Raven's Cry (video game)

Raven's Cry
Developer(s) Reality Pump Studios
Publisher(s) TopWare Interactive
Engine Vision
Platform(s) Windows, macOS, Linux
Release
  • WW: 30 January 2015

Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry

  • WW: November 20, 2015
Genre(s) Action-adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Raven's Cry is a 2015 action-adventure game that interweaves fictional events and characters with historical ones from the 17th century Caribbean.[1] The game is said to feature historically accurate architecture and pirates. The game follows the character of Christopher Raven, who was the only survivor of an attack by pirates, and is now seeking vengeance.[2]

This game is no longer available on Xbox 360 according to TopWare Interactive.[3] The game was re-released as Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry on November 20, 2015. As of January 28, 2016, the game was removed from Steam, but then made available again with mixed reviews on the site. Upon release, the game was panned by critics, and considered one of the worst video games of 2015.

Gameplay

The story is divided into chapters. In these chapters, Christopher, the player controlled character, is tracking down a particular pirate known as Neville Scranton, who he blames for leading some former pirates who took part in the massacre of the only people he has ever loved.

Raven's Cry also features role-playing game elements, including morality system, side-quests, and magic items, which can increase character attributes, including "fear" and "notoriety".

Development

The original idea and most of the work for the game was done by Octane Games, which is a subsidiary company of Nitro Games. The first public announcement for the game happened in 2011 when Octane Games told the local press about it. They also mentioned that Topware Interactive would publish the game.[4]

Octane Games failed to keep up with development timetables, and in 2013, after many delays, TopWare Interactive made a "tough decision to reorganize the project", which meant that Reality Pump would finish up the game.[5]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings25.71%[6]
Metacritic27/100[7]
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot1/10 [8]
IGN3/10 [9]

Raven's Cry received an aggregated score of 25.71% on GameRankings based on 7 reviews; [6] received a 27/100 on Metacritic based on 16 reviews;[7] and a "Mostly Negative" on Steam based on 200 user reviews.[10] The game was accused of being released in an unfinished state as large chunks of content were missing and the game was unplayable due to a large amount of technical issues (such as numerous bugs and glitches, frequent crashing, frame-rate stuttering, character's dialogue files often not playing during cutscenes, and bad NPC animations). The game was also criticized for its difficult to follow and uninspired plot; outdated graphics; clunky controls and combat; offensive, homophobic and racist writing; lack of tutorials; poor voice acting; and generally boring gameplay.

Raven's Cry received a 1/10 score from GameSpot, the lowest possible score on the site, for its "rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia", broken gameplay, and "button-mashing tedium".[8]

Writing for IGN, Brandin Tyrrel gave the game a 3/10, citing its inconsistent dialogue, clunky combat, rigid control and game-stopping crashes. He summarized the review by saying that "I genuinely do think the potential for a good pirate game is in here, somewhere, but Raven’s Cry is a mess of bugs, hazards, hiccups, oversights, and progression-halting crashes. If you never set foot on land, its ship-to-ship combat might be respectable, but this adventure insists on taking you places no self-respecting pirate captain should go." [9]

Daniel Starky, writing for Eurogamer, recommended that people avoid this game. He criticized the plot, stating that "...tension and drama is soon lost...as the plot drops for a noxious cocktail of clichés." He also criticized the open world and combat, stating that "Raven's Cry wants so desperately to have an open world, but never quite understands why" and that "Combat is beyond bland."[11]

Allegra Frank of Polygon named it one of the worst video games of 2015.[12]

Re-release

As a result of the original game's poor critical and community reception, Reality Pump announced on October 19, 2015 that they were planning to re-release the game under the title Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry.[13] The new version features new gameplay mechanics, voice-overs, missions, weapons and upgrades. It was finally released on November 20, 2015, and players of the original Raven's Cry will get the new version as a free update.[14] However, the re-release also received negative reviews.

Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry was suddenly pulled from Steam on January 28, 2016. Neither Topware nor Reality Pump have released any official explanation for this, [15] however it has been speculated that allegations of "fake" positive reviews were what led to the game's removal from sale. [16] As of July 2016, however, the game has been restored to the Steam Store.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Raven's Cry Preview". IGN. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  2. ↑ "Raven's Cry". Neoseeker. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  3. ↑ "NEWS: PIRATE RPG ‘RAVEN’S CRY’ RELEASE DATE RE-CONFIRMED, XBOX 360 RETAIL RELEASE CANCELLED". TheGamesCabin. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  4. ↑ http://dome.fi/pelit/ajankohtaista/kotkalaisen-octane-gamesin-ravens-cry-julkaistaan-seka-pclle-etta-tehokonsoleille
  5. ↑ http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/27/raven%E2%80%99s-cry-development-now-in-reality-pump-studios-hands/
  6. 1 2 "Raven's Cry for PC reviews". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Raven's Cry for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 Saas, Don (February 9, 2015). "Raven's Cry Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Tyrrel, Brandin (2015-02-03). "Raven's Cry review: Down with the Ship". IGN. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  10. ↑ "Raven's Cry". Steam. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  11. ↑ Starkey, Daniel (February 13, 2015). "Raven's Cry review". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  12. ↑ Frank, Allegra (December 30, 2015). "The worst video games of 2015". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
  13. ↑ Chalk, Andy (October 19, 2015). "Swashbuckling RPG Raven's Cry is being re-named and re-released". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ Skyes, Tom (November 14, 2015). "Did you buy Raven's Cry? Sign this form to get re-release for free". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  15. ↑ http://techraptor.net/content/ravens-cry-removed-from-steam
  16. ↑ http://www.pcinvasion.com/topwares-curse-of-ravencry-removed-from-steam-false-reviews-likely-cause
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