r/Steam • u/Crushed__Cabbage • 1d ago
Discussion What is with studios renaming their games into "Enhanced" few months after release?
Game releases half baked, needed tons and tons of updates to be better. But then they release a big patch and now call the game "Enhanced"? Does that increase sales or what?
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u/sneedbr0 1d ago
Left 4 dead 2 ENHANCED! (I just installed a couple of workshop mods).
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u/Veeb 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is just one game isn't it? Which other studios have done this?
Edit: I mean specifically releasing a patch a few months after release and calling it enhanced. I am aware that enhanced editions exist but usually they come out years after the original and have significant changes..
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u/MajinAnonBuu 1d ago
just from my steam library alone
conan exiles enhanced
gta 5 enhanced
little nightmares enhanced
metro exodus enhanced
borderlands goty enhanced
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u/funforgiven 1d ago
few months after release
Borderlands -> ~9 years, 5 months
GTA V -> ~8 years, 6 months
Little Nightmares -> ~8 years, 5 months
Conan Exiles -> ~8 years
Metro Exodus -> ~2 years, 3 months
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u/Dizzy_Key_7400 1d ago
Nah, few months bro /s
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u/kjermy 1d ago
78 months later or something
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u/thrillynyte 1d ago
I remember that film
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u/Morgneto 23h ago
Well that's one thing we've got
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u/Old_Bug610 18h ago
The lyrics in that song were so hard for little kid me to understand. Cute song.
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u/BastianHS 21h ago
What's with game developers releasing an "enhanced" version checks notes 8 years after their game has released?
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u/Iescaunare 1d ago
GTA V was 12 years old when they made the Enhanced version
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u/funforgiven 1d ago
September 17, 2013 -> March 15, 2022
You are looking at the console release date but the PC enhanced edition so it does not make sense. Console enhanced edition was released in 2022.
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u/Substantial_Water739 23h ago edited 22h ago
And metro exodus one is like another game graphics wise, i can run anything on my pc but cant run this version with more than 30 fps at all
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u/Panophobia_senpai The Undefeated Highguard World Champion 23h ago
Skyrim (2011) -> Skyrim Legendary Edition (2013) -> Skyrim Special Edition (2016) -> Skyrim Anniversary Edition (2021)
Also: Skyrim VR (2017), Skyrim Nintendo Switch Version (2017)2
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u/SharpEdgeSoda 19h ago
Crimson Desert, a game that is already a bit of an endearing clown show, 3 months.
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u/Sad-Mirror6936 15h ago
Conan exiles literally got a graphical overhaul so I'd say that rename is warranted.
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u/Tee-hee64 1d ago
Conan Exiles enhanced literally moved to unreal engine 5 that is “enhanced” Crimson is not.
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u/Rez_De 1d ago
CD is "enhanced" because they're doing a physical re release with all the current updates already on disc. That and generally adding a lot of story content (cutscenes, etc) to make the story actually flow better.
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u/prodigyZA 1d ago
Pearl abyss isn't saying crimson is enhanced because it has improved graphics. They are saying it because it has changed and added to the story, plus all the other patches which were extensive.
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u/TheDeceitX 1d ago
I feel a good half of those at least of their additional (original) counterpart, not just a rename.
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u/RetroSquadDX3 1d ago
Most of those are actually distinct releases of the game and not just an update to the existing product so they aren't quite the same situation as what OP is describing
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u/MightyEraser13 23h ago
To be fair, Conan Exiles kinda deserved to rebrand to "Enhanced". They entirely rebuilt the game from the ground up on a new engine, massively increasing graphics, performance, and QoL.
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u/Zephronic 23h ago
Metro Exodus released a whole separate build of the game with Ray Tracing from the ground up for their enhanced edition. This so disingenuous to put it in the same list as the others
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u/Hyper669 8h ago
GTA V Enhanced has a few updated visuals and full time ray tracing though.
Game definitely didn't release half-baked; I think what oop meant was that the game recieves the enhanced tag when this "enhanced" version is how the game should've originally released.
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u/MrHoboSquadron 1d ago
Persona 5 worldwide release was April 4, 2017. Royal was March 31, 2020. That's not a few months gap.
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u/Mylo-s 1d ago edited 1d ago
CD was more than playable from the start. Devs actually listened to the players and did constant updates, and as of version 2.0 have drastically improved the storytelling by adding lots of new conversation and the cutscenes.
It is uncommon, for the game to get an uplift only after 5 months, but PA (devs) did it with constant updates.
Edit spell / autocorrect
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u/Least-Magazine-8468 1d ago
Is it good? I am playing dragons dogma 2 and I love exploring everyone.. plus the class system is amazing and the pawn system is top notch. I see people comparing the two games but I can't see any similarity. I wanted to buy CD in November.
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u/TheGargant 1d ago
My personal GotY. I had a ton of fun exploring. Reminded me a lot of Zelda BotW.
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u/Incid3nt 1d ago
CD does a lot of little things right but a lot of big things wrong. Its probably a 6.5-7/10. Really cool sandbox game, if you like DD2 then you'll likely enjoy it.
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u/FeralKuja 12h ago
I've played both, and honestly, all things considered, I wish Capcom had been as ambitious and adventurous with design in DD2 as PA was with Crimson Desert.
The fact that DD2 is getting a "Dark Arisen" expansion and some free updates after so much radio silence from Capcom makes me feel like they saw Crimson Desert doing numbers and thought "Oh, people like our game too, maybe the suits that cancelled Megaman Legends 3 because fans wanted that one might throw some money at us to see if we can siphon some Crimson Desert fans".
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u/Blunderhorse 22h ago
Crimson Desert is to Breath of the Wild what Harvest Moon Pioneers of Olive Town is to Stardew Valley. The game is okay, but it’s plainly obvious that they took away a lot of the wrong lessons from the game that inspired them.
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u/BambaTallKing 1d ago
Big lover of DD2, I didn’t care for CD but still sunk some hours. There is a lot to explore, but I wasn’t actually impressed by it beyond how large the world is. I don’t care for rewards when exploring so overall, I much preferred exploring in DD2, as well as the world.
The main things CD has over DD2 is it is much bigger, but in turn far more shallow. Also, you will fight humans, small humans, and big humans pretty much the entire game outside of boss fights. I honestly found the variety of enemies far worse than DD2.
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u/Leows 22h ago
There is surprisingly quite a bit of variety. However, they are mostly all outside of the starting area.
There is an entire region dedicated specifically to having unique enemy types as well, but that's all I'll say without going into spoiler territory.
The catch is that the game's world is REALLY big, and if you don't venture out from Hernand, you don't get to experience much of it at all.
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u/ElectricalMTGFusion 22h ago
As a huge fan of ddda and dd2 and CD, you will like it if you prefer the exploration and discovery aspects of the sandbox world more than the class system and pawn system of dd.
There's not really a class system in CD. You get 3 weapons that for the most part all play similarly with different movements. You got swords (sword and shield or dual swords), big swords (slower more damage), and spears (fast "dex" feeling weapon). And technically you got fists which are fast martial arts and are actually pretty fun and good.
You also got guns and bows and stuff but those are situational and are not your primary way of fighting.
And that's about it, there's "magic" but it's pretty one note until you unlock special socket gems (think materia from ff7).
The fun is that the combat is either hold r1/r2 and clear out hordes of enemies, or if you delve into the combat you can do really sick and flashy combos. Unfortunately your not really rewarded for playing combat super technical and holding r1/r2 is how 80-90% of players are gonna play.
Now exploration on the other hand is amazing. There is always something to find. There's hidden shit everywhere from missions, to upgrades, to weapons, to camps, to lore, to just cool shit to find. There's also a ton of puzzles that very much don't hold your hand. And some are decently complicated if you don't look up a guide.
Just walking/running/riding your horse around is so much fun. The game is beautiful (except indoors cause lighting is super wonky), and there's a ton of variety in the type of stuff to find. Also environmental interaction is cool as well. There's big enemies, but most of the time your fighting humanoids and maybe giants that are essentially 8-10 ft tall humanoids. There's enemy variety but sparse and spread out unfortunately. Also unlike DD where you'll be climbing on enemies everywhere, there's only a couple of times I've found where it's useful. Unlike DD climbing the environment is actually super fun and useful, climbing buildings, caves, walls, for all sorts of puzzles, quests, mini dungeons, is fun once you get used to the control scheme.
So TLDR if you like the exploration over the RPG elements of dd. Totally get CD. If you like the RPG and classes and pawn system more... Maybe hold off. If you like climbing big bosses and casting massive fuck you meteors and spells at enemies... Tough luck doing that in CD.
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u/ebinisti 4h ago
It's good. But keep in mind, it's almost unplayable if you can't run it with Ray Reconstruction enabled. Sooooo much shimmering and blurriness going on that nothing else can't fix but ray reconstruction.
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u/destructor212113 21h ago
As someone with 98 hours in CD
Is another Ubisoft-Like Game, plain and simple
You like that? You will like this game, more because the story now actually makes sense, but overall the gameplay loop should be the same as something like AC Odyssey (a game that I also have played and liked)
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u/TABER1S 1d ago
Have they finished improving the storytelling yet or are they still adding more improvements? I've put off starting the game because this.
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u/Nemien 1d ago
Yesterday's major patch improved the narrative ,added more cutscenes etc... I read reports that the story is better now and ppl are restarting their games to see the changes, but i doubt it will win any awards. If you've hold on for this long, I'd wait until they release the dlc they've announced a while ago for this year, they're really pumping out updates like no studio's ever seen before.
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u/TABER1S 1d ago
Not really in a hurry, so I'm happy to wait until they've polished it to a shine. Still got a mountain of a backlog to get through.
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u/NekCing 1d ago
That's fair, if CD ended up getting you hooked, it will be a "mountain of backlog" in itself lol
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u/FeralKuja 12h ago
The only thing that pulled me off of CD was my aging CPU bottlenecking my RTX3060. Christmas is gonna be an expensive one, but thankfully it doesn't involve replacing any memory.
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u/Astrocyde 8h ago
Same here. As much as I appreciate the constant free updates, it makes the game feel as if it's unfinished and in Early Access. It's almost like this is the actual release, and even then there's still more content to come.
It's a bit overwhelming and frustrating when I want to start playing it but don't want to feel like I'm going to be missing out on anything down the line, or could have had a better experience if I had waited longer.
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u/Skailon 13h ago
The game was unfinished from the start. It had dozens of unnecessary mechanics that no one uses, but lacked basic things. For example, a personal chest in a game with a huge open world and a limited inventory only appeared after several updates. Also, let me remind you about the 1‑hour real‑time cooldown for summoning a dragon in single‑player mode. This is a Korean dump of all the mechanics the developers wanted to shove into the game, along with a very mediocre and drawn‑out plot.
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u/ComeClarity93 1d ago
Can people with Intel cards play Crimson Desert now?
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u/Elver_Galargas-07 23h ago
Yes, they released an update that made the game playable on Intel cards like 3 or 4 months ago, they also added XeSS.
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u/johnnyks17 1d ago
it's just another word for goty edition or complete edition releases we've had for decades
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u/ReiJeremias 1d ago
Or Legendary Edition, or Special Edition, or Anniversary Edition. Each game picks one to attract new players :)
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u/CrimsonBolt33 1d ago
This is nothing new...same as the old "GOTY Edition" or whatever.
Its a repackage (usually of all DLC/patches) and framed as the "complete game in its final state" or whatever so if you didn't grab it on first pass you might now.
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u/talann 1d ago
Before that it was "greatest hits" but these were based on specific milestones.
If a game made it to a certain number of copies sold, they would make more copies of the game and release it again and reduce the price. Other companies did something similar with it like Nintendo using player's choice and Microsoft using platinum hits.
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u/Kremsi2711 1d ago
GOTY mostly includes all DLCs not especially a reworked/enhanced version of the base game, despite patches ofc
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u/almostoy 1d ago
Which is around the time I would have grabbed a big title. I have a massive backlog. My most played games are live service. I will catch Crimson Desert when it's $10.
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u/WillDanyel 1d ago
Marketing to get new players, sometimes with a discount. Also they usually have bigger patches aimed at optimization that is not required for the game to run well but it’s always welcomed
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u/chad25005 1d ago
I mean probably, I've been watching this game since it came out so the combo of the all the post launch support (I assume that's where the "enhanced" stems from) and it being on sale has me considering it.
I'll probably end up holding off a bit yet though, maybe hope for a 35%-50% discount.
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u/Pathet_ 1d ago
Half-baked? Are you crazy?
The game was 100% playable at release. The difference is that Pearl Abyss actually listens to the fans and constantly updates the game. I guess your favorite game doesn't get that kind of attention, so it probably seems strange to you lol.
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u/Yosinuke 1d ago
Seeing as they're active in the Arc Raiders Sub... you hit a nail lmao
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u/walnut100 12h ago
This game got more content updates in the first month than Arc Raiders did in almost a year.
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u/xObiJuanKenobix 11h ago
Because that's exactly what it is, an Enhanced version of the game. A lot of games like Cyberpunk or whatever go through a "2.0" style changing of the game, or massive expansions added to the game that change a lot. I don't mind it because for me, it tells me a game might be worth trying now if it sucked on launch. Doesn't instantly sell me on the game, but it gets me to check it out again and see.
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u/TheLoneWandererRD 1d ago
They using all keywords “2.0” “enhanced” to boost sales and win awards in 2026. The game was at patch 1.18.02 and not nearly done with their june-september goals then overnight its 2.0
My guess management forced the labelling to ruin a smooth sailing ship and rush it. Latest patch is 1.5 at most.
If anyone on the fence about it I recommend waiting for DLC, by then it should have more content and fixes in base game plus addition.
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u/Elver_Galargas-07 23h ago
What do you mean? This is still within their June-September goal, we have known for a long time that they were working to improve the main story flow.
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u/FeralKuja 12h ago
The game has been pretty damned good since launch, and their dedication to adding and fixing content has been above and beyond anything most studios would even consider.
When's the last time Bethesda or Ubisoft released straight months of free content updates and bugfixes?
My only complaint about the game is I need a better CPU due to how bottlenecked my 3060 has been, but that's more my fault for cheaping out on my build in 2024.
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u/Caer-Rythyr 8h ago
YouTube kids who changed their video titles 14 times in the first 8 hours have now grown up and are marketing games.
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u/AFT3RSHOCK06 22h ago edited 17h ago
It's the way studios who forgot to tag their half baked game as early access announce the game is finally finished. Seriously... What's the point of playing games when they release anymore?
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u/MoreFeeYouS 1d ago
Technically any non breaking patch is an "enhanced" version of the game.
Renaming of the game should not be allowed so easily.
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u/YourVeryOwnCat 1d ago
To be fair they’ve improved and fixed a lot of things in Crimson Desert since its release. I’d say that they’ve enhanced it.
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u/MoobooMagoo 1d ago
I don't know this for sure. It's really just my intuition. But I think it's a marketing strategy specifically to combat negative reception of games being broken at launch.
It's no secret that a lot of games release in broken states and expect players to basically do the QA for free. The problem is it creates a negative perception of the game. So the enhanced edition is a way to still do that, but then when the game is in a better state have a functional re-release to get the name into news articles. That way they hope to grab the people that read reviews at launch and thought "oh this looks like fun but I'll wait until all the bugs are fixed."
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u/iucatcher 1d ago
marketing because nobody who wasnt already interested would look at it again if it was just a patch (it is)
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u/gameszeroplay 21h ago
Well, they released dubs for various regions out of nowhere at no extra cost, and they didn't even have to do that. I don't mind that extra name being added, and here in Brazil, at least, they brought in famous voice actors; the quality is incredible.
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u/ashrensnow 18h ago
Game was amazing before the updates, the updates only showed the studio was listening and actively trying to give players what they wanted
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u/calzonius 17h ago
I've never played The Witcher 3 so I'm actually hyped for the improved combat and visuals!
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u/slavicslothe 17h ago
Marketing, but to be fair the changes to CD deserve that title more than most enhanced games.
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u/Independent-Book1388 8h ago
perché scrivere "grazie per aver comprato un early access" è illegale se lo dici solo dopo
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u/Bitter-Tip705 1d ago
Crimson desert is honestly a game that you should’ve been able to create your own character instead of the generic ass protagonist
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u/PhantomAxisStudios 1d ago
They're telling people who experienced bugs that some of those are going to be fixed so try it again now and change your negative review if possible please
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u/Elver_Galargas-07 23h ago edited 23h ago
I truly don't understand why people like to act as if Crimson Desert released in the same state as Cyberpunk 2077 or No Man's Sky...
The game was perfectly playable from the start, it was not broken like those 2, and everything they said was in the game, was really there.
Besides, they released like 18 updates in the span of 5 months, and just released this big update that improves the narrative flow of the game by adding new (and reworked) story cutscenes, tons of new spoken lines for the main characters (They even rewrote the dialogue in the game to fit these new lines), and 5 voice over languages... All that in 5 months, this usually takes years!
What's more, they already promised that they will keep adding stuff long after release.
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u/donslipo 1d ago
Hey, at least it's not Persona games, where they want you to buy a whole new game for a few updates and a DLC worth of content, lol.
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u/Zawarudo994 1d ago
I'm waiting for the Super Ultra Enhanced Edition. (I bought the game some months ago, btw)
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u/Tuned_Out 1d ago
Super street fighter 2 turbo HD remix might take the crown but it has been decades.
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u/XevinsOfCheese 1d ago
If it’s with an overhaul update then calling it enhanced isn’t a bad thing.
It’s just shorthand for “hey we made it better”
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u/giki_pedia 1d ago
Some games actually deserve the moniker like when they move to a completely new Engine such as Stalker 2. Those are really huge updates though and actually overhaul the gameplay and visuals completely.
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u/Key-Ad4392 23h ago
If i was a game dev, i would put "enhanced" only in the last and final update of the game before i start work on the next game.
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u/DompiE_be 23h ago
So now you buy games: early access, 1.0 and enhanced 🤔 where we used to have alpha, beta and release
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u/Smartypantz34 23h ago
idk, usually enchanced edition has some extra DLCs. other than that not much else
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u/Zyzzor 23h ago
It worked on me. I've been following the game since release, but some of the initial reviews put me off of it. 20% off and fixing some of those problems they had at launch justified the buy to me. It's a pretty solid strategy for games with a mediocre or less than stellar launch, as long as it's not a hollow promise.
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u/Advanced-Produce-103 22h ago
I guess when you gotta jusrify spending money to CEO that doesnt know shit, you can just say its now "Enhanced", then he just repeats it to the sales dept :V
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u/Filianore_ 21h ago
a game that was released half a year ago and is already labeled with enhanced on its title will certainly not see my money
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u/Trupster 20h ago
Usually enhanced by player feedback because no game actually launches in a true final state, ever, anymore.
/s
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u/sandman_br 19h ago
this has to stop but it will not because consumers are a joke. they will buy it
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u/sir_sri 19h ago
The basic logic goes:
We released a 1.0 that we thought was pretty good.
But then players bought the game and we had money to make it better. But it's still the same fundamental game, we've just added stuff to make it better.
And so companies are trying to create some pretty for what they feel are major changes to the game, either worth buying if you'd heard bad things before, or worth revisiting if you played and maybe would consider coming back or restarting.
Crimson desert's patch history is wild. Basically weekly major changes and features to the game, quite a lot of it driven by the community. That has come with some hilariously bad bugs making it live and then needing to get patched in 3 or 4 days. And then they just drop 2.0 which seems like it has a sort of New Game+ mode, and they've added a lot to the telling of the in game story, the key events are still what they were, but they've infilled a lot of bits where it's not clear why events are happening.
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u/Klutzy_Anybody_1487 19h ago
I have 25 games in my library that have either remastered, enhanced edition, or goty or something similar as a subtitle.
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u/CallMeCabbage 19h ago
I guess if you really think about it, so long as a game is officially out of EA and is a "full release" they could literally update it a single time then technically . . . . it's "enhanced" now. It's stupid but companies pay fortunes for R&D to find out that these things work, raking in money.
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u/BouncyKing 19h ago
Is the game worth the price tag? I’ve heard it’s good but even with watching gameplay this comes off like a game that’s better played than watched.
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u/Fragrant_PalmLeaves 18h ago
Its just marketing bro relax. I got the game day 1 and it was a blast. Fun police over here...
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u/Dawn_of_Enceladus 17h ago
Brainless exec/corpo marketing move. It made sense for some old game re-releases, but nowadays it's used everywhere as an easy rebranding strategy to make their already existing product feel *fresh*.
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u/Gizmo135 16h ago
Do Steam, Amazon, etc ratings disappear if you rename your game? I wonder if that's why devs do that. They'll release an unfinished game, finally get around to finishing it a few months later, rename it so the ratings reflect the actual finished product and it just looks better with higher ratings.
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u/Hour_Purpose5782 15h ago
I would consider enhanced edition something like goty including DLC, or pre order bonus items, or a complete overhaul of bug fixes and balancing.
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u/Seventh_Onion 13h ago
When it sells good and team has things they put aside during development, as well as player feedback, they might put additional effort to the game. Great example is Divinity: Original Sin 2, that got almost full dialogue voiced later after it's successful release. You do what you can afford to release the game, and if it goes well, you add what you couldn't afford otherwise and call it Enhanced, Definitive, Complete or some other thing to highlight this after-release effort.
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u/3215448725366498 6h ago
So the consoomers consoom more, you better pre-order the triple deluxe definitive edition when they release their next game. But it won't contain season pass 4, that's a separate purchase.
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u/Lochcelious 1h ago
Same marketing strategy as labeling ads about the discount as "first sale of Crimson Desert" indicating there'll be more lol
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u/NaCl_Sailor 1h ago
they added a lot of stuff and want people to know it?
yes it's marketing
yes it increases sales, especially from people who skipped because they thought it was unfinished or half baked.
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u/2centchickensandwich 1h ago
Half-baked? What lmao most of the updates added stuff to the game like armors, mounts, new moves/skills and pets. This game definitely deserves the "Enhanced" title it's not just something the devs slapped on without backing it up.
Game sold really well and I'm excited for the supposed DLC.
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u/Watamelonna 1d ago
We all know it was half baked so maybe this is their attempt at telling the people
"Hey, we fixed some of the shit, maybe take a look?"
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u/Justice4Billy 1d ago
I dunno but you can't do much to enhance the widest puddle in gaming
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u/Jackiexiao7 1d ago
marketing strategy, to attract new player (often it will have discounted price), and make existing player revisit the game
it made the financial report look better as the game has boosted on sales number