Uhm the genre could very well be third person narrative… the format however is something completely new.
We have yet to see a high budget episodic game. If this game is indeed like Black Mirror. Each story will probably be a short finished game.
What else fits more than third person narrative?
Let’s hope so!
Υeah I don’t know how I feel about this too…not a big fan of the episodic model in general, most of the games that I played in that style like Walking Dead and Life is Strange were bought and played after all the episodes were out. I just don’t like waiting a week (or more) to play the next part of a game. Plus I am still waiting for the second season of D4. 
That being said an anthology-like series of smaller stand-alone games of 3-5 hrs with different themes, mechanics and why not even art styles would be pretty cool IMO. Not what I expected from a studio like The Initiative but yeah it could be interesting I guess.
Excellent podcast, yet again. You both sound professional, and it does make me wonder why you don’t have more subscribers.
If it is a game that is like black mirror- that will definitely get a mixed reaction. Watch Dogs is like a light version of Black Mirror. Hmm
The grind is slow, but steady. We’ll get there. Thanks for watching!
If the episodes in this Initiative game are self contained, I have no problem, that’s something that could work really well and I would love to see that kind of a model being explored. But if its a single game broken into parts and made into episodes like Tell me Why, not entirely on board with that. It works with the type of games Dontnod makes, don’t know how it will in a game that’s more gamey than mere narrative heavy walking simulator type experiences. It would also mean game pass is directly influencing the nature and structure of the game, which will not make sense for those who aren’t in game pass or don’t intend to subscribe to it, which is still gonna be a thing, mind you. Even I unsubscribed game pass on pc when most of the games on there I’ve already played or the fact that most of the games that come to console game pass come in late to pc (Doom Eternal, EA play, etc) or never make it here in the first place (RDR2 Monster Hunter, Nier, TW3, DMC5, etc), or the fact that most of the first party games are years away, and there are other options like Epic store that gives away games on a regular basis as well, and not just some random games but highly acclaimed indie and AAA games even.
All in all, it’d have potential to be received poorly by those who aren’t in gamepass ecosystem seeing games being fundamentally altered by it yet being distributed to them outside it, having that disconnect is something the game has to convince super hard that it’s aok, and imo one way to do it is to keep those episodes self contained than sequential.
Can’t say I’m onboard with an episodic style game from TI. They really need to be a home run and experimenting with a delivery type which is going to get mixed reactions is…curious to say the least
I understand but let’s wait and see what The Initiative has been cooking first before jumping to any conclusions. We are merely speculating what the delivery mechanism might be, but nothing official has been announced and this is worth keeping in mind.
It’s that time again. Podcast weekend!
As always, that means another round of #CommunityQuestions
Drop your question here and we’ll try to get to them all. Be aware, we can’t always get to every single one depending on how long the ep is running and whether we may have already covered it during the show.
Good day,
Now this show is unique since it always tells a self contained story. Do you expect something similar for the game? Short focused storys? like 4-5 hours?
What are your GameAwards predictions? Announcements and Winner
So apparently according to Jeff Grubb Forza Horizon 5 might come next year and Motorsports will take a longer pause. If the teaser is anything to go by I think turn 10 is going for the most impressive looking racer the coming gen. The level of detail there is ridicules. No tree sprites please.
Did you heard similar things?
Hi all,
My question is in regards to the amount of titles at launch that are 60fps or above and how this is a shift from the more traditional 30fps for consoles. Do you think this target will hold throughout the gen for a large percentage of games, and do you think developers can even row back the frame rate target now that more and more people see the benefits of higher frame rates - for example with Assassin’s Creed?
Hi Guys!,
Thanks for the amazing podcast, I always look forward to it!
Great show lads🤞
Great show thanks guys!
Another good episode. I was laughing to myself when @Shpeshal_Nick and @Figments were having a little squabble over the English language 
.
I am also in agreement with @Sikamikanico about the potential reception of The Initiative’s game if the rumours about what it is are true because I for one am a little guilty in initially assuming what their game was going to be.
When the studio was announced, and who was the head of it, I assumed it was to fill the void of a 3rd person action adventure game because that’s a hole atm in Microsoft’s portfolio. However, that is on me, because Microsoft has never said what the studio is developing and if it is the game the studio wants to make then I am supportive of it, but I just feel the rest of the gaming population is not going to think that and will use it to dunk on Microsoft even more.
It could still be third person. Episodic format is just a way to deliver not a genre.
Oh no, we are fairly sure it will be 3rd person. I can’t quite put it into words but I think people have a certain in thing in mind what the game might be and it may not turn out like that. Plus I think the potential episodic nature is going to split opinions.
In the end the quality is what matters. I’m totally in for short experience if done right and it they should be games with real combat. No slow walking stuff and cutscence after cutscence.
Titanfall 2 is a really good example how you do a good short cinematic singleplayer. Make cutscences part of the gameplay dont let me lay my controller at the side.
In complete agreement. If the Initiative do end up producing a game with unique experiences then I am interested in seeing what it will be. After the soon to be finalised Bethesda acquisition I am much more relaxed about Xbox game studios exploring more creative ideas than chasing trends etc.
Not sure where else to ask this but will XboxEra be doing a Game of the year vote? I wanna see what Xboxera thought was the best game of each respective genre.