Golem25

This game is the gift that keeps on giving. The last time I had this much fun laughing at a game I didn't buy was Lawbreakers.

Rocksteady threw itself off the live service cliff and makes a point of hitting every single rock on the way down.

Two years of support tops, then mothballing and eventual server culling

I hope someone within Rocksteady is compiling all documents, emails, etc. they can find and hiding them away for future generations, because this game's spectacular failure should be studied for decades to come.

The playercount on Steam went as low as 48. 48 Concurrent players. There was a day where the peak playercount was just 100. This game took 7 years and 200 millions bucks to make. And what did it net Rocksteady and WB? Unlimited ridicule.

EDIT; also worth noting that they made a point of dissing Harley's Akrham Knight outfit in the base game, yet have now gotten so desperate to recoup some of the losses that they're now going to sell it in the in-game shop. With some alterations, of course, because the Arkham Knight version was obviously waaaaaaaaaay too revealing for this set of devs to approve of.

Know what other game did this? Suicide Squad. Know what the playercount for that was on Steam yesterday? Between 50 and 180 throughout the entire day.

Still dead on arrival

I'm sorry.

Even FARMING SIMULATOR now has a Season Pass?

Really? What a load of crop.

I think it's perfectly fair to judge the devs on the basis of this demo.

Selecting, preparing, and releasing this small slice of gameplay out of everything this supposedly big and long game has available isn't some accidental overnight decision. It being a stinky poopy and claiming 'oh, but the rest might actually smell nice' despite coming from the same point of origin is such a fine display of mental gymnastics, people saying as much ought to be in Paris this summer.

Never mind that the gaming press by and large runs interference for big publishers on the regular, but couldn't bring themselves to be more positive about this particular game. Modern Star Wars is always an instant 'never touch' for me but now I'm looking forward to seeing whether it bombs.

Same devs as American Fugitive, which was a fantastic game. If you're on the fence, get off it and give this game a chance.

@UltimateOtaku91 You're so real for posting this

Think this will be DOA but happy to be proven wrong - if only it was on Steam day one so we could track the Steamcharts numbers.

@ProfessorNiggle JC4 and especially JC3 came nowhere close to JC2. Something about that game was just chef's kiss. Still holds up to this day too.

Driving game; meh

Driving game in HK; ZOMG!

Yeah, I am biased. Where is my Sleeping Dogs re-remaster?

Wasn't for me, but I largely put that down to being old now.

E3 2009 just hits different when you're 16 compared to State of Play 2024 when you're 31.

That being said, showing more or better games would help. When your lead title is a discount version of Guardians of The Galaxy meets Overwatch, you give yourself a mountain to climb.

Idk man, appreciate it's not appropriate but this just looks cringe-to-play. Years behind the curve, and none of the characters speak to me as they all seem to busy ticking boxes in terms of tropes and the like.

Thinking back to the PS360 era, I had absolutely zero interest in the original. Never understood what people saw in it. That it got a sequel, hey, sure, guess it sold well enough. But again, from everything I saw of it, I could only muster extreme apathy. Seems that was a more widespread sentiment than anticipated given the noise made by what has turned out to be a vocal minority of fans.

Anyone else used to misread this name as Infogames? Just me? Takes me back to the 90's, ooft.

@Bluetrain7 If anything that tells me that Push Square are doing it right. I've not often read reviews where my own score would deviate by more than one or at most two points either way, and every score is backed up appropriately. I trust the team here a fair bit more than IGN or Gamespot, especially when I doubt they could possibly have a stake (financial or otherwise) in giving games lower-than-average ratings.

@LordAinsley My bad, looks like I read it as a 6.

I will not be supporting this game, or even trying it for free via Plus - it is simply not for me. I think I wholeheartedly disagree with a few things the developers have opted for during development, based on this review and the various previews and discussions of the game. I expect others will share that sentiment.

Maybe they were better off making a picturebook rather than a video game, because it sounds like they invested too much time in aspects of development that are really rather inconsequential when the core game and its mechanics are this poor.

On that basis, I would argue that the score is too high. It's a game, something to be played, so the story shouldn't be able to carry it to a six. This sounds like a 4 or 5, no higher than that. That's my opinion, though, and I respect the writer's views.

HANGAR 13 MENTIONED, GAME SENT TO 'NEVER BUY LIST'

No, but for real. Those character models look dreadful. Dreadful. Might give it a spin once it comes to PS Plus Essential, but even then I'm probably still more likely to never touch it.

I like historical accuracy and I commend the devs for the approach taken. Nice to see such a success story come out of a crowdfunded effort.

'We have decided to disband Hangar 13, and are looking to sell the Mafia IP'.

RAYMAN 4 WAS CANCELLED BECAUSE OF WlNNlE THE POOH'S RUMBLY TUMBLY ADVENTURE HMGGGNFGNGGNFFG AAAAAAAARGGGGHFHHHH

@Jacko11 Mafia 2 to Mafia 3 was one of the biggest drop-offs between games in recent history.

Mafia 2 wasn't even perfect, in fact it was deeply, deeply flawed. But Mafia 3 was far below par in so many different areas, from story to gameplay to technical aspects to the very foundations of the game. A broken Trophy to boot. Still one of the best/worst Crowbcat videos to date, and that is saying something.

They fired the absolute midwit who founded the studio, but Mafia 3 as a game showed that the rot permeated the entire organization. It should have been disbanded or forced put out shovelware forever.

HANGAR 13?!

This game immediately went on the 'never, ever touch' list. I have NOT forgotten how utterly, utterly rancid Mafia 3 was. Them being forced to pump out annual sports games would handily keep them away from other franchises, so this is good news.

I sat the PS4 generation out, meaning I've been able to pick up great games for 'free' via PS Plus, never needing to buy any. I'm going to keep working through older games and staying behind the curve like that, because the thought of dropping 120 quid on a single game makes my head hurt. I don't care for post-Lucas SW, so I might not even play this when it hits Plus circa 2028.

Actually really enjoyed this via PS Plus, platted it three times in fact (PS5, PS4 EU, PS4 NA). Not a good game, but enjoyable if that makes sense?

281 concurrent players on Steam right now, baybee.

NEW TROPHlES YEAH BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

This would have double the number of active players, if not triple, if the characters were anime girls instead of these weird plasticky things they went with.

@Titntin Will it, though? I always wonder. Tchia was fantastic but how many people actually download it off Extra? I didn't until it was announced to be leaving the service. It's such a shame we don't have data available for Playstation games, in the way that we do have it for Steam.

@RicebinBernacky If you go onto Steam, you can check the Curators list on the game's store page and see what they are saying - the game's Steam forum is also useful. A notable complaint on there is the use of Denuvo (anti-tamper / DRM garbage) but I'll leave you to dig further.

Ultimately, not a game for me - including but not limited to it looking really rather dull. I reckon Dave will be a fair bit more popular, definitely has more hype behind it if Steam is any indication.

@Haruki_NLI Quite possibly the best comment I've ever read on Push Square, nice one.

Nice. Server shutdown within 24 months.

Appreciate this might have gone over a few heads, but Strohmann means Strawman in Swedish if I'm not mistaken. Not a very fitting name for a completely independent and non-government-aligned news organization, whose news you absolutely must trust.

@StrickenBiged It does sound like everyone's having a great time. I've still too much to do via PS Plus but I'm sure one day I might fire it up on an alt account. I'm just pleased for the devs and the playerbase that it's been going so well.

Gee, the original bits are still great, and everything else is garbage. Who'd have thunk it, huh? The devs and Disney could have had a massive success on their hands here, but lack of care, effort, and allocating it a proper budget has backfired massively. They'll still walk away with a profit, sadly.

Honestly, fun stuff like this makes me sorta wish I had jumped onboard. Live services just aren't for me, but when they're done well like this, they can truly add to the experience in ways that a singleplayer game cannot.

@Fuzzymonkeyfunk Did you 100% Spider's Thread as well?

Just finished Tchia. Twice. Plat for PS4 and PS5 stacks. Excellent little game, very charming even if it has some rough edges (no mini-map, and your own location is not marked 99% of the time). If it ever comes back to Plus, be that in Essential or in Extra again, do take the time to play it.

Edit to say that I played Ghostwire: Tokyo a few months ago when it was added to the service. A good if flawed game with a gorgeous open world, with detail on par with or even exceeding that of the Yakuza / Like a Dragon games. Such a shame it is leaving Plus Extra now, doubt it will be back unless Sony's original exclusivity contract stipulated that it should come to Plus Essential at some point.

Does hunting in Yakuza 5 count? Much maligned, I know, but being stuck in that snowy village up in the mountains of Hokkaido was a really memorable experience for me, one of the best parts in one of the best games in the series.

And, as others said, cabaret was fantastic in all the games it appeared in. I would consider these examples to be more than just minigames - perhaps macrogames is a better word? A substantial but still pocket-sized game within a larger game.

I'm not sure if this helps, but I walked past my neighbour's house and he was playing it on his flatscreen while his partner was looking bored.

Personally, I don't own the game.

EMBRACER TRY NOT TO IMPLODE FOR LIKE A FULL WEEK CHALLENGE (IMPOSSIBLE DIFFICULTY)

Did they really need a senior community manager for a singleplayer series to begin with?

Taking bets on when the servers will be turned off. End of 2026, anyone?

I can barely believe it, but I immediately recognized the art style as belonging to James Turner, who designed loads of ugly Pokemon from Gen 5 onwards and became lead designer from Gen 8 onwards.

Just checked, he left Game Freak. Brilliant news.