r/gaming • u/Asianboiforwhitedad • 10h ago

Kingdom Come Deliverance studio co-founder says a lot of RPGs are 'still games for teenagers,' and that he's 'tired of all the RPGs where you are this chosen one'

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-studio-co-founder-says-a-lot-of-rpgs-are-still-games-for-teenagers-and-that-hes-tired-of-all-the-rpgs-where-you-are-this-chosen-one/
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u/ggallardo02 10h ago

I don't think the power fantasy of being the chosen one and powerful is reserved for teenagers.

I do think that the gaming industry is big enough, and there are enough gamers so we can have power fantasy RPGs and grounded ones at the same time, and both can be enjoyed by anyone. Regardless of age.

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u/iamergo 9h ago

RPGs with over-the-top stories, events and characters where you are the chosen one saving the world can indeed be enjoyed by everyone, but let's be honest, they cater to the smooth-brained child in us.

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u/ggallardo02 9h ago

Yeah, I agree. But in the end, that child is part of us. Not a separate entity, but part of our personality and tastes. I think separating the child inside of us from the "normal" us is like trying to shield ourselves from the fact that we are less mature than we'd like to be perceived.

I may have gone a bit on a tangent there.

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u/spider-jedi 9h ago

True and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone likes to be the hero who saved the world. I don't think it's childish to have those fantasies

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u/iamergo 9h ago

You just literally said that A ≠ A.

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u/Old_Thought_642 1h ago

I think that's a silly way of thinking about it, just because its a chosen one saving the world doesn't mean its for smooth brained child or dumb and just because you make a story about someone living a mundane depressing life doesn't make it intellectual or more mature and adultlike.

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u/ThereAndFapAgain2 9h ago

I agree it is big enough for both, but I wish there were more grounded RPGs. My favourite part of most RPGs these days is the first 10-20 hours where you are kinda weak and haven't levelled up a whole lot yet, after that they start to become a little boring because if I can solve every problem by always being the most powerful person in the room then I start to lose interest.

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u/BlueTemplar85 2h ago

The Last Sovereign manages to make you the underdog for almost all of the game. It's quite impressive indeed how things keep escalating and you both get to wield significant power, but you keep getting blodied again and again by bigger powers and events.  

And also it keeps subverting these tropes, starting with the Chosen One being somewhere between comic relief and one of the antagonists.

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u/wakeness 9h ago

Unpopular opinion in this thread: I think moving away from chosen one stories is long overdue and the only reason that companies are doing it is, yes, to appeal to the 14 year old audience. It's a move to go mainstream, and creativity, quality of writing, originality all suffer as a result. I don't get how rpg gamers aren't tired of chosen-one stories yet. Please rpg studios- do something new.

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u/ggallardo02 8h ago

"I don't get how rpg gamers aren't tired of chosen-one stories yet."

You're gonna die before that happens. As I said, I don't think that liking that is a trait reserved for teenagers. We've had chosen one stories made since we know of stories. Gilgamesh, Hercules, The Odyssey, King Arthur, the whole of the Knight Errant stories that inspired Don Quixote, we've been recreating The Hero Journey since the dawn of time, and we will keep doing it long before we're dead. Be it on written literature, music, video games, TV, etc etc.