I never noticed this small detail about Expedition 33 before, but it seems it ruined the game for many eagle-eyed players

Today’s games vary between the hyper-realistic AAA look and the more artsy indie aesthetic. Expedition 33 stands out for looking realistic, yet dreamy enough, with the plus of having cost a fraction of what most modern AAA games cost to make. There’s one possible caveat, though.

While this article contains no story spoilers, I warn you that it might contain visual spoilers that could forever change how you perceive Expedition 33.

The issue is that some players claim that the human characters in Expedition 33 have weird bodily proportions. Now, you likely belong in one of two groups: the players who are reading this and thinking “wtf?”, or those who’re finally feeling vindicated, wondering why no one else is talking about it. I’m talking about the character’s head-to-body proportions, specifically. These players are complaining that the characters’ heads are just a bit larger than a regular person’s would be, how they noticed that in the game’s very first trailer, and how that completely kills the game for them.

The gold vs blue dress of gaming?

I never got that impression from the game. So, to give you a more objective representation, I believe that the more eagle-eyed players see Expedition 33‘s characters the same way we, normal people who are happy with the game in its current state, see the characters of the obscure PS1 title Technomage.

And, well, although “technomage” is an excellent description of Expedition 33’s Gustave, Expedition’s supposed “bobbleheads” are far more discreet. So much so that most players simply haven’t noticed them, if there’s anything to notice at all. Whereas these players say that this problem isn’t equally evident in all characters, they state it to be pretty clear with Maelle and Gustave, and not just because of his gorgeous mane.

This is such a big deal that a subsection of players asked modders to come up with a fix for the characters’ proportions. This poor guy on Nexusmods seemingly even asked for it as a Christmas gift.

“I find it crazy that people don’t even comment about this. The heads are so big they almost look like bobble-heads. This makes the game unplayable to me.”

And someone did begin working on that mod, only to then accept defeat, explaining that the task somehow just proved too difficult.

And that critical expedition failure is quite the extreme case, but the whole case remains interesting, even as simply an interesting mystery to be explored, and not something to be fixed. As I noticed in Reddit comments, the people who more quickly caught the issue with the characters were artists, people who are usually fully aware of natural human proportions.

The case for an artistic decision would be strange, as E33 chases ultra-realism in its character design. It makes sense, as that’s the best way to evoke the empathy of human players to the unfolding drama of the plot. Also, the game’s characters were designed by professional artists, so again, they likely know about body proportions in-depth. So, I wonder if it really was their decision to make the characters like that, or if it was a simple mistake.

The case for a mistake is easier to make, as it seems this is actually something relatively common with UE5 assets, as their base metahuman proportions are difficult to tinker with when it comes to certain body types. Reddit user takokato was nice enough to come up with an insightful little infographic:

So, what do you think? Did Sandfall secretly model the characters like that as a psyop to ease indie fans’ acceptance of the inevitable POP! collectibles? Are all characters in the game secretly turning into those creepy wooden mimes found throughout the game?

I’d really like to get to your take in the comments so we can get to the bottom of this.

The post I never noticed this small detail about Expedition 33 before, but it seems it ruined the game for many eagle-eyed players appeared first on Destructoid.

The first week of the Team of the Year promo is about to be over, and the TOTY Honourable Mentions items will be available soon in FC 26 Ultimate Team.

The Honourable Mentions items will be special cards of footballers who missed out on the TOTY starters. However, EA Sports will be releasing special cards for these players via packs. Let’s look at all the leaks that have appeared so far on social media, followed by when the cards will be available in packs.

All FC 26 TOTY Honourable Mentions players

So far, a few Honourable Mentions players are already available in Ultimate Team. These cards were released as part of SBCs and objectives. However, the whole HM team will be added to packs, and here are the cards that have leaked on social media.

• Mohamed Salah
• Marc Guehi
• David Raya
• Denzel Dumfries
• Pacho
• Marquinhos
• Luis Diaz

More names are expected to be leaked once we get close to the launch date. Unlike the starter team, Honourable Mentions will all be added at the same time to packs. There could also be more cards appearing as SBCs and objectives in the days to follow.

FC 26 TOTY Honourable Mentions release countdown

The Honourable Mentions will be in packs along with the full starting lineups. The following countdown will expire once the cards are in packs. All Honourable Mentions from packs will be available for a week starting Friday, Jan. 23.

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The countdown is based on the following timings.

• 10am PT
• 12pm CT
• 1pm ET
• 6pm UTC
• 7pm CET

This is the usual schedule that’s followed by EA Sports when it comes to new promos. It will be interesting to find out which cards eventually make it to the official list.

The post All FC 26 TOTY Honourable Mentions players (leaks) and release countdown appeared first on Destructoid.