Comments 1,437

Re: Talking Point: Are You Getting Sick of Sony's Supposedly 'Samey' Approach to Story Telling?

Fiendish-Beaver

Honestly? I simply don't care! I have enjoyed all of the first-party Sony stories, and hope we get many more of them. Heck, these themes are probably even more prevalent in films and books, it is what propels protagonists into action all the time.

If we were presented with a game where everyone just lived happily, and no one died, we just wouldn't play them. You just cannot have an action game without a reason for the action, unless the protagonist is a complete psychopath and just doing it for fun, but then people would be criticising the protagonist as having no motive.

So no, I just don't care. Keep bringing them Sony...

Re: Silent Hill 1 Remake Now a Big Focus at Bloober Team, Could Make Cronos 2

Fiendish-Beaver

Cronos: The New Dawn is my Game Of The Year for 2025. I earned every single achievement in the game including beating it on the hardest difficulty (along with about 1% of players!). It is a fantastic marriage of Dead Space and Resident Evil, and deserves every success. I truly hope it gets recognised come award season, and would absolutely love a sequel.

For the record, my second favourite game of the year was Hell Is Us and my third favourite is Expedition 33. It's been a fantastic year for gaming in my opinion.

So good was Cronos, that I bought it again on the PS5! Now all that remains is to get every trophy, and to see whether Ghost of Yotei will enter my top 3 games of the year when it arrives later this week...

Re: These 23+ New PS5, PS4 Are Coming Out This Week (29th-5th October)

Fiendish-Beaver

I pre-ordered the Ghost of Yotei: Collector's Edition back on the 5th of May, which was the day the game went on sale, and yet still I do not have notification from Sony that the game has been shipped. Slightly concerned it won't arrive on time.

I am also interested to see how Alien Rogue Incursion turns out, as I the Alien universe has been one of my favourite franchises of all time since I saw the original film in 1979. Hopefully the game turns out well because it certainly looks like something I should enjoy...

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 600

Fiendish-Beaver

I shall be finishing up my New Game Plus Hard run of Cronos: The New Dawn and also adding in a couple of runs of Horde in Gears 5.

Cronos: The New Dawn is my favourite game of the year, with Hell Is Us in second and Expedition 33 in third.

Anyone who enjoyed Dead Space will enjoy Cronos: The New Dawn, which also has the feel of Resident Evil 2 & 3 as well. Tis a truly superb game...

Re: Forza Horizon 6 Announced, But Not on PS5 at Launch

Fiendish-Beaver

I'm surprised that it will not be a simultaneous release on all platforms. I imagine that it will only be a few months before it is on the PlayStation. It'll probably arrive in time to coincide with the first big DLC, with the PlayStation getting the base game with the first DLC included. Then PlayStation will get all the later DLC too, but have to buy it just as they will on the Xbox...

Re: Baby Steps (PS5) - A Rewarding, Surrealist Odyssey for Those Willing to Fail

Fiendish-Beaver

I know what you are getting at with regards to review scores being a rough guide, @ShogunRok, but surely games should still be weighed against a benchmark of some sort? In other words, if game A scores an 8, then is game B better than it, worse than it, or the same? I understand that that is difficult because game types vary so much, but I think that what @PsBoxSwitchOwner said is a valid question.

I mean, if you are only going to buy one of these games, and one has a higher review score, and that is what you are going to use in order to determine which game you are going to buy, then having a benchmark matters...

Re: Ghost of Yotei's Very Reasonable Dev Budget on Par with Predecessor

Fiendish-Beaver

I have the Collector's Edition of the game, but no sign of it having been dispatched as of yet, though I guess it is still a little early as of now. I don't think they have taken my payment yet either. I always get a little jittery until they take my money, in case there is an issue with the purchase. So come on Sony, hurry up and take my money and settle my nerves... 😂

Re: The First Silent Hill F Review Score Is Now Live

Fiendish-Beaver

I shall be pre-ordering this game next week, though when I get to play it, I'm not too certain. I've just finished Hell Is Us, which was superb, probably my favourite game of the year. I'm currently playing Cronos: The New Dawn, and the next game I intend to play is Deadzone Rogue. I have also bought Borderlands 4, though I will await all the DLC before playing that.

So when I buy Silent Hill F, I will have bought 5 games this month, and I have the Ghost of Yotei Collectors Edition pre-ordered too, and I want to jump into the game as soon as it arrives next month, so I'm not entirely certain that I will have time to finish Silent Hill before Ghost of Yotei is released, so it may have to wait until I've finished that game first.

September has been an awesome month for me in terms of gaming, and whilst the whether here in the UK has been awful, I've been sat indoors happily gaming. So many great games. Expensive, but great...!

Re: 'It Was a Little Callous': Hell Is Us Dev Bemoans Impact of Hollow Knight: Silksong

Fiendish-Beaver

I don't think I will end up playing Silksong, but I have already completed Hell Is Us and I think it just about edges out Expedition 33 as my favourite game of the year. I really hope that the release of Silksong does not impact Rogue Factor too much, and that the studio instead goes from strength to strength as I am excited to see what they do next (which will hopefully be a sequel to Hell Is Us)...

Re: GOTY Frontrunner Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Just Keeps Selling, Cracks 4.4 Million Copies

Fiendish-Beaver

I loved Expedition 33, the only other game that I have played this year that might just top it is Hell Is Us, which I have just finished and loved every moment of. Really looking forward to seeing what both Sandfall Interactive and Rouge Factor do next, as these developers have both made a wonderful game this year. I am also excited to see more of the worlds both developers have created...

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 598

Fiendish-Beaver

I have played both Expedition 33 and Hell Is Us, @Steeleye50, and agree, they are both excellent. I think, for me, Hell Is Us just edges it as the better game, but there is not a lot in it. I think where Hell Is Us excels is in the exploration, and as that is something that I really enjoy in a game, that is probably why I just about prefer it, but there really is not a lot in it.

What I will say though, is that I hope we get a sequel to both games, and for me, they will both be games I shall pre-order...

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 598

Fiendish-Beaver

On the hardest difficulty, it really is pretty hard, @skud. However, you can swap difficulty at any time, and on the easiest difficulty it is very straightforward. The middle difficulty (Balanced) is what it says on the tin; not easy, but not too hard either.

I started out on the hardest difficulty, but after 30 hours or so, as the enemies became more difficult, I knocked it down to Balanced, and the game became even more enjoyable.

There are a couple of items you can equip that will give you health when you hit an enemy, and also when you kill one. It makes life much easier. I'm not saying you won't still die, but you won't be constantly dying...

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 598

Fiendish-Beaver

I shall be soon finishing my playthrough of Hell Is Us, which I have enjoyed immensely. I've not finished the game yet, so obviously do not know how it ends, but from what the 70 or so hours I have played so far, I really hope we see another game set in this universe because the developers have done a superb job with the game.

No hand-holding, no map, no tracking what you are supposed to do next, you just have to find your own way around. I have made copious notes as I have gone around, which has helped me a great deal. Some of the puzzles are very difficult to solve, and I will not lie, I have had to seek help online for a couple because I just could not make sense of them. I don't consider myself to be incredibly intelligent, but I still look at some of the solutions and I still find myself baffled as to how you are supposed to arrive at the solution. That said, when you do solve a real head-scratcher all by yourself, there is a real sense of accomplishment.

As for the combat, it really is pretty challenging on the hardest difficulty, and after about 30 or 40 hours I turned it down one difficulty, and am enjoying the game even more now that I am able to undertake most battles without too much trouble. I do still die every now and again, but I never feel frustrated with the game.

Whatever the developers, Rogue Factor, do next, I really look forward to it as Hell is Us is very, very good indeed...

Re: 'Intergalactic's the Most Ambitious Game We've Ever Made': Neil Druckmann Teases Naughty Dog's Next PS5 Project

Fiendish-Beaver

Personally, I'm really looking forward to this game because Sci-Fi has been my favourite genre ever since I was child watching the likes of Blake's 7, Doctor Who and Star Trek. I was born in 1963, long before television on demand, or more than a couple of television channels, or the internet, and so used to avidly read as a child and into my adulthood. Sci-Fi was always my go to book. So Intergalactic is precisely the type of game that I want to play.

That said, I really want another Last of Us game before I am too old to play it. I'll be 62 in a couple of months, and with development times these days, I could easily be 70 before we see another instalment. Damn getting older is not all its cracked up to be...

Re: Round Up: Borderlands 4 Reviews All on PC, No PS5 Verdicts Anywhere

Fiendish-Beaver

I actually bought my game just now based on the above reviews. I bought the Super Deluxe version, which on both the PS5 and on the Xbox Store is £120. I took a look on CDKeys and there is no PlayStation code available on there (as is always the case, thanks Sony!), but the Xbox code, for precisely the same game, was just £87. A saving of £33. Man we get so ripped off on our native console stores. The PC code for Steam is even cheaper at £83...

Re: 'The Tension Is Hurting a Lot of People': Ex-Bethesda Boss Speaks Out on Subs Like Xbox Game Pass

Fiendish-Beaver

Personally, I have Game Pass Ultimate and I do not have the PlayStation alternative. That said, I buy nearly all my games, and the only game that I have played on the Game Pass this year was Expedition 33 because I have bought all the other games this year. I do buy a lot of games, this is a complete list of all the games I have bought this year:

Days Gone: Remastered
Death Stranding 2 - Collector's Edition
Ghost of Yote - Collector's Editioni

This is a list of the games that I have bought this year for my Xbox. That's bought, not played on Game Pass. Actually purchased:

Aternum: New World
Euro Fishing: Ultimate Edition
Assassin's Creed: Mirage
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
Doom: The Dark Ages - Collector's Edition
Split Fiction
Cluedo
The Thaumaturge
The Talos Principle: Reawakened
63 Days
Hero Defence
Star Trek Prodigy
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Cronos: The New Dawn
Terminator Resistance
Deadzone Rogue
Hell is Us
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel

I will pre-order these three games for my Xbox over the next few days once they are closer to release:

Silent Hill F
Dying Light: The beast
Borderlands 4

The reason I have Game Pass Ultimate is because I also own a gaming PC, although I don't enjoy gaming on a PC so I do not actually play games on it, however, every weekend I play 3 50 wave Hordes in Gears 5 with my mate, and my son, and I simply would rather have Ultimate, than Core.

I do think Game Pass and it's PlayStation equivalent offer excellent value to us as consumers, with Game Pass offering the best subscription service. However, I do not think that Game Pass will ultimately prove to be sustainable.

The one thing I would say though is that those that are developing games for Game Pass are much less likely to lose their jobs than a developer that releases a game that fails. Game Pass in particular, with its day one releases, offers an element of job security because the service always needs new games, thus even if they release a subpar game, they are still likely to keep their jobs so that they can move on to the next game in development, so I don't think it is quite a clear cut as Pete Hines is saying because surely it is better to be under pressure and in employment, than it is to be unemployed...?