[00:08] This time bringing you a video about early access games and a little bit at least about how I'm also kind of exhausted with them, which to be fair, I which is kind of why I decided to make the video. And I know that because every
[00:21] time I do a video about an early access game, I inevitably get comments stating exactly that. So, I figured why not discuss it a little farther. I find this overall to be a bit of a frustrating situation because I do think early
[00:34] access can both be really really great and at the same time can also be really really bad. And the vast majority of people just kind of want to hopefully get the game to the finish line so they can enjoy the full and finished thing,
[00:47] access comes in because I think games that launch into that can quickly find themselves in a place that feels a lot more like work than it does fun, which figure why not go ahead and start out with the most positive things.
[01:02] Obviously, at its best, early access is, I think, a net good for the games that that use it to gather feedback, make changes based on that feedback, catch bugs, generally try to make the game better, etc. There are clear examples of
[01:17] one. It really made the most of its time in early access, even if it was a very lengthy process. You've got the upcoming game, No Rest for the Wicked, which in a very rough state, has been through
[01:30] some very rocky ups and downs, and yet at the same time, it is, I think, a much better game now than when it released. And long story short, when it is used for its intended purpose, I think it can be a really good thing. Unfortunately, a
[01:43] fact, on the worst side of things, it's borderline a scam because for every great success story like that, there's unfortunately a lot of games that fall into the opposite end of the spectrum where uh they usually don't wind up
[01:57] Sometimes they are just straight up abandoned. Sometimes they're pulled from the store. And this can be for any number of reasons. Like just over the things like New Arc Line, which is probably finished. Uh Beast, which is a
[02:10] TRPG, that's pretty much over. Project Witchstone, which just straight up got pulled from the store after their funding collapsed. And so there's just plenty of potential for things to go wrong. Sometimes things that are outside
[02:22] things that were perfectly within their control that they just failed to execute upon. And you combine those varied just have like a normal run through early access and wind up releasing and
[02:35] it's just fine. That happens too. But you take all of those circumstances and of things is having to try to parse through what is actually going to wind up being good and actually get released versus things that might never come to
[02:48] fruition and also balance against that how much you want to pay for and be particular title, which is where it starts to feel a little bit like work at times. Now, Steam rightfully tells people when they look at an early access
[03:02] game on the Steam page that those games are inherently not complete. That is what early access means. And if you're not wanting to play it right now, you probably shouldn't buy it. And that is a sentiment that I very wholeheartedly
[03:15] agree with. I also appreciate that on that same like box of text, they have started adding uh like little notices and things if early access games go for a really long time without updates just to help clamp down on some of the worst
[03:27] sides of this. But that sort of loops back to the actual intention of early access as a system, which is that in theory, you should be getting the game then provide your feedback and everything. Now, I think something that
[03:41] is uh becoming more prevalent as time goes on is that there's just so much stuff competing for everyone's time all the time that the exact same reasons that developers want to put things into early access becomes the reason that a
[03:54] lot of people on the player side of things probably want to avoid a lot of it. That being, of course, getting all of that feedback and playing through multiple iterations of something. But again, you combine that with the fact
[04:06] that nobody really has time to often play through a single game multiple times over various iterations over the course of its early access journey, unless they are just absolutely enamored with it, which does happen sometimes to
[04:18] be fair. But even within that, you also get people who just don't want to spoil times what they'll do is buy early access when it releases, play a little bit of it, and then kind of just shelf it until it actually launches into 1.0 I
[04:31] fresh without having to effectively spoil themselves with something they that is a lot of talking and mental hoops to jump through in comparison to a you getting to experience it. And I can understand then why it's pretty easy to
[04:46] find early access off-putting. And that's before we talk about the fact that it's just kind of becoming a more popular option for developers. Or at fair. I don't have the actual numbers, but it really does kind of feel like
[04:58] we're just tripping over early access titles here recently. For instance, uh into early access this year off the top of my head. You've got Prelude: Dark Pain, Heroes of Might, Magic, Olden Era, Celesta 2, Menace, Windrose, and
[05:14] Fatekeeper. I think there's probably more than that, but that seems about memory. And several of those games are not exactly small. I mean, Fatekeeper is other ones have a good chunk of content in there. And to be expected to play
[05:28] through that multiple times over the course of again, however long it winds up being in early access isn't exactly a small order when everything else is constantly happening around you. But I also said that early access games can
[05:40] feel a little more like work. And that's probably at least a little uh strange to to in fact play video games. And that's fair, but that's not quite what I mean. You see, if you actually want to have any sort of impact on an early access
[05:54] provide all that feedback. And that is what I try to do via my own videos. But you compare that with uh doing something for a review, and it's just a little bit different. So, when I'm playing a game
[06:06] for a review, in theory, it is at the very least uh its 1.0 version. It might not necessarily be its final version, but the release build, if you will. And the intent there is to go through and just enjoy the game for what it is right
[06:19] I know it's inherently not finished. And it changes my approach to that game to be more what is wrong with it specifically and how could it be fixed and how can I relay that feedback to a team that I am not actually involved in
[06:33] of how I think through some of those early access videos. But that's just a slightly different process in a way that feels again just a bit more like work than my normal work. And if it feels that way for me, I can only imagine what
[06:47] actually play video games for a living, which is the point of where I'm going with this. And so when you start to like put all of that together into a singular clear picture, it just becomes a lot honestly. So, while early access is
[07:01] certainly a good thing for developers, and it can be a good thing for players as well, provided that they actually get the game for cheaper and it has a doesn't wind up costing the money for a game that never releases, as an example.
[07:15] of the matter is, uh, there's just a lot of early access games. They're all competing for your time. Whether or not they're successful is all over the place. Some of them fail outright. It seems to me that the ones that need to
[07:28] do early access specifically for funding, are usually the ones that fail the most because of its unfinished state, even if you do find one you enjoy. It can just be a little more work than a normal release. And just compare
[07:41] something simply releasing and you play it. And it's, you know, no small wonder that it just gets to be exhausting with how often we're seeing these releases, even if it is obviously a little more complicated than just that. Now, to be
[07:56] this to change. I'm mostly just expressing a little frustration, I suppose, but at the end of the day, it can again be a really good thing for it's a popular choice there. And then sometimes it really does work out and
[08:10] experience with it. And obviously, there's games that I'm going to play a in early access, like when Divinity comes out. But sorting through all of them can certainly be a lot. And to be fair, that is uh specifically why I make
[08:24] easier for people. My goal with basically every early access game that I cover is so that people can make an informed decision about it and decide if check out or, you know, simply keep up with the videos until it launches. And I
[08:38] information so they can make those choices is one of the more useful things this channel actually does outside of the reviews and something I obviously continue to plan to do, but they can be a little exhausting. and I just wanted
[08:51] is pretty much going to do it for this particular video. Certainly hope you games you're absolutely in love with, or I guess if you just feel the same way, down in the comments section below, which of course means to like, comment,
[09:06] subscribe, all that YouTube jazz. But regardless of any of that, truly just do appreciate it. May you wander in wisdom and have an amazing day.