MrPeanutbutterz

@Neverwild Okay, then, educate me - what are Freakers, exactly?

@Psofo Yes. Next question.

@Neverwild I hope this is satirical...

@AgentMantis Preach. One of the worst games I've played in the last decade.

Following its lukewarm launch back in 2019, there’s a chance you never stayed up to date with how the developer righted the ship. First and foremost, the base game is in a significantly better place. It was updated for months after launch, fixing glitches and ironing out crashes.

Nope. This is "fixing a broken product so it's in a saleable condition". None of these patches could do anything to fix the utterly risible characters and writing, the poor pacing, and the most done-to-death, unoriginal trope in fiction.

I do use headphones quite a bit, but it's no good as I run them plugged in to an external amplifier, so the console doesn't know they're there.

@Godot25 And the "internet's" sway ultimately amounts to naught. If Redfall was cancelled, a lot of onlookers would have said "looked like trash anyways", which it did. But Microsoft were desperate to pump their "day one on GamePass" numbers.

You've completely missed my point regarding Halo. They gave the campaign with GP because "muh day one numbers", but they shredded the multiplayer because they had to monetise it. If they had left it as part of the core game, it would have been included with GP - which means sales of the game (ergo the monetisation) would be non-existent because a sub is required for online play, and if you're getting a sub you may as well avail of the one that gives you the game for "free", and people would have rioted over them including MTX/battlepass garbage in a "full price" game.

And sure, the multiplayer played well enough - I was there for it - but it was also heavily criticised by the community because of the lack of content, and the egregious MTX content. €8 quid for Master Chief kitty ears... I'm sorry, what? It was also heavily criticised because the arbitrary goals to fulfill battlepass requirements meant chunks of the playerbase were chasing that and not fully engaging with in-game objectives and becoming a lead weight around their team's ankle.

Friendly reminder that this is what they did to their flagship franchise - none of this would have happened if it was still treated as a premium, console-selling product. GamePass and the overall model is a pox upon the industry, plain and simple.

@Frmknst This is is. Microsoft need to rip the plaster off and just say "fellas, the platform is dead" already.

@Godot25 You've partially proven the point you're trying to dismiss. Redfall should have been scrapped, but was pushed out the door so Microsoft could toot "day one on GamePass". Halo - one of the most beloved multiplayer series of all time - saw Infinite's multiplayer shredded into F2P, low effort muck because Microsoft couldn't monetise it any other way (as people would need a sub to play it online anyways).

@OldGamer999 It's not at all strange. How people consume games and how people consume TV/films is completely different. Especially with how casual and low barrier to entry TV consumption is.

A TV sub is also the easiest way to consume most of the currently popular shows. Game subs effectively have you hoping that the game you want will pop up on it, and then there's companies like Larian who have outright said that Baldur's Gate 3 is never coming to a gaming sub.

I've enjoyed a fair few J-RPG/FF games over the years, and character action games like Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, Sekiro are amongst some of my favourite games ever made. And my overriding feeling while playing FF16 was "who the hell is this supposed to appeal to?".

Because it wasn't very appealing as a FF game, and it was utterly lame as an action game.

@zhoont It's a work of entertainment, I don't need to like it, it ain't that deep.

@PlatinumMikey Please re-read where I said I'm strongly anti-GamePass - you're preaching to the choir here.

@Balaam_ You don't need to tell us you don't like digital on every article. We know.

@PlatinumMikey Okay, and? It has nothing to do with what's being discussed (Microsoft first party games going multiformat to keep their portfolio of franchises financially viable).

Besides, why do you think the majority of games developers even exist? Hint - it's money.

@PlatinumMikey They're billion dollar corporations, they didn't get there by not doing stuff for profit. If their (Xbox's) model isn't profitable enough - which it clearly isn't - then they'll seek to expand their market and models by pivoting. In this case, pushing towards multiformat publishing on PS5/Switch(2) is the pivot.

And I'm staunchly anti-GamePass, and subscriptions in general. By "healthy market" I mean Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft have a captive audience that actually want to buy their games. Microsoft are finding that audience outside of their own ecosystem.

@Titntin Any bikers I've ever hung out with don't talk like a petulant 13 year old.

@zhoont Patches can't fix the dreadful writing, pacing, or the using the most done to death trope in fiction.

@PlatinumMikey Seeing as Microsoft are pushing towards being a multiformat publisher, that's a good thing. Or would you rather they tap out of the videogame market and take a wealth of beloved IP with them?

None of these companies are your friends, nor are they spending tens to hundreds of millions to develop games for the LOLs. The market being healthy mutually benefits the big companies and the consumers.

@Lysterao If GamePass "clearly worked" for Microsoft, we wouldn't be seeing this (and lots of other) game(s) outside of the Xbox ecosystem, but here we are.

@TheShrunkenHeadsman Lol all good. I genuinely felt myself thinking that it was a lovechild of The Last of Us and Far Cry, and then found myself thinking that I'd rather be playing either of them.

I abandoned it (twice - once on PS4 Pro, and once on PS5) around the right hour mark, which was apparently near the end of the intro... whut, talk about poor pacing. Never got to see the hordes properly as a result.

And the bike... the most fuel inefficient contraption to ever exist, but it conveniently existed in a post-apocalypse where no one else thought to pilfer the red cans of fuel that were everywhere. It felt too videogame-y and pulled me out of the world.

Amazing to see how two people can have such a contrasting experience of the same thing lol.

@TheShrunkenHeadsman Err, yeah that's my point, particularly about it lifting from The Last of Us.

You're aware that Days Gone has nothing to do with Naughty Dog, right? (it was developed by Bend).

@Logonogo I never claimed otherwise. That said, "the writing in Days Gone is garbage" isn't exactly an outlier in terms of subjective opinion. It's the main criticism levied against the game.

@James_42 Well I'm not a huge Spider-Man fan either. That said, the writing in Days Gone is genuinely incompetent. Deacon is one of the worst characters ever written in any form of fiction.

@James_42 According to my profile on PS5, I've played 708 games, and that's obviously just across PS4/PS5...

The pacing is so bad it's broken, the writing would embarrass a creative writing class in primary school, the mechanics are lifted wholesale from older, better games.

@NathanKang Preach. Days Gone is genuinely one of the worst games I've played in the last decade.

@Skarasny Just play a completely different game in a completely different genre? Really?

You conveniently left out the "in a new ecosystem" part.

Well if you don't want to engage with people regarding the price being high, then don't tell us you think the price is high.

@Arkz No one is defending the high price, rather we're explaining why the price is high.

It's a new game, in a new ecosystem, ergo it's priced as a new game. Those are facts. You saying "but old!" and "but GamePass!" doesn't change any of those facts.

@Arkz I'm not. I (and other people) have presented you with the facts of what's happening and you've chosen to go "la la la, can't hear you".

Control was a janky and unengaging third person shooter with a quirky X-Files vibe to it. Remedy are overrated in the extreme.

@Dampsponge How many of those games were removed from your library without warning?

Arse performance means it's another game I can safely ignore.

@Dampsponge Okay, so you've been buying the small number of films that do come with dual formats. Congrats, I guess? Still doesn't change the fact that the majority of dual format releases aren't priced the same.

And now you've pivoted to "but if your account was hacked!" because the "Sony gonna pull access for the LOLs" bogeyman does in fact not exist and your BS argument disintegrated under the slightest of scrutiny. But hey, thanks for being utterly disingenuous with what you wrote, tells me everything I need to know.

@Arkz Okay so you are in fact being deliberately obtuse. Cool.

@Arkz No, "kiddo", it's not. It's a new release to the PlayStation ecosystem, ergo it's priced like a new game within that ecosystem. Just like how PlayStation games are when they hit PC.

As a PlayStation owner who wanted to play this game in 2021 at release, it didn't cost me €25 - or €70 - it cost me around €550 because I had to (checks notes) buy a Series X to have a way to play it, and also pay for a way to access the game.

So which is the cheaper way for the majority of the PlayStation audience in 2025 to play this game - buy a whole new console and take out a perpetual subscription, or just pay the "new" game tax and buy it for the console you already own and prefer?

@Vladspartan Don't care don't need a profile picture for here. I discuss game news, not a pathetic profile picture. Is for... well. It is pathetic cheer for something you don't need since you type comments not... profile pictures.

So, tell us why you have a profile picture?

@Dampsponge If they give you two copies of the game at the same price for what they're charging for just the one then that is the very definition of losing money.

Films are a completely different medium that are consumed differently to videogames. Tell me this - how many of the DVDs and Blu-rays sitting in your local store come with digital versions for free? Because it's close to zero. Or how many come as dual format releases that are the same price as one format? Also close to zero.

Ah yes, the "they're gonna take your digital library away with zero notice" boogeyman. You really think Sony's pitch for the PS8 is gonna be "guys, we've just nuked your digital library that you've spent thousands accumulating over the last two decades for the LOLs, but plz buy our new - digital only - PS8 🥺🥺🥺"

@Arkz Why are you being so deliberately obtuse? Will that Steam key work on my PS5? No? Okay then.

@Dampsponge Because they're effectively giving you two copies of the game for the price of one. And once you crack open they big box, you'll more than likely turn around and sell the copy of the game you don't want, losing them a sale in the process.

@ButterySmooth30FPS You've just summed up why I have a borderline distaste for portable consoles. Give me my 65" OLED or give me a book. I'll play the game when I'm back in front of the quality screen.

@Lysterao Ain't that the truth. Good point.

@truerbluer Yyyeeesss. Felt like I was manoeuvring boulders regardless of what car (or what surface) I was using.

Going off your Goteki 45 avatar, I can see you're used to more refined and twitchy arcade handling.

@Glorioso You played this on PS5 Pro in 2021? Do tell us more...

Quick skim of your profile shows you're a Microsoft troll. Welcome to being 12 again...

Nope. TES games just never clicked for me, and I say that as someone whose current game is Fallout 4 GOTY with about 60 hours clocked (which would be in addition to the 120 I pumped into the vanilla version at release on PS4).

@nomither6 Finally, someone else who feels like this doesn't have much of an arcade feel to it.

@Lup Fair. I wish I could tune the nonsense out, but like the reviewer it was too egregious to ignore, and it became a blight on the game.

It's criminal that Activision never saw fit to give us a PS5 update (to allow for 60FPS) for Crash Team Racing. Doubly so that they released a native PS5 version for THPS1+2.

@Lup I mean, have you actually played the game? On paper, yeah, it doesn't make sense, but when you sit down and have to endure the utter drivel that passes for the characters in this game it makes perfect sense.

One of my most disappointing gaming purchases ever. Not that it's bad per se, but I bought a Series X (despite already having a PS5 since launch), so it effectively cost me the guts of €600 for this.

It's a 6/10 game at best. To wit;

-Pacing/sense of progression is non-existent. It hands you hypercars after an hour of play.
-For an arcade racer, it handles like molasses, while lacking the precision and nuance of a sim-cade racer.
-Being able to buldoze though a stone wall at 400km/h in a Bugatti with zero consequence is certainly a design choice
-The "story" and writing would embarrass your local under-10 Am-Dram class.

And even if it didn't have all those flaws, it's not even the best game in the series (2, 3, and 4 are all better games).