somnambulance

@Marquez I’m just hoping for diversity from Pushsquare. I trust the staff here. Lol. And I know Nintendo Life’s going to be forced to deliberate between Bananza and Silksong, which is much more to my personal taste!

The sad thing is I won’t be able to escape E33 this holiday season either thanks to the Dorito Pope. As a resident gamer of the family, I’m going to be asked about this game A LOT in the very near future because of the coverage the game gets.

The most lethal one would’ve been “Take a shot every time you’re bewildered by something.” Man, I would’ve been toasted by Megaman getting a sequel, only for it to be a 2027 announcement!

@lazarus11 Yeah, I sort of get the vibe that that’s how a lot of people are feeling about the game. The constant hype cycle for it has certainly made my friends sour on it. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen a game get SO MUCH continuous coverage. Not even Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3 (to use modern examples) got this level of coverage and both of those games seemed bigger, culturally.

I get the vibe that E33 was a lot of people’s first JRPG.

@Marquez it’s not the most professional thing, of course, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people that feel jilted about the Game Awards this year, so I can understand their viewpoint. I know my watching party was rolling eyes at all the awards Expedition 33 got. We’d all played E33 and we all liked it, but even those amongst us that liked it most were starting to get snarky about the game winning so much. Glad we didn’t make E33 wins a drinking game because we contemplated it. We also contemplated making gatcha trailers a drinking game though. Lol.

I don’t remember my group getting like that when TLOU, Part 2 won everything though, and we were a bit divisive on that game. Got to be honest, if the hype train didn’t sit solely in E33 station, it would’ve been interesting to see what else would’ve won things.

@Marquez Edited the word, must’ve misspelled it elsewhere too!

I honestly don’t want E33 to do badly. I just want to see other games have success. I liked the game when it launched, but I thought it was a bit more average than most others, I suppose. There’s no rewarding exploration, there’s the whole tossing a new antagonist faction toward the end without developing them at all thing, there’s the definite burn out on parrying towards the end of the game type of thing for me, of course, but realistically I’m tired of the continuous hype cycle the game has received this year. I get that some people really love the game. I do. But it just feels like everywhere you turn, there’s been an E33 story basically exalting the game and I’m just a little spent on it. Could be PTSD from the time I went to the grocery store wearing a Final Fantasy shirt and someone wearing an E33 shirt randomly started talking to me, telling me how much better E33 is than FF when I completely disagree with that. Again, I liked the game, but I’m oversaturated with it, and I also feel it’s not very nice to “celebrate the industry” by giving it all the awards when there’s a decent amount of games this year that deserve awards. I didn’t even like KCD2, but to say it’s not the best RPG this year? To not credit Silksong as indie game of the year (let’s be real, if E33 is an indie, you might as well lob Death Stranding up there as an indie)? I’m droning, but I’m just ready for another year where there’s discussion instead of a single game being practically groomed into winning all awards.

And thank you for checking out the rest of my list. I try at year end to get notice out toward lesser known titles that I’d enjoyed throughout the year. Hope there’s a hidden gem you enjoy in my list! There’s plenty of fantastic games to recommend this year. There’s been well over 20 games on the 7/10+ spectrum for me that I’ve played, which is a pretty solid year, in my opinion.

Probably a mix of Metroid Prime 4, Öoo, Level Devil, maybe Arc Raiders as I race to complete games just in time for a year end list. I’ve got Seance of Blake Manor to fire up too, but I’m not certain if I’ll squeeze that one in for end of year or not. I’m prioritizing Prime 4 and loving it.

Also, maybe SimCity 3000. On a whim, I played it a bit last night and it’s sort of deeply relaxing. I’m going to try my best NOT to play anything else retro as well, but it’s sort of comfort food this time of the year.

Looks like Xbox has a more compelling first party line up than PlayStation does next year. I’ll be watching… and buying the games on NOT Xbox.

A couple of my favorite choices were sort of omitted in the voting this year for me.

Here’s what I voted for:
1. Death Stranding 2
2. Silksong
3. Blue Prince
4. Arc Raiders
5. Absolum

I would’ve voted for To a T, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, and Once Upon a Katamari over the last two options though when it comes to PS5.

Can’t wait for the gommage to come and scrub E33 out of the GotY discussion. I hope our humble community can give literally any other game GotY.

@Leetware1 As someone that played E33, I definitely don’t think it deserved half the awards it got at least. It’s absolute BS it won best indie. Of any category, for them to win that one is an insult to the indie community, especially when Silksong came out this year. I didn’t personally enjoy KCD2, but it not winning RPG of the year is baffling when it’s so obviously better at having you craft your own role in the story. E33 was a good game, don’t get me wrong, but the victory lap this game has had all year is absolutely too much.

@TruestoryYep Personally, BG3 was too buggy on PS5 to run properly for me, so it soured my personal experience, but I know what the game could be if it ran right. It wouldn’t have been my Goty in 2023, but given how massive the game was and how much detail was in it, I understood why it was as successful as it was. I’ve played through Clair Obscur and I thought the game was good, but not great. Outside the music maybe, I don’t think it should’ve won anything. There were better games in ‘25. I played all of the nominees this year and I’d say E33 is the most average game of the bunch.

@DarylB88 totally agree with you there! If E33 is an indie, Death Stranding 2 should’ve been an indie. The show was designed this year to be another victory lap for E33. A friend of mine said, “The Game Awards made it look like there was only one game released this year and it didn’t feel like a total celebration of everything that makes a year in gaming.”

@Intr1n5ic No, I bought it at release. It just looks very similar to me. I liked Returnal, but it’s pretty distinctive as a game. It’s not a game that I feel really needs a sequel, if that makes sense. I just need to see and hear more. I may open up to Saros as the release date grows closer.

@Hi569 We still don’t know for sure GTA6 will land the release date.

There’s still a lot of unknowns about GTA6 as well.

Most boring awards ever. I’m sorry but I would’ve understood Baldur’s Gate 3 steamrolling like this a few years back and I wasn’t even a fan of that game, but Clair Obscur winning so much was tedious. I know a lot of people love the game, but for me, it’s now the most overrated game I’ve ever played. I was actually rooting for the gatcha games to win Player’s Voice this year by the time we got there…

I’m so glad Megaman is finally back!

Pragmata getting a release date and a sequel to Control were the other highlights for me.

I’m interested, but not yet sold. Solid trailers, for sure.

I thought the reveal was sort of disappointing. The developer had said time and time again that this one isn’t a Souls style game, but that gameplay looked very Wukong, which, while it isn’t exactly a Soulslike, its Souls adjacent. With Nioh and Onimusha being similar looking games too, I hope this one lands with its story or has a demo or something. After the trailer though, I was definitely like, “Oh, another Wukong.”

I’ll wait for reviews on this one. I’ll need to know how similar it is to Returnal, you know? I liked Returnal, but I’m not sure I need another one so soon.

I think I’m more interested in this game now. Knowing that I’m not really looking forward to much else in March, if I clear Requiem by the time this one comes out, I might get it.

Looks like GotY 2026 to me.

We got Megaman, so that’s a win. Pragmata finally has a release date. And… Control 2 looks fantastic.

But man… I can’t wait for next year so there’s no more Clair Obscur fawning.

Looks great, but I think I might get this one on Switch 2 now if the demo runs well… which would be ironic because this is the game that immediately sold me on the PS5.

Honestly, Aspyr can slow down on these basic reskinned ports. Their remasters may have a fresh coat of paint, but they don’t modernize the feel of the games or add anything to the experience, so these remasters tend to feel inferior to their original counterparts.

He’s made two of the best games ever made, so of course I’m interested even if those screenshots don’t seem interesting at first. That’s sort of the point, isn’t it?

Crazy Taxi and Jet Set (or Grind) Radio please

@naruball @themightyant Oh man, I loved Eternal Sonata. It’s a crime it’s not on modern platforms. It’s my wife’s favorite JRPG. Admittedly, she’s probably played maybe four of them, but that’s her favorite.

I would love it if Clair Obscur did NOT win GotY this year. I fully expect it to win, but the confusion from the internet would be priceless

@PuppetMaster 🥺Didn’t know this!

I played Cyberpunk when it launched on Stadia. I… thought it was ok. I didn’t love the game. I thought it was very ok. The bugs were actually my favorite part of the game and definitely more memorable than the actual plotline, which I felt was sort of… ok? I dunno. I just didn’t really attach to it like I thought I would. I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but it felt like Far Cry inspired by Blade Runner to me. I liked it better than Far Cry, but less than Blade Runner.

I do also think it’s goofy the game’s gotten as much praise as it got. Given it was released broken, I don’t think CDPR deserved a pat on the back for fixing things for years to make the game better. No matter how much better it is, the game should have to endure the consequences of such a broken launch.

Has anyone tried this one? I’ve had the demo installed for ages and just… never try it.

Since Sony runs the event, they can always add it in and make it part of the release announcement.

There’s five games that I’m surprised beat MK to this line-up though… Really interesting to see Darkstalkers 3. Personally, prefer that game to most of the games on the list.

Anyone know if 2XKO is any good? Honestly can’t stand Riot Games at all, but I’m curious if they’ve got another hit on their hands. Seems like, even if their universe isn’t to my taste, they’ve got something that’s drawing appeal from their studios.

Man, seeing this release takes me back to an era maybe 20 years ago where the few of us that wanted these types of games had to settle for sketchy ways to acquire the games with even sketchier fan translations. I love that this release happened.

I mean, WB Games haven’t exactly been a powerhouse, have they? Batman and LotR’s success was a decade ago and, outside Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat, it feels like their properties have struggled for at least this generation. I don’t like that this is their response, as I genuinely want more games from the WB IPs, but I’m also not hugely surprised, given that a lot of their games the last few years have severely underperformed expectations and have been a waste of money. It seems even MK1 was a step back from MK11 too…

Halo, Pragmata, and RE for me!

@ShogunRok is it wrong if I hope EA scraps BioWare and sells Mass Effect to Larian? I’d love to see what they could do with an established sci-fi setting after seeing what they achieved with a fantasy setting.

Definitely my lowest PlayStation numbers ever in 2025. I can tell my son played my console far more than I did. Sort of surprised with my top 5 still…

1. Astro Bot
2. Minecraft
3. Death Stranding 2
4. Dreams
5. Puyo Puyo Tetris

I’m legitimately surprised Ghost of Yotei didn’t make the top 5. I definitely played the Switch 2 more and potentially might be the first year in at least a decade where I played more Xbox than PlayStation.

@ShogunRok I believe it. Larian, unlike many gaming companies, knows how to value their fanbase, so I suspect this may be correct… though I thought Larian was thinking about going sci-fi for the next one for some reason. I could’ve sworn I thought they said that somewhere.

As much as I like Black Flag, I have no real interest in playing it again any time soon, nor do I have desire to play AC. Love the series, but I think even I hit saturation point with Shadows.

Sounds legit.

Wouldn’t it be the most “2025 in gaming” thing ever though if all this to hype up a port alone rather than a new game?

Did Capcom… just acknowledge Mega Man? We miss you, buddy!

@MichaelNau I think E33 continues on with a proof started with Baldur’s Gate 3 that you can get a very niche game very successful if it caters to that niche very much so. I remember being extremely impressed with how well BG3 sold in spite of being an incredibly niche offering. I believe that, in catering to a niche, you will be able to generate strong word of mouth, which creates free marketing for these types of games. E33 potentially did this even more than BG3 did too, as I just remember such a saturation about E33 earlier in the year.

Game Awards trailer confirmed then, eh?

That sub-header is beyond brilliant. Bravo, @Quintumply.

Sell it to a company I’ll buy games from. Never touching future entries with the EA tag

@MichaelNau I’ve spent a lot of time considering why this game was so successful, but personally felt it was so average. Most people have told me, “People just have different taste. You can’t like everything that’s a critical hit,” which is true, but, for some reason, I had to rationalize why I might feel that way because, on paper, it should be everything I’d want out of a game and, besides, I already understand what I didn’t like in previous winners. It felt like a game where many people I knew disliked something about the game too where they almost felt bad about being critical and saying something until they were “safe to do so,” as for some reason people are shyer about being critical of this game than certain other games. I mean, even the underdog messaging this game has seems manufactured, as it was heavily marketed by Xbox, almost as if it was a first party game, and was receiving heavy media coverage since it was announced.

I think it’s quite an interesting game for things like that and it’s had a hype train unlike anything I’d seen. The marketing team behind the game is rather brilliant, honestly.

@Max_the_German In my personal opinion, everything successful about E33 is a reaction against something else established in another franchise and I think that’s why the game may be somewhat more divisive than its internet portrayal. Its turn based nature is certainly a reaction against Final Fantasy. The map design is a reaction against Ubisoft games. The game’s pricing was a reaction against AAA pricing. The game’s length as reported by the team prior to launch was a reaction against other RPGs that boast length as a selling point. And yet it could be argued that the game is a reaction against indie games having funding as well if you want to be cynical. Etc, etc. I suspect this is why some people are enamored with the game whereas others see the game as average and there’s few that outright don’t like the game at all. It’s an interesting game as a meta commentary for trends in the current gaming landscape and what happens when you give a specific subset of gamers precisely what they want.

@Max_the_German Yeah, I agree. I noticed how differently everyone plays the game after I completed it and watched my family play. My daughter’s 4 and she can enjoy it, which isn’t always the case with even simple games. I’ve showed it off to a lot of people and everyone loves it once they get to that first big open level, and they all seem to get through it in a different approach. The way I see it: if I see that type of enjoyment in so many different people of different ages and backgrounds, casual and dedicated gamers, to me, that’s a game that deserves something, even if it’s not my personal pick.

Y’know, given the holidays, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to more people about games outside my internet bubble and talking about GotY has been fascinating, especially with E33, as none of my family, friends or acquaintances (all of whom spend far less time reading gaming news coverage than any of us on here) thought the game was GotY or was trending towards it. If anything, Silksong was the one that kept coming up. I thought it was sort of refreshing to hear so many voices say Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Hades 2, or Silksong were obviously going to win (and honestly it was sort of refreshing to get some more critical takes of Yotei, Silent Hill, and E33 too… though it’s so weird how divisive Nintendo feels right now).

@Max_the_German I loved Bananza. If Astro Bot was Sony telling Nintendo that it can make an attempt to match Mario Odyssey (which I prefer Odyssey, but I’d say both games are a 10), then Bananza is them clapping back big time. My personal GotY is Death Stranding 2, followed by Silksong, but DKB is my #3 (like 2024, it was a year of mostly 6/10 and 7/10 games with 3 big 10/10s to smoothen out the year overall) but I’m rooting for Bananza because I think it does deserve it. It’s a very unique game and a game that literally anyone can play and have a unique experience.

I hope Bananza wins the big gong this year. The online fallout of E33 losing to it would be better than the actual show.

Metroid Prime 4

I liked the game and I like the changes they’re making. I’ll try it out when it relaunches. Why not?

Calling it now: Marvel Cosmic Invasion wins December… Not saying that’ll be my pick, but it’s my guess. December looks surprisingly solid, but I get the feeling most December games will be buried.

@bowzoid Is Sektori solid? I’m contemplating picking it up soon. It’s on my wishlist.