Fantasy RPG fans are eating well right now, and that’s in big part thanks to Microsoft allowing their development studios to release their games on platforms other than Xbox, as well as including many of them day one on their Game Pass service. We just got The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered from Bethesda and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive day one on Game Pass in the same week, and from someone who has spent a substantial time with both games, I think it’s fair to say that we are so back! I’m going to keep this informal as I find it difficult to contain my excitement. With the concurrent Steam player counts of these games reaching into the mid-hundred thousands, Oblivion Remastered having over four million total players in the first week, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 already breaking the one million total player count in only a few days, all signs seem to point to the fact that many gamers were waiting for some quality role playing experiences in the wake of other less-than special role playing titles in recent months.
The multitude of highly favorable reviews, the new fans of the genre and returning veterans alike sharing their stories and experiences, and the overwhelming amount of content coming out on social media and gaming news outlets is heartwarming to say the least. Too long have gamers been suffering through games as a service, micro-transactions, buggy releases, and lazy writing. Clair Obscur released in near flawless condition, running smoothly, featuring innovative combat, superb storytelling, and cutting-edge graphics from release, which is such a rare feat these days. With that said, I’m not going to lie to you and say that Oblivion Remastered isn’t full of bugs, but it’s those fun Bethesda bugs that anyone who played the original Oblivion (my personal favorite game of all time) found charming and part of the experience. They aren’t bugs anymore, they’re features! Oblivion also somewhat originated the micro-transaction with their horse armor in the original Oblivion, but we can’t really fault them for that either, because it was a single-player game that added content post-release that only supplied optional cosmetic changes to one small aspect of the game that provided zero advantage to the player, but I digress.
We aren’t here to complain about the past and point fingers, we’re here to celebrate the present and look forward to a hopeful future for the gaming industry at large. We are once again getting to play new games that give us creative freedom, agency, and allow for developing characters within the experience that best suits our individual play styles, which at its core seems to be the greatest draw for many to role-playing games as a genre. Many executives in recent years have gone on record to express their doubts about the ability of single-player games to be viable sources of profitability, some going as far as to say that gamers are getting tired of huge open world games and RPG’s in general. This seems to have been proven wrong with the overwhelming popularity of games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, coupled with the very recent commercial and critical success of Oblivion Remastered and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It is my sincere hope that these executives realize the direction the industry is heading. I want nothing more than for development teams to once again undertake more creative endeavors that don’t pander or push an agenda, and who aren’t solely focused on quick revenue through battle passes, micro-transactions, and live service cash grabs like so many failing studios have been pumping out as of late.
Either way, I am optimistic that the winds are turning and that role-playing games will once again thrive, which will hopefully embolden other developers to hold their games to a higher standard and produce popular and profitable games that work as intended upon release and are simply a fun experience for players. Are you excited for the triumphant return of well-crafted single-player roleplaying games? Are you fatigued by the ever-growing library of 50+ hour open world adventures? Or do you not care at all and just want to get back to your Fortnite and Call of Duty? I’d like to hear what you think in the comments below. Until next time!
If you haven’t checked out our Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review and are still on the fence about the game. You should most definitely check it our here.
