16BitHero

@nessisonett sigh. It's truly horrifying/pathetic what technology has done to all corners of society.

Can't see this working no matter which streaming platform it's on. It's just too 'video gamey' (that's a good thing and where it belongs). I'd argue Ragnarok was the least GOW like game in that it was less bombastic with with all the narrative and exploration stuff - a natural evolution perhaps but it caused me to jump to other games occasionally which is unusual when I'm really immersed in a title.

@Perturbator we'll agree to disagree 😂

I really do like this series, it's full of atmosphere. A mostly linear and focused narrative shooter with a bit of survival horror thrown in, I think it should be played on higher difficulties. The first two are still the best in my opinion. Exodus was an interesting concept but felt far less claustrophobic owing to the semi open world setting. I have the VR game Awakening but want to finish Arkham Shadow first.

Huuuuge backlog here but this weekend it's Star Wars Outlaws (I waited for a sale and the numerous patches and you know what? It's Star Wars and it's fun), Split Fiction with my wife and hopefully some more Alien Isolation VR (an hour at a time for both battery and pant wetting reasons).

@Jrs1 I just started SW Outlaws. I waited for a sale and the numerous patches before taking the plunge and...... I'm having a great time with it. Sure it has some of the usual open world level design we come to expect in games these days but it really nails the SW look, feel and sound. I was wary of being overwhelmed/bored by Ubisoft's sometimes mundane or arbitrary quest design but so far so good!

These sound like great companion pieces to the games, especially as Kojima has his rather unorthodox style of storytelling. DS1 is top ten all time for me but I won't pretend to know exactly what was going on all the time! I have the book A Perfect Organism, it isn't a novelization but rather a love letter to Alien Isolation written by a respected gaming journalist. It does cover the story/missions and inspired me to play through again in VR despite the fear factor. There are also some comics based on games if you look for them. Rather than crappy live action film/TV adaptations (I know, some are good), I'd like to see more animated mini series like Cyberpunk for example.

@TruestoryYep true story indeed. Many of which masquerade as one another in today's gas lightning, alternate facts ridden world - political conservatism/nativism and Christianity in the US as a prime example. Anyway, if it's Naughty Dog, I'm interested.

Goliath from the directors cut trailer was sublime. Run Boy Run (instrumental) is another Woodkid banger. The S16 album is pretty great all round, several tracks could almost be Bond themes.

Faith and religion - things that historically and currently cause conflict, intolerance, persecution and suffering but also resilience, hope, community and healing. I'm not a fan but it always makes for rich storytelling in the grand scheme/folly of human existence. Plus Naughty Dog objectively make great games whether you're a fan or not.

@get2sammyb I was thinking the same thing. There are some cracking engines and development tools out there nowadays but the relatively few Decima games look consistently stunning and seem to push the medium forward visually each time.

I started listening to Woodkid after the Death Stranding directors cut trailer dropped - the song in that trailer really elevated it to my favourite game trailer of all time and it still is. DS2 trailer shows incredible imagination and I can't wait for the game but damn it's about five to seven minutes too long. Trailers in every medium are way too long and are sometimes better than the final product (looking at you Mickey 17).

What perfect timing - my high school is out for our ten week summer break that same day! I've only played MGSV and DS1 from Kojima but they are both masterpieces of the medium for me.

Edit: I hope there is a 40fps fidelity option on the base PS5 otherwise I'm going to have to get a Pro for this game.

@dardel I would go College Football because the rosters don't really matter. It was received well and it's faithful to the world of college football (something I never thought I'd care about until I lived in Tallahassee for eight years). Right now this game costs less than a dozen eggs in NYC!

@OldGamer999 I'm sure I got most of my blowing exercise from the Sega Megadrive! Good times.

@GirlVersusGame more games? My backlog is neverending! I know what you mean though. The AAA space especially is lacking new ideas. Good AA and indie games are plentiful in my opinion.

@AhmadSumadi having a good moan is part of global popular culture these days (and for good reason in many cases) but you're spot on, we've never had it better as gamers despite all the changes in the industry.

I'm a fan of the first two games but a big part of what made them great was the sci fi story - especially engaging in the first title. Live service doesn't lend itself well in this respect and it's such a monopolized space, any new IP is a risky venture. This will need some new ideas that help it stand out from the crowd as it can't simply rely on returning players as many primarily solo players like myself don't necessarily dip into live service (unless it's Helldivers 2!). I sincerely hope they pull it off.

Edit: the mechanics and graphics are already better than Monster Hunter Wilds for example (although I'm thoroughly enjoying that too).

Such an 80's Saturday morning cartoon vibe!!! I wish Olivier Deriviere was back for the soundtrack too. SOR4 was an absolute banger and wonderful tribute to Yuzo Koshiro's original trilogy. His 'A Plague Tale' compositions were fantastic too. Game looks great though!

@DennisReynolds indeed. This is my first Monster Hunter. I got it to play online with friends. The story and dialogue is clearly for middle schoolers but the hunting and battle loop is great fun and this one is meant to be a lot shorter than the supposedly bloated other entries.

Hoping to have time to finally finish the wonderful Indiana Jones. Also hoping to try Monster Hunter Wilds with a friend who generously gifted me the game. If there is still time thereafter, I'll dive back into the first Kingdom Come Deliverance which I started last weekend in an effort to gain the maximum backstory for the sequel.

@Majin_Deicide It had one of Matt Furniss' very best Megadrive compositions and he did some absolute classics!

@Trapdoor I went in with moderate expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it. The passion and respect for the original material was clearly there. The dlc was great too.

A Terminator game? An Alien game? A RoboCop game? A Predator game? Count me in! We've been thoroughly treated in recent years and with this game, an Alien Isolation sequel and more on the horizon, I'm one happy/nostalgic 80's camper.

I'd love a return to it's roots, a solid gritty campaign, great co-op and a more realistic multiplayer rather than the live service hero shooter it's become. Ready or Not is the only good single and co-op shooter in this genre at the moment.

I had PS plus from 2014 until late 2023. I played some excellent games through the service but it's so cynical tying multiplayer functionality to a subscription service - Microsoft also guilty. Ending my sub coincided with finally getting a good gaming PC so I'm sure I'd still have PS plus if things were different. I did re-sub for a month just to download my cloud saves, also a bit annoying.

@Niktaw yes indeed it is.

Troy Baker to voice the entire cast perfectly.

I'm still disappointed the Telltale game was delisted (among others). I had it in my PS3 backlog along with their Jurassic Park game. Sold my PS3 hoping I could still download it on PS4 but nope. Hopefully they're not gone forever. This new game better be faithful to the source material!

I was sad to see Blockbuster/film rental shops disappear and with them that now nostalgic and magical feeling we'll never get from the entertainment onslaught that is streaming. I will not however be sad to see GameStop or any other chain video game retailer disappear. They always felt a bit sleazy with their ridiculous profit margins on used games in particular. I will miss the smaller independent ones although some fantastic retro game shops still exist but their prices seem to increase every year.

In a nutshell, we've never had more choice, more content, more entertainment yet the magic of scarcity and the overall experience has changed irrevocably.

The best thing about this comment section is seeing where y'all are from!

Sorry folks but I'm one of these 'multi buy' people now. I played it on Xbox 360 originally and with the next entry around the corner and also because I now have a decent PC, I got tempted to play the story again - and it doesn't disappoint! The immersion and writing are still top class in my opinion. It can feel a bit mechanically wonky at times as does Red Dead 2 but it's mostly forgivable considering their age.

@get2sammyb it's my most anticipated game alongside GTA VI (although I think real life America has far surpassed any insanity Rockstar can come up with at this point.) DS1 is top 5 all time for me.

Unfettered greed from Sony. That's the only reason this issue exists.

@PorkChopExpress I'm really interested and not interested at all. The game sounds incredible, a true RPG. Alas, that attention to detail and the huge time commitment makes it difficult for many of us to consider with many games exceeding 20/40/100 hours nowadays. Still might grab it through.

If only games like this released 15-20 years ago when backlogs weren't really a thing and I had time like when I was at school/university!

@nessisonett I can attest that Indiana Jones is an excellent choice. It's the first game I've paid full price for in years.

Loved the game but a film? It'll likely be yet another forgettable video game adaptation. It could make a decent TV series in the right hands but I doubt that will happen. I'd rather watch The Infernal Affairs films again.

@themightyant I think more and more folks are realizing that 60fps is a game changer - quite literally on console. I'm sure many will indeed tolerate 30fps for GTA VI but some will also play the waiting game, hopefully not in vain!

I just started a second playthrough of GTA V (first time since 2013 on Xbox 360), this time on PC. It holds up so well after all these years, especially with the graphical gloss and high frame rate - I'm getting over 100 for the most part. Story, voice acting, general inversion - everything is still top class. As I don't play online I'll happily wait for GTA VI to be 60fps minimum on either console or PC. Rockstar is a big time developer and they really need to give us graphical options to hit these targets early into release. It's 2025!

Following in the footsteps of Asgards Wrath 1 and 2. Bring it on. Ancient Egypt is a fantastic setting.

I'm sure College Football sales numbers prevented things from being any worse.

Re EAFC, I've switched to the fantastic Football Life 25 on PC until EA gets a decent competitor on console. (Come on 2K!).

@Ravix I honestly have no idea how anyone can consider themselves a Sony or Microsoft fan. I like having the consoles and enjoy my gaming but these are just big profit hungry corporations at the end of the day. They seldom make decisions for the benefit of their employees or even their target audience. Maybe their market research is just inept. Fortnite and Warzone have a lot to answer for though, their success resonates across the industry.

Multiplayer being tied to console subscriptions is truly bogus.

I still haven't started the third game - the first two were excellent however and just what stealthy espionage fans needed when Splinter Cell dried up. I'm really excited to see what this dev does with the Bond license.

I'm excited for the same reasons as other entries - the unparalleled sense of place. The soundtrack in particular is so immersive in GTA games. Having been forced to live in Florida for eight years also makes it enticing to me as that state does manage to encompass everything about America for better and far far worse. Not interested in online at all. I think to be properly invested in that part of the game, you'll leave little time for anything else and my backlog of quality single player games is at an all time high.

As a huge Alien saga fan this is a huge disappointment. Sounds like the dev got the aesthetics spot on but everything else is Colonial Marines. Rubbish Aliens = a rubbish Aliens game. Predictable AI and spawning creates no sense of fear or caution but irritation instead. It's a common theme in reviews. I don't care about things that can get patched/fixed, bad game design choices can't be fixed as easily. After the brilliant Isolation and Dark Descent, I was really excited for this too. I hope the developer listens to feedback and can make part 2 better.

Let's get a new Sega console Kickstarter up and running, who's with me?

@Dman10 Sony are on their way to having a virtual monopoly in the high end console space. I don't expect their sale discounts to ever come close to the likes of Steam which I've nicknamed 'the game/backlog collection simulator'. That's just one of many reasons why monopolies are bad.

People will argue that there were always hateful, ignorant, dimwits in this world and social media/tech has merely amplified and distributed their voices to the masses but I'd argue social media/tech has also created a lot more people like this. Narcissistic, inconsiderate cretins. It's why I tune out the news and don't go near social media in my (hopefully) middle years. Makes for a happier life, trust me!