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GUESS Which Game is the Best?
Remnant: From the Ashes vs. Kingdom Come: Deliverance William Shelstad & Chris Rarick Graduate Researchers What makes a video game satisfying to play? Graphics? Game mechanics? Story? Audio? Or a combination of different features? Game reviewers mention features like these in their reviews of video games, typically providing a final score of the game from 1-10 or using a 5-star system. One area of interest of the RUX lab is video game satisfaction. To measure video game satisfcation, we use the Game User Experience Satisfaction Scale (GUESS) survey. The GUESS measures nine aspects of video games that contribute to video game satisfaction like: narratives, creative freedom, audio/ visual aesthetics, and others. In this article, we'll review two games using the GUESS and cover how it can be used to highlight where games differ in aspects of video game satisfaction. Remnant: From the Ashes(William) Remnant: From the Ashes (referred to as Remnant throughout the rest of this review) is a third-person shooter role-playing game developed by Gunfire Games. Remnant borrows many elements from the Dark Souls game series like some cryptic storytelling, a checkpoint system with respawning enemies, a main hub area where you level/upgrade gear, and tough bosses. Players create a custom character and acquire and upgrade weapons and armor, as well as trait points to boost stats. The game follows a set story, but the world is randomly generated with slightly different areas and bosses with each playthrough. Remnant was reviewed on an Xbox One S. Will played through the whole campaign in 20 hours, mostly solo but some co-op with others.
reviewed on a PC with high graphic settings and a controller. Chris played for around 35 hours. Remnant From the Ashes and Kingdom Come Deliverance can be purchased on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Usability/Playability We’ll first cover the usability/playability of the games, which refers to how easy is it to learn the controls and how well the game provides clear goals/directions. Remnant and KCD both start with tutorials that teach the basics of movement, melee combat, and shooting/archery. Combat in Remnant focuses on shooting guns with some melee combat while KCD is a mix of real-life swordplay and archery. In regards to providing direction to the player, Remnant's main quests didn't always provide enough information for objectives. Meanwhile, in KCD, shield icons indicate where to go and has a Codex that provides information about what the player has done for each quest. Narratives Next, we’ll cover the narrative dimension of the GUESS which is about the story aspects of the game like character events and how invested players are in it. In Remnant, you play as a nameless protagonist that is searching for a way to beat the Root, a demon plant-like race of creatures ravaging Earth and wiping out humanity. In KCD, you play as Henry, the son of a blacksmith from a small town called Skalitz in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Remnant doesn't provide too much detail about the story initially and is pretty cryptic with its storytelling. KCD, on the other hand, provides information to the player almost as if the
Image Courtesy/William Shelstad Table of GUESS scores for the two games. * indicates scores without the Social Connectivity dimension of the GUESS
Kingdom Come: Deliverance(Chris) Kingdom Come: Deliverance (KCD) is a first-person role-playing game developed by Warhorse Studios. The gameplay is reminiscent of Skyrim; however, the setting takes place in the 15th century and focuses on historically accurate content (meaning no dragons or magic) in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The game focuses on being a “medieval simulator” with the story revolving around the son of a blacksmith named Henry. Most of the content that I played in KCD revolved around the main plot of the game. Kingdom Come: Deliverance was
Another quest involves proving who is the superior of two blacksmiths by settling the argument with a dual to pit armor vs. armor. As for the overall world of each game, Remnant has randomly generated maps, which can areas to look very similar, while KCD has a large set world. Enjoyment Another dimension of the GUESS is enjoyment, the amount of pleasure that receives due to playing the game. Some of the most enjoyable parts of Remnant were the boss fights and being able to play with friends. Working together, fighting enemies and bosses were the most enjoyable with having each player using different weapons and mod combinations. In KCD, engaging in sword fights with different enemies and collecting better equipment for Henry in KCD was very satisfying. However, the save system in the game was frustrating by having to acquire a drink called Savior Schnapps, which is expensive and hard to come by. Creative Freedom Creative freedom is how well the game can support player curiosity and creativity. In Remnant, players get to customize the look of their character and get to equip different types of gear like guns, a melee weapon, armor, charms, and rings. In KCD, players are not able to alter Henry's face or body, but they can wear different attire to affect how NPC's treat Henry. You are also able to customize the skills Henry can learn, which can affect how you approach the fights in the game. Personal Gratification Personal gratification is how well the game promotes a player’s
Image Courtesy/William Shelstad Graph showing the differences between GUESS scores of the two games
player were reading a book; narratives in cut scenes are long but can be rewarding. Play Engrossment Play engrossment refers to how well a game can hold a player’s interest and attention. Remnant is at its best when engrossing players in boss fights. Players need to learn the timing of boss attacks and how to deal with their minions to successfully take down bosses. In KCD, the player is engrossed by constantly having to adapt to new and challenging quests. One quest might involve sneaking into a monastery to assassinate a former bandit, whose buddies hired you to take care of him.
sense of accomplishment. In Remnant, beating a boss can be one of the most satisfying things. Learning the strategies of each boss and just barely scraping by was a great feeling. KCD allows the player to live in a “medieval simulator” through the life of Henry and has challenging combat with different ways to engage enemies. Social Connectivity Social connectivity refers to how well the game promotes a social connection between players. Remnant allows players to join each other's games. If you join another player's game, you don't
progress your own story. However, you are still able to acquire resources and quest rewards when the host completes them. This allows players to get both rewards of a quest if they play together. Fighting bosses, together with friends is much more enjoyable as one person can focus on fighting the boss while the other can deal with minions. Whereas KCD doesn't have any multiplayer options available. Audio Aesthetics Audio aesthetics refers to how the game’s audio adds to the gaming experience. The main theme in Remnant is a peaceful, solemn track that was very memorable. The guns and enemies sound design is good at conveying the power behind attacks. KCD has a soundtrack that fits very well to the time period in which it takes place. Lively folk music plays in taverns, and intense battle music plays when fighting in a siege. Visual Aesthetics The last aspect of the GUESS is visual aesthetics which is related to the graphics of the game and how attractive they are to players. Remnant’s first area of the game was a bit plain and dark, but once you get further into the game, other areas are much more unique and colorful. There were some issues with textures popping in while playing the game and in cutscenes too. KCD’s graphics were highly detailed, enough so that the player could see the places where your character's armor would be damaged. The game ran most of the time on the high graphic setting; however, the larger-scale battle occasionally made the game slow down, but not enough to where I felt like it was taking away from the immersion. What do the GUESS scores mean? Looking at the GUESS scores of these games, we can see where one game may be more satisfying in one area than the other. The scores range from 1-7, and the overall score ranges from 9-63, with a higher score indicating more satisfaction. KCD scored higher than Remnant in narratives and play engrossment which may be due to playing a named character whose actions and choices changed the narrative significantly. NPCs react differently based on the character's reputation with them. We cannot really compare these games in social connectivity because KCD is a single-player game while Remnant has multiplayer features. GUESS scores differed between Remnant: From the Ashes and Kingdom Come: Deliverance, however, we both enjoyed the experience of playing and rating these games. Want to take the GUESS for a game you have played? Go to: bit.do/AvionGuess if you would like to try it!