With the announcement and release of The Culling 2 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, the stream of battle royale games seems as inexhaustible as ever. But what is The Culling? And why is The Culling 2 so hated just one day after its release?
Developed by indie developer Xaviant Games, The Culling was one of the first games in the battle royale genre. It entered early access on Steam in March 2016 and even climbed into the top 10 of Steam games for a time.
When player numbers rapidly declined after a while, Xaviant decided to cease development on the game and focus on a new project that turned out to be the sequel “The Culling 2”.
But just a few hours after the release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on July 10, a flood of devastating reviews hit Steam and YouTube. What did The Culling 2 do to deserve this hate? Everything started with the first Culling game.
Strong focus on melee combat
What is The Culling? In contrast to many current battle royale games that are almost exclusively shooters, the main gameplay element in The Culling was the melee combat. This system was supported by a total of 43 different perks that players could use to customize their characters as they saw fit.
There were very few firearms, and the ammunition for them was rare. Therefore, players had to rely on their knives and sticks that they could craft from simple materials.
The basic gameplay of The Culling was based on the rock-paper-scissors principle: In combat, players had the options to either attack, block, or shove the opponent. Each of the three actions had a strength and a weakness:
- If you successfully blocked an attack, the opponent would be stunned
- Shoving a blocking opponent would lift the block
- And an attack could interrupt a shoving opponent
This was the basis of a system in which players had to pay attention to their stamina gauge while also timing their attacks and defenses correctly to emerge victorious in duels.
Combined with a match size that required only 16 players, this system allowed for dynamic and action-packed fights.
Patched to death
If the developer does not want to listen: Yet despite its great potential, The Culling completely sunk over the course of a year. The blame, according to the community, lies solely with the developer Xaviant Games, who patched the battle royale game to death.
Many changes indicated that The Culling was to be simplified to make the entry easier and more rewarding for new players. These changes included, for example:
- Permanent rebalancing of the combat system, making various weapons stronger or weaker
- Removal of 25 perks from the game, reducing the total from 43 to 18 and decreasing the versatility of the system
- Overturning the “rock-paper-scissors” principle and removing the stun from a blocked attack
Additionally, the fact that the purchase price of The Culling increased by $10, from $14.99 to $24.99, despite the lack of new content.
The community “not amused” about The Culling 2
Reactions on YouTube, Reddit, and Steam: It is not surprising that many players did not exactly respond enthusiastically to the announcement of The Culling 2. The announcement trailer on YouTube shows a devastating vote of nearly 1600 negative votes, with only about 200 positive ratings (as of July 10, 2018, 18:40).
The comments under the video, as well as threads in the Culling subreddit and reviews on Steam leave no doubt about what the reason for the wave of negativity might be. The hallmark of The Culling, the melee combat system from the first-person perspective, was completely removed and replaced with a multitude of firearms, vehicles, skins, and emotes.
The decision by Xaviant to align The Culling 2 with the currently popular battle royale games did not go over well.
But even people who had no experience with the predecessor were not gentle in their judgment. For example, one player wrote in his detailed review: “The gunplay is stale, the animations are clunky, and it [the game] does everything just like H1Z1, PUBG, and The Island of Nyne.”
Many bugs and glitches, as well as the generally poor appearance of the game, were listed as further shortcomings:
The future looks bleak
The devastating reviews on Steam and YouTube are not the only problem for The Culling 2. The player counts were already extremely low on launch day and dropped below 50 within hours.
Additionally, the fact that compared to 2016, the competition in the battle royale market has become much stronger. With games like Fortnite and PUBG at the forefront, along with upcoming Call of Duty and Battlefield titles, it will be extremely difficult to establish a solid fan base in the BR genre.
Are you looking for new games for the summer? Check this out:
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