When having a pc at house turned commonplace within the Nineties, a whole era of children instantly smuggled video games onto them. “Look, this field may also help do the taxes!” “Certain, dad, however it may possibly additionally run Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Hearth.” Video games in genres that have been excellent for a mouse-and-keyboard setup, like point-and-click adventures, flight sims, first-person shooters, technique video games, and—when CD-ROMs turned a factor—FMV video games all thrived.
Within the 2000s, issues modified. PC gaming spent a decade having stories of its demise drastically exaggerated, usually by publishers and builders who declared it a wretched hive of pirates. In 2008, Cliff Bleszinski stated, “I believe the PC is simply in disarray.” It wasn’t simply the large boys being imply both, with even Mads Wibroe of indie darling Playdead claiming piracy was the rationale Limbo launched as an Xbox 360-exclusive in 2010.
After which in 2011 Playdead’s Limbo and Supergiant’s Bastion crossed the border separating Xbox Reside Arcade from PCs. Each studios’ follow-up video games, Inside and Transistor, would have simultaneous cross-platform launches. Clearly, a lesson had been discovered.
Mainstream publishers appeared to be taught it too. After saving the PC model of Murderer’s Creed: Brotherhood for March of 2011, a number of months after its console launch, Ubisoft gave Murderer’s Creed: Revelations a simultaneous cross-platform launch in November of the identical yr. Console exclusivity wasn’t lifeless, nevertheless it was creating a persistent cough.
The PC Gaming Alliance’s Horizons Analysis 2011 report documented a 15% rise in income in 2011, with $18.6 billion spent on PC gaming. A big chunk of that was because of China, the place consoles had been banned since 2000, and the place League of Legends had simply launched. Free-to-play video games have been doing so properly that video games like Everquest 2, Staff Fortress 2, and DC Universe On-line efficiently made the swap in 2011.
Past the enterprise facet, it was additionally a fantastic yr for video games usually—and particularly ones in genres that have been more and more at house on PC once more, like open worlds and singleplayer RPGs.
The open world style peaks (and you’ll climb them)
Open world video games are a pure match for PC, as a result of while you ascend to the highest of a mountain or a skyscraper you desire a draw distance that at the least helps you to see all the best way again right down to the underside. As a style outlined by its empty areas, it is also an ideal place for modding to fill these gaps, and the discharge of Skyrim in 2011 turned out to be large for mods. To at the present time the one recreation with extra downloads on Nexus Mods than Skyrim is Skyrim Particular Version.
Wanting again, a part of what was particular about Skyrim—particularly in a yr with two Murderer’s Creed video games in it—was proper there on its map. Open that factor up and also you see cities and cities, big camps, standing stones, bandit hideouts, dungeons. You see locations reasonably than actions, and so they’re not marked in your map while you climb a close-by tower, however while you really go to them.
In 2011 open world fatigue was a great distance off, and it wasn’t simply due to Skyrim. We additionally had Batman: Arkham Metropolis, which got here on the style from a distinct angle. Particularly, from above, hurtling right down to land a shockwave in the midst of a gang of the Penguin’s thugs.
Arkham Metropolis could also be filled with collectibles and political prisoners to rescue, nevertheless it makes getting round so pleasing you do not care. Seeing a Riddler trophy out within the bay is an excuse to grapple to the highest of the tallest constructing yow will discover and swoop out to achieve it, with motion mechanics that by no means get outdated. And which felt nice on mouse and keyboard in addition to controller. One of the best ways to play is with each, seamlessly switching between the 2 because the scenario calls for, which video games assist as a matter in fact these days, however appeared revolutionary on the time.
Whereas hooning round Steelport in Saints Row: The Third was additionally a riot, like a model of Grand Theft Auto 4 that really needed you to drive the vehicles such as you’d stolen them, the facet actions maintained the sequence’ sense of the absurd. Escort quests are superb, it seems, in case you’re escorting a tiger within the passenger seat that takes a bit out of your flesh everytime you decelerate.
The worst factor about open world video games in 2011 was that they have been so well-liked different video games have been being dunked in them for no good cause, with L.A. Noire and Mafia 2 excellent examples. Each can be superb in case you stripped away all that driving previous empty backlots in favor of a linear construction.
RPGs return (and briefly carry immersive sims with them)
It is dated discourse now, however within the early 2000s the success of MMORPGs had followers satisfied the singleplayer RPG was dying (you recognize, like PC gaming was). To be truthful, BioWare did shelve Knights of the Previous Republic 3 and recycle it into Star Wars: The Previous Republic in 2011, nevertheless it was additionally a yr by which the singleplayer RPG thrived.
Skyrim was the big-ticket success, nevertheless it wasn’t alone. Although it got here out in 2010, Fallout: New Vegas solely received good in 2011 with the discharge of wonderful expansions like Previous World Blues and a sequence of patches that stabilized it and handled questbreaking bugs just like the one which made recruiting ED-E a crapshoot. Simple to neglect now, however on the time half of us performed New Vegas with out its lovable robotic mascot as a result of for months after launch the hunt to restore him was so more likely to bug out.
The Witcher 2 was a nice shock, bettering on the unique as dramatically as The Witcher 3 would ultimately enhance on The Witcher 2. The narrative took dangers, with a department that meant two gamers may expertise a totally completely different second act, and the fight was really first rate—if badly tutorialized.
It appeared beautiful too, at the least in case you ignored how a lot Geralt resembled beef jerky. The low fog clinging to the bottom within the forest exterior Flotsam, the grotesque monsters, and the haunted battlefield the place lifeless males fought eternally beneath unnatural skies all appeared wonderful, and gave us a cause to improve our rigs. In the event you activate ubersampling and cinematic depth of area as we speak it will nonetheless hit your framerate like a silver sword to a drowner’s neck.
In addition to The Previous Republic, busy BioWare additionally gave us Dragon Age 2, a recreation that was compromised, however higher on PC. I do know as a result of I stupidly performed it on Xbox 360 first, the place you needed to button-mash for each assault, making it really feel like a nasty motion recreation as a substitute of the modestly first rate RPG it revealed itself to be after I replayed it on PC—the place every fight requires a extra wise variety of leisurely mouse clicks.
It was additionally house to a number of the best companions any recreation within the sequence has ever had. Rushed and repeated as Dragon Age 2, it nonetheless gave us the likes of Varric, Avelline, and Isabella, who stay up there with BioWare’s greatest.
The immersive sim made a comeback with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the place immersive sim is a technical time period which means “videogame principally about studying individuals’s emails.” Like all immersive sims it is actually simply an RPG the place the bins have physics, and it is an exemplar of the shape. Truthfully, the worst factor about Human Revolution was that it gave us hope that Thief 4 can be good. Wait, no, it was the boss fights—however at the least they fastened these within the director’s lower.
On the lower-budget facet of issues, Dungeons of Dredmor, Avadon: The Black Fortress, EYE: Divine Cybermancy, Cthulhu Saves the World, and Costume Quest (one other one-year-later console port) helped confirmed how a lot selection the RPG style was able to.
Not solely but in addition
As the discharge of Bastion and Limbo suggests, 2011 was a good time for indie video games on PC—particularly ones that established a distinct segment big-budget video games ignored. With SpaceChem, Zachtronics laid down the format for an entire subgenre of programming puzzle video games, whereas Terraria took the survival crafting loop of Minecraft (which additionally launched model 1.0 in 2011, although everybody performed it at the least the yr earlier than in beta) and made {that a} style too. Arrowhead’s Magicka laid down a legacy of friendly-fire multiplayer chaos that will proceed in Helldivers, and The Binding of Isaac principally invented the trendy roguelike.
Technique video games had fun with Complete Warfare: Shogun 2 profitable again all of the goodwill that Empire had misplaced—as a result of the AI knew easy methods to use boats this time. It was additionally the yr of Anno 2070, Unity of Command, Destiny of the World, Frozen Synapse, and Males Of Warfare: Assault Squad. If solely XCOM hadn’t been delayed from late 2011 into 2012, which might have made my argument even simpler.
All that and Portal 2 too. Look, there are many years individuals speak about as being all-time greats, however loads of them are nice for videogames extra usually. What individuals often imply by a sure yr being nice for video games is “this can be a yr by which a very beloved Zelda recreation got here out”. However 2011 is a type of years the place PC gaming particularly thrived, and it wasn’t a certain factor. We would been by means of a tough patch, and 2011 was when PC gaming’s return to prominence started.
