Odium

@Fiendish-Beaver I had never played the first game so I played it on Steam Deck before jumping into 2, it really holds up. There’s a couple of quality of life changes I’d expect to see changed now, but overall it was well worth the playthrough/ another playthrough for anyone who has played it before. The problem is catching it at a good price, I waited for several months before it came down to a good price from that old of a game, for me.

This game should be a message to other developers, sometimes we just want a straight forward, well paced, shorter game that’s just a blast to play. Not every game needs to be massive, open world, super deep in story (that’s coming from someone who went to college for creative writing), or 30+ hour experience.

@REAVERZINE it’s one of the few guarantees in life

I got the platinum for Astro Bot yesterday! A true sign of how much I loved it, because that’s only my second platinum, I don’t go out of my way for them. After that I started up Space Marine 2, the best modern 360/PS3 game out there. I’ve also been playing Skyrim on Steam Deck on the side.

If Shadow of the Erdtree counts, I’ll have to go with that, since I played it on Xbox. I’m guessing for a full fledged game, I’ll likely end up going with Space Marine 2, but I haven’t started it yet. Though Astro is my current GotY, that game is absolutely perfect and delightful to me.

Spending time with my current GotY, Astro Bot. I also started the original Space Marine game on Steam Deck because Steam FINALLY had it on sale for a good price.

I’m mostly obsessing over Astro Bot. My soon to be brother in law had his bachelor party at an F1 simulation place, so we played that for three hours, not usually my thing, but it was fun. Also, I’ve been squeezing on Visions of Mana when my kids steal my PS5.

If they just fixed the checkpoint system/frequency it would improve the game massively, for me.

Please, make War and Fall backwards compatible. I have these on 360 still, but it’d be amazing to be able to play them in Series X/S instead.

This is easily one of my most anticipated games

@Lup I agree that name isn’t great, which is sad because I’ve always said Castlevania has some of the best names in gaming.

I played some of Dead Space Remake. Also, my in-laws have the kids for the weekend, so my wife and I ordered a nice dinner and laid in bed playing It Takes Two for about six hours. What an incredible game. Plus, it was just great having that time with just my wife, even if it’s a strange theme for that exact moment. 😂

Kill Knight looks great! I’m just praying it doesn’t turn out to be a rogue lite/like game.

Tainted Grail could have potential but it looked so janky

Pretty terrible. Reanimal and Indie being announced for my 40th birthday were the only exciting parts for me.

I’m really looking forward to this one

It was easily my favorite of their games, so I’m good with that.

Fantastic news! Tango is such a great studio. Let’s go Hi-Fi Rush 2!!!!

@Stamnoso I completely agree, 20 to 30 hours is the sweet spot for most games. Sure, The Order would be great a little longer but it was fine the length it was.
I played a bit of Ryse and thought it was really good, it just wasn’t what I wanted to play at the time. I want to get back into it.

@Vipor007 for me it has been beyond worth it. I don’t get much game time in these days with two kids and working full time but I manage to get some in here and there while on the go. I don’t have a gaming PC so it’s been great playing Steam games on it. Plus, it runs most games phenomenally. Every now and then I have a small issue but it’s rare and usually easily fixed. I definitely recommend it.

@gravelmonkey The Order 1886 gets a ton of hate but I personally loved it. I even enjoyed the short run time, I don’t need every game being 50-100 hours, sometimes you just need a brief 5-10 hour game.

On Steam Deck I squeezed in a bit of Sekiro last night. Then, after the kids went to bed, I started Kumitsu-Gami Path of the Goddess on Game Pass. PotG is very much a “just one more round” kind of game, I played four or five levels after only intending to play one, I’m really loving it so far

I couldn’t care less about it but I’m hoping it’s great for those who are excited about it.

@Moby Jack Black as Clap Trap is probably the only thing about this movie that made sense to me. Kevin Hart makes absolutely no sense as Roland, that casting alone told me all I needed to know about this movie.

I finally beat Genichiro in Sekiro and made my way through Senpou Temple, so on to the next area

I’m on vacation but I’m squeezing in Sekiro when I’m inevitably not sleeping. I finally beat Genichiro after an embarrassing amount of attempts.

But it had so much going for it, like there was that one scene … wait, that was Reptar. Oh! There was that time where Chief … nope, that was Reptar too. Nevermind.

I’m still working my way through Shadow of the Erdtree, but because I hate myself, I’m also playing Sekiro on Steam Deck.

I don’t know if I’d ever get around to playing it but The Case of the golden Idol looks great

I’ve been interested in Neon White but haven’t wanted to pull the trigger, I’ll definitely give it a go on Game Pass.

I did much better with it before they changed things up, but it’s still free money so I won’t complain about it.

It’s been a fantastic year, so far. Stellar Blade is definitely my GotY so far, though Shadow of the Erdtrrr could be if it wasn’t a DLC, though it might as well be Elden Ring 2.

Really glad it’s not one of those rare times I actually get game time. I tried signing in just for my son because it wasn’t syncing his data, I couldn’t sign in at all, he had no issues but he’s not connected to Live.

@gravelmonkey The Order is such an underrated game. It gets a ton of hate for being short, but I don’t need every game to be a 25+ hour experience. Sure, it could have been a bit longer, but I loved it regardless.

I’m mostly focusing on Shadow of the Erdtree. I had bought the Kimgdom Hearts Collection on Steam but it was almost unplayable on Steam Deck with how much it kept freezing. I returned it and ordered the Metal Gear Solid Collection and Hogwarts Legacy instead. I fired up MGS for the first time since beating it on PlayStation.

@somnambulance I came across Rellana first, even though I explored Belurat first, I eventually left and went to the dungeon Rellana is in. I got stuck on her, so I went and finished out Belurat until I came across the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, it took me several tries but I got through it MUCH quicker than Rellana.

@NEStalgia mild correction, your don’t above to beat the base game to access the DLC just two bosses.

I’ve bought every From Soulsborne game too and usually got decently far in them but would fall off. This one held my attention from start to finish, even with being burnt out on the genre of game. The exploration is done better than any other open world game, in my opinion. What I truly adore about it though, is that I’ve never truly gotten stuck in the game. You can come across a boss, enemy, or area that is just wrecking you left and right, but all you have to do is go explore somewhere else and return later. That’s a huge advantage, to me, over other games in the genre where you come across a boss and you’re stuck there until you take them down. The game still isn’t for everyone, I won’t pretend like it is, but I know people who refused to ever play a game in the genre but picked it up because of hype and ended up platinuming it.

I could have used this when I was stuck on Rellana for as long as I was. Oh well, I beat her eventually.

I’m going to draw a lot of ire here, but I think Beyond Good and Evil is an extremely overrated game. I’ve tried it several times and every time I’ve gotten bored and moved on to something else.

I finished up Stellar Blade, jumped back into a bit of FFVII Rebirth, and even though I had no plans to play it, I spent most of my time playing Shadow of the Erdtree.

@rustyduck I don’t disagree, while I do love a good sword/melee game, I’m sick of every game feeling like they have to be a Souls game. Shooters, especially third person shooters like Killswitch and Mercenaries, have gotten pushed to the back burner, or focus too much on multiplayer. I’d gladly sacrifice half of these sword/melee games for a good single player shooter.
That’s one of the reasons I’m so disappointed in Apex Legends, Titanfall 2 was a phenomenal single player campaign, but they scrapped any chance of a third entry for a multiplayer only game. At least we still have Doom and Indy on the way.

I’m so torn on this game, it looks great, but I’m completely burnt out on Souls style games.

I’m making my way through Stellar Blade, I have a couple more missions before I move on to the first point of no return mission. I’m also playing Redfall on Steam Deck because it was absurdly cheap, honestly, it’s not good, but it is fun.

Not going to lie, this trailer did absolutely nothing for me.

I’m so excited they’re going back to E Day! Plus, that version of Mad World gave me

I’m doing my part!

@Eejay he’s rolling in his grave at the name change though

This was easily my GotY last year, I can’t wait for more!

I played a good amount of it on Steam Deck and I really enjoyed it but I fell off of it. It’s a very 360 style game which I really loved.

Played a couple of rounds with my seven year old son on release date and we had a great time. I’m looking forward to jumping back in with him.