Th3solution

I played Skyrim on PS3 (my only Bethesda game to have spent much time with) and really loved it, but I had to be very careful with the way I played. I had read on the internet about the gradually increasing save files and the longer you play it, the more bloated the file is and largely because each little piece of flotsam and jetsam you can interact with the game tries to remember where you moved it or dropped it or whatever. So I always was sure to close every door, close every drawer after opening it, put every item back exactly where I found it if I didn’t want to keep it, and leave every space as close to the same as I found it. By playing fastidiously like that I was able to keep my save file size consistently small and I had few problems even after spending 80+ hours playing the game to completion.

Still, this isn’t really acceptable. I would give it a pass on PS3 (which I believe it was eventually patched and played much better later on PS3), because it was a hard system to work on, but at this point this is a remaster of an old game on new hardware and it’s just not something that should be let go as charming BGS jank. The purpose of a remaster/remake is to get the game up to current gen gaming standards, not recapture the original problems just in higher definition. 😆

I have to admit, the visuals do look great. But the trailer does nothing else to interest me. It’s a personal thing though, so nothing against the game. I just can’t seem to muster any interest in the urban crime genre of gaming.

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, personally I have more interest in Fable than in Halo. I know I’m in the small minority though.
The small amount of Halo 2 I played at a friends house several years ago didn’t really inspire me.

Cautiously optimistic about this game. I really loved the first one, but that was before the deluge of samurai styled games set in historic Japan saturated the market.
Also, we’ve already seen the pinnacle of the ‘revenge story’ so I hope the narrative expands on being just a simple ‘hunt down the people who killed my family’ tale. The quote from the developers did say: “But while Atsu’s story begins with vengeance, she’ll find there’s more to her journey than just revenge. As she explores Ezo, Atsu will meet unlikely allies and forge connections that help give her a new sense of purpose." So here’s hoping… 🤞🏼

One of the few MS properties I might be interested in. Still, I’m not convinced to move things from my backlog reduction schedule to make room for it yet. Perhaps reviews will convince me.

@AaronBayne I had issue with how the pregnancy reveal was handled though. I forget exactly how it occurred in the game but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t thrown in like this.

Otherwise, I’m enjoying the show. But not as much as the game, obviously. The main issue being the accelerated plot reveals, as has been noted, rather than how the game had mystery behind various character motivations.

@AhmadSumadi @Atreus97 Cheers for making me feel less of an outlier. I have only tried the game once, made it about 5-10 hours in (it’s been a while so I forget exactly) and ended up dropping it because I couldn’t click with the story and with Geralt. That, and the copious avalanche of question marks dotting the map overwhelmed me at the time. I’ve always meant to return and try it again. Perhaps now is a perfect time to do it. I really do feel like it was just the wrong time in my gaming life to take it on. I think I understand now more of who Geralt is supposed to be and how the game is designed to be played. Willing to give it another shot.

Still playing through Outlaws and FF7 CC Reunion. Both are really good; both have a little too much trivial side content. Thankfully, most of the superfluous stuff can be ignored and so I’m still having fun. Of the two I might complete FF7CC first, then will start Lost Records for my Portal game if I do.

@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.

Man, I might need to go ahead and buy a PS5 Pro before prices go up.

@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.

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.

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.

Oh, known mostly for her role in the classic Madame Web.

@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 used to refer to Trails of Cold Steel as ToCS for short, until I saw the acronym for Trails in the Sky.

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.

Maybe it’s time to do my first playthrough. 🤔

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.

@Frmknst Lol, wait.. what are the other two levels? 😂

@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.