Pathologic 2, as essentially a remake of the first game except with better assets, fewer bugs, and better localization, really highlights the swing towards conservatism in the critical space. We can directly compare its reception to that of its predecessor...
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...Which was adored for its weirdness, its treatment of the player, its experimental nature, and the way Ice Pick eschewed traditional video game ideas of "fun" to push the medium in a new direction. Game critics (and audiences?) were very excited about that Back When...
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...And that was the height of New Games Journalism, when critics were also experimenting with new and different ways of creation and expression. Obviously there are still critics out there doing weird and wonderful things, but it seems like the pendulum has swung back...
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...towards more traditional values of "fun", etc, and valuing boundary-pushing less. Obviously this is a side-effect of the squeeze in money for games journalism, at some level! The push towards clicks makes editors more cautious, which passes on to writers, etc...
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...I wonder how much that influences critics' views, how much they'd still have those viewpoints even if the constraints were suddenly removed?
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Personally, w/some notable exceptions, I think a LOT of the voices in games journalism right now aren't just lovers of games (which is a necessity to be a valuable critic of any medium) but fans, who buy into hype and whose expectations and visions are in line with marketing, etc
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