ShogunRok

@DaveTheRave If you want the Trophies, I'm guessing so. Although they won't count towards the Platinum — they'll be part of their own Trophy list.

@KeAfan7 NISA announced it was coming in January, but not a specific date. I can't give the whole thing away in the headline, though (and I feel bad about that!).

@DogPark You just hold R2 to accelerate, L2 to brake. The controls are really simple, so the skill lies in being able to judge corners properly and maintain your overall speed uphill / downhill.

If anyone's got any questions about the game or the review, let me know and I can try to answer them.

Thanks for reading!

@darylb24 Nah, I understand the confusion. We have ZD / IGN as advertising partners, but that's where it ends. Hookshot is an entirely independent company, and we have total control over of how the sites are ran — we don't have any corporate overlords or anything like a lot of other gaming sites do.

@darylb24 @Shrek_Realista This is absolute nonsense, and for the last time, we're not part of the IGN group — we're totally independent!

@wildcat_kickz In theory yeah, but we all know how greedy this industry is.

I agree that AI can be a potentially game-changing tool if used correctly. Sadly, it feels like the industry is already jumping the gun.

@nessisonett The RPG or immersive sim elements are stripped back big time in this. The vast majority of the experience is blasting mercenaries in the crotch (because they all wear protective headgear).

@AceReaper1994 I think this took me around 7 hours to complete, which is somewhat shorter than Rogue City (which is roughly 10-15 hours).

I agree that Rogue City outstayed its welcome at times — parts of the game dragged. Unfortunately that's also the case here, as there are a few sections that feel tediously padded to try and elongate the runtime.

@BecauseBecause See above! (Comment #11)

@graymamba Yep, it's got its own Platinum. There are some missable Trophies to do with side quests, but it's a straightforward Trophy list otherwise, with most of them being from completing main story chapters.

@carlos82 The performance is definitely better than in Rogue City, but like you say, I'd put that down to the whole game being set indoors.

Still, the frame rate does dip a bit during hectic gunfights, especially later in the game. It's not as noticeable as it could be in Rogue City, but it's still there.

Edit: Oh, and playing as ED might genuinely be the best section of the whole game. You feel indestructible and the damage you deal is insane. They nailed it.

@Markatron84 There is, it's the same upgrade system from Rogue City — same perks too. But like the review says, nothing carries over on that front, so you'll need to spend points and build up again.

@Bentleyma For what it's worth I didn't review Rogue City, but I would have given it a 7.

I do think Unfinished Business is a step behind it, hence the 6. But again, if you really enjoyed Rogue City (like I did!) then you're going to like this too.

If anyone's got any questions about the game or the review, let me know and I can try to answer them.

Just to reiterate, a 6/10 on our scoring scale is 'Not Bad' — and that's exactly what Unfinished Business is.

I had fun playing through this one, like the review says, but it does feel half-baked in a number of ways. I think Rogue City is underrated, so it's a shame that this expansion-sequel-thing doesn't really improve on what the main game already got right.

Thanks for reading!

@Drago201 The primary development of these latest updates is being done by Virtuos, a third-party company (the company behind Oblivion Remastered and the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake).

So CDPR itself isn't doing much heavy lifting.

@DonkeyFantasy If you're mostly sticking to the story, it's not that long. Maybe between 15 and 20 hours.

But you can spend a lot of time grinding through stuff in the open world if you want, and that could probably add on another 20 hours — especially if you want to max out skill trees and unlock the best gear for everyone.

I am beyond sold. Although it looks a lot like Ghost of Tsushima, all the iterations they're making sound fantastic. Love how non-linear it all seems in terms of open world design.

Can't wait.

@NoCode23 It's no longer completely busted on PS4, but it's missing so many major updates at this point, and there's no Phantom Liberty.

It's worth checking out if you've got no other way of playing it, but there's no getting around the fact it's a massive downgrade from the PS5 version — or any other version that's up to date.

@Oram77 These charts track both physical and digital sales unless otherwise stated. So they provide much better insight than the UK and Japanese charts, for example.

@lazarus11 It runs better on the Pro than it does on PS5 but it's still far from perfect. The horrible texture streaming issues still exist and although the frame rate is much more stable, it still has dips every now and then.

@Logonogo Not totally sure what my playtime is, but my PS5's tracker says just under 6 hours or so. But that's obviously with quite a lot of deaths / retries, plus some replays of levels while trying to complete challenges.

If you wanted to beat all the challenges and get the Platinum, I could see your playtime going closer to 10 hours or maybe even more.

@J-Dubs I personally think it's easier because it's just a bit less immediate. Your reaction times still need to be good, but death isn't quite as instant as it can be in Hotline Miami. I think having a 3D space to move around in helps as well.

Plus, there are difficulty settings you can toggle if you want to be less punishing.

@J-Dubs I wouldn't necessarily say it's hard, but it is tricky. A lot of the Trophies task you with doing very specific stuff against certain enemies and in certain levels.

It's one of those Platinums where you'll need to beat the game and also have a clear idea of the Trophies you need before hunting them down.

If anyone's got any questions about this one let me know and I can try to answer them.

Thanks for reading!

@somnambulance This is brutal.

Once again, apologies if your favourite game isn't in the poll — we had to cap it at 50 titles, otherwise the voting just becomes a bit of a mess. That's still a lot of games, though!

@MichaelNau It's somewhat similar in that they're both quite hack-and-slash, but Raidou is a bit more basic given its PS2 origins.

Your demon allies act alone for the most part, although you can give them specific commands through a menu. They'll always try to hit enemy weaknesses or heal when you're low on health, and in turn, you need to keep your SP topped up (both Raidou and his demons all pull from the same SP pool).

Overall I'd say it's a little more 'unique' in terms of mechanics than Scramble, but the action itself is less flashy and fleshed out.

@guacguacboo Remastered has a few (maybe three or four, I can't quite remember) difficulty settings that cover everything from super easy to really hard. You can change the difficulty at any time out of combat.

On the standard difficulty it can be a pretty tricky game, although probably not as unforgiving as peak SMT. That said, the combat system does take a little getting used to overall.

But yeah, the difficulties should suit your needs based on my experience, whatever they might be.

@HallowMoonshadow I'm actually surprised Raidou got the nod over Digital Devil Saga — I would have bet on the latter being remastered first.

I do think it's on the cards, though. SEGA's stated that it wants Atlus to be releasing games much more often, and it seems like remasters are a focal point for that initiative.

They'll do Raidou 2 and then... well, we'll see!

If anyone's got any questions about the game or the review, let me know and I can try to answer them.

Playing this again made me realise there's nothing quite like PS2-era Atlus. That's not to say modern Atlus games are worse, but there was a unique tone and atmosphere to that generation.

Anyway, I'm glad Raidou's getting a second chance. Looking forward to the inevitable sequel remaster as well.

I just don't think Final Fantasy is the all-conquering franchise that it once was, and Square Enix is apparently blind to that.

Don't get me wrong, the series is still a huge deal to people like us in this hardcore space, but it feels like it hasn't properly connected with a wider audience since... Final Fantasy X? Obviously very different times, though.

I'm not sure what the answer is. Square Enix could start making Final Fantasy games with different expectations (lower budgets, a return to trademark formulas) but then you're looking a complete shift in direction for what is essentially its biggest brand.

Said it many times and I'll say it again: Final Fantasy is the most mismanaged IP out there.

Apologies if any of your most anticipated games aren't in the poll — we had to cap it at 70 (!!!) of the most popular titles.

Lots to look forward to, clearly.

I can stomach this being a weirdly dull game, but a weirdly dull game capped at 30fps that's still plagued with frame rate issues is a joke.

Would love to know the inside scoop on this whole project.

@themightyant @Oram77 @Lup I haven't finished the game yet but I do think the environment design can be a bit vacuous. Some maps feel too big for how much is actually in them, and that can make navigation more difficult than it needs to be.

I'm not sure it needs a minimap, but some kind of direction would be nice, I think, even if it's just so you know which path takes you towards the objective, instead of having to backtrack to find treasure and stuff.

@Perturbator Sorry I couldn't reply to this sooner, I was too busy redecorating the fifth floor of my new mega yacht.

Anyway, I reject these baseless accusations.

FromSoftware's been getting away with crap performance for over a decade now. Studio makes incredible games but the general lack of polish is getting a bit obnoxious — especially when it's making more money than ever before.

By the time I play this game again it's going to be really good

@McBurn Yeah it's definitely simple if you're used to playing more involved action games. Mechanically, the combat never goes beyond attacks and dodges with a few special abilities thrown in when needed.

It does work, though. I never got tired of it or anything, and the enemies are quite well designed for what the game's trying to do.

@thefourfoldroot1 Ohhh you just mean the Trophies!

Yeah it's a pretty standard list, really. It's based around doing just about everything the game offers. Most you'll unlock as you go but there are a few that require some grinding (like mastering every Life).

I'd say it's an enjoyable Platinum if you like the game.

@thefourfoldroot1 Oh, the quest board tasks? They're just like progress markers if anything. I never paid them much mind, you just sort of complete them as you go. You would have to be more mindful of them if you were going for 100%, though — I think some can be quite specific.

@Slayer25c I found the mid-to-end game quite grindy at times. A case of finding rare resources, then crafting with them, and making sure to do the minigames well to get the best results — and that's on top of making sure the crafting classes were all high level to begin with.

There are a handful of endgame quests where you need to have grinded a lot of levels with a lot of different Lives. For the most part I do think the game does well to streamline things, but I did hit some grindy spots to complete specific tasks.

@thefourfoldroot1 You mean like post-game quests?

@Dalamar Yep, protagonist is mute.

Story and characters are very basic overall, but there is an undeniable charm to all of it that I quite enjoyed. Still, I wouldn't go into it expecting to be kept completely engaged by the plot.

The life sim stuff is obviously mandatory if you want to do everything. But you do need to play around with the town building side of the game if you want to finish the story. That includes building homes and customising your hub area quite a bit.

If anyone's got any questions about the game or the review, let me know and I'll try to answer them!

@DarkTron The question posed to SEGA came from the perspective of continued sales, so I'd assume it's specifically to do with making money as opposed to users or anything like that.

@Dalamar Yeah like others have said, it's more of a JRPG in terms of structure. The life sim elements are really just additional things you can take part in, like cooking and crafting. The main thrust of the game is exploration.

If anyone's got any questions about the game I can try to answer them based on what I've played so far. Only about 6 hours in, though, so my knowledge is quite limited.

Like the article says, hopefully we'll have a full review up soon.