So says the game’s director, Patrice Désilets, at a recent conference where he lamented the fact that Ancestors was not met with the praise he’s accustomed to.
You might recognise the name Patrice Désilets. He’s the guy responsible for developing some of those Assassin’s Creed games. You know, the ones with the dude in the hood who did all those kills? Yeah, Désilets was responsible for a large chunk of that franchise and he’s earned a bit of a name for himself in the sphere of game development. Unfortunately, with that recognition also comes expectations and it seems Désilets has not been pleased with how his latest project Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey was received by critics, accusing many reviewers of not playing the game at all.
Speaking to attendees at the Reboot Develop Red conference last month, Désilets has been quoted as saying, “I’m used to having bigger numbers than that, so it’s the elephant in the room, but people expected my studio of 35 people to ship a game that is really close to Assassin’s Creed, and it’s just not possible. We made some harsh decisions in order to ship the game, and we wanted it to be different”. Which actually sounds like a fair thing to believe, many people no doubt had some high expectations for his first game after Assassin’s Creed so having expectations that it would live up to those highs would have been ludicrous.
Unfortunately, Désilets then elaborates on things that I less easy to get behind. “We know for a fact that some reviewers actually didn’t play the game. It is part of our industry – they have to review games, and they have 15 of them to review in one week, and sometimes they don’t have time. And since Ancestors is so different, some of them went ‘urgh, I don’t have time for this’.” Which is really just passing the buck, isn’t it? It can’t be my fault the game was poorly received, so it must be the critics who’re wrong.
“And we know for a fact that some just invented some elements in the game – like there is no fire and you cannot ride any horses, even though one reviewer said ‘oh, it wasn’t that great when you ride a horse’. Yes. My people are pissed, by the way,” he added. “So please don’t take notes today as we talk, mainly because I don’t know how to make a video game.”
Personally, it sounds like a little bit of a tantrum.
‘Round these parts we actually rather enjoyed Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, with reviewer Noelle Adams saying, “It’ll be an acquired taste, but for those who have the patience for its deliberate opaqueness, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is the type of game its fans will be playing on and off for months, if not years. Its challenging nature makes it equal parts compelling and frustrating, but there’s no question this smart survival adventure contains loads of rewards for persistent players.”
Last Updated: December 2, 2019
Cathal
December 2, 2019 at 12:55
General lack of visibility didn’t do the game favours either.
Honestly, I’m more intrigued by who the reviewers were, versus what this game is.
Son of Banana Jim
December 2, 2019 at 15:11
They should name and shame – so that we can know who to avoid in the future, and which publications can join the usual suspects on the naughty/black list.
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:01
Personally I really like the game. But it took me a while to get into it and really ‘get’ it. I think part of the issue was their “figure it out for yourself” attitude in the game design that put people off. And it is a bit repetitive just because you don’t really get any new tools or things you can do as you evolve.
After a few hours and some learning experiences, I started a new game and my goal was to explore all the points of interest and get a clearer picture of the map. I really had fun just monkeying around arming all my apes with clubs and basically becoming the alpha predators of the world.
It’s clearly not a game for everyone, but it’s also definitely not a bad game. It’s one of the most unique games I’ve played this year and definitely in my top 5
Alien Emperor Trevor
December 2, 2019 at 13:01
Oh I don’t know. I’d also be kinda pissed if someone reviewed a game I made and complained about features in the game that aren’t just poorly implemented, but aren’t in the game at all.
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:10
Yeah I know the whole making fire thing was used to troll the streamers a lot. But what made it worse was the lack of any in game info or even a proper store page or something. No one knew what you could do in the game and the game itself was very vague on that for a good reason.
So basically the game design, trolls and people just going “wtf should I do” all attributed to these issues. And I wouldn’t be surprised if people playing it later thought some of the things they heard was actually in the game.
Pariah
December 2, 2019 at 13:15
The issue is more that reviewers themselves were, in a review, making these statements. At that point can you really trust anything else in the review if they’re talking about stuff that just isn’t possible?
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:29
Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the reviewers believed the things the trolls said.
Personally, and here I’m probably going to cause some controversy, I don’t read reviews mainly because one person’s opinion means very little unless you like exactly the same things as the reviewer. And this being 2019, anyone can call themselves a reviewer. I think sites either need to have group reviews, at least 3 people who can all give feedback about something so it’s not just one person’s opinion, or they need to have video reviews. That at least allows you to see for yourself what a person is talking about and make up your own mind. I always watch some gameplay footage before deciding to buy something. I realise it’s my own problem, but I’ve lost faith in “reviewers” and thus don’t trust their reviews to give me accurate or even relevant info about the game
Pariah
December 2, 2019 at 13:40
Yeah I know you said this, but my point is that reviewers should be commenting on their experience of the game. So commenting on an “experience” that’s impossible completely undermines the entire review, and probably reviewer in question too. It means that they haven’t played the game. It’d be like saying the naval battles in Skyrim were a little underwhelming. Yeah, of course they were, they didn’t exist.
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:44
And that’s why I don’t read reviews anymore 🙂
Unless of course it’s from the wonder people at CH
Pariah
December 2, 2019 at 13:44
100% agree with you on that. I tend to use the score and public sentiment as a guide, then watch some on Twitch, and then decide if I want it.
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:51
Yep, take Death Stranding as an example. I don’t own consoles but I was curious and watched some streamers play when it came out and I can’t wait till it comes out on PC. Reading the reviews I really couldn’t tell if I’d enjoy it, but I was hooked after watching 30 minutes or so. Had to force myself to stop watching so I don’t spoil too much for myself.
(Just a disclaimer, not being a console player I’ve never played Kojima games and never even knew who he was until the hype started last year. So not a fan boy. But I’m sufficiently intrigued by this that I’m definitely going to check it out. Initially the fanboying of some the reviews really put me off the whole thing. Actually watching some gameplay really helped)
Llama In The Rift
December 2, 2019 at 13:10
The issue boils down to, do you either wana walk around as an ape or a close Norman Reedus.
MaSeKind
December 2, 2019 at 13:15
Not really, as Ancestors came out on PC only first, and old Norman is only on Playstation
Josh Parker
December 9, 2019 at 01:02
Norman Reedus. Death stranding wasn’t great but it was plenty good enough to play, at least until story was finished. This game is just infuriating. Even once I figured out mechanics and gameplay it glitches.
Son of Banana Jim
December 2, 2019 at 15:10
One of the reasons, I rarely bother with reading reviews anymore, either the reviewers never complete the game (one of my biggest bugbears), play it on the lowest difficulty setting (another great annoyance), or just seemingly copy-and-paste from other reviewers – The latter pisses me off, when you start seeing reviewers using the same talking points (seemingly out of nowhere).
I’m still very keen to get Ancestors. It looks like a game that I will thoroughly enjoy. It basically tickles my fancy with that awesome mixture of RPG-lite features, strategy, and my interest in paleoanthropology. It’s a pity it launched on the epic store, but I’ll look forwarding to getting it on steam next year or even on the PS4 (if the price drops).
Yozzie
December 2, 2019 at 12:55
Game reviewers are so entitled geeze…
Josh Parker
December 9, 2019 at 00:56
Though one could argue (and I have seen this posted) that after a few hours you could start all over and probably have a better understanding of the gameplay and mechanics. I for one am not of the mind…. Or the patience to put in a handful of hours only to throw them away and repeat the same (and definitely in this case) mundane tasks all over again just to hopefully get where I was. This is an awful game. A $40 pile of junk. Even if I restarted and got to my current status intact, I would evolve and have to do the same thing all over again as the newly evolved homonid changed mechanics. I was beyond excited for this game and absolutely love the idea… But it’s crap. I really really….. Really Wanted to at least “jusk like” this (and it could have just been mediocre for me too). Unfortunately they blew it
Nasdaq5088
May 17, 2020 at 07:27
Tough game, great game, something unique, it takes some time but it is a unique experience, perhaps they could have cut the actions needed to reach the goals by half!
Nasdaq5088
May 17, 2020 at 07:27
Tough game, great game, something unique, it takes some time but it is a unique experience, perhaps they could have cut the actions needed to reach the goals by half!
ParkRockingBear
September 12, 2020 at 12:41
Désiletsis a POS; he stole credit for the design work of others on the AC series, and gets all huffy when his bad design choices directly influence that plethora of negative reviews about this latest ‘game’ of his.