Marquez

@Czar_Khastik Top tier cross-media reference. Bravo.

'...and to be fair to Bethesda, it’s only charging $50 for the base game. The full package will cost $70...'

Which is cool, except that's currently £37 and £52 respectively thanks to President War's impact on the dollar and yet... £45 and £61 in the PS Store. I'll wait for a sale thanks.

@Titntin I’ve enjoyed the Ferraris having a scrap and now - time for games!

@Balaam_ Sucker Punch are giving people more of a great game for free... and you're complaining because your trophy list is no longer neat and tidy? Definitely just a 'you' problem.

@Sanquine I should be around tonight, on most nights it seems!

@Kraven Great summary of the Marathon vibe, I am loving it personally and yes - once the gear fear goes away it's so much more fun.

@themightyant I really enjoyed Neva and had a similar experience to what you describe. Loved it enough to complete it, not going back for the platinum but really glad to have experienced it.

Marathon

Level 33, deep into faction quests and loving it. Got Arachne to Level 10 for free shotguns, now focussing on SekGen. PSN in my profile if you want to team up. Have a top weekend everyone!

Physical version currently unavailable on Amazon in the UK anyway, I assume because HYPE.

@Czar_Khastik They're saving this kind of gameplay prioritisation for Cory Barlog's 'new take on an existing IP'.

@SuperSilverback I can confirm - Outpost is mental. It's tiny compared to the other maps, lots of indoor spaces and an outdoor mechanic I won't spoil, all of which forces players into UESC and into other players. It's a rush!

An absolute crap-ton of Marathon. I have my criticisms but overall this game is so polished, and so much fun with friends. I'll pop my PSN in my profile, feel free to team up.

Assuming this works for the version available through PS Plus, I'll jump in and take a look.

I fear there’s a base PS5 slideshow incoming. I hope I’m wrong.

@Simu001 Given it's a three person model instead of six like Destiny raids (AFAIK) I imagine matchmaking will be available for solo players, but comms will remain essential. We will see.

I am waiting for reviews due to both console performance concerns and the fact this game has thrown in more than one kitchen sink, mechanics-wise. Hoping it works out though!

@Radar_Rider I think I was playing on Assassin but now I'm not sure... one to check out when the game goes live.

@MrPeanutbutterz I had zero issues and I'm definitely old enough... and my PSN won't be far off. Definitely get your stance too, hope it sorts itself.

@GamingGod Cracking reference

A beautiful looking and understated game, just the kind of short AA experience I enjoy between the bigger story driven/open world experiences.

@Northern_munkey My problem isn't so much the same old faces turning up to crap on anything live service/Marathon in particular, because they are in tears over God of War 9 and The Last of Us 17 not being out yet (nvm Bloodborne 3) - it's the fact they can't construct an argument as to why, and clearly haven't spent time in the server slam to form a genuine opinion.

Also, anyone judging the game off watching other people play it? Just as useless. The feel of this game is the key - the tension, the coordination with your team-mates, the gunplay.

Now there ARE a handful of people who have jumped into this discussion who have played an hour or five this weekend and said it isn't for them - and that's cool. I like those people.

It's a weekend of Marathon with friends for me, played around 12 hours now and despite some reservations (menus, occasional 'empty' runs, not knowing what's good to loot) I'll be keeping my preorder.

Continuing with Cairn on the side, and tempted to start a longer game from the backlog.

Jealous of those of you enjoying RE9 as it looks absolute quality, but as I said on another post I am a big soft scaredy cat and will be staying well clear!

Have an excellent weekend everyone, enjoy all the games.

Based on the reviews and discourse I'd love to play it, but I've been too scared to play a Resi game since a dog jumped through a window at me in the original release of Resident Evil 2. I'm that soft.

After five or six hours I already know this game is for me, despite some obvious flaws - menus, sluggish default controls (go straight in to the sensitivity and FOV settings and fix them before you do anything else) and maps feeling empty on occasion with a lack of PvP as a result in some rounds.

Really nice detail I witnessed playing today. I downed a player who tried to crawl to a hiding spot, I assume so a team mate could come in to revive. But downed players bleed out and so I followed the trail of blue synthetic blood(!) between some containers and finished him off. Bungie showing real care to getting the small things right, despite a few bigger things on the list above they need to fix.

Played several hours last night and I am really enjoying it so far. Bungie gunplay as always... top notch. The look and vibe is excellent, and movement within the vibrant world is pretty good (though lack of double jump is annoying!). The faction missions aren't particularly complex but the narrative, lore and structure of them is far superior to ARC Raiders.

I echo what others have said about the UI, it's super-busy and needs refining, and the tutorial mission at the start didn't teach enough of the basics. Aside from some glitches with the in-game comms, no bugs encountered so far. I'm going to get back on later today and grind out that level 30 for the launch day rewards at least.

I can see myself spending time in this world and still dropping into ARC Raiders from time to time as well - they are sufficiently different experiences for me to make room for both.

Preorder locked in and looking forward to the server slam this weekend. The most recent gameplay footage shows the mechanics have just the right amount of Destiny DNA in the gunplay and melee; with over 4000 hours across D1 and D2 that's probably enough to hook me in on its own. It'll also make a nice contrast to ARC Raiders, which I'm still enjoying, with its very different-looking 'shoot first' feel. Bungie might just have turned the ship around...

Looking to finish Cairn this weekend - I restarted as I had painted myself into a corner with a tough face to climb and no pitons left. For a more relaxing experience I've also begun Neva which is new to PS Plus this month. Great so far. Have a top weekend everyone!

Being tied to PS Plus Premium for the Portal streaming functionality doesn’t feel great as it is, a price hike and I’d probably sell my Portal and drop down one tier tbh.

@get2sammyb Yes, those normal people on the internet.

Waits for Balaam to enter the chat

@wildcat_kickz Yeah that balance of the two games will be interesting. Personally I’ve drifted off ARC Raiders a little, in anticipation of Marathon, although I’ll still do the expedition to keep next season fresh.

@Czar_Khastik It’s precisely the world beating grandeur of Gollum, a generation-defining masterpiece, that has me hyped for this - great comparison!

@Northern_munkey Yeah maybe not toxic, but certainly a greater weight on the 'gank first, speak later' side of interactions. Which is cool, it'll be a fun experience overall imho.

I've preordered and will be watching with great interest. The shells trailer they put out recently showed off some really interesting class mechanics and, coupled with Bungie gunplay, I predict it will play very well - how great the actually gameplay loop is and how that hooks/keeps people in remains to be seen. I also anticipate it will be considerably more toxic than ARC Raiders but then, name a multiplayer as friendly.

I'd like to see what Cory Barlog at Santa Monica has been up to... surely it's time. Also, more Crimson Desert - which still looks too good to be true.

Edit: Just realised I'm out on the beers when it streams, so I'll watch it back when I get home... after a few pints it'll all look great!

Cracking on with Cairn and looking through the backlog for a longer game to go alongside it - maybe it's time to finally start Metaphor: ReFantazio...

It’ll go into the mid-tier section of my massive backlog, once it’s discounted for the first time.

I didn't finish 13 Sentinels as planned this past week, so I'll keep chipping away at that, but after all the positive buzz I'll also boot up Cairn - even though it looks like it will stress me out! Some ARC Raiders trials to wind down.

Picked it up immediately; I read a few reviews and other outlets are sitting in the 9s... but I still give @Quintumply his own 9 for a really useful review, thank you!

I'm really enjoying 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim so I'll be looking to finish it this weekend, more likely during next week. Disappointed it's not available for Portal streaming though, as I'm on a work trip from Monday to Wednesday.

Alongside that I'm chipping away at the final Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden trophy I need for the platinum (second ending) and working in general towards my 'start and finish 30 games in 2026' target. I'll be at a minimum of 3 by end of the month with these two plus the excellent Cocoon, which was a 'pick up and platinum' in the space of an afternoon - always nice. A good gaming start to 2026!

I'm always sucked in by these, it's a smart move to get people engaged with the game - and build a protagonist they then want to play with.

Surely they could have just rewound the Sands of Time development to 2020 and started again.

I'll get my coat.

On a serious note, it does sound like they'll be doubling down on their least creative output - in order to somehow be more creative... hmmmm.

For that price it is worth a punt and I'm happy to support Bungie with a preorder, amidst all the negativity. Their core mechanics don't miss - let's see what gameplay hooks they wrap them in.

I’ll definitely give it a go, and judge it on its own merits. The chances of internet discourse doing the same? Unlikely.

More promising news on the casting front. Atreus will make or break this though... let's see what occurs!

Manchester Derby first and then, depending on the result and my mood, something violent or something chill

@Northern_munkey It does sound like a lot, but it would actually only pay a team of 50 people an average of £40k a year for... 5 years, which seems like reasonable dev time for a game these days. And that's before you factor in physical premises, hardware, other overheads, marketing, expenses etc... Money just doesn't go as far these days!

@Enuo Oh no... I'm an absolute sucker for this tactic, as someone who spends far too long in character creators whenever I'm given the opportunity. Top notch character creator? I'll buy your game!

It had some solid mechanics but ultimately lacked content. Also, as somebody who played (and complained about) Destiny for 10 years/1000s of hours, it served as a reminder that Bungie had set the standard with something remarkable by comparison. Destiny, with all its flaws, remained the one to beat and Anthem simply wasn't up to the challenge.

This is the weekend I properly kickstart my quest to play AND finish 30 games in 2026 (more details in the forum thread - https://www.pushsquare.com/forums/retro_and_other_gaming/gaming_resolutions_for_the_new_year_of_2026 ).

Alongside the games I'm finishing from 2025 I'll be picking something new from the backlog - most likely one of The Alters, Blue Prince and Citizen Sleeper as most of my game time this weekend will be on the Portal while I watch the FA Cup. They seem like a good fit.