Games @lemmy.world ekZepp @lemmy.world 1mo ago

Ex developer at Bethesda quit his job after 14 years and made this heavy metal horror game as a solo dev with no publisher

The Axis Unseen free demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1807810/The_Axis_Unseen/

It took about 3.5 years, but now it's actually coming out in less than two weeks. I'm really excited to see what people think of it and it has been cool watching streamers react to the demo. Somehow my two story tall tree guy is really good at sneaking up on people. :D

original post on imgur

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I played the demo for a few hours. Might be a solo dev, but his experience is definitely noticeable. Game looks great, albeit unoptimized. Progression is simple and fair. Artwork is incredible for a solo dev. Combat is decent, and unexpectedly satisfying.

Someone else mentioned the excessive blood explosion - it’s the best feeling when you land one of those shots from across a field.
Looks interesting, but the music should hit WAY harder, IMO. Based on the visuals, I was expecting early 2000s Opeth, and I got late 2010s Opeth instead.
- The music is all written by a member of ISIS, which is pretty heavy, but in an "atmospheric sludge/post-metal" way. So I can see how you'd think that if you're looking for something more death metal (which would fit in the fight scenes, although atmospheric sludge or funeral doom would go pretty well in the rest of the game)
  
  Oh snap thanks for pointing this out! Been a long time and I haven't kept up with ISIS, but their Panopticon was damn near genre-defining for me at the time.
  
  I recently got into slug metal. Would you have any recommendations for sludge, funereal, and/or doom metal?
Why the f I see vertical gameplay of someone playing 16:9?
Still took less time than Elder Scrolls 6 to come out
- Think we know why (this guy quit)
  
  You’d think it would be a blow to Bethesda that their sole programmer quit, but fortunately the creation engine is so cutting edge that I’m sure they’ll lean on it just as it is for years to come.
GPU: 4 GB VRAM GeForce GTX 980/Radeon RX 580

Dammit, my iGPU has more than enough computing power but only half of the VRAM.
- iGPU's can use system RAM to supplement VRAM. Might still be doable
  
  I forgot about that. A bios setting, right?
  
  back in the day I had an ATI system that shared system ram through the iGPU to the GPU(both ATI). turned my 2gb GPU into 4gb and saved me from building a new system for like a decade.
  
  not sure if they do it anymore, but it'd be nice.
- There is a demo, so you can see if it will run well enough for you before you buy it.
  
  a demo in this day? dev knows what's up
I feel like credentials such as used to work at Bethesda, aren't as good as they think they are... Or is it just me?
- You shouldn't dismiss someone's 14 year career, including a game of the year, because you don't like the studio he came from.
  
  Length of time isn't a credential to me
- I don't blame the devs for bad AAA games, with like 300 people working in one game, if it becomes shit it's management fault.
  
  Okay but I don't see how it's a net positive credential, how it even actually means anything?
- I understood it as "they were fed up with the henhouse and proved they could do better alone".
  
  Yeah but it's like, ok so you're a programmer. Neat. Working at a company for a set period of time just doesn't tell me anything. I guess that's just me
- if they were a lead game designer or writer I would agree. but I think this guy did environmental design, and Bethesda has had pretty cool environments in their games. though not all of them are very believable (in feeling lived-in), they sure do provide some spectacle, and memorability. in fact many of their games have been mostly carried by environments.
- It's just you. That a company makes terrible decisions tells not that much about a dev. If a dev says he worked on multiple projects does tell something about the dev regardless of the company. Don't forget that Bethesda sold their soul to MS and now has a lot more "steering" at the top, devs don't participate in that.
  
  Edit: a word
- Everything but starfield seemed like a plus to me
  
  Well he mostly worked on starfield of he was recently employed there
- Especially if we are going back only 14 years. So what did they work on, skyrim remasters or Fallout 4 remasters?
  
  Starfield. Active development started 9 years ago.
- Depends on their tenure. If they're old school Bethesda, nah that's just you. The people who built the older TES games had much more skill than the people churning out schlock or the 473rd rererelease of Skyrim. The newer people, yeah that's not a feather in their cap really. Starfield is meh at best, and doesn't hold a candle to stuff like Morrowind.
Noclip's interview with Nate
- Great interview, thanks
Looks fun. I cracked up when dude shot the deer thing and the blood exploded. I'll definitely check this out.
This looks like skyrim sneaky archer: the game.

Definitely gunna play this.
Why do all Unreal 5 games look the same?
- Because making it not look like an unreal engine game requires an entire technical art department. Absolutely possible, but there's waay too many dials to play with.
- Same rendering engine, same lighting, and for the vast majority of them, basically the same rendering settings (as the other person said, tweaking these can actually be quite a lot of work)
Is that heavy metal music actually in the game, or is it just for the trailer?
Turok 2024
- Consider me intrigued.
Can I play a stealth archer
- This, in fact, seems to be the only option.
  
  What about an archer that is stealthy?
- I'll be the only barbarian relentlessly bludgeoning my prey with my bow.
What is publishers role anyway in digital age of 2024? Marketing?
- Financing.
- Marketing and distribution (physical copies)

91 comments