Bramble

Looks great, I'll follow this one closely!

@Haruki_NLI they are free competent games which are heavily "inspired" by other games (e.g. Genshin is very much "inspired" by Breath of the Wild) and most can be played on your phone. As they are free, the games are gacha games, meaning important progression is tied to items you only can acquire by pulling for them via random loot boxes. This pulling requires a currency you can acquire with real money, or by doing (daily) quests. Often (always?) these gacha games are predatory in many different ways, as some items are only available for limited time only (i.e. "banners"). Got into Infinity Nikki myself, which is a fun 3d platformer with gongeous graphics, but also got out of it (as I am not really into the dress up part of the game, where the gacha is oriented at)

Played Yooka Laylee on the PS4, thought it was a fun 3D-platformer. Surprised the developer does a full remake, would have preferred a sequel actually.

Releasing a successfull GaaS is (was?) the holy grail (cash cow) every publisher aims for, just like MMORPG was before it. Sony had multiple in development wanting that GaaS money, but only Helldivers II succeeded, and that success came completely out of left field for Sony, as Helldivers II wasn't (severly) monetized. But gambling costs money ...

@z0d15g0d Maybe, but it isn't clear if you'd only get an one time payment, or if you gain royalties when your voice is used in an generative AI. If it is an one-time payment, it better be big because when your voice is available for a company via generative AI, why would they need your VA services again? If you gain royalties it could be profitable for VA's, but legislators/accountants will have work to do ...

Why? Just.....why? What's next - Pong with Playstation Spectral Super Resolution?

Do games truly need more power behind them? I mean, loadtimes are barely a thing anymore, graphics are topnotch, development time is already at the max ... Limits create creativity, and I think the limits of PS5 aren't really explored fully yet

Checking boxes off can be fun, but be careful, that's how gaming becomes another job ...
Using the trophy system as a simple archiver of my gaming journey instead as a checklist a small decade ago revitalized my love for gaming

I almost can't keep up with these updates, just been able to finish the main quest and firework isles! Great game, developers truly put time and effort in it. First gachagame, and its essentially free as I do not really care about the dressup part (did buy the fireworks bicycle for 1€ tho)

This one seems more for the shareholders, just like buzz words of yesteryear"NFT's", "microtransactions", "GaaS", "Live service", "Battlepass" ...

@Richy2025
Its not a GaaS, so I don't see why this should be free for owners of the original version?
@Hundred_Hand_Slap
Don't forget about gems like Bloodrayne: ReVamped, Asterix & Obelix XXL: RoMastered and SpongeBob BfBB: ReHydrated!

Edit: and Forced: Slightly Better Edition!

Helldivers II is (or rather was?) an AA title, and it carries the GaaS strategy of former Sony management on its back. Also, the double AA area is partially taken by indie devs

@slayernz I commend you played through the story, but why go and plat it if you're already burnt out from the story?

Although I am not one to judge, I sometimes fall into the same trap

I hope Shadows is great and it does well for Ubi, but I also hope Ubi dares to reinvent AC again for the next iteration. And they should try to diversify a bit more, drag some old IP on the forefront (SplinterCell, Rayman, Prince of Persia, finally release BG&E2 ...)

@amatmulisha Steamdeck? I'm pondering if I should buy a PS Portal or a Steamdeck ...

@RiotShieldsHurt Thanks, and I do yours! Given the difference between the games, I do understand your POV. Eternal is complexer in its gameplay, more fastpaced, almost no horror element anymore, and feels way more arcadey than 2016.

@RiotShieldsHurt I do not agree, Eternal is superb, just like 2016, but it is different from 2016, just like Dark Ages will be different.

Stupid question maybe, but are the games fully loaded on the disc? (Can I play the games on PS5 in offlinemode?)

Cut the entire southern half part of the map, focus on a story with smaller stakes as a new first year student of Hogwarts, make creating a social network with your fellow students and teachers a part of the gameplay, and dare challenge your gamers with your puzzles. The first one did a lot right, but had a bad case of the open world bloat too common in recent open world titles

I love R&C!

Just wish J&D and Sly Cooper would have gotten the same love as R&C ...

Nice, excited for High on Life and PacMan RePak, ideal PSPlus games imo, bitesize, little niche.

PayDay 3 seems like SuicideSquad, an empty bag of an online game

most of the time, at least one or two games appeals to me, so i think ps+ still worth it

For me, Insomniac together with Naughty Dog is the duo that made me want a PS2/PS3 as a kid.

Santa Monica (God of War) and SuckerPunch (Sly Cooper / InFamous) were also great but came after I owned the consoles

Yes, even more camera's in my daily life ... Hard pass, Eye Toy is the only playstation camera I need

A wasteland of releases may lie ahead of us, but luckily a big backlog is smiling behind us

Game Pass as a consumer is great if you often differentiate in what you play during a short period of time. If you only play 1 game for long period of time, it is not that great.

Game Pass also already plundered the older games it has access to and provided these to its users, AND a lot of people only want to play the recent games.

Game Pass is an absolute steal for the first months/year, but after a while, you've played what you wanted to play, and you'll cancel your subscription, only the resuscribe for a few months at the time for a new release, just like Disney+.

Still playing my first gacha game, Infinity Nikki, and after that one I think I'll close the books on gacha's for a while again. While IN is a great game on it's own merits as an open world platformer, the daily routine it encourages is something I actively stepped away from in the past for ease of mind (WoW, LoL, Hearthstone ...).

Played DMC2 and DMC3 remastered this year, from a low, low low to a high high from the PS2 era.

Seems to me if you release a well-made GaaS with an appealing (existing or new) brand and art direction, which does something new (i.e. Genshin Impact, Infinity Nikki, Helldivers 2 ...) or fills a void (i.e. Marvel Rivals) and can create enough player engagement from the get-go, you have a good chance of success, since there are players "available".
If you release something well-made which does nothing new (enough), there will be no players "available" because they are likely already engaged in their GaaS (i.e. Concord, Suicide Squad, Redfall ...)
It's like MMO's, MOBA's or Battle Royals from days past, everyone claimed to be a WOW-, LoL- or Fortnitekiller but none or very few succeeded, as players had already sunk a lot of time and money in those games and didn't want to reinvest that time and money again in another game.

I am utterly astonished what this pretty pink princess F2P game achieves - an open world platformer with not only a beautiful large open world, but als a dense open world with so many fun little challenges. I played Hogwarts Legacy last year, and its open world (aside from Hogwarts Castle) pales in comparison to Infinity Nikki.

Shat, came across this just too late for the 20 revelation crystals
-_-
but there still a lot of codes for diamonds tho!

Seems kinda serious for a Borderlands game, but after 3 thats maybe a good thing

Always enjoyed superheromovies, but after Avengers Endgame, I kinda stopped caring for the MCU, and the superheromoviegenre is getting so satured ... Deadpool got it right, but Ryan can't do his shtick forever too without it getting stale

Only played Yakuza Kiwami, thought the FMV parts in the dating minigame were - so - out of place, but also, as the only FMV-scenes in the game, - so - funny

People Can Fly's game are often indeed the best pallette cleansers!
As for the lay-offs, you hate to see it, but after the unbelievable growth in the games industry the past decade(s), the bubble (kinda) popped for the AAA-industry, who were all vying to make that one GaaS to bind all gamers ... It's the MMORPG-craze all over again, but with higher stakes ...
Concord was an expensive lesson for Sony, hope they step away from GaaS and focus on their storybased singleplayergame portfolio as their core

Love the colorful artstyle, never made time to play much Patapon on my PSP, maybe time to catch up on some rhythmbased gaming soon!

Yeah I'm in for a sequel, Hogwarts Legacy was great for exploration and the combat has some good base. But they should focus on smaller stakes, relations with classmates and the school theme. Hogwarts, Hogsmead, Forbidden Forest and the area surrounding it were great, but the south of the map was too big. I want Bully/Canes Canem Edit story vibes in my Harry Potter games, not worldending plots

Only reason I could play the first one decently was because of the pandemic, clocked almost 300 hours on it. I fear for my free time ...

First time I read the name Wario64, but nice little sidestory

Is Diablo 4 playable if you never played a Diablo before? Might wanna dip a toe in ...

Rather than chase a trend it seems more worthwhile to me to be the trend, as it are the trendsetters who most of the time have the most staying power (e.g. Hearthstone, Dot, LoL, PUBG, Fortnite, CoD, WoW, Overwatch ...)

Trendsetters don't always do "it" first, but then they do it first in a polished way

I think that the reality is that the developer just didn't decide to include spiders, and not that the developer decided to not include spiders.

Not every fantasy RPG has to include spiders, wolfs, rats, goblinoids ...

@LuXifer I bounced off of Enter the Gungeon too the first time, but the second time I tried it, it sucked me in for over 100 hours, fantastic game that one.

This seems very similar, but with a fresh coat of paint (and maybe a little less difficult?). I'll put it on my wish list

@MichaelNau I took 2 breaks with GoT, each time I went to a new island, cause the open world, while beautiful, is just too big

@Tsushima I've been interested in that one, like a good point-and-click adventure once in a while, they're great palatecleansers after more sweaty games.

Speaking of sweaty games, still going at the Doom Eternal - Ancient Gods Part I DLC on hard this weekend.

The trailer for this really intrigued me, but I wonder if it is as good without VR ... Back on the fence about buying PSVR2 after this State of Play ... This also reminded me I got Lost In Random installed, gonna play it as my Halloween-game this year I think

I might be interested in this, I just don't know if it would be my jam ...

Got my unplayed PS3 version laying around somewhere, time to dust my PS3 off it seems

So disc drive is now not a basic functionality but optional? Are we really regressing to N64 era? When gaming becomes fully digital, its going to be a dark day for consumers

@Gaia093 Since they're yearly releases, basically never -.-