Westernwolf4

Great review, and I am so glad to hear the game is good. I really like DONTNOD games. And I really wanted them to take what they did in Vampyr up a notch. While Vampyr is absolutely worth playing, it is also one of the games I am most frustrated with, because it seems like that game was ALMOST THERE. The atmosphere and NPC stories were top notch (sounds a lot like the side stories here), but the main story pacing was all wrong, navigation was abysmal (a powerful vampire really can't get through a locked gate?) and combat was really boring.

Banishers sounds like a similar game in terms of the good from Vampyr, that has taken some steps forward from the bad. Exactly what I was hoping for. I don't know when my backlog will let me get to this, but get to it eventually I shall.

I have all the major consoles because I spend way too much time on this hobby and I don't want to miss any games. But I will tell you one thing for sure-If the rumors are close to true (and I think they are otherwise they would have been promptly denied), then there will certainly be no reason for me to purchase an Xbox next generation if they make one.

Playstation has been my favorite ecosystem since PS1. If Microsoft releases games in that ecosystem, then I will have purchased my last Xbox/Gamepass machine.

I have both consoles so I don’t really care, but more choice is always better for players. Things that are good for players make me happy.

I don’t think this says much for Xbox confidence in their own ecosystem, but that is hardly news. And like I said: I just want people to have access to games.

@ApostateMage Me too! My PS wrap up says that Greedfall was my third most played game in 2023. I did not see that coming, but I know I really enjoyed it. So I am looking forward to Steel Rising.

Great month for me-I have been wanting to try Rollerdrome and Steel Rising!

I’ll stick to Foamst……..I mean Splatoon, on my Switch. 😃

This morning I finished Lost In Random. What an awesome game. If you like exploration/adventure games and card battlers, you should check this out. Random just oozes charm and atmosphere.

Tonight: Dead Space Remake. I haven’t played Dead Space since it was released, so I can’t wait. I made the mistake of starting the original when I was home sick with the flu, and a few times my heart was racing so fast I thought the game was actually going to kill me. 😃

I want to play Infinite Wealth, but I promised myself I would finish the main series entries first. And I am only on Yakuza 5.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I would play the hell out of this. I don’t even think of it as an Assassin’s Creed game, just the most fun pirate sim out there.

Just finished: Dead Island 2. Fun, but def. wore out its welcome by the end.

Just started: Lost in Random. Charming as hell, in the most Tim Burton way possible.

Glad Push Square folks are playing Nobody Saves the World. Very good dungeon crawler with some cool ideas.

@Wazeddie22 You are playing some great games-Nobody saves the world is an awesome dungeon crawler!

Minor, non-specific spoilers for the last boss in Robocop follow:

The last boss in RoboCop is all about keeping your distance and doing damage. If the boss gets in close, you take a lot of damage. If you have the shockwave ability (combat) or slow motion (focus), those are really good ways to keep the boss off you as you unload and circle away.

I don’t mean to give unsolicited advice-I just enjoyed the ending and want you to see it! Of course, YouTube is fine too. 😃 Have a good weekend!

I am probably not going to play this, but the trailer is fun enough to at least get on my "games to keep an eye on" list.

@rjejr Yeah, she was Loretta in Justified and did an amazing job. She is also great in stuff like Booksmart. I have zero doubt she will be fantastic in this franchise.

They could do things in flashbacks-even the game does a lot of storytelling that way. But that isn’t the only hurdle the game has with regard to TV story telling-I don’t want to do spoilers, but the way the story is told is going to present some challenges for a series. I also think TV watchers of a series often have different expectations than those starting a game about the characters they are watching-and if they stay true to the game, they will be subverting some of those expectations.

There are ways all this can be done for TV as you say, and I fully expect Season 2 to be great. I just think observing what choices they make is going to be highly fascinating.

Kaitlyn Dever is such a fantastic actress. Justified Season 2 is one of my all time favorite seasons of television, in large part because of the amazing performances by Dever and (Character Actress!) Margo Martindale. She is a great choice to play Abby.

I liked TLOU 2 a lot (although not as much as the original), but some of the choices and structure in the game seem like a tough fit for a TV series. I don’t know how that will be resolved in Season 2, but casting Kaitlyn Dever is a good start.

I always try to find a lighter game to play during the first brutal post holiday week of January, and wouldn’t you know it, Santa brought me Dead Island 2 for Christmas. Dispatching zombies with electrified Wolverine claws is just what the doctor ordered for the post New Year blues.

As Dusk Falls is a really good game. If you like games where your choices shape the narrative and have consequences, you will enjoy this. And you can easily do a play through in a weekend.

As I wrote in the "What are you playing" sections, I finished this game over the holiday break and had an absolute ball. I can't recommend this enough for people who like RoboCop or grew up with RoboCop.

If you are indifferent to the franchise, I think you can find better shooters. The gameplay is fun, but not remarkable. But if you grew up with RoboCop as a staple like I did, you need to play this game. The developers absolutely nailed the look and feel of this universe. It truly felt like the RoboCop sequel we should have gotten.

I will absolutely play a new game plus!

I don’t know where it would rank all time, but this year was absolutely outstanding. So many great games in so many genres on PS5, Xbox and Nintendo. I played soooooo many games this year, and it was rare to find one that wasn’t a banger.

Edited to say: Even the indie scene was fire. For example-Dredge was amazing this year.

@Kyushutrail I love the contrast here. So many great games out there of every kind. Have fun!

Robocop Rogue City. As a child of the 80s and 90s, it is impossible to overstate how much fun I am having with this game. It is by no means a perfect game, but they got Robocop and this universe exactly right. I know this has gotten positive reviews, but even so I am shocked by how thoroughly the developers nailed what they set out to do.

Good Month for Essential:

1. Nobody Saves the World is really a lot of fun, especially if you like dungeon crawlers.

2.Evil West is the epitome of a 6/10 game to me, but there is a few hours of vampire killing fun to be had in here. Now that it is on Plus, treating myself to the game for my birthday earlier this year was clearly a mistake. 😃

3.Haven’t played the second Plague Tale, but the first was good. So Req will be worth checking out.

Good start PS!

13/20. Not terrible. Happy New Year everyone!

My wife and kids just gave me nothing but PS5 games and gift cards. Boy do they know me. They are the best! PSN holiday sale here I come!

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

Well………Bye Tombstone gif here.

@Titntin Merry Christmas to you and yours as well. And best wishes for a quick recovery so you can get back to the important stuff: Gaming (and family and friends)!

@Titntin So sorry, I hope you feel better soon.

I was so looking forward to seeing my Mom this holiday, but we just found out yesterday she got Covid and can’t travel. Our entire household is so bummed out. Everyone please stay safe out there and take good care of yourselves this holiday.

And: I hope you enjoy some extra gaming time! Lemonade out of lemons…..

What a great list! And what a great year for gaming 2023 was. Full of all timers.

I really loved the older games, but the new games are so much deeper. Jaffe deserves credit for the great stuff he has created......but I haven't agreed with his thoughts on a lot of stuff for quite some time.

I usually dread the numbers on this, but for the last two years I have been splitting my time pretty evenly between my Xbox and Playstation consoles (PS will always be my favorite, but the Series S is my gamepass machine!). So, I probably played as much or more than usual, but I only have to see half my gaming time. And I can then pretend I am being reasonable!

@AgentMantis Unexpectedly, Midnight Suns was one of my favorite games I played this year. The combat is fantastic. The stuff in the Abbey gets a little long, but there is also a lot for comics nerds like me to love in those sections. Enjoy!

Finally getting around to Cult of the Lamb. What a fun time!

As Dusk Falls is a fantastic game you can play in a weekend. Anyone who likes narrative based games where your choices shape the outcomes should give this a go. It is great.

A pretty weak month for me (although I am glad to see there are things for others to like), but I would like to try Sable sometime.

Were the bugs and stuttering framerate noted in the Push Square review ever fixed?

Jaime Ditchfield and I are in the same situation. Travel isn’t leaving much time for gaming this week(end). But at the end of it when I do have an hour or two, I hope to finish a special Remedy title. The difference: I need to finish Alan Wake Remastered so I can eventually play Part 2!

The Platinums for both Spider-Man 1 and 2 were super fun. Well done insomniac.

@DonaldMcRonald The guy who got covered in toxic waste was Dr.Romano on ER for years. Every time he was on, all I could think of Robocop!

@DonaldMcRonald I watched it at age 9 at a friend's house when I was not supposed to. The violence scared the crap out of me-especially when Murphy gets his injuries. I even had nightmares for a bit.

I watched it again as a teen and it became a movie I really love. My wife is getting me the game for Christmas, and I can't wait to play it!

Yesterday I finished Spider-Man 2-what an awesome, fun game. All three in the series are. Thank you Insomniac!

I am starting Alan Wake Remastered this weekend. I didn’t have a platform to play the original when it first came out, and I have been hearing about how great it is for years. Excited to see what I have missed-and to eventually play Part 2!

There are some great prices….for games most people have already played.

Other than that, yikes.

Spider-Man 2. I was going to wait until Thanksgiving to play it, but I caved and bought it early. Glad I did, it is wonderful.

Pure fun, just like the first game.

Absolutely still a fantastic game one year later. My personal GOTY 2022.

My youngest kid is in middle school. If the next Mass Effect game comes out in 2029, he will be off to college when it finally drops.

I am all for giving teams time to develop great games, but that is a long freaking time.

@Blofse Same for me. My youngest is a little older than yours, but when he is playing is when the most bugs show up. Insomniac can’t keep up with his chaotic play style! 😂

Witcher 3 is one of my all time favorite games, so I am not a CDPR hater. But it has to be said: Those of us who wanted to play this game at launch got pretty messed up, didn’t we?

Not only is it now (apparently) a much better game overall (and now with a complete edition) , but the version we got was so busted it got removed from the PS Store. Something I have never seen before for a major game.

I am glad that the game is better now, and I did finish the base game (which I thought was pretty mediocre). But with all the hype around Phantom Liberty (and again, good for them for continuing to work on it), I just want to say that CDPR should have done better by the fans excited enough about their new IP to play it at launch.

I am still stuck on a bench! Help! 😃

Spider -Man 2 is an absolutely awesome game, and I am loving it. But it has more technical problems than any Insomniac game I have seen. I have had to restart multiple missions because the last enemy in an area spawned underground. Some missions have not popped when they are supposed to, and Spidey has def. gotten stuck in the environment a couple times in combat. And yes, during a main mission I did get stuck on a bench with no way to get up.

None of this was gamebreaking and all were fixed by a restart. But it is annoying in an otherwise fantastic adventure.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

@OScube Everyone understands that it is games for no additional charge instead of free. Free is just short hand for something that is universally understood.

Respectfully: I don’t understand why this is always being raised for a service that is almost a decade and a half old. Everyone gets it.

@Voltan This. It was a good game, but didn’t really feel like a Max Payne game.

I will def. purchase a remaster of 1 & 2!

I am not even mad at Sony for doing this. There are some arguable reasons for a price hike, and they are here to make money.

However, once my sub lapses a year or so from now, I am not renewing. What they are offering (unless there is word of some new improvements coming) is simply not worth the price they are asking for me. It is that simple.

@FuriousMachine Good news for you: Robo Cop will be gunning, but he won’t be running! 😃

When this was first announced, I was hoping that this would be a Maneater type game-not great graphics or story, but good for a few afternoons of destruction and mayhem fun.

Does not seem this will even get to that bar.........

@Darude84 I have played only Starfield since launch too, and I love it. I have to hurry up though, it is almost time for Spidey 2!

I think you will enjoy Neon! In terms of quest design, it is what I was kind of hoping Cyberpunk 2077 would be like. Neon is obviously not as detailed as Night City-but I kind of like it better?