@rusty82 I have played a few hours of Forspoken and it did not pull me in.

I truly don't believe in "you need to power through first 10 hours or so before it becomes good", as games should be fun immediately. If Forspoken eventually does become better, awesome. But I'm not a type of person that will stay around to see it.

I'm sure it's going to end up being a good game given time and effort invested, but the trailer makes me feel the Forspoken vibe (which, and let's be honest here, is terrible).

@LiamCroft thank you! I believe you just sold S-GAME a copy

@LiamCroft apologies for possibly dumb questions, but how does this compare to Black Myth: Wukong when it comes to difficulty?
BMW really burnt me as I felt like combat loop was a bit unfair (many untelegraphed instant deaths) and difficult just for the sake of it. Otherwise, I'm ok with game requiring some skill on my end (enjoyed Returnal, Saros, The Messenger, DMC, GoT, GoY.etc..).
How would you rate difficulty in PBZ, in honest terms, would you say it was enjoyable or frustrating for you?

@Hoff this! I'm not gonna go into economics of running a video games studio as I know nothing about that, but I do know if I'm having fun or not while playing a game. And new Gears has been aggressively mediocre for now (I'm like 80% done with the campaign so I don't think there is time for it to become significantly better overall). It's exactly the same as all previous Gears, except maybe 5. which tried to go a bit more open world at times.

I skipped Wolverine on launch and feel I have missed out a bit. A couple of friends I know who bought it have been happy with it and have praised it generally. With BF and year-end sales coming, I'll most likely be cashing out.
Very weird how unreasonable online chatter formed mostly exaggerated negative opinions around this game, when in reality it's just a perfectly good game.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy caught me off guard. Good game for as long as it lasts, some Uncharted, Tomb Raider gameplay in there. Way more fun than first 2 games in the series.
Be sure to check it out if you get a chance.

Clicking review and it just reminded me: Mafia: The Old Country scored 6/10. What a travesty!
Trust me, it's way better than that, give it a shot.. you'll be pleasantly surprised.

@MasterChiefWiggum at least for me, it's not free with PS Plus Essential PS4 version.

They might have waited a bit too long.. my understanding is that discourse around the game is starting to deteriorate as it has not been as maintained as it should have been (with healthy stream of fresh content) given the magnitude of release.

Personally, I got burned out on all the samey FH games (3-6), but at the same time I'm not the core audience.

@get2sammyb not sure I agree. It needed a sequel, but one more inline with what Senua was going to be.. more interactive, action oriented game, that would basically take the tech demo into video game territory.

Instead they opted to make a second newer gen tech demo..

Maybe I'm hallucinating, but for me this feels like FSR 4 moment for PS5.
Let me explain - up until FSR4, AMD PC upscaler had visible stability issues, obvious shimmering resulting in a water painted image. Switching to FSR4, there are still issues ofcourse, but image becomes stable enough that I stop caring. QSSR is the same thing. It's just good enough, hits the baseline after which I just don't need graphics to be better.

Not a great month for me personally. F1 25 is an amazing game that I unfortunately already own and have spent hundreds of hours in.

Zero interest in other 2 on my end.

Not as surprised as most people seem to be..
I was never a big fan of Kojima's work post MGS series, and Death Stranding 2 at least according to publicly available information has commercially flopped hard.
At the same time, Kojima already played both sides of exclusivity equation with highly experimental concepts.. that don't seem to work financially anymore. Playing a final card of switching to just one platform gives him bargaining chips. So yeah, MS probably picked it up as a name acquisition, fully aware of the risk game might actually not be that great or sell well.

Weird month, totally expect general opinion to be negative but there are actually 3 Extra games I'm interested in and haven't cashed out for yet.. and Premium is not rubbish. Not sure how to feel about this

@CantankerousTyrant glad to hear it, excellent choice, enjoy.
I also got into some F1 25 and ACC, but GT7 is definitely above else. Unfortunately I do use a peasant wheel, T248R

@Dan12836666 there are modifiers, and there is a possibility to disable "balance", which allows all "easy mode" modifiers without penalty. That can, if you wish to do so, make the game very easy. Like beating the game on your first try easy. I wouldn't recommend such extremes, but you can literally dial the game in to the exact difficulty that works for you.

@bleeflooflah not that quietly. It's one of 2 (two) live service success stories from Sony. Both I would say accidental.
Anyway, it's in my best games of all time conversation, got me to buy a wheel and I wasn't even that much into simcade racing before, so they are definitely doing something right.

My theory is that biggest problem this game has is people refusing to try it out due to how burnt they got on Returnal difficulty.
However, Saros is a far more configurable and therefore accessible experience. It's extraordinary fun, if you give it a go

Very disappointed in how Saros did commercially.. I genuinely found the game to be fun and engaging, actually better than Returnal. It's going to be really sad if studio gets cut for producing a good game :/

Not sure what to say.. I don't think artists were going for a gritty photorealism with ALL their characters in ANY game. As that is what DLSS 5 looks like for now.
Contrast is ramped up to 11, lightning seems to follow an imaginary source (that a more evil person would compare to instagrammers shooting light), every character seems to be older, sadder, and depressed.

I've tried, I really did, but I just don't understand the appeal of Black Myth: Wukong.
Literally the opposite of the experience everybody online praises: game seems to have unstable performance on PS5, gameplay is anything but fluid with big input delay and long move animations, bosses throw random unblockable stuff with zero hint which results in "cheap" deaths.. I just don't get it, feels difficult due to gameplay issues not intentionally.

Just to add, I'm not a fan of difficult gameplay and souls-like in particular, but I love me some GoT, GoY, Returnal, Saros.. all seem earned, responsive and fun..

All that is to say, I really hope this game is different, but trailer looks as if it's just more of Wukong global problems with a different moveset/character.

That selection is literally my "cool games I'm not yet ready to pay for" list. Awesome, PS Plus Extra on the rise.

This is getting ridiculous, and I just can't see how it would be profitable long-term (except for board report shenanigans).

Yesterday I read quite a good article by an industry expert I tend to respect about the real cost of replacing a senior staff member at a software company (keep in mind we are often talking about producers and such with these MS layoffs).
Basically, it comes down to the cost of retraining and reintegrating a new member into company processes, when you choose to do so, costing in excess of 10.5x the person's monthly operating cost (that includes pay + benefits + licences + office supplies) before their productivity balances out with the released employee.

Does this mean people who were let go would basically do nothing for a year before the studio would have anything for them?

As a gamer, I love demos and will try this one out. Demos and PS Plus trials have convinced me to buy many games.

However, it's an industry belief early demos actually result in lower number of sold units (math is a bit muddy there). In my opinion, that tell's us more about the state of gaming and quality of the products, than it does about negative user habits.. but hey

Fair enough, this will make me finally start Unicorn Overlord.

@Corc11 because it's all one big joke: feeding the tr*ll and seeing how far the absurdity will go. It's cinema, as they say.

@SMJ maybe a slight oversight, but only Xbox players who either happen to own an old Xbox copy or are paying overpriced subscription can play it on current gen consoles. This game is not coming preinstalled with an Xbox Series as far as I'm aware of, or is free to play?
Advantage here is you don't need to hook up old hardware for a retro game that can be ran on a toaster these days, not somehow game being free of charge.

Never played online, but the actual SP part is awesome. It deserved better sales numbers and acknowledgment than it got. It's a "hot take" but I had more fun with Grid Legends than Forza Horizon 5

Tough to decide, but I'd say SGF > SOP > Xbox.
However, they were all great, and any other year either of the 3 could have been best.
Nintendo ball is in your court!

Xbox is a burning pile of trash these days.. :/ apologies for being so blunt, but messaging, sales, output, leadership.. it's just so directionless and poorly thought of

Those damn unforeseen platform limitations, showing their ugly head on all different platforms at the same time, blocking our free stuff. What a shame.
Well, moving on..

Outlaws for me, but a lot to recommend. I've played and finished 4 more games on that list (RDR2, Bramble, Flintlock, Broken sword), and genuinely all of them are either great or good depending on personal preferences. Very nice.

Can't compare as Returnal has kind of soured me on the experience. I expect I'm not the only one but Returnal was just too challenging for me, which resulted in just not wanting to do the whole loop again. Cashing out for a game that at some point started feeling like a chore - not happening.

These are the months that make me not cancel my PS Plus sub. I'll try all 3, probably will delete FC after 5 matches.. Nine Sols might take me over though.

To be honest, I've been extending my PS Plus sub yearly for a while, during a discount period. My final cost ends up being under 100 euros, and for that price value provided is quite good. Not perfect ofcourse, but not terrible as people seem to pretend.
GP has been a mess, subs have nosedived, and undercutting price once again is the only logical desperate move. As soon as the number of users rises GP will become more expensive again..

There's like 3 Ubisoft games ever I liked, and Lost Crown was one of them. I knew then and there Ubi would kill the studio post launch as they simply can't comprehend a good product.
Makes me happy core team might get another chance...

I like the change but it does pose a question: why do we have to wait for simple QoL improvements until 6-7 years into console lifecycle?
And in next couple of years loop starts again, PS6 will most likely launch with barebones dashboard and we'll relearn all these lessons again..

@Stepan let me explain, I'm calling it slop because game started to be very similar, heavily reusing assets, locations, etc.. I understand it's necessary to keep up with yearly production, but it's also in my opinion exactly what undermines their success.

Well that's disappointing... Game actually looked promising and Yakuza series has been turned into Ubisoft-like yearly slop.. hope they get the chance to finish it.

Just finished with Ghost of Yotei, such an amazing game. It's most likely back to Metroid Prime 4 for me, with some GT7 and F1 25 to relax.

She's been talking about her need to learn the business a lot since she got hired. And I am giving her benefit of a doubt, don't get me wrong.
But I do have to wonder: I apply for a storage assistant job at large market and get rejected as I don't have relevant experience. How is it possible there wasn't a qualified leader for Xbox WITH industry experience? WTF?

Yotei might be the best PS5 game in years, so it makes me very happy seeing it have continued success. Hopefully it gives confidence to SuckerPunch to continue with the gameplay core they developed for two Ghost games.

That message was written by Copilot AI, or at least it reads that way to me.. that is sad.

Hehe, Sony just had to try to outstupid le Microsoft and put in their candidate for idiocy of the year.

This might end up finally pushing me over the edge, and back to NES and SNES age of going full offline, second hand, and single player.
Why should I eat the cost of RAMageddon, when I've acted proactively, predicted semiconductor shortage, and did my purchases for next N years upfront? Makes no sense, I'll take my hardware, owned software, and go home, thank you very much.

B*tts have been hurt I see..

Internet these days can explode for anything, and people do feel entitled like never before.. but in this case I feel they are right. Not invested personally, but I did not pick up it was an unlockable bonus and not for the whole campaign.

Maybe not the best one ever, but definitely in recent memory. I'm interested in like 80% of the games shown, that's amazing. I was genuinely grinning watching the show.

No idea where things got connected incorrectly in my brain, but I could swear art design seemed completely different earlier compared to in this last trailer.
Somehow I thought it was a different thing. Anyway, it at least looks more engaging and visually interesting than I thought it was. Not for me, but I'm more optimistic now.