretty strong too - both systems were still officially being manufactured until about 2016 and 2017, as well as some minor releases for them through 2018. And there are some games out there that are a bit questionable on if they count in the field of eighth generation titles - fortunately, none that I have really much to say about here, but Dark Souls 2 for example is one case where it was released in 2014, but on seventh generation hardware and PC only, not technically coming to eighth generation systems until it’s updated “Scholars of the First Sin” release a year later. Or another case being Grand Theft Auto V, which was released on both seventh and eighth gen systems with a 2 month difference between them due to the PS4 and Xbox One not being out yet.

However, for the sake of this post I’ll pretty much count any game released after 2013, for eighth generation consoles. This will include both exclusive titles and multiplatform games released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, Switch and/or PC. As well, I’ll include games that I consider to be more synonymous with the eighth generation - which includes Grand Theft Auto V and Dark Souls 2, the former of which being released just before the release of the PS4 and Xbox One and I feel is more associated with those systems, and the latter technically being released for the PS3 and 360 but releasing in 2014 and a year later re-releasing on the PS4 and Xbox One. Granted, I don’t really have much or anything at all to say about those games - I’ve never even played any of the Dark Souls games especially, but ultimately I decided not to put many rules for particular games - just that they had to have been released during the period of the eighth generation.

Granted, to sort of transition into the bulk of this post, I… don’t really feel like the first few years of the eighth console generation were too interesting in terms of game releases. I mentioned in part 1 that the Wii U had a lot of the exclusives I was most interested in. But I gotta be honest those Wii U exclusives were pretty much the most interesting releases coming out aside for some really good indie games. Especially in the case of 2014 where I just can’t think of anything outside of DKC: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Bros that released and really stood out to me. Even in 2015 the only major popular AAA titles I can think of (that, again, weren’t Nintendo exclusives) were The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4, and even then neither of those were games I really cared that much for since I just never held much interest in those types of games. And yes, I know I’ll be lynched by a mob for saying I didn’t care for The Witcher 3.

I really didn’t feel like it was until 2016 where the eighth generation truly got going - when there were a good amount of releases that I was interested in - with the announcement and release of games like Overwatch, Doom 2016, Paladins Early Access, Battlefield 1, Dark Souls 3, and so on. It’s kind of odd, really - I remember originally thinking that 2016 wasn’t a great year for games, which I feel was largely contributed to by the horrible launch of a certain open world space exploration game, but in retrospect, I do feel it was kind of the turning point of the eighth generation - when more interesting releases started to come out on a regular basis. And by the end of the year I had some games to be excited for - hell, even a new system to be excited for in the form of the Switch.

But there was one game in 2017 I was actually more excited for than anything else - Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. I had gotten into the Crash Bandicoot series around 2012 and 2013 - just around the start of the eighth generation. At that point, the series was basically dormant - there hadn’t been a new game since 2008 with the release of Mind Over Mutant (which was mediocre in of itself) other than some obscure, minor mobile releases. There were rumors of a new Crash game here and there, but I feel like at some point I just lost any faith in the series making a comeback. I hadn’t watched Sony’s E3 in 2016, I just wasn’t really interested in it at the time, but when I started hearing that there had been a Crash Bandicoot remake announcement, I couldn’t even believe it was real at first. And sure enough, it was, the series was finally making a comeback on the PS4. And sure, it was just remakes of the original trilogy, but it did once again spark hope that they would continue with this series. And well, that’s what they did - Crash Team Racing was remade as CTR: Nitro-Fueled in 2019 and a completely new, original Crash game was finally released for the first time in over a decade - Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. I guess you could say… it was “about time” they made a new Crash game.

I’m sorry, I won’t do that ever again.

It got to the point where I actually considered buying a PS4 just for the N Sane Trilogy… and then it turned out that it was just a timed exclusive and a year later was released for everything else.
But I really feel like this was a pretty important release. It practically redefined the meaning of a video game remake, which was also aided by the release of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy a year later. And in a way, I feel like they paved the way towards stuff like Link’s Awakening 2019 and whatnot.

But 2017 in general, I would argue was probably the best year of this gaming generation. I think one thing that made it stand out to me was the “revival” of 3D platformers. I feel like this genre had become a bit dormant in the first half of the generation with the exception of the obvious Mario and Sonic games. More collectathon-esque games in particular had pretty much faded out of existence after the GameCube era. But 2017 saw a good supply of new 3D platformers. I mentioned Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy already, and of course there was also Super Mario Odyssey, but in addition, there were games like Yooka-Laylee, Snake Pass, A Hat in Time and Super Lucky’s Tale. Also Knack 2, the greatest game of all time.

But I think 2017 was also a year where there was just a lot for everyone. Fans of platformers had their best year in quite a while, but fans of say, Open World games, had stuff like Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn to play. If you liked shooters there was Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Quake Champions, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite. And frankly there were just a lot of great titles that came out this year in general - it was probably the first year of my life where I had a steady supply of games to look forward to. Even aside from the N. Sane Trilogy, there was also games like Sonic Mania, Super Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, Wolfenstein II again and Yooka-Laylee. There were also some games that I hadn’t really heard much about but ended up liking - one of these being Night in the Woods, both my favorite game of the year and one of my top 3 games of all time. I feel like this was just a year where fans of any platform had stuff to look forward to - Nintendo fans were getting a new system, and two new major Mario and Zelda games on top of everything else, and for those who didn’t have the money to buy the Switch, they still had a good supply of 3DS games coming out. The PlayStation 4 was getting games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. The Xbox One was getting a new, beefier model in the form of the Xbox One X, and also Scalebou-

Oh.
Right.

But regardless, there was just a good amount of games coming out for every platform, and it was definitely one of the most interesting years for gaming that I’ve lived through.

But, for everything good about 2017, towards the end, we did get some light shed on a pretty big issue with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II. And I’m going to use this as a segway to talk about some of the… not so great aspects of this generation.

So what exactly am I talking about? If you couldn’t already guess - well, the abundance of microtransactions that’s come into play this generation. Now, to be fair, this wasn’t necessarily a new issue - it was also often talked about during the seventh generation and has been present since the growth in popularity of online gaming and whatnot. And that’s the thing, online gaming has become a pretty big deal in the last decade or two. And that’s not a bad a thing by any means - it’s a good way of bringing people together, and I myself have really enjoyed putting a lot of time into a few online multiplayer games.

But the problem is, in the past few years, microtransactions have just gotten more and more predatory. One such case of this being loot boxes, which is essentially a form of gambling for in-game items. Essentially, you pay real life money to get an in-game “box” of random items. But if there’s a specific item you want, then you have to resort to paying for loot boxes in order for a chance to get that item, and it sort of sucks people in by having them pay for loot boxes until they can get the specific item they want. I think there are people who forget that this was sort of a trend starting by Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike Global Offensive with their whole “crate” systems, but I do also feel the release and popularity of Overwatch did push it more, even if I can cut them some slack for giving out loot boxes like candy. Regardless though, I think Battlefront II was definitely the worst of it - locking certain characters behind large amounts of credits that would take hours to grind for, essentially forcing the consumer into buying loot boxes just for a chance of getting those characters. This even led to some countries outright banning loot boxes, and frankly, I’d say that’s for the better.

But I think there is also a bigger issue with microtransactions that Battlefront II just highlighted. It’s safe to say that a lot of people playing online games these days are, well, kids and teens. This is especially the case with games like Fortnite, and obviously, kids are very impressionable and want to be just like their friends. I can admit myself that I was like this playing ROBLOX back in the early 2010’s or so. So when kids see a costume or something they like, they’re going to want it. But they probably aren’t going to want to put the time into getting it, so they end up using their parents’ money to buy these skins. And I think the way microtransactions have gotten in online games have made them extremely predatory, especially towards younger audiences and their families.

I think another thing that’s important to remember is that the way microtransactions are put into games nowadays are pretty much designed to suck people right in. Especially with loot boxes - after all, gambling addiction on it’s own is a big problem, and considering how loot boxes are, it’s essentially the same thing in the gaming sphere. Studies in Psychology have pretty much proven that people, without thinking, are easily able to get carried away with paying for stuff, and with how predatory microtransactions have become in recent years, it’s only become even more of an issue. And frankly, big game corporations know this - in fact, they purposely design these microtransactions to be psychologically manipulative and to entice the consumer into throwing money at the screen. And, of course, they’re able to profit from it, so they continue doing it. And honestly, I think there really should be more regulation of microtransactions - hell, I’m all for governments outright banning loot boxes because… well, it’s gotten out of hand. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - this is just capitalism working at it’s finest and their ability to do stuff like this has only gotten easier with the advent of online play, but it is a real issue that should be given more attention.

And another thing that’s become an issue as a result of greater online capabilities in recent years is updates. Now, updates themselves aren't a problem - I don’t necessarily mind companies updating games to add more content (as long as the game is released with enough content of course) and provide bugfixes for things that might have fallen through the cracks, which is especially a huge deal with online games. But it kind of brings up another issue with games right now - companies that use updates as a “get out of jail free” card.

What I mean by this is that it’s become fairly common for games to release in underwhelming and disappointing to outright broken states with the company only deciding to “fix” the game’s issues until after it was released. Meaning, essentially, that it’s become less incentivized for some companies to release a finished product when it’s supposed to come out. And there’s two particular cases of this - No Man’s Sky and Fallout 76. Both were absolutely horrendous in the states they launched in - No Man’s Sky having pretty much no content and Fallout 76 being filled to the brim with bugs and glitches - and only became what they were promised to be a year or two after they first came out. And yes, I’d rather have a company fix a game than release a broken game and abandon it, but I don’t feel enough people criticize games like these for coming out in the states they were in just to be fixed later on. It gives me the impression that companies who do this don’t actually care about the game they’re releasing - they just want to get it out as soon as possible to make as much money as they can on it while just adding updates over time to “fix” the game to a state it should’ve been in in the first place.

So, okay, there have some been questionable practices this generation. But there is a bright side.

I think gaming in general at this point has become an important part of media culture, just like movies or books or television shows. And I think a good part of it is just that games are more ambitious than they have really ever been thanks to the advancement of hardware. Games aren’t necessarily just Pac-Man or Pong any more - we now have games that are pretty much designed to just be played for long amounts of time while expanding upon their own worlds, characters, stories and everything. Games are generally a lot more ambitious now - many AAA games have pretty much movie-like budgets with a lot to do in general.

On top of that, there’s also just something for everyone. I feel open world games have become extremely common in recent years, and while I don’t personally care for those types of games, there definitely is an audience for them. Meanwhile, fans of platformers and whatnot still have games like Super Mario Odyssey, both of the Yooka-Laylee games, Cuphead, Sonic Mania, Crash Bandicoot 4 and whatever else to play. The FPS genre is also still going pretty strong with major titles like Overwatch, Doom (2016), Doom Eternal, the Wolfenstein games and Titanfall 2 for example. And of course the more casual side still has games like Madden NFL, FIFA and Call of Duty.

But I think one thing that really helps this is the indie scene, and in particular I wanted to talk about it because… well, it’s been a very interesting one for me. I feel like over the past decade or so developer tools and software have become more accessible and easier to understand to those looking to make games and on top of that platforms like Steam have become more friendly to new developers. Now, this hasn’t always been great - it has led to a ton of shovelware and just outright bad games being released on storefronts, but there’s been a lot of good as well. Granted this is sort of a trend that started in the seventh gen with games like Super Meat Boy, Braid and FEZ but I feel it’s even more prevalent now than it was previously. Undertale and Night in the Woods, a couple examples of the indie scene, have become among my favorite games of all time and are games that just had a pretty big impact on me personally. Another indie title I really liked was Freedom Planet, a game that serves as it’s own take on the classic Sonic games with a sequel in development. Yooka-Laylee… look, I know some were disappointed by this game, but I gotta admit I personally did enjoy it and it made me more interested in playing other collect-a-thon games in general, and the game’s sequel, the Impossible Lair, was honestly one of the best 2D platformers from this generation.

And that leads me to something else - I feel there’s generally been a feeling I get from the indie scene that’s just not present in the current AAA industry. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I feel like there’s a degree of “love” from indie games created by smaller developers that just doesn’t really exist in the AAA sphere. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all current AAA games are passionless and just exist to make money, and there are a lot of really good AAA games from this generation. But I feel there’s just more of a connection with smaller developers in the indie gaming scene with the gaming community in general and I always get that feeling from many of the best indie games from this generation, and I don’t really get that feeling from many modern AAA titles. I feel too that’s aided by social media and the connectivity we have over the internet.

And that reminds me of something else I wanted to touch upon… online multiplayer games. Obviously these aren’t a new thing in the eighth generation - they have pretty much been a thing for as long as LAN parties have existed which dates back to the 90’s. But, again, I feel they are more prevalent than they have ever been this generation. Some have pretty much become their own sports leagues in the case of games like Overwatch, DotA or League of Legends, and eSports have become a good part of the gaming industry today. I feel like it’s contributed to gaming just feeling a lot more “mainstream” nowadays and honestly that is something I really like to see.

And with that all out of the way… what were some of my favorite games from this generation?

Undertale - My personal favorite game of all time. Everything about it just had a great impact on me personally and I always loved how the game was structured and the general tones and themes of it. It always just felt like a unique concept for the game and how the gameplay affects the story.

Night in the Woods - A more narrative driven game that’s again one of my favorite games of all time. Gameplay really isn’t it’s strongest suit (although I do like exploring Possum Springs and also some of the side tasks and stuff), but the story, characters and setting all make this a very “comfy” game for me that I can relate to and everytime I play it I pretty much just feel immersed with the story and characters.

Overwatch - A fun online multiplayer shooter that’s probably one of the more prominent games from this generation. I really like the expanded cast of characters this has over other FPS games and also how each one has their share of unique abilities.

Freedom Planet - A really good Sonic-like game that came out around one of the lower points of the series, while building upon the formula with it’s own ideas.

Sonic Mania - On that note, this was a really good throwback to the classic games with some really great level design that ultimately made it among my favorites in the series.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons - I started out with New Leaf in 2016, but this game’s even more of an improvement with it’s own sense of community and a town with just a lot to do on a day-by-day basis.

Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2 - decided to lump these together since they are very similar, just with Super Mario Maker 2 having more features albeit the former having a really good use of the Wii U gamepad. Regardless, both games I found to be a lot of fun, and as someone who was into Super Mario World ROM hacking when I was about 10 years old, this provided a good, accessible way to build my own Mario levels while playing others’ creations.

Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy - Unfortunately I have yet to play Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, which definitely has a good chance being among my favorite games from this generation (and probably of all time), but the N. Sane Trilogy was what brought back the series into light and stood out as a really good remake of three classic games. Similar vibes go to Spyro: Reignited Trilogy and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.

Super Mario Odyssey - Hands down one of the best Mario games I’ve played, and potentially my favorite 3D Mario game competing with Galaxy 1 and 2.

Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal - Both of these served as a really good comeback for the series, and although Doom (2016) isn’t really a game I go back to much (and Doom Eternal I’ve only played just recently), I feel both games stand out to me as not only great sequels to the classic Doom series but also serve as unique FPS experiences in general.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Definitely the best Smash game I’ve played thus far.

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair - As I stated, one of the best 2D platformers from this generation and at that, a pretty challenging one with good movement and level design.

Among Us - A game that I honestly really didn’t know much about until this year (despite releasing in 2018), but one that’s really unique and also just fun to play with friends.


But anyway… that’s all I have to say. The eighth generation was an interesting time in general. There’s been some good, some bad, but I guess I just really like the fact that gaming is so mainstream now, and am looking forward to the future of gaming - seeing what different developers, both big and small, have to offer. Considering how some of my favorite games have come out this generation, I’m interested to see what will come up in the future and will stand out to me as other, new favorites.