So I just realized that I haven’t really talked much here about Hello Games’ upcoming… thing… “Light No Fire”. I say “Thing” because we really don’t know what we will be getting with LNF, at this point. I believe we’ve heard it will be a massive, open-world fantasy game. Many think it will carry over some technology from “No Man’s Sky”, but since this is allegedly going to be one massive shared multiplayer world, this could be difficult.
In the end, I believe NMS and LNF will be significantly different games, not only in setting but in tone and overall feel. I don’t see LNF using procedural tech at all, but could carry over similar crafting and base-building tech from NMS, as well as some of the combat mechanics. But again, we really don’t know, do we?
This is something I find rather frustrating, to be honest. Yes, LNF is apparently still quite some time from being released according to all of the sources I’ve seen. But at the same time, why have Hello Games started the hype train for this game so far in advance of its release?
Nothing good can come from this.
Look, it’s much like “Elder Scrolls 6”. Bethesda announced it way too soon, and hype for that game has gotten out of control. Players have built up ES6 to a point where, lets be honest, the end result game will never live up to the expectations of the players. Never.
The same thing is going to happen to “Light No Fire”, mark my words. Even with years to work on the game, there is no way that Hello Games will be able to keep up with the expectations players will have for the game. They will expect it to be the greatest online RPG ever made. They will expect it to be everything that “No Man’s Sky” is now, and then some. They will expect it to be “Skyrim” times 1000, plus a scoop of ice cream.
This will only lead to tears and review bombing on Steam.
Now Hello Games could help mitigate these issues, by being more forthright with the players during development. This will of course never happen, because Hello Games tried to be very open with communication in the run-up to the release of “No Man’s Sky”, but the difference here is… they could also be honest this time. While they were hyping up NMS, they said it would have all manner of cool features and such, and on release it was barely functional as a game, with very few features. These features have since been added into NMS, for the most part, but it took the better part of a decade to get there.
I think the leadership at Hello Games decided that this time, it would be for the best to keep their mouths shut, and I get that. Seems like a wise move on their part. But they could also just talk about things that will be in the game at release, things that are locked-in, so that fans have reasonable expectations for the game.
Maybe that is asking for too much, but if Hello Games doesn’t engage with the fanbase soon, the hype will become uncontrollable, and that will go nowhere good, fast.