Gamer83

@CamPatUK
Yup. I get it. I hope Sony doesn't F things up.

Feels like they're setting this up to be a $70 game, which I think will bury it. I'd still buy it but I don't think the vast majority would. Even $60 is pushing things because Playroom was free. I think $40-$50 would be the sweet spot. I want this game to succeed because if it doesn't Sony's take away won't be 'we screwed up on pricing and advertising,' it'll be 'gamers don't want games like Astro Bot.'

1. Monster Hunter Wilds
2. Astro Bot
Both of those look awesome.

As for the other games, it was all a steaming pile of meh, and I'm especially disappointed with how badly Bloober Team seems to be dropping the ball with Silent Hill 2, though, I guess I shouldn't be shocked because I knew where things were headed once 'modern audience' was injected into the conversation. I don't want to write off Path of Exile 2 or Ballad or Antara but free-to-play is always cause for concern.

I don't care if people don't like beat-em-ups, that's fine. However, ranking a month that features Streets of Rage 4 as 'crap' is insanity. Don't have to like a genre to be able to appreciate a well-made game, and SoR 4 is fantastic.

Big fan of Playroom's soundtrack, so this is great news.

Something I hope Capcom keeps from Monster Hunter Rise is the pacing. I tried other MH games in the past (Tri on the Wii and World on PS4) but could never get into the series until Rise came along. The other games just felt too slow and deliberate when it came to tracking the monsters and all that stuff leading up to the battles whereas Rise was action packed from the start. Good, more large-scale storytelling would be a nice bonus but as the article states that's not completely necessary for Monster Hunter.

Hopefully there's a demo in the lead up but even if not I'll still get this on launch day. Easily one of my most anticipated games right now and with Capcom riding a serious hot streak, little doubt this will be one of 2025's best.

Right now this is my most-wanted game for the rest of the year. Big fan of Astro's Playroom, look forward to seeing what the team does with a more full game.

Probably will be gone from the list entirely next month but hopefully the April result is good enough that it means Stellar Blade can be considered a success overall.

Wish it was like the Xbox Series X where you could also put a disc copy in for games that are part of the bc program but this is still better than nothing. Hoping to see a good number of Namco games with Tekken 5 at the top of the list.

I have a Premium subscription but going to spend the money anyway to buy Sly Cooper and Tomb Raider Legend. Both great games and a chance to show Sony that some of us do want more PS2 games on the service.

Sega is my favorite video game company of all time but it's always been run by idiots. Good thing Nagoshi made the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series happen anyway.

Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

@get2sammyb
Great job, thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Unfortunately, at least from what I've seen on twitter, the fighting on both sides continues. I could understand if this game had any real harmful content in it, but it doesn't. Don't like skimpy outfits? Move the f on and play one of the billion games that doesn't have them.

Never played Rescue Mission on the PSVR but Astro's Playroom is still one of my favorite PS5 games. This would be perfect for the Fall/Holiday season.

@Ashina
It's because the type of game Stellar Blade is. Certain types have to crap on it to prove what great, non-sexist people they are.

I've moved on to Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 but this was my favorite fighting game on PS4 when it released. If you can find it for $30 or under, I'd still recommend it to any PS4/5 owners looking for something a bit different than the usual.

Really is no competition in Japan for Nintendo right now.

That's not a great payoff for the boss rush mode but at least it's free.

I'm not very optimistic but I'll probably go see it anyway. I went to the theatre back in 2009 to see the Chun-Li movie and I was the only one there.

@meistergeister
Agree. Borderline criminal that Muramasa Rebirth didn't get the same 'Pro' treatment that Dragon's Crown did. I'd have bought it again, especially if there had been a physical release.

Good. Haven't played it but, given Vanillaware's pedigree, there's no doubt Unicorn Overlord is great for what it is. However, I want something more similar to Odin Sphere, Muramasa or Dragon's Crown in terms of gameplay. I like 13 Sentinels a lot but it was more the goofy story and characters that kept me going throughout the adventure where as with those other 3, the combat was the main draw.

@UltimateOtaku91
Been a lot of great games this year that fell off quicker than they should've. Why anybody would buy the garbage that is Mortal Kombat 11 over Tekken 8 is beyond me.

Worst part of the game, aside from the putrid way DLC has been handled, is easily the soundtrack. And, of course, you have to pay to get the music worth a damn. It really is amazing how Capcom can get DLC right with Resident Evil but fails on every level concerning that with SF 6.

A sequel would be awesome.

Seems like an obvious move. MS has to do something to attract more people to the Xbox brand.

@UltimateOtaku91
I think this one is supposed to be a return to the RPG style of more recent ACs. If you want a modern AC that is more 'classic' style, Mirage is actually pretty good.

Day one buy for me. I like pretty much all the AC games.

And that tally will grow because Xbox gave up. It's a two horse race from here on out and the industry is not going to better for it because Nintendo provides more of a complimentary option than a serious competitor to the hardware Sony releases.

If you go in with the right expectations, Wanted: Dead can be a fun time. Very janky but I enjoyed it for the throwback to the PS2 era that it is. At that price, definitely worth a shot. House of the Dead Remake is fun, too.

I always hate when this happens. Get used to how a character plays and then they go and screw it all up. Happens 100% of the time. For once, just leave well enough alone.

@Ainu20
Censorship decisions don't always make sense. That's true going back to the 90s. No company tried harder to be seen as cool than Sega but even then Sega of America would sometimes make choices that didn't line up with how it usually acted. For example, all the changes made in Streets of Rage 3, especially to the females. All the female villains got covered up compared to the Japanese release but somehow Blaze's outfit was allowed to be exactly the same, though they made an odd decision to make the outfit white for the U.S. instead of the traditional red.

@get2sammyb
I'd buy that reasoning, if it weren't for the fact Sony has censored other games on its platform that it didn't publish. But the problem I have with the changes isn't even the designs because the outfits are still pretty revealing, it's that they were advertised to be in the game, they're on the disc but then get wiped away with an update. If this wasn't the vision, they shouldn't have been advertised and, more than that, Shift Up shouldn't have leaned into the 'sexy' when advertising the game. That was always their biggest mistake.

Show the final versions of the outfits in trailers, the demo, etc., answer the questions about Eve herself by saying 'I like to play games with attractive women and that's how I wanted to design the lead character for mine,' and most of all don't say the game will be uncensored. That would've lessened some of the chatter, the game still would've been a battleground for whatever reason, but it would've calmed down other talk.

Tried but never really got into the series until Rise. Love that game. Looking forward to Wilds.

@get2sammyb
Final Fantasy is definitely not as popular as it once was. It used to be able to sell PlayStation consoles, that clearly isn't the case anymore. While the numbers seem fine enough taken on their own, I'm sure not just SquareEnix, but Sony had higher hopes for the impact XVI and VII Rebirth would make, and though both are quality games, it seems pretty obvious they didn't help move hardware.
It's also possible that this has more to do with a bad economy but I don't remember any of the more recent FF games setting sales charts on fire and XIII and XV weren't the most loved games by fans and are probably where things started going off course.

Could be the long time before we see another game like this from SquareEnix. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Secret of Mana is one of my favorite Super NES games.

Feels like it's been this way with Like a Dragon for a while now. If it isn't a new game with the LaD name on it, it's a spinoff like Judgment.

@Vault_Mcfly
I'd say for a new, non-Japanese developed IP on a console that isn't overly popular there it's actually a pretty good debut. I never expected Stellar Blade to light up sales charts to be honest, it's geared towards a specific audience. Worldwide sales will tell the full story. As long as it was budgeted properly, if it can mange 2-3 mil, that should hopefully make it profitable enough to get a sequel.

@Shad361
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth missing from both charts as well. Surprising and disappointing. All 3 are great games.

@HonestHick
Yeah, Heavenly Sword is awesome, one of the main reasons I bought a PS3 in 2007 rather than wait until the next summer for MGS 4. It didn't light up the sales charts, sadly, which is probably why we never even got a remaster during PS4's early years when it seemed like every PS3 game was making its way over.

Well, that would be something... The series did start a timed-exclusive PlayStation game so it'd be cool, just crazy the way it would be happening. Always will be a shame NT sold out to MS. Hope Hellblade 2 does well because I'd hate to see NT be the next studio lost.

I've been enjoying the Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Monster Hunter out put for the last decade and a half or so. Not thrilled at all with how SF 6's extra content has been handled post-release but unfortunately that's a problem with the entire fighting game genre. The Resident Evil teams are really on fire. Great remakes, worthwhile - and fairly-priced - DLC expansions, and even a lesser quality release like RE 3R is still a good game. Looking forward to the announcement of 9, just hope they don't go full open world with it.

@sanderson72
The best LBP is on Vita, also not made by Media Molecule. I like MM but unfortunately it seems that studio's best days are behind it. Would love to see LBP make a come back with the right team behind it, though.

Write bad fan fiction, you're not going to get the best reaction. That isn't 'attacky.'

I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy XVI, FF VII Rebirth and Stellar Blade and Sony does have a history of relying on third party exclusives to help carry PlayStation, but that doesn't excuse the pretty poor first party output this gen.

Looking forward to seeing what it's about. Hopefully a return to third person with a focus on older characters. Be cool if Jill is back in a leading role.

It's a shame, because it's easily one of the best games of the year. But I also understand why a lot of the hardcore FF VII fans don't care for Remake and Rebirth, and that's a large part of the audience. Not being about to win them over has clearly hurt Rebirth and it could mean even worse sales for the third part.

@rachetmarvel
The review score is definitely inflated, though. I'm as big a 'fanservice' guy as anybody but I also try to be objective. If this game is a 9.2 I can list a bunch more than should be in the 9.8 to 10 range but aren't because people are either complaining about horrendous DLC practice that don't effect gameplay or 'woke' or 'incel.' End of the day, user reviews should be taken as seriously as 'professional' reviews that aren't from PushSquare, Pure Xbox or NintendoLife, which is, not at all.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Stupid censorship that shouldn't happen, especially when crap like Saints Row is allowed to exist uncensored, and misleading marketing aside, when you look at it objectively, the game still has a lot of stuff that the 'incels' would say flies in the face of 'woke' (the whole discourse around this game is stupid), so I'm not surprised it's scoring well from users. All that said, other than the outstanding music and a strong combat system, which still isn't close to the level as the From Soft games it's clearly copying, I don't know as I'd say there's anything in this game that is truly great. A 9.2 is definitely a bit bloated and almost laughable in a year that has already seen Tekken 8, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. All vastly superior.

It's a really good game but not that good.