I've critiqued AoM in private to DSV
I'm glad to hear Volition are receiving direct feedback.
I've critiqued AoM in private to DSV
Draw distance.Though why exactly they chose to make a new engine when it does exactly the same things as the old one (only worse) is anyone's guess.
Draw distance.
I'm willing to bet there were really odd limitations to the old engine, I recall the memory cap being an issue in 3, and then in 4 most of the performance issues were dealt with and it ran generally better on PC than the previous entry. Similarly, the devs behind Payday 2 are working on a new engine for Payday 3 because of bizarre limitations. Like magazines can't be done as openly as an attachment type because they can't set different animations for other magazine types like drums.
Lighting.It doesn't look that much longer than most open world games. And even if it were, why? Does it really do a better job than some decent LOD's? Unless you're running the game in 4K, I doubt it.
Coincidentally, both Payday 2 and Agents of Mayhem are games with outdated graphics that run worse than Arkham Knight. Difference is Payday 2 has 4 years worth of content updates and a 32bit architecture to justify it (sort of). Not to mention an engine older than most GTA players (hue).
Lighting.
I've been bumming about on a console copy, so I can't speak for PC performance. All I'm noting is that odd reasons can rise that will call for an engine needing to be abandoned or moved away from. It could even be something as simple as licensing or something. Again, I'm also willing to state Saints Row 3 ran like trash on PC for me, even on my newer PC it runs worse than 4 and Gat out of Hell.
This is a first run with a new engine, I'm hoping by the time I can pick it up on PC the performance has been patched a little and things are more stable, I definitely hope to come back in time for modding tools. If their work ethic is anything like it is in the past, they will work hard on making the PC experience more functional and fun as best they can. Volition is pretty nifty group like that.
$30 is much more reasonable.