Devolver Direct 2023: The Return of Volvy Reaction

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Volvy!

There were several videogame presentations that happened today, but the only one I'm going to give attention to was Devolver Digital's often entertaining Devolver Directs. This also marks the first reaction log of June 2023! (But it won't be the last.)

I didn't get to react to this LIVE as it was airing, and I'm the only staff member around for it. Well, I think that's just fine. Check out my timestamped thoughts.

[7:55 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2ztnnc1_AE
[7:55 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Will be watching in 5 minutes.
[7:55 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Personally, I think it's good that Volvy is coming back.
[7:56 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: ...
[7:56 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Though I wonder if they'll make his legacy worse like they did A Boy And His Blob.
[7:57 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: The Simpsons got Rat Boy (niño rata) from Volvy's design but with Bart Simpson elements.
[7:59 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And that's all I have to say before it starts.
[8:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Alright, starting.
[8:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: omg yay there are closed captions
[8:00 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volvy came from Ronathan Trodfield as a rival mascot character.
[8:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: He's still alive, but he doesn't seem... into it.
[8:01 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: They're going over Volvy's history, starting with Field Run in the Arcade.
[8:02 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And later to console/PC games.
[8:02 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: With hit Devolver Digital titles.
[8:02 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: There was a "VolvyTV", a competitor to KoopaTV.
[8:03 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: (We outlasted them.)
[8:03 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Cigarette Heist redesigned Volvy, which reminds me of what happened to Bomberman.
[8:04 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Which eventually got Volvy's franchise discontinued.
[8:04 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Launch reboot event hosted by loud person, Chris Jake.
[8:05 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Ronathan Trodfield on stage.
[8:05 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I hope Ronathan won't be as incompetent like "original creators" like Yuji Naka and...uh... the Mega Man guy.
[8:06 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Eh? They renamed him Volv-E.
[8:06 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: (Keiji Inafune, not a good look I forgot his name. ...Though he deserves it.)
[8:06 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volv-E uses generative AI. Takes simple prompts from the player to create new playable experiences.

This is Winnie Calcium, Innovation Imagineer.

[8:07 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volv-E is generating a cooperative sandbox survival game with wizards.
[8:08 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: It even has its own trailer with lots of... uh...pink.
[8:09 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: The gameplay also involves generating materials and structures.
[8:09 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Which feels inception-y.
[8:10 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: "Wizard With A Gun"
[8:11 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volv-E with wonderful machine learning developed that game all by itself with no human creative output.
[8:11 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volv-E has some waste byproducts that is blue goop coming out of it.
[8:12 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Chris Jake, loud person, wants to see the Talos Principle but bigger and grander.
[8:12 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Volv-E is generating a new trailer!
[8:12 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: (Wait, didn't we see this trailer recently?)
[8:13 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Ronathan is now asking where Volv-E's big hand for gaming is, as it poops out more waste.
[8:14 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: A member from the audience wants a walking simulator where you control the character's legs differently from its body.

This is some dangerous territory!

[8:15 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Well, this seems miserable.
[8:15 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: This guy keeps tripping over and fell off a mountain.
[8:15 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I guess AI-generated stuff won't certainly all be fun.
[8:16 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Called "Baby Steps"
[8:16 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Releasing 2024 for PS5 and PC...why.
[8:17 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: The audience member doesn't own any of the intellectual property and she still has to buy the product she generated.
[8:18 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: A "famous gamer" called "Skill Up" who is some kind of Twitch influencer is giving a prompt. A sequel to a hilarious online co-op game with more stuff.
[8:18 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: "Human Fall Flat 2"
[8:18 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: (never heard of 1)
[8:19 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: They're trying to make Volv-E open source and free to use, but Volv-E is glitching out.
[8:19 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And having flashbacks to its old design.
[8:19 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: A giant hand (for gamerS) has popped out of the machine.
[8:20 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: And is attacking those on stage.
[8:20 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: With angry eyes.
[8:20 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Ronathan is trying to calm it down.
[8:21 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Field Run is an adventure game (or at least Field Run 2 is).
[8:22 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: If we go to Devolver's website we can get 50% off merch.
[8:22 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Credits.
[8:22 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: ...
[8:22 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Well, uh, the blue goop waste byproduct was never really explained.
[8:22 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Dropped plotline?
[8:24 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: So...um...
[8:24 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: ...I guess Volvy isn't actually back?
[8:25 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: Ronathan kind of smashed him at the end but the camera cut out.
[8:25 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: That's disappointing!
[8:25 PM] Ludwig Von Koopa: I was pullin' for him.


What did you think of the Devolver Direct? Will Volvy ever truly return to his former glory? Do you think AI-generated videogames have potential, or are videogames only interesting because of a person's involvement? Do you have the same thought about what are already called procedurally generated games? Is it potentially an issue for the games shown that Ludwig paid far more attention to Volvy or Volv-E than to the videogames?


The Devolver Direct 2022 is here.