Except 'their vision' is practically homogeneous. I can't think even think of a dozen Unity games that broke the mould, and genuinely stand out, out of the many tens of thousands (?).

There's Genshin Impact, Pokemon Go, Superhot, Beat Saber, Monument Valley, Subnautica, Among Us, Rust, Cities:Skylines (maybe), Ori (maybe), COD:Mobile (maybe) and...?

> Except 'their vision' is practically homogeneous. I can't think even think of a dozen Unity games that broke the mould, and genuinely stand out, out of the many tens of thousands (?).

You could say the same about books.

Lowering the barriers of entry does mean more content will be generated and that content won't the same bar as having a middleman who was the arbiter of who gets published but at the same time, you'll likely get more hits and new developers because you getting more people swinging faster to test the market and hone their eye.

I am doubtful that there are very many people who hit a "Best Seller" 10/10 on their first try. You just used to not see it or ever be able to consume it because their audience was like 7 people at their local club.

It's now over eighteen years later after the first few games made with Unity came out and at best, being generous, there's maybe two dozen.

Which suggests even after several iterations the vast vast majority of folks are not putting out anything noteworthy.

Necropolis, Ziggurat... Imo the best games nowadays are often those that no one heard about. Popularity wasn't a good metric for a very long while. And thankfully games like "New World" and "Starfield" are helping a lot for general population to finally figure this out.

Some other Unity games that are fun, and which others haven't mentioned:

Cuphead

Escape Academy

Overcooked

Monster Sanctuary

Lunistice

Kerbal Space Program is another.

True, KSP definitely qualifies as breaking the mould.

The Long Dark.

I await more of the story campaign with bated breath. I'm adoring it, though the last episode felt a tad rushed, or flat maybe. To me, at least.

and Outer Wilds!

True, it definitely would count, at least more so than COD:Mobile.

Valheim lol

Yeah, I can definitely see how Beat Saber, Hollow Knight, and Tunic didn’t really do anything particularly creative or impressive. /s

I mentioned Beat Saber? Did you skip reading the list?

Rimworld. Dyson Sphere Program. Cult of the Lamb. Escape from Tarkov. Furi. Getting over it with Bennett Foddy. Hollow Knight. Kerbal Space Program. Oxygen not included. Pillars of Eternity. Risk of Rain 2. Tyranny.

I'd say all of those do some major thing that makes them stand out.

I don't agree with you at all.

Angry birds, Slender: The Eight Pages, Kerbal Space Program, Plague Inc, The Room, Rust, Tabletop Simulator, Enter the Gungeon, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Clone Hero, Cuphead, Escape from Tarkov, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, Hollow Knight, Oxygen Not Included, Among Us, RimWorld, Subnautica, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Outer Wilds, Risk of Rain 2, Subnautica: Below Zero, Superliminal, Untitled Goose Game, Fall Guys, Raft, Slime Rancher, Firewatch, PolyBridge, Mini Metro, Luckslinger, Return of the Obra Dinn, 7 Days to Die, Cult of the Lamb, Punch Club.

Many more where those came from

I'm cautiously optimistic, but I also think about things like "Rebel Moon". When I was growing up, movies were constrained by their special effects budget... if some special effects "wizard" couldn't think of a way to make it look like Luke Skywalker got his hand cut off in a light saber battle, he didn't get his hand cut off in a light saber battle. Now, with CGI, the sky is the limit - what we see on screen is whatever the writer can dream up. But what we're getting is... pretty awful. It's almost as if the technical constraints actually forced the writers to focus on crafting a good story to make up for lack of special effects.