somnambulance

I’ve made the joke before, but is this Gamepass or Battle Pass?

I bought this one pretty close to release and loved it. I put it off for a few months for absolutely no reason and regretted that I did so. The game has a few minor issues with samey enemies and such, but the storyline is fantastic. It’s got some of the absolute best acting and writing in a video game. Period.

I’d give the game an 8/10 overall, but it’s a great 8/10 and I liked it more than some games I’d probably give a 9/10 to. If you value good narratives in games, give this one a look. It’s my personal belief that this game should’ve gotten the type of excitement Clair Obscur received.

Honestly, I really want to play something new, but I feel bad about buying anything new right now, given that Metroid is coming this week and I’m about to buy a Steamdeck and will be sinking some money into starting a Steam library very soon. I have to work today, but it’s snow storm weather, so I sort of want to just curl up and play some games. Realistically though, I think I’m just going to plan my early Steam library and play Arc Raiders… but I keep thinking about The Outer Worlds 2 at random too…

I should go back to Yotei and finish that though, shouldn’t I? Or Silent Hill F? Or Hades 2? For some reason, as good as those games are, man, I’m struggling getting back to them.

I want Fable and Halo’s release dates though…

What a bizarre top 10 list. Shadows being above Yotei is certainly a choice. Good to see a list that’s Gamepass-centric and totally different from what would be expected. Some omissions seem bizarre to me though…

Then again, Expedition 33 wouldn’t be in my list, so I’m sure people would say the same thing about my list.

Nothing so far in any of the sales. I’m still contemplating things. There’s a part of me that wants to buy The Outer Worlds 2, but I’m just not sold yet. Though that’s on PS5… that and Lushfoil Photography Sim I’m thinking about.

Given the price hikes on Xbox, I’m contemplating selling my Series S and Xbox accessories to get the money to buy a Steamdeck a friend of mine is selling. In a way, I’ve sort of got my own Xbox Black Friday sale going on.

I played through Portal yesterday with my son. That was fun. It’s always interesting to share an ancient artifact with him and see what he thinks. He could see the influence in other games he likes such as The Stanley Parable, Superliminal, and The Witness. Not bad observing that for an 8 year old.

Outside that, I’m contemplating jumping on a Black Friday sale for something. While, yes, I still have Yotei and Silent Hill F to complete, I sort of feel like I’m having a hard time pushing myself to play either of them and Portal felt like a breath of fresh air. A friend of mine really wants me to start playing Arc Raiders too, so maybe that’s the answer. I didn’t have time for games for a while, but I think that’ll change a bit this week. Just not sure how yet.

I didn’t buy a 360 until the glory days of Halo, personally. For me, Xbox Live Arcade and Halo were where the console really shined.

Out of that batch, I’d vote for Kameo too, I suppose.

Glad they separated things, so other games could win awards. Looking forward to next year, so the year of E33 can be grommaged by the Paintress. The game’s fine (7/10 for me), but I’m tired of hearing about it. Lol.

Love that Bananza beat E33 by the Critics vote. Would be happy to see similar logic happen at the Geoff Awards with Bananza getting GotY. Would be hilarious to see the reactions next day.

I’d give it a C. It was well produced, but very little I’m personally interested in.

Dave the Diver 2 is definitely the highlight for me. Vampire Crawlers, I will definitely get, though the new genre they’re exploring isn’t a genre I typically enjoy. Curious about Roadside Research and maybe Tides, which looks like E33, Stellar Blade, and Wukong were sharing notes.

It deserved a nod for music and art direction (so did Keeper though). That said though, I think the game was ok to good for the most part beyond that. It’s one of those solid 7/10 type games that is memorable for what it tries to do as a game, but doesn’t fully accomplish, while being a good story and having good atmosphere. It would’ve probably made a better movie than game, in my opinion.

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.