Creative games - unusual games?

Look at that trailer first.

Realise that most of it is misdirection. The real game is revealed in the last few seconds, and it’s a “subversion of a tired video game trope”, ie the rah-rah-jingoistic soldier salutations we see in most war games. “This war of mine” comes from the Polish company Hydra. I already like what CD Projekt Red has done for epic fantasy RPGs with their Witcher-series, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

Edited to add this link to a bit more game background: GDC: This War of Mine Might Be the War Game We Need - IGN

This is the kind of creativity at least I try to aim for. Not to replicate CoD or things like that, but to subvert them.

I just think it seems like a breath of fresh air, don’t you? Isn’t that what we should do as game makers?

What do you think?

These kinds of games inspire me. That’s a great game idea, and I’m wondering why we haven’t seen something like it before.

I think the sad fact is that most gamedevs are followers, not leaders. The follow trends and don’t try to create them. So, we get something where a first game of its kind is popular, and then most gamemakers copy that successful formula without bringing much new to it. So, then we have CoD and Battlefield and such for a decade, until some new team thinks of something new and creates a game which resonates, and then most people follow that for the next decade.

It’s just sad that it goes so long between those new teams thinking about something new. Perhaps indie devs could be that; but then again. Most gamedevs follow, and don’t lead. Just look at all the slenderman and angry bird clones.

Where is the actual gameplay? I don’t care about cool trailers or other such hype.

Yes, as much as I appreciate fresh thinking, original ideas are not necessarily better or even much fun in the end.

I find games like heavy rain, the last of us especially tedious. Just cause its “original” doesn’t make it worth playing.
Don’t get me wrong I find franchises a bore, I bet there will be an Assassins Creed 15, COD 12 someday but,
I’d be really happy for something old school rpg like a Dark Messiah Might and Magic style. I loved that game.
Not that I necessarily want a sequel to the game itself, but its essence is what I like and I wish developers would consider this approach.

Even though the trailer is quite impressive and the concept itself is something new, I feel like this will be just another survival game, apparently it’s trending now, rust, dayz, stranded deep, the forest, and much, much more…, I do like this genre of games, but I don’t want an over-saturation of it

I feel the same way. It’s a video game, not a movie, trailers like this with no actual gameplay tell me nothing.

An idea like this reminds me of MGS4, where you’re on a battlefield but the war’s not yours. Looking destitute might make soldiers on either side not attack you, yet there is no way to be sure. War turn men in monsters.

If it were done correctly, a Fallout style RPG set in a war zone could work well – especially if it were a civil war type conflict instead of an invading country. A lot of Fallout style decisions like choosing which which side to help or maybe just playing both sides to survive etc.