This year has been great for me, with numerous excellent releases. Just not the kinds of games that fit into the politics of Geoff's circle jerk show at the end of the year. 

Just bought HK, HK:SS along with their soundtracks, I have no idea what these games are about other than its kind of like Super Metroid

Would you mind elaborate and example of game with good story ? Because the way I see, E33 has the best story I've seen in quite a while

Games like Ghostwire Tokyo, that at first look simple, but the more you play the more you learn about world, the more complex story become. The downside of Ghostwore Tokyo is that characters are even worst then in E33. Other great example of great story is Horizon Zero Dawn, not so much story as a whole, because we saw that kind of story million time, but how was executed, with side content integration to story. Also another good example is The Calisto Protocol, with strong written characters and story but it lacked more diverse combat.

E33 is classic, save the world, like many other game (like HZD) but it was done rly bad. It started great with Gommage and introduction of main villain to just complete fall in second part of game. Only saving ground in second part are Expedition logs, to learn more about past expeditions and that is the only reason why i said average otherwise it would be just strong start, bad middle, and awful ending.

lol you guys keep making me change the thread title. First it was “Silksong is a generation defining moment” and then “Silksong sends a power message to the industry.” Hmm…maybe “Silksong speaks a powerful message about the industry” is the best route, because it objectively does. It speaks to the importance fo affordability in a market where prices only ever go up, it speaks to the importance of quality and passion over being the big new shiny AAA game, etc. If it was $50 and hadn’t sold much anything, then that would’ve also served as a powerful message about the industry, emphasizing the importance of affordability over, say, $1,000 hardware.

And, everyone, I would appreciate if you could read the “meat” of the OP instead of solely looking at the title. Yeah, I’m not communicating myself very well with that title, I’ve already changed it three times lol. Thank you!

Expedition 33 is not even in the top 20 best selling games of the year on NPD

This is not what E33 is about at all

E33 is a tale about grief, and how can people get lost in fantasy when life is hard. It's essentially a familiar story/tale, not a "save the world" kind

Seriously?

I think it needs both, AAA and Indie games. If we would only have Indie games with Indie graphics and animations, I'd call this regression. But probably AAA games and their high budgets and development times went a bit over the top in the last couple of years.

Maybe we need A LOT more AA games, like it was the case during the PS2 era. The industry must regain confidence that a wide range of creative titles is the key to sell many games. Currently too many developers are sticking to the same formulas over and over again.

With a high budget you can't afford any economic failures (like Concord) and with a small budget you are often too restricted. The industry needs to find the sweet spot again. Teams with 50 to 100 members and game development between 3 to 5 years sounds like the right direction.

Sorry but that is not the case.

Its classic Save the world story just a little different then some others. Just because Side Villain have grief because of loss doesnt mean that story is not about what i said.

If you consider what is in E33 as story about grief then you can add here 100s of games, especially JRPG because in half of them Main Villain do evil thing because he/she lost someone important.

This "Story about grief" i heard million times from diehard E33 fan, its not easy and simple, literally final fight is to either save or destroy(and move on) Versos canvas.

Again, i am not saying that my point is right and your wrong, i just say, based on what i know from stories in game, and how i base my opinions on stories.

I just dont think that story in E33 is any good, except beginning.