Return to the Deep (Part 1 of 2)

With the release of XCOM: War of the Chosen, I find myself wondering what (if anything) Firaxis has planed for the XCOM franchise.  My hope is they come around to the idea of taking the action underseas like they did for the sequel to the original.  For all I know the developers have considered everything I'm going to mention here, but I thought it might be fun to go over some potential features a Terror from the Deep remake (or re-imagining) could entail.

Generally speaking, water is 800 times more dense than air.  This fact alone has dramatic influence on the nature of any combat that might take places in such an environment.  Squad-based weapons and tactics that work well on land have to be adjusted or replaced entirely when fighting in the ocean depths.  If you've seen movies such as "Leviathan", "DeepStar 6", "The Sphere", or most significantly "The Abyss", it's easy to see how there is a certain methodical deliberateness to every movement and action taken.  That might sound like a negative (reducing the pace and intensity of the action), but in a turn-based strategy game I think it fits rather well.  Teams operating in small units of 4~6 individuals makes a lot more sense under water (where oxygen consumption is an ever-present concern).

Another feature that can be re-emphasized is the horror aspect of XCOM games.  It's a feature that faded away in XCOM 2, but could make a big comeback because fighting a war hundreds of meters under the surface is a terrifying proposition.  The darkness, the cold, and the crushing pressure all add up to an unwelcoming environment.  Throw hostile aquatic aliens into the mix and you have a great recipe for creating some serious anxiety and fear.  The aliens don't even need to be particularly unnatural looking.  Real sea life such as lantern fish, Gulper Eels, goblin sharks, and spider crabs are already creepy as is.  Just modify their designs a bit (perhaps because the aliens have combined them with human DNA) and you've created high-octane nightmare fuel.

Stealth and detection could also be expanded on in interesting ways, both tactically and strategically.  Sunlight doesn't penetrate to the deeper parts of the ocean and even shallow places are poorly illuminated at night.  Electric lamps, underwater flares and chem-lights are pretty much a given, but these methods of improving visibility are somewhat hampered by rapid light absorption that aren't in the blue/green spectrum, as well as diffusion caused by turbidity.  Obviously, acoustic detection pays a very big roll in underwater surveillance, whether it be passive (listening) or active (sonar).  Much like actual submarine warfare, this could lead to some interesting gameplay dynamics involving back-and-forth cat-and-mouse situations.  One could send out pings and risk detection, but potentially find a target...or stay silent and hidden, but possibly unable to locate a target.  A significant portion of the research tech-tree could be dedicated to improving detection systems as well as countermeasures.  In terms of infrastructure, the player would build and deploy listening buoys in various sea zones rather than satellites over continents.

As for the battlefields in which tactical engagements take place, one might be inclined to think they would be flat and boring.  While it's true that much of the ocean floor is relatively flat and featureless, the areas in the game need-not-be.  Sunken shipwrecks, coral reefs, kelp forests, hydro-thermal vents, and underwater ruins are just some of the spots battles could take place.  I rather like the idea of a mission taking place under a polar icecap with columns of frozen water extending from the pack ice on the surface down to the ocean floor...or perhaps a storm-wracked shoal at night with flashes of lightning penetrating the churning seas overhead.

Surprisingly, real-life firearms can work underwater provided some modifications to the design are made.  Even so, it's oftentimes more desirable to used compressed air rather than chemical explosives to launch projectiles.  Ammunition can also vary a great deal.  Everything from harpoons and spears down to bolts, darts and flechettes have potential uses.  More exotic armaments could include sonic or electric devices, as well as psi-based weaponry.  As for things that go boom, it would be pretty easy to substitute rockets and grenade launchers with mini-torpedoes and lancejet (an underwater variant of gyrojet) bombs.  Underwater blasts tend to have more powerful shock waves than their above-water counterparts, but do not throw shrapnel out nearly as far.  In game-terms this might mean more damage, but in a smaller blast radius than on land.  Close combat in Terror from the Deep came in the form of power drills for XCOM aquanauts and giant pincers for the aliens.  In reality, there is a fairly lethal underwater melee weapon called a "powerhead".  As silly as it sounds shrimp have surprisingly powerful punch that, if scaled up to a larger size, could be deadly to humans.  Capturing live foes could be handed by a net launcher or tranquilizer dart gun.  A submersible equivalent of the SHIV would make for a great unmanned support vehicle (particularly for the purposes of scouting).

Merry Xmas!

Here's a Christmas-themed video game story.  Dwarf Fortress is the game, and it comes courtesy of Youtuber (and all around nice guy) Kurggsmash:

Let'em Age

It's a commonly held belief that the flavor of wine improves with age.  While true for a few specific kinds of wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, the vast majority only really benefit from the first six months to a year of mellowing.  So, what does any of this have to do with video games?  Well...games, much like wine, aren't always ready for consumption when their bottled up and sent off to market.  Early access titles are the most obvious analogy, but there are many other titles that claim to be finished products when in fact they are in dire need of bug fixes, balance tweaks or simply additional content.  In some instances though, waiting doesn't result in a better game because the support team has moved on to other assignments or the post-launch funding dried up.  Regardless of the particulars, there a few games that (much like fine wine) just need some more time to realize their full potential.  Here are three such examples.

Phoenix Point, brainchild of Julian Gollop (creator of the original XCOM series) has recently moved from early access to full-priced retail game.  However, it's still rough around the edges.  Nothing here that can't be fixed with a few patches, but it will probably take some time to get right.  Combine that with the large amount of DLC in the works, plus a planned console port of what is currently an Epic Game Store exclusive, and it's not hard to imagine this game being a vastly better piece of entertainment software in a year or two.

Control feels a lot like a cross-gen game in that the rendering engine is being held back by the limitations of available hardware.  Granted there are a few PC enthusiasts out there with really high end graphics cards able to do proper ray tracing, but for console owners no such option exists.  Next-gen Xbox and PS5 both promise to support ray tracing though, so waiting until the hardware becomes a more affordable mass-market feature is probably a good call.  Oh...and the game also has two paid expansions in the development pipeline.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a typical example of media tie-in games having to comply with the timetable of the franchise they are based on.  In this case EA and Disney mandated that the game launch before the release of "Rise of Skywalker," the IX mainline film and final installment in the new trilogy.  Needless to say, it wasn't quite ready.  A number of minor bugs, annoying glitches and pervasive jankiness marred peoples enjoyment of the game to varying degrees.  Despite those issues, the game has received a lot of praise with regards to story and mechanics, so I'm sure Respawn Entertainment will get things cleaned up in due time.

There's an old saying that goes "patience is virtue," but when it comes to incomplete video games I'd argue that waiting is just common sense.  In all three of the examples I've sighted, each game will almost certainly be cheaper, less buggy, and more fun to play next year than now.  Then again, who am I to tell you not to drink red wine when it's rough and raw?     

Adventures in Undertaking

Warning: Mild gameplay spoilers follow for Death Stranding up to about midway into chapter 5.

After the second boss battle in Death Stranding, the protagonist (Sam) finally gets access to proper firearms.  No more having to fend off would-be thieves with fists, stun bombs, decoy luggage cases, and that weird-looking bola launcher.  Now the tables have turned, I though.  Normally, I avoid the MULEs (literal cargo cultists who harry Sam whenever he intrudes on their territory).  However, I had an order to carry out; six stolen parcels that needed to be recovered from a MULE base.  Not a problem, I confidently proclaimed.  I have a freshly printed assault rife at my disposal if things get hot.

Things got hot pretty quickly.  The MULE base was on flat ground with little in the way of places to hide.  A patrol truck full of MULEs spotted me when I tried to sneak in...so I opened fire.  Now, I should mention that I was playing Death Stranding with a 5.1 surround sound system...and said system (for whatever reason) was set to a high volume for ambient sounds (like gunfire), but low for the center voice channel.  Die-Hardman was saying something to me over the com, but I couldn't hear him above the roar of automatic weapons fire.  No time to read subtitles either...too busy shooting MULEs.  By the time the dust settled there were 13 dead MULEs and BB-28 (Sam's Bridge Baby) throwing a fit.  Apparently the little guy isn't a fan of mass murder.  So, basically BB-28 went catatonic.  Nothing I can't fix later, I said to myself as I leisurely gathered up the packages I needed to complete the order.  It was only then that the I realized all those dead bodies had to be disposed of.  Otherwise, they would become ghosts ("BTs") and potentially unwanted explosions ("voidouts").  Well, crap...I guess I got to clean up this mess, I muttered.  I didn't know where the crematorium was on the second, larger map.  After looking it up on the internet though, I realized that it was beyond an area I had been avoiding because it was crawling with BTs.

I went through the tedious task of putting six of the thirteen corpses in body bags and loaded them into a requisitioned MULE truck.  Bodies are heavy and floppy which makes carrying them a pain even with a power skeleton attached to Sam's legs.  Eventually, I headed out only to quickly realize I wasn't going to make it to my destination without BB-28's help.  I needed the Bridge Baby's ghost-sensing ability to slip past that BT infested area.  Only one option available; rest in a private room.  As it turns out, people working in distribution centers don't approve of me parking a truck full of corpses out front while I take a rest inside their facility.  To be precise, it came out to minus one-thousand likes...ouch!  On the plus side though, they did dispose of those six bodies that were in the truck.  I still had seven more (getting riper by the minute).  Better get to it now that BB-28 is back in action, I declared.

I drove the (then) empty MULE truck back to the camp and bagged up the other seven bodies, loaded up six of them, and left the last one behind.  With BB-28's assistance, I managed to avoid the BTs for the most part...had to floor the truck around a final pair waiting in ambush.  The ghosts were out of the way, but I had a new problem - timefall.  It was raining hard and these junky MULE trucks have open tops that don't protect cargo from degradation.  Those containers I had taken back from the MULEs were rusting real bad.  So, I parked the truck, jumped out, and zapped everything in the back with a repair spray.  No sooner had I taken care of that problem than I realized I had yet another - I was almost out of juice.  The battery indicator for the truck was in the red.  "Almost run dry," Sam said (echoing my own thoughts at the time).  I managed to feather the accelerator enough to limp truck, bodies and cargo out of the rain before stalling on a uphill.  Suddenly, I have (what I thought was) a brilliant idea.  I'll just set up a charging station using a spare PPC that I have attached to my suit...except I'm off the grid...CRAP!

Here is an excerpt of my train of thought at this particular juncture:

Well...the crematorium isn't exactly far, but it isn't all that close either when you got six bodies to deliver and can only haul them one at a time on foot.  By the time I've ferried each of them to the incinerator the one I left behind at the camp will certainly have popped....unless...I have one of those floating carriers in the truck and much to my surprise it can accommodate two corpses.  With a third on my back, that means I only have to make two trips instead of six.  

Even so, it was hard going.  I somehow managed to wear out two pairs of boots, but I made both round trips and dispose of all six bodies.  On my way back from the the second trip I noticed the MULE truck has partially auto-recharged it's battery so I used it to limp back through BT territory.  The battery died again soon after though, so I ditched it and grabbed an abandoned reverse trike.  Racing back to the camp, I snatched up the last corpse and took it to the crematorium.  All told, it took about one full hour of real-world time.  Before I left the area, I decide to hook up the local shelter to the network...and low-and-behold what do they give me?...blueprints for a non-lethal assault rife...

Well, time to get that rusted out MULE truck recharged so I can drive the cargo stowed in the back to the distribution center and complete the order that started this mess to begin with...oh...and good thing there aren't really any cops in Death Stranding because some guy hauling a bunch of dead bodies in back of an open truck isn't exactly a good look even if you claim to be a de facto undertaker.

Difficulty with Transparency

A conversation I've seen coming up a lot on video game forums and in gaming related podcasts has to do with the difficulty settings in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.  Specifically, the game is surprisingly up front in explaining in detail how (and in what ways) each setting affects the experience.  It's a nice change of pace considering nine times out of ten, games only give some generic explanation that goes something like this:

• Easy - for players unfamiliar with the franchise/genre
• Normal - the default setting
• Hard - for veteran players who desire a real challenge

Easier-than-easy (if it exists at all) usually has some text about being for players who just want to enjoy the story, while harder-than-hard tends to have the word "masochist" somewhere in the description.  If a player wants to know concrete facts about how each difficulty setting adjusts the gameplay, they are often forced to look it up on a wiki page or consult with others on a message board.  To put it bluntly, this is a bad system that can tarnish the experience.  The original Halo was famously way more fun on the hardest difficulty setting because it encourage players to engage with the full breadth of the mechanics in the game.  Conversely, many strategy games seem to shed a lot of their gameplay elements at higher difficulty settings because anything other than a narrow and highly optimized approach is guaranteed to result in failure.

Obviously, the solution here would be to explain everything upfront.  Even so, there might be problems in terms of granularity.  It's not uncommon to see differences in difficulty do things like reduce enemy damage, accuracy and health all at once, while simultaneously boosting player resilience and damage output.  Compound this with tweaks to AI behavior, and the result is a massive change due to the way subsystems interact.  One way too avoid the problem of having one setting being too easy and the next being too hard, is to have custom difficulty settings.  I really preferred playing Golden Eye on my N64 with enemy accuracy turned way down, but enemy damage cranked up to the max.  I think these setting options make for a very tense, but not necessarily frustrating experience.  I'm also not a fan of bullet-sponge enemies so whenever possible I like to adjust the setting to remove that annoyance as well.

To some degree, players have to know what they are getting into.  Otherwise how are they supposed to know what settings would best suit their play style.  It's kind of a chicken-or-egg paradox.  Regardless, a lack of flexibility is almost always a determent in the long run.  The RTS genre serves as a particularly good example of why transparency and customizable difficulty options are important.  Nobody likes cheating AI in games that don't have asymmetric gameplay.  It can feel really unfair when computer controlled opponents can build new units without having to expend resources or wait on construction timers.  In the past, I would sometimes play games like Starcraft and Homeworld against bots, but never above the medium difficulty setting (the cutoff point for AI cheats).  If I wanted a more challenging (but still mechanically balanced) experience, I would just add more AI opponents.  The difference between one cheating AI opponent and several that have to play under the same constraints as the player might seem irrelevant.  Once you get past that first glance though, employing tactics like divide-and-conquer or strategic raids against resourcing operations are only feasible if the AI doesn't cheat.

I tend to look to XCOM and the mod making community (in particular) as an example of modular difficulty done right.  Being able to check a variety of boxes that customize the overall experience is a great feature to have available in pretty much any game.  That said, sliders are also nice.  Whatever the case may be though, developers need to get away from the needlessly opaque labels of "easy," "medium" and "hard."