State of Play's recent showcase of AAA titles left me feeling deflated, and not in the way I had hoped. I was expecting a thrilling display of pure, heart-pumping gameplay, but instead, I witnessed a masterclass in disappointment. The two highly anticipated blockbusters, Marvel's Wolverine and God of War: Laufey, failed to deliver on the promise of immersive, high-skill action gaming. This is a tragedy, as it reflects a broader trend in the industry towards automation and a decline in genuine action-game designs.
The problem lies in the financial constraints of AAA studios. With budgets soaring, creative risk becomes a financial liability. As a result, developers are opting for low-skill, over-the-shoulder gameplay, prioritizing mocapped visuals over player agency. This shift has led to a homogenization of action games, with developers relying on automated sequences and canned combat animations.
The result is a loss of the expressive, high-skill combat freedom that once defined iconic action games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 3. Instead of mastering an action game, players are now merely spectators, politely watching the action unfold with their controllers in hand. This is evident in the God of War: Laufey reveal, where only a fraction of the footage was actually interactive gameplay.
The industry's reliance on automation is not a new phenomenon. In the past, publishers have tried to fix this 'problem' by diluting action games, but this has proven to be a commercial death sentence. History has shown that a dedicated, mid-sized audience is more sustainable than a $200 million cinematic behemoth that has to strip away its soul to break even.
The State of Play itself highlights this point. Games like Phantom Blade Zero and Kemuri promise robust and engaging action experiences, while Stellar Blade shattered the myth of the niche ceiling. Developed by South Korea's Shift Up for a modest budget, Stellar Blade proved to be a financial success, comfortably surpassing 3 million copies sold.
I don't need pre-baked set pieces or canned combat animations to feel like a badass in an action game. I don't need 15 minutes of unskippable story scenes to feel connected to the game. I want to play, not watch. If modern studios want to save the action genre, they need to strip away the automation and look to the financial success of Stellar Blade as a blueprint. I hope my gut feeling is wrong, and both Marvel's Wolverine and God of War: Laufey turn out great. But as it stands, I'm not impressed.
