Piglet's Big Game is back in the headlines, or maybe just the headlines, for the first time rising above its memorable movie tie-in status thanks to its striking resemblance to Silent Hill 2. I've definitely played one (or more) of the Winnie the Pooh games in childhood, but I don't remember if it was this one. If so, I don't remember the survival horror aspects being particularly taken care of at the time. But looking at his new popularity, I'm just sad.
It's a funny trend to see obvious connections when you think about it, and it's always nice to see the gaming community somewhat united rather than endlessly divided. And I don't even know if Piglet's Great Game deserves to be remembered – I may have played it, but I can't remember that it doesn't bode well if I do. But in five to ten years, we won't have these things to look back on because we're not making them anymore.
Double-A games are what we need
We still have underrated games and cult classics, of course. I will tell anyone who will listen that Ghostwire: Tokyo and Marvel's Midnight Suns deserve a bigger audience in 2022, and I hope that time will eventually prove me right on at least one of them. There are plenty of indie films that don't make an impression at launch, but then put in the work or luck (or both) and become hits. Among Us is a testament to that. But it is not quite the same.
Ghostwire and Midnight Suns were aimed at the largest possible audience. Midnight Suns was a card-based tactical online battle released in December, which limited its appeal, but the presence of Iron Man, Blade and Hulk should have tipped the scales back. Piglet's Big Game seems like a normal interactive game, and it is – I've written about my mourning of such games before. But it really means the death of the double A.
The games either aim to be the biggest and best the series has ever seen, or they really don't. Games that squeeze into this mythical double-A market often do so despite taking years to develop and thus needing triple the profits of the double-A experience. Audience expectations are also so dependent on triple-A that these double-A games are judged by triple-A standards and thus deemed unnecessary.
These games aren't much cheaper to make, don't sell as well, and aren't as popular. It's obvious why most studios stopped making them. But they could be the future of gaming.
Smaller, more creative games can save us
Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi has already discussed the need for games to be smaller. At 50-80 hours, the latest Yakuza game (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth) is par for the course in triple tier games. But it does it smartly, with half of the game taking place on the new but rather contained Hawaii map, and the other half on the Yokohama map used in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The series has used this technique to its advantage before, in Kamurocho, and will in the next game, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Games cost too much and take too long to make. We know it's unsustainable. Will anyone change their mind after seeing Piglet's Big Game flash back to memory? Very unlikely. But with mass layoffs and skyrocketing costs, something needs to change, and soon. Behind the memes is a genuine affection for Piglet's Big Game from both those who have played it and those who have just discovered it. These smaller games can give us that because back then they seemed to have a lot more rights to the invention.
Although the game is a blur, I vividly remember watching The Big Pig Movie as a kid and can't recall any Silent Hill-esque parts. With the film clocking in at just 75 minutes and light on… well, anything interesting (I love Winnie the Pooh, but let's be real), the developers had to use their imaginations. That's why I loved the old mutual games so much. They often showed signs of haste, and loyalty to the film's narrative, even though the need to stretch it to ten hours often made them feel thin, but they were resourceful. You have seen the imagination flow through them.
Then again, we get endlessly inventive video games these days. Last year's two best games, Baldur's Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, are inventions from a narrative and mechanical perspective, respectively. The increase in budgets and technology does mean that some games have been able to bring a greater level of creativity, but more often than not they result in hand-wringing and medals made by committee, killing any spark.
What does Piglet's Big Game commission look like? It doesn't have Silent Hill, and that's the only thing people remember it for. How many games are doomed to obscurity because of interference? And how do we return to the era of the Big Game Piglet? It might not be through tie-in, but it should definitely be through a shorter, more imaginative experience with developers having more control and less pressure to fill huge areas.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
86/100
