When Game Developers Don't Play Their Own Game

1 comment

bulliontools3 hours ago3 min read

Can you imagine an employee of a company telling you they've never tested the end product they sell? If it's garbage, then yeah, that makes sense. But if the product overall is good and just needs some tweaks, you're left scratching your head when you run into situations where you're asking yourself, "What were they thinking?"

Such is the case with a game I play called Raid: Shadow Legends. They recently opened a new game mode called Grim Forest. After you beat the main boss, there's an "extra hard" area that's unlocked. The bosses are supposed to be super hard, but one stage in particular had me wondering if they were even thinking at all.

For those who know the game, you'll probably pick out what's wrong right away. For those who don't know, let me explain. In the team there are two heavy nukers that deal a lot of damage. One of the supports puts up protective buffs that make everyone incredibly hard to kill.

Here's the absolutely stupid part. The female leading the team is the boss. She's a support reviver. Her main ability and claim to fame is when she dies, everyone on the team except her is revived and ready to attack. The only problem is all of these stages are designed so when the main boss dies, you win the match even if other minions are still alive. So, what happens? Kill the main boss, any dead minions are now revived, but you win the match anyway because the main boss is dead.

Poorly thought out stages like this make me think the developers really don't play the game they design much, if at all. The fight lasts a few minutes, and even if she's the last one left standing, it all comes to an anti-climactic end. Sure, the other stages are fun, but this kind of terrible oversight is just laughable.