somnambulance

So we know four of them.

I’m hoping for Pragmata’s release date. #2 could be that!

I love that they did this. It’s actually pretty fun. Hoping to see more guesses.

Right in time for lunch for me!

As of right now, my expectations are nil, but my hopes are that I want to buy something after the showcase concludes. Novel hope to have these days, isn’t it?

The worst thing about this statement is that it will likely mean that developers will continue making bloated $70 games and F2P live service titles, totally ignoring the fact that some of us just want a strong narrative adventure game that’s short enough to play through in a week or two sold at a reasonable price.

That said, after Shadows, I’m taking a break from Ubisoft for a couple years. I like their games, but man do they feel samey.

I hope this is a better showcase than that last Sony one. I can honestly say there’s not much I’m currently excited about next year, but I’m ready to change my mind.

Game Pass? More like Battle Pass!

@VisitingComet1 Ironically enough, with FPS boost on Xbox, I think the original looks and feels better than the remake, which is sort of obviously a dated game with slightly polished skin. I love the game, but I’d be the first one to admit that the game felt a little dated at release and it was really noticeable to me in the remake, but less so with my own experience of the original on modern hardware. The story is pretty wonderful and a true time capsule to its era. I love it, even if it sounds like I’m emphasizing that the game has aged a little bit. I gave the original my personal GotY the year it came out, many moons ago now. I just have to point it out because it could be something you think about the game trying it out.

That said though, the second one feels much more modern, and is a current day masterpiece that is among the best level design of linear games this generation. The team learned a lot when making Control.

@GamingGod the best part is that you’ve barely scratched the surface of the game yet. Arguably, the most ludicrous level/scene to occur in any game is in Alan Wake 2. You’ll know what I mean when you get there. Have fun!

@OldGamer999 For me, Nintendo’s doing that next year. Mario Tennis and Pokopia are both going to be day 1 buys, and then there’s that Yoshi game Q2, Fire Emblem, and Splatoon Raiders, which might not have release dates but are also great looking games. This is what we know so far with Nintendo too. Sure, they’re mostly smaller stakes games, but they all look like a lot of fun.

Xbox has a good line-up already too of four games. Sony has four first party games too with Saros, Wolverine, Marvel Tokon, and Marathon. I wouldn’t say Sony has a good line-up though… Might be the weakest first party year Sony has had this generation outside 2023 (which was a year mostly held up by third party exclusives rather than new first party content).

I’m expecting nothing, but I’m hoping for Fable and OD… and I’m sort of hoping they’re multiplatform. It would be nice to get a new Halo multiplayer experience too.

@GamingGod You know, between the two of them, I don’t know which one I prefer. Honestly, if the gaming industry can continue making games like those, we’re in a good spot.

@GamingGod Two of the absolute best games this generation

I’m going to be playing move furniture back into my living room and my daughter’s room after finishing painting and installing floors. I threw my sofa away, so when I do hook my consoles back up… I have nowhere to sit. I will be playing “search for a new sofa” after that. I’d like to say I’ll be settling down to play Yotei, but I don’t quite know if I’ll have time. All I can guarantee is that, in the absence of having my console games to play while I move stuff, Balatro on my phone will say hi.

It’s funny to me that this game is starring the actor from Gilmore Girls and This Is Us. I can’t help but think of this game as a mid-quel between both of those shows because it makes things more entertaining to me.

I’m ok with any next gen consoles being delayed. Five years later, the need for a generational leap still feels low to me.

To be honest, with Xbox basically collapsing and Sony being patchy on the first party front this generation, I’m feeling open to the Steam Machine, even though I haven’t been a PC gamer for ages. It seems Steam is more consumer forward, honestly.

I’ve cancelled my subscription. Not sure if I’ll spend any more money on Xbox as a platform. We will have to see how the next generation goes or whether or not stuff like Fable is multiplat. I’ll buy Fable if it’s only on Xbox.

Me too. I’d be getting Halo on Switch 2 rather than PS5 if that was an option.

@Tasuki I’d buy this for Fallout London. That’d be wonderful, but highly unlikely

It’s… not for me. It’s fine, played a little bit of it, but, at the end of the day, Ragebound is the NG game this year that hooked me instead

Maybe I’ll finally go back to Yotei or start with Arc Raiders? The Kirby demo is this weekend too, so I’ll try to do that. I haven’t played much of anything this week, so I’d like to play something.

Guess they’re rescheduling some planned release dates and making it a “a full year of excitement,” I’d wager.

Want to make a bet 2026’s release schedule will be barren now as things were likely internally delayed to accommodate for GTA and are likely delaying again?

Single played was… fine. It wasn’t quite up to par with previous entries. I think it had some interesting ideas though and it’s a shame that they weren’t utilized to the fullest extent.

That said, I loved the multiplayer. That was the last year that I was sort of a multiplayer slob in life before finding my footing as an adult and I have great nostalgia for my time playing the game. I have to bump up my score to a 9/10 for that.

I’m excited for Fable and Halo. I can’t resist the draw to play Halo on PS5 for the sheer novelty of it too. I guess I’m excited for GTA too, but I’m also sort of apprehensive of it. Beast of Reincarnation, Pragmata, Bubsy, Resident Evil, and Witchbrook are the only third party games right now I feel really good about.

If I’m going to be honest, I’d think next year looks like a mostly Switch 2 year for me with the current line-up, but Halo might be the game I’m most excited about. I just literally got those young feelings from seeing it and my son agreed to play co-op, so I’m ready to finish the fight… for the thousandth time.

I hope I’m right and that Halo will be first. I expect Fable to be last to keep it positioned away from GTA.

At Fate’s End, Beast of Reincarnation, Fable, and Replaced all appeal to me. Probably Resonance too.

I’m sorry but I need to buy Halo on PS5 for the sheer novelty of it

Xbox has had a strong line-up this year, perhaps better than PlayStation due to volume, but I think Yotei may beat the first party studio games by Xbox this year.

That said, Gamepass had two games I’ve enjoyed more: Blue Prince and… of course… to a T.

That’s a bummer they’re losing Stalker. It’s a gnarly game, pretty unique, sort of like Fallout if it was frowning instead of smiling if you know what I mean.

I thought it was too hard to beat, but I had a lot of fun with it, even with the jank. It was playable jank.

Nothing of interest for me in November, but I can’t wait to see how Routine actually turned out this December after years of silence.

As for me, Katamari and Mortal Kombat on the Switch 2 if I find time, but I’ve been constantly working either for my job or home projects the last few weeks and I keep having to invest more time and more time. I’m sort of wearing out from it, but I’ve got no choice. Sometimes house projects need to happen and you just got to keep working on it, right? The only downside is sometimes one project becomes four then becomes twelve and so on and so forth. I’d like to play Arc Raiders, but I just don’t know if I’ll have time for it.

@Kezelpaso Totally! I hope other developers are taking notes because THIS is how you make live service start to improve its image to critical gamers.

I agree. I played the tutorial section and that’s it yesterday, but I was really impressed with how it looks and feels like “a real game,” if that makes sense. Live service multiplayer games have gotten into this very distinctive feel and this one hits just a little bit different and I think that’s awesome. I haven’t played an actual match yet, but I just felt good playing the tutorial before trying Redsec for one introductory match as well.

Got to say, it’s been a long time coming, but Arc Raiders might finally be the multiplayer game for me.

I’d like to try Outer Worlds 2 by years’ end, but I only have so much time. I think I’ll vote for Keeper, even though I’ve barely touched it. Katamari and Pokemon have sort of soaked up most of my gaming time as of late.

Genuinely curious if Routine has been worth the wait.

Double interesting that it’s a genuine Xbox console exclusive.

Guys, it makes more sense now. Tik Tok is the competition because Xbox executives are suffering from a heavy case of brain rot. Skibidi toilets are stopping people from playing Halo. Yes, this is the battle Xbox is facing.

Finished Pokemon Z-A this morning (and the final season of Resident Alien, as much as that is not a game). And after that, there was a new Katamari game. I will be out of town in a moment for the next two days. I will bring the Switch 2, sooooo… maybe a round of Hades 2 and Absolum to complement Katamari? Or maybe just Katamari. Katamari is such pure good to me.

Looking forward to buying this on PlayStation for the novelty of it alone!

Fallout 3 was, at one point, my favorite game of all time. Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim were also defining games for me. That said, I really don’t know how I feel about whatever Bethesda has cooking. Bethesda’s releases since Skyrim have been sort of disappointing.

Fallout 4 felt like a disappointment when it released. I mean, it was an 8/10 for me, but Bethesda was a 10/10 machine for a while. They were probably my favorite developer. I felt like it was missing a secret ingredient that other Bethesda games had and it patched over that with a base building mechanic that may have been for other people, but not for me.

Then, Fallout 76 was disastrous at launch and Starfield was… just sort of there? I dunno. Starfield was like space for me. It felt big and empty. And now, we’re almost 15 years since Bethesda’s had a bonafide hit. I know there’s rumors of a Fallout 3 remaster, but I mean, what? Is that going to be a remaster like Oblivion’s where it’s just a fresh coat of paint, so you can get your nostalgia fix til you realize how old the bones are?

And here we are now, almost a decade since ES6 was announced with no vision of what that is or where that’s at. Does Todd really expect anyone to trust something truly exciting is on the horizon any time soon?

I want to believe, but I don’t.

I think there’s a lot of comments here that are predicting the future. It’s going to price out gamers from the Xbox ecosystem and probably be a powerful console. They’re done with the gaming is for everyone rhetoric with their consoles and are going to apply that to xCloud. I have a feeling the console will be a PC meant to be plugged into a TV. We will have to see more, of course. I’m sure it’ll be an impressive piece of tech. It’ll take something truly special for me to be interested in purchasing it at this point, honestly.

Allegedly the review embargo is on 10/23. I hope this is accurate. Looking forward to reviews either way.

@Odium It literally feels like there’s a smear campaign that has been wagered to have people blindly hate the game. Personally, I might say it’s one of the most fun Pokemon games I’ve ever played. Are there some issues? Yes, the lack voice acting is an actual issue in this one since there’s a lot a lot of dialogue. The tutorialization of the intro drove me nuts, but my son needed it, so… I mean, the 8 year olds are who Pokémon is designed for, so I can’t be mad! I’m still not sure about the story, but the tone is so darn cozy and the combat and catching… I’m finding it hard to stop playing it. It’s an achievement for Game Freak that the gameplay is so solid. I get that the city is a bit samey, but I’m maybe 12 hours in now and it feels like the game is perhaps a smaller, tighter Pokemon game, so I don’t mind. I mean, all of my Pokemon in my party are edging to level 60 currently and I’m rank D, so I’ve got to be a decent chunk in. And the visuals? Sure environments look a bit dated, but the character models are pretty solid. They’re no Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth models, but they’re definitely comparable to most other AAA JRPGs releasing on modern consoles. And the performance is seamless and smooth. It’s arguably the best running 3D Pokemon game I’ve played and that includes games such as the original X and Y years back.

Granted, I liked ScarVi too, so take my opinion with a grain of salt because I liked that one (and we all know that certain sections of the internet view that as heresy, basically), thought it was one of the best games the year it released in spite of its technical shortcomings, but I’ve also had no issues with being critical of Pokemon when I felt it was necessary. I just felt it was more necessary in Gen 3 and 4, and a little bit in Gen 7 and 8 too. But even so, I don’t think Pokemon has ever produced a “bad” mainline game either. Pokemon was never my favorite franchise, but it’s been one I’ve liked enough to play each game as they’ve released.

I think it’s strange too that people are creating this pit match between Digimon and Pokemon right now too, as if they can’t both be good games of relatively similar quality. We’re getting solid games here, people, let’s celebrate it where it’s due.

@Markatron84 I had a segment on the local morning news about affordable Halloween costumes, so very similar! Lol

Nah, that price point is an eyesore. It looks like a really nice piece of tech, but I’m sort of hoping the market gives Microsoft a reality check on overpricing the market. Though… I’m not sure if Microsoft is trying to sell their hardware anymore these days…

Pokémon Z-A. I am suspecting everything else I was playing will temporarily be put on hold for a bit after my session last night. The discussion on its “Dreamcast visuals” is totally overblown and untrue. If we’re going to pick a topic that makes more sense to go after Game Freak about, it’d be the lack of voice acting…

Anyway, the gameplay so far is just so good and addictive! I had a hard time putting the game down now that I’m finally out of the introductory portion of the game and I have the freedom to play as I like.

I was playing other things before Pokemon, such as Absolum, Hades 2, and Yotei, but those games will be on ice for a little bit.

Also, I’ll be making a habit of showing off that I was on TV yesterday! Lol.

@Kezelpaso Lol. South of Midnight is my current favorite! I’m curious if Outer Worlds 2 will have a word or not yet though.

Hearing that it’s so short makes me want to try it, even though I have a bunch of other games I’m playing at the moment. Sounds like it might be a candidate for being the best first party title this year.

Looking forward to reading reviews on this one. I simply don’t have enough time to add this one to the docket this October, though I want to purchase it.

Rarely these days. I mean, every once in a while I’ll replay something retro but it’s uncommon. I struggle to play remasters and remakes a lot of the time too.

Looking forward to reading those Keeper reviews and potentially purchasing.

@InterceptorAlpha I agree with you 100%. When I think back, I was such a diehard Microsoft guy maybe 10 years ago, and now, I don’t know if I even want to support them at all anymore. I know I’ll be buying OD whenever that comes out, but I’ll be hoping it’s on other platforms, and that’s more to support Kojima. I’ve never soured on a brand we much as I have for Xbox in the last maybe 4 years. The worst part is that I kept seeing glimmers of hope, but every time, EVERY TIME, there would be a turn face from Xbox right after the glimmers. I just don’t get it.

Walmart has definitely been reducing their Xbox presence, locally to me, at least. When the Switch 2 launched, Nintendo basically took the Xbox shelf-space at my local Walmart and now Xbox is in a little corner in the back of the electronics section. The Walmart near me is on the smaller side and there’s not much space. I figured Xbox weren’t selling, so they removed that space, you know? There’s a larger selection of vinyl than Xbox games at my Walmart.

Meanwhile, Target just hasn’t been stocking Xbox stuff. My son wanted me to resub to Gamepass for his birthday, so I’d been scoping out Target to get a gift card, but for a whole darn month they didn’t restock their Gamepass gift cards. It’s been a month since and even last week they weren’t in-stock. That could be incompetence on their part though, as they’re routinely sold out of the physical Switch games too.