Underrated "Bad" vs Terrible "Good" Games

[@PyranoStudios]

One thing that's good about being an indie dev is you can easily spend 200+ hours playing and testing your own game, and any boring traits and unsatisfying traits are going to get pretty obvious. Sometimes it seems like the structure of the big studios loses that

[@RusticRonnie]

That can also be a negative, feature creep is a real issue that indie devs face. Look at Yandere Simulator, That game started off as a 1 year game and he just keeps adding random stuff. Obviously that guy has other issues but still. That kind of development is very common for indie devs its just you usually don’t see it

[@bigshrekhorner]

Actually, this is where you are wrong; playtesting on your own is not a good thing in most of the cases, since you are pretty biased to the features of your game. This can lead to feature creep (see Yandere Dev, as Rustic mentioned) or other issues, such as a steep learning curve. Not only that, but you already have an understanding of how the game works, which skews your perspective of it; most likely other people will not think of your game as you think of it. A playtester that is not involved in the development of the game will actually give you invaluable advice on how someone who will play the game will feel about it. Which is why getting playtesters whether you are indie or not is a must.

[@PyranoStudios]

@@bigshrekhorner yeah, it's true people that have played too much will cause feature creep and really hard levels

[@jasonshere]

Nintendo has understood the importance of gameplay > tech/graphics for a long time. Although it's frustrating that their great visions are sometimes held back by the lower-end tech they often use, their first-party games always emphasize originality and fun gameplay.

[@egghgfe6116]

I feel like limitation often breeds creativity, so their lower-end devices might steer their games development toward fun over looks.

[@jasonshere]

@@egghgfe6116 Definitely, there have been many cases of various game-jams or other self-imposed limitations which have brought about great games.

[@ActiveGreen227]

Fallout new vegas is a great game that nerfed by bethesda engine . A few mods here and there and it is one of the best games of all time .

[@bruhmomentum404]

too bad that they're held back by their exploit of copyright law

[@Cappuccino_Rabbit]

"If it's not fun, why bother?" Miss you Reggie.

[@daliag_439]

One armed robber and gum ball run are two of my favorite games so glad that you are shining a light on them

[@bh4vvy33t]

One armed robber just caused an entire Fallout in our friend group [Fallout: New Vegas]. It ends friendships

[@A.R_69]

Sometimes I forget btd6 isnt indie just because of how chill Ninja Kiwi is. 1- The game is fun af and has charming grafics 2- Its really cheap 3- r/btd6 and the community interaction in general, like, for a relatively big company, they listen to community feedback way too fast. Also, every single update there are comprehensive patch notes about everything changed and etc

[@SuperKratosgamer]

The game is monetized like a mobile game, not really chill.

[@MainIsBored]

@@SuperKratosgamer you dont NEED to buy them they're optional. you can get monkey money without buying it and you can get insta towers for free too you're just too lazy to do that and think the only way is through the microtransactions

[@thecoolestofthe834s2]

@@MainIsBored bro im not following a spreadsheet so i don't have to spend on a mobile game L take

[@MainIsBored]

@@thecoolestofthe834s2 you can literally get monkey money and insta monkeys by logging in the game daily you dont even need to play it just go on it for like 1 minute

[@Lonk87]

It isn’t???

[@Masterge77]

Walt Disney once said that he didn't make movies to make money, but made money to make movies. At some point, everyone seems to have forgotten that. This is why indies are kicking the asses of the big corporations, because there's actual passion and not pure greed, leading to the most homogeneous content imaginable that only exists to appease investors and shareholders who don't even play video games.

[@paradoxzee6834]

It is crazy how many people do things today just to get money. If you go on tiktok I swear most people streaming are doing that just for the money

[@somisimons]

The Disney company went downhill when their soul (Walt Disney himself) died

[@hahasomeoneelse1720]

Ever wondered what would happen if a AA company actually made good games? Well then you get landfall which basically acts like a indie company but just with more budget The charm of their games can be seen from a mile And you get a guaranteed free game every year that is really fun. I'd recommend buying some of their games and following them when they release another free one in april 1st

[@JustSaySteven]

Landfall is one of my favorite studios, can't wait for their next project

[@rigboy1234]

Landfall Is awesome, their only game I don't like Is Haste and that's because It feels like a generic mobile game

[@clivah1499]

The difference between a truly bad and a truly good game: One is made to be sold, The other is made to be played.

[@HeuzyGameDevYT]

Players can often tell how much passion you've put into your game, so it really makes a big difference! Great video man, keep it up!

[@cloudshifter]

Ngl cult of the lamb devs are a great exception where despite being part of a much bigger studio they have idle dev connection with the community

[@Purpliscolor]

For example:community wanted sex update, they added sex update

[@MetaBinding]

I mean Massive Monster doesn't seem to be that large, like 10-30 people. They even call themselves independent. The only bigger part of the game is the publisher.

[@inventordude0314]

fortnite rizz lamb

[@bigshrekhorner]

@@MetaBinding And Devolver Digital is specifically catered towards publishing *indie* games

[@jasonshere]

A lot of these big budget games are "soulless". Humans have souls and can tell when something is made with a soul being active in the creation, rather than made by AI or big cooperations. Many big games replace the soulful personality of their creators and replace it with cookie-cutter assets of whatever is "popular" at the moment.

[@williamdrum9899]

@@jasonshere Case in point: Minecraft in the last 5 years

[@Monkeylighthouse]

​@@williamdrum9899out of all the games you could have said, you choose MINECRAFT?! Maybe I was just never exposed to it, but do people hate Minecraft now? Cause last I checked it's still just as good as it's ever been, technically even better

[@williamdrum9899]

@@Monkeylighthouse Honestly it's just dull and doesn't add enough new content

[@jasonshere]

@@williamdrum9899 That's a different argument than it being a soulless game. I've played only a little bit of Minecraft in the earlier years, but it what I've perceived is that it likely lost some of what made it special when Microsoft purchased it from Notch. Part of what makes things special is their uniqueness and when Minecraft, et al., doesn't evolve but instead begins to look like everything else on the market, it loses what made it special in the first place. But that's just a theory...

[@Black-fp3dy]

dark souls reference

[@soupbowl6028]

I think a good way to tell that you’ve made a good game (as a solo indie developer that is) is that you yourself enjoy playing it or you feel satisfied with the result of making it

[@Walter-tv6wr]

I think a good example is Rhetts Journey.it's a good indie game. And It was supposedly inspired by another indie game. It just feels like it has passion behind it. Btw, I loved the video. Please make a video exploring some of the good games made with passion❤

[@JustSaySteven]

I'll check it out!

[@coolepic519]

Not gonna lie, ive personally had enough with super realistic games. They take more computing power, tend to put more into the graphics over gameplay, and just feel so not unique when theres TONS of other games that look like it. It also has a correlation to bad trailers that just put only the visuals and not gameplay in.

[@mercenarydelta7351]

Same. Why play a game that's gonna hog your resources with a fraction of gameplay when you can just play a "bad" low poly game with more features than most AAA games have. To give an example, there's Ravenfield. It's AI is dumb, but the amount of content that's there can pretty much make up for the last two Battlefield games and more. Heck, it even doubles down as a better Battlefield Portal, with so many customizable options that you'd be spending a good few hundred hours trying out different combinations.

[@gamerdomain6618]

I misheard Owinka Shooter as The Wanker Shooter and now I can't get “Sniping's a good job, mate,” out of my head…

[@kitsunemusicisfire]

The thing about games nowadays is that they are no longer treated like video games, they're treated like products.

[@oneballRCK]

the most fun i had with a AAA title recently is Helldivers 2. The developers just made it so good for me, and the playerbase is mostly nice and kind, so yeah, its the last AAA game i had fun with (not including DBZ games cuz man they mostly hit)

[@MyUsersDark]

Helldivers 2 is an indie game.

[@duckvr555]

I played Owinka shooter back in the day and it was one of my fav games of all time

[@candlestyx8517]

The focus on realism, efficiency and graphics has done a number on gaming

[@kubman7389]

Alternate Title: Underrated Indie vs Terrible AAA Games. (for all you nerds out there) Awesome vid man, i really enjoyed it :)

[@thelie6992]

Skull and Bones truly is a AAAA game. we know that because its 4 times worse than Indie games

[@danielthecake8617]

Quadruple A in Swedish

[@fxarachnid4764]

As a solo developer I agree with this video, but I also find it kind of sad that people are so starved for content with a personality that they will play things that otherwise have flat gameplay and ugly graphics.

[@andersonjunior4529]

That's why I am excited to play Squirrel With a Gun

[@pikator9153]

That’s why i think we are entering a new golden age for indi games

[@scorpionhdkid8972]

One especially amazing game I found from a channel called Joeseppi (hope I spelled it correctly) is ‘Milo and the Magpies’. Amazing puzzle game, hand painted and made by a small Dutch dev team. Really recommend it. By the way, it barely has any players (even after the video’s success) so it truly is an underrated masterpiece.

[@GeoffBigglessy]

I feel mon bazou (and probably my summer car, but I haven't played that yet) is a good example of this too. It has nothing going for it in terms of graphics, but the gameplay is so much fun. It really has life in it, even with like 10 NPCs or something as well

[@brandiepop]

the main problem with AAA games rn is the gameplay loop system where you end up doing the same thing over and over again. SSKTJL had an very fun demo where I assumed the content would keep expanding with new unique enemies throughout. However instead, the rest of the game ends up being doing that same exact thing 100 more times until the game ends

[@ATinCanOnYT]

@@brandiepop what does SSKTJL stand for?

[@mercenarydelta7351]

​@@ATinCanOnYTSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

[@minatoyoshida]

best part about dani is that all the games he makes and posts vids about are FREE so anyone can enjoy them

[@mr.ddhemmalshehri5611]

I think a good example of this is technomancy studio's suits series. The first game was a pretty okay experience, normal rpg that is obviously inspired by OFF. But the sequel is mind boggling, I can't even describe the huge difference between the 2 games. Just look at "suits: a business rpg"(original game) and "suits: absolute power"(sequel) and you'll see just how much effort and passion went into it. the trailer is awesome, too. And the soundtrack even better. The 2 games are also incredibly cheap, even without a discount.

[@TheGoldenEmpireisHorrid]

Owinka Shooter is a great game, the speedrun's are crazy. Same with Owinka Shooter 2

[@spuds_are_dope]

One of the best example of good graphics, good gameplay and small company is RGG Studios. Since 2005, they have been delivering on one of the best series' in the world - the Yakuza (Like a Dragon) franchise. I mean, the latest games look photorealistic, the gameplay is some of the best that they've come up with, and all of the games have such dedication and warmth poured into them. And all this with the budget of a paper clip and some spare change in terms of AA game studio budgets. And mind you, they've still preserved that inimitable style that everyone loves. Everything has personality - from the characters to the cities, from the story to the goofy minigames. It's a shame only a few know about them. Especially after IGN has downgraded them by calling them the 'Japanese GTA'.

[@FlipboiPlays]

The game, "Once Human" had an issue where it was one character per account but the devs fixed the issue in a little over an hour because of all the feedback

[@toolatetothestory]

First game reminds me of a lower graphics Albino Lullaby. Mostly because the enemies in Albino Lullaby... look... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh VERY unique. But essentially they are also only beans with angry faces.

[@TheoJanisch-cq1vd]

Try out The FINALS it’s a cool fps made by embark with a fully destructible map

[@enderfire3379]

altough its a much more serious project with unbelivable graphics, i would like to bring up Rings Of Eden

[@cristibazgu3256]

owinka shooters story is also great

[@DC-FGC]

Logomancer. Brilliantly designed. Interesting premise. Reskin of more traditional jRPG battle systems to reframe things as rhetorical battles. Original, hand-drawn graphics - some people hate them, but I think they have their charm and I respect that he made his own instead of using stock assets. And iirc it was mostly made by one dude w/ some help from his brother. And obviously made in RPG Maker, which usually isn't a good sign. In spite of that, I'd take this game over most mainstream jRPGs any day(including some that I also love quite a bit).

[@wrongthinker843]

"The important question is, is the game fun? If the game is not fun, why bother?" - a gaming legend

[@superadambomb5834]

I feel like capcom is one of the only AAA companies that seem to really want to make a great game first and foremost. The two games from them that come to mind are re7 and re4 remake. Re4 remake was a ton of fun. It was well polished, had great gameplay, and it was brimming with personality. Whether it’s Leon saying one of his witty or corny quips or even just simple things like character interactions the game is just filled with personality. Same goes with Re7 (which is my favorite horror game of all time) the game is absolutely terrifying and is for the most part really dark and creepy but it’s not afraid to loosen up a bit. Characters like Jack or Marguerite will sometimes say something really goofy but in a way that doesn’t feel forced and instead oddly charming. Ontop of that the gameplay is just amazing. It never feels tedious or too scary to get through. The game is still one of the scariest games I’ve played but despite how terrifying it is I always woke up every day excited to play more because of just how fun the core gameplay was. I even dreaded getting to the end of the game because of just how much of a blast I was having with it. More AAA companies need to see why capcom is so successful in their games and take some notes. They’re gonna need it.

[@bibibaksh3156]

Remember the days when rocksteady made batman Arkham asylum? That was their second game! Now a developers 50th game is pure torture

[@dace6]

very cool content, keep it up

[@funion7678]

I always loved Ultrakill because it felt like a good game with personality

[@mousepotatoliteratureclub]

3:24 Yeah, the very reason why the good ones are considered "hidden gems" is because there's a lot of slop these gems are hidden in. And that's still relatively okay compared to AAA blandness.

[@marioborgen]

Dani made such great games. 7:10 smaller game companies usually have souls

[@jonathanharman7685]

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League is actually a pretty enjoyable experience at least for picking the game up on sale

[@mikhail1809]

Most of times the games made with a lot of marketing, but being poor in gameplay, are used to pump money for other projects. Yet they don't want it to be a complete loss

[@ghostlyswat12]

4:20 there are plenty of good games that had some decent marketing that didn’t sell for one reason or another

[@dwmutheone]

one armed cook/robber are some crazy good games

[@Aselectir]

Nintendo MAY have major issues with fan projects, but it knows how to do GAMES SMO and TOTK ARE PHENOMENAL AND AMAZING

[@realdragon]

Another plus of this game: I can run it with stable 30fps

[@persifex4978]

dani didnt get chassed of the internet, hes still active in his discord making something

[@raunakgujralsongs9135]

Owinka shooter is just karlson If it got released

[@SnowyRaptor64]

When I found your channel it felt like uncovering a hidden gem ❤

[@kider2012]

Love your videos 🎉

[@JustSaySteven]

ty :)

[@SomeoneNooneTomatoes]

You gotta try out “Super Ledgehop Double Laser”.

[@fakurai]

another good "bad" game: dumball rush on steam. played it with 4 friends and its so funny lmao

[@name-h7x]

i finally have the chance to recommend juice galaxy, not enough people talk about this game. There is only one guy wokring on it and the game's amazing. Imagine dark souls but floppy and with LSD. That's juice galaxy. It is unironically one of my favourite games ever and is way more fun and charming than most triple a slop.

[@JustSaySteven]

Can also recommend 👌 Juice Galaxy is amazing

[@jizzer9000]

The original Naughty Bear on the PS3 is one of the most charming and addictive games on that generation. Got awful reviews because the performance is admittedly pretty poor, but it’s fun nonetheless.

[@F0UR3V3R]

1:13 Hugbees put it best. "This was on Google. They like everything on Google." So if its 28% on Google, then it must be really shit.

[@parknplay8328]

Mosa Lina is a 3 dollar indie game and I got twice as many hours out of it than I did with a full campaign of Baldurs Gate 3 lmao

[@Lordcatgod]

Also some games start indie and become big like the battle cats (where my pfp is from) it started as a small group making games and now it has over 100 million plays ! Imo that’s better than it being a small indie game

[@Weldedhodag]

i really hope the AAA bubble is boutta pop and these corporate suits realize they either need to stop treating gaming like a service or just go under

[@insane7718]

Theres a saying in gaming "Gameplay over graphics"

[@Sab9rr]

Nintendo is the only game company that I actually play anymore because they value gameplay>graphics but don’t mess up in either I mean literally just look at the Zelda series. There’s never been a game in that line that was explicitly bad they always have been fun (imo)

[@simpllii]

not gonna lie, i was only compelled to watch because of how confused the title made me

[@PapkaFavorit66]

im making a game called "geometry dash but imade it", it's a REALLY low budget game cuz im a new developer in unity

[@sarahruble5892]

Rac7 is a studio that listens to people.

[@amimirmimir512]

even licenced games from the 2000's are better than what we have today

[@Zeldagamer809]

I truly wish that Anthem had worked out. I absolutely love the concept, and I think that that game could've been the best game ever, if only they didn't outright kill it pretty much. I wish there was a proper exosuit shooter that actually worked and didn't have all sorts of drama dragging it down.

[@runestone951]

I have been trying to make a game for the past few (5) months and i will remember these things if it ever turns into something, it probably wont cuz i am very bad at coding but im trying at least

[@thingthingthingthingthingthing]

I love a game called antimatter dimensions where 0.001% of the game is design, look and stuff 99.999% is pure gameplay

[@hivijivi]

and 99% of gameplay is big number

[@MetaBinding]

@@hivijivi 1.8e308 gameplay

[@IitzAdamly]

old respawn had such a down to earth feel to them. now the ea bought out respawn seems so inhuman :(

[@ONA-yt]

Good video. Just one suggestion; stop using those captions, it makes it feel like if it was a brain rot TikTok begging for my attention span, even though it is not. If someone needs the captions, they will use the KZbin feature.

[@batorstudio]

the only AAA employies that i dont envy are the omdel and animation makers no matter how you look at it, they are the only people that give soul to a game and yet they can bearly do ANYTHING to make the game better its just sad☹

[@0xitos]

4:37 Whats the name of this cooking game

[@agent5981]

One-armed cook

[@assafglass]

One arm cook and its a banger

[@PurpleBroadcast]

6:34 how do you know this is why Dani has stopped posting?

[@Robgoofs]

BattleBit (Indie) > Battlefield 2042

[@monke3403]

This is why 1 of my favorite games is slay the princess I think markiplier made this game blow up more but I am an artist or atleast consider myself 1 and I love being able to see how the background and princess are drawn and it has a very interesting story

[@neptune_4468]

7:48 unfortunately this is not true, so many people buy games just because of their graphics and keep arguing about new games graphics that are not realistic enough

[@zadkielbradford7477]

underated games and overated games is like homemade food vs mcdonalds

[@kaandemirkiran4583]

Nah, thinking about anthem still hurts me

[@thedouble1269]

bro i have never heard of skull and bones😭

[@Muho_is_me]

If a big fun game gets big updates/spinoffs that are still just as good if not more fun as the original gamr you know they care For example baldi It has 3 games all of them are good and only plus costs money And it is Super replayable Or undertale and deltarune In my opinion deltarune is already more fun than undertale and we only got 2 chapters so far

[@notamaperson5849]

Choi hop Charles is one of the best indie games ever made.

[@cddc2468]

It doesn't feel manufacturered, it IS manufactured

[@krillissueonshrimpment]

I was so excited for skull and bones and payday 3. I even tried to preorder the collectors for payday. And then they went and fumbled it

[@Anton-de5vu]

I think the “charm” thing is because all these triple A games are polished to the point of nigh perfection (at least visually/stylistically) causing all of them to blend together. Lesser games make up for their lack of ray traced reflection mapped aerodynamic Cheek fuzz bullshit by actually having an artstyle and nost just trying to look like a photograph. You can see the thought put into every detail because an actual artist put effort into it with a vision beyond “make it look real”

[@Logann-g1z]

6:49 what's this game called?

[@JustSaySteven]

Animal Well

[@Logann-g1z]

@@JustSaySteven thanks

[@mr.firecrab3503]

I don't know why but I prefer the low quality textures on gta 4 than the realistic ones on gta 5

[@tr3vk4m]

They should spend the hype advertisement money on paying the developers instead. If it's a great game people will flock to it.

[@georgemcgeorgester]

The most simple things can have the most success

[@DoktorSus]

I always make the point that these low-quality games suck (mostly). There are good ones, definitely, but now they are just as soulless as the AAA ones. Most of them come right from watching Dani and think it's a good idea to make a bean-based game. Imo it feels like a pest that just needs to be fixed. Please, just find an artist friend or try yourself. Sometimes the full-gameplay approach works, but it still makes your game feel worse.

[@orsomethinlykethat]

3:19 what game is being played here

[@funndude3389]

@@orsomethinlykethat gum ball run

[@zomboyip0765]

R.I.P. Dani

[@disguisedpuppy]

Public companies ruin games.

[@BONNIEE1983]

bro gears 5 has good reviews on steam💀💀💀💀

[@Blueblaster-master]

It’s Dani!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@alexjay8867]

owinka is good, one of the only games ive actaully finished recently and thats saying something

[@Sockrat27]

in owinka, if you use an auto clicker (which you can) its very funny, and honestly doesn't take from the game

[@yt-ru7dv]

When I heard the word charm it reminded me of the 50 billion Minecraft isn't good any more videos I swear you cannot find a single one of those videos without saying the word charm

[@Czesnek]

How is Ubisoft still alive today? They have some good games under their name sure, but all of their titles are so buggy and you have to use community fixes to be able to play them.