Your favorite Eurojank game(s)

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

If you've been around Reddit, forums or watch certain channels on Youtube (like Super Best Friends Play), you may have come across the term Eurojank. In case you don't know what that means, Eurojank is a catch-all term for games that are:

[li]Made in Europe of course, especially Eastern Europe, although the latter is not a requirement[/li]
[li]Generally very ambitious, despite their often modest budget, with a strong focus on gameplay depth over graphic fidelity/overall presentation.[/li]
[li]Usually buggy and unpolished in one or more aspects (i.e. clunky controls, unintuitive UI, poor animation and/or voice acting, etc), hence the 'jank'.[/li]

TLDR: ambitious, but flawed B-tier games made in (Eastern) Europe.

Spoiler: Examples

STALKER
Metro 2033
The Witcher (1st one)
Gothic
ArmA
Mount & Blade (not actually made in Europe, but has a strong Eurojank feel)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Divinity
ELEX
Spintires
...

Yeah, Eurojank is a pretty condescending term, but it more or less gets the point across.

Anyway, on to the actually point: what is your favorite flavor of Eurojank?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I feel this term would fit well enough with American games. Like the Ultima games especially. In the first 5 games you eat with every step you take so essentially its a time limit you have until you just drop dead from hunger.

And the Deus Ex games (particularly the first) could fit this definition as well. And don't forget Jurassic Park: Trespasser, that game is the epitome of jank.

Generally PC gaming in the good old days tend to be far more ambitious then others.

 

[BrawlMan]

Generally PC gaming in the good old days tend to be far more ambitious then others.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Joking aside, I always felt that both consoles and PCs had far more ambitions in the old days, just in their own special ways.

If I had to guess, some of RARE's output before Microsoft turned them into shit. Some of their older games had jank, or are jank now compared later and modern games. Like Battletoads for example. My favorite game from them will always be the Killer Instinct series.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I feel this term would fit well enough with American games. Like the Ultima games especially. In the first 5 games you eat with every step you take so essentially its a time limit you have until you just drop dead from hunger.

And the Deus Ex games (particularly the first) could fit this definition as well. And don't forget Jurassic Park: Trespasser, that game is the epitome of jank.

Generally PC gaming in the good old days tend to be far more ambitious then others.

Well yeah, while the is usually used for games from Eastern Europe with a specific 'feel' to them, I suppose nothing really stops an American or Asian developed game from having that heavy Eurojank 'feel'. And like you said, 'ambitious but clunky' wasn't uncommon in PC games back then (arguably still is), no matter where they were made.

In a sense, you could say Eurojank is a sort of continuation or perhaps reincarnation of those old-school PC design sensibilities.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Based on that definition, I was going to mention Gothic, the Divinity games (particurly D2: Dragon Knight Saga) and yes, Elex. I suppose Two Worlds could probably be on that list too. Hmmmmm...that examples list is actually pretty exhaustive. Would Hitman (IO Interactive) count? Arkane (Dishonored)? They're more triple A I guess. Could also maybe add Egosoft to that list, euro devs behind the X series of space games.

I liked the STALKER games a lot in their time. I played them "Complete" (with the player Complete mods) for the first two, don't remember the third. Great games and setting, would love a DX12 modern sequel and another chance to visit the Zone.

I never played the Gothic games, tho I've heard very good things about them. For divinity, I've played them all I think, except Original Sin 2. Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, D2: Ego Draconis, I really like the world of Rivellon and I like the links and references they get into even the newer Original Sin games. I think Larian are a very talented studio and am really glad they found success recently after almost shutting their doors. They make niche games and are great for it, instead of mass-market stuff.

Elex I just played a couple of months back. It was an interesting game, kinda Skyrim and Fallout combined into one game. Post-apocalypse and sci-fi but fantasy elements and role playing. I thought it was actually pretty good. I like the world and the three faction thing, each offering different rewards, story missions, NPC interactions and so on. I went with the Barbarians (anti-tech, nature, magic), so I could combine a fire sword and shield with the jetpack. My choice resulted in one of the funniest lines of dialogue when I spoke to Nasty, (one of the anarchist NPCs and a teammate), "Why'd you go and join those tree-fu**ing assbags?"

I really like the first Witcher. It had issues but the storytelling, the twists, the characters and the adult tone were really different from other RPGs of the day. I also didn't mind the combat tho I realise plenty of people did. I think it added an element of urgency to fighting that rewarded timing, preparation and using the right tools for the job. I replayed it a couple of times to see the different endings, siding with Scoia-tael and humans and Shani/Triss respectively and liked the reactive story. It prompted me to go out and get the books ( there were four at the time, six now I believe). I really like how he's this lowly, "blue collar" nobody who mixes with everyone from elf and dwarf "terrorists", bards and kings, Witches, peasants, undertakers and generals. I also thought the twist with Jacques de Aldersberg was extremely clever.

I haven't picked up Kingdom Come yet but I do intend to. Maybe once it's on sale/GotY edition; it's not like there aren't plenty of other games worth playing just now and I'd prefer to just have the most complete and polished version of the game.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I feel this term would fit well enough with American games. Like the Ultima games especially. In the first 5 games you eat with every step you take so essentially its a time limit you have until you just drop dead from hunger.

I very much agree. I don't think the term is that useful, since to be honest the only thing really combines those games is the jank. The Euro part doesn't contribute a great deal.

Obsidian and Troika could probably be added on then, since KotOR2, NWN2, Alpha Protocol, ToEE, Arcanum and of course VTMB all had a fair amount of jank in the same vein.

Further, while I can see the "euro" influence in, for example, STALKER and Gothic, in Divinity and the Witcher, there is a level of linguistic competency that is staggering. It's hard to explain but what I'm trying to say is that Divinity: Original Sin for example, and the Witcher games, despite being written by non-english speakers, is masterfully written in english. That is to say that they go beyond simply a good localisation or competence, to where they are practically poetic, showing a level of mastery over the language that is absolutely superlative. Taken in a vacuum, one could easily assume that they were written by talented english writers. It shows an understanding of slang, colloquialisms and how we use language that most british developers don't even demonstrate.

I don't know if it would apply to Deus Ex tho. That game wasn't "janky" in the sense of bugs or the like, but was an intentional mish-mash of RPG meets action where, like Alpha Protocol, stats and RNG dictated whether or not a bullet would where the crosshair was pointed. It felt awkward yes, but it was intentional design rather than bugs.

If I had to guess, some of RARE's output before Microsoft turned them into shit. Some of their older games had jank, or are jank now compared later and modern games. Like Battletoads for example. My favorite game from them will always be the Killer Instinct series.

I can't speak for Battletoads or Killer Instinct (I dimly recall it...was it on the amiga, or console?). But Goldeneye, Banjo Kazzooie and Perfect Dark were the massively popular, mainstream successes of the day.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

State of Decay always felt like Euro-jank. But I got the impression they are not from the Europes. Still is my first choice though.

Will eventually try Vampyr, it looks like good Euro-jank. But waiting for price to go down at mo, as for some entitled reason I assumed a lower budget game would have a lower price.

Call of Cthulhu fall into that area too, but the main protagonist looks like - and is voiced by - the same protag from Vampyr. So keeping those two at a distance for ploughthroughs might be a better idea.

Ok those two are more expectations, but measured expectations based off various influx of info at least. Am sure am forgetting some other titles from the past.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I actually think Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason is pretty underrated and in some ways even better than probably its closest competition, the Metro series. The bad part, aside from some clumsy design elements? Apparently it isn?t even available anymore. [https://gnd-tech.com/2018/02/flashback-friday-cryostasis-sleep-of-reason/]

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Generally PC gaming in the good old days tend to be far more ambitious then others.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Joking aside, I always felt that both consoles and PCs had far more ambitions in the old days, just in their own special ways.

If I had to guess, some of RARE's output before Microsoft turned them into shit. Some of their older games had jank, or are jank now compared later and modern games. Like Battletoads for example. My favorite game from them will always be the Killer Instinct series.

Hell yes. About the only thing that sidelined my interest in that game (besides the upcoming MK3) was being a freshman and dancing with the girl voted best looking in her class (senior, btw) at the school dance. Everyone thought she looked like Cindy Crawford which made it sweeter. Looking back I think she had some of a southern belle look on top of it.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Would Hitman (IO Interactive) count? Arkane (Dishonored)? They're more triple A I guess. Could also maybe add Egosoft to that list, euro devs behind the X series of space games.

Arkane Studios is European? Checks. Huh, French. Didn't know that.

Anyway, I tried to give as good a definition of Eurojank as I could, but what is or isn't Eurojank is rather up for debate. The way I understand it, it basically amounts to ambitious, but flawed B-tier games made in (Eastern) Europe[footnote]That's probably a better description, ima add that to the OP[/footnote].

So, Arx Fatalis and early Hitman arguably count, but something like Dishonored 2 or the reboot Hitman doesn't anymore. Witcher 1 is one of the posterchildren of the term, but Witcher 3 isn't. You could even argue Grand Theft Auto is, since it kind of fits all the requirements (made in Scotland, from girders), but GTA5 absolutely isn't. UK-made games in general don't seem to count tho, nor is anything from Ubisoft.

 

[BrawlMan]

I feel this term would fit well enough with American games. Like the Ultima games especially. In the first 5 games you eat with every step you take so essentially its a time limit you have until you just drop dead from hunger.

I very much agree. I don't think the term is that useful, since to be honest the only thing really combines those games is the jank. The Euro part doesn't contribute a great deal.

Obsidian and Troika could probably be added on then, since KotOR2, NWN2, Alpha Protocol, ToEE, Arcanum and of course VTMB all had a fair amount of jank in the same vein.

Further, while I can see the "euro" influence in, for example, STALKER and Gothic, in Divinity and the Witcher, there is a level of linguistic competency that is staggering. It's hard to explain but what I'm trying to say is that Divinity: Original Sin for example, and the Witcher games, despite being written by non-english speakers, is masterfully written in english. That is to say that they go beyond simply a good localisation or competence, to where they are practically poetic, showing a level of mastery over the language that is absolutely superlative. Taken in a vacuum, one could easily assume that they were written by talented english writers. It shows an understanding of slang, colloquialisms and how we use language that most british developers don't even demonstrate.

I don't know if it would apply to Deus Ex tho. That game wasn't "janky" in the sense of bugs or the like, but was an intentional mish-mash of RPG meets action where, like Alpha Protocol, stats and RNG dictated whether or not a bullet would where the crosshair was pointed. It felt awkward yes, but it was intentional design rather than bugs.

If I had to guess, some of RARE's output before Microsoft turned them into shit. Some of their older games had jank, or are jank now compared later and modern games. Like Battletoads for example. My favorite game from them will always be the Killer Instinct series.

I can't speak for Battletoads or Killer Instinct (I dimly recall it...was it on the amiga, or console?). But Goldeneye, Banjo Kazzooie and Perfect Dark were the massively popular, mainstream successes of the day.

Battletoads and Killer Instinct were on consoles only. Though KI2013 has a PC version and Battletoads are getting a PC release along with the Xbox one. I'm not denying the other games were massive successes, but if you play them now all three of them are jank in some way. More so GoldenEye.

Generally PC gaming in the good old days tend to be far more ambitious then others.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Joking aside, I always felt that both consoles and PCs had far more ambitions in the old days, just in their own special ways.

If I had to guess, some of RARE's output before Microsoft turned them into shit. Some of their older games had jank, or are jank now compared later and modern games. Like Battletoads for example. My favorite game from them will always be the Killer Instinct series.

Hell yes. About the only thing that sidelined my interest in that game (besides the upcoming MK3) was being a freshman and dancing with the girl voted best looking in her class (senior, btw) at the school dance. Everyone thought she looked like Cindy Crawford which made it sweeter. Looking back I think she had some of a southern belle look on top of it.

You were already in high school at the time. I was 5, and my older brother was 10 when Killer Instinct came out. I remember first playing Killer Instinct at an arcade in my local neighborhood.

 

[Bad Jim]

UK-made games in general don't seem to count tho

Why not? If Peter Molyneux was Polish, most of his stuff would count easily. He definitely has the ambition/unpolished thing down.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Speaking of STALKER, i just found this: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/05/16/stalker-2-release-date/. I didn't even know it was a thing, but STALKER 2 (4?) is actually a thing. Bring on the jank....in 3 years 😲

Why not? If Peter Molyneux was Polish, most of his stuff would count easily. He definitely has the ambition/unpolished thing down.

Ambitious I'll grant you, but not unpolished. Like his games or not, whatever we say about the man or his promises, his games were smooth, very polished experiences and creative too, albeit not necessarily to the benefit of the game or the gamer. I will gladly point out issues in his games, but lack of polish isn't among them. I'm not making any comment about good or bad, fun or no, well written or not (*cough*), just that they weren't janky and played out just as the developers intended. All the farts and belches, muscle flexing, scarring, chicken costumes and the rest were implemented as they were meant to be.

 

[Squilookle]

Probably Operation Flashpoint. Literally every ARMA game improves on its jankiness slightly. Literally no ARMA game retains its charm.

Also can I just say thankyou for defining what the thread is about? It's maddening coming to a thread where the OP just launches into their opinion on something without the slightest bit of context about what it actually even is. It's rare to see otherwise. So again, thankyou.

 

[Mikejames]

I love the themes and atmosphere of Pathologic and Cradle, but I haven't had the patience to finish either of them. But their settings are interesting, and they both give off a surreal end-of-times feeling.

And I'm not sure if point-and-click games count, but I loved The Longest Journey series. Some of the old-school puzzles are ridiculously hard and the combat in Dreamfall is pretty terrible, but the stories and main characters really stuck with me.

 

[Bad Jim]

Ambitious I'll grant you, but not unpolished. Like his games or not, whatever we say about the man or his promises, his games were smooth, very polished experiences and creative too, albeit not necessarily to the benefit of the game or the gamer. I will gladly point out issues in his games, but lack of polish isn't among them. I'm not making any comment about good or bad, fun or no, well written or not (*cough*), just that they weren't janky and played out just as the developers intended. All the farts and belches, muscle flexing, scarring, chicken costumes and the rest were implemented as they were meant to be.

I'm thinking of his glory days at Bullfrog. There is definitely janky stuff there.

For example, in the first two Populous games, gameplay is dominated by the task of making flat land for your followers to settle on. In the second game, there is an AI assistant that automatically flattens land around existing settlements to allow them to expand. The problem with this is that if you have two nearby settlements at different heights, the AI assistant will fight itself and squander all your mana. And your followers are constantly making new settlements without your direct involvement, so the only way to avoid this is to turn the AI assistant off.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Why not? If Peter Molyneux was Polish, most of his stuff would count easily. He definitely has the ambition/unpolished thing down.

Oh, I actually agree. As mentioned before, I think plenty games created in Western European countries, including the UK, can fit the Eurojank label. But I went looking around to see what people in general consider Eurojank, and games from the UK or France or such rarely if ever come up (although Germany does). That's why I said UK games don't seem to count.

Then again, Mount & Blade is usually considered Eurojank and its dev is located in Ankara, Turkey, and that's not even in Europe. So, yeah, it varies wildly.

Although I don't fully agree with Molyneux. It's partly tru, but I see him more as a case of his ambitions (greatly) exceeding the technology at the time, and possibly also his own ability. Not so much because he lacks the time, people and money to fully make those ambitions happen.

Also can I just say thankyou for defining what the thread is about? It's maddening coming to a thread where the OP just launches into their opinion on something without the slightest bit of context about what it actually even is. It's rare to see otherwise. So again, thankyou.

You're welcome. It's not perfect, but I tried. It's not like metroidvania or roguelike, whose meaning has become pretty well-defined and commonly understood.

 

[Dalisclock]

I actually think Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason is pretty underrated and in some ways even better than probably its closest competition, the Metro series. The bad part, aside from some clumsy design elements? Apparently it isn?t even available anymore. [https://gnd-tech.com/2018/02/flashback-friday-cryostasis-sleep-of-reason/]

I'm sad to hear that. I rather liked Cyrostasis, both for it's wierdness and the fact it had the fairly novel idea of being able to relive and change the past, while at the same time seeing how everything went to hell on the ship.

The part in the medical section was also quite affecting once you realize everyone is dying from radiation exposure.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I actually think Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason is pretty underrated and in some ways even better than probably its closest competition, the Metro series. The bad part, aside from some clumsy design elements? Apparently it isn?t even available anymore. [https://gnd-tech.com/2018/02/flashback-friday-cryostasis-sleep-of-reason/]

I'm sad to hear that. I rather liked Cyrostasis, both for it's wierdness and the fact it had the fairly novel idea of being able to relive and change the past, while at the same time seeing how everything went to hell on the ship.

The part in the medical section was also quite affecting once you realize everyone is dying from radiation exposure.

Yup, a very prevalent theme in Eastern European games. Outsiders could almost say it constitutes an unhealthy obsession with it. But it keeps them out of trouble (like vodka overindulgence perhaps, along with whatever that may lead to) and hopefully turns a profit.

Having said that, I think Putin should start playing some of these games. It might do him and the people his decisions affect some good.

 

[Dalisclock]

I actually think Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason is pretty underrated and in some ways even better than probably its closest competition, the Metro series. The bad part, aside from some clumsy design elements? Apparently it isn?t even available anymore. [https://gnd-tech.com/2018/02/flashback-friday-cryostasis-sleep-of-reason/]

I'm sad to hear that. I rather liked Cyrostasis, both for it's wierdness and the fact it had the fairly novel idea of being able to relive and change the past, while at the same time seeing how everything went to hell on the ship.

The part in the medical section was also quite affecting once you realize everyone is dying from radiation exposure.

Yup, a very prevalent theme in Eastern European games. Outsiders could almost say it constitutes an unhealthy obsession with it. But it keeps them out of trouble (like vodka overindulgence perhaps, along with whatever that may lead to) and hopefully turns a profit.

Having said that, I think Putin should start playing some of these games. It might do him and the people his decisions affect some good.

Well, Cyrostasis was made by a Ukrainian studio so that kind of thing probably hits close to home for them, considering a 2.5 square km of their country is still off-limits due to radiation levels. Ironically, Chernobyl continued to operate until 2000, 13 years after the accident, because why let a radiation disaster get in the way of keeping the plant open.