PossibLeigh

Don't think the demo is live on the UK store yet. No RE at all.

If this is a true next-gen designed game, I'm curious to see the differences between generations. Probably all graphical. Oh, and loading.

Anyone managed to find that demo on the store yet? Nothing for RE at all in the UK.

Love Murakami and the style looks lush, so will play it at some point for sure.

Thank you, PushSquare, for putting it on my radar.

@nessisonett Haha, are you on some kind of wind-up?

@LordSteev That's what I'm hoping too!

@wiiware Haha, I have the opposite reaction and start panicking about how I'm 'wasting my life'!

@LordSteev Hahaha! Ah, not you, mate. You're always quite respectful in your dissent! Try harder to be an ass!

Just as well you added that caveat there. I got jumped on for making a similar suggestion. Even if I had 200 hours spare why would I want to spend that time on one video game doing the same things again and again?

The setting reminds me of Unstoppable Zorg. Looks fun!

Thanks for the explanation there. I haven't put proper time in to a Hitman game since the original Hitman 2, so I think I'll get all 3 of the world or assassination trilogy at some point soon.

I have no care, or need for trophies, but sucks for those that do.

@Milktastrophe Not having trophies is a far cry from being broken! Does Hitman 2 have any other online elements?

@LordSteev Haha, that's the only way I could afford a therapist! Thanks for the feedback, mate.

@Mostik I did think the map was very clever, so if they've come up with a creative way of using it again I'd definitely love that! We never see open or semi open world games revisiting the same land within a franchise and I think that could have some potential.

My main concerns are with basic design issues that they will find near impossible to fix with patches.

It's all so surface level. There's no feedback from character progression. I can barely tell the difference after 'levelling up' and still having to pump a dozen bullets into perps.

Changing your cyberware is just a menu. Jeez. Give us skippable cutscenes every time we make a change at a ripper. Give modifying our bodies more import. Crafting is pretty pointless with so many other guns in the world. The non-lethal options are lazy and the enemies react in the same way whatever you shoot them with. The hacking mini game is cack. I don't know enough to say the terrible AI can't get patched, but I hope it can. Tactical options in combat are quite limited with no variety leading to a vast amount of similar encounters; sneak around until one person spots you (which means everyone spots you) and then mop up whoever you haven't stealthed in unchallenging combat against pants AI. It's the future! Where are the drones?

Most disappointing to me so far has been the monowire. What? You're giving me a monowire and not giving me the option of garrotting people from behind? Ditto human shields. Hmm. Does that make me sound like a psycho?

I should add the caveat that of the 50 or so hours I've spent playing, I've mainly been doing side missions. I'm now just gonna mainline the story to see if that improves my opinion.

All this talk of BB is making me want to replay it. I never did finish it.

@LordSteev You'll come back and kick that wolves arse later.

God of War, for sure. Bloodborne is amazing, but it's still another Souls game. HZD was probably the best open world games of the last few years, but GoW is just a phenomenal reimagining of the series that has massively matured.

@PressR2 WTF? I don't understand your comment. Please explain.

@Col_McCafferty Whilst I'd love to see some more adult games on Nintendo's console, they seem to be doing alright focussing on more wholesome stuff.
Mario games aren't just successful because they have Mario in them. They still need to be designed. They are popular because they are good (apart from the whoring out of Mario for things like Strikers) and making them so, sequel after sequel, is hard work that should be recognised.

@fatdragon I feel the same, but then I realised I cared enough to read the article and the comments and now I'm confused if I care or not.

@SpicyTacos101 Well said and sums up my view as well. Only addition I'd like to make is add a human shield mechanic! So many basic things just not implemented.

@LordSteev I guess I could have been clearer in my original comment. Not necessarily smaller in size, but in scope. As you say, the problem with vast open world's is fatigue.

@Orange_Juice I felt like that, but Valhalla is really doing it for me at the moment. Maybe I'm on the rebound after the disappointment that was CP2077, I'm not sure.

@Col_McCafferty There are paragraphs there, but I forgot the empty lines between. My bad. Wrote that one on my phone. Oh, wait, I almost forgot to add, sneer, sneer.

@LordSteev Hello mate. Not sure why you've replied to me as our opinions appear to align. That's what I am saying. At the moment their prevelance is too strong and the quality content spread thin due to the quantity. Reduce everything in size and you reduce your budget, production time, general workload and more people get to see the end of the game.

Just to clarify my original point, I'm not moaning about not seeing every little thing a game has to offer, every single side quest, (although I think that would be dispiriting to have to create all that content) but these games are still locking their main narrative beats behind hours and hours of grind. I'm simply advocating for a smaller experience that can drill down and explore things in more nuance. but that would require advances in things like AI which unfiortunately doesn't seem to be a focus at all these days.

I'm gonna go on a long winded ramble here, I think maybe we are coming to a time when these type of games need to dial back on the violence. It's not an open world game but as an example, I found the go wild murder-a-thons of TLOU at odds with the story. That's the first example that spings to mind, but in most open world games now I find myself enjoying the virtual tourism side of things more than the endless (eventually) repetitive combat. Focus more on world interactions and social interactions within that world. Maybe it's 'cause I'm getting older.

I honestly do not know why i have not yet got fatigued with Valhalla, but I am still really enjoying it. Maybe I just love seeing old English countryside. What's your opinion on that one if you've played it?

@Col_McCafferty Awesome, thanks for the life story. Do you often leave films unwatched? Maye that's too different a time commitment, how about books? What's wrong with requesting greater depth of story and systems to accompany the breadth of the world? When will 'you people' stop making assumptions about people? I don't sound too dissimillar to you; I play a wide variety of game types, including shorter narrative focussed games, but few of those games have the lavish production of AAA open world games. So to enjoy those production values and interlocking systems, I pretty much have to accept that I will not see the end of the story. That's fine, and it's my choice to get on board with many of those games anyway, but I really don't understand your hostility to a simple idea of making them smaller and more focussed.
It's undeniable that the last few years have been dominated by huge, open world games and the formula is getting stale and exhausting. Open world fatigue is a thing and it's endemic of humanities need to always go bigger, faster, harder (maybe just white humanity, but lets not go there). By only providing the breadth of content everything is surface deep and only rarely affecting.
I'm not saying that every open world game should jolly well go away right bloody now, I'm saying it would be nice to see them evolve in a different direction to what they have so far. What could Sony's studios come up with if they weren't chasing that open world dream all the time? More challenging games like The Last of Us, maybe?
Anyway, agree to disagree, eh? Getting a bit tedious.

@Col_McCafferty Haha, someone's in a bad mood! How is giving my opinion arrogance? You're the one coming across as someone with an issue. It's quite simple, I like the vast expansive world's and the virtual tourism aspect of open world games, but I would like to see all that in a more structured setting. Cyberpunk, for all it's faults, is going the right way by having a tighter, shorter main quest line.
Maybe you missed the bit at the end of my comment? If I chose not to play these games, I'm missing out on great experiences. It's just a shame I'll probably never get to the end. If you have the time, more power to you. I prefer variety to playing the same game for seasons at a time, others don't. No need to be a dick about it.
Additionally, if I were an artist creating for these vast games, I might be a bit upset that a lot of my created content will not be seen by the vast majority of gamers.
There's no doubt we've got the breadth. Now maybe let's focus on the depth a bit more.

I hope 2021 sees a shift from open world games, to smaller, more structured games with just as complex and nuanced worlds. I am really enjoying Valhalla, but wary of how long it's gonna take me to finish. Yes, I could chose not to play these games, but then I'd be missing out on some great experiences. Just make them half as big, please.

@GamingVeteran I agree and I'm glad to not be alone! Like a lot of open world games, it's a surface game. Looks very pretty, but lacks any depth. Saying that, there is a lot I admire; the animations are great and I really liked the closing scenes after each quest.

Games, on the whole, are too big and have too much content these days.

@stu123 I tried once when I first got my PS5, but, as you say, it really did feel like it was gonna snap.

Wasn't there another company (UK) recently who had a cease and desist from Sony for producing faceplates?

@nessisonett That is being fair. I didn't realise P5 was that old. Less an issue of animation though and more a weightlessness of movement. Things that bother me that no normal person is bothered by!
Full disclosure: I know it's a massive game, wish I had the time.

I've played the first 4 hours of Persona 5 in the PS Collection and I'm sorry to say it didn't appeal much. Very, very stylish, but the jittery movement put me off.

@Dunric Jonestown is very much in the classic vein. Probably pretty cheap now, too.

@CreatiScope Oh man, you have missed out! It was available in an indie bundle on itch.io during the first lockdown. Actually a fantastic bundle.
EDIT: Just realised that was a PC bundle and I'm on Push Square not Eurogamer!

@Deljo That would be great! By all accounts it's quite good, but very short. Sounds perfect!

Even if it did run well on PS consoles, I'm really not sure how well they have realised potential. Most of the games systems are pretty basic, and the world is a pretty set dressing that lacks the necessary interaction to make it believable. They missed a trick. Adding a Nemesis-like system to the gangs could have massively increased engagement with the world.

I doubt any PS5 games will be discounted this close to release and Christmas.

@Jurgens-Red-Army These corporations are so greedy.

Does anyone know how to report bugs? I've not seen my issue anywhere else and I don't want it overlooked. Googling CP2077 bug reporting just brings up articles about the bugs (in which my bug is not mentioned). EDIT: nevermind, seems it's been fixed!

No mention of the issue I've been experiencing (vehicle dash geometry gets stuck to V when exiting vehicles / camera views geometry gets stuck to V when exiting camera mode). EDIT: It's been fixed!

@Turbodream No worries, mate. I didn't at all indicate that I've been playing games from a very long time!

@Turbodream Haha, been there, done that (I'm 44)

My brother lives in Osaka. Last I heard he wasn't able to get a PS5 at launch as Sony had shifted some of Japan's allocation to the US. Local shops were running a lottery system.

Invisible Inc. is an astoundingly well designed game. I think we need to separate tactics from strategy, although I'm aware the strategy genre traditionally covers both and they often go hand in hand.

@everynowandben Nice mini review. Thanks!

@TG16_IS_BAE I am interested in that kind of game, hence nearly pulling the trigger in the past. I guess I'm just overly sensitive to 8 bit colour pallettes. I've heard it looks better in motion than stills, so I'll check out some videos. Thanks.

@Steel76 Thanks. I like modern evolutions of those games, so it could be for me, just not sure if I can cope with visuals akin to that era. I'll check it out.