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Shadow of War. Star Wars : Battlefront II. GTA V. FIFA 18. NBA 2K18. Wolfenstein II : The New Colossus . What is the common denominator between all of these games? That’s right, they are all a continuation of their series. No matter if they are good games or not, they are set in universes/ based on game mechanics we already know and are familiar with. Is it a bad thing? Not necessarily and not always.

Originality is passé

Even though I had no opportunity to play one of them, I already know that FIFA 18, and NBA 2K18 are almost exactly the same as their predecessors. It came to the point, where next FIFAs are simply DLCs to previous parts that are being released as full games. It’s not a domain of sports games alone. Assassin’s Creed used to be the same. I have played Assassin’s Creed II through Unity, and after Unity I felt… bored. Even though it had a good storyline, it was boring. The game mechanics of AC: Unity were the same as in AC II, Brotherhood and so on. I am not even going to mention the Call of Duty series or Battlefield. *yawns*

While gamers are increasingly looking forward to big AAA games’ premieres, another, enormously large segment of video games remains… slightly ignored. I am talking about indie games. Indie games have to be different to become popular; attract players. Little studios don’t have a ton of money for marketing. It’s their idea for a game, that’s supposed to draw players. And they do it very well. Examples? Oxenfree. Firewatch. Cuphead. I could go on and on.

Big studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, generally prefer safety to innovation. Why? They treat making video games as an investment. Continuing a popular series is a safe investment. There are so many people involved in development of a AAA title, that the giants like to play it safe. That’s perfectly fine, but we, the gamers should not agree with their policies. We can demand new, unique games from them, and there’s an easy way to do it.

The only way to push them towards innovation is stop buying sequels of games, and play indie games instead. You may also support initiatives such as GetGame, where we make it easier for indie game developers to get funding. This way, the gaming industry giants will be forced to become innovative.

Oxenfree
A 2D horror with more than one ending. Metacritic's score - 78-80/100 (depending on a platform)

Firewatch
The story of one man that wants to escape reality in Wyoming. What if you were watched and there was nobody around to help you? What if it's just a psychological test? You'll find out once ou play it. Metacritic's score = 80-85 (depending on a platform)

Cuphead
This game will wow you with the very first sight. The game itself is a marriage between a cartoon from 1930s and Contra. Metacritic's score = 87-89/100.

by Aleksander Jess