3D REALMS VIBE CHECK
Added 2024-03-16 16:58:15 +0000 UTCWhat began as a roundup exploded into this.
There's still a roundup coming next month with a bunch of demos and early access titles I want to highlight. I know I haven't done one in a while. I've kind of been saving up my time and energy until I thought I had a good batch of demos to talk about.
However, while I was writing the script, my rage, annoyance, and general confusion with Graven creeped in, and I was thinking "why am I surprised? This is a Slipgate Ironworks game." And then I remembered that I still had Phantom Fury demo footage, which Slipgate is also making. And then I had to talk about Bombshell. And then? I had to dig deeper and deeper into a madness that's been on my mind for years having to do with Slipgate/Interceptor and 3D Realms. Why do their games keep coming out like this? Can't say I have a solid answer to that question because I can't go around broadcasting unsubstantiated rumors because this is not, and will never be, a drama channel. I can speculate as to why a game is bad and make fun of its flaws, and I certainly spend a lot of time doing that, but the bottom line is that I felt a certain obligation to make this video and steer people away from these games because I felt it would be irresponsible not to. This genre is my bread and butter and when a studio comes along and craps out what, to the untrained eye, can look like cheap nostalgia-bait with awful gameplay, I feel a little responsible for warning my audience about them.
Graven is a fucking maddening experience that was clearly unfinished and shoved out the door. Whether this is Embracer's fault is up for debate, although I think a game that's been in development for 3-4 years should probably be a lot better than Graven is. Slipgate/Interceptor has a bad track record with games and my hopes that they would do better with Phantom Fury are almost entirely crushed by the news from yesterday that Phantom Fury is releasing in about a month. It's time to rip the band-aid off. Like I said, this isn't a drama channel, and it brings me no joy to poop all over these releases.
Ok, maybe a little bit with Graven.
-Civvie
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Comments
If you havent played the phantom fury demo, i suggest you pirate it or something and see for yourself, because good god i thought the same thing before i played it and man, its something you have to see for yourself. If you thought graven was bad, oh man...
Dénes Hliva
2024-03-30 14:00:33 +0000 UTCYou can give it up forever, Erik! I've been sober for four years. It does get easier the longer you can go.
Cam Kilgore
2024-03-27 13:39:22 +0000 UTCIntegrity in games journalism, something that has been unheard of since it started being a thing? That's cute.
Cam Kilgore
2024-03-27 13:37:40 +0000 UTCBTW, was Chaser really a fun video to make? I feel like the real Civvie took the wheel a lot in that video and the game just looks atrocious. Don't die for your art, as they say.
Cameron Kilgore
2024-03-27 13:27:09 +0000 UTCLove your roundup style videos Civvie and your content is always a delight. If possible, I'd like my name color to be *red* in the credits. Thank you!
Calloused Hearts
2024-03-27 02:47:25 +0000 UTCI can vividly imagine FS looking at older properties to exploit with a single bead of sweat dangling from the unibrow he's tried so hard to obfuscate. He eventually comes across Kingpin: Life Of Crime and attempts to use it to catapult his ego into a respectable game dev atmosphere instead of taking apart what elements made it unique and fun (e.g. releasing it without the most loved MP Bagman mode). We all want to be liked and work on things that we love, just somewhere along the lines the allure of fame was just too powerful in this increasing complex world. The fans that have been strung along with these Early Access Hodgepodges of ideas and I feel that given the amount of content available, we can safely ignore without crippling FOMO.
elegantzizi
2024-03-22 14:23:37 +0000 UTCI played Graven when it came out. Maybe it was because I was between jobs, perhaps it was bordem, maybe it was me going stir crazy because it was the dead of winter. But I never hate played a game for 20 hours like I did with Graven.
Sprenzee
2024-03-20 03:32:39 +0000 UTCMan, Graven hurts. I remember watching some playthrough of an early demo and thought that this game looks really great and we get this :/.
Maciej Gładysz
2024-03-19 18:45:09 +0000 UTCI'm pretty terrible when it comes to commenting on things I like, but the "breaking kayfabe" moment for me in this video was fantastic, and I'm sure there was a lot of reluctance to do that particular bit. I enjoy your videos because the love of the genre really comes through, even if the character you're playing is a dude stuck in a gaming dungeon. I appreciate the moment of REALNESS here!
Carlos Sanchez (Cardboard Marty)
2024-03-19 17:03:18 +0000 UTC“Learning the wrong lessons from Half-Life” right?
JD Scarbrough
2024-03-18 16:50:41 +0000 UTCI’m choosing to believe she’s real, if only for my own sanity.
Matthew Isnor
2024-03-18 16:25:49 +0000 UTCJason is doing all development on Cultic by himself, and Slipgate/3DR assisted a lot with QA and marketing. Saber can't really impact its future besides cancelling the publishing deal (which would be a nonsensical move).
Alas
2024-03-18 09:05:13 +0000 UTCI loved Aftershock even though it was a little short. Was wondering when you were gonna mention it. Vehicle section was awesome imo it was a nice change in pace and the homewrecker you stole off the bike just like how you took the minigun off the mech reminded me of your original Ion Fury episode when you said “Which is absolutely BADASS”
Emilio Rodriguez
2024-03-18 09:00:01 +0000 UTCI think the answer is scattered along a number of videos, and it’s that Halo as a game is, in essence, a collection of game-design decisions that buried the FPS genre in the Call of Duty hell.
Roman Trofymenko
2024-03-18 04:21:48 +0000 UTC(reposting my same comment from YouTube) This is frustrating because 3DR being spun out of Embracer should give us stability. I'm really worried about the status of Cultic Part 2 and Twisted Tower, especially since Jason and Thomas are really pouring their all into them. I have to wonder if Saber's divesture is only the beginning of worse prospects once the people they loaned money want their returns (assuming its private equity). There is similar talk Gearbox is also trying to raise PE to get out from Embracer. A collapse of indie publishers around the same time as the AAA side of the industry is going to close up wallets and crash projects. This could be a rough time for indies, too.
Cam Kilgore
2024-03-18 02:49:23 +0000 UTCCivvie loves us and that makes me happy
Denny Giesbrecht
2024-03-18 01:22:10 +0000 UTCCivvie episode on Halo PC, including covering the custom edition and mods, might make a good episode, if he feels strongly about it. Positive or negative.
Robert K.
2024-03-18 00:48:43 +0000 UTCNot gonna lie, I was excited for Graven until I played the first demo and realized the spells did NO damage. I'd hoped that would change... Guess not, and it looks not too fun outside that. Also, I was iffy-excited for Wrath. I didn't like the save system (something that ruined Proteus for me) but really wanted a cool Quake-like, and it really ended up not having a lot of that. Phantom Fury does look kinda nice, but the enemies need SOME kind of reaction to being shot more than not at all.
Bukkarooo
2024-03-17 22:36:12 +0000 UTCApologies if this has been covered before, but why such disdain for the Halo games Civvie?
JD Scarbrough
2024-03-17 21:40:44 +0000 UTCCongrats on kicking cigarettes! Hope the roundup video is more fun to make, but I appreciate your perspective on Slipgate.
Blake Campbell
2024-03-17 19:11:31 +0000 UTCGreat work as always Civvie. I get not wanting to be the one with the shit stamp, applying it with malicious glee to games but sometimes it needs to happen to correct a behavior. Hope you have a better day than when you wrote this.
Gaunt
2024-03-17 17:27:38 +0000 UTCFinding out Katie isnt real shattered my reality and perception of the universe
DØMKQ95
2024-03-17 17:20:00 +0000 UTCAre we actually at the end of the BoomShoot revival, or is this just a lull in output from long in gestation releases (and Phantom Fury)? Seems like we've all been eating good for a few years on these releases now, and perhaps it's run it's course? Going to be on the return of isometric RTS and squad games from here on out. (Jk)
BDP Illustrations
2024-03-17 17:16:38 +0000 UTCI'm still in the first hub so I haven't gotten the lancer yet
Mario_bland
2024-03-17 16:57:30 +0000 UTCbro him breakin the 4th wall for a sec to just say thank you touched my soul. love ya civvie
Addy H
2024-03-17 15:31:26 +0000 UTCI didn't necessarily mean solely the game quality, though it is a contributing factor, just the...everything. Or, to steal and belabor the bit from the video, the /vibes/.
Valora Inverse
2024-03-17 14:47:05 +0000 UTCThank you 😭
Erik Olsson (TerrorBlades)
2024-03-17 14:45:57 +0000 UTCThis. Seconded.
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:41:39 +0000 UTCCivvies a real one.
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:41:28 +0000 UTCOH MYYYY GODDDDDDDD
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:41:06 +0000 UTCI believe you can win!
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:40:53 +0000 UTCIts not even bad, its even worse. Mediocre and boring. It is a pathetic, half competent cash grab. At least when something is bad bad, you can laugh and have a good time.
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:40:26 +0000 UTCSame. I have like this pretanatural sixth sense about civvie videos, and my brain will say "civvie should be putting a video out about now" and he does! It really weird, I didn't ask for this power.
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:39:22 +0000 UTCRip katie. But I appreciate civvie going OOC for patreon videos.
Dream0fSkye
2024-03-17 14:38:16 +0000 UTCGod damn Graven pissed me off so much. Grabbed it in "early access" and begining demo seemed goodish. Then it just kinda slowly shat the bed in an ever expanding brown stain into the waste of a little potential it is now. Nice to see someone else get raked over the coals other then civvie. Maybe we can stuff slipshod in the clown room?
TheKindlyOnes
2024-03-17 10:58:20 +0000 UTCGreat video with some pretty fair points. I'm a former Slipgate employee (was a part of the Core Decay team), so can't comment a ton on the situation. All I will say is that Embracer certainly didn't help the situation, and that game dev business is more complicated than you'd think.
Alas
2024-03-17 09:39:18 +0000 UTC1 lancer shot + 1 shotgun blast is all it takes.
Alas
2024-03-17 09:20:34 +0000 UTCCivvie I can't accept Katie not being real, I have to ask you to please hire a real editor and call them Katie to fill the void in my heart.
QuetzaDrake
2024-03-17 08:59:38 +0000 UTCI was shocked to hear that too! But he also mentioned it in the p.s. note below The Wolf That Time Forget Video
Scott Pasfield
2024-03-17 08:30:41 +0000 UTCCivvie loves us all.
Silentphil9
2024-03-17 07:03:04 +0000 UTCI'm glad I wasn't the only one who hated those wrath cacodemons. They made me quit in early access and now they're still making go big meh over it.
Mario_bland
2024-03-17 04:28:35 +0000 UTCThe fact that this video had to be made is incredibly unfortunate, but at the same time, I really want to shout out the self-reflection in the middle there; It is really cool to hear Civvie come out so clearly with his awareness of where he now sits in this space, and the growth this channel has gone through over the past years. You have done a wonderful job taking on the increasing magnitude of this channel, Civvie, and as you say, going from shitpost to serious job. Be proud, man, and thanks for looking out for the fans and users.
Daverin2112
2024-03-17 01:58:30 +0000 UTCKATIE ISN’T REAL?!?!
Nik & Julia Ingrassia
2024-03-17 01:40:47 +0000 UTCI was so excited for Graven. I got the first version of the Early Access and loved it. Then, when it "released" I saw they made so many confusing changes to it, and I was REALLY disappointed by it.
DJ Jester
2024-03-17 01:22:24 +0000 UTCPhantom Fury sounds like someone took Ion Fury's style and turned it 3d with no consideration at all for the art and general play style of the old build games, which I think is also what happened to blood 2 (except that was just a dumpster fire in and of itself). Also, why does the music at 24:51, when it suddenly gets louder, does civvie's rant kind of match up with the beat of the music? It just seems to match up till the cut scene starts. Also Also, more cancer mouse when?
Fullmetal
2024-03-17 00:53:53 +0000 UTCSmaller teams and budgets too... And smaller expectations aswell
Dénes Hliva
2024-03-17 00:41:54 +0000 UTCOh yes, wonderful! Good on you for quitting smoking Civvie! Lord knows its a battle I only temporarily win.
Erik Olsson (TerrorBlades)
2024-03-16 23:59:57 +0000 UTCI honestly love Graven, if you´re not constantly swinging your mighty boot... you´re playing it wrong.
Zubaz
2024-03-16 23:27:19 +0000 UTCFuck yes
JOE MOTHERFUCKING TREEFELNER
2024-03-16 22:20:17 +0000 UTCWell thank you! I don't like to self-promote cause I usually get yelled at for doing it in most places but I'm glad you liked my stuff. The last couple videos were unusually long but I've got more coming. I have an idea how to to a video on Graven and maybe work it into this wider discussion of 3DR. Ideas are percolating.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 22:13:59 +0000 UTCThank you for mentioning your channel! I checked out your stuff and had to throw you a sub. Great work! I like the cut of your jib, sir.
Nachts
2024-03-16 22:02:53 +0000 UTCThank you Civvie for talking about Wrath - I was pretty much done with it after the second or third level. I felt like I saw everything the game had to offer in 2-3 hours and shooting the same enemies in gigantic levels became very repetitive pretty fast. There are just better and way more fun boom shoots out there and I have no idea where 4 years of development went into this one. And man, I am pretty bummed about Phantom Fury...that reveal trailer was fantastic and got me on the hype train in a "this might be a spiritual DNF 2001" way. But the demo came and I couldn't believe what I was playing.
Adam K
2024-03-16 21:59:03 +0000 UTCDon't tease me with Chex Quest Civvie, my heart can't take any more disappointment :(
Devin McIntyre
2024-03-16 21:53:56 +0000 UTCI saw Graven showing up on the Matt McMuscles channel as a sponsor, and the 100% track record of any product sponsoring youtubers being almost complete trash is unbroken. Surfshark VPN, Magic Spoon, Lootcrate, World of Warships, Raid Shadow Legends, Bettrhelp, Graven...
Robert K.
2024-03-16 20:00:04 +0000 UTCMan, I got Graven for free and I'm struggling to even start it.
Jaime
2024-03-16 19:36:04 +0000 UTCIs anyone else getting serious Daikatana vibes from Graven?
Burt Fuckman
2024-03-16 19:22:27 +0000 UTCHey man, I'm just glad you stopped smoking. That's really hard.
Dana NIchols
2024-03-16 18:48:06 +0000 UTCIf Phantom Fury is modern-day Corridor 7 then I guess that means Graven is Witchaven 3. The big difference is Capstone took less than a year throwing together each of their games.
Zsar
2024-03-16 18:46:58 +0000 UTCI was offered a press code for Graven by their PR a while back to cover on my tiny channel. Multiple requests to this PR company for prior 3DR releases went unanswered so I when they offered me a code for a channel where the average video is lucky to cross 3 digit views, I was like "Oh boy..." I'm still playing it and even though the game's been out for a while, I want to cover it in some way because I feel an obligation to when a dev gives me a copy for free. But I also have a rule that I don't cover objectively bad games on my channel. Every game I cover is either something I like or that even if I don't, I feel the viewers might like. I keep waiting, hoping they'll patch Graven to a state that doesn't infuriate me, so I can do a "Graven: X months later and it's good now!" video, but no. There's core design problems with it that a patch alone can't fix and even with all their patches, it's still buggy as all fuck. I'm still debating if I should make a video or just politely tell the PR "Thanks, but I can't cover this with the standard I set for myself." That sucks.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 18:25:15 +0000 UTCIntegrity has something that's been non-existent in the games press as a whole for well over a decade now.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 18:20:56 +0000 UTCGod, a passion and comedy toober having more integrity than actual fucking journalists just crushes my soul. Edit: Obviously no shade at Civvie, he's a good lad and i like him and his videos, im just lamenting that even he, who is as far from journalism as it gets on the internet, has more integrity than them. It just hurts
Dénes Hliva
2024-03-16 18:17:37 +0000 UTCThat a good one!
Dénes Hliva
2024-03-16 18:15:36 +0000 UTCman, I like "fake" civvie a lot, but I really enjoyed hearing you get real for a bit. Nobody wants these games to be bad, there's genuine talent there and the "vibes" are nice, so it must really not feel great to criticize them, even when they're as bad as they are. I havent played graven, the phantom fury demo was such a bummer. I'm just glad we got wrath at all and I'm crossing my fingers the last exterminator perseveres in all this since the demo was incredible.
Marshall Bradbury
2024-03-16 18:15:01 +0000 UTCAlso Civvie, really good on you for having quit smoking years ago. Hard thing to do. Was actually nice to hear you break the bit for a bit and talk as yourself. I'm going to up what I give to the Patreon every month. Cheers.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 18:13:42 +0000 UTCMan, after posting this, I just remembered I pre-ordered the Ion Fury/Aftershock combo big box too. Boy, I hope that ships some day...
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 17:58:51 +0000 UTCGood lord. Y'know shit's bad when it makes someone step out of the bit. Goddamn.
Valora Inverse
2024-03-16 17:54:51 +0000 UTCCompletely understand. I respect your desire to not become a drama channel. It's an easy way to grow a channel, but you're better than that. One of the reasons I'm a patron. I want New 3DR to succeed because I love what they're trying to do. And I think Saber sees the potential too, or they wouldn't have included them as part of their split from Embracer. I think with the right people at the helm, they could be awesome. No one reads or watches my content, but I've thought about making a blog post for a while detailing out the theory I posted above. Not to just talk shit about Fred (I probably would avoid mentioning him by name), but just because I want to see them succeed the way I think they can. Gods I hope they manage to polish up Phantom Fury somehow.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 17:52:05 +0000 UTCCertainly part of rumors that I've heard but don't feel comfortable broadcasting without more concrete evidence.
Civvie
2024-03-16 17:47:53 +0000 UTCI can tell you why all these games are so bad: Fred Schreiber. I've met the guy and he's nice and passionate about games, but he has no idea how to run a game studio. He didn't know how to run Interceptor, then they """restructured""" (i.e. went bankrupt) and he started New 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks, but didn't learn anything from the failure of Interceptor. So now what's happening is they start a billion projects that get stuck in development Hell and stay in Early Access for a billion years. But then, Embracer started melting down. All of a sudden, they realized that if they didn't start shipping shit ASAP, they'd probably be on the chopping block (and indeed, Embracer already caused some layoffs before this week's news of Saber Interactive splitting off and taking 3D Realms/Slipgate Ironworks with them). So Kingpin shipped broken, Graven and Wrath shipped unpolished despite being in Early Access for 37 years and now they're pushing out Phantom Fury this month when just a couple of months ago, they released a demo so bad, it wasn't even fit to be called an alpha. Which also has a remarkable amount of fanboys defending it. And don't forget their C&C clone that's coming too. All of these strings of fuckups came under Fred Schreiber's leadership. The guy got his start in games retail, then took that money and thought he could run a game studio, despite having no experience doing so. Like I said, he's a nice guy, but he doesn't know what he's doing and that's showing in their recent output. Now that Saber is independent and their new parent company, I wouldn't be surprised if the studio sees major leadership changes.
Parallax Abstraction
2024-03-16 17:44:41 +0000 UTCLooks like the term "unfinshed" is really GRAVEN in their name! *Actionable pun detected* AAAAAAAAAAAAH FUCK
Mateusz Bartoszek
2024-03-16 17:03:45 +0000 UTCI played the phantom fury demo. I begged them to give it more time in the oven. It was absolutely horrid. Some modern-day corridor 7 bullshit, and i was thinking of more time in the oven than a few months. Im not hopeful. I hate having to be a dick to a company i like, but here we fking go i iguess
Dénes Hliva
2024-03-16 17:02:32 +0000 UTCFPS is my genre too & I hate seeing people keep making bad games & ruining games that could be really good
Steve Downes
2024-03-16 17:01:40 +0000 UTCPerfect timing! Finished all my jobs for the day and looking for something to watch and a new Civvie vid pops up :)
Banjo Track
2024-03-16 17:00:50 +0000 UTC
