PC Early Access

[Pulstar]

Anyone else has a bunch of abandoned EA games installed (mostly via Steam because they introduced the whole mess in the first place) in hopes of devs coming back with a post or even an actual update to their festering corpse of a project?

Furthermore, has anyone else stopped getting EA games from indie devs entirely because there's no guarantee that an actual finished product would be made available, and no refunds either from the digital stores who would be just as happy to sell us turds in 0s and 1s. (There is an exception to my stance, with games "too-AA-to-fail" like Hell Let Loose and Squad showing solid promise many months before they hit the 1.0 milestone)

[Asura]

I don't have that many Early Access games; I think it's because I've only gotten into ones where the game was already evolved enough that if it never got any updates, I'd still be okay with what's there. Like Kerbal Space Program, when I got into that the game was quite basic, but it was already great fun and if they'd just stopped, I wouldn't have felt short-changed.

[Pulstar]

I don't have that many Early Access games; I think it's because I've only gotten into ones where the game was already evolved enough that if it never got any updates, I'd still be okay with what's there. Like Kerbal Space Program, when I got into that the game was quite basic, but it was already great fun and if they'd just stopped, I wouldn't have felt short-changed.

Fair enough, but I still think stores should offer a relaxed refund policy for EA games to incentivise devs to keep their customers in the loop.

[eastyy]

Funnily enough was planning a very similar topic though was going to include games that are Early access in anything but name like Streetfighter V

Some games I have had in Early access

Grim Dawn started off very very slowly as was a very small team took a few years to hit its stride but became a great game

Project Nimbus again started off slowly but took feedback on board very well and again turned out great though still felt it needed a bit more

Valheim for a early access game it feels the most complete and stable as only had one major bug for the 30 plus hours put into it

Wolsten tbh early access was very very meh but then when it came to the finished game the quality was a major step up but just seemed such a stark contrast from the early access version

Star Citizen ...probably the poster child on how to not do early access Imo....what i have seen of the game is amazing what i have played far less so

[Neon Ignition]

Had a few but it's always gone one of two ways:

Either the game took so long to leave EA that I lost all interest by the time it happened or they never got their act together at all like Star Citizen, DayZ etc

All in all it's like Kickstarter, it's been nice to see it largely die out

[Pulstar]

I see daily releases of EA games on Steam so the fad is still going strong. I guess a portion of those devs are banking on gamers' short attention span before they decide to jumpship.

[eastyy]

Have seen quite a few EA games where they keep adding content but fail to actually make the core game better and frustratingly major bugs that have been known about for a long time still there at full release

[Brad]

I backed Sui Generis almost 6 years ago. No sign of it lol.

[eastyy]

I backed Sui Generis almost 6 years ago. No sign of it lol.

Did they ever send you a key for this ? https://store.steampowered.com/app/362490/Exanima/

[MartyG]

Tend not to buy into Early Early Access games, but titles that clearly have active development and have a good level of functionality I don't mind buying into.

Good examples of early access games that are worth it are Factorio (now out of early access), Rimworld and Dyson Sphere Project.

EA games tho - try to avoid those

[Brad]

Did they ever send you a key for this ? https://store.steampowered.com/app/362490/Exanima/

Nope. I’m guessing they should have. Maybe if I log into my account I’ll find something there. Cheers!

[eastyy]

One thing i have always thought of was Fighting games which many are early access in all but name

Take Streetfighter V the "launch " was very bare bones but now it has lots of modes and tons of characters and stages.....but it feels off to me, I think the reason is making new characters based on feedback so later characters feel a lot different to the earlier ones and it creates a feeling of a lack of cohesiveness, with Killer instinct they went back in to original characters and made lots of changes along with buffs and nerfs to try and bring everything together, in Streetfighter V they have done that to a degree especially when it came to new V skills and V triggers but i still feel earlier characters really need just a bit more

Dragonball fighter Z is now a quite different game to launch ...though still way to many gokus

[MartyG]

That's not early access, that's Capcom being lazy.

[eastyy]

That's not early access, that's Capcom being lazy.

yeah problem is the past few years seems like a lot of companies being lazy lol

[eastyy]

One thing i have noticed in Early access is how varied the progress is...some games are at a glacial pace and others update regularly but can be a bit frustrating if they make changes that you do not like.

Also one game i got called Terrordrome which is a horror themed fighting game they update and add stuff quite regular.....but my core problem is with the physics and feel of the combat it just does not feel right with weird physics lack of impact...so they can keep adding stuff to it but if it feels wrong it will not make a difference