Comments 4,324

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give God of War: Sons of Sparta?

somnambulance

@graymamba I would say that honestly, it’s pretty solid from what I’ve played so far. It takes a little bit to get going, but it’s rather user friendly. I would say it’s a rather interesting game in that it doesn’t feel designed for Metroidvania fans or GoW fans, but rather as an entry point for… someone else entirely? I dunno. I’m not sure who they were going for with the audience. I would reckon that the developers were going for that arcadey look from the ‘90’s with it, perhaps a bit Sega Genesis-y in memory but not execution if that makes sense. I like it, but I’ve not finished it. I’m also not really a GoW guy, to be transparent. I’d rate most GoW games a 7/10, as they’re well made, but not particularly my cup of tea in the narratives or style. This one is the closest to my odd blend of taste.

In comparison to other Metroidvanias though, it’s competent, but not a stellar example of the genre. It pales to SotN, but that’s not fair, is it? Most things pale to that one. Personally, I like it a bit more than Guacamelee, but I don’t think I’d put either game in my top Metroidvanias list. I don’t think this one would make my personal top 50 list in the genre, but it’s still solid. I’ve just played a lot a lot of games in the genre that I enjoy far more.

Re: Sony Makes Shocking Decision to Shut Down Bluepoint Games

somnambulance

Shocking decision? You mean terrible decision!

The remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon’s Souls are better games than 90% of Sony’s first party content the last decade. We need accountability for this tremendous lack of leadership on Sony’s behalf.

We’ve gotten to watch Sony turn into a live service and Marvel machine this generation. Utterly disturbing.

Re: Opinion: The Euphoric Reaction to PS6's Rumoured Delay Really Confuses Me

somnambulance

I think it has more to do with consumer spending power than anything else. No one wants to buy an upgrade that is being speculated at a price of $1000-ish USD.

While the PS5 has made huge leaps for use of access, games haven’t really seen much of a technological leap either. The early generation wow factor of Rift Apart and Dualsense utilization of Astro’s Playroom was largely swapped for games that play a lot like PS4 games with less loading times. I mean, the majority of the tentpole PS5 games have also been on PS4, so I’m sure people are suspecting there may be no real need for an upgrade any time soon either. I mean, stuff like Genshin and Fortnite literally have to kick players off PS4 to get them to upgrade at this point.

Unless Sony makes a very compelling price and software argument for why people should upgrade next generation, I expect the upgrade rate will be slower than this generation’s already slower than usual upgrade rate.

Personally, I make more money than I did in 2020, but the cost of goods feels incrementally more expensive, so that is a hurdle for me.

Re: Sony Considering PS6 Delay to 2028 or Even 2029, New Report Says

somnambulance

Like most everyone else, I’m fine with it. Given current trends, I’d hope the console would be affordable. Also, too, I’d hope it would learn from the lean launch of the PS5. With the protracted time game development takes, hopefully they are being wise and developing a sturdy release schedule with these delays.

Re: Sony's Latest State of Play Now Officially the Most Watched Ever

somnambulance

@Max_the_German Exactly this.

People have learned to expect State of Plays to be largely disappointing this generation, so when the “leaks” started coming in, people didn’t believe them, and that worked to Sony’s favor no because they actually had surprises that remained surprises and had a full show of reveals that were actually excited booked.

Sometimes, I think it’s easy to wonder if the suits have any interest in what gamers actually want. Sony proved they do with this one. They were even wise enough to announce the game that could’ve upset people (Horzion) in advance and chose not to feature it in the SoP, even though, honestly, looking back now, the video we got looks like it was a SoP segment that was cut from the program.

It was all-in-all marketing that knew who would be watching, for once. If they keep going like this, they’ll catch up to Nintendo Directs. After all, sometimes Nintendo is really locked into their fanbase and sometimes they are not these days.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 620

somnambulance

Mario Tennis Fever if I feel up to it. I’m feeling quite ill at the moment. Mario Tennis isn’t the only one with a fever, I suppose! Ha!

There’s some demos that were recently released across the platforms I’d like to play too. Monster Hunter Stories 3, Darwin’s Paradox, Lana 2, Replaced, and I think there’s a few more. The release schedule’s about to explode.

Re: PlayStation Fans Delighted with New State of Play, Already the Most Popular One Ever

somnambulance

@CRASH64 I second that opinion.

Seeing Konami rise from the ashes was indeed interesting. And given that I’ve been critical of Sony’s first party games this year, seeing Kena 2 as a PS Studios title checked the box for me that Sony will indeed have at least one exclusive I’ll want to play this year. I’m also more excited than I would’ve expected I’d ever be to play Marathon as well. I think there’s seven more games I’m contemplating buying this year now and that’s without thinking about the games I was already going to buy that were in the showcase. Only thing I could say that I wish was there would be a big Square reveal.

Re: Round Up: What Was Announced in Sony's State of Play Livestream for February 2026?

somnambulance

Honestly, what a showcase for Konami. Darwin’s Paradox, the return of Castlevania, the third Silent Hill game in such a short period (and honestly potentially the best looking one), liberating MGS4 and Peace Walker, and then… an anime style JRPG. Can’t say the last one really blew me away, but they convinced me that I’ll at least keep an eye on it, given that it really looks like they’re trying again.

Weird that Square wasn’t present at all.

Truthfully, I didn’t need to see Pragmata or RE again, but they’re sort of still the best looking games out of this batch to me and they’re both so soon.

Crazy that Legacy of Kain and GoW both goth new retro games announced. As someone that doesn’t particularly love GoW, Sons of Sparta looks like it’s far more up my alley. I’ll hesitate to purchase until there’s some reviews out there, given that Mario Tennis came in the mail today, but I’m curious.

Control, Kena, and Mina are all day 1s for me. I suspect the rumors may be true that a second Nintendo Direct could be incoming, given that Mina didn’t get a release date. Surely that must be soon. Glad Big Walk and Time Crisis will be on PS+.

And to end my rant, Marathon honestly looks genuinely unique. I don’t particularly like extraction shooters, but I love the style of the game. If I didn’t know it was an extraction shooter, that last trailer would’ve had me thinking it was a game with a campaign. A shame it doesn’t, but I dunno… after seeing Arc Raiders, I know the genre can give that inbetween feel with single and multiplayer games depending on how the gameplay is. I’m going to give it a shot with the server slam.

Re: Poll: How Would You Rate State of Play for February 2026?

somnambulance

Very solid showcase. This is what a State of Play should feel like. I think, as far as the games go, there’s only a couple I’m personally interested in, but the variety and presentation is what we need out of these. It’s a 9/10 for me. There’s something for everyone here in some capacity.

Re: Crimson Desert PS5 Is Also a Full-On Life Sim Game, Last Deep Dive Video Reveals

somnambulance

@JuiceboxMeister I’m definitely waiting on reviews even if the game has a demo, honestly. There’s just something that feels odd about this one to me right now. I know Black Myth Wukong was another one of these “too good to be true” style games, but I mean, it ended up launching with a fractured narrative that required you to already know the Journey to the West story to know what’s going on and it had chronic input lag, so was that one “too good to be true?” It gave that one a 7/10. I’m just nervous this one will be spread so thin it’s average across the board and only has novelty because it tries too much.

Re: Crimson Desert PS5 Is Also a Full-On Life Sim Game, Last Deep Dive Video Reveals

somnambulance

It feels like every week there’s some massive gameplay addition tacked onto this one. Looking forward to next week when we find out that there’s a Tetris-esque minigame portion of the game.

Either this one will be one for the ages or it’s trying to accomplish too much. The fact that this will apparently will run on a Series S is very interesting indeed. Hope there’s a demo announced during the State of Play.

Re: Rumour: 'Most' of Highguard's Dev Team Laid Off Just Two Weeks After Live Service Shooter's Launch

somnambulance

@DennisReynolds I think Geoff probably thought the game looked great and figured it would resonate strongly with the Apex crowd that has started to fall off over the years. This game and Concord will be studied eventually as a failure to understand what gamers actually want. Not that gamers actually know what they want because I’m sure many DO want a unique live service game that goes new places. Otherwise, Arc Raiders would be dead too.

In the modern era, games such as this are either an immediate hit or they’re dead in months. I do agree with @AdamNovice here: the game was simply doomed from the start and it’ll never have the chance to evolve into something gamers may enjoy because there’s apparently no foresight in game development to allow a game any time to develop. Like Concord, there’s a kernel of a good idea, but the execution is just so far off and it’ll never receive the water to organically grow like titles used to 10, 20 years ago. A game can get better though if developers listen to feedback. I mean, people adore Cyberpunk now and that game was actual Cyberjunk at launch, and was in a far more grievous launch state than Highguard.

Every game is a gamble. Regardless of quality. I mean, to use Apex as an example, I thought that one was a weaker, late entry into BR and hero shooters, but other people really liked it, even though there were already established games in the genre that seemed well regarded.

Re: Big Silent Hill News in Next Silent Hill Transmission Livestream This Week

somnambulance

I hope I like Townfall better than I liked 2 Remake and F.

Is it weird if the 2 Remake sort of made me realize how dated and silly some of the game is rather than reigniting a love I had for the game? I thought combat was an issue in both games. I’d honestly say F was better than 2 Remake, but I dunno. I definitely agree with Pushsquare’s review on it. As much as Silent Hill is back, I haven’t felt that “oh my god, it’s back!” moment while actually playing the games. Not since PT anyway.

Re: The Internet Has Not Been Kind to Horizon Hunters Gathering

somnambulance

I mean, realistically, they made a game that was really far removed from the tone and feel of a now established franchise. Lego Horizon didn’t work either, even if it’s an ok game. Honestly, you’ve got to ask this: if they would’ve used assets from Forbidden West and shaped it into a multiplayer game, would people have been upset? This may very well boil down to a distaste in art style. It’s killed so many live service games and…from a single player perspective… Dragon Age: Veilguard.

I almost get the feel that Sony doesn’t fully know what to do with the IP. With how Forbidden West ended, I think Sony may be concerned they narratively backed the series into a corner when they see there is more to be done with the core concept of post-apocalyptic Stone Age human vs robot dinosaurs. I’m sure they want to try to capitalize on a gameplay loop people like before the next installment because, honestly, Horizon 3 may have a finality to it. Sony very clearly wants to prolong Horizon’s life, but I don’t think this is the way its fanbase wants it.

Is it too hard for companies these days to do what they did in the PS3 era and just go for a New Vegas to their Fallout 3? Sure, those don’t all land either, but it seems fans would be more excited about that. It’d be cheaper to create, for sure.

Re: Mewgenics Is This Year's Best-Rated Game So Far, and It May Come to PS5

somnambulance

@Scottyy Dragon’s Dogma 2 isn’t my favorite game they’ve done, but it’s certainly a top shelf game this generation too. I’m not much of a Monster Hunter guy (though I like the Stories games fine enough), admittedly, so I played the Wilds beta and that was enough for me. I wouldn’t say that game was a miss either necessarily, at least not in the way Capcom made misses in the “dark years.” Lol. It’s no RE6!

Re: Mewgenics Is This Year's Best-Rated Game So Far, and It May Come to PS5

somnambulance

@Scottyy I think Monster Hunter Stories 3 will hit well too after the demo. I think RE, MHS, and Pragmata will all be critical hits. Based on previews, I could see Onimusha being a hit, but the lowest reviewing of the bunch… at 85 Meta. I love how reliable Capcom feels nowadays. They deliver consistent excellence like none other right now. I’ve said it elsewhere, but they seem to be the only developer giving me hope that AAA gaming has a bright future. They haven’t missed once this generation.