@Porco Sorry to hear that this generation has really been a disappointment for you. What is your preferred gaming experience, may I ask? As in, what kinds of games or genres are failing to show up or be of good enough quality to keep you engaged? I look at the catalog and feel like I could spend a few years uninterrupted playing PS5 games I want to experience and still not get through them all. And they keep coming out. Just placed Clair Obscur onto my PS5 pile of shame, to be squeezed somewhere between Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Split Fiction, KCD2, Death Stranding 2. How the heck am I going to find time to get to all these great games?
But perhaps your specific tastes and interests are not being represented? That’s definitely a possibility. I know the generation has been light on JRPGs and things like RTS and platformers. Just wondering what could get you excited.
@Vectrex Yeah, I suppose so. And to be clear, I’m not disparaging someone who wishes to just remain on PS4 if that’s all they really care about. It’s just surprising that the type of individual who is fine with PS4 games and performance is also a person who regularly visits a website dedicated to up-to-date PlayStation news and reviews. If you don’t own a PS5, then probably 80% of Push Square’s content doesn’t apply. Looking at the front page, nearly all the content now is PS5 driven. Ghost of Yotei, GTA6, Clair Obscur, Oblivion… I would guess people coming here who don’t own a PS5 are interested in getting one, but I’m just surprised at the number of regulars who comment routinely on articles who still have not converted to the current gen and some apparently plan not to. They are certainly free to read and comment on articles about Borderlands 4 and Marathon and whatnot, more power to ‘em. But I guess it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it; like when I wander over to Nintendo Life or Pure Xbox, after about 3 minutes of browsing the articles I just leave because most of them just don’t apply to me.
I have to admit, I’m surprised how many people who frequent this site still don’t own a PS5. Cross-generational releases have dried up and the PS5 has a fantastic library with an outstanding year on the books for 2025. If you’re a big PlayStation fan (which I suspect anyone spending a lot of time on this site is) there’s no reason to wait. Well, unless your finances can’t handle it, but if you can spare the dough, getting at least the base unit is a no brainer. You can still give all the PS4 games in your library their love and attention, you lose nothing (except $400) and gain improved performance in your PS4 games and also access to a mountain of PS5 exclusive content.
I don’t really jive with FPS as a genre, but for some reason BL1 & 2 were an exception and I quite enjoyed them. I also liked the Tales From the Borderlands, I think it was called, from Telltale games. I’ve had the Pre-Sequel and BL3 in the library for a long time and have never tried them, mostly because of the poor fan reception. I’ve always meant to jump back into the series though.
@KODIAK No, I think that the leak is suggesting that the 2024 version of Until Dawn, which is the PS5 remake and the version now on sale, is going to be a PS+ game for May. The 2015 PS4 version was already given out with PS+ a few years ago. There’s just two versions of the game.
With Days Gone it’s a little more complicated because it has a base PS4 version, and then a PS5 patch done to that version to upgrade performance, and then now this Remaster/remake which is a native PS5 version. So there’s two versions of this game but the original version could technically be played with or without the performance boosting PS5 patch.
Wow, impressive. I had thought that this game would not really have much of a chance for GOTY considerations in a year that already includes critical darlings KCD2, MH Wilds, and Split Fiction, and still yet to get heavy hitters like Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei and of course, GTA6, among others. But now it’s starting to look it’s right there in the mix!
I’ve never played Days Gone and have been meaning to. $50 is a bit steep for an older game, especially when I already have the original PS4 game in my library (via PS+). With the rumors of the Until Dawn Remake launching on PS+ this month, and other remakes like TLoU Part 1 dropping on Extra, I suspect there will be either a price drop or eventual PS+ release for this remake too, after a few months. Since my backlog has thousands of hours of gaming at my fingertips, I might just wait and see.
I usually game with headphones but I haven’t really felt like the audio needed any fine tuning. With headphones on I feel like I can hear everything really well.
Still, it’s good to have the option if I do run into a situation where I need a frequency boost.
Really enjoyed Tsushima. I don’t remember thinking that I wished the map was bigger though. Here’s hoping the series isn’t falling into the ‘bigger is better’ trap that Assassin’s Creed went into. I have confidence in Sucker Punch, but I need shorter games not longer ones! 😅
As a PlayStation only gamer and yet a PS+ Premium subscriber, I’ve felt there’s room in the industry for services and traditional game sales. I quite like the balance that Sony are doing right now.
That said, I’ll admit that GamePass is just now hitting its stride. They rolled out the service putting all their eggs in the COD basket, and since it didn’t spike subscribers as much as planned, I wonder if the steady quality day 1 content they’ve had in recent months is going to translate to more subscribers. I think the gaming community haven’t trusted Microsoft first party output, but now their studios are finally producing some well-received games. And third party day 1 content has been quite good occasionally as well. Question is, can they keep it up? And at what point will it produce an uptick in subscribers (if ever)? Because I think it’s difficult to judge the last 3 years while they were still stumbling around with no games.
I feel like the promotionals and updates were handled well for this game — It wasn’t on my radar when it was announced (I don’t even remember seeing its reveal) but then I had mild curiosity with some of the screenshots and story details earlier this year, enough to catch my eye. And then when the gameplay footage was circulated a couple months ago it ratcheted up more on my interest level because it looked so unique and stood out. …And then the reviews just blew the top off and the hype reached full force.
So many game announcements nowadays rob us of all those little steps in between where we get small incremental shots of hype. They announce a game and then we see and hear nothing for two years until the final few weeks before release (if we’re lucky).
Or alternatively, they announce a game a few years ahead and then we get random updates that end up being poor and show the game in a poor light and buggy. Then there’s a release date, and then a delay, and then another delay. Or we get an avalanche of information for months leading up to the game with multiple gameplay demos, early access betas, big dedicated directs or state of plays, only to be followed by more trailers and more gameplay footage, until we’re just sick of seeing the game and have lost the magic of any anticipation.
It all about the art of the tease, and yet not withholding too much so we don’t lose interest. Sandfall and Kepler Interactive seem to have struck a good crescendo of hype for this one. Well done.
@Pat_trick If it’s any consolation, I did the opposite — I was waiting for reviews and when they came out so positive, I bought Clair Obscur on an impulse (even though I probably won’t get around to it right away), partly because I wanted to try and support a smaller studio AA product with a new IP, especially when Bethesda pulled that nonsense a couple days before. Perhaps it was accidental, I’ll try to give MS and Bethesda execs the benefit of the doubt, but it sure seemed ill-timed.
Maybe there are more like me who, all things being equal as far as quality and desire to play something, will try to lean toward getting the smaller games on release, as a signal to the industry. Early sales seem to be when the smaller projects’ success is analyzed.
Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes buy AAA games at launch too, but it usually has to be a game I am very hyped for that I’ll play immediately.
This is nice; a lot of people will be happy to have these. Personally I don’t care much about themes. I might use the audio focus, although play with headphones and I wonder how it will translate.
A nice surprise! Well, the fact they casually dropped the information is a surprise. The actual date is no real surprise and right where most of us expected it in the last quarter this year.
Although I say all this without playing a single minute of the game — Man, I’m really impressed with what Sandfall and Kepler have done here. They seem to have done so many things right that bigger publishers and developers are still getting wrong.
First of all just an interesting setting and concepts for a new IP; it appears to have such a creative vision. Gameplay also sounds fresh and unique.
Furthermore, the timing of release is well placed, especially if not for the Oblivion stealth drop which now almost feels like a targeted attempt by Bethesda to get out in front of this game and steal some thunder. That aside, the release window is favorable for success and get some eyes on it during a relative lull in the spring.
The marketing has been fantastic too, with little teases and drip-feed information at a good rate to build hype over the last couple months, yet also not too much as to oversell and make it tiresome.
Then the launch price point at $50, with a 10% pre-order bonus — what a great sweet-spot for this kind of game. Most big publishers would try to shoot for $60 or $70 and then in a couple months discount it at various sales until it settles in at $40 in a year or so. With the $50 price tag people are so much more apt to just get it day one rather than wait a few months. Also, the game length sounds like it’s at a good spot, 35-40 hours to mainline, but 70 or more if you want to soak it all in. Maybe a smidge longer than I would like since I’m a guy they explores around a lot and my playtimes are on the larger end, but I’m grateful to have a nice RPG that’s not asking a minimum of 100 hours from me.
And then finally, the they didn’t scrimp on casting (Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Andy Serkis, and then Clive Rosfield himself, Ben Starr! Awesome.) and music and technical stability, despite the AA space it resides in.
I don’t really have time in my schedule to play this yet, but I feel obligated as a fan of video games and creative art to support the game. As others have said, I hope some of the big studios that churn out samey bloated cut-and-paste games that are broken on release will take note. Again, I say all this without having played the game and only based on reviews. But that’s what reviews are for — to decide whether to try it and everything looks great so far!
Big games can become a victim of their own success. By looking at the comments here, BG3 is now experiencing the backlash that great games receive when they are praised so highly. The hype gets so high that the game can simply not live up to the expectations of some people.
I agree with others who have said that the Push Square community doesn’t necessarily represent the game’s target audience, as it feels more like a PC/casual type of target.
Nevertheless, I’ll say again how bland the environments look and the initial gameplay impressions seem on par with other shooters that either already have market share, or are free-to-play.
Honestly, despite my not liking online shooters, I’ll admit that Helldivers 2 actually looks interesting to me. If I were honest, as bad as Concord looked it seemed more interesting than Marathon too 🫣. I can’t believe I’m saying that but I think it’s true. I have no doubt this is a better designed game though, from a gameplay perspective, so maybe that will save it.
More power to the 8% on the poll who are buying day 1, and the other 22% who might jump in later. I hope the game does well. Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei will probably do well enough to keep the single player fires burning at Sony so even if Marathon sells millions, it shouldn’t dissuade them from continuing with their bread and butter single player stuff.
The companies are trolling us now. Giving us a disc that doesn’t have the game on it. Although it’s inherently a worse way to play the game because now you have to download nearly the whole game from PSN anyway and have your disc in the tray for the game to work, it’s also possible to sell the disc at the second hand store or eBay. So there’s still value, I guess.
I’m not the target audience and don’t engage with online shooters, but I went into the trailers with an open mind and they did nothing to convince me that I’d enjoy this. Some shooters at least look interesting to me and I wish that I had the skill set and time to devote to it (Helldivers 2 is one of these), but I barely made it through the trailers with this one.
Good for those who like these, but I don’t see it. The environments look incredibly bland. The art style has a cool indie feel to it, but… is that what this genre fanbase wants? I guess we’ll find out but I’m worried about Bungie’s viability if this fails.
Continuing with a combination of Zack Fair and Kay Vess. FF7 Reunion Crisis Core when I want some materia shuffling jrpg escapades and SW Outlaws when I want some sneaky pew-pew. Depending how things go, I might get started on Lost Records as well.
With all the PlayStation consoles I’ve owned, I’ve never changed the wallpaper to something custom. I just leave it on the default. If the console is turned on then there’s a game I’m playing, so I’ve never felt the need to change it. Maybe I’ll start with this.
@IamJT Yeah, it’s too bad that the controversial narrative direction overshadowed a stellar gameplay package. Not to mention the polish and immaculate presentation from a technical standpoint.
As far as the story goes, I can sort of understand people’s reservations on a few of the narrative threads, but honestly I was really moved by the story and the themes. Maybe I’m easily manipulated, but it all really resonated with me. Beautifully tragic.
@rjejr Hmm… I think your synopsis of the two games was a little bit lacking. Here’s mine:
Game 1: depressed former dad cheers up slightly to help surrogate daughter.
Game 2: a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster ride with drastically improved gameplay, and also a bold and daring plunge into the human psyche — a story of suffering and violence begetting only more violence… A story teaching to not prejudge another until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes… and that holding a grudge only harms the bearer of the animosity… and that redemption only comes from learning from one’s mistakes… and that righteousness is in the eye of the beholder… and in the end, a story of hope in the face of humanity’s darkest sides.
Lots more potential for a impactful TV show with the Part 2 story, imho. 😄
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Fortunately, I haven’t felt any Souls-fatigue yet, but I’ve been really intentional to not play too many Souls or Soulslikes in quick succession. By spreading them out, I’ve felt renewed excitement with each game so far. The flipside of that approach is that I’m so far behind the other Souls fans, so I do have DS3, ER, and Sekiro still to go.
Given what this article says, I look forward to another (probably Elden Ring 2 I guess) single player focused game in the same spirit of their others. I might still be trying to catch up on their library by the time it comes out. I think I’ll likely play those last 3 entries within the next 2 years though, so perhaps I’ll be up to date when it comes.
I might consider trying these multiplayer projects they have, but the reviews have got to really convince me, because I don’t think the MP approach interests me.
But you have to give FromSoft due credit — they continually try to push the boundaries and evolve and innovate. They’re able to keep most of the core feel of their games intact, whilst they experiment with new settings and gameplay hooks. The 4 Souls games are quite similar but Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring really push new ideas and boundaries. And now Nightreign and Duskbloods feel like another attempt at redirection. Which is smart of them, as a company, because the Soulslike genre is currently filling in the gaps of copying what they were doing with their earlier games. It makes sense that they might want to avoid churning out another Dark Souls or Bloodborne when we have Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen, etc. that it would compete with.
I actually think the post-apocalyptic world of Horizon is a great setting for storytelling in a TV series. However, as the two main games revolve around the character Aloy, I think a movie will work better for telling her specific story and establishing the world and its history. So maybe a movie to start and then spin-off TV series if it does well. I guess it would be kind of similar to how other big franchises have done it (one small example being Andor was an offshoot of Rogue One) and both a movie and a TV show could exist and complement one another. But as others have said, the quality of the production is the main necessary ingredient. Many good IP’s have been butchered by bad movies and TV adaptations.
@Dragon83 “most games this gen and last are 15-20 hours…” I suppose it depends on what kind of games a person plays, but in general I’ve felt like games are actually getting longer in the PS4 and PS5 generation. Thinking about AAA and popular full-priced releases I have a hard time thinking of more than a small handful that are less than 20 hours, whereas I can go on and on with games that are at least 40 hrs and many over 100 hrs to do everything. I think games have become too long in many cases! In my opinion, game length is one of several factors that companies do need to take into account when pricing their game, but it’s not the only factor. A legitimate 15 hour game that one wouldn’t want to replay is a hard thing to ask $80 for, unless it’s truly an amazing 15 hours. $5 per hour, if it’s fantastic, might be better than $1 per hour if it’s mediocre.
But to your point, it doesn’t always make sense to pay the highest price for the least complete product. Paying $70-80 for a buggy incomplete game, whereas waiting and buying the complete edition a year or two later for $50 with all the add-on content and patches makes a lot more sense as a consumer.
@johncalmc Oh yeah, I figured that’s what you meant. But game length is a factor, no doubt. But also the quality of the experience during that time in the game. Totally agree.
Of course the poster child for the opposite of large bloated games that don’t justify their cost is The Order 1886, a game with high production-per-square-inch but only lasted 8 hrs so when it launched at $60 at the same price as Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Bloodborne that year, it was DOA. I bought it for $10 and loved the game. If it would have launched at $30 maybe we’d be getting a sequel and the legacy of the game and of Ready at Dawn would have been different.
It just surprises me that executives who are obviously a lot smarter than me don’t know how to better calculate a good price point for their games. 😄
@naruball That’s a good point — most of us are honed into one particular ecosystem because of digital libraries which carry over from the last generation and also commitment to our trophies and achievements. Not to mention the comfort level with a particular UI, controller, and storefront.
It’s why I’m really satisfied with doing portable gaming through the Portal rather than buying a Switch or SteamDeck. I have hundreds of games and thousands of dollars invested into my PS library, so why would I spend the time and money starting a whole new library?
That’s where Xbox has really taken it in the teeth — they “lost” the most important generation when people started shifting to digital and were able to bring over their PS4 or XB1 libraries to the current gen, and they focused on a GP service that is more easily thrown away because you don’t carry the games with you in perpetuity like owning it.
Nintendo fans are probably similar, they’ll pay a premium just to bring over their Switch library and stay in an ecosystem they are comfortable with. Over here we are looking at the pricing and thinking it’s a no-brainer to buy a more powerful PS5 that also has cheaper games and more services, but over on NintendoLife they are salivating at making the upgrade to Switch 2 without blinking an eye.
@johncalmc Yeah, this is why I advocate for a better tiering to game prices. The enjoyment per hour metric should roughly align with the cost. It is a slippery slope however because game length is really only one component of the value. Otherwise we might see even more bloating and filler content being put into otherwise good games just so the producer can charge $80 instead of $60.
But yeah, the Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Witcher, Cyberpunk, KCD2, GTA, etc type of games that ooze production cost and dozens and dozens of hours of quality content should not necessarily feel obliged to sell at $60 like an Atomfall, for example.
In general I’d like to see tiered pricing, with more games exploring the middle ground. The huge big budget titles like GTA can be at the highest pricing, but smaller projects shouldn’t be charging the same prices.
Fortunately the AA and indie space still has lower priced releases (games like Split Fiction and Clair Obscur recently, or Balatro, Vampire Survivors, etc) to fill the void. But the problem is when AAA studios churn out garbage or some iterative annual update that should be DLC and then ask for premium pricing.
I’m not sure what to make of it all. I don’t think we’ll know the impact for another year, but the early signs are that the Switch 2 might be slow coming out of the gate. I’d never underestimate the power of Mario Kart though. People might be surprised how many systems it will sell on its own.
Still, I have no doubt that many Switch owners will be excited to play FF7 Remake, Hitman, Cyberpunk 2077, and Yakuza 0. Not too dissimilar from PlayStation fans who are anxiously anticipating getting to play Gears of War or Halo. Really old games, but when you get to play them on your console of choice it feels different, I suppose. The difference is that I’m not sure the average Nintendo gamer has interest in gritty Western properties like Cyberpunk. Or even in FromSoft types of games. Do we know how well Witcher 3 and Dark Souls Remastered have sold on Switch?
The SteamDeck and PS Portal have blunted ‘portability’ as a draw for buying these games a second time for the Switch, so it will only be those locked in the Nintendo ecosystem who will get excitement about playing one of these games. Whereas there’s more overlap with the Xbox fandom and the PlayStation fandom, and the Western action games are closely associated with both consoles.
But I guess the same could have been said about Astobot (a Mario imitator) coming to PlayStation, as it’s not the type of game that usually is associated with the brand and yet it’s done extremely well. But it’s a new game from first party, not a recycled one playable on another console for the last 3 years. A better comparison would be to see if old Mario or Donkey Kong games would sell on the PS5 and I don’t really know. Maybe?
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I am a tad disappointed, since I don’t plan to get a Switch 2 and might have wanted to play Duskbloods. I’m not too interested in multiplayer aspects of these games, so it remains to be seen if it would even grab me regardless of which console it’s on.
As for the portable issue, the Switch 2 should have an option to dock and play on the TV too, I suspect, so it can still be enjoyed in the traditional sense on the TV.
But despite some slight disappointment, I’m not going to lose sleep over it since I still have a couple From games left to play on my PS5, which should carry me for another couple years until we see if this is going to be ported or whether I want to invest in the Switch 2 by that point. Also, the non-From Souls-likes are getting closer to the From quality so I still have those as options on PS5 too.
Thanks and I’ll certainly check out your updated Sekiro thoughts. 😄
Still will lack the DualSense controller quality-of-life comfort features that the Portal offers. Also the fact that you have to buy the game again, whereas you don’t if you have a Portal. If you’re playing it somewhere that you don’t have a good internet connection then the SteamDeck version might be nice. But you always have your phone and its hotspot with you and the Portal has performed well for me even with hotspot connection in my experience.
Sometimes I use the wishlist to remember the occasional game that’s flying under the radar, but mostly as a way to quickly see which games I’m interested in are currently on sale. I have about 20 games on the list and usually there’s a handful on sale at any given time. There’s websites that track that too but the wishlist is serviceable for me. I’ve never run myself up against the limit though.
A physical collection of both PS5 games would be nice, actually. But it’s likely that just buying each separately on sale would be cheaper. Sort of like the Dark Souls collection. I wanted to buy all 3 in that PS4 collection with DS1 Remastered, DS2 Scholar Edition, and DS3 Fire Fades Ed, all in that cool steelbook but it was way more expensive than just picking each of them up one by one.
These SMT games all kind of blur together in my PS2 memory. I played a lot of them before but I don’t remember much of the details. Pretty sure I played this though, because I remember the unique setting.
Atlas games were a large reason for my love of the PS2 generation.
I’ve vacillated on my thoughts about it, but have usually leaned toward justification for Joel’s decision, but part 2 changed my mind. Not only because of Abby’s story, but also because of Ellie’s opinion on it.
Although, like others have said, if we’re being realistic, I suspect had he let them go through with it, Ellie would have been sacrificed in vain. I don’t think the group of scientists were likely to have the means to do much with whatever information they thought they were going to get out of her sacrifice. I mean, we just went through an actual pandemic which was a lot less severe and with infinitely more scientific minds and resources working on it and it was obviously not as simple as an isolated group of people doing one procedure and magically coming up with a cure.
It’s always been a suspension of disbelief that has to occur when I play games or watch shows. The global solutions are often oversimplified because that’s what makes the other parts of the drama work.
Pretty excited for this. I loved the first game. I do hope they advance the gameplay and mechanics and deepen the customization of the play options. A good story at the core is a must.
My only disappointment is it taking place in a snowy region. First of all I’m not a fan of snowy settings in general. They feel less interesting to me artistically with the overly white landscape. Furthermore, I don’t like the slowing down of movement whilst trudging through snow that some game settings have. I suspect Sucker Punch has the movement feeling kinetic and satisfying though. And although the spring and autumn feeling of Tsushima was the main draw in the beauty of the world — wind blowing the leaves, grass, flowers, etc — maybe they can make snow the same way. I assume the mechanic of using the wind to guide you to objectives is still going to be it’s essential hook.
I would love to know what percentage of the total market share comes from 8-14 year olds.
My guess is they don’t contribute nearly as much as we think they do. Their parents buy microtransactions for their Fortnite and Roblox stuff but does the average 10 yr old gamer spend more than $200 a year? $300 a year? As an adult, I contribute many times that number in hardware alone, much less subscriptions and game purchases. I just spent $40 this week on a whim buying a game. Because I have a job and money. I didn’t have to ask my Daddy to buy it for me. If I had a son who was 10, you’d better believe I wouldn’t have given him $40 to just spend on an impulse like that. 😂 He’d have to wait until Christmas.
It’s an incredible value, but as the article alludes to, the value of each title is in the eye of the beholder, so a game can be worth $60 but if it sits in my library unplayed it’s worth $0 to me. However, I think Essential (and the higher tiers) are still great values for me. The better judge has always been looking back at the prior year and counting how many games I played from the service. Usually it’s about 6-8. I think it was closer to 10 last year. I figure an average cost of these games are about $20 (that’s being conservative). If I play 8 games, at $20 value each, then that equals $160, which is the break even point for the cost of my year sub of PS+ Premium. Then all the other perks are basically free on top of that — cloud saves, online play (yuck! 😜), PSN sales, and my new favorite, cloud streaming.
@glennthefrog I think you’re right to a large degree. But observationally (I don’t have the ability or the patience to do an empiric analysis) the commenters on Push Square also seems to have done a 180. Most were quite enthused with the show, people all sharing stories about their non-gaming parents and their wives sitting down and enjoying the show with them and how well it all turned out it general. Then to see so many of our very own users come back and say the show was trash is giving me whiplash. Perhaps I’m misremembering things from 2 years ago. Or perhaps it is more related to your point in that people were just glowing about the show in some kind of weird digital peer pressure type of influence, or that I didn’t see comments from the 20 people who didn’t like the show because 100 people who liked it drown them out. Either way though, I’ve seen a revisionist history like this happen a lot with other products around here. And it’s nothing against people having the right to an opinion, but I do think there’s a weird human nature to over-react in a negative way to a products success, after the initial hype of the product calms down. That’s why I felt there was a psycho-social aspect to the about-face we are seeing.
There’s the heavily rumored Uncharted Cassie spin-off that’s still unaccounted for. The prevailing theory was that a studio other than ND was doing that, but maybe not?
As maligned as the modern storyline has been among fans, I did find it to be a good central foundation for the series. The idea of experiencing one’s ancestors life through a pseudoscientific DNA extrapolation is actually a really cool concept. The way the modern story and characters were treated was the issue.
I haven’t played most of the post Black Flag content, only Origins (which I liked) and the modern day bits after Desmond seemed to become so trite. I do think that revamping the way the animus and the modern angle intersects with the historical parts can be a great way to differentiate the series from the large number of AC-inspired action games that are now competing with it (like the Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei, HZD/HFW, etc) and frankly do many things better than AC has done.
In my estimation, there’s a few factors involved with the current trend of gamers wanting to feel that their time is respected. First, I do think people in general, no matter the age, have shorter attention spans than we did in the past.
Second, video gaming has been a hobby that has exploded in the last 20-30 years, and the core audience is older with many competing adult responsibilities
And third, the explosion of the hobby has brought exponentially more new releases to the table, and so where the entire library of available games 20 years ago pales in comparison to the number of new releases in just one year nowadays. So the competition is so much steeper for our game time.
And as a related fourth issue, the current situation with entertainment media is flush with other segments vying for our time and attention like TV, social media, and other distractions which were not present 20-30 years ago.
These are some of the factors involved and I definitely feel it as a gamer with limited time, limited attention, and so many options constantly tempting me to abandon what I’m doing to go to something new. But the truly great games find a way to keep me engaged.
More specifically to the article, I will say that I felt Persona 4 and Persona 5 were too time consuming. Although I ended up enjoying each of them, they went too long and there were times that I did feel them dragging and I had to take long breaks away. I haven’t played Metaphor yet and I don’t think I will anytime soon, for that very reason — I was exhausted of the loop by the time I finished P5.
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Re: Opinion: If You're on the Fence, Consider Buying a PS5 Now Before the Prices Inevitably Rise
@Porco Sorry to hear that this generation has really been a disappointment for you. What is your preferred gaming experience, may I ask? As in, what kinds of games or genres are failing to show up or be of good enough quality to keep you engaged? I look at the catalog and feel like I could spend a few years uninterrupted playing PS5 games I want to experience and still not get through them all. And they keep coming out. Just placed Clair Obscur onto my PS5 pile of shame, to be squeezed somewhere between Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Split Fiction, KCD2, Death Stranding 2. How the heck am I going to find time to get to all these great games?
But perhaps your specific tastes and interests are not being represented? That’s definitely a possibility. I know the generation has been light on JRPGs and things like RTS and platformers. Just wondering what could get you excited.
Re: Opinion: If You're on the Fence, Consider Buying a PS5 Now Before the Prices Inevitably Rise
@Vectrex Yeah, I suppose so. And to be clear, I’m not disparaging someone who wishes to just remain on PS4 if that’s all they really care about. It’s just surprising that the type of individual who is fine with PS4 games and performance is also a person who regularly visits a website dedicated to up-to-date PlayStation news and reviews. If you don’t own a PS5, then probably 80% of Push Square’s content doesn’t apply. Looking at the front page, nearly all the content now is PS5 driven. Ghost of Yotei, GTA6, Clair Obscur, Oblivion… I would guess people coming here who don’t own a PS5 are interested in getting one, but I’m just surprised at the number of regulars who comment routinely on articles who still have not converted to the current gen and some apparently plan not to. They are certainly free to read and comment on articles about Borderlands 4 and Marathon and whatnot, more power to ‘em. But I guess it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it; like when I wander over to Nintendo Life or Pure Xbox, after about 3 minutes of browsing the articles I just leave because most of them just don’t apply to me.
Re: Opinion: If You're on the Fence, Consider Buying a PS5 Now Before the Prices Inevitably Rise
I have to admit, I’m surprised how many people who frequent this site still don’t own a PS5. Cross-generational releases have dried up and the PS5 has a fantastic library with an outstanding year on the books for 2025. If you’re a big PlayStation fan (which I suspect anyone spending a lot of time on this site is) there’s no reason to wait. Well, unless your finances can’t handle it, but if you can spare the dough, getting at least the base unit is a no brainer. You can still give all the PS4 games in your library their love and attention, you lose nothing (except $400) and gain improved performance in your PS4 games and also access to a mountain of PS5 exclusive content.
Re: Poll: Are You Sold on Borderlands 4?
I don’t really jive with FPS as a genre, but for some reason BL1 & 2 were an exception and I quite enjoyed them. I also liked the Tales From the Borderlands, I think it was called, from Telltale games. I’ve had the Pre-Sequel and BL3 in the library for a long time and have never tried them, mostly because of the poor fan reception. I’ve always meant to jump back into the series though.
Re: Xbox Now Selling PS5 Games for $80, Joins Switch 2 in Price Increase
Man, I might need to go ahead and buy a PS5 Pro before prices go up.
Re: Days Gone PS5 Is a 'Really Good Piece of Work', Say Tech Experts
@KODIAK No, I think that the leak is suggesting that the 2024 version of Until Dawn, which is the PS5 remake and the version now on sale, is going to be a PS+ game for May. The 2015 PS4 version was already given out with PS+ a few years ago. There’s just two versions of the game.
With Days Gone it’s a little more complicated because it has a base PS4 version, and then a PS5 patch done to that version to upgrade performance, and then now this Remaster/remake which is a native PS5 version. So there’s two versions of this game but the original version could technically be played with or without the performance boosting PS5 patch.
Re: PS5 RPG Expedition 33 Has Some of the Highest User Ratings Ever
Wow, impressive. I had thought that this game would not really have much of a chance for GOTY considerations in a year that already includes critical darlings KCD2, MH Wilds, and Split Fiction, and still yet to get heavy hitters like Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei and of course, GTA6, among others. But now it’s starting to look it’s right there in the mix!
Re: Days Gone PS5 Is a 'Really Good Piece of Work', Say Tech Experts
I’ve never played Days Gone and have been meaning to. $50 is a bit steep for an older game, especially when I already have the original PS4 game in my library (via PS+). With the rumors of the Until Dawn Remake launching on PS+ this month, and other remakes like TLoU Part 1 dropping on Extra, I suspect there will be either a price drop or eventual PS+ release for this remake too, after a few months. Since my backlog has thousands of hours of gaming at my fingertips, I might just wait and see.
Re: PS5's Newest Firmware Feature Is Not Getting Enough Attention
I usually game with headphones but I haven’t really felt like the audio needed any fine tuning. With headphones on I feel like I can hear everything really well.
Still, it’s good to have the option if I do run into a situation where I need a frequency boost.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Has the 'Biggest Map' and 'Greatest Freedom' of Any Sucker Punch Game
Really enjoyed Tsushima. I don’t remember thinking that I wished the map was bigger though. Here’s hoping the series isn’t falling into the ‘bigger is better’ trap that Assassin’s Creed went into. I have confidence in Sucker Punch, but I need shorter games not longer ones! 😅
Re: PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Are Not the Future of Gaming, Says US Analyst
As a PlayStation only gamer and yet a PS+ Premium subscriber, I’ve felt there’s room in the industry for services and traditional game sales. I quite like the balance that Sony are doing right now.
That said, I’ll admit that GamePass is just now hitting its stride. They rolled out the service putting all their eggs in the COD basket, and since it didn’t spike subscribers as much as planned, I wonder if the steady quality day 1 content they’ve had in recent months is going to translate to more subscribers. I think the gaming community haven’t trusted Microsoft first party output, but now their studios are finally producing some well-received games. And third party day 1 content has been quite good occasionally as well.
Question is, can they keep it up? And at what point will it produce an uptick in subscribers (if ever)? Because I think it’s difficult to judge the last 3 years while they were still stumbling around with no games.
Re: Not Everyone Loved Oblivion Remastered's Shadow Drop
It’s analogous to the mom-and-pop stores working to build a customer base in a community and then Wal-Mart comes to town and sets up shop next door.
Re: Poll: Are You Playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
I feel like the promotionals and updates were handled well for this game —
It wasn’t on my radar when it was announced (I don’t even remember seeing its reveal) but then I had mild curiosity with some of the screenshots and story details earlier this year, enough to catch my eye. And then when the gameplay footage was circulated a couple months ago it ratcheted up more on my interest level because it looked so unique and stood out. …And then the reviews just blew the top off and the hype reached full force.
So many game announcements nowadays rob us of all those little steps in between where we get small incremental shots of hype. They announce a game and then we see and hear nothing for two years until the final few weeks before release (if we’re lucky).
Or alternatively, they announce a game a few years ahead and then we get random updates that end up being poor and show the game in a poor light and buggy. Then there’s a release date, and then a delay, and then another delay. Or we get an avalanche of information for months leading up to the game with multiple gameplay demos, early access betas, big dedicated directs or state of plays, only to be followed by more trailers and more gameplay footage, until we’re just sick of seeing the game and have lost the magic of any anticipation.
It all about the art of the tease, and yet not withholding too much so we don’t lose interest. Sandfall and Kepler Interactive seem to have struck a good crescendo of hype for this one. Well done.
Re: Sydney Sweeney Reportedly Set to Star in Split Fiction Movie Adaptation
Oh, known mostly for her role in the classic Madame Web.
Re: Bethesda Shows Solidarity with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 After Oblivion Remastered Launch
@Pat_trick If it’s any consolation, I did the opposite — I was waiting for reviews and when they came out so positive, I bought Clair Obscur on an impulse (even though I probably won’t get around to it right away), partly because I wanted to try and support a smaller studio AA product with a new IP, especially when Bethesda pulled that nonsense a couple days before. Perhaps it was accidental, I’ll try to give MS and Bethesda execs the benefit of the doubt, but it sure seemed ill-timed.
Maybe there are more like me who, all things being equal as far as quality and desire to play something, will try to lean toward getting the smaller games on release, as a signal to the industry. Early sales seem to be when the smaller projects’ success is analyzed.
Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes buy AAA games at launch too, but it usually has to be a game I am very hyped for that I’ll play immediately.
Re: Classic Console Themes Return to PS5 from Tomorrow in Latest Firmware Update
This is nice; a lot of people will be happy to have these. Personally I don’t care much about themes. I might use the audio focus, although play with headphones and I wonder how it will translate.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Gets PS5 Release Date, Trailer, Pre-Order Details
A nice surprise! Well, the fact they casually dropped the information is a surprise. The actual date is no real surprise and right where most of us expected it in the last quarter this year.
Re: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PS5) - Daring, Quirky RPG Is an Absolute Must-Play
Although I say all this without playing a single minute of the game — Man, I’m really impressed with what Sandfall and Kepler have done here. They seem to have done so many things right that bigger publishers and developers are still getting wrong.
First of all just an interesting setting and concepts for a new IP; it appears to have such a creative vision. Gameplay also sounds fresh and unique.
Furthermore, the timing of release is well placed, especially if not for the Oblivion stealth drop which now almost feels like a targeted attempt by Bethesda to get out in front of this game and steal some thunder. That aside, the release window is favorable for success and get some eyes on it during a relative lull in the spring.
The marketing has been fantastic too, with little teases and drip-feed information at a good rate to build hype over the last couple months, yet also not too much as to oversell and make it tiresome.
Then the launch price point at $50, with a 10% pre-order bonus — what a great sweet-spot for this kind of game. Most big publishers would try to shoot for $60 or $70 and then in a couple months discount it at various sales until it settles in at $40 in a year or so. With the $50 price tag people are so much more apt to just get it day one rather than wait a few months. Also, the game length sounds like it’s at a good spot, 35-40 hours to mainline, but 70 or more if you want to soak it all in. Maybe a smidge longer than I would like since I’m a guy they explores around a lot and my playtimes are on the larger end, but I’m grateful to have a nice RPG that’s not asking a minimum of 100 hours from me.
And then finally, the they didn’t scrimp on casting (Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Andy Serkis, and then Clive Rosfield himself, Ben Starr! Awesome.) and music and technical stability, despite the AA space it resides in.
I don’t really have time in my schedule to play this yet, but I feel obligated as a fan of video games and creative art to support the game. As others have said, I hope some of the big studios that churn out samey bloated cut-and-paste games that are broken on release will take note. Again, I say all this without having played the game and only based on reviews. But that’s what reviews are for — to decide whether to try it and everything looks great so far!
Re: Opinion: Baldur's Gate 3 Was Already a 10/10, But Updates Have Made It an All-Time Masterpiece
Big games can become a victim of their own success. By looking at the comments here, BG3 is now experiencing the backlash that great games receive when they are praised so highly. The hype gets so high that the game can simply not live up to the expectations of some people.
Re: Classic JRPG Remake Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Confirms New Script That 'Honors the Original Japanese Text'
I used to refer to Trails of Cold Steel as ToCS for short, until I saw the acronym for Trails in the Sky.
Re: PS5 Fans Give Bungie's Marathon the Cold Shoulder, 34% Say You'd Have to Pay Them to Play
I agree with others who have said that the Push Square community doesn’t necessarily represent the game’s target audience, as it feels more like a PC/casual type of target.
Nevertheless, I’ll say again how bland the environments look and the initial gameplay impressions seem on par with other shooters that either already have market share, or are free-to-play.
Honestly, despite my not liking online shooters, I’ll admit that Helldivers 2 actually looks interesting to me. If I were honest, as bad as Concord looked it seemed more interesting than Marathon too 🫣. I can’t believe I’m saying that but I think it’s true. I have no doubt this is a better designed game though, from a gameplay perspective, so maybe that will save it.
More power to the 8% on the poll who are buying day 1, and the other 22% who might jump in later. I hope the game does well. Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei will probably do well enough to keep the single player fires burning at Sony so even if Marathon sells millions, it shouldn’t dissuade them from continuing with their bread and butter single player stuff.
Re: Microsoft Short Changes Indiana Jones PS5 by Only Putting 20GB on the Blu-ray
The companies are trolling us now. Giving us a disc that doesn’t have the game on it. Although it’s inherently a worse way to play the game because now you have to download nearly the whole game from PSN anyway and have your disc in the tray for the game to work, it’s also possible to sell the disc at the second hand store or eBay. So there’s still value, I guess.
Re: Poll: Are You Planning to Buy Bungie's Marathon?
I’m not the target audience and don’t engage with online shooters, but I went into the trailers with an open mind and they did nothing to convince me that I’d enjoy this. Some shooters at least look interesting to me and I wish that I had the skill set and time to devote to it (Helldivers 2 is one of these), but I barely made it through the trailers with this one.
Good for those who like these, but I don’t see it. The environments look incredibly bland. The art style has a cool indie feel to it, but… is that what this genre fanbase wants? I guess we’ll find out but I’m worried about Bungie’s viability if this fails.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 576
Continuing with a combination of Zack Fair and Kay Vess. FF7 Reunion Crisis Core when I want some materia shuffling jrpg escapades and SW Outlaws when I want some sneaky pew-pew. Depending how things go, I might get started on Lost Records as well.
Re: Baldur's Gate 3's Massive Patch 8 Arrives Next Week on PS5, Adds Subclasses, Cross-Play, Photo Mode, More
Maybe it’s time to do my first playthrough. 🤔
Re: New Animated PS5 Wallpapers for Welcome Hub Let You Celebrate PS Studios Hits
With all the PlayStation consoles I’ve owned, I’ve never changed the wallpaper to something custom. I just leave it on the default. If the console is turned on then there’s a game I’m playing, so I’ve never felt the need to change it. Maybe I’ll start with this.
Re: Round Up: The Last of Us 2's TV Show Reviews Aren't Quite a Hole in One for Sony, HBO
@IamJT Yeah, it’s too bad that the controversial narrative direction overshadowed a stellar gameplay package. Not to mention the polish and immaculate presentation from a technical standpoint.
As far as the story goes, I can sort of understand people’s reservations on a few of the narrative threads, but honestly I was really moved by the story and the themes. Maybe I’m easily manipulated, but it all really resonated with me. Beautifully tragic.
Re: Round Up: The Last of Us 2's TV Show Reviews Aren't Quite a Hole in One for Sony, HBO
@rjejr Hmm… I think your synopsis of the two games was a little bit lacking. Here’s mine:
Game 1: depressed former dad cheers up slightly to help surrogate daughter.
Game 2: a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster ride with drastically improved gameplay, and also a bold and daring plunge into the human psyche — a story of suffering and violence begetting only more violence… A story teaching to not prejudge another until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes… and that holding a grudge only harms the bearer of the animosity… and that redemption only comes from learning from one’s mistakes… and that righteousness is in the eye of the beholder… and in the end, a story of hope in the face of humanity’s darkest sides.
Lots more potential for a impactful TV show with the Part 2 story, imho. 😄
Re: Single Player Games Are Still Coming from Dark Souls, Elden Ring Dev
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Fortunately, I haven’t felt any Souls-fatigue yet, but I’ve been really intentional to not play too many Souls or Soulslikes in quick succession. By spreading them out, I’ve felt renewed excitement with each game so far. The flipside of that approach is that I’m so far behind the other Souls fans, so I do have DS3, ER, and Sekiro still to go.
Given what this article says, I look forward to another (probably Elden Ring 2 I guess) single player focused game in the same spirit of their others. I might still be trying to catch up on their library by the time it comes out. I think I’ll likely play those last 3 entries within the next 2 years though, so perhaps I’ll be up to date when it comes.
I might consider trying these multiplayer projects they have, but the reviews have got to really convince me, because I don’t think the MP approach interests me.
But you have to give FromSoft due credit — they continually try to push the boundaries and evolve and innovate. They’re able to keep most of the core feel of their games intact, whilst they experiment with new settings and gameplay hooks. The 4 Souls games are quite similar but Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring really push new ideas and boundaries. And now Nightreign and Duskbloods feel like another attempt at redirection. Which is smart of them, as a company, because the Soulslike genre is currently filling in the gaps of copying what they were doing with their earlier games. It makes sense that they might want to avoid churning out another Dark Souls or Bloodborne when we have Lies of P, Lords of the Fallen, etc. that it would compete with.
Re: Sony to Turn Horizon Zero Dawn into a Movie, Not a TV Show
I actually think the post-apocalyptic world of Horizon is a great setting for storytelling in a TV series. However, as the two main games revolve around the character Aloy, I think a movie will work better for telling her specific story and establishing the world and its history. So maybe a movie to start and then spin-off TV series if it does well. I guess it would be kind of similar to how other big franchises have done it (one small example being Andor was an offshoot of Rogue One) and both a movie and a TV show could exist and complement one another. But as others have said, the quality of the production is the main necessary ingredient. Many good IP’s have been butchered by bad movies and TV adaptations.
Re: Almost All PS5 Fans Are Against $80 Games
@Dragon83 “most games this gen and last are 15-20 hours…” I suppose it depends on what kind of games a person plays, but in general I’ve felt like games are actually getting longer in the PS4 and PS5 generation. Thinking about AAA and popular full-priced releases I have a hard time thinking of more than a small handful that are less than 20 hours, whereas I can go on and on with games that are at least 40 hrs and many over 100 hrs to do everything. I think games have become too long in many cases! In my opinion, game length is one of several factors that companies do need to take into account when pricing their game, but it’s not the only factor. A legitimate 15 hour game that one wouldn’t want to replay is a hard thing to ask $80 for, unless it’s truly an amazing 15 hours. $5 per hour, if it’s fantastic, might be better than $1 per hour if it’s mediocre.
But to your point, it doesn’t always make sense to pay the highest price for the least complete product. Paying $70-80 for a buggy incomplete game, whereas waiting and buying the complete edition a year or two later for $50 with all the add-on content and patches makes a lot more sense as a consumer.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
@johncalmc Oh yeah, I figured that’s what you meant. But game length is a factor, no doubt. But also the quality of the experience during that time in the game. Totally agree.
Of course the poster child for the opposite of large bloated games that don’t justify their cost is The Order 1886, a game with high production-per-square-inch but only lasted 8 hrs so when it launched at $60 at the same price as Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Bloodborne that year, it was DOA. I bought it for $10 and loved the game. If it would have launched at $30 maybe we’d be getting a sequel and the legacy of the game and of Ready at Dawn would have been different.
It just surprises me that executives who are obviously a lot smarter than me don’t know how to better calculate a good price point for their games. 😄
Re: Switch 2 Goes for the Kill in Japan By Massively Undercutting PS5's Price
@naruball That’s a good point — most of us are honed into one particular ecosystem because of digital libraries which carry over from the last generation and also commitment to our trophies and achievements. Not to mention the comfort level with a particular UI, controller, and storefront.
It’s why I’m really satisfied with doing portable gaming through the Portal rather than buying a Switch or SteamDeck. I have hundreds of games and thousands of dollars invested into my PS library, so why would I spend the time and money starting a whole new library?
That’s where Xbox has really taken it in the teeth — they “lost” the most important generation when people started shifting to digital and were able to bring over their PS4 or XB1 libraries to the current gen, and they focused on a GP service that is more easily thrown away because you don’t carry the games with you in perpetuity like owning it.
Nintendo fans are probably similar, they’ll pay a premium just to bring over their Switch library and stay in an ecosystem they are comfortable with. Over here we are looking at the pricing and thinking it’s a no-brainer to buy a more powerful PS5 that also has cheaper games and more services, but over on NintendoLife they are salivating at making the upgrade to Switch 2 without blinking an eye.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
@Frmknst Lol, wait.. what are the other two levels? 😂
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
@johncalmc Yeah, this is why I advocate for a better tiering to game prices. The enjoyment per hour metric should roughly align with the cost. It is a slippery slope however because game length is really only one component of the value. Otherwise we might see even more bloating and filler content being put into otherwise good games just so the producer can charge $80 instead of $60.
But yeah, the Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Witcher, Cyberpunk, KCD2, GTA, etc type of games that ooze production cost and dozens and dozens of hours of quality content should not necessarily feel obliged to sell at $60 like an Atomfall, for example.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
In general I’d like to see tiered pricing, with more games exploring the middle ground. The huge big budget titles like GTA can be at the highest pricing, but smaller projects shouldn’t be charging the same prices.
Fortunately the AA and indie space still has lower priced releases (games like Split Fiction and Clair Obscur recently, or Balatro, Vampire Survivors, etc) to fill the void. But the problem is when AAA studios churn out garbage or some iterative annual update that should be DLC and then ask for premium pricing.
Re: Reaction: Switch 2 Looks Solid But the Many PS5, PS4 Ports Won't Spook Sony Yet
I’m not sure what to make of it all. I don’t think we’ll know the impact for another year, but the early signs are that the Switch 2 might be slow coming out of the gate. I’d never underestimate the power of Mario Kart though. People might be surprised how many systems it will sell on its own.
Still, I have no doubt that many Switch owners will be excited to play FF7 Remake, Hitman, Cyberpunk 2077, and Yakuza 0. Not too dissimilar from PlayStation fans who are anxiously anticipating getting to play Gears of War or Halo. Really old games, but when you get to play them on your console of choice it feels different, I suppose. The difference is that I’m not sure the average Nintendo gamer has interest in gritty Western properties like Cyberpunk. Or even in FromSoft types of games. Do we know how well Witcher 3 and Dark Souls Remastered have sold on Switch?
The SteamDeck and PS Portal have blunted ‘portability’ as a draw for buying these games a second time for the Switch, so it will only be those locked in the Nintendo ecosystem who will get excitement about playing one of these games. Whereas there’s more overlap with the Xbox fandom and the PlayStation fandom, and the Western action games are closely associated with both consoles.
But I guess the same could have been said about Astobot (a Mario imitator) coming to PlayStation, as it’s not the type of game that usually is associated with the brand and yet it’s done extremely well. But it’s a new game from first party, not a recycled one playable on another console for the last 3 years. A better comparison would be to see if old Mario or Donkey Kong games would sell on the PS5 and I don’t really know. Maybe?
Re: Bloodborne, Elden Ring Dev Won't Be Releasing Its Next Big Game on PS5
@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I am a tad disappointed, since I don’t plan to get a Switch 2 and might have wanted to play Duskbloods. I’m not too interested in multiplayer aspects of these games, so it remains to be seen if it would even grab me regardless of which console it’s on.
As for the portable issue, the Switch 2 should have an option to dock and play on the TV too, I suspect, so it can still be enjoyed in the traditional sense on the TV.
But despite some slight disappointment, I’m not going to lose sleep over it since I still have a couple From games left to play on my PS5, which should carry me for another couple years until we see if this is going to be ported or whether I want to invest in the Switch 2 by that point. Also, the non-From Souls-likes are getting closer to the From quality so I still have those as options on PS5 too.
Thanks and I’ll certainly check out your updated Sekiro thoughts. 😄
Re: The Last of Us 2 Is Better Than Ever On the Go with Steam Deck Support
Still will lack the DualSense controller quality-of-life comfort features that the Portal offers. Also the fact that you have to buy the game again, whereas you don’t if you have a Portal. If you’re playing it somewhere that you don’t have a good internet connection then the SteamDeck version might be nice. But you always have your phone and its hotspot with you and the Portal has performed well for me even with hotspot connection in my experience.
Re: Sony Stealthily Increases the Size of PS5, PS4's Needlessly Restrictive PS Store Wishlist
Sometimes I use the wishlist to remember the occasional game that’s flying under the radar, but mostly as a way to quickly see which games I’m interested in are currently on sale. I have about 20 games on the list and usually there’s a handful on sale at any given time. There’s websites that track that too but the wishlist is serviceable for me.
I’ve never run myself up against the limit though.
Re: Sony Reportedly Gearing Up to Sell You The Last of Us on PS5 One More Time
A physical collection of both PS5 games would be nice, actually. But it’s likely that just buying each separately on sale would be cheaper. Sort of like the Dark Souls collection. I wanted to buy all 3 in that PS4 collection with DS1 Remastered, DS2 Scholar Edition, and DS3 Fire Fades Ed, all in that cool steelbook but it was way more expensive than just picking each of them up one by one.
Re: Opinion: Why You Should Be Hyped for Raidou Remastered, a Second Chance for a Classic Atlus RPG on PS5, PS4
These SMT games all kind of blur together in my PS2 memory. I played a lot of them before but I don’t remember much of the details. Pretty sure I played this though, because I remember the unique setting.
Atlas games were a large reason for my love of the PS2 generation.
Re: The Last of Us Boss Answers Its Most Profound Question: Was Joel Right?
I’ve vacillated on my thoughts about it, but have usually leaned toward justification for Joel’s decision, but part 2 changed my mind. Not only because of Abby’s story, but also because of Ellie’s opinion on it.
Although, like others have said, if we’re being realistic, I suspect had he let them go through with it, Ellie would have been sacrificed in vain. I don’t think the group of scientists were likely to have the means to do much with whatever information they thought they were going to get out of her sacrifice. I mean, we just went through an actual pandemic which was a lot less severe and with infinitely more scientific minds and resources working on it and it was obviously not as simple as an isolated group of people doing one procedure and magically coming up with a cure.
It’s always been a suspension of disbelief that has to occur when I play games or watch shows. The global solutions are often oversimplified because that’s what makes the other parts of the drama work.
Re: Tiny New Ghost of Yotei Details Have PS5 Owners Hyped
Pretty excited for this. I loved the first game. I do hope they advance the gameplay and mechanics and deepen the customization of the play options. A good story at the core is a must.
My only disappointment is it taking place in a snowy region. First of all I’m not a fan of snowy settings in general. They feel less interesting to me artistically with the overly white landscape. Furthermore, I don’t like the slowing down of movement whilst trudging through snow that some game settings have. I suspect Sucker Punch has the movement feeling kinetic and satisfying though. And although the spring and autumn feeling of Tsushima was the main draw in the beauty of the world — wind blowing the leaves, grass, flowers, etc — maybe they can make snow the same way. I assume the mechanic of using the wind to guide you to objectives is still going to be it’s essential hook.
Re: Kids Aren't Dreaming of Owning a PS6, Says Netflix Games Boss
I would love to know what percentage of the total market share comes from 8-14 year olds.
My guess is they don’t contribute nearly as much as we think they do. Their parents buy microtransactions for their Fortnite and Roblox stuff but does the average 10 yr old gamer spend more than $200 a year? $300 a year? As an adult, I contribute many times that number in hardware alone, much less subscriptions and game purchases. I just spent $40 this week on a whim buying a game. Because I have a job and money. I didn’t have to ask my Daddy to buy it for me. If I had a son who was 10, you’d better believe I wouldn’t have given him $40 to just spend on an impulse like that. 😂 He’d have to wait until Christmas.
Re: PS Plus Essential Is Quietly Having a Great Year on PS5, PS4
It’s an incredible value, but as the article alludes to, the value of each title is in the eye of the beholder, so a game can be worth $60 but if it sits in my library unplayed it’s worth $0 to me.
However, I think Essential (and the higher tiers) are still great values for me. The better judge has always been looking back at the prior year and counting how many games I played from the service. Usually it’s about 6-8. I think it was closer to 10 last year. I figure an average cost of these games are about $20 (that’s being conservative). If I play 8 games, at $20 value each, then that equals $160, which is the break even point for the cost of my year sub of PS+ Premium. Then all the other perks are basically free on top of that — cloud saves, online play (yuck! 😜), PSN sales, and my new favorite, cloud streaming.
Re: Druckmann 'Excited and Curious' to See How The Last of Us HBO Audience Will React to Season 2
@glennthefrog I think you’re right to a large degree. But observationally (I don’t have the ability or the patience to do an empiric analysis) the commenters on Push Square also seems to have done a 180. Most were quite enthused with the show, people all sharing stories about their non-gaming parents and their wives sitting down and enjoying the show with them and how well it all turned out it general. Then to see so many of our very own users come back and say the show was trash is giving me whiplash. Perhaps I’m misremembering things from 2 years ago. Or perhaps it is more related to your point in that people were just glowing about the show in some kind of weird digital peer pressure type of influence, or that I didn’t see comments from the 20 people who didn’t like the show because 100 people who liked it drown them out. Either way though, I’ve seen a revisionist history like this happen a lot with other products around here. And it’s nothing against people having the right to an opinion, but I do think there’s a weird human nature to over-react in a negative way to a products success, after the initial hype of the product calms down. That’s why I felt there was a psycho-social aspect to the about-face we are seeing.
Re: Speculation About a Second Naughty Dog PS5 Game Starts to Circulate
There’s the heavily rumored Uncharted Cassie spin-off that’s still unaccounted for. The prevailing theory was that a studio other than ND was doing that, but maybe not?
Re: Animus Hub to Bridge Assassin's Creed Shadows to Modern Day Story
As maligned as the modern storyline has been among fans, I did find it to be a good central foundation for the series. The idea of experiencing one’s ancestors life through a pseudoscientific DNA extrapolation is actually a really cool concept. The way the modern story and characters were treated was the issue.
I haven’t played most of the post Black Flag content, only Origins (which I liked) and the modern day bits after Desmond seemed to become so trite. I do think that revamping the way the animus and the modern angle intersects with the historical parts can be a great way to differentiate the series from the large number of AC-inspired action games that are now competing with it (like the Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei, HZD/HFW, etc) and frankly do many things better than AC has done.
Re: RPG Fans 'Very Sensitive to Feeling Like They Wasted Time,' Says Atlus Battle Designer
In my estimation, there’s a few factors involved with the current trend of gamers wanting to feel that their time is respected. First, I do think people in general, no matter the age, have shorter attention spans than we did in the past.
Second, video gaming has been a hobby that has exploded in the last 20-30 years, and the core audience is older with many competing adult responsibilities
And third, the explosion of the hobby has brought exponentially more new releases to the table, and so where the entire library of available games 20 years ago pales in comparison to the number of new releases in just one year nowadays. So the competition is so much steeper for our game time.
And as a related fourth issue, the current situation with entertainment media is flush with other segments vying for our time and attention like TV, social media, and other distractions which were not present 20-30 years ago.
These are some of the factors involved and I definitely feel it as a gamer with limited time, limited attention, and so many options constantly tempting me to abandon what I’m doing to go to something new. But the truly great games find a way to keep me engaged.
More specifically to the article, I will say that I felt Persona 4 and Persona 5 were too time consuming. Although I ended up enjoying each of them, they went too long and there were times that I did feel them dragging and I had to take long breaks away. I haven’t played Metaphor yet and I don’t think I will anytime soon, for that very reason — I was exhausted of the loop by the time I finished P5.