Say what you will, but last of us 1 factions was one of my all time favorite mp games. Really sad to see this cancelled
Silver lining is players can finally be free instead of constantly being strung along year after year wondering if this is the year it will come out.
Feels like I’ve been hearing back and forth forever about whether it’s going to happen. I never tried the multiplayer personally, but I know this is sad news for many
Is it really? I thought the entire point of this game series was delivering a tightly scripted singleplayer narrative. That’s what attracts people to it. I think the overlap with people looking for some kind of multiplayer shooter is fairly small.
Used to be our favorite single player games came with multiplayer modes attached to them. You didn’t expect them to get years of content. You just enjoyed them for a little while with some friends and then moved on. Not only is that totally fine, I’d argue it’s preferable.
Absolutely, but that’s not how this works anymore and today, the expectation with every multiplayer game and even multiplayer mode is that it’s live-service. The industry has replaced the “natural” skill progression of players with dangling the carrot of permanent (and in my opinion mostly pointless) unlockables in front of their faces at all times.
I think some of it is the audience’s fault. I have heard many friends complaining about multiplayer games being “dead” or “abandoned” because there’s no new content and I’m like “I’m pretty satisfied, it doesn’t need anything else”. If there’s enough people playing for matchmaking, I’m good.
Let’s change that expectation. Baldur’s Gate 3 won best multiplayer at the Game Awards, and it’s not a live service. In a talk with some friends, I realized how antagonistic the relationship between players and developers always ended up as well when the developers make more money with more “engagement”. Diablo IV will get fun builds nerfed into the ground; Baldur’s Gate 3 will let them rock, but only in the pre-existing difficulty levels before they add in extra challenge modes for fun. That’s the difference.
Meanwhile, Agent Under Fire multiplayer for the Gamecube is more fun than any live service FPS I’ve ever played. It certainly didn’t require years of support to be that fun, and you only need one other person to play it with, but preferably 3. Very easily doable regardless of how many people are in matchmaking.
It’s a really good, well done stealth game that rewards very deliberate action and awareness of your surroundings. The multiplayer in the original was unique and really fun.