somnambulance

Going to do my best not to argue over Pokemon on here…

Beast looks genuinely really sort of like it could be exactly down my alley. I love more action oriented RPGs. I hope there’s a demo. I’m very strongly considering purchasing this one.

Hope to see more of this one. I really like Plague’s Tale, Banishers, etc and this looks to be cut from the same cloth.

@twitchtvpat I dunno. I just feel sort of burnt on remakes now. I mean, Snake Eater’s a flawless game I’ve played many times, but I thought the remake last year was sort of… dull. It looks better, plays better, but isn’t better. It’s strange. Then you look at TLOU and the remake’s better, but not so much to warrant a remake at full price. Oblivion was a fresh coat of paint that looked nice, but it exposed the game’s age more than the original. There’s so many remakes these days, but so few that feel as compelling as the originals did at release.

I love Black Flag (and AC as a whole, honestly) too. I hope it gets FF7 Remake or Resident Evil 2 treatment instead.

@twitchtvpat I expect a TLOU Pt 1 type of “remake.” Sure, there’s some QoL improvements that could be made, but it’s negligible. Hope it’s a budget friendly remake.

It doesn’t really need a remake anyway. The original still holds up well.

Well, looks at that. A wild preorder appeared!

I wish they’d port it to Switch 2. I’d double dip

@KundaliniRising333 lol I sort of thought that too. For some reason, the controller gives me Xbox controller vibes too with that green Marathon logo smack in the center

Honestly, Code Veronica and RE1 are the only REmakes I want going forward. I didn’t particularly love RE5. I’d only buy it if the release schedule is sort of quiet enough to warrant it, but those other two… day zero, I’m ready with cash in hand.

I am genuinely curious to see how this one will do. “The Internet” seems to want this one to fail, but it’s also garnering genuine interest from fans, so I suppose we’ll see if “The Internet” wins again.

Personally, I don’t quite “get” the genre. I think Arc Raiders may have pushed me further from having interest in Marathon. I like the art style, but I dunno. The whole collecting loot as the point of the game thing just feels sort of… there… for me.

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, perhaps. I’m really considering finally starting my Terranigma playthrough as well. The Seance of Blake Manor is sitting on my backlog, calling to me too. My cousin asked me to pick up this game called Fretless too and said it was basically a game made for him and I specifically when we were 14, so I’m sort of compelled to learn more.

This looks 100% up my alley. Wishlisting now!

@Kraven I think Control Resonant might’ve stolen my top spot from the Capcom trio and Fire Emblem, but Mina’s already an early GotY contender for 2026 for me, based on the demo. I mean, heck, it would’ve been a contender last year on the demo alone.

At Fate’s End, Beyond Words, Beast of Reincarnation, Eternal Life, D-Topia, and Bubsy have my eye at the moment. Legitimately, Bubsy somehow feels like it’s in my top 10 most anticipated games for this year. Mina the Hollower is my most anticipated indie at the moment though.

I’d rather Fable’s release date get leaked with confirmation it’s coming to PS5. 😁

That’s a shame. I was hoping Project Mara would be a fully new direction for the studio.

This is exactly what I want. Remedy may not play it safe, but that’s exactly what makes it the safest purchase I could personally make. Very easy GotY contender for this year and I’m confident in saying that before even touching the game.

Man, I feel so lukewarm about 2026 and PlayStation. I hope there’s some weirdness and surprises to come.

I’m hoping for that Dragon Quest 12 re-reveal more than anything in here. And, man… Judas… I just really want Judas. It’s one of two games left on my wishlist without a release date.

It’s a good month for my son. He wanted Epic Mickey and I wouldn’t buy it because I felt like it was a little low stakes a remaster, even if it’s a good game, and now we’ve got Core Keeper on Steam and PS, so he and I can co-op if we ever want to play it. I bought it on Steam because he loves Minecraft and thought it might be better to play on the Deck, but shoot he’s got the Portal. Maybe I’ll buy it on Switch 2 to get the wife in on the action.

By the way, the angry comments early on… jeez, what expectations do you have out of this service? Day 1 AAAs? We’ve seen some bad months out there, but NFS is a high profile AAA game, Mickey’s a high profile Disney remaster, and Core Keeper is a high profile indie.

Will be playing the Metal Gear Solid board game tonight with friends. Got my Steamdeck with me in case we do a bit of Arc Raiders too.

Tomorrow, I’d like to play more of the DQ7 demo too and maybe start Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. I’d still like to start The Seance of Blake Manor with the wife too.

Realistically though, I’d not be surprised if I play some NES games and Cast ‘n Chill instead. I’ve been having more fun with my NES library than my modern library the last couple months. I’ve been loving exploring the lesser known games in the catalog. Things like Panic Restaurant, Whomp ‘Em, and even Japan only games like Mitsume Ga Tooru. One of these days soon I’m going to hop to the SNES too. As an American, I missed out on Terranigma. I’m definitely going to find time to play it this year. January could be a good month.

There’s so much to play! I’m glad nothing is coming out for me til Mario Tennis and RE9. I get so caught up in new releases sometimes that looking back feels so good right now.

I’d buy them again if the price is right. At the time, I was sort of iffy on 13 when it released, but eh… time’s passed… I’ve realized I like 13 more than most JRPGs I’ve played since.

@HRdepartment @MrPeanutbutterz Keep on keeping on! 👍👍👍

Death Stranding forever

@Andee I can get that. I think it’s possible my distaste for the game comes from the fact that it’s the only LiS game that I actually played in the episodic formula of release, so the pacing felt glacial at times, which might’ve been more from the release schedule than the actual game. I wonder what I would think if I would’ve played the whole game at once instead. I mean, we played an episode a night with LiS2, True Colors in two sessions, and Double Exposure in three. LiS1, we beat twice in a week the week we bought it to see if decisions made any difference in the game.

@Andee See, I sort of felt like Before the Storm was missing the supernatural feel of LiS1. It’s still a pretty good game, but definitely my least favorite in the series. Arguing as a special power rather than go back in time is a little… meh… to me. I liked the anthology approach because it showed others with totally different powers in very different areas of America.

I always thought True Colors was sort of a way to address fan concerns a little bit when LiS2 was harshly received, but then Double Exposure was sort of an attempt to appease fans a bit more directly. I still liked Double Exposure, though it has a bit of a trying too hard vibe to it. I think the fan response to it was definitely overblown. And the reviews were unnecessarily negative as well. If there’s a game no one seems to understand, it’s LiS. Not the fans, the critics, nor the creators apparently “get it!”

Fable and Beast are games that highly interest me currently. No Halo though?

True Colors > LiS2 > LiS2 > Double Exposure >>>> Before the Storm

Honestly, I wish they would’ve kept the anthology style of the series rather than pandering to the toxic fanbase. Didn’t True Colors sell decently for the series? I know it was the best reviewed one. I love the series, but I just think of that moment with Blister in the Sun and it’s practically the most ebullient story scene I’ve seen in a video game.

@Northern_munkey I think I just haven’t had the time to be social with the game to get me up to speed. Maybe once I get more time to do that, I’ll be up to speed

I love Oblivion, I do, but I just couldn’t replay it again with the remaster. I don’t know if I could replay either of these games, but I won’t be able to not buy them. These are two of my all-time favorite games, formative games. I bought a PS3 to play Fallout 3 ages ago. I saw the first half hour of the game at a friends’ house and that was that. I think Tranquility Lane may forever be my favorite side quest.

I still need to go back to Arc Raiders. The game feels right, but I just haven’t played it much. So far, I don’t really get why I’m doing what I do in the game, you know?

I mean, it feels like a third person shooter stuff hoarder simulator so far. It plays quite well, but I guess I don’t get the point currently.

I never particularly liked 7, but there’s something about the art style that sort of makes me feel a bit emotional. Might be the passing of Toriyama, but I’m going to give this one a chance at least. Even if I really just want new DQ and am a little burnt out of remakes. This one looks like it might be a FF7 remake-ish remake in that it’s different enough to actually feel new.

@themightyant I agree with you. The worst part is that the vitriol has been spewed on good games and it’s infected how gaming coverage can go. I’ll namedrop Pokemon, for instance, and you can practically see a ripple effect where people derive joy out of saying that it’s terrible. I mean, last year practically every big release on Switch 2 got a smear campaign, Silksong got one, Doom did, etc. I said it elsewhere, but outside E33 and maybe Dispatch, every game the second half of the year got a hammer to its hype. These people are empowered by killing Concord, but I’m not sure what their end goal is. It’s ok to be critical, but it seems we’ve entered a phase where some people just don’t like games anymore and want to watch the industry burn.

@naruball Pushsquare had things right about Concord. It was a 7/10. I was solid and unique enough to the point where it could’ve gotten interesting. The marketing on the game was poor, but no one gave it a chance. After playing the beta, I knew friends that would for sure love the game, but they wouldn’t buy it or try it because they were so concerned about the servers closing. They wouldn’t even try a free beta. Would they have felt that way if they didn’t get inundated with videos telling them the game was awful? Who knows? Concord was better than Marvel Rivals at launch though.

I personally contributed by playing 2 hours of Minecraft this year total out of the top 5.

@species @Flaming_Kaiser @Propaperpusher @Toot1st I think this is great for people with physical limitations that prevent them from playing, but I suspect most users will be the fomo crowd.

I always tell my son while he plays games that, if he can’t find enjoyment in what he’s playing or it’s too frustrating for him personally, to put the game down and play something else or do something else. There is something more enjoyable for you to do out there. Games, at the end of the day, should be vehicles for fun and entertainment. It just strikes me as odd that there will likely be a demographic out there born from something like this that purchases games to let the games play themselves. I suppose I’m being judgy with that, but it feels like it’s missing the point.

I wonder how many people play games to not play them.

Thanks for putting all this together for us all year after year… even though Death Stranding 2 didn’t win in the end.

Let’s see Capcom take the win in ‘26!

I voted for Cast ‘n Chill, but didn’t realize it wasn’t on PS5 yet, so I guess I voted for nothing.

Hope Terminator beats Marvel, but both games are about the same level of quality.

@Jammer I dunno how true that is. Stranger Things 5 is like the first time I’ve genuinely felt connected to the world at large in a loooooong time. Everyone’s complaining about it… together. Lol. I feel like I was the only one that liked that last episode… though I only liked the epilogue portion of it. Feels like most people I know went back to the series and caught up on Seasons 3 and 4 if they skipped them.

With regards to Sandfall, this is going to sound selfish, but I hope I personally enjoy the next game more. I’ve perhaps never felt a game was so overrated as E33. I thought the game was good, just not great to me. I think they could definitely make something that clicks to me more and I’m hoping that happens.

@Jammer Good call keeping the PS4 on standby! Hate to say it but I’ve had mechanical issues with the PS5, and the PS4 has been an old reliable. Gary Numan would approve!

@J2theEzzo I dunno. I’d say it can qualify as a cognitive amplifier in that you can simulate a lot of possibilities and save time doing so. I’m not the most pro-AI person in general, but in my youth, I wrote a lot of folk and punk songs and played music in bands, but nothing really hit off with it. I settled down, moved on, etc. My four year old started writing songs and I found an app to flesh out her ideas and show her that her songs can turn into real songs. Showing the results to friends had people asking me to see if I could “remix” my old songs to see if they’d be worthwhile in other genres. I was surprised at how I can upload a track and see all these different realities from that and I’ve been loving seeing my folk songs turn into EDM songs for the irony of it. I’m not much an EDM guy, so it creates a lot of new possibilities that I can explore with music I just recently dusted off. I did the majority of the work, but AI arranges it, which can be neat to play with.

@Jammer I’ve got three hdmi slots on my TV and it definitely gives sort of Serial Experiments Lain vibes, all the wires and such. I’ve got the PS5, Switch 2, and Steamdeck plugged in. My little Series S is just sitting under my TV, connected to nothing. Haven’t used it since Gamepass hiked the cost of the sub.

@Jammer OD is literally the only reason I still own my Xbox. Just for the “just in case.”

I’m planning to buy less than 30 games this year. I typically try to buy only what I’ll play, but end up buying 50+ games a year. I play them all, but not to completion and more often than not it’s the gigantic $70 price tag games that I start and don’t do much with. It’s a waste of money and I want to be smarter in that avenue in 2026.

I also want to stop buying all the trend chaser games. I find myself just not enjoying them as much and more often it’s the fomo that gets me buying them rather than actual personal interest, so I feel at odds with gaming culture, when perhaps I should lean into the fact that I just prefer indie and retro games at this point with the occasional AAA. I bought a Steamdeck with the full intention to play a lot of retro games. Between the Steamdeck and Switch 2, I’ve sort of started to find more fun in my gaming again. 2024 and the first half of 2025, I sort of felt like I was in a gaming funk because sometimes I was playing the wrong games. If I need to reset and play some NES/SNES games, or Counterstrike, or the Sims 1, or whatever, I’ll trust my gut on that instead of trying to force myself to finish something that’s not grabbing my attention. It’s not like I get paid to review games. Though maybe I should review some games in my spare time for fun because it sounds more fun than some of the games I played the last two years. Lol.

How have I not played this game? Well, I’m wishlisting this promptly. Looks like I need Everything in 2026.

@Northern_munkey Maybe I’ll check that one out on Steam! Looks pretty solid for a racing game.

@ZeroE I second that request for staff requests. It’s like GoTY all over again, but… for the future.

Maybe this is the weekend I finally tackle that Pragmata demo. I think I’ll play some Counter Strike and Cast ‘n Chill. I feel like going back to Sektori, Earthion, and Toree Saturn too for the fun of it. I bought Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders yesterday too for old time’s sake. Maybe I’ll indulge in a classic for a bit. I don’t anticipate I’ll be playing anything consistently til February, so I’m just going to have some fun.

@Northern_munkey Outside a trio of Capcom titles and Control, I feel sorta the same. Things look great for super hero fans, but that’s not me (not even Wolverine). Games this year sort of reminds me of mid to late gen PS3/Xbox360 era for some reason. Ironically, very similar feeling release schedule looked like when GTA5 launched. At least to me. Hopefully we get Judas in ‘26. Bioshock Infinite beat GTA5 for me and I suspect a new Levine game could top GTA6 too.

Requiem, Pragmata, Halo, and Control for me! Plus Mina the Hollower, even though it’s not on this list (and Bubsy 4D!). I’d be lying if I outright denied wanting to give GTA6 a spin. There’s a lot I’m on the fence about next year, honestly. It’s either going to be a huge year next year… or not… depending on what I read in reviews. Like Tomb Raider, 007, and DQ7 Remake are all games I want to see before I play, for instance.

Outside that, the Nintendo first party output is really hitting me in my gaming pocket next year with Fire Emblem and the B tier first party games. Mario Tennis is my jam. That’s probably my first 2026 game.

@PuppetMaster I liked both of those games better than Clair Obscur! I am… in the vast minority. Ragebound and Shinobi both deserved far more love this year. There’s a lot of games that deserves far more love, honestly. It was a very diverse year for indies and it doesn’t feel like there was much buzz for the scene this year.

Sort of surprised Hell is Us didn’t hit the list. Felt like that one was perhaps a bigger release than it actually was? Doom and Mafia making the list sort of surprises me too.

Unfortunately, I feel this is the most overrated game of the generation, but I am glad it made a lot of people happy.