Living fossil.
FromSoft reported sales of Elden Ring increased by over 200% following its GOTY win, if I remember right. It definitely has an impact. I can’t imagine it’s irrelevant in terms of attracting or keeping talent either, and it probably would help maintaining creative integrity and sticking to your vision in talks with investors.
I have a very hard time seeing any of those competing with either Clair Obscur or Death Stranding 2, apart from maybe Silksong (if it actually ever does come out). But even then I’m not sold.
Mina the Hollower will probably duke it out with Blue Prince for the indie game of the year.
So it’s this versus Expedition 33 for GOTY then? I feel for Sandfall, that’s some unfortunate timing if they end up upstaged by Kojima.
I finished Deus Ex: Mankind Divided this week, and I’m now trying to decide whether I want to push through the DLCs or not. I’m kind of done with the game but if I don’t do them now I probably never will.
Overall I found MD to be good, but uneven. The main story overall suffers immensely from being the second game in a planned trilogy, but the side content is very very good. Gameplay was a step up from Human Revolution in most regards and there were some pretty good level designs strewn around as well. The final mission felt absolutely awesome to me and was one of my favourite Deus Ex missions, and Golem City was another highlight. The running theme of apartheid was also extremely well executed and the climax to that arc with martial law at the end felt very impactful.
Overall I think Human Revolution is probably better as it’s a more self contained and complete experience, but the highs of Mankind Divided are definitely higher than those of HR, in my opinion.
They are indeed. Very curious how they’ll end up solving the Max Payne remake with James McCaffrey passing.
Though the game I really long for is Alan Wake 3, but I’ll probably have to wait 5-7 years for that if not more.
You tried, Remedy. Now can we please get back to you guys making the type of games we actually want you to make again?
Always has been.
It’s not quite as weird, but Alan Wake 2 as well qualifies I think.
Dishonored: Complete Collection at 80% off, amazing deal if you haven’t already played these games.
Yeah it’s convenient to blame Pearl Abyss for everything wrong with EVE, but truthfully CCP were making moves of dubious quality way before they got bought up by them.
There are probably better owners than Pearl Abyss, so in a sense that could be a reason for hope. Though I don’t know how much of a hand they have had with all the crap CCP have failed with over the years. Peak EVE was so amazing, but I honestly have no real idea how or if it’s possible to get back to that.
There’s definitely weird people making games on itch and sometimes in the depths of Steam.
Oh yes. Ever heard of Beautycopter?
Sam Lake is still out there fighting the good fight. Kojima too - whether you think he’s a genius or think he produces incomprehensible nonsense you can’t deny he is at least flying the flag for the weird.
I tried using Heroic to install Alan Wake 2, but it didn’t recognise me owning the DLCs. Only worked through the actual Epic Launcher. YMMV
Pretty much every single game has a massive drop off in concurrent players after the initial spike. That’s just how humans work, not everyone who tries something will like it.
PC Gamer has given it 60/100 (which some take to mean a terrible, terrible, scathing review but to me, idk, 60/100 seems like a fun time?)
This has been a thing for ages, and I suspect it’s got some psychological explanation in how our brains are wired. But 5/10 is not an “average game”, it’s a quite bad one. In fact, anything below 5 is usually literally unplayable, despite 4/10 really being just below average. 7/10 is typically the score for “a fun time if it aligns with your interests, but by no means a great game”. Everything below 7 tends to be actively bad.
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 35 average - 0% recommended - 18 reviews
Dear lord you don’t see that often. I mean, it’s no surprise and it’s definitely deserved as the game is a hot pile of garbage but even then. They didn’t buy off a single reviewer?
Yeah that’s about what I expected. Fucking hell.
Only just started Pentiment. And by that I mean I got through the background selection, and I’m now trying to decide if I’m happy with my choices or want to go with something else. The game looks really good so far, I’ve heard good things and I’m excited to see how it plays out.