8 Lies The Video Game Industry Can't Stop Telling

5. "More Innovative Than Ever Before"

Guardians of the Galaxy
Eidos

If there's one word the industry has thoroughly overused to the point where it's lost all meaning, it's "innovative".

Another squad shooter is not innovative, nor is a loot system, a military first-person shooter or a hero shooter with individual powers spread across a roster.

The idea of something like Call of Duty touting innovation after following the original Modern Warfare's template for the last 14 years is almost hilarious.

Obviously not saying these games aren't enjoyable, mechanically solid or recommendable, but innovative? Pushing the medium or the genre forward? Coming up with ANYTHING new where we actually sit back and remark at how an established ruleset was innovated upon?

I can point to Dark Souls changing the way we think about action RPGs and boss fights, Gone Home inventing a whole new way to do video game storytelling, but neither were advertised as such, and they're both almost a decade old.

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Gaming Editor
Gaming Editor

WhatCulture's Head of Gaming.