Ask a Game Dev

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

I don't think that we'll ever see pre-rendered cutscenes go away permanently. As in-engine rendering improves, AAA games will likely move away from pre-rendered cutscenes but AAA games are far from the only games that use cutscenes and have engines that can render high quality cinematic visuals (e.g.

Cutscenes 40

Cutscenes Render Cinematics AAA 40

Radiator Blog

JUNE 2, 2023

Instead there's cutscenes without animation, scripted conversations without choreography, and readables you rarely read because the game never pauses. All the dynamic cutscenes and dialogue sequences relied on 4 player characters all bantering amongst each other like in Buffy or something. But not really.

Studios 98

Studios Co-op Open World Cutscenes 98

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

unlike Outer Wilds, golden loop here is heavily hard-gated by quest progression, not a "true" information game, compromise with AAA market? where the main drawback is you're still vulnerable during the 2 second execution animation. I imagine Arkane debated this a lot, and over the years, had to bow to AAA approachability and clarity.

Fighting 52

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 52