As bugs weigh down review scores for Stalker 2, Dishonored and Prey creative director says the "Metacritic ecosystem encourages devs to make safe boring games"
Nov. 25, 2024“A fantastic buggy game can get patched, a boring game will stay boring”
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This comes after the release ofStalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is currently sitting with an average critic score of 74 (for its PC version)on Metacritic, with the general consensus being that it’s afantasticgame, but currently weighed down by bugs. This, Colantonio believes, is “unfair,” as he argues on Twitter: “As long as a game is polished at launch, you’re guaranteed 80%, no matter how boring the game might be. Meanwhile Stalker 2 gets a 73 because it’s a bit rough on the edges at launch. Unfair, misleading.”
The Arkane founder says that"games need to hit hard out of the gate"since finding success “years later” means that “the devs didn’t make money.” He adds that “all it would take” is either “Metacritic and reviewers updating scores as the game gets better,” or for everyone to “drop the score system” entirely. As things stand,he arguesthat “70% on Metacritic can either mean it’s a mediocre game or it’s an amazing game that has bugs at launch and needs patching. I don’t think Metacritic helps in making the difference between the two.”
Neither of these suggestions could likely be implemented overnight, but Colantonio raises an interesting perspective. At the very least, in Stalker 2’s case, developer GSC Game World has already announced that over one million copies of the FPS have been sold, so it’s had afantastic start in that regard.
If you’re just starting out in Stalker 2, be sure to check out our top10 Stalker 2 tips, as well as our guide to thebest Stalker 2 mods.
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