DF Direct Weekly #110: PC Gaming in Crisis, Redfall Post Mortem, Man of Medan Switch at 24fps

DF Direct Weekly returns after a seismic week in gaming, with Oliver, John and Alex discussing the crisis state of PC gaming 'in the here and now', raking over the coals of the deeply disappointing Redfall release, while we had to take a look at Man of Medan on Switch, which targets a cinematic 24fps. Meanwhile, John clues us in on the latest Analogue Pocket firmware update.

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00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:58 News 01: PC gaming in crisis
00:24:12 News 02: Redfall reaction and follow-up
00:54:38 News 03: Man of Medan hits Switch at 24fps!
01:01:11 News 04: Analogue Pocket gets big firmware update
01:04:46 Supporter Q1: If a game developer is under the influence when implementing RTGI, could that be “baked” lighting?
01:05:37 Supporter Q2: Need for Speed (2015) still looks great today. What are some other early last-gen games that still look fantastic?
01:10:29 Supporter Q3: Could you tell the difference between DLSS 3 and regular rendering at high frame-rates?
01:14:05 Supporter Q4: Can we have an award ceremony for the worst PC ports of the year?
01:16:08 Supporter Q5: What are the possible incentives for publishers to release games in a decent state?
01:18:53 Supporter Q6: I’m worried that FF16, Starfield, and Zelda will release in a poor state. How can we make companies more aware of game issues?
01:22:47 Supporter Q7: Are Jedi Survivor’s image quality issues related to using an older version of FSR 2?
01:28:33 Supporter Q8: Do you prefer a higher resolution with less detail, or a lower resolution with more detail?

[TehPwnographer]

I think we’re 3 horrible PC ports away from DF becoming a cooking channel.

[diligencehumility]

2000: Imagine the graphics and FPS in 20 years!
2023: *24 FPS*

[UNr]

You forgot to mention something very important with regards to the current crisis in PC gaming: the prices are horrific, GPUs especially, but not only.

[awsomeboy]

I completely agree it's actually a huge shame that CDPR left the red engine instead of continuously developing it since it still has huge potential. I fear because of Cyberpunk launch they've become a little bit risk averters, and that may manifest itself in their games in terms of playing it safe. I hope I'm wrong

[herbalterrorist]

If you do a best and worst pc ports (which you definitely should imo) it would be cool if you could put a “note” at the end of each game or state wether the game was fixed relatively soon after release or if the game is still broken/buggy etc. It’s one thing to release a game broken, but it’s another thing when that game doesn’t ever get properly fixed.

[DGFTardin]

I'm equal parts happy to see John and sad to not see Rich, but everyone deserves a break right

[cosmonautikal]

Thank you for mentioning the excellent state of the Indie/AA PC gaming market. Reassuring that you are not completely tunnel visioned and have some hope in there, Alex.

[Secret_Takodachi]

The best incentive for publishers is a "Razzy Awards" for worst PC ports and worst game elements etc. Highlighting "best in class" and "WORST in class" is fair AND productive. It also helps to educate audiences on why "this is better" for certain elements and help wider audiences better appreciate the subtle homeruns some games hit with certain implementations of elements/ideas.

[Hyydrotoo]

Idk you all probably have lots on your timetables already, but I'd love a series that focuses in depth on things like "what is shader compilation and why is it necessary?" and similar topics. Would love to educate myself more about this stuff, but it's not always easy to find the right ressources.

[callumdointhings]

This was one of the best Directs yet imo
Topics were perfect, Q&A answers were entertaining, John whipping out news like the Pocket firmware update, Alex being super fun the whole time like hes just hanging with his best friends, etc. 10/10 hosting John

[hstationforthenation]

Alien Isolation still looks incredible today. A friend of mine was an environmental artist for that title, and he's now working on the next Subnautica game as Lead Artist, so you know it will look stunning!

[satyasyasatyasya]

Gaming isn't in crisis, capitalism is. Corpos charge more and more for less and less because they can, and then people who buy games are themselves so enthralled to their hobby which they have linked far too much to their sense of self, still buy uinfinished, buggy games so the cycle repeats.
You are screaming into the void if you call for higher standards, self-control or critique this whole industry. There's millions of zombie-minded gamers who feel like a corporation is their friend and will buy any old crap from them. The average gamer is simply too stupid and impatiant to think about anything other than "gotta get game! hur dur pOlItIcS

[ActNasty]

Pc gaming lately is like having a 1000hp car with stock tires…

[monsterbeast]

that baked lighting question absolutely got me dying hahahahha

[brandon_nope]

Funny enough Valve rated Man of Medan unsupported for Steam Deck as the graphics cannot be configured to run well

[meisterwu]

When Alex talked about Dead Space's shader stuttering at 7:02 that "it's currently not fixed", I was shocked.
It's been almost 5 MONTHS. What the HELL are they doing?

[hilariousl]

I think oliver is right, most PC are not up to consoles cpu power + the built in decompression + the gpu vram. We will have to get use to consoles ports too demanding

[-Bill.]

PC gaming sales are getting drastically smashed right now due to the derth of AAA titles and the low quality ports. I sell computers for a living, and while the general rising costs of food and necessities have had a negative impact on sales, the lack of any real "sales driving" titles has been massive. The major popular titles have been designed to either run on a potato (i.e. League of Legends, Rainbow 6 Siege) or are available on the consoles for much cheaper hardware investment cost (i.e. most current AAA titles) There really isn't any current excitement in the PC gaming space right now, maybe Diablo 4 (which will be on consoles), but I think most people are just morbidly curious about how Activision-Blizzard will screw it up.

[seekified]

The UE4 "gotchas" discussion is interesting, because a selling point that I often see for UE in general is that "everyone knows it" and you don't need to train new hires on proprietary tech. That argument seems to fall apart somewhat if these mistakes or lack of priority happen anyway as regularly as they do. I know I'm oversimplifying here, but still.

[purringc]

Those big studios should consider licensing the id tech 7 engine. A very well optimized engine that scales with hardware.