WavesOfActivity

Played this pretty much from release until a few weeks ago. I only stopped because some of my core friend group moved on. It's a great game with a high degree of variability to it. Sadly they have continually nerfed defensive capabilities over the last several months. It played amazing before that and is now just solid.

@Dalamar Me too — Dabbled in Octopath 2, played at least 2/3 of Octopath 0, still considering jumping in on this. It looks quite charming.

I'm slightly interested in this and will keep an eye out. I've been playing coop ranked games with a friend this year, and it's mostly fun although every single opponent seems to pick Coors Field to try and maximize homeruns.

Small note — 9 inning games take about an hour to an hour and a half. 3 innings is the way to go for mobile, but it's a bit faster in game when you skip all the down time.

@GirlVersusGame I haven't played Vampyre but you might be right. It has some Disco Elysium vibes for sure in that the narrative is strong and there's a lot of good dialog and backstory. Not as deep as DE there, but definitely some parallels. I liked how it mixed in light detective work (no puzzles just exploring areas for story info) and the solid turn-based mechanics with a really cool historical fiction backdrop.

The Thaumaturge was one of my favorite games I played last year. I'm interested in Outlaws but doubt I end up getting to it before it rotates out.

Hades II is definitely a factor for me. Already started that one.

Pretty much my experience through 10 hours minus the crashes. Too many vomited side quests with no structure. I have no idea who all the factions are and what the world lore is, and really don't find it interesting enough to read up on.

Hades 2 for me, but I haven't even had time to check out Mouse, Pragmata, or Saros.

Played this a long time ago and was one of my favorite of the Stardew-type games.

Sounds fun, but I will wait to see if they improve performance. Too much to play right now.

Mine are the same as Aaron. It's hard to resist checking out more games than I can possibly play through, so I would like to be a little more reserved on what I start. I have a list of 10-15 games I really want to play, so my goal is to work those in around new releases and see where I end up. One way I am going to do that is not worry so much about plats and just beat the main story. Some games on my list to choose from:

Videoverse (finished an initial run last week)
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Skate Story
Triangle Strategy
Octopath Traveler I
The DioField Chronicle
Octopath Traveler II
Sunless Sea
Final Fantasy Tactics
Dragon Quest III
V Rising
Pacific Drive
SteamWorld Build
Miasma Chronicles
Tactics Ogre: Reborn
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
The Alters
Inzazuma: Winning Eleven

Good game but I felt like I'd seen it all within 5 hours. Still enjoy the grind periodically but not as high for me.

This looks pretty cool. My dog goes crazy when she sees other dogs on screen or hears them bark, so probably a good headphones option.

@commentlife Agreed. Put in about an hour tonight.

This game is so bare bones but I still love playing it a few times a week with a couple friends. The mix of skill and horrendous (but hilarious) plays at times is great even though there's no progression and very limited stats.

Really enjoyed platinuming this one.

Hate to see a game like this have performance issues. I'll check it out after some patches.

@saffeqwe Look past the number. Ratings are a relic and unfortunately still needed, but reading this review lays out very clearly whether you will like this game or not. For me, as I just played the main game on plus, I'm going to pass as I need more of the story elements.

Fun note — There's an obvious error in the puzzle image included on the 4 across/2-11 vertical row/column.

@Balosi I've been playing Logiart Grimoire this week and it's decent. There's a minor fusion gameplay element, but it's mostly just puzzles.

Classy setup he's got there.

This is a topic that has a lot of nuance to it, but I would like to see games account for offline play where they are integrating online into the menus. For example, I am playing a lot of PGA 2k25 which is a great game, but if the servers are offline, I can't play the single player career mode. Those common situations need to be accounted for separately than online service games.

Might check this out as a friend is praising it. I wonder why games like this don't implement some positive boost for completing passes or otherwise rewarding good team play?

I'm a bit of an outlier in that Act II is turning into a real slog. I felt like the game in the first act had so much going on and then nothing. Having to push myself to play it a couple times a week even though I enjoy the combat.

What a surprise drop for Star Trucker!

I played 10+ seasons last year but I think I'll pass until they figure out a way to carry over progress. Not really interested in starting over.

Fantasy Life. It caught me by surprise but its focus on tasks has pulled me in more than other similar games that are more open ended.

I had two random crashes on cut scenes early on but flawless otherwise for about 20+ hours.

I suspect feelings on this will vary a lot based on what you are looking for in a racer. As a carPG that I can enjoy while turning my brain off, I find it scratches the itch for me much better than GT7, but I can also see where the bloat would turn others off.

Thanks for these articles. Very helpful to find new games.

I'm on board for this.

I might downgrade because like many others, I just don't have the time to keep up with a subscription, but I do enjoy getting a few games a year from it. Not too concerned about the cost as this is my only hobby that really costs anything.

One odd thing I've noticed is these games stay at the top of "new games by release" a week+ after they released, despite newer games being listed after them. Not sure how that happens, but it's annoying.

Actually didn't play anything new this month. December is usually my backlog time, and it's carried over to January which is not a bad thing.

I've knocked out:

The Thaumaturge (my favorite game of the last year)
Thirsty Suitors
Right & Down
Lake

and am working on:

Unicorn Overlord
Roots of Pacha
Weird West

I like to do everything on a trophy list, and I average about 2 hours a day when you factor in days I play online games instead. So if a game can keep my interest, it's going to take about 3 weeks for a 40-hour game, and a couple months for an 80-hour game.

As a result, I often fall off most RPGs by either the 20 or 30 hour mark and start playing other games.

@AlexPorto Great point and hilarious timing with KCD II's release.

I have a passing interest. Played a little of the last Civ game, but all the content drip makes me want to wait for a complete edition.

Yeah I enjoyed the first one last year, but never got to the sequel because it looked so similar. Fun game though.

I got turned off by the camera controls, but it's been creeping back into my thoughts lately, so I might give it another go.

I have no opinion on the news piece of this article or Horizon, but this should be an editorial. The solution is actually in the content of article "if it bothers you, ignore it."

Having a great time with it so far. I liked XI, but this is really giving me the cozy vibe the series is known for. Just curling up on the couch with my portal and making my way through the world.

Solid 7 as some the people above me. It's a lot of fun to pop in for a couple levels, but I wish there was a little more content/depth.

This was a game I needed 60 FPS in, so I put it down. Pretty sure they have added it since, so I'd like to get back to it.

I've only put about an hour into this, but so far so good. There is definitely a lot of info on the screen, but none of it seems too difficult to grasp based on similar games. Looking forward to more, and I like what @Hyena_socks is saying about unlocks.

Technically I have a little more time for gaming, but it's not specifically because of summer as much as a drop-off in watching hockey which competes for gaming time in other parts of the year.

Really enjoying this so far. The quick save option, while common now, is awesome to step away from the longer fights. I actually saved last night at a post-battle story mid-conversation.

Need to find the time for this one, but I will pick it up.

Game is a 7/10 on PureXbox and an 81 on Metacritic. This take sounds hyperbolic to me, but if I ever want to play it, I'll wait for it on PS5 or play it somewhere else.

Appears to be turn-based, so that has my interest.

I bought:

Pentiment - Awesome
Grounded - Playing with friends, awesome
Hi-Fi Rush - In my backlog

I hope they bring more as there are some really good games I'd play on the PS platform. Made it a point to speak with my wallet.