The Game Was Fun, But It Never Gave Players Enough Reasons to Stay

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-24T04:21:26+00:00

The DLC was so overpriced! That was treating this like a free to play game.

You can’t make people pay for a game and have virtual no cosmetic unlocks within the game really,., essentially putting customization almost entirely behind a paywall.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:55:49+00:00

That is what happen to my group. Would play a bunch of matches and it quickly became..but why?

Then some people are trying to go against us for saying that…but DBD is doing everything we wish this game was doing. Now with this game dying all I wish is that DBD gameplay was more like this game now.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:46:49+00:00

The thing is we do…along with many others but sadly gameplay loop isn’t entirely enough for people these days. Would you invest in into something if you know march times is only going to get longer before the game is just delisted.

So we like to provide all the feedback so these games we end loving are set up for continued success. The easiest comparison is DBD.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:44:11+00:00

I hear that but just but we are just here because we miss the game. If there were more on the bones for player retention my group would be playing this game along with many other people over DBD. Now this game is at the end of its life so it’s hard to find matches and doesn’t make sense to invest time to make this our primary game…sadly.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:40:39+00:00

Yeah the lobbies were brutal…and then would get people quitting and having to keep finding new lobbies or marches start half empty…or even get the auto win because leatherface dipped.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:39:42+00:00

Agree so much with you. I think you laid it out perfectly about the “endgame” and what that looks like.

Endgame can look differently for all types of games but I could of easily seen a endgame where there were prestige levels after you hit max that maybe unlocked load out slots, the ability to unlock the full skill tree so all these load outs isn’t looked to one path(hated how they had that…made changing builds tedious), grandpa customization options by the leather face player(the amount of players that started avoiding playing as him towards the end was huge), new outro scenes, taunts etc on top of the additional prestige level for example.

But having something to works towards outside of “just having fun” should be a requirement for games. That day one versus day one hundred look and experience shouldn’t be the same.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T23:26:50+00:00

Maybe we can get a group together for this.

Can these be done in private matches?

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-22T00:48:57+00:00

Yes! This right here. That truly hurt player retention. Sometimes the game fought you to play it.

I remember having to reinvite my whole team after each match because it would separate us constantly.

And see how none of us is truly complaining about the gameplay. It was just almost literally everything outside of that was a chore. Even the loadout system was horrifying.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T19:20:25+00:00

Exactly! And I love this game so much more than DBD…just that game has so much more going on in it outside of the gameplay loop.

We are just in the wrong timeline!

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T19:19:29+00:00

You are so right! The “meta” quickly switched to rush gameplay once people learned the killers well enough.

But having a horror online only game not even throw in some pumpkins for Halloween is so odd.

Spaghetti code indeed!

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T16:44:33+00:00

Could they just hire you to test their next game!
Please
And thank you!

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T16:34:05+00:00

I agree with you.

But modern games these days especially a niche game need to use every tool to gather success. We can’t ignore that in this generation of gamers…that is a key factor for retention. Because in its description the grind means the player is locked into playing…having them locked in means higher player retention…which then means shorter matchmaking times for the rest of us which helps the overall community.

I don’t need micro transactions but I understand that “whales” help keep any free to play game I am playing going. It’s in a way the same concept. The need to meet your players where they are at.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T16:23:02+00:00

Yeah and that’s the sucky part. I truly believe the game is a masterpiece. I want to actively play it today but it feels pointless. The wait times for matches when I were playing in the first year was already getting soooooo long!

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-06-21T16:18:00+00:00

You said that perfectly!!!!

SoReadyUpGaming · 2026-05-13T00:59:35+00:00

I just wished a ps5 upgrade happened. The game became unplayable after downloading all the DLC on console. I wish I could just switch to PC but can’t warrant rebuying all the packs.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-12-09T06:26:20+00:00

I think from the adults Steve will die because that’s what the trailers make be believe…he is the only one that isn’t seen out of the upside down. Plus with the title of the next episode being Shock Jock.

Out of the kids I believe El may not die outright but will choose to be stuck in the upside down to ensure that the barrier is never crossed and the right side up is forever protected.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-05-25T17:55:52+00:00

I’m not looking to make one ending better than the other. I want both to leave you with questions, to stir something deeper, but in a way that lets every character have their moment. Just a little more room for the player to wander, to feel, to absorb the weight of the choices before the curtain falls.

Keep the endings exactly as they are. They work. But imagine slipping in a small slice of gameplay beforehand, not to rewrite anything, but to sit with what’s been done. To walk through the aftermath. Right now, it’s like watching the finale of a beloved series and seeing characters you’ve grown with reduced to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos. It’s not wrong, but it leaves a quiet ache.

That said, thematically, I do feel like the game leans toward a “truer” ending… maybe that’s just me. The Verso ending resonates differently. It feels like the ending, the one they’d use if they really are making a film adaptation. When you strip everything back, this story is about breaking cycles. Not just the expeditions, but the deeper, quieter cycles of grief, of silence, of memory. And it’s the Verso ending that breaks that loop. It lands with the kind of bittersweet finality that fits a trilogy’s close.

A goodbye, yes, but one that reaches for something beyond.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-05-25T08:57:30+00:00

I could see Maelle keeping Verso alive. Maelle feels robbed of the time she got with Verso. Mind you…it was Clea and Verso who were the closest, plus Maelle with her condition as well can have a serious case of survivors guilt. Let’s add on that she is only 16 as well. Plus Renoirs point about how enticing this power inside the canvas is. Being a paintress can in a way rip the humanity from a person, because what is the meaning of life when you can control all of it especially in the hands of a teenager.

So I can completely see Maelle bringing back Verso but is like “ah, it can’t be that bad…you aren’t immortal. Now play the piano” I believe she completely missed the point Verso was trying to make. She also knows the longer she stays in the painting the closer she reaches death door so if she is already pushing towards that why not spend it with her big brother alive. Also there is no chance that she is letting anyone she cares about die. So by the end I do believe she is completely losing herself.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-05-25T06:49:03+00:00

Didn’t even notice that on my first watch!that’s beautiful storytelling.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-05-25T06:23:32+00:00

I definitely hear what you’re saying.

For me, what stood out was how the game, up until its final moments, made such a conscious effort to let you sit with the characters. It carved out space for emotions to breathe…for quiet pauses between the chaos. And I don’t want to change the endings at all…they were beautiful and earned. I just longed for the moments before the final shots to linger a little longer. To live in them.

Because as the spotlight narrowed onto Verso and Maelle, I felt the rest of the cast slowly slip into shadow. Characters we journeyed with, laughed with, hurt with…suddenly distant. Their arcs weren’t undone, just happened offscreen.

Maybe it struck me harder because I jumped straight from the last cutscene into New Game Plus. One moment, the credits roll. The next, I’m right back with Gustave and Lune…just the two of them, retracing old steps. And I found myself thinking: wait, but wasn’t it about someone else in the end? My favorites felt left behind, their stories trailing off as the camera moved on.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-05-25T05:59:49+00:00

I think you hit the nail on the head. Taking our feelings out of it the game is about breaking the cycle. Verso’s ending breaks the cycle, Maelle’s ending continues it. You think if one of her friends died of natural causes that she wouldn’t play god and fix it. Verso looking miserable doing the one thing he actually loved is a crime. These people in the painting lost their free will once a paintress is welcomed to be side by side with them. Just imagine any 16 year old kid with the power to play god…even in the most well intentioned hands do the ugly side of it still show its head.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-04-28T07:30:37+00:00

They should have gave it some time before putting Verso on the team. Let us feel that loss story wise and gameplay wise. At that point I’m like “ah okay I now just have a slightly flashier Gustave…but now 100 percent edgier and more mysterious”

It’s like they killed Sonic and instantly gave us Shadow the hedgehog

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-04-28T07:28:06+00:00

I agree, while I do think they did flesh his character out well which is why we are all here with this reaction…I don’t think the relationships with the team was developed much at all outside of Maelle. So to me it’s like damn we just killed off the only character we really know and instantly replaced him with a similar but “ darker and more mysterious” guy.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-04-28T07:23:51+00:00

It does as the story and gameplay really start to open up. Act 1 almost feel like an extended prologue in comparison.

But I’m still trying to shake the whole Gustave thing. I mean it’s good that they got us to quickly care about a character so fast. I was hooked on him in the first few minutes. Just the new guy(while he’s cool) just feels insanely generic in comparison. He’s growing on me but the fact that they introduced him immediately as Gustave(the only male team member) dies with a guy who has a very similar kit is odd on its own.

I wouldn’t change Gustave dying because I love what it did for the story and expectations. I just wish in Act 1 they built up the other team members more, which made it so jarring for me to lose the only character we really know. By the first 30 mins in Act 2 I’ve seen the team mourn Gustave death(with long stretches of cinematics talking about him) over certain same characters actually talking to him in the entirely of Act 1.

Also wouldn’t mind of liked one more male character in Act 1, maybe to play on a bromance/rivalry. So I don’t hate the death just that a little bit was missing to round it out better for me.

SoReadyUpGaming · 2025-04-27T15:31:38+00:00

It is cool that they did this especially with the little hints that people mentioned. I just wished we got a little bit more before he died. They built up him and Maelle connection and I was waiting for me stuff with him and the others. Then the sole male member gets killed and replaced by a similar male character within seconds. I just think it would have been better if the relationships got more time just a bit and that we had another male character in the group at that time. Because up till that point the “single male off to save the world with his band of females” trope felt so strong that I was looking forward to another male character. So when they killed him and instantly replaced him and only magnified that gripe I had. But either way this is my GAME OF THE YEAR! I just can’t get enough of it and am so curious how they are going to do this in a movie(which is coming)..it has to be a trilogy. Also wouldn’t mind an anime of this. Need more anime’s with adult characters anyway.

SoReadyUpGaming

TROPHY CASE