PORTAL 2

We could basically put the entire Valve catalog in here. The joke goes that Valve doesn’t know how to count beyond 2, and that can be applied to so many of the company’s properties. Portal, for instance, absolutely smashed it with its second instalment, delivering an instant masterpiece that was widely beloved by pretty much everyone who played it- and a lot of people have played it in the years since its launch. It’s widely regarded as one of the best games of its time, lauded for its clever gameplay and incredible writing (among other things), while commercially, it’s been quite a success too. And yet, with Valve focused on Steam and now the Steam Deck, it’s unlikely that Portal will continue. At least we recently got Aperture Desk Job though, so that’s something… right?

Following the Activision-Blizzard deal, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has cited his desire to work on franchises from his childhood. Inevitably that leads to the question: What other titles could be brought back for the Xbox Series X/S generation? Let’s take a look at 15 of them here.

Scalebound

Set in a fantasy world with dragons, it saw protagonist Drew having a massive dragon named Thuban by his side. Along with functioning independently, one could also give commands to Thuban while fighting. It was also possible to directly control the dragon and enter Berserker mode for increased power. Announced in 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive, the hack and slash combat combined with battles on a massive scale looked promising, especially with up to four players in co-op.

Originally slated for release in late 2016, Scalebound would be delayed to the next year and subsequently cancelled in January 2017. Studio head Atsushi Inaba felt that “both sides failed” when it came to the cancellation and that it “didn’t do all of the things that we needed to do as a developer.” PlatinumGames has expressed interest in returning to the project – especially since Microsoft still owns the IP. It may not happen any time soon but never say never.

THE ORDER: 1886

There’s no denying that The Order: 1886 didn’t exactly do justice to its premise, but at the same time, this is the sort of premise that could really have come into its own if it had been given the chance to build on its foundation and learn from its mistakes. The 2015 title looked gorgeous and transported players to a vividly imaginative setting, and we would have loved to see that idea being expanded and built upon in a sequel that worked to address its predecessor’s issues.

Vanquish

Rocket sliding into cover and vaulting over in slow-mo to gun down foes never looked or felt as good as it did in Vanquish. But even at roughly six hours for the main campaign, it just simply ended following the battle with Bogey Alpha and Bravo. No final battle with Victor Zaitsev, who subsequently escapes and destroys Providence. Even US president Elizabeth Winters, who sought to destroy Moscow with Providence’s microwave transmitter, simply kills herself. At least Sam and Elena survived so that’s nice.

Microsoft have revealed the full lineup of games they will be adding to Xbox Game Pass over the coming couple of weeks on all devices- Xbox One, PC, and now that the service is fully available on it, Android. It’s a solid lineup of new additions all around, with the console and Android folks in particular getting two great new games.

On October 1, as revealed earlier, DOOM Eternal will be added to the Game Pass catalog on console and Andoid. October 1 will also see the launch of indie title Drake Hollow, and the game will be available on Game Pass for PC at launch.

October 8 will see three new additions, with Double Fine’s bizarre action-adventure title Brutal Legend coming to Game Pass for console, and Forza Motorsport 7 coming to the service on both console and Android. Meanwhile, indie turn-based tactical RPG Ikenfall releases on October 8, and will also be available on Game Pass day and date for console and PC.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also recently confirmed that EA Play will be added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on November 10. Read more on that through here.

Fortnite: Battle Royale

Epic Games’ Fortnite may have seemed like a cartoonish zombie defense game but Fortnite: Battle Royale is another pot of Battle Royale insanity altogether. Rocket riding – which saw players fire rockets and surf on them to rain death from above – was only the beginning. From there, the game incorporated guided missiles, shopping carts as pseudo-vehicles, a game mode that lets players become Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet and so much more.

Double Fine Productions will finally release the first part of its crowd-funded adventure game Broken Age on Steam, with the second part to follow in the coming months. How about after that? While speaking to GameSpot, Double Fine boss Tim Schafer talked revisiting Brutal Legend, either with a sequel or even via DLC.

“I love that world and I would love to go back there. And I think Jack Black might be up for it, too. I would love to go back to that world or even just do a DLC pack. We’re always trying to get Lionwhyte in there; a playable Lionwhyte army. Maybe that would happen someday. I would definitely love to do that.”

Currently, the company is busy working on another crowd-funded project, Massive Chalice. Broken Age: Act One will be out on PC, Mac OS X and Linux on January 28th, with Act Two to release some time later this year. Any thoughts on a new Brutal Legend?

Preordering the game will give users access to the multiplayer beta, and also grant two exclusive Team Fortress 2 items – Eddie’s hair and guitar Clementine – for use in baptizing enemies in the ways of heavy metal.

Double Fine President Tim Schafer stated, “Adding a PC release to Brütal Legend’s list of conquests risks raising the world’s ambient Metal saturation to dangerously high levels, which is why we’re conducting this closed beta test for preorders.”

Considering the success that Brutal Legend saw on consoles, which wasn’t helped by the mish-mash of marketing woes and publisher law-suits, we’re looking forward to seeing it on PC and getting our hands on the multiplayer beta. Stay tuned for more details on the release of this heavy metal adventure.

Double Fine Studios’ Tim Schafer is a great example of this demographic and in a conversation with Wired, he offered his own viewpoint on departures in the industry.

“One of the most frustrating things about the games industry is that teams of people come together to make a game, and maybe they struggle and make mistakes along the way, but by the end of the game they’ve learned a lot – and this is usually when they are disbanded. Instead of being allowed to apply all those lessons to a better, more efficiently produced second game, they are scattered to the winds and all that wisdom is lost.”

Schafer is pretty much thinking in the long term, rather than immediately looking for his next project to start.

“After Psychonauts, we could have laid off half our team so that we’d have more money and time to sign Brütal Legend. But doing so would have meant breaking up a team that had just learned how to work well together. And what message would that have sent to our employees? It would say that we’re not loyal to them, and that we don’t care. Which would make them wonder ‘Why should we be loyal to this company?’

“If you’re not loyal to your team you can get by for a while, but eventually you will need to rely on their loyalty to you and it just won’t be there.”

It’s why rather than chasing publishers, Double Fine explored alternative methods of funds generation, like Kickstarter, for it’s next title. And it was a rousing success. So while some companies continue trimming the fat, Schafer has indicated that when it comes to Double Fine, it’s all for one and one for all.

Source: GIBiz

His latest title, Brutal Legend, met with a mixed response though. Not because it was bad, but because people didn’t expect what they eventually got.

Schafer himself understood and stated to GIBiz, “There was definitely a messaging problem with that game. That’s one example of how the openness would have helped that game a lot. Say we were developing that and sharing our battle system with people before we launched; not only would people have known about it, but people would contribute ideas to it and embrace it, and feel like it was their idea instead of this nasty shock.”

Schafer also feels that the failure to properly advertise it as an RTS caused problems. This was mostly due to previous publisher Vivendi’s steadfast desire to not use the term. Then the legal battles began when Double Fine wanted Brutal Legend published by Electronic Arts, but eventually the case was settled outside of court.