Silenos

@Bingoboyop 'an-' or 'a-' is of course a very common Indo-European prefix from Ancient Greek with this meaning of absence (e.g. anarchy, apolitical, atheist), it's actually amazing how much Sanskrit exists in our language today.

@somnambulance Every month the moaners come out in force regardless of the quality of games offered! Even given 3 AAA highly-rated recently-released titles they'd still find something to whinge about.

Ubisoft? No, thanks.

@Ravix still 659.99 squid at John Lewis - that's a pretty good price right now

@Romans12 Rockstar have always had horrendous controls to all their titles - Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of the absolute worst.

@Member_the_game there are those who moan for moaning's sake - at quite literally every single article at this site you will find them taking pops at Sony, at various game publishers, or even just life in general - but the PS Plus moaners are the most predictable

@Oram77 well spotted! it's almost become gaming journalist code, a bit like when celebs are reported as 'breaking their silence'

This review has aged poorly imho. The game is actually fun and stylish and whilst not perfect should be at least a 7 or 8, especially if you have any love of Tokyo or Japan.

It's more like 'sheety' tone-deaf PR proclamations like this they need to stop making.

Easy 10. There's nothing I don't like about it, they've now perfected the gameplay and aesthetics to such an incredible degree.

@Khayl Yes, 'who' is perfectly correct in this example even though it is admittedly confusing.

@LowDefAl What an epically disingenuous post. This has got nothing to do with dubious historical analysis, Ubisoft's original intent (and its timing) for this game's story was and is perfectly obvious - just watch the original trailer. Now you can interpret that positively or negatively but at least recognise it for what they actually wanted.

@get2sammyb It's transparently obvious the gaming industry as it stands is on a course for self-destruction, if not oblivion, and not just because of this particular shady practice. It's not a question of blame because destructive courses are essentially organic and unstoppable, as seen in other now obsolete media formats and sectors. But however you look at it, this is a pretty ugly practice.

Love the game - just wish there was more content in the second half of banners. There's a new MoC tomorrow morning though!

@riceNpea hear, hear

Great review, thank you! Had a lot of confidence in this game from the beginning, very happy to see it already doing so well.

I always knew this game would be huge despite the doom merchants predicting a lacklustre launch. And it will likely grow and grow from here.

Love all the content and locations for HSR, including Penacony, it's simply one of the best games ever.

This is more like part of a desperate PR attempt to drum up interest in another AAA game that is going to bomb hard for all the obvious reasons.

Ubisoft have chosen their path, a hard pass from me.

@roe thank you for that rarest of commodities, a sane comment

A bit shocked to see this site promoting a CDKeys listing, and it's the first one.

Ignoring the ever-present gallery of moaning minnies, this is exactly the kind of selection that PS+ should always be offering! Lots of variety, mostly games that many of us won't have played, independent publishers, and Far Cry 5 for those that like that kind of thing. Looking forward to trying out The Plucky Squire and several of the other ones that I know next to nothing about.

Hades is easily the gold, followed by Vampire Survivors in silver, Cult of The Lamb bronze, Returnal is overrated but still top ten.

@Fartingale Me too. Unfortunately, as we can see, legions of commenters feed off these flamebait articles and any negatively perceived narrative is valuable currency for them.

Is it just me or are these memes spectacularly -not- hilarious? Absolutely sick and tired of all these gratuitous whinge fests and semi-pro moaning minnies by now. If you can't afford the price, then don't buy it. It's really that simple. If Sony had priced these units any lower the scalpers would have snagged the entire supply and sold them for that much or more, and that very well may happen anyway.

@ShogunRok Bottom of the barrel?! Way to talk down some cool innovative games many of which are from independent publishers and that most of us might otherwise never have tried. These are exactly the kind of games that PS+ should be featuring.

Problem is people simply have no patience in this TikTok era of instant gratification. I have confidence this game will be absolutely brilliant.

@Cikajovazmaj Best comment, and it had to be said - the artistic aesthetics of a game are highly underappreciated as a factor for gamers' interest - far too much is spent talking about 'story' and 'frames per second' and so on.

Thanks, Sammy. Nice try, and I respect and often share your taste in games, but will be most definitely passing on this one.

@dark_knightmare2 very well said, this is why so-called 'professional' or mainstream reviews should be taken with a huge pinch of salt, they are simply not reliable

Article about toxic abuse on game developers: cue several reactionary comments of toxic abuse (with the typical childish self-justification and puritanical morality displays). However, glad to see most people have sympathy because while they might be very successful and wealthy, just as he said, they are players too, and human beings.

DF are notorious for their nitpicky technical reviews and analysis. That's not a criticism, it's what they do. Even with some occasional 'traversal stutter' probably due to UE5, it's not going to put me off enjoying its phenomenal gameplay in such amazingly beautiful environments. And that's also what DF said.

Forgotten classic. When mainstream games had some real creativity and originality.

Still not feeling it, sorry.

Hard pass here. Not impressed with this kind of PR talk.

@get2sammyb cheers, sold!!

Original DOOM soundtrack on PS1 was one of the best game soundtracks ever, even to this day.

@soracloud28 It's hate for hate's sake, the same usual suspects every month with the typical tired 'glad I didn't renew PS Plus'-type comments.

The next-gen Destruction Derby we always wanted.

This one is going to be HUGE, mystified why there isn't more talk about it.

@dschons Exactly! Players are fighting the final boss based on a high character level when the truth is Scadutree Fragments are FAR more important. I'd suggest you need a minimum SF level of 15-16 to fight Radahn added to the tips outlined above.

Stack up on hefty rot pots, that's what did him for me.

"Under the hood' is usually code for 'absolutely nothing has changed whatsoever'.

@KillerBoy well said!

That's definitely some jawline right there.

100% agree with this excellent review. Very high quality production values indeed and its format is noticeably more mobile-friendly than HSR and GI, the gobbledy-gook is definitely overwhelming and a bit wearing. As a regular F2P player of all 3 games and not enough time, one of them is going to have to bite the bullet: either ZZZ or Genshin.

@get2sammyb thank you for saying this!

It's interesting how all the 3 Hoyoverse games on PS share the same intrinsic model or structure yet each is clearly inspired by a different genre of jrpg - Zelda, Tales, and Persona. Of the three, Star Rail is the one I enjoy the most.

@get2sammyb same here, particularly loving the music and atmosphere, controls feel reliably tight - also noted that the PS5 controller haptic feedback is exceptionally good!