Mythologue

@Shinnok789 Agreed, but the one caveat with focusing primarily on digital releases is that you're forced to accept the prices on digital storefronts. I'm in a similar position in that I went pretty much exclusively digital within the past four years or so, but the prices are so obscene and unjustifiable today (£70 is eldritch) that I'm considering returning to physical releases.

I feel like I've heard this one before. It usually ends with a game that isn't quite as good as what they were producing initially.

I can't say I've ever even heard of such a game. How many people were following it?

It's pretty weak when the most outstanding game seems to be a Spongebob title, but there you go I guess.

Deserved. Fast became one of my favourite games of all time. It's just so refreshing to see a separate take on the open world formula that isn't this same Ubisoftified design that's been done to death to the point of sheer boredom.

Why offer Fallout 76 to anyone at any price? It's one of the worst games from the last generation. Even after they'd tried to fix the major bugs and errors, it's still just a tired slog.

Fallen Order is a very solid game, but it's the only game here that stands out as appealing in any way. It's also three years old. Shame.

Decided to return to Fallen Order for a second time since I completed it a little while ago on PS4. Fantastic game, doesn't make use of the PS5's power at all though. Loading times to respawn are around 20 to 30 seconds. Quite jarring.

It's easily one of the greatest games I've played. Maybe that notion would dwindle given a second playthrough but it was such an entertaining game that it was genuinely difficult to put down for the day.

It avoided the typical, dull, vacuous, bloated, tired tropes that plagues most other open world games in droves. Even otherwise fantastic games like Spider-man, The Witcher 3 and Horizon fall into these same traps. On that fact alone, it's entirely refreshing. I actually enjoyed exploring the world.

So, following a playthrough on PS4, I'll likely be returning to it on PS5. Cannot guarantee that I'll be able to stomach it all the way through again but I'm certain I'll enjoy it for a little while.

It took a couple of years at least for PS4 to show itself off. Up until that point, those games that had released were fairly mediocre (Knack, Killzone, Driveclub). Even so, there was a strong showing as well around 2014/2015 with Arkham Knight, Bloodborne, Dragon Age Inquisition and so on.

This generation feels like it's lagging. There hasn't yet been a seriously strong contender, and we're more than two years (about a quarter of a generation) in.

The one thing that irks me about ND, contrary to the fact that they're otherwise a mark of quality in and of themselves, is that they never seem to know when to let an idea go.

Uncharted was a great franchise that could have easily ended with the third entry. The fourth was a decent addition, but then they went out of their way to make yet another. It's the same with The Last of Us. The first game really didn't need a sequel at all, never mind two.

I think what FromSoft did with Bloodborne, similar to what Frictional did with SOMA, is how some developers should treat their IPs. Some games are just meant to stand on their own, in isolation.

@somnambulance On the one hand, I'm not a fan of Bloober in the slightest. On the other, I'm tired of the same developers rehashing ideas and thinking that, because they had a hit once, they can emulate it over and over. Mostly to diminishing returns.

At least with an indie studio, you have that slightest bit of humility that isn't usually associated with big name developers.

I have an inkling that Elden Ring and Ragnarok are going to be vying for first in the overall rankings (my money's on Elden Ring). HFW might be third. Stray will slip its way in there somewhere as well, I guess.

@Mauzuri Agreed. It seems to be a game that will center around fetch quests like pretty much all other RPGs, rather than a fully fledged universe that makes the most of all the universe's quirks.

Oh, and on top of this (in case this wasn't already clear) there are also no house points or a gobstones minigame (confirmed in the recent demonstration).

I think that ever since most people became disillusioned with CDPR following the disastrous CP77, I've only just begun to realise that a lot of what made W3 so good really hasn't aged all that well.

It's a solid game and set a benchmark for the time, but ever since, I've certainly played at least a handful of RPGs that have far surpassed it, if not in their world building and characters then at the very least in their mechanics and polish.

As an aside, it seems that this is only really pointing towards my prediction that, not far into the future (maybe 10 to 20 years from now), there'll be a convergence of big name hardware developers into purely digital mediums. At that point, physical hardware will probably cease to exist entirely (with respect to consoles, not PC).

PS6 and PS7 will probably exist, but I find a PS8 or PS9 actually quite far fetched given this increasingly digital, and modular, landscape.

Apart from Armored Core, which would certainly be a curious addition considering FromSoft's reputation and character these days, nothing much here that really grabbed my attention.

I remember when DS did this whole cryptic thing and it ended up being a walking simulator. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the less a game (or advertising) presents of itself upfront, the less entertaining it's actually going to be.

Elden Ring, but no Rykard. Sadness.

@Savage_Joe Which would make sense, of course, only this article suggests it's actually the opposite of what you're describing ("woke" people are being blamed for the dev's failings, not the other way around: they're the ones being attacked).

Days Gone was just not that good a game. It was fine, but that was it, really. More zombies, more open world, more chores, more clichés, no appealing story beyond cardboard characters and the bold assumption that we'd really care about them.

Everything it did, The Last of Us (and its sequel) did better, with deeper characters, a more original world and an intricately crafted plot. Days Gone was OK, but just OK. It brought absolutely nothing new to the formula.

@Savage_Joe Awareness has always been a positive thing.

Elden Ring is the only game that I've paid full price for in years. One of the earlier games I remember not waiting on was SOMA (although that was something like £27).

But either way, as technical prowess improves, I find that games become increasingly hollow and vacuous. Games are more expensive to develop and market today, sure, but it's mostly for the sake of needless detail and reach. I don't need a game to be of photographic quality. It's a game, not a film.

Meanwhile, I can play old school Runescape, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft, and find I get more out of these four games than a single AAA title put out today (for the most part).

I've actually been replaying it on PC, but I don't know how much of a leap there'll be between the current version on PC, and the future version on PS5. I don't know if I can stomach another (fifth, after this one) playthrough of the game.

I'm also quite conscious of Elden Ring and how much that game may have spoiled pretty much every other fantasy open world out there, for me at least.

The supposed mediocrity of the game is just another instance of vindication for those who refuse to preorder. The game was hyped up way too much. I began to grow suspicious when the devs seemed to become a little too sure of their own talents. I think I was right in feeling that way.

"...the time has come to come to terms..."

That really doesn't read easily at all.

@LifeGirl Not to mention the fact that the metaverse raises any number of ethical concerns. We can't even moderate big tech companies on the internet. I'd love to know how companies plan to moderate the metaverse, which holds far more potential for harassing behaviour.

How to tank your new studio's reputation in less than 24 hours: a primer.

CoD has been clawing it back since BF began to take a nosedive and EA began to singlehandedly crush their own reputation (shocker). If they'd maintained their BFBC2 glory they may have been riding high at this point. Alas...

@OrtadragoonX I don't really know if this 30 second rule would hold up today. There was a time when games would have short intervals between action but games of today are far more complex and nuanced. Say, for example, how does this rule hold up with respect to interactive novel type games like Zero Escape, Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright?

There are also games with substantial downtime. The Last of Us had plenty of moments where you were just casually wandering around abandoned districts and streets. One of Elden Ring's most appealing aspects to me was how I could just walk and enjoy the scenery, appreciate the level of detail in the environments.

@kyleforrester87 When you consciously zap yourself.

@itsfoz From my experience with House of Ashes, barring some of the early sections of the game with the typical generic scares (thing appears out of wall, thing crawls along ceiling, thing suddenly yanks someone from the shadows), I can't remember there really being all that many. Those that do exist are only bad because of the scare chords (or audio cues, whatever).

I can't speak for this one, of course.

I'd been playing the old games (PS1) only a few days ago. I'm ready to see how the game has evolved over time given new technology and a move away from the film material. The last couple of games were pretty dire so I hope this new direction is worth it.

My main concern is that it doesn't appear to be a huge step up comparative to 2018, barring the scope. It's not like I can complain about more God of War, especially given that stellar showing in the reboot, but few updates to the combat and apparently only bare improvements with respect to the graphics? Maybe I was just expecting a little too much but this is more what I'd consider common for annual or biannual releases.

Besides this, I'm pretty excited to try it out. Been waiting to see how this saga ends for what feels like a lifetime now.

I'm torn between the two "no" options. I've never really been sold on VR in general. I know that it's lasted longer than we might have expected from anything that would be described as a gimmick (see: PS Move, Kinect), but I just can't see it surviving to the end of this generation.

Having said that, if PSVR2 ends up adding Alyx to its lineup, then it's a sure thing for me, after a price drop. But ONLY if they secure that title, since I don't care for anything else currently.

@ATaco Maybe, but it also reminded me of that period when Capcom were like "we need to work on regaining trust with the consumer". Perhaps Konami is doing the same...?

I find that games relying on celebrity cameos are (sometimes, not always) doomed to failure as the emphasis is placed on the celebrity more than the game. Remember how much CoD did the celebrity thing to death?

There was a side by side technical comparison of this and Arkham Knight, and graphically it's pretty outdated comparatively. I'm also not sure I can stomach more Batman stuff, having beaten the Arkham trilogy along with Arkham Origins.

Can it be adjusted in real time? Because if so, I'd definitely want to test each to see the change in graphical quality / resolution before deciding. I feel like I could do with 40FPS but I might prefer 60 to 120 if the drop in quality isn't so severe.

It's far more focused than the previous installments (a slightly smaller world with greater density I would say) so it has its appeal. I really enjoyed it quite a lot but after a while (I'm passed the 100 hour mark on my save now) I just had to stop. Was trying to get through Wrath of the Druids but it's just too bloated and repetitive now. Might return to it at some point in the future.

Only Nioh 2 stands out for me here. The others are just passable. Not bad, but if you seriously wanted them you'd probably just buy them instead.

Death Stranding promised the world and it ended up being a walking simulator. Sorry if I can't get too excited about Kojima placing emphasis on his own perceived talents and originality, but I learn from the past.

@Romulus It's a crying shame that open world games have just been left to stagnate. I can't be the only one who's getting tired of the question mark plagued, side mission saturated open worlds of today. Only Elden Ring really managed to make the open world formula feel fresh again, and that was mostly because it wasn't choked by several hundred pointless symbols.

The original was fantastic, quite a unique game that combined active combat with more traditional turn-based combat. The one major concern that really isn't going to translate well in the current climate are those cards. Expect a veritable storm if they reintroduce those.

I wouldn't ordinarily use it but RDR2 was an exception. Way too many incredible vistas and atmospheric shots to pass up in that game.

Also, the recent AC games introduced a feature where the location where you took the pictures is tagged on the map, which means you can revisit the specific location. It's a small detail, but one which encouraged me to take a few shots in that game as well.

@Snake_V5 It's a little more angular. He has harder features which are more pronounced. Personally, I don't mind too much. I can't imagine what James Sunderland would actually look like rendered in UE5.

@NeonPizza Like I said, if I wanted high frame rates I'd just use my PC instead. On PC it's pretty much a guarantee (60, 120, 240, etc.) unless the devs end up locking the frames. On consoles it's not, because they're not flexible in terms of hardware and, arguably, firmware. And 120 being a luxury is dependent on which games you're discussing, and how taxing those games are. Some could easily push past 200 on PC.

More to the point, I don't care about frames at all, which is why I still use consoles. If I was all about the tech, I'd be more prone to invest in GPUs, CPUs, motherboards and nvme SSDs for a high end gaming PC, to guarantee that I get the best rates and resolution. That's the point I'm making.

If I cared about 60FPS I'd just invest in my PC instead.

It's a bit of an unrelated question, but does anyone know where the term "gone gold" actually originated?

@Styledvinny79 I thought something similar. Might put some people off, might attract others. For me, a sequel to Paradise was what I was hoping for so...I'm all for it.

Is that "risk and reward" a Burnout 3 reference? Because that's definitely what surfaced in my mind when I read it. Good to see Criterion back at the helm of a racing game. It's been too long.