IllusiveMan

@KillerIsD34D @stu123 Went through this realization with the 2023 price hike, $80 at minimum yearly for what Essential gives you is just too expensive, instead of paying $80+ yearly I spent less than that once and got all the games I really wanted while they were on sale, also been doing a manual saves backups every few months with a $15 USB-C drive instead of relying on cloud saves.

No console deals, guess they were really serious about not caring to attract new users…

Why is it always the worse months just after a price increase?

Remember when they scammed Sony to pay that much for their live-service “expertise”? Not having an actively engaging game for the foreseeable future doesn’t scream ‘expertise’ to me…

@tinCAT-zero Exactly this, they straight up told investors they’d do everything to milk dry the existing user base as being attractive for new users is no longer a priority.

@Questionable_Duck I’d say that’s good news, rather this be a new name for the live service BS we already knew of than yet another live service BS lol

@AdamNovice It all depends how it’s shown, if it’s just a trailer with launch date among other first-party announcements it’d be fine even if no one cares.

However, remember that infamous State of Play where half of it was about how great Concord was, if this and Horizon live-service take central stage for the State of Play it’d be a massive disappointment.

Please don’t be yet another live-service BS 🫩

“For the payers” 🤷🏻‍♂️

Literally just yesterday PS fans did the same thing, where’s that article trying to ridicule PS fans at Pure Xbox? Oh right, they don’t have a toxic behavior like you do.

You may tell yourselves you’re an objective site and joke about it but it only takes a visit to read Nintendo Life or Pure Xbox’ articles and you’ll quickly realize you’re by far the least objective out of the 3, perhaps even the least objective among ALL sites owned by IGN…

@twitchtvpat Lmaooooo and are you aware who has been the head of first-party studios since Jim Ryan’s took over as CEO and still remains even with Jim gone? Who personally green-lit and then cancelled a dozen games in the last few years? Who headed the acquisition of multiple studios that were later closed without one game ever released? In fact, are you aware of the one person who, also reported by Bloomberg, believed so much in Concord that convinced Sony to buy the whole studio, IP and every right to it?

Don’t know if you have selective memory or what but I’m of course talking about no other than good ol’ Hermen Hulst, to read some still trying to defend his poor job and terrible decision making is hilarious.

Good, now let’s not waste any more studios’ resources on flopped or cancelled live-service BS Hermen…

If only Sony had a studio specialized in remaking games the community love…

@Swandivetotheasphalt 90% of “rumors” nowadays are these baseless speculations only to have a weekend of engagement, frankly most gaming YouTubers nowadays are downright insufferable, always trying to either speculate claiming to have some “source” or ragebait the audience into some argument.

@DennisReynolds That’s because Palworld wasn’t officially labeled as an early-access title at release on PS5.
Phil isn’t even at Microsoft anymore, and it’s been years since they’ve had any timed exclusivity, again with every major Xbox franchise releasing on PS5 what’s the point of paywall an indie game?

It’s all to do with Sony and the game labeled as a preview, but believe whatever you want to believe.

@DennisReynolds Nah, it’d be ridiculous to pay for a timed exclusivity for an indie game in early-access when they’re releasing Halo, Forza and Gears of War on PS5.

It’s only skipping PS5 because of the early-access policy.

@Oram77 Even if they tried to promise fans exclusives are back, would anyone actually believe them with Halo now on PlayStation?

I remember not so long ago them promising Starfield was an Xbox exclusive, to make that promise again would look ridiculous.
Plus with Xbox having a shrinking user base (selling less consoles) it makes them more dependent on selling games elsewhere to make some profit, an unstoppable spiral of death for the platform I predicted ever since the 4 games were announced, there’s no going back.

Lmao with some of the unrealistic expectations, as if first-party studios hadn’t been decimated this generation, most, if not all their studios lost half the generation trying to make a live-service that flopped or was cancelled, it’s gonna take a long time for all those studios to get back to work on a single-player game and be ready to show it, I’d say well into the PS6 generation…

For the entire remainder of this generation from PS Studios I only expect Wolverine, Intergalactic and that Faye God of War spinoff, anything else would be a welcome surprise but I honestly don’t expect as much.

Lol I got both of those trophies by accident as I went back to that ledge and before the patch there were some rocks that allowed you to go back to the end of the third biome, trophies popped and boss fight started, now I feel guilty about getting those trophies that way.

This is very disappointing as it’s one of the best shooters in recent memory but I kinda expected it, imo they got themselves backed into a corner as they were aiming for the masses with Saros being considerably less hardcore than Returnal but everything they showed looked too similar to it, which is much cheaper nowadays, has been bundled with the console and it’s included on PS+ Extra, so most who gave Returnal a try and didn’t like just won’t even look at Saros even if it’s looking to address their complaints, and people who are getting interested in Saros would rather try Returnal which is much cheaper to play nowadays than spending $70.

Also, many Returnal fans (as myself) are agreeing that Returnal is still the better game of the two so it doesn’t bode well for word of mouth and long-term sales, and honestly makes me very scared about the future of Housemarque.

After getting the platinum for both games the clear winner is Returnal, the best improvement in Saros, perhaps the only one, are gameplay modifiers so that everyone can enjoy the gameplay (I personally didn’t use them until I was done with the story).

• Overall weapons are VERY lacking in Saros with such little variety and some of them are plain useless.
• Biomes are nowhere near as diverse, most look exactly the same with some variations but nothing like biome 5 or 6 from Returnal that were completely different from the rest of the game.
• As a character Selene was way more intriguing and the mystery surrounding her story is much better handled than Arjun’s but that might have to do more with the pacing of the overall story, and speaking of that…
• Story is by far the biggest letdown for me as Returnal’s was okay and a bit too ambiguous but it had such an immersive dread atmosphere, with Saros they talked a lot about having a more structured narrative and more characters but they just fumbled it terribly, I still can’t get over how they built such an interesting world with Carcosa with lots of potential for lore and they didn’t elaborate on that but rather attempt to tell a soap-opera which is terribly paced, predictable and unsatisfying at the end.

I still liked it a lot since Housemarque’s gameplay is still unmatched but Returnal remains Housemarque’s peak and is still my favorite game this generation, I do hope their next game isn’t a roguelike so that they can tell a better story and handle progression a bit better (since it’s true after the third boss it turns quite easier compared to Returnal which had you learning until the very end).

Great game, however it’s the one I struggle to replay the most because of its pacing, the best is Among Thieves by a long shot, from start to finish it is the definition of what a ‘blockbuster’ game should be.

@Nei Agreed except on the story, Pragmata is way more relatable and emotional while also being intriguing and much better paced.

There comes a point in Saros’ story when I just stopped to process “is this really what the story is about?”, they built an awesome world in Carcosa and basically some Alien-movie setup with lots of lore potential but they chose to tell some random soap opera.

I honestly don’t even want to watch any trailer or anything about it whatsoever, I’m holding my hype until launch is imminent.

Is this even a question? It’s by far the worst decision taken by Sony as a whole, not only PlayStation.

My first reaction is: PlayStation has a preservation effort?

Maybe, just maybe, make all these games accessible to customers on current platforms?

Yes, I’m so tired of leaks and surprises getting ruined only for a guy on Twitter to have some days of engagement, instead of watching a Direct or State of Play and being surprised to see an announcement you now watch the stream expecting that announcement, and if it doesn’t happen then comes the disappointment, it’s a lose-lose for everyone except for the one guy getting the engagement.

@GDoggyJr Yes you can. Look them up at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop or several other retailers.

@Balaam_ I do feel it’s definitely some Hermen Hulst influence, ever since he’s taken over they want to position Horizon as the main PlayStation franchise, it’s the only one that has gotten some entry almost every year this generation.

What’s worse is that we would already be having news about the final game in the main trilogy, which is all most of us care about, but that’s likely 5+ years away because Guerilla just had to have its live-service game…

Oof. No joke this might actually flop as hard as Concord…

@dskatter Yeah that’s basically the gist of the story, but I wouldn’t skip a Housemarque game because of a trash story, gameplay is sublime, perhaps the best it’s ever been and it’s way more accessible if you struggled with Returnal, it’s still a great game, just the story is an afterthought (that’s two in a row after playing both Crimson Desert and Saros lol).

Making those AI images is very absurd but the story description is what actually happens, after reaching the true ending yesterday the story is the only bad aspect of this game imo, it starts intriguing but it’s horribly paced and overall is unsatisfying that they have an amazing setup with the world of Carcosa and its lore, just to choose to tell that…

Returnal’s story was also my least favorite aspect of the game however it did a far better job creating a dread atmosphere and Selene’s journey is way more engaging than Arjun’s.

Even without having played it yet I’d give it to Pragmata because it actually tries to be something new.

Saros is a great game but after being obsessed all weekend with it and spent almost 30 hours playing I’ve got to say it’s a bit of a step down from Returnal, biomes were more diverse and level design was more engaging imo, gameplay is top notch but Returnal had more and better weapons, plus the story for Saros is straight up trash, what an amazing setup and potential lore just to tell that, however permanent upgrades are very welcome and by far the best improvement over Returnal and I hope it evolves so that their next game isn’t a roguelite.

I’m sure all 5 players of this are glad to hear it.

@AdamNovice Such a nonsense take, none of Capcom games look or play the same as each other, like seriously just play Requiem, Pragmata or MH Wilds, where do you see these games look the same? Where exactly are the same assets being reused? Hell even Requiem looks more distinct than Village compared to Ragnarok from God of War (2018) or Spider-Man 2 from the first game, or Yotei from Tsushima and so on…

I can’t believe the things people are willing to say like sh*tting on Capcom just to try making Sony look better in comparison, it’s absurd tbh.

@get2sammyb I think the problem is that when they revealed the game and with the first trailers it definitely gave more Uncharted-action vibes than Hitman’s which understandably created an expectation for many of us to be more action-based and why it personally caught my eye, but now that people are actively playing it turns out the core gameplay is Hitman 4 with more cutscenes and some action-pieces spread throughout, at least that what most first impressions are saying, and while it does sound like a good game, perhaps even great, it does temper my excitement as I don’t enjoy the Hitman games at all.

Btw, amazing job with the editing of this article, I would love more themed previews and reviews!

@Fiendish-Beaver My same thoughts, I’ve tried several times to get into Hitman games but always end up bored, was hoping for this to be more action-based, perhaps even more like Uncharted, but it looks exactly as another Hitman with more cutscenes.

Also I didn’t like that in the latest trailer they straight up warned us that the launch game isn’t complete as they said “as you know with I/O interactive launch is only the beginning”, my counterpoint being why would I spend $70 on the “beginning” instead of waiting a few months for the complete game and it being 50% off?

They literally said nothing lmao, we’re back at where we started, it seems we’ll only get more conclusive answers from the community and active testing but still no official explanation whatsoever.

And I really don’t get why every time there’s some PS bad or controversial news you avoid posting it, you rather update the same article 5 times knowing fully well there’s less engagement than making a new article, so my question for the staff is why you are willing to gloat over other company’s failures and issues like posting 3 articles about Xbox exclusives’ dilemma (just one example) but you refuse to post articles regarding Sony’s own controversies?
I understand there’s bias but staff at Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox doesn’t behave like this.

$79.99 standard edition plus a $99.99 Deluxe Digital edition with 48hr early-access.

Have no proof, yet no doubts.

@Oram77 Sure, and you don’t find it even a bit upsetting or weird that we’ve gone almost a week without any word from Sony while speculation runs wilder? How long are you willing to give them a pass of “just wait”? Yes the explanation of the latest update is likely but why haven’t they stated so days ago? Just exceptionally bad communication.

And if you’re curious I was saying they should be posting follow-up articles for this issue instead of endlessly updating this one and posting 3 different times about Xbox’ dilemmas on a PS site, was that angry?

@Oram77 “Not defending them” and yet all your comments here read as an excuse, you seem to be more angry at people worried this might be intentional than with Sony for either doing this and/or not explaining anything about it, the fact we’ve gone days already speculating about this without a single statement is already bad enough, even if it was a simple bug they should squash any speculation as soon as possible instead of letting all this fear-mongering wildly spread online, their prolonged silence honestly can read as them testing the waters to see if they can get away with it, not saying that’s what happening but it’s definitely the situation they’re projecting.

Day one, played it on PS3 around halfway through then I got my PS4 and had to restart my save and never finished it, now it’s the time.

Xbox had a fatal wound out of this, yet I’m already reading many trying to defend Sony here, seriously what will it take for y’all to realize you don’t owe blind loyalty to any brand?

@Clytorial_Impact Meanwhile they’re scolding players for not being not interested in the Horizon spin-off lmao

I’ll never understand why they couldn’t release this as a contained multiplayer mode for TLOU Part 2 or even Part 1 Remake, it just didn’t have to be a live service, the previous factions mode from the first game was solid with a very good gameplay loop, they only needed to build on top of that, same way Sucker Puch has done with Legends in both Ghost of Tsushima & Yotei.

Where’s this article when Sony “flip-flop” with PC ports? Did you also get “tired” when Sony stopped PC ports? Or is it only valid now for Sony to change strategy?

Seriously this kind of inflammatory content is becoming exhausting, yes we’re all a bunch of PS players or fans, but this site lately seems like a cult where Sony is always right and everyone else is wrong, just look at what you posted the other day calling out players for not being interested in the Horizon live-service BS, you’re getting increasingly out of touch.

@Oram77 I would very much like to see Sony being as “desperate” as Microsoft, it’s called being competitive which MS forgot about the last decade or so, even if you’re only a PlayStation user it benefits us all to have more competition.

Critics for movies specifically are meaningless, just look at Emilia Perez, a heavy contender for the Oscar and winner of countless awards last year when the movie is absolute and irremediably trash with a nonsensical plot and laughable performances that couldn’t even speak in the portrayed language but were nominated for awards…

@UltimateOtaku91 They won't reverse it, this backlash is already accounted for and they've made clear they're not looking into expanding the PS5 user base anymore, or at least that is no longer the priority, but rather squeezing dry the existing user base.

@get2sammyb Yeah I really like how the game library is now just a click away and the games Home Screen now only shows games.
If we could customize the order for tabs it’d be perfect.