The Good Personal Experiences
I have always admired the developers of these games and definitely would love to support all of them if I had the money. Some of these guys really do need the funding and support to maintain their passion. Some of these early access games are even good as they get updated consistently. Sometimes devs even go out of their way to heed the wants of the gamers.
With the rise of DLC to expand the game's universe, some companies will even provide you with benefits for buying their game early (such as the DLC content) and other goodies/passes. But we won't really get into this since its a whole other topic within itself.
I certainly enjoyed some titles like The Forest, Banished, watching the YY team play ARK etc. Another thing i would like to point out is the creativity of these bizarre, yet incredible ideas.. Most of the major gaming companies probably won't even give these ideas a chance. But with the concepts like the upstart of survival sandbox games, gamers will finally get the chance of their dreams coming to life.
I would LOVE to see more content from these developers in the future and see what new quirk they bring to the table.
The Bad Personal Experiences
OK, now its time to express my current frustrations with this concept. With these ideas comes a dark side; leaving it to HOPE and (oh god) POTENTIAL. In my opinion, hope is not a good thing when it comes to pre-ordering (early access is more understandable). I know that certain games are not for everyone, but i'm not here to give reviews, i'm talking about FALSE ADVERTISING. Instead of explaining, I'll use a few of my examples.
1. Rome 2 Total War: (pre-order)
The game was broken and nearly unplayable at launch after claiming to have the biggest budget compared to every other total war game
2.Towns (early access)
The developers literally ABANDONED the game and launched the game as a full release. 200,000 players bought the game for $14.99.
3. Lollipop Chainsaw (pre-order)
Not a bad game, but mediocre for the price (49.99) during the time. The game was hyped by a stereotypical cheerleader who happens to to be sexy and voiced by Tara Strong :) The game was also short for fifty bucks.
4. Madden Games (pre-order)
Hardly any changes to the more recent ones. Madden 25 even had unfulfilled promises and lack of other features.
5. Movie Title Games (pre-order)
Plz dunt
TOO AMBITIOUS?
This is mainly for early access games. Many of the early access games i have encountered (ESPECIALLY sandbox) offers a ton of content in the future...THE FAR FUTURE. I know that coding takes time and some of these companies are working with only a handful of developers but C'MON MAN! These sandbox games are becoming notorious for never being able to finish which brings us to.....
THE RELEASE DATE
Some of these early access games are in their third year as of the time of this post. The games are being updated once every three months or their "updates" aren't relevant to the progress.
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I think players should wait for the gameplay to be revealed or reviewed. That way players can just go on Twitch.tv or Youtube to see if the game is right for them instead of spending that $60 when you could've bought a dozen tubs of ice cream crying about your purchase. Early Access games could be fun as well but always remember, POTENTIAL is all it has until the full releasePlus everything is going digital so you don't really have to worry about the store running out of copies. ;)
COMMENT below if you like, hate, or think i'm an asshole! If you have anything you like to add, I would appreciate that!
Thanks to the Reader!
-Dopey (Jeremy)
