somnambulance

I agree with him 100%. The industry is trending away from the genres that tend to appeal to me most in some regards. I prefer AA games and narrative adventures. The Sony cliches, I know. I want the goofy first party Sony that made Mr Mosquito and Flower too. Gaming used to be a space that was different from other modes of entertainment and that’s what drew me in. It was a brave and strange industry. When I think of my favorite games on previous generations, it does certainly feel like things are on a different trajectory than they used to be, even one generation ago. It seems like we’re getting longer games and more live service experiences that demand more from gamers. I just want great level design, more fun, interesting stories and I’d pay the same premium price for quality over quantity.

I think about my top games this year as a way to gauge my feelings of the industry. Even if I like my top 10 so far this year, it doesn’t feel like a proper top 10 list. It feels like there’s things missing. My top three feels right, but beyond that, I’m just like… it feels off. Usually I make a top 20 list, but it feels even more off when I expand my list. This could just be an off year, but it doesn’t feel that way with the trends that are going on with layoffs, studio closures, cancellations of projects, etc.

That’s actually refreshing to see. I’m a AA space gamer, so this sounds like it’s more interesting to me now than before because it sounds like it’ll demand a realistic amount of time.

I’m ready to preorder Lost Records at any rate. Open them up and that’s a little bit of money from me at least. We need Don’t Nod in the industry.

@gollumb82 I am grateful for Astro Bot partially because it stopped the endless replays of Astro’s Playroom and Mario Odyssey for a little bit lol. I keep trying to get him to play Plucky Squire, and he likes it, but not like he likes Astro.

That said, I have beaten Mecha Leon so many times now that I could do it blindfolded. The one thing he can’t beat himself in the game. I’d rather not see the Bot of War level again, personally. I think that’s his favorite level.

I’ve let my son try Horizon in the past, by the way, but he wanted to be a tourist with it rather than engage. He may be the demographic for that Lego game and so might your daughter be.

@gollumb82 Lol. Feel lucky your kid is now excited for other games now. My son doesn’t want to play the other games. He just wants to play Astro Bot.

Over and over and over again. He had three completed saves and this week deleted one of them and started over. Kid’s going to hit 100+ hours in the game soon (combined with my playthrough too).

I usually don’t get deluxe versions of games. I did do it with Sparking Zero recently, but that was for the DLC. I didn’t even know there was early access when I got the fancy version!

The only game I’ve ever had such FOMO that I went for early access deliberately was Starfield, the ultimate 6/10 experience. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ll do it again unless there’s other better stuff to warrant it beyond the early access.

@UnlimitedSevens Way to help my anticipation skyrocket! Lol. I loved the original. In fact, I’d put Silent Hill 2 (the original) above the original RE games, so, to hear that… man… Now, that said, I do prefer RE7 and 8 to the older RE games and even SH2, and Alan Wake 2 and PT top even those for me too. It would be insane if SH2 tops those two for me, but I’m open to it. It’s a high bar, as I’d probably put both games in my personal top 10 of all time, but hey Rebirth happened this year, Astro Bot happened this year, Balatro happened this year. It’s been a year of some genre defining classics for me. I can accept more of them happening.

I’ve yet to start it. I’ve been too busy with Sparking Zero the past week, but I’m almost expecting it to be a definite 9/10, based on what others I know have said about it and my feelings of the original. I’ve heard that I’ll like it as much as the REmakes and they’ve all been in 9/10 territory for me (yes, 3 included, even if it’s the least of them).

Thanks Echo. Question: if you found Gris to be all style and little substance, would you say that Neva remedies that in its gameplay? I rather liked the art in Gris, but thought it was a slog to play. Just curious if I should try again with the studio.

@JAMes-BroWWWn Gracias, my friend

Like @NEStalgia said, I usually don’t like doing DLC so long after release, but this one was pretty special, so I’m down for it. It’s one of those games I loved at release, didn’t quite like where the story went toward the end and I sort of burned out toward the end too because of samey enemies, but darn it, whenever I think about the game, I just remember what a wonderful time it was. It’s one of the best open world takes on an established IP I think we’ve ever seen. Certainly, even with some issues, it’s one of the best games this generation and I’d really like to return to this world.

And it certainly helps that 10-15 hours is basically the length of many games I like to play as well. It’s almost like getting a sequel or an appetizer for the inevitable sequel if it’s got story based content.

@Artois2 Give Czar a chance. He’s probably having family time right now.

Rebirth not being in the top 10 is sort of a joke, right?

For me:
1. Rebirth
2. Balatro
3. Astro Bot (though Astro may leapfrog over Balatro by end of year)
4. Prince of Persia
5. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero
6. Animal Well
7. Black Myth: Son Wukong
8. Bo and the Path of the Teal Lotus
9. Tekken 8
10. Dragon’s Dogma 2

Honestly, if I included DLC, the Alan Wake 2 DLC might be floating at the bottom. Might be. It was two hours, but I liked those two hours more than most two hours I’ve played with other games this year. I’d probably put Erdtree above Bo, but definitely below Wukong.

I’ve still yet to play Silent Hill 2, Banishers, and I’m still early on the Metaphor demo (and just being real with you guys, but Atlus games don’t tend to click with me). If I considered Dave the Diver or Vampire Survivors 2024 games, they’d both leap over Prince of Persia, but they’re previous year games to me. Realistically, Life is Strange is the only non-released game this year that may yet hit the list (…though Platform 8 is such a me game too if that hits as good Exit 8, and I don’t care if it’s an hour… a concentrated hour of fun is better than 80 hours of monotonous bloat). I expect Silent Hill will too. If UFO 50 comes to consoles, that one would have a shot for me, based on what my PC friends have told me. First year that my top 10 is basically all on PS5.

I think a Geoff Keighley announcement is entirely possible and could be the reason we haven’t seen it elsewhere. If RE9 is 2025, add it to the list of games more exciting than GTA6 to be released next year (for me, personally).

That’s because it’s easily the best game in the genre outside Mario and even goes on to rival Mario in some capacities. It deserves being the best reviewed game on OpenCritic this year.

You had me at Dino Crisis.

After the “platform” launched, I downloaded Fortnite for the first time in year. Got my fill of the games in basically one session. The microtransaction model just sort of feels gross if you’re used to buying games instead. It makes you think, “Is that skin worth it? Is that car worth it? Is that song worth it?” And it usually feels like, “No, just price out a game and give me a complete experience.” I’m glad others are apparently feeling that way to some extent, at least with one portion of the platform.

A shame Rocket League had to suffer for Fortnite, by the way.

Sparking Zero, for sure.

I started the Metaphor Refantazio demo yesterday night finally, but after the intro, my wife was so tired we decided to put it off til we’re more awake. Maybe tonight?

I’d like to start Silent Hill 2 as well.

Next week, I’m really looking forward to reading the reviews, but unless something stellar surprises me from the release slate, I might be good on what I have and have preordered (Life is Strange) until next year. It’s a great batch to read about next week though. I’m super curious about a few of them.

Really liking it so far. It lands the Dragon Ball feel perfectly and it’s such a thick title for content. I’ve not yet even touched the Metaphor demo or Silent Hill yet because I’ve been stuck on Sparking Zero. All in all, it’s one of my favorite games this year, even if I am terrible at it.

I’ve never been able to get into SMT/Persona games, but I’m planning on trying the demo and seeing if this one is for me. I want to like Atlus’s output, but they just haven’t clicked with me. I’ve tried, believe me, I’ve tried. Just like with the Like a Dragon series, I’ve tried, but it hasn’t clicked. I’d say I might have some deep seated unconscious bias against Sega, but Puyo Puyo is one of my favorite games. It might be being self-aware of how massive the games are, so I keep my distance. I dunno. Or the games might just be so big, that I just fail on them due to my self-awareness? I dunno. There’s something.

So I will be trying Metaphor. Soon. Just not sure where it’ll go from there. I like the art style, so at the least I’ll watch the inevitable animation.

I won’t let my son near Roblox or Fortnite because I feel the platforms are gross. Unhappy to see my feeling so strongly substantiated about one of them. I’m usually against cancelling things, but, from what I’ve read, I’m not sure I can find a positive toward what Roblox does as a platform. It seems like the most unethical and predatory place in gaming and, as such, parts of it need to be harshly reviewed and corrected immediately to correct it, even if it kills the platform. Do the right thing.

For me, I’ve been really loving the game so far. It’s robust enough to where I’m considering if I’ll be ok with the games I currently have preordered and if I don’t need to buy anymore games this year. I did think it was funny that Great Ape Vegeta was a more difficult battle than Jiren though in Goku’s storyline (and there was a surprising focus on the Goku Black arc). I do think the game could’ve had a better way of presenting the story. My son was confused watching me play, for sure.

I am curious about the what if scenarios with this one and am excited to jump into custom battle to see what that’s all about. I’m sort of waiting til I have every character unlocked though. I’m closer to that goal right now than I expected though.

Really looking forward to Dino Crisis, one of the few games that actually deserve a remake.

I’m going to be playing it, but… Sparking Zero is getting the attention first. My plan is basically playing Sparking Zero until it’s a casual experience then the Metaphor demo to see if this is finally the Atlus game for me (sorry, but I’ve always struggled with 100+ hour games, but I try every Atlus game at least) and then Silent Hill 2, which I know will be fantastic, and, if I’m entertained by the demo, back to Metaphor then.

But why? Why delist the game? Doesn’t make much sense to me

Last night, I had the pleasure of beating Great Ape Vegeta. It was a challenge, but he tends to fall into a pattern, so he was hard but not impossible. It’s funny how easy Namek was afterward though. I practically had full health when I defeated 100% Frieza.

@PSme Could be because a somnambulist is a sleepwalker and I smashed that word into ambulance? Lol. It was my original PSN and gamertag before it got lost to the ebb of time.

Briefly attended film school where I was impacted by the silent movie The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and it sort of colored everything I was into for a time. I came up with the smashed together word when trying to name a band I was in at the time. It wasn’t chosen as the band’s name, but I used it as a side project that never took off. And yet, for forums, the name lives on!

Off topic, but an origin story of sorts.

Poor Sackboy doesn’t deserve to be included in the same sentence as a live service flop and poorly timed remaster of a game that didn’t need a remaster.

It’s roughly 24% better as a game as well, so that makes sense (I say that as someone that does like Rift Apart, by the way). Astro Bot is the best first party title so far this generation from Sony, and certainly a top 10 of all time for them. Sell all the Astro Bots.

Shocked that Outlaws is trending behind Avatar though.

@ShogunRok You had to balance this and Metaphor? You’re a busy guy.

I’m glad to hear it’s a big, detailed game. The file size wasn’t huge when it installed. Looking forward to playing it when I get off work today! I didn’t even realize there was early access with the ultimate edition or whatever it was called. I don’t usually do digital deluxes or whatever, but, man, it’s Dragon Ball… I need the characters!

If Halo comes to PlayStation, I can safely retire my Xbox, but I also sort of like that Halo is the Xbox exclusive. One of my favorite franchises of all time, probably had more fun playing Halo than any other game.

This year has been relatively flat overall (my top 10 still feels way too low scoring overall and like frankly about half the list doesn’t belong in a top 10 games list for me) , but, in my mind, we’ve gotten three 10/10s and that’s way above the mark. Two years in a row to have such a feat (for my taste anyway), which I don’t believe has ever happened before. Rebirth, Astro Bot, and Balatro deserve so much love. Will vote this week, even if it seems too early with this week having three megaton releases and it sort of feels like they should be allowed time to soak in (and LiS is at the end of the month too).

I’m happy with all three of them honestly. WWE games can be dumb fun, Dead Space is well themed for the month, and I’ve got a friend that wants me to play Doki Doki, so saves me the money of buying it. Solid month.

Can’t wait to see how [REDACTED] scores!

I think this weekend I’ll try to wrap up my backlogged games for the year. I’ve sort of put off Plucky Squire, Quidditch Champions, and that Rugrats game, so maybe, if time permits, I should try to blitz through them all. I’m halfway through Plucky, the Rugrats game is pretty short already, and Quidditch Champions… I just haven’t played much of it because September was so busy. I’ve backlogged Wukong and Banishers too, but I’ll save those ones for later, I think. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually come back to either of them, if I’m to be honest. I do like them both, but I don’t really have the desire to play them. Astro Bot sort of reminded me what it feels like to be genuinely interested in playing a game for fun, and most of that backlog doesn’t have that special novelty to me, I suppose.

So yeah… what that means is that I’ll probably play Vampire Survivors til Silent Hill and Sparking Zero come out next week. Sounds about right.

@Deityjester Did you play Mirage? It’s a full game and was sold at a value price. I had surgery last year and the game was a pretty nice distraction during recovery for me. It wasn’t 40+ hours, but it’s substantial enough to be a full game. Definitely one of the better AC games in recent time. I liked what Mirage had to offer over the bloat of Odyssey.

I have no huge opinion on recent Star Wars games (since I haven’t played them), so I can’t comment on Outlaws, though I would make the argument that Disney already destroyed my interest in Star Wars, so there’s that.

Can’t defend Skull and Bones, but it really did sort of feel like they just launched it to get rid of it. Apparently Ubisoft tried to cancel it a few times, but, because it’s got money ties to the Singaporean government, they weren’t able to. But it’s also part and parcel with the current industry to launch a live service flop no one wants these days. Most publishers are doing that. I’m not saying it’s right, just that it’s the times we live in.

What I’m trying to say though is that Ubisoft deserves criticism, but ultimately they are receiving harsher criticism and results from those criticism than more insidious companies like Embracer or EA. At least Ubisoft typically has a standard bar of quality and stick to what they “know.” Can’t say that about many of the big publishers these days.

And yes Bethesda’s in the same boat. Starfield deserves criticism but not hate. There’s plenty of actually bad games out there. The ok to just good ones aren’t the ones that deserve vitriol. I mean, for all the hate Starfield got, Cyberpunk was infinitely worse at launch and that’s turned into a success story. Given the way gamers are, that one baffles me.

@Balosi Definitely agree, although Ubisoft really let the Far Cry series get really stale (and admittedly there was a long patch of weak AC titles). But truthfully, Ubisoft would be on the right path right now… if the gaming community at large wasn’t directly hostile toward the company. It’s one thing to criticize, another to hate. Ubisoft has deserved criticism, sure, but of the big western third party publishers, it’s certainly better than EA, Activision, and Embracer and maybe even Take Two. They’re releasing games rapid speed. Sure, Prince of Persia’s the only 9/10 game I’d give Ubi in about 10 years, but they’ve made more 7/10s than anyone else. Skull and Bones is the only true dud they’ve put out. With their release schedule, that’s actually pretty solid. The stigma against 7/10s is a problem in gamer logic.

@RagnarLothbrok Hey there, Prince of Persia is one of the best games this year and honestly Valhalla and Mirage took some steps in the right direction for Assassin’s Creed, so it’s not like Ubisoft makes plain junk for games. They’re a relatively reliable 7/10 machine.

If that occurs, I’ll probably never buy another Ubisoft game again

I’m so glad I decided to keep my preorder. I was considering cancelling it, even as recent as yesterday, but, man, now I can’t wait! Glad the biggest scare in the game IS NOT its quality. That’s a genuine fear these days.

As much as I love Avatar, I’m expecting a 4/10 game, as is usual for the series.

With how the Concord situation played out, I’m genuinely surprised WB hasn’t pulled the plug yet on Suicide Squad.

Plain and simple, don’t support Fortnite. They don’t deserve the money. Epic deserves to be substantially roasted in the media for this as well.

I’m just sitting here waiting for the real reviews. Embargo can’t end soon enough!

Thank god. I preordered it too. I hope Sparking Zero is the best Dragon Ball game in years and I hope it outsells CoD longterm too (including any additional GP subs).

For me, Sparking Zero and Life is Strange (and Nine Sols and the Platform 8). I cancelled my preorder for AC Shadows, so Silent Hill or Metaphor will likely take its place, pending reviews for SH and the Metaphor demo. If they neither one hits for me, more Vampire Survivors it is this winter.

Ghost of Tsushima was one of the best open world experiences I’ve had in a long time, so it sounds like they may hit those vintage Rockstar/Witcher levels rather than best Ubisoft (and Guerilla) on the stock open world formula. I’m certainly fine with that, as the gameplay was so fantastic. The first was definitively 9/10, so thoroughly excellent. Can’t wait to see the next one. It wasn’t far off from being a personal 10 for me.

@NEStalgia There’s more fun places to hang out though! I don’t understand the appeal still, but Hookshot is my entire social media presence, so that’s probably why.

My son’s favorite game is Astro Bot and he tried Fortnite and said it was boring. I will shelter my closest line to the future as long as I can!

I still don’t get the appeal of Fortnite. It might be the old in me, but I just don’t think it’s a great game. It’s a collection of 4/10-6/10 games now when it used to be a 6/10 flat at best. It’s fine, but jeez are there better live service games on the market.

Fortnite saying it’s the future of games is sort of like McDonalds saying it was the future of food 50 years ago in basically every connotation you can imagine.

I wish, instead of games leaking early, the reviews leaked early. I don’t want spoilers on the content of a game, just a summary of its strengths and weaknesses.