Marquez

@Dalamar "I can't believe that with a Metacritic of 7.1 not every outlet gave it exactly 7.1, because that must be how averages work right? Right?".

I held off on watching S2 as I figured S2/3 would equal the plot of the second game in its entirety - so I will watch them as one long season.

I played it all the way through yesterday and can't wait to do the same again for the platinum - this will definitely be in my personal GOTY conversation and I'm sure it will pick up plenty of awards too.

@StitchJones This is exactly what I wanted to hear about Saros - I'm ready for high production values and a soundtrack to match. Cannot wait.

@StitchJones That exchange with that adult, it was a beautiful twist. Definitely a parallel to my Joy Division moment - love to hear it.

@StitchJones Saros next for me and haven't played Pragmata, but yes there's something special about Mixtape (not just the soundtrack!). For me I think it's just how uplifting it felt in amongst all the crap the world is throwing at us all right now, and those waves of nostalgia. I'm expecting it to be in the GOTY conversation, 100%.

Oh, and the best use of that Joy Division track, ever. As a proud Mancunian that sealed it for me.

@MichaelNau Played it just now in one sitting as planned and I found it to be absolutely fantastic. Beautifully crafted, uplifting, emotional and some laugh-out-loud moments as well. It's one of the best games I've played in a long time and I'll be doing it all again; plenty of fun trophies to clean up via chapter select after what was a blind playthrough. Highly recommended.

EDIT: Everyone, play Mixtape

Mixtape today, hopefully in a single playthrough, followed by Saros. And then convince the team to dive back into some late night Marathon.

I have Crimson Desert fatigue so this will be a welcome break!

@Chosen-Libra While I admire your confidence, if it lands at a final 97 on Metacritic I'll buy you a copy, even if it is £80.

While I'm still really enjoying Crimson Desert it's turning into the kind of time sink I haven't felt since AC Valhalla and having set myself a goal of playing through 30 games this year, the 100 hours+ I've spent in Pywel is turning into a bit of a blocker! It's even getting in the way of Marathon, which I did not expect.

I think I need to move CD to my game 'on the side' for now. Added Saros to the backlog, maybe that's where I'll start.

Have a top weekend everyone.

Off to Wembley for the day, but then back on Crimson Desert for whatever weekend I have left!

@SodaPop6548 They’re doing both…

@ErrantRob Yeah that’s exactly where my friend is right now - apparently end of chapters 6 and 9 do that. I’ve hit the large area to liberate in chapter 6 and it looks overwhelming! Massive game and clumsy as hell, but really enjoying it.

Continuing with the Crimson Desert / Marathon combo of the last couple of weeks.

Into Chapter VI of Crimson Desert and still mainly in Hernand, which makes me worry the main story pace and exploration of the overall map are going to feel poorly balanced the further I progress - we will see.

Looking forward to giving Marathon's new sponsored loadout mode a go - the whole lobby starting with the same gear will be a welcome change from loading in against people stacked with gear from Cryo, when all I'm trying to do is a fetch quest.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I'm around thirty hours into Crimson Desert, halfway through chapter 4 of 12 - so more of that this weekend. Overall it's a really good time, even though there's at least one thing that irks me every play session - an uneven game that I hope they keep working on and, more to the point, follow up with a much-improved sequel.

Alongside that, Marathon continues to be a great time; there's a definite spike in difficulty across all maps when Cryo Archive is open, as players exfil with the best loot and turn up on other maps to wreak havoc... but the minute to minute gameplay remains top tier.

Enjoy whatever you're playing out there this weekend!

TL;DR This isn't exactly a Marathon, Bungie, or even a Sony issue - this is a games industry issue, further complicated by global issues. Sure, it being a niche genre doesn't help but it isn't the root cause.

The spiralling of costs are primarily in locations where it was historically cheap to get off the ground as a tech startup due to government subsidies and incentives. These are now some of the most expensive places to live and work, due in part to the influx of those tech companies and their success, coupled with rising running costs as everyone scrambles over the same top talent.

Now layer on Covid, tariffs, Trump in general, associated increases in cost of living, and therefore even running a company to begin with becomes hard... then multiply that by the number of years of investment - potentially without return - that it costs to even get a game to market.

Something will have to give, and in fact it already is, as game devs continue to spring up in cheaper parts of the world and existing devs outsource to similar locations. Expect to see far fewer studios truly based in The West (and particularly west coast USA) in future.

I'm a fan, and since my son spilled a drink on my Spidey DualSense I need an excuse for a limited edition one that isn't quite as sticky...

More Cryo Archive in Marathon after a few action-packed runs last night, and more Crimson Desert; the latest patch has brought the most important change for me personally... the ability to hide helm! Still battling the control scheme, though they've made a few tweaks there as well I believe.

Really enjoying Crimson Desert but Marathon is one of the most well executed games I have ever played, and just keeps getting deeper and deeper the more I play. So that’s where my vote goes.

@MatthewJP Weird, unless they upped the cost early. They offered £198 last week and £198 today. Maybe just my local branch don’t know what they’re doing!

Having nabbed a Pro on sale from Argos before the price hike, I'm now offloading my launch day base PS5. Popped into CEX in the UK and unsurprisingly they are still offering to buy at the same rate they did before the price hike, pocketing the difference themselves... eBay it is then.

@lazarus11 Well, yeah. Yeah. Sorry if that doesn't fit your Marathon narrative; glad your Crimson Desert comments have me more excited to play it. Looks like I've got 100s of hours ahead of me.

@Neonix At the time it felt like selling a kidney, ngl. But I still have a couple of guitars left and now I have one PS5 Pro - so I'm happy overall.

@Pat_trick So far, really pleased. Performance and clarity look (to my eyes) improved on everything I've played so far - whether they are officially PS5 Pro enhanced or not.

Took advantage of the Argos sale price in the UK to upgrade to a Pro from my launch day base PS5 (and got the disc drive). Only downside is that I had to sell a guitar to fund it as, according to my wife at least, raiding the family holiday fund would have been unacceptable.

@Pat_trick There’s definitely been some unevenness and it has been mainly hype-driven. That’s the negative behind a lot of one-sided online discourse (as a big fan of Marathon, seeing a lot of this right now!).

I’ve only played the first hour or so of Crimson Desert and I only bought it after grabbing a Pro pre price increase (and in a sale, £150 less than new price), so I can’t speak to launch state or base PS5 directly, but I did dive in based on the speed the devs have shown to address issues. In a few months I’m sure it’ll be a different experience.

@Pat_trick I played DD2 but don’t really remember how the performance was (probably a 7 that game for me). It just goes to show it’s hard to rank even seemingly similar games against each other score wise though, and we are all - reviewers included - human.

@lazarus11 The Marathon review delay wasn’t to allow for extra polish and patches, it was so reviews took into account the whole game including the endgame map that the community unlocked weeks after launch. Tired of this incorrect narrative.

@Boxmonkey I think you dropped this tinfoil hat

@Bamila Given that Push Square’s own 6/10 was driven predominantly by base PS5 (lack of) performance, I think we can discount Steam and any other PC reviews.

Like others in the comments, Saros will take priority for me. But really interested in how this one turns out.

@GirlVersusGame You have me convinced - installing it now! Let's see if I can tear myself away from Marathon to start it this weekend.

More of the excellent Marathon, plus I'm going to pick something out of the backlog to play alongside it since I'm getting frustrated with Cairn. Absolutely brilliant game but I've managed to climb myself into a situation where it's practically impossible to continue forwards... three times now - and had to start again.

I'm thinking one of Aliens: Dark Descent, The Alters, Tunic or A Plague Tale: Requiem - an absolute spread of genres there!

The only thing stopping me pushing the button on buying a Pro this weekend, with the current discounts in the UK, is that everything else in life is also more expensive these days and wages haven’t really moved for years… at least not at the pace to offset the ever-increasing cost of living. I just don’t have the disposable income I used to, even with my half decent job and pay.

And I just know, having decided I need to hold off, my launch day fat PS5 will inevitably die in April…

On a brighter note, even with the price increase, the Portal remains excellent value (if you have Premium for the streaming goodness).

Hopefully all the people in the Crimson Desert threads suggesting us base PS5 peasants upgrade to a Pro to play the game will now either 1) offer to pay or 2) shut up.

One of a group of games I've always hovered over in the store and then not purchased, despite my interest - so very pleased to see this in Essential.

@KundaliniRising333 ‘ The controls system is nowhere near as bad as stated. You just have to learn them. Imagine that. This used to be the norm before all games became a homogonous (sic) soup of trying to be a the most appealing to all audiences and thus not be bold.’

I agree that game development is significantly less bold than in the past but I’m not sure this is an argument you can apply to control schemes. We just got to a point where L2 to aim, R2 to shoot, X to jump (on PlayStation) and click in L3 to sprint became the norm because they make sense to the majority of players ergonomically.

Your opinion on the gameplay has me interested; I’m going to give it a couple of months I think, to see what they improve next and dive in, make this the single player alternative to my Marathon addiction - it’s always nice to have something interesting to retreat to when multiplayer gets a bit much.

Great game, niche game. At least currently.

There’s some special sauce at the heart of Marathon and I personally can’t get enough of it, but the genre means a limited initial audience unfortunately and the onboarding experience sees a lot of curious players bounce off. Which is a shame, because give it 10 hours or so and the game reveals itself as an excellent one.

I’m not against some PvE only options if it means growing the player base / creating an on-ramp for the PvP experience and ensuring Sony continue to support Bungie. Stick in a PvE Raid/Dredd-style map with floor after floor to clear for better loot, that would be immense.

I’ve only been in once on the free loadout so far and had a load of fun (died in a firefight / trying to extract). The design of Cryo Archive is fantastic, love the verticality and puzzles.

I don’t have a problem with the 5k loadout requirement - stick on a shotgun, a blue shield and a blue backpack and you’re pretty much there. Me and my friends are spending the week gearing up, ready for more runs this weekend.

@Northern_munkey Pinged you a friend request, I’m on practically every night and UK.

As a score, 9 is pretty much where I'm sitting. I've yet to give Cryo Archive a proper go and I haven't tried ranked, but I am enjoying this game very much.

Trios with friends are great, solo is great, the trial duos mode is great... and it's such a well crafted game, with fantastic mechanics, deep lore and top tier visuals and sound. Sure, the interface takes some getting used to but the attention to detail overall is classic Bungie.

As I've said in another thread already, if Sony give Bungie room to breathe with this one it will only continue to get better and I'm confident it will find its place, with a dedicated player base.

I'm currently level 43 and climbing, which I'm pretty sure is 43 levels higher than the negative naysayers rocking up with half-baked 'DED GAEM, make Bloodborne 2' comments in the various Marathon articles on Push Square.

Can’t. Play. Marathon. Consider me a sad panda.

@Divergent95 I loved it and will eventually jump back in for my final (second ending) trophy for the platinum. A great example of how AA done well can be a compelling experience.

Marathon

The more I play, the better this game gets. Can't wait to jump into the new endgame map (Cryo Archive) with some mates tonight... and get absolutely destroyed no doubt! If Sony give this game time to breathe, Bungie have another exceptional shooter on their hands that can only continue to improve.

Have a great weekend out there, whatever you get up to.

I love the idea of the risk/reward modifier system, allowing you to tailor gameplay each run, on top of a set of perks you can unlock between them. It reads like difficulty will be highly customisable and a step up from Returnal in that regard. Returnal, despite its occasional frustrations, remains one of the best games of the generation and if more people choose to experience its follow-up due to increased accessibility, that's great.

@Rambo-kind When you say difficulty curve, do you mean combat or something else?

@RedRiot193 I can see from your responses to both me and @somnambulance you've picked a particular hill to die on and there's no rational discussion available. '...a better experience with a better screen and lets face it better controllers (on ANY other device)'... yeah, OK mate. Have a lovely weekend, I'm off to shoot people in Marathon. Maybe on my Portal.

@RedRiot193 "Tell me you don't use a Portal, without telling me you don't use a Portal". It's a niche device, but an excellent one. My experience so far, particularly when streaming catalogue games from Sony servers, has been great regardless of where I play, hotel wi-fi included.

That current 78 Meteoritic score is obviously entirely PC-based, I'm predicting high 60s for console given the lack of review codes - something shady is going on for sure. Still, it may well be worth a 'wait for sale' purchase even then. Looking forward to the Push Square review whatever occurs.