Your poetry is full of lies, just like the advertising campaign and demo for Brutal Legend.

Die in the flaming metal guts of Ormagöden, non-believer.  I had a blast with this game.

Whiners about the RTS portions can just chill, srsly.  It's all pretty much zerg-rush, except for when you need the tank to destroy the towers or monster heads.  Crybabies.

In fact I think I will finally remove Psychonauts, which I purchased but never played, from my Pile of Shame now.

Yay, my first successful troll!

I love Schaffer's writing but I've never really connected with his gameplay. You will probably love Psychonauts, enjoy.

:)   **Hangs head in shame at having taken the bait.**

I'm hoping for an encore myself -- for both Brutal Legend and Psychonauts. Brendon is right; crafting interesting game worlds is definitely Schafer's strong suit, whereas the gameplay in Brutal Legend and Psychonauts fell a bit flat in both cases.

But as much as I'd love to see a couple of sequels, apparently Schafer would rather create new IP than revisit old properties. :\

Hmmm great open game world, fascinating and funny characters, narratives that suck you in and keep you enthralled, varied mission structures, interesting themes that speak to you on interesting levels.

I'm not going to piss on the gameplay.  You got Devil May Cry and Bayonetta if combo-weaving matters more to you than all that other stuff, right?  I thought it did a good job mixing up gameplay variety: RTS elements, good combat that is button-mash friendly, fun driving, all of it with character.

This is the kind of structure that could have worked with something serious too, like Starcraft: Ghost, if you ask me.  More tuning and variety (maybe a bit too many ambushes) can come in the encore.