themightyant

@themaladroit the trouble with Starfield is it is highly divisive. That makes it difficult to recommend.

That doesn’t mean you won’t love it, many did, but also many didn’t. Critic scores range from 4/10 to 10/10 that’s by far the widest range for a BGS game. FYI Metacritic was still 83 but critics seemed to rate it higher than fans, it’s just at a 57% positive on Steam.

Personally I put over 100+ hours into it and there were highs were I was thinking it was a 9/10 and lows where it was a 5 or a 6. Where you sit in that range will depend on what you like about their games. I.e.

If you like the world building, the RPG systems, the quests you will probably really enjoy Starfield, some of its strongest moments are here. But if you enjoyed exploring the worlds in Elder Scrolls or Fallout this is a real weakness in Starfield and you will likely be disappointed.

Hope that makes sense. Generally I’d cautiously recommend it, I still think for all its faults there’s little like it.

@themaladroit just to give another take.

I think there’s good moments in there but if you go in thinking it’s Fallout or Oblivion in space then you might end up a bit disappointed, while that was the goal it ends up a bit short. Personally I would lower your expectations a little from that.

I’m one of those people, happily pay for PS+ Premium. I think it’s a bargain. But I do seem to be grandfathered into some old tier and pay just £64.99 a year. I think because I was a Ps Now subscriber. Whatever the reason, happy days.

Additionally I’m sure there was a slide somewhere in a Sony presentation that showed Premium was significantly more popular than Extra, contrary to some people’s impression.

I think enough people will find some enjoyment here, just don't go in expecting the next Skyrim or Fallout 3.

@Balaam_ It's an increased bitrate for a sharper final image still at 1080p

Really solid updates to an already brilliant device.

@AK4tywill Security. Force people to be on more modern firmwares to play newer games that have patched any security exploits.

EDIT: @sanderson72 SNAP!

@Balaam_ They already fixed PSSR in Alan Wake 2 and Control a while back, but this will make it look even better.

@Flobbots These are the games that developers have specifically patched in PSSR2 and optimised for it Day 1. Many other games will be patched later by devs later.

But there will also be a system level toggle to upgrade all the games using PSSR1. We haven't seen how that automated version works yet but Digital Foundry are on the case.

Having waited to play this, and finally just about to pull the trigger... I will now wait a little longer. #patientgamers

Lovely article @get2sammyb, very insightful, looks like a great trip.

@ibowhunt But that is still DRM, you require an internet connection to check whether you can play the disc, and if in 10-20 years you just want to pop a disc in your PS5 there's no guarantee the servers will still be online to check this making it a coaster. That's what SOME people don't like, which is why I specifically suggested the alternative which is having a day 1 version that is locked via DRM and a non-DRM version for those that SPECIFICALLY want an unlocked physical version.

I absolutely can understand companies wanting to stop leaks. Not an easy problem to solve.

I'm really surprised to see over a third of voters want this.

Personally I can see both sides of it. On the one hand it is bad for game preservation, no avoiding that, but also leaks and spoilers do happen and suck. Hell when GTAV was released several trucks were attacked just so that the games could be bootlegged and played early. It is a problem that needs solving.

It's almost impossible to completely satisfy both camps but here is my suggestion for a balanced solution.

In a few select cases where spoilers will be rife (e.g. GTA6) include this in Day 1 physical editions. But I it needs to be made 100% clear and printed on the box so consumers can buy accordingly. Moreover this code HAS to be removed in any copies distributed AFTER the launch date so physical game collectors can have a version that is DRM free. I think that is the best compromise really, it's impossible to solve completely and satisfy everyone.

Thank you for putting this clearly, I didn't know that, this now makes a lot more sense. I was initially just pushing back against OP who was suggesting that there were no PlayStation game codes for sale, which is demonstrably false, I know as i've occasionally bought them!

But now you've explained it, i've looked into it, and now have the full picture I agree with you. I learned something and appreciate it.

I am pro-physical media but this seems like a weird release. Yet it may work, it's a cool cover, and may convince some people to buy not knowing what they are getting into!

@evan23 I agree the hate is too strong. But I also agree with @Vertere that as a Bethesda game many wanted and expected better.

I put well over 100 hours into it, it’s not a bad game, there is some fun to be had, but it’s also one of my biggest disappointments this gen. It just doesn’t match up to their previous games sadly.

That said I’d still recommend it as there’s little else like it.

@Perturbator What wizardry is this for a GIF to be so crisp and fluid! Game looks great btw, thanks for putting it on my radar.

@Zuljaras RE3 was so disappointing to me. It's not a bad game I suppose if you've never played the original, but it's a TERRIBLE remake, ignoring so many aspect that made the first so replayable.

Planet of Lana 2 - Charming art, characters and animation. Lovely story that shines through despite the characters using a made up language. Puzzles better than the first. Everything is elevated thanks to a majestic Takeshi Furakawa (Last Guardian, SW: Clone Wars) soundtrack. It feels sumptuous and made me want to replay the first game which I didn't love as much at the time... perhaps I was just having a bad day. Recommended

Neva - Utterly incredible art design and animation let down a little by some overly simplistic gameplay and overly long walking sections. Good game though. Memorable.

Ender Lillies - Metroidvania that somehow stands out due to it's unique combat system - you don't fight yourself but use up to 6 spirits - and the amount of build variety available through this and the equipable relics. Bosses are hard but you lose nothing for dying, which is quite refreshing, and are soon back in the action, it's just about learning patterns. World and story telling are also engaging.

PSVR1 - Bought this on eBay after realising I had over 30 PSVR games in my library between purchases, PS+ monthly games and PS+ extra. All set up, a LOT of cables, and looking forward to testing it out. Thanks for all the suggestions last week!

but in a needlessly antagonistic way...

👀

I suspect it will be good enough, but will also be some people's GOTY. Like Stellar Blade, Wukong etc.

I'll be waiting for patches and reviews.

FYI they use the exact same analogue part as PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Nintendo Pro controller. The difference on PS5 is the dead zones are set a lot smaller than PS4 to make the sticks more responsive. The downside is more likelihood of drift.

The tech team at Remedy are ALWAYS keen to try out the new tech. Love to see it. Though I had no major issues with PSSR1 when I played them both recently. Great games.

@INeedGoodGraphics The trouble with Gacha games like Genshin is that they take a HUGE amount of money and resources to make. Genshin alone has cost over $1bn USD to develop to this point and MiHoYo has over 5,000 employees (as of 2022, rumoured to be over 6,5000+ now) working on just a handful of games. For comparison that's more than half of all of SIE's workforce.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea, but it is a HUGE and risky undertaking, plenty of these games don't succeed.

EDIT: Though Sony does publish the massive Fate/Grand Order since they bought Aniplex (Sony Music Ent. Japan) so they are making some money in this space.

@INeedGoodGraphics It's a bit chicken and the egg, with different things happening at the same time.

But Japanese PLAYERS started moving away from PlayStation home consoles long before PlayStation became a more Western company, that forced Sony to pivot, so they set up base in USA and start making games that appealed more to Western audiences. Most would have done similar, seeing their local business crumble.

Unfortunately in doing so they also lost a bit of the magic that made PlayStation PlayStation, that weird Japanese quirkiness etc. Thankfully they seem to be trying to push more in Japan, and I think this is all a push towards next gen and the handheld.

@bestuardo 100% Almost note for note. But it is also a fairly standard arpeggio.

@Frmknst Still the best game I played last year, better than the sum of it's parts. Made me feel like a kid playing a new Final Fantasy for the first time but in 2025, felt like a fresh take on turn-based JRPGs.

If you didn't like it, that's fine, we all like different things, but many CLEARLY did. Is that really so hard to accept???

It's such a bizarre release already, and now skipping PS5 but launching on Xbox... weird.

@LeeBB_Art Some people like to feel like they FULLY own a game so that if in 10-20 years they pull it off their shelf it will work out of the box with no internet / PSN.

Others don't like to download games, they buy physical to specifically avoid this, maybe they have bad internet, or slow / no internet in their man cave.

For others it's just a matter of principle... There are other reasons but these are the big ones.

Personally I buy physical so it has resale value, which this does, so it doesn't bother me. Also it's cheaper, shopping around this can be had for £49.99 or less in the UK.

@Fyz306903 first person I ever heard say that.

Physical has advantages because it can be lent to friends or resold. I literally went through years of buying games, playing them and reselling them to fund most of the next game. Couldn’t gave afforded it otherwise when I was young.

@Mes_Urson I rarely play Day 1, but i'm looking forward to it maybe later this year.

@SodaPop6548 @Mes_Urson It's a custom engine, should be far more efficient than UE5. Looking at how the PC version ran at a NATIVE 4K@60fps on a mid-high card, and seeing how open the devs have been about pushing performance I think it should run absolutely fine on base PS5.

Not changed a thing. I will still wait and buy at the price I want to pay.

This is a mountain out of a molehill story right now.

I think it's more of an industry wide issue. With so many games releasing more and more aren't hitting sales targets. That doesn't necessarily mean they outright flop but it does make it hard to green light / fund the next similar title.

There are still some huge successes, but the gap between these and the rest seems wider than ever.

Always a little confused why people swear by the Portal when you can easily replicate everything it does without buying it specifically. This fanmade Remote Play app just adds to that.

@RoomWithaMoose I used to do this with either my phone tablet or Steam Deck, but PS Portal is just a much better gaming experience.

For starters it FEELS like a Dual Sense, and has proper haptics etc. The second thing is "it just works", it's a faff having to attach a Backbone or similar mobile controller, open an app etc. when on Portal you just turn it on and choose cloud or local streaming.

But the biggest thing imo is the screen. Not only is the best LCD i've seen in a handheld, rivalling lower grade handheld OLED's, but the major difference is the 8 inch size.

You see with a phone, often the text on screen is just unreadable, it makes playing hard, you have to squint and still can't read plenty. It's a sub par experience. Steam Deck's screen is larger and may only SEEM 1 inch smaller by specs, but the aspect ratio is different (16x10 not 19x9 ) meaning you get black bars and the usable screen is quite a bit smaller, again it makes text hard to read. PS Portal is just seamless.

I wasn't convinced at first but after trying a mates, being impressed, and then when they added cloud I picked one up second hand for around £90 and haven't looked back. It's just a superior experience in almost every way. Great bit of hardware design.

EDIT: my only real criticism is how BIG it is (pro is also a con) and sometimes if i'm travelling super light i'll just take the Backbone

Premium isn't really about monthly additions imo. Its about Cloud, PS3 Streaming, Game Trials. It still adds a library of over 350 games and all for just £20 more a year than Extra. That seems reasonable to me.

Would I LIKE more games added, sure, but it's not a bad deal as it is.

@charliecarrot It's not that simple. SAG-AFTRA wants almost all actors on a project to be their own, meaning a more limited choice of actors for the project. From their own website:

I'm all for unions but not at the expense of better art.

Hope it works out for Bungie, they could to with a win.

It's a niche game. I suspect this is one of those games where review scores aren't very useful. Like the first game if it's your kinda jam they you might forgive it a lot of the technical issues and jank.

While I find it a useful resource I do have a slight issue with Metacritic homogenising games. A dull, predictable, but well made game will often score better on aggregate than a game trying new things but with jank and bugs. Having played games for so long the later is often more interesting to me. YMMV.

Art Direction > Ray Tracing

What a silly statement from someone who CLEARLY doesn't understand how to make games, because you can of course have both. It's like comparing apples and oranges. It isn't either/or.

Of course we can debate the performance cost of ray tracing, which right now on current gen is too expensive, but that's one of the problems next-gen is looking to solve. It's a weakness of current gen hardware along with weak AI/ML upscaling.

@cragis0001 At the moment I think legislators still see a difference between a computer that we use for general life - whether that's a phone, pc, etc. - and an entertainment device. If they start regulating Sony / PlayStation like they regulate iOS/Android/Windows they open up a MASSIVE can of worms for many other businesses, not just games consoles.

To be clear I am not necessarily against it, but consoles are sold at a loss, at least initially (and in fact Sony still reporting "losses due to hardware" as recently as 2 quarters ago in most financial reports) and there is a chance that if third party stores were allowed then the price of consoles might increase dramatically. Law of unintended consequences.

Good game eventually, but It was unbelievably broken at launch; the highlights reel of issues made CyberPunk and ME: Andromeda almost look stable. I saw everything from missing faces to the world turning into a black hole and swallowing me up. Performance was shaky too. I think the only AAA game that came close for me Day 1 was Stalker 2 but by then we expected even better.

@RoomWithaMoose FYI I also forgot about Metroid Prime 4. I liked that game a lot more than the internet. It had it's issues, but overall was still a fun game. But there haven't been that many games for me yet, Pokemon and Kirby's Air Riders weren't my jam.

'Upgraded PSSR' aka PSSR2, sweet!

@RoomWithaMoose I'm in a similar boat as @cainhurst94 for the Switch 2 I bought it but haven't played it much other than Bananza (which I enjoyed) and BotW/TotK upgrades. But personally that doesn't bother me, I was expecting this, I only bought it for exclusives which will come in time. I'd rather play everything multiplatform on PS5 Pro over Switch 2.

But we all like different things, if you prefer handheld good for you.

If they stop releasing NEW ports then this doesn't matter. No one is going to buy/not buy a system because of a handful of much older games.

But THEORETICALLY i'm sure they could patch their games to do some sort of hardware sniffing that would cripple performance or stop the games running on XboxPC (or any other fixed hardware)

But this would create such a lot of negative press, for only a handful of games, why bother? Not to mention possible legal issues.

There seems to be a correlation between highest salary, least hours overtime and job satisfaction... who would have guessed...

@DualWielding They weren't in Japan.

@twitchtvpat 100%. ML upscaling and other technologies mask many differences nowadays. You can have the same hardware but the game looks a lot better on DLSS4 than FSR3. It's why I think Sony / Cerny were really smart in adding PSSR to PS5 Pro and getting ahead of the game. I look forward to hearing more in due course as I always like new tech!

What a bizarre decision to remake a story game that still looks fantastic. In fact a lot of the lighting was better in the original.

After that it's no surprise sales were weak, and that, sadly has consequences.