So there has been a lot of debate recently about single player games dying,And honestly I'm a bit worried too.
You see, lots of AAA 3rd party developers are focusing mainly on making online games because they make them more money.
We can't really blame them.

The fact about multiplayer games are that it brings people together,you have to buy your own damm copy of the game,you can't borrow it from your friend,
that obviously means more sales.
An always online subscription means more money for the developers through the dedicated servers they create.
Most importantly they can roll out a  small  size updates frequently  for that game without meaning to focus on a large,new creative projects.
The developers and publishers such as Electronic arts-once an iconic video game company,now just a money minded corporate  industry 
have been following the same trends this generation.And more publishers like Ubisoft  and Microsoft are focusing on that too.

I'm not saying multiplayer games or games as a service are bad,in fact its quite a blast and there's no such fun as cruising around,shooting other people in the head with your friends.
The problem is that the whole creativity and innovation which video games were once popular for has been lost .
The whole perspective has changed.
I started playing video games because for me it was an art.
Art of incredible story telling,soundtrack and innovative game play.
As of this generation,video games are just a form of entertainment  and it hurts me.

Of course it's a polarizing thing to talk about.
We can't really blame the developers as the cost of making a single player video game in this generation is a lot and if the sales chart has been any indication,
it has been disappointing for the poor 3rd party developers.

Let's  look at Bethesda softworks.
A company still very much dedicated towards developing old school full fledged single player games such as Wolfeinstein,The evil within and Dishonored.
All the three games have been positively  received, in fact they are some of the very few video games this generation that are actually worth praising.
But the catch? Their sales have been shockingly low.
And who's responsible for this? Us gamers.
We caused this.
You see all the titles I mentioned above are linear story driven adventures that generally has a   10-12 hours of gameplay.

No one in their right mind would spend 60 bucks or more for this small amount of entertainment,entertainment yes.
Even I didn't.
I waited for a deep deep sale before I bought these games.
We all want quantity over quality and this is why multiplayer games and the open world genre has been thriving which I'll get to later.


So what to do?
Sooner or later,Companies like Bethesda too will start focusing on quantity over quality;making multiplayer games,
in fact they even have started with the likes of Fallout 76 and we caused this.

EA recently closed visceral game studios which was supposed to be working on a linear action adventure Star wars game.
Amy hemings the mind behind the Uncharted series recently went independent and confessed in an interview 
about how its difficult to make profit through single player games nowadays for 
3rd party developers.
And its a huge disappointment to see such incredible minds forced not to work on the projects they want to because of the  market shift right now.


Now all I have talked about is the conditions of the 3rd party developers.
The first party publishers like Sony continues to make good quality single players games such as God of war,Horizon zero dawn,etc and hopeful as I'm will continue to do so.
But what about 3rd party developers? Well they just have to start following the "Rockstar's" formula.



Rockstar games are one of the best  and perhaps the smartest of developers in video game industry as of now.
They have continued to produce quality games and will obviously continue to do.
What's interesting is that they too have been focusing on online content and a lot lately.
But only after they have milked out a good hefty amount of single player content for a game.
I'm talking about the Grand theft auto V,the highest selling entertainment product in history.


That game is incredible.
After you finish its lengthy single player campaign which lasts around 30-35 hours,you're given the opportunity to go online.
And its a completely different world out there.
I don't generally play online games,in fact GTA online and The divison are the only ones I have played in recent years but man do  I enjoy  GTA Online?
There's just so so much things to be done there.I'm not surprised that I enjoy it more than the single player campaign.
It's great.
In an recent interview,Take-Two(Rockstar game's parent company)  CEO Strauss Zelnick  said that single player games are not dead.
Speaking to "Gamesbeat" he said that appreciates single player games with strong characters and stories.


"Historically, in entertainment, people take positions like that, but there are also people saying that it won’t work if it’s not a free-to-play battle royale," said Zelnick. "People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don’t buy that. Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they’ll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don’t think that’s going to work. I’d be surprised."




It just shows how smartly Rockstar games have been planning everything.
They release a good quality single player game and support it with an ever growing multiplayer content.
And let's take a moment to reflect upon the fact all the DLC's released for the game have been completely free.
No paid expansions,not a single one has been released.
I have been playing GTA Online since 2014,first on the ps3 version and now on the PC.
It has been 4 years since Rockstar games have been supporting the game with free updates.
Who else does that?

This is the most efficient way to handel the situation.
There has been two Destiny games,two The Divsion games(one is upcoming),two Star wars battlefront games and countless paid expansions for these games.
And who has earned the most money out of this?

I believe its Rockstar games.
Both the consumers and the developers are in profit here.

CD projekt RED,the studio behind one of the best role playing game of this generation,The Witcher 3 are probably gonna follow the same trend with their upcoming game
Cyberpunk 2077,as they have confirmed that the game will have multiplayer content but the single player campaign is the first priority.

Let's imagine a world where every developer follows this trend.
There won't be any conflict between the single player and the multiplayer genre.
And videogames will cease to exist not only as a  medium of art but also as a medium of entertainment.

Warning-Spoilers ahead.

Red dead redemption-

A game that was a generation ahead of its time.

"Some trees flourish, others die. Some cattle grow strong, others are taken by wolves.
 Some men are born rich enough and dumb enough to enjoy their lives. Ain't nothing fair. You know that." - John marston.

"Nothing is fair" is the constant theme of The Red dead redemption's world as well as in John marston's life throughout the span of 30-40 hours campaign of Red dead redemption.

It is a story of love,betrayal, family and change.
Change as in advancement of technologies,the age of machines taking over as wild west is nearly over.

John Marston our protagonist is a former outlaw and now a family man,trying to escape his past with his wife Abigail marston and his adolescent son Jack marston.

Of course one  never  can escape their past as crooked federal agents kidnaps John's wife and his son in exchange of the lives of his former gang members as John is forced to work as an Outlaw yet again.

I played Red dead redepmtion for the first time back in 2013 on my playstation 3.
Needless to say,I was too young and naive to understand its politically intertwined heart breaking story then.
But as of now I have watched countless wild west movies like-
"The good,the bad and the ugly", "Unforgiven" and as well the most recent classic
 "The django unchained."
And after playing the game yet again from start to finish in 2018, I can happily say its the best wild west adventure to be had in this industry till date whether it be movies or video games.

Red dead redemption smartly captures the nostalgic moments of classic western movies and takes it a step further in telling its masterpiece of a story  through its distinctive yet rich characters.

John Marston is a very likeable protagonist and yes, playing it in 2018 I think he's my favourite video game character as of now.
He's very relatable as he is not a perfect man like all of us,but trying his best to  move on from his mistakes and be a better man for himself and his family.

You  will care about his tale,its hard not to,And you will play through that ending mission multiple times wishing it would end differently but it doesn't.
You will be irritated at first by meeting characters like West Dickens or Abraham reyes,but eventually you'll end up liking them as you understand their vision and the role in the world you live in.

You will at first glance like people as Captain Vincente De santa,but later on will want to put bullets through their head as they turn out to be traitors who would sell of their own country.

And then there are strong independent women  whom you'll take an immediate liking such as
 Bonnie Macfarlane who runs her own farm and doesn't need anybody's help or Luisa Fortuna who (actually reminded me a little of Penelope cruz's stunning debut role as Silvia in
Jamón Jamón)  was ready to scarifice her own life for the freedom of her country-Mexico.
Landon Ricketts-once a famous gunslinger now a retired and unofficial lawman or vigilante of the Chuparosa town ,
now sits around and plays poker with local peasants  as he tells the stories of his adventures before wild was tamed.
You will love or hate the company of these interesting and diversified set of characters and remember them for the time to come.

Then their will be iconic moments that will forever be vivid in your memory such as when  John finally gets to see  his family and as snow falls and a soothing score plays in the background -
"Now I know the only compass that I need is the one that leads back to you" will send shivers down your neck,knowing how many obstacles you had to cross for such an iconic moment to occur.

Red dead redemption is a marvel of presentation.
Keeping aside the key story cut scenes,which are amazing on their own,the random events that occur throughout the journey is equally great and astonishing when it comes to quality and a sense of realism.
Riding across the countryside of Rockstar's re-imagined version of 1914  America and mexico is a joy,an experience like nothing else.
An experience you could only have or expect from a Rockstar game.

The world is a character of its own.
The staggering amount of detail in every little thing from puddles forming up during rain,or an enemy's hat flowing off when the bullet nearly misses them and the way they react when they can't find their
hat on the top of their head had me awestruck every single time.
I have seen smarter NPC's  and AI in video games  before and still do but never to such an extent.
The way they behave,the things they speak  and the clothes they wear-I believe every one of them has a different layer of clothing  is jarring to say the least.

There are no fetch quests,at least not without an interesting story behind.
For example-a person might send you to collect different stuffs to complete the design of what seem like an early model aircraft,
Not just John marston but you as a person would be curious to find out how it turns out when you get that person the parts he  need.
Or stuffs like giving a ride to a lady to the nearest town as her transportation is broken while bandits try to kill both of you,never gets old and actually adds to the realism that you are a gunslinger
 present to help the citizens of the nation.
You can play as bounty hunters any time you want to as there are always criminals to be caught and punished.

Every stranger and freaks mission   like solving a murder mystery or helping a prostitute buy her freedom is interesting and unique on its own and I always wished that there were more of them.
On top of everything,I was constantly wondering how Rockstar games managed to make this game on last generation of consoles.

The game even by 2018's standard looks breath-takingly beautiful.
When the red sun sets into the horizon,the sight is almost surreal.
I have only seen such  amazing draw distances  in two other games,

possibly Elder scrolls 5 Skyrim and Rockstar game's own Grand theft auto 5.
No other current generation game  comes close to creating such artistic and beautiful draw distances not even the Witcher 3 wild hunt or Horizon zero dawn-
which otherwise are some of the best looking games of this generation.
When thunderstorm occurs and it starts to get dark while riding on your horse,It almost feels like watching a 1970's classic movie.

As of now,In the age of micro transcations,loot boxes and a fatigue in the open world genre filled with repetitive side quests and live events,
playing through Red dead redemption was a breathe of fresh air.
It made me realize how important as a platform for story telling and immersion video games are.

I believe I had almost forgotten the excitement of coming back home and spending hours playing video games even though your body tells otherwise.
Red dead redemption 2 launches on 26th october,2018.
And as I write this,with  the main track of the first game  playing in the background,I am counting  off days to the next game in the series.

Its no doubt that  Rockstar games are here again to set another benchmark in the history of video games just like they do with their every title especially the one that came 8 years ago.

The world is a role playing game.We all are distinct characters and we play our part in the world whatsoever that would be.

We level up ( grow) by gaining experience points (knowledge) ,
we take life changing decisions and face the consequences as well  and thus the  circle
is repeated for every generation. This co- relation of the real life and the role playing genre of videogames
is what makes me so attached to it.
                                                         Actually you see in every video game we basically role-

play a particular character nevertheless but the games of this particular genre defines it more accurately if you know what I mean.
Now since I enjoy two types of RPG's which are sandbox and narrative driven I'm only gonna talk about them here.
I do not play typical  jrpgs( souls/borne series is an exception) or tactical ones so I'm not gonna judge them here.
Rather I'll just talk about my experiences with the more popular western titles like Skyrim,Fallout 4,The Witcher 3,Deus ex mankind
divided,Horizon zero dawn,Bloodborne etc.
So the five  most important aspects of an RPG which we already know  are its world,characters,gameplay,narrative and soundtrack.
It seems so  that the first  priority  of a videogame developer for  the 8th generation of console is to create a living breathing dynamic world.
A fictional-real world where peope actually lives and perform their day to day activities irrespective of what the main character does for player immersion.
Since  technology has been kind to  us, the developers these days  actually have the resources to build such a world.
Need an example? The recently released Assassins creed Origins where Ubisoft created an entire COUNTRY for god's sake don't know how.
 An immersive world is indeed essential for players to feel obligated towards the character they role play.
See this is one area RPG's shine.And frankly speaking who wouldn't enjoy visiting such beautiful places?
Whether it be Skyrim's mountain peaks or the shady streets of Novigrad in the Witcher 3 or perhaps the dystopian futuristic city of prague in Deus ex
 mankind divided and well Egypt? (Can't get over the fact that they built an entire country sorry not sorry.)
You see every places I mentioned has a distinct flavour to it and thus feels completely different and exciting to explore.
It adds to a sense of adventure which not other genre can offer like fps or hack and slash.
Let's talk about Horizon zero dawn's world for an example.That game is  jaw-droppingly gorgeous and hands down the most beautiful game I have ever played.
The Decima engine which Guerilla games used to built this post post apocalyptic adventure feels surreal to me.

The flora and fauna looks incredible with high quality textures and that dynamic day and night cycle which makes its world feel even more real and
habituated. Also the most important part is how every other machine behaves.They all have work to perform for example ,Grazers create fuels for other
machines by consuming vegetation and are found in specific areas.
But its important to notice that they do venture forth in unknown territories and I have experienced astonishing battles between a Thunderjaw and a group
of Behemoths as well as between other machines,and that's always an interesting sight to behold.

                                                                            Let's talk about Witcher 3 now. Novigrad is my  favourite city ever in a video game.

I don't know what actually gets me about this place.The city is in turmoil with witch hunters  of the eternal fire searching for sorceresses and my beloved Triss as well and burning them down.
(Sorry but I chose Yennefer every damm time but still.) But all that the workers of the Novigrad dock cares about is  getting laid with another one of those Passiflora's courteasan.
And oh did I mention the begger king and his followers? They are found everywhere and god damm if anyone of them ever helped me when I  needed to get  information about finding
a particular person or a place. And that slum  district where Triss lives. The place has such a disturbing  vibe that I'm always worried wether Triss is safe or not with all the witch hunters hanging around.
The Kingfisher inn where Priscilla-Dandelion's sweetheart performs is a place where people gathers at night with their loved ones to drink wine,eat food and hear her music, free of all the trouble
happening around the city. And then there's Dijkstra and his bathouse.It all adds to the charm.These are the few notable things I remeber about the free city of Novigrad and well now I have this
 sudden urge to go back and explore it all again.

The point is,these places feel real and lively.They do not actually feel like a level or a mission made for a video game but an actual place.
This is what  most of the RPG developers focus on these days.To create a world people can immerse themselves into and get a break from their life.
Oh and do I even need to start talking about Elder scrolls 5 Skyrim? That is the reason why I even started writing this.

So long.

Why videogames were made in the first place?
 As far as I can see it were made for the introvert people
who preferred staying indoors rather than interacting with the outside world.
People who  had no friends or
were too scared to interact with anyone,people who were bullied,people who were unaccepted by the
society.
People who were called freaks,people like me. The vision of those godly people who thought about us freaks
were to create a world,to create a story, to create characters we can call friends(virtual nonetheless).
And so came videgames with the likes of Metal gear solid,Resident evil,The legend of zelda,Elder scrolls and many more.
Born in the 1990's, I did missed the birth of these instant classics but I was lucky enough to be an active gamer by the time
their sequels started pouring in and thus I have memories that I'll always treasure.
I still remember the day my brother got me a copy of Biohazard 4 which is known as Resident evil 4 in the west.
I just could not put that game down no matter  how much my parents scolded me and the rough time they made me go through afterwards.
But inspite  of everything I couldn't focus on anything else until the day I beat the game. And what a game it was.
Tough as nail and that "YOU ARE DEAD" flashed more times on my screen than the death threats my parents gave me for not switching off the system which was a lot.
Leon S Kennedy is one of the most badass character with quirky sense of humor and the sexiest haircut which till date I follow.
And of course who can forget the cry baby Ashley Graham who by my understanding at that time was my first full fledged crush.
And I felt it was my duty to save her at every corner of that gruesome place we were in.
That kind of effect Resident evil 4  had on me. I was a fearless government agent trying everything to protect the girl of my dreams in a world
I had no real connection with and it felt magical. Even 11 years later from the time I played it,thinking about Ashley and the way I rescued
her and the way she never returned in any other entries which broke my heart send chills  down my spine.The long lasting impression of a video game.
Oh sorry did I miss something? I meant a full on "single player" video game.
Coming down a few years later, back in 8th grade when I had a crush on  one of my batch mates
but had  negative courage to at least go talk to her once, what did I do? At some point around that time my brother got me a new game called
Dragon age origins( Yep my brother shaped this gamer and now he regrets.*Devil's grin* ).
I had  absolutely no clue what type of a  game it was and what on Earth was I supposed to do in this.
That being said,belonging to a family which has a good taste in music,I absolutely got hooked into the game's main menu soundtrack which was well breathtaking is all
I can say. So what next? With a jaw dropping cinematic trailer I was told to create a character. This was new for me.And what did I make?
I made my character a girl.The same girl I had crush on then .Named her the  same,made her look the same.(Hey  I tried at least.)
And there she was.I couldn't stop grinning then and that is how I my journey into Freleden began.Till day I prefer dark heroic fantasy  role playing games over any other genre and back then I had
no clues what RPG's are about. I met such memorable characters throughout such as Morrigan,leliana,Alistair ,( and Hawke,Cassandra,Varic,Sera in the other entries)
in  my journey into the blighted world of Thedas and being a grey warden it was my duty to save the world and end the fifth blight. I absolutely loved the game and the genre.
Meaning all the other role playing games which I played had character creation was dedicated towards building a female lead I had some affection for and it worked like a charm.
Although I did loved the characters and their conversations with each other in Dragon age Inquisition,the quality of quest design was plummet.It felt like a cheap MMO they make these
days with garbage like collectibles to collect  and nothing else but that's a story for another time.It kills me to see how Bioware has degraded the quality of  their video games nowadays as back
 then they were my favourite developer and hence besmirched their reputation.
These were just two hugely popular and powerful video games or should I say a great piece of art that effected my imaginations and perspective  towards  fiction and real life to a great extent.
These two single player  games and many more titles are the reasons why I play video games and I'll get to that in the part two of this series of articles.
The point is people like me,people who doesn't have a  very heavy social life look for these mediums to interact with the world.To experience different kinds of emotions.But the ongoing trend of multiplayer
games have been downgrading the whole concept and the vision of videogames,atleast for me.The creativity  and innovations needed to tell a good narrative.,make memorable characters is limited to
co-op mindless shooting or collecting stuffs as I already mentioned above.This is disheartning to see.Sure there are multiplayer titles I enjoyed too.Take for example Grand theft auto online. Me and my best friend skipped schools,
faked medical issues to go home early and so much more just to level up our characters and buy a new apartment where we could  watch cartoons together while having whisky or race to Mount Gordo.
Sounds crazy right?
It was ,but I had an amazing experience.But the magic of a single player game is completely different and many of you reading this would know.Multiplayer games have the potential but they should not
be competing with the single player titles because they entice a different audience . Bethesda softworks-my favourite publisher knows this well and they continue to deliver great single player experiences but at what cost?
Dishonored 2,Wolfenstien 2 and The evil within 2 are all immserive titles and I loved exploring each of these scenarios but unfortunately the sales have been so down for them that they had to
start a petiton to save single player games. I don't know how its gonna turn out but I cannot imagine a world where there are only MMo's everywhere.If anything hinders the development of
Elder scrolls 6 I swear there's gonna be a world war 3 by us offline gamers.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and I had to let it all out because it is a major concern.We gotta save videogames for what they are.