Hey guys! Strangely enough, MS Flight Simulator was the first 10/10 rated game on IGN from Xbox (yes, not even Halo CE, 2 or 3 got a 10 from them). It’s not even on Xbox yet, and it is developed by a 3rd party studio.
I am fairly confident it is the first IGN 10/10 of many, and my question is: what do you think will be the first IGN 10/10 rated game from a 1st party Xbox studio (not publishing)? I know it is 100% speculation, but I’m just having fun here.
Here are my potential candidates right now (some not even announced yet):
Halo Infinite
Fable
Avowed
The Initiative’s game
Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga
Everwild
Starfield
ES6 (if a 9th gen game)
inXile’s AAA ARPG
Forza Motorsport
Forza Horizon 5
Doom Eternal sequel
Wolfenstein 3
Dishonered 3
Prey 2
Other, please comment!
As a little bonus, any metacritic very early guesses for some of these games?
Well said! I think the music, story and performance will be A+. If the visuals are anything like the reveal trailer it will be A+ as well. In my opinion the only thing they would need to polish is the gameplay, it felt a bit flat/repetitive to me in the first game. If they can nail this as well, definitely a potential 10/10, 90+ meta.
Yes, I loved the first game despite it’s flaws. I feel they where mostly budget constrained though, so the sequel has huge potential. Really looking forward to see what they can do.
There are more potential candidates but this is the one that really sticks out to me.
Definitely, I believe they said they were doubling the team. I think they also said the game would be spread across hundreds of miles of Iceland (correct me if I’m wrong)? Mix than with experience from the first game, and Unreal Engine 5. Could be a little gem.
That’s a pretty thorough list ! I’d have similar guesses I think, but it seems you’re not very optimistic about some bit titles, Halo Infinite, Fable and The Initiative’s game (granted we know absolutely nothing about it and it’s their first game).
I’d be very happy if Psychonauts 2 had a 90+ meta, looking forward to that one.
True about Halo. Initiative is only that way as I heard a rumour it might be episodic which tends to bring ratings down. As for Fable, I expect it to be a great game but it is uncharted territory for PlayGround and I think like FH1 and 2, HZD or Ghost of Tsushima it will get mid 80s and then Fable 2 will get 90s.
Fair enough! The Initiative and Playground RPG Team are both first projects, I suppose we should temper our expectations a bit. I’m definitely hoping for a high-80 at least for Halo Infinite but that’s probably wishful thinking lol
Quite possibly. Just trying not to go too high. I expect a string of fantastic games for sure. For the ones I put lower, I was either unsure about the recent output of the studio (ES6, Wolfenstein 3), was expecting relative maintenence of recent quality (Prey, Zenimax Online, Gears, Doom, AOE, ES6), or there are many unknown factors to put enough of a mark above 86 (Compulsion, Initiative, Fable, Everwild, Mara).
It wouldn’t suprise me if, for example, The Initiative ends up releasing a 90+ banger or Wolfenstein 3 is more 2 and less Youngblood, but this is more my rationale. I’d rather lowball and be pleasantly suprised than shoot for the money and be disappointed if a game has an 8 in front of it instead of a 9, not that these even matter much. As far as I’m concerned, Alpha Protocol and Last of Us should switch MC scores but damned if I’ll find many who support that stance.
That’s fine to keep expectations in check but if most of those scores came to fruition then something would of REALLY have gone wrong during development. This is a case where people would need to get replaced and Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda would both fall apart.
The Initatives game getting an 83 and Halo Infinite getting an 82 would result in both Darrell Gallagher and Bonnie Ross getting their asses kicked to the curb so fast that their heads would spin.
Is it though? Control last year because 2019 was a pretty weak year arguably the weakest year since the gen started but this year there’s FF7 Remake, Animal Crossing, Doom Eternal, Ori Wisp, TLOU2, Hades etc then again Geoff Keighly is heavily Playstation biased so it wouldn’t surprise me
I don’t want to get too fixated on Metacritic but perception is a big deal and having a 90+ is infinitely going to be better for a game than having an 80-85 even if its still an amazing game.
Getting 8s and 9s is not the end of the world, lol. Im not really expecting these studios to start pumping out Last of Us 2 quality games out of nowhere.
It is for those 2 teams. If halo infinite gets below a 9, 343 is finished. The initiative game will be a 9 as well with the talent pool they have id be shocked if it wasn’t
It is when you’re suppose to be the top studios out of 20+ studios. That sets a bad precedence for the rest of the first party.
Halo is suppose to be a top tier franchise, if Infinite isn’t at least in the high 80’s on the same level as Doom Eternal and Titanfall then it sets a bad tone, it basically says Xbox top franchise isn’t good enough which is unacceptable.
I’m not sure what the Initiative is going to make but again, they’re suppose to be a super studio with top tier talent, there’s no reason why their game should score in the low 80’s and it would be a disaster if that did occur because again it would set a bad precedence and tell people that Xbox top studio isn’t good enough to hang with the best developers in the world.
For Halo and the Initative’s game being “just good” isn’t good enough and unacceptable, if they’re not contenders for the best games in their genre then the studio leads need to be replaced.
