Ralizah

Unsurprising. Being the first chapter in an alienatingly long story-driven saga, this was the perfect opportunity to expand their player-base: it's the ideal jumping on point for new fans, gives existing console-only fans a way to experience the first chapter of the saga, and provides long-time Sky fans with a beautiful journey through a classic story.

It also represents a pretty dramatic jump in terms of production values compared to other games in the series.

Hopefully Trails in the Sky the 3rd is also in the works so console-only gamers have a way to access every entry in the series.

Oh man, yeah, I thought it was co-op from the start as well. Was gonna grab this to play with my boyfriend, but nevermind lol

I think this was a mistake. People who play co-op games often want to only play those co-op, and a lot of single-player gamers aren't going to care about a co-op feature at all. Not saying everyone feels this way, but I think the reaction you're already seeing is evidence they're alienating a portion of their potential playerbase.

Yeah, that was a fantastic State of Play. A little light on the first party announcements, but the third party stuff made up for it.

Easy 8.5 - 9/10

That's... pretty bad for a visual novel like this. Considering how limited a format a visual novel is in comparison to a normal game, the art becomes an arguably even more important component of its identity.

The time to upgrade and replace AI illustrations and textures is prior to launch.

This sounds ridiculous in a very good way.

I really don't need another insanely long SRPG in my life with The Hundred Line going right now, but depending on the price, I might just have to grab it anyway.

Some of those character designs are... 😬

Not a huge fan of the generic Fortnite art-style either

I like Horizon, though, and have been wanting to get into a live service game, and the modes look like they could be decent fun, so I'll probably try it out.

Already pre-ordered on Steam. Can't wait to try this demo out!

I actually don't care all that much (still haven't played more than a few hours of GTA V), but it is funny to me how people on here keep wanting to loudly signal disinterest in what is going to be the biggest release of the decade by a country mile.

The trailer looked really good. I could see this massively boosting PS5 Pro sales if it runs particularly well on that machine.

@nessisonett It is striking how much the Cold Steel-era games resemble something from a mid-00s anime where the characters are all incredibly generic looking, everyone is in love with the protagonist, and there's always at least one obnoxious lesbian who sexually assaults her closest friend for laughs.

I wish they'd remake the entire series. It's gonna be rough going from this fantastic looking engine to Cold Steel 1 & 2 lol

It's pretty crazy how viable Switch 2 is as a modern gaming platform now. It can run the vast majority of games. New AAA stuff is dropping on it day one and running natively. Obviously support won't be as universal as on PS5, but we're so far away from the early days of the Switch where fans had to plead for companies to release their games on the system.

@xshinox They're... doing just that. They just also have their own console option for people who want it. But they're effectively a third-party publisher now.

@ButterySmooth30FPS @RoomWithaMoose I feel like the cultural impact of review aggregation websites has been a net negative overall. It singles out unpopular opinions on products, which discourages people from engaging as critically with entries in beloved properties (people who critique popular games or movies more harshly are harassed online for 'depriving' something of a higher score, as with Jim Sterling and BotW, and are often not treated as well by publishers who routinely glaze their titles) and encourages people to ignore niche products that don't review as well. That's not even to mention how many developers' bonuses seem to depend on hitting a certain metacritic threshold, making it where being more properly critical of something comes at the risk of being blamed for people being paid less.

The entire thing is so toxic.

No game is entitled to a good review. Reviewers should feel safe to express their experience with a game without fear of retribution. And reviews are just opinions, and should be treated as such.

No offense to Mr. Vincke, but he doesn't need to grow a 'callus on his soul,' he just needs to understand that rejection is a part of life. Not everybody is going to like the products you publish, and that's okay.

I feel like this would just result in even more harassment of reviewers who engage in wrongthink and pan popular titles like Uncharted, Breath of the Wild, Expedition 33, etc.

@Mattock1987 Danganronpa is absolutely a dialogue heavy adventure game and not a pure visual novel.

Absolutely stellar co-op game. Already nearly 100%'d it, though, so new content will be appreciated.

Alt. article title: "Preview: Ignore The Haters, Highguard Is a Good PS5 Shooter We Can't Wait to Play More Of"

@Balaam_ E33 has far better music and storytelling, and isn't as horribly optimized as Elden Ring.

That said, I liked The Witcher 3 and BotW more than either of those games. Shrug We all have opinions.

Bioware just fundamentally seems to be out of touch with their players in general. I mean, their three most recent original games were Mass Effect Andromeda, this, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. These aren't poorly made games. They're just not what people wanted to play.

This is why it's important to know your audience and not sacrifice your identity in pursuit of greater mainstream appeal. If you are doing well the thing that sets you apart from your peers, whatever that is, people will hear about you.

@nessisonett I own it on Steam, so I might try the original version someday, but given my irritation at times even with the games that have better action combat, I can only imagine how much a game filled with continuously blocking enemies would enrage me.

Haven't heard similar complaints about 4 - 6, though, so I'll probably just play the originals of those, even if they make a Kiwami 4 next.

Glad I held off on playing Yakuza 3 Remastered after the prologue. The combat sounds bad enough to make me hate the game.

I allowed myself to buy into online hype, being a fan of horror and horror games in general, and bought this digitally at launch. Never doing that for a game from a developer I have no experience with again. I really didn't like it, and even having gone back and actually beaten it years later, it's still a game I have little love for.

Played a bit of the demo last night. It's rough in a lot of ways and would heavily benefit from visual polishing and script rewriting, but I'm sold on the core experience of it being indie Parasite Eve.

Yeah, the Trails in the Sky remake looks so good that it embarrasses even recent Trails games. Honestly wouldn't mind if they remade the entire series in this engine.

They've said before that where it goes is largely the publisher's decision. As a general rule, though, if it's third party and console exclusive, you'll eventually see it on other platforms.

The shift in publishing priorities toward Nintendo makes me think Kodaka's games have likely fared better on Switch than they did on PS5.

They basically put the biggest target possible on their backs during the show in a year where the gaming community is in a particularly anti-establishment mood.

I mean, I watched the trailer, thought: "Oh, that doesn't look interesting at all. How disappointing!", and then moved on with my life, but I'm not surprised this is the reception it got.

And, frankly, the knives are out for any game that can be linked to Concord after how spectacularly that game tanked, so bringing on developers from that game adds even more fuel to the fire.

Atlus loves plastering Persona 2 characters all over merch and then do nothing with the games.

P2 deserves a modern remake that removes the gameplay jankiness.

Playing Yakuza 0 DC on Switch 2. I don't know that it's really worth the upgrade if you take away the portability factor, but I'm happy to finally be properly digging into this awesome game again (only completed up to ch. 3 when it first released on PS4).

3) Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
2) Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake
1) Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection

All in the first three months of the year. 2026 is off to a pretty good start.

I mean, a lot of Expedition's UI is heavily inspired by Persona 5. A lot of these people haven't played a JRPG in years, and it really shows.

@Kierant202 The achievement completion rate was impressively high for even the finale of the game. Really speaks to player engagement.

Really enjoy the presence of more niche games on this list, Sammy

@Balaam_ It's not really hard to defend. It swept TGA and won GOTY from a plurality of critics. It's also widely loved by the gaming community.

You're free to dislike it or think it's overrated (it's not my personal GOTY either), but its inclusion here is pretty much what should be expected.

That said, I enjoy reading the engagement on your comments, so keep it up. 👍

Expedition 33 and Split Fiction were standouts for the year.

@TheArt "well yeah the qte in turnbased is new"

Paper Mario has been doing this mix for decades. The Picto system is also suspiciously similar to the badge system in the early PM games.

It's a large-ish market for console games, but nothing compared to the U.S. I'm glad Falcom has finally abandoned its cloistered, nationalistic approach to prioritizing Japanese sales first and has adopted a global release strategy like every other major developer.

Fatal Frame 2 > Monster Hunter Stories 3 > Yakuza Kiwami 3 > Tomb Raider

Of the limited new games I played this year, Expedition 33 and Fantasy Life i were my favorite non-Nintendo games, so those get my vote.

I mean... it's Mega Man. There's no reason it couldn't run on a PS4. The hardware might be old at this point, but we are still talking about a device that could comfortably play the majority of non-AAA games being released.

The 00s pop vibes are strong with this one.

I'm interested. But I'd like to see actual... y'know... gameplay.

Expedition 33 was very much the 'game of the moment,' so even if it's not my personal GOTY, I respect its win. And I did have a pretty good time with it overall.

I really hope Sandfall continues succeeding with future games. I know I'll be there day one for any RPGs they come out with.

New Tomb Raider looks like a 'proper' revival of the PS1 classic, thankfully lacking the edge and grit of the recent trilogy. I'm excited.

That Orbitals game on Switch 2 looks awesome as well.

Can't say any of the other trailers did much for me, and the show... I mean, we all knew it was gonna be the Expedition 33 Awards, and yeah, it cleaned up.

Not really worth watching on its own, but it gave me something to do with my bf, so whatever

@somnambulance I would laugh until the end of time if Bananza won after the endless glazing Clair Obscur has enjoyed online alongside the persistent negativity directed at Nintendo.

Don't expect it to happen, though.

Yeah, this should be in good shape by the time the expansion drops!

The Witness was a pretty tremendous game, and Braid is... pretentious, but still pretty good.

Come to think of it, wasn't he going to use a custom-made programming language to create this?

I'm excited to see the reveal.

Played this a lot as a kid. Spent a lot of time killing manta rays and smaller sharks, but always died before killing the big daddy himself.

This is reviewing so much better than I expected.

I haven't played any of these, but I'm tempted to pick one up eventually. I've pretty much written the original off, so it'll be between II and 0, I think.

Just do a soft re-launch campaign once it's patched up and the expansion drops. If the game is solid, people will come back.

The game is pretty complete now. All I want at this point is The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2.

The Japanese-ness of the series is one of its appeals. Nobody wants them to change that.

I'll be honest, though: the degree to which they expect people to have played 10+ previous games to fully appreciate the newer ones is alienating, just like it's alienating with Trails games. And it's why they'll never be big, day one purchases for me.

In general, if you have a strong platform preference, it pays to wait. Almost nothing is exclusive anymore in any lasting sense.

I'll be honest, considering Sweeney's views on AI and the soullessness of his major product, I'd be more surprised if Fortnite WASN'T pretty heavily utilizing gen AI already.

@nessisonett FF is best when it's wide-linear, like the older games in the series. Some choice, but it keeps the pacing and story on track, at least until the end game. Square literally figured this stuff out ages ago. I have no idea why they're struggling with the balance now.

That said, I'll always take an open world as opposed to something totally on-rails. FFX was far too close to the latter end of the spectrum, and only compares well to the cartoonishly railroady Final Fantasy XIII.