Raphaël Colantonio, co-founder of Arkane Studios and WolfEye Studios, has offered insights into his current gaming habits and reflections on various titles, including Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3. In a recent discussion, Colantonio revealed that the last game he felt perfectly satisfied with was Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3.
"There's just nothing I can say here. Like, just nothing," Colantonio stated, emphasizing the game's comprehensive quality in his eyes.
He also shared his experience playing Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time. While acknowledging its impressive production, direction, visuals, and cinematics, Colantonio found himself noticing the game's underlying structure. "I saw the strings," he explained. "There were so many strings to me in the game that bothered me." He initially felt the choices presented were superficial, lacking significant consequences, though he later conceded that the game's scale and its depiction of a living city were commendable. Colantonio drew parallels between Cyberpunk 2077's design and Deus Ex, noting that while the former is a great experience, its sheer scope may have led to a sacrifice of some of the depth that made Deus Ex compelling.
Colantonio's gaming journey began with a passion for the Ultima series, which led him to purchase his first PC. His career includes co-founding Arkane Studios, responsible for acclaimed titles like Dishonored and Prey, before establishing WolfEye Studios, which released Weird West. The studio is currently working on an unnamed first-person RPG.
When discussing currently played games, Colantonio mentioned Mewgenics. Initially disappointed by its turn-based combat and what he perceived as a blurry metagame involving cat breeding, he found the game grew on him over time, partly due to the elements of "rage" and "fun" that come with its unpredictable runs, reminiscent of games like The Binding of Isaac. He also cited Into the Breach and XCOM as tactical games he enjoys playing.
His deepest Steam playtime is recorded for Wasteland 2, with 649 hours, a figure that surprised him as it exceeded the time spent on his own studio's Weird West. He played Wasteland 2 around 2015, concurrently with his work on Prey.
Colantonio also revisited Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, a game he played partly due to his admiration for Lovecraft and partly on the recommendation of Bethesda's Todd Vaugn. He noted the game's strong atmosphere but also its frustrating brutality, reflecting on the difficulty of game development where excellent qualities can sometimes fail to coalesce into a successful final product.
Regarding games that hold a permanent place, Colantonio expressed deep admiration for the Thief series, Fallout, and Deus Ex. He specifically recalled the original Thief, highlighting its analogue stealth mechanics and immersive audio design, which greatly influenced Arkane's own work. "Dishonored was very much our own expression of a Thief game, right? We entirely ripped off their portals and propagation system for Dishonored," he admitted, praising the ingenuity of the sound propagation system that allowed players to pinpoint sound sources through portals.