GeeEssEff

I got half way through it on Xbox before dropping off. Its a great game I just got distracted by others and never went back

@Slideaway1983 Tbf everywhere seems to be doing a Disk PS5 with Astrobot for £430 at the moment which is much better value….or you can get the console without Astrobot for £480. I can’t keep up with the bizarre PS5 pricing in the UK 😅

Truman Show is one of my all time favourite films so I’m intrigued. Although while im not usually a graphics snob this looks like a game from 2 generations ago which is a bit disappointing.

@Slideaway1983 They definitely weren’t £550. I just went back and checked my Amazon order from 2020 and I got a day one fat PS5 with disk drive for £450. PS plus was also cheaper and I was able to take advantage of Black Friday PS plus deals as an existing customer which they haven’t done for a couple of years now. Your mate might have got a deal or something but I’m pretty sure the RRP of the PS5 has only gone up since release.

I feel bad for people who have been saving up to get a PS5 with both the console and PS plus being more expensive. This has been a bizarre generation where, for the first time I can remember, early adopters have actually got the best deal.

I gave it a few hours on PC. I think it fumbles its main hook in the card system by making it all too confusing and there’s way too many currencies. The overall gameplay is pretty good but it really needs to tighten the whole experience up if it’s going to remain relevant for more than a year.

It looks awesome and I will probably get it eventually but won’t be in any rush to pick it up day one unless some crazy game announcements come out the woodwork in the next couple of months. Will probably wait for the inevitable OLED upgrade.

Split Fiction is the only one I have bought. I do really want to play Shadows but I’m not buying another big open world game till I am done with KCD2 which is going to be a long way off I think.

@Rich33 If it’s a game you have wanted to play I would wholeheartedly recommend picking it up when it comes on PS5 and trying it for yourself. For many I think It’s a weird experience where it seems amazing for a fair few hours (it got a solid 60 out of me) and you can easily look past some of the issues and even struggle to understand the hate. Then it just starts to become really samey. You realise all the various different systems (which initially seemed exciting) have basically no depth when you look under the hood and it’s actually quite a barren, half baked set of worlds with little to explore or get you excited. Some people still love it and it’s got some interesting quests and ideas it just feels like Bethesda haven’t really innovated on their gameplay or world building over the last decade. It kinda just feels like Fallout in space with all the frustrations and non of the charm.

@Rich33 It did get a 60fps update….I logged back in on Xbox to try it last year and quickly remembered why I gave up on it in the first place. I even redownloaded it this year when I got a new PC and deleted it within 10 minutes. All the frames in the world can’t save it from being a very average game unfortunately.

I don’t think there’s a definitive right or wrong answer it kind of just comes down to how you align yourself morally. As a cold hearted utilitarian I believe sacrificing Ellie for the greater good of mankind would have been the better option. Would I have been able to sacrifice my own daughter if I was in the same situation? Absolutely not.

@Flobbots I’ve not seen any of the films mate, they never really appealed to me which is part of the reason I haven’t bought the game.

It might be a while before I get to it (knee deep in Kindom come deliverance 2 atm) but if I give it a go I will let you know what I think!

Robocop is a great addition! One of those games I’ve wanted to try but not buy so very happy with that.

I am hoping to finally get to Kuttenberg this weekend on KCD2. I say finally like it has been a chore but I have loved every minute of my 50 hour playthrough so far and can’t believe I’m not even halfway through. Out of all the big 2025 releases I was the least hyped for KCD2 after not clicking with the first but this will probably end up being one of my favourite games of all time, let alone just the year. Absolute masterpiece.

Split Fiction and it is awesome so far!

The wife and I will be starting it over the weekend. We loved It Takes Two and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this excited for a game that doesn’t have Mario in the title

Woooo can’t wait to play this with the wife. I thought it was going to be a full priced £70 game as well so was going to wait for a sale but less than £40 on Amazon! We shall be playing this weekend.

I love my Steamdeck which I got early 2024 and using Steam more regularly is partly what convinced me to get a gaming PC afterwards. The ridiculously varied library, deep sales, community integration, mods, sortable wish list, demos, early access, family game sharing, bundles, awesome refund policy….it completely destroys all console storefronts in pretty much every metric I can think of and Valve only seem intent on making it even more consumer friendly as time goes on.

Returnal is one of the best games on the PS5 and has some of the best Dualsense features. I cannot wait to see how Housemarque build on it

@Toot1st Live multiplayer games like Redfall which Xbox cancelled on PS mid development when they bought Bethesda before laying off a ton of staff and closing the studio? The hypocrisy is wild 😂

I have got back into Shin Megami Tensei V in a big way so probably that for most of the weekend!

@Titntin I can understand that, it’s a fantastic game. It would be more tempting for me if the backlog wasn’t so vast, the upcoming release schedule so enticing and my free time so minimal. My eyes are almost entirely on Civ7, Avowed, Monster Hunter and Kingdom Come 2…Truly mad February!

It’s my favourite game on Xbox and easily my most played on the Series X. I won’t be double dipping though as I cant be bothered starting from scratch.

@KoopaTheGamer Prepare to be boycotting most games in the next 5-10 years.

I’m very tempted but have too many games on the go already. Looks great thought!

@Slayer25c Yeh you are right but I think SOCOM 1 and 2 sold pretty well considering when they released and the main hook being online play (which was not widely adopted on PS2) at the time. I am hugely biased though considering how much I loved SOCOM 2 and the hundreds, potentially thousands of hours I spent on it.

The Twisted Metal cancellation was the heaviest blow for me. It also seems wild that they are leaving MP games like SOCOM and Killzone on the table while trying to turn some of their famously single player games into live service. Ahhh well it’s not like I’m short of stuff to play across all platforms so I can live with Sony’s software imploding as long as they still have hardware for me to play third party games on.

@trev666 Bear in mind a lot of people will be subscribed to GP and PS+ predominantly to play online, not necessarily because they want the monthly games. Not sure how accurate they are but stats I found from 2023 suggest that over 70% of ps plus subscribers are on essential tier. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1386668/playstation-plus-subscribers-global-by-tier/

You have to wonder how many of those subscribers would cancel if Sony offered free online play and also how many are only subscribed to the premium tiers because “I need to get essential anyway and it’s only an extra £X a month”

I can’t find similar breakdowns for GPU but I would hazard a guess it’s a similar sort of story. They do have day 1 games on ultimate so it’s more likely people sub solely for the games but I still wonder how many wouldn’t sub atall if they didn’t need some level of GP for online.

I’m addicted to Dice and Fold on Steamdeck (I just cannot stop playing roguelikes to save my life). On PS it will be some more Dragon Age Veilguard and I might give Wuthering Waves a go to see if I can finally get into a gacha and understand what the fuss is about. Have a great weekend everyone!

While I enjoyed Space Marine 2 for the most part it did get a bit samey for me. I am holding out for this horde mode though to get me back into it.

You mean to tell me Jez Corden and Paul Tassi made up a polarising headline, with no basis in reality, for the sole purpose of driving traffic through their respective websites, YouTube and Twitter pages 😮….I never thought I’d see the day.

Happy new year! Keep up the amazing work Push Square.

@Jimmer-jammer I’ve been tempted to get it but have been holding off because I didn’t particularly get on with Persona 5’s time management mechanics. However as someone with a barely used Philosophy degree from 15 years ago you might have just sold it to me. Excellent write up!

Balatro is already one of my favourite indie games of all time and almost certainly my most played game this year across PS and Steam. I can’t sing its praises enough.

@The_Pixel_King Balatro is nothing like queens blood. The similarities end at cards being involved.

Having a knowledge of Poker would help you pick it up quicker but I genuinely don’t think it is a prerequisite. The general rules of poker are very easy to understand and it’s mainly just knowing what the hands mean which the game does an excellent job of explaining anyway. It’s a brilliant game which has accounted for about 10% of my total game time in 2024 across three different platforms. Treat yo self it’s Christmas!

I have got back into Tekken 8 recently so will be trying to learn some characters I didn’t really gel with before. Other than that it’s more Blops 6, Dragon Age Veilguard, Indiana Jones and Path of Exile 2.

I’m tempted to buy Metaphor but the Christmas holidays is always devoted mostly to friends and family so I probably won’t get all that much time to play.

@JonnyAces hope all is well with you and your son!

I will be playing:
PS5 - Path of Exile 2, Tekken 8 and Dragon Age Veilguard
XSX - Indiana Jones and Black ops 6
Steamdeck - Go Go Town and TCG Card Shop Simulator

I’m not sure of the exact order but the top 5 would probably include Unicorn Overlord, Astrobot, Balatro, Black Ops 6 and Infinite Wealth.

Honourable mentions and still a huge amount of love for Helldivers 2, Rebirth and Tekken 8.

It’s probably split fiction for me as the wife and I loved It Takes Two. She’s not a massive gamer so it’s always great when I can get a game that we both enjoy so this will be a day one for us I think.

Come on Balatro! It would be awesome to see an indie developed by a single person win it.

@djlard So because you had to wait an extra 2 days to access your completely free, non business critical, nice to have wrap up page people should lose their jobs? Are you listening to yourself? Entitlement is hitting new levels daily

Luckily for all the people claiming incompetence there are several full stack, data engineering and Architectural positions available on SIEs careers page. Why don’t you apply and so you can show us how it’s done next year.

I’d have it on in the background on my phone or something if I was awake but I’m deffo not staying up for it on a work night.

@Zeke68 Cheers mate. It was really bad for me at the weekend but I played last night and it was near perfect (except when I was in a town with loads of other players). I think it might have just been a bit of a hangover from the launch issues. Either way I’m enjoying it immensely, especially last night without the lag!

Is anyone having quite severe performance issues? I bought it on a whim after remembering I have some PS wallet credit from Stars. In highly populated areas the frame rate dips massively and outright freezes a fair bit. I’d be tempted to blame my internet but I have been playing online games regularly on the same connection with no problems.

I gave it a couple of hours over the weekend and enjoyed what I played for the most part. There seems to be some balance issues and for me, having no cross platform progression is a bit of a missed opportunity. I’d be a bit more into it if I could pick up on Steamdeck where I left off on PS5.

Making the controllers available as a separate purchase really should be a priority for Sony with or without Apple Vision compatibility. It’s mad that if you break a controller outside of warranty you essentially have a £500 brick on your hands.

@Ravix Those pictures are exquisite. Truly beautiful S%#t

It takes two is hands down the most fun me and the wife have had gaming together so I will definitely be keeping my eyes on whatever Hazelight do next.