Yankjank
Also, kinda amusing that only Europeans get this derogatory term and no other continent even though there is more than enough jank from North America and Asia. I guess it's still ok in overly sensitive times...
What do you consider the best eurojank game?
- Thread starter Baphomet
- Start date
Yankjank
Also, kinda amusing that only Europeans get this derogatory term and no other continent even though there is more than enough jank from North America and Asia. I guess it's still ok in overly sensitive times...
Yeah The Witcher 3 is definitely not Eurojank. It's way too polished and refined for that. Good example of an extremely ambitious game that does realize all of its goals. You can dislike the combat system but it works as intended. If Eurojank is a spectrum then The Witcher 3 is all the way on the right together with Red Dead Redemption II and Breath of the Wild.
also Jaffar is super sexy
also Jaffar is super sexy
The Witcher 3 is a critically acclaimed polished big budget AAA game, the third in a successful series. You could argue the first and maybe even second Witcher were eurojank, but the third, no. The Witcher 3 was way beyond that stage. If eurojank includes games like that then all European games could be eurojank.
To me eurojank means an ambitious game by European developers who go beyond the call of duty (literally and creatively) and their budget, to achieve something imperfect and rough, but special. Basically a scrappy underdog.
Frequently first person shooters and RPG's, but I don't think eurojank is or has to be restricted to those genres.
These games don't have to be good either (although this thread is of course about naming the best), just need to have that sensibility of genuinely trying to create something cool and/or ambitious and kind of succeeding in some capacity.
Like Boiling Point: Road to Hell. Anyone remember that?
In the spiritual sequel White Gold you could ride sharks.
Haven't played EYE Divine Cybermancy, but that looks eurojank as hell.
I'd call Test Drive Unlimited eurojank.
Took like a decade for other developers to catch up to the open world online racing concept. Truly innovative and impressive.
Its jank wasn't bugs, but sort of weird game design and prioritization that made the game both peculiar and perhaps sometimes not as good as it could've been.
And also Eden's Alone in the Dark, I suppose. Perhaps here the ambition didn't lead to a good game, but that game sure had ideas and tried as fuck. Certainly special. I I don't know how far they took things overall, but a general notion was that problems were supposed to be solved in an intuitive, realistic, physical way. So if there was a locked door, you could take a fire extinguisher and bash the door down. If you needed to drive out of a garage, you'd find something to break a car's window, get in and find the key. They built a whole system for searching through a car. It sort of wanted to be MacGyver.
I thought of Fahrenheit, but that's not eurojank, that's something completely different on its own separate level.
Whatever it classifies as, it's almost definitely best in class. And worst.
To me eurojank means an ambitious game by European developers who go beyond the call of duty (literally and creatively) and their budget, to achieve something imperfect and rough, but special. Basically a scrappy underdog.
Frequently first person shooters and RPG's, but I don't think eurojank is or has to be restricted to those genres.
These games don't have to be good either (although this thread is of course about naming the best), just need to have that sensibility of genuinely trying to create something cool and/or ambitious and kind of succeeding in some capacity.
Like Boiling Point: Road to Hell. Anyone remember that?
In the spiritual sequel White Gold you could ride sharks.
Haven't played EYE Divine Cybermancy, but that looks eurojank as hell.
I'd call Test Drive Unlimited eurojank.
Took like a decade for other developers to catch up to the open world online racing concept. Truly innovative and impressive.
Its jank wasn't bugs, but sort of weird game design and prioritization that made the game both peculiar and perhaps sometimes not as good as it could've been.
And also Eden's Alone in the Dark, I suppose. Perhaps here the ambition didn't lead to a good game, but that game sure had ideas and tried as fuck. Certainly special. I I don't know how far they took things overall, but a general notion was that problems were supposed to be solved in an intuitive, realistic, physical way. So if there was a locked door, you could take a fire extinguisher and bash the door down. If you needed to drive out of a garage, you'd find something to break a car's window, get in and find the key. They built a whole system for searching through a car. It sort of wanted to be MacGyver.
I thought of Fahrenheit, but that's not eurojank, that's something completely different on its own separate level.
Whatever it classifies as, it's almost definitely best in class. And worst.
Can't remember the name now but there was a eastern-european horror/shooter game about being stranded in a frozen oil tanker that was super rough but really interesting.
Cryostasis Sleep of Reason, which unfortunately was removed from Steam and GOG due to unknown reasons.
Allow me to fix the lack of brouzouf in this thread
Really like the equip/loadout system in this, strapping extra SMG clips or grenades into your armbands or whatever
Really like the equip/loadout system in this, strapping extra SMG clips or grenades into your armbands or whatever
Thought of stalker as soon as I saw the thread. There are others but I can't think of them off hand.
I always meant to play cryostasis but I kept hearing how much jank it had on top of running like ass.
I always meant to play cryostasis but I kept hearing how much jank it had on top of running like ass.
Not sure how you came to this assumption...Plague Tale is a very polished game,I played it not long ago.
I kinda enjoyed Divinity 2. Risen takes the cake though. I played it on the 360 as well so I got all the jank.
Stalker is ofc Nr. 1, undisputed..
But there is plenty of great Eurojank; Gothic series, Two Worlds II, Risen, M&B, to name a few.
Gothic 3 is amongst them a real top dog in my opinion. Great world, amazing music and epic janky battles - still one of the best OST ever..
I mean, just listen :)
But there is plenty of great Eurojank; Gothic series, Two Worlds II, Risen, M&B, to name a few.
Gothic 3 is amongst them a real top dog in my opinion. Great world, amazing music and epic janky battles - still one of the best OST ever..
I mean, just listen :)
This is what I imagine when I think about eurojank. Overambitious but still having something special, even it is a bit broken.
Man one of my favorite genre. I played them ALL.
Divinity 2 (NOT original sin 2) is the prime embodiment of that genre I feel. It's a good game that features unique ideas in a somewhat technical janky execution.
Gothic 1 & 2 are among the best games of all time, so you should definitely play that.
Its spiritual successor Risen 1 was the closed we ever got a true Gothic sequel. Risen 2 and 3 were all over the place in a vastly different setting
I'd definitely count Witcher 1 and 2 as well.
Most recent eurijank game is "Greedfall".
Divinity 2 (NOT original sin 2) is the prime embodiment of that genre I feel. It's a good game that features unique ideas in a somewhat technical janky execution.
Gothic 1 & 2 are among the best games of all time, so you should definitely play that.
Its spiritual successor Risen 1 was the closed we ever got a true Gothic sequel. Risen 2 and 3 were all over the place in a vastly different setting
I'd definitely count Witcher 1 and 2 as well.
Most recent eurijank game is "Greedfall".
It's impressive knowing the size of the team and budget but I thought animations and controls lacked a bit of polish (played on the PS4). Still interesting title deserving the praise.
I'll add We Happy Few to the list.
In terms of gameplay it's very basic stealth,nothing to write home about at all,it works but it's very simple....as an overall experience it's very polished,I couldn't say I experienced anything close to jank.
That would be canjank/quebjank/montjank. (Compulsion Games are from Montréal, Québec)
Non. A lot of them I find are unplayable.
I bought Elex based on some thread on here and couldn't last 1-2 hour.
I bought Elex based on some thread on here and couldn't last 1-2 hour.
I keep meaning to try Elex! It looks amazing for exploration, and I keep hearing that it's one of the best games they've released for a long time. Might help scratch that Horizon Zero Dawn on PC itch I'm desperate for =P
You should! It's very much in the spirit of their older games. The world is a bit too big for its own good, though, but the gameplay tropes of PB's game are still there. The combat system needs some patience and learning. Here an advice to save you troubles later: don't button-mash. Every strike increases your "power meter", only strike again when the meter reaches its first level (and the next and so on). Powerfull attacks do more damage the fuller the power meter is. It takes a while to get used to the rhythm but it feels rewarding to win fights.
Anyways, be prepared for lots of quests and areas you can't do or visit at the beginning. There's no level scaling in this game and thus no level gate (which is also very rare these days and I really enjoy). You can beat a quest or enemy on low level if you're skilled and equipped accordingly, but the same enemy might destroy you even if you gain five levels but don't put anything in your combat skills.
This way it feels amazingly rewarding to level up your character because you really feel how much stronger you get and when you reach that point to mop the floor with some previously tough enemies.
Don't expect TW3-style writing and polish, though ;)
What is the recommended difficulty setting?
I don't want the later game to be a cakewalk.
I don't remember exact episode but you should listen to Chris Remo's story on old Idle Tumbs podcast.
Let me guess: people mentioning The Witcher 3 never actually played a eurojank before. Even The Witcher 2 is much more polished compared to other Eurojanks, and I'm not sure if it'd fit in the category. The Witcher 1 IS a eurojank though.
Anyway, Kingdom Come is a good answer, while ELEX is too janky to be considered the best. Your average Joe can still enjoy Kingdom Come, but ELEX is on its own jank level and not very recommended without a considerable jank tolerance.
The best of the bunch is still Gothic 2.
Anyway, Kingdom Come is a good answer, while ELEX is too janky to be considered the best. Your average Joe can still enjoy Kingdom Come, but ELEX is on its own jank level and not very recommended without a considerable jank tolerance.
The best of the bunch is still Gothic 2.
The best are S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (for the atmosphere), the original Witcher (for being an amazing role-playing experience) and E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy (for being demented, but oh so fun).
I really, really need to play some piranha Bytes' games to be able to gauge their place in this conversation.
Spiders (Greedfall, Technomancer etc) are the rising star of euro-jank RPGs for me now that CDPRED made it to the AAA big leagues.
DontNod is there when they try to make action games (Remember Me, Vampyr), but they also do those narrative choice adventure games that seem to be far more polished, so I dunno where to place them. Depends if we get more action titles from them, I guess.
Deck 13 is probably in the running too, due to the Surge games.
I really, really need to play some piranha Bytes' games to be able to gauge their place in this conversation.
Spiders (Greedfall, Technomancer etc) are the rising star of euro-jank RPGs for me now that CDPRED made it to the AAA big leagues.
DontNod is there when they try to make action games (Remember Me, Vampyr), but they also do those narrative choice adventure games that seem to be far more polished, so I dunno where to place them. Depends if we get more action titles from them, I guess.
Deck 13 is probably in the running too, due to the Surge games.
The Game of Thrones RPG did some pretty cool things from a storytelling perspective by making you roleplay as two separate characters with conflicting goals. And it was way better written than I ever expected it would be for something that seemed like cheap shovelware thrash designed to cash in on the popularity of the franchise (in fact, even this aspect was handled surprisingly well, with the game mostly telling it's own story and not just relying on the GoT franchise to carry it).
Divinity 2 was also pretty good. This thread made me check it's Steam page, and it was funny to see the game have a big warning telling people that this wasn't the page for Original Sin 2. The franchise definitely came a long way.
Divinity 2 was also pretty good. This thread made me check it's Steam page, and it was funny to see the game have a big warning telling people that this wasn't the page for Original Sin 2. The franchise definitely came a long way.
I love STALKER, Elex, Gothic 2, etc. but let's not forget some even older stuff like the Last Ninja Trilogy and Twinsen/LBA series.
Mount & Blade series (particularly Warband) is prime eurojank - really basic animations, dialogue, and overall production values complimented by incredible freedom of choice and ambitious gameplay design.
The Witcher 1, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance (though I feel this is polished enough to be on the fringe of jankiness), and Greedfall are all good mentions as well.
The Witcher 1, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, Kingdom Come: Deliverance (though I feel this is polished enough to be on the fringe of jankiness), and Greedfall are all good mentions as well.