CallMeDuraSouka

@fatpunkslim
"the RPG depth in titles like Avowed or The Outer Worlds 2 is often very ambitious"

Oh boy....

In Avowed it is most certainly not..... not even close
OW2- I've read endless complaints regarding its very very narrow playthroughs,( have not played it)

Just because you spill bombastic word salads on These articles, that doesn't change anything

Ugh........... This is basically a laundry list of places I WOULD NEVER go to for a reliable review-

Interesting choices Fraser

I see the pearl clutching console wars are still alive and well......

I really thought we were past " insert bogus random inflated #'s"

Especially seeing as how tight fisted MS is with sales numbers, you folks confidently spouting this/ that= eye rolling absurdity

If i want frustrating rhythms, I'll just dig out the flamenco/ South American buffet of melt my brain and metronome music.
I will never understand how people enjoy these games

Neat premise though

Despite playing quite a few hours with my daughter, I never really enjoyed Minecraft.
This looks surprisingly well done, like it could be pretty fun
Excitedly to see how this turns out
Games like this are brilliant on SteamDeck and Rog like pc handheld

Such a strange state this game was released in, it's almost insultingly average.
I will say the magic and flintlocks were a lot of fun.
Everything else was so so sterile- it's great some folks have it GOTY, it was a HUGE disappointment for me

@Balaam_ pretty close to what i thought as well.

If Bethesda Studios is shadow dropping something..... it's to avoid early reviews saying don't buy it, it's busted

Avowed at #2?

That's kind of surprising to be honest....

Not a bad game, but shouldn't be anywhere near a top 10 list.

It honestly sucks voting such small numbers, at best 10%
2024 was almost all Xbox.

I just can't mentally get around the idea that buying on Xbox is an uncertain guarantee.

I'm curious as to why anyone thinks this will be anything other than a release on other consoles, with a small addition or two.

Bethesda the dev studio hasn't done anything right in 10 years

My god, if they shadow drop this on PS5 and Switch 2.................. before any reviews... and it's a broken mess

I might wash my hands off Bethesda Studios

This is why Todd's idea of MORE shadow drops is extremely discouraging- Bethesda taking the surprise and joy of a shadow drop and using it to mask FULL HALF ASSED realeases., that aren't reviewed and in the console realm there's no risk of mass returns

I LOATHE what Bethesda has become

@Smackosynthesis At this point, it might be a " new breed" , but by now hero shooters are all inbred/ all related and the offspring just come out worse....

Huge reason why I'm keeping my Series X, back compatibility rocks

Bizarre it took this long, especially with how bloatedly awful the web store is

Such a remarkably average game, offensively so.

It definitely deserved all the criticism, I'd have been livid if it cost me 60

Such a strange discourse around this one, at the same time I swear I saw 600,000+ reviews @4 stars on PSN for this- or it was a fever dream

This is the last developer I'd want shadow dropping anything, just an excuse to push sales before reviews trickle in and we find out it's busted.

As a publisher? Sure

@Chip-Douglas That sounds absolutely awesome, miss those days.

Cool on dad!

@Banjo- I'm guaranteed to hear the whining from the kids about Nindy sales ha ha.

I've got Xbox funds from the " sale" they had on points cards a month back, was hoping for good sales, 🤷‍♂️

That seems really really underwhelming....

Maybe I'm just too used to physical sales

@HonestHick I think its even more frustrating because they are using their own in house engine, this is their supposed bread and butter....

This " should" be a very streamlined process, but even after all these years, it's still not, and Todd has had the reigns for quite a lot of it

5-6 years for ES6, probably a safe bet, 12-15 years for fallout 5

I'm not sure how long they expect their core fanbase to live, but by then, I'm not so sure I'll still care.., I might still be alive, we'll see.....

Retire Todd, sell your pleather jacket and let competent managers take over

@Darylb88 Thanks a ton, I think that's what I was really curious about from that perspective

Cheers man!

If i was really disappointed with Avowed in nearly every aspect, is this just a reskin of Avowed( such as it felt like a reskin of Outerworlds 1)?

These are terrible " sale prices"

Geez there are a lot of C-Suite level market experts in these threads.

Let's hope the diehard faithful are proven right.

Long ways to go yet

I was already doubting id have need for the next Xbox, but having only started my Xbox library this gen, and it's almost exclusively physical... If this has any basis in reality it would be silly for me to stay.

This ***** sucks, at least I've loved my Series X and the 2 years of fun before it started imploding

How is TikTok engagement relative to gaming?
That's an absolutely squirrel brained statement.
So for the last 25 years gaming has been in a competition with TV sitcoms, not each other?
Gaming =/ other entertainment mediums, except perhaps books-

Unless Xbox is after a market that consumes in 2-3 min bursts 15x a day

I'm not sure how you focus gaming engagement around that

@IronMan30 I definitely wasnt getting 60, think I locked it at 40.
It still has enough jank, and with the smaller screen, 30fps is not bad at all.

Hopefully Bethesda delivers for a change

Didn't he same pretty much the same when they revealed Fallout Shelter?!?!?!?!?

Also Todd's dev studio seems to be really really poorly run, so I don't believe a damn thing he says

@IronMan30 You might be surprised, it looks fantastic on my Deck
Should look good on NS2 as well

@Fiendish-Beaver I honestly won't be surprised if it's 10+ years out at the very least.

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong at Bethesda Studios, they are so weirdly slow at anything

@Sol4ris 🤷‍♂️ I enjoy Pushsquares reviews, same reason I prefer PureXbox reviews.
They sound like they are written by lifelong gamers.

It must be that Xbox tax eh🙃

@Grippie I've got a SteamDeck, case is really good.
For such a pricey handheld, just seems weird there's no case. 🤷‍♂️

@fatpunkslim Curious where you get all your insider information?

Or is your uncle actually Micheal Prachter?

Is this all applicable to Nintendo as well?

@DennisReynolds So basically the illegitimate children of Micheal Prachter?

The lack of an included case is such a strange omission......

So glad this thing is turning out to be pretty decent.
Shame about the price though, a 6-700 price point would be really exciting.

At 1100$ for me with tax, I think I'm still happy with my OG Deck/Series x/PS5 combo

Loving the coverage @FraserG Great stuff!!

PC Gamer is an interesting read, especially for the "PC" angle.

Fair warning, PC Gamer staff are a moody bunch and it leaks into everything they write

@Gabrie The PS5 numbers are kind of odd, I honestly wonder if Ghost of Y ate into early sales?
Odd crossover though

I had a lot of fun with the 1st one, here's hoping they've had a chance to improve it.
Avowed wasn't bad, but way to similar to Outerworlds 1, and that's what's making me a tad worried

@Runex2121 The SteamDecks ergonomics are pretty fantastic when you consider all it does. The weight is the only real downside, and those back trigger buttons are so impractical on a device that size.
The PS Portal is damn near perfect, only downside for me was the touchpad implementation, genuinely hate how that did it.

" One of the best inventions of 2025"-Really????
I'm glad they've streamlined things with Win11 but come on......

EDIT:

Ah it's the top "300" best inventions and the Switch 2 is included as well

@Banjo- Seriously their Code naming conventions are really catchy.
I bet they would have sold a few extra based on name recognition 🙃

"Shrugs" At this point, I just don't care anymore. I've stopped buying anything for the X, or spending time to get the points.

What an absolutely bizarre inclusion......

Surely the long term GP users are not no lifing Fortnite?????

If you're a hard-core Fortnite player, what good is Ultimate?

This doesn't make any sense

• Never played Fortnite, only the rare GP sub, so maybe I'm missing something?

@Nintendo4Sonic Absolutely, it's a fun take on the vampire lore.
I had a lot of fun with it earlier this year.

Kind of a Far Cry/ Steven Kings-Salem Lot mash up

@FraserG
Just curious

Is the PureXbox team not getting review codes?
Or is it workload issues covering Nindy stuff as well.

Seems like y'all don't have reviews constantly for games?

Just kind of bummed out, have greatly enjoyed the reviews from PureXbox team

I saw an IGNer mention that maybe this is Xbox also refusing to take a loss on hardware anymore, and with the added hit of tariffs, MS has said screw it, we lost this gen anyways

Kind of a hmmm..... maybe

@RiverGenie I've sunk 80 hours into SoulStone Survivors, and Brotato...
When these games are good, man are they addictive, it'son sale on a Steam right now too

Must resist