CJD87

Classy move for sure and great for everyone who snagged a bargain

Great news for Switch owners!

PSA - For anyone looking to pick up on Steam/Deck... this game has been announced as part of the upcoming Steam Winter Sale, which kicks off later today (Thurs 18th Dec) approx 6pm GMT (~1PM EST)

If mouse mode is added that would be incredible

Also big respect for Larian offering this FOC for existing owners of the Switch1 game, very classy and will no doubt curry a lot of favour from S2 players

Roll on Baldurs 3 port..

@Ralizah Perhaps the Returnal comparison was maybe a step too far, but I still think a switch to 3rd person might have really changed things up - for the better. Or at the very least, show some kind of formula evolution….
Glad the game is landing for you though, but I can’t help think ‘what could have been’ without the troubled development cycle and if this has been a Sw2 exclusive.

To be positive though- the wealth of control options is maybe the best I’ve ever seen. I tested them all out of curiosity and they all work incredibly well! Arguably mouse-mode offers a level of precision unnecessary in a FPS game with lock-on, but it still feels really quite good

@GgGames Yeh snap, I don't want to sound like a hater either - but I am genuinely amazed to see so many 9s and 10s...

I'm delighted that it is landing well with so many people, but personally for me it is a 'solid 7/10' game - and sadly a disappointment vs expectation.

I appreciate it is the love-child of a troubled production cycle, multi developers etc.... but so much of this game misses the mark for me. Whilst it looks and plays gorgeously (4K 60fps in handheld is wonderful) I feel the whole project should have taken a different approach.

If it was down to me, I would have curbed BC with Switch1 completely - and really lean into the superior S2 technology in earnest. Maybe also a shift to 3rd-person, ramp up the combat encounters (similar to Returnal perhaps? 3rd person / bullet hell) and then also made it much more open ended. The linearity and hand-holding is perhaps Prime 4s biggest weakness.

Don't get me started on the bike and desert...!

But yeah, I don't buy into the completely toxicity of negativity in some corners of the internet. This game is far from a trash fire, and perhaps one of the most buttery smooth things I have ever played on a handheld in my life...a real benchmark setter. I just wish the actual 'game' was more engaging and less regressive. A lot has changed (in a good way) in the MV genre since Prime4 began development, would have been nice to see some of it implemented here

**EDIT - above is purely my subjective opinion, no more right/wrong than anyone else on this site. I am honestly pleased to see so many people enjoying it, and am sad I am not one of them! I hope this entry doesn't condemn Metroid to the same coffin as Starfox/FZero... bring on Dread 2 by Mercury Steam Team (fingers crossed)

I fear that this collection will get lost in amongst all the 'big hitter' titles out this year.... but genuinely I am having much more fun with the Simogo collection than I am with Prime 4 (!)

I must confess I have not played Sayonara WH, but "Lorelei & The Laser Eyes" was in my top 3 GOTY year last year... just incredible! Lorelei was like a cross between old-school Resident Evil mixed with Myst/Riven, just an incredible puzzle game.

After beating Lorelei I was really keen to get into Simogo's back catalogue, but understood their 'classics' (Device 6 etc) were not available. I had no idea that this collection was launching until I saw the review on this site ha!

A dream come true, and a terrific little collection.

I don't have a huge issue with this - although I would agree that the Marvelisation of this franchise is wholly unnecessary. I do think though that a grittier tonality would have fit the IP better, instead of dialogue full of 'witty snark' .

My main concern is that this title won't reach its full potential being BC, and that a Switch2 exclusive would have allowed us to really lean into 'the best version' of what MP4 could/should have been.

I'm sure it'll be a good game undoubtedly, but I reckon the metacritic will land around ~8/10ish. I don't think this will be revolutionary, but hopefully good enough for those that enjoy the genre.

For me personally, hard mode from the day 1 would have been really nice (as opposed to an unlock from beating the game once). But this is purely because I tend not to replay game.

Hope the game does well though, and yappy NPCs really aren't that big a deal! An annoyance, but hardly a game-breaking bug

I'm not 'anti-innovation' by any means.... but this kind of output is just desperately what I don't want from FromSoft.

I'm glad Nightreign has found its audience, and I wish it continued success, but it would have been really nice for Duskbloods to be a more traditional FromSoft experience - geared towards solo players, but opportunity to invade/summon (optional not mandatory, similar to DS and Elden Ring)

Whilst the use of AI within the gaming industry genuinely does bother/concern me personally, I would be inclined to agree with the sentiments of the interviewee here....

I highly doubt that the younger generation, Roblox players and/or mobile gamers, really care at all about AI usage! I have kids myself that fall into that category, and am certain they would not give a damn about AI usage (sad but true)

Yeh in fairness I think N have done a solid job here - and it has been a much better move to cast 'relative unknowns' in the roles.

It seems like the inverse casting tactic vs the Mario Movies - where N seem to be going for as much 'Star Power' as possible...

Good luck to the production, hope it does well. Recent adaptations such as Fallout and TLoU (season 1!) give me faith that this can be done pretty well

Such a weird case for me - the more I see unveiled, the less excited I am

A peripheral NPC/companion that is fluent in ‘Marvel-snark’…(!) No thanks I can absolutely live without that

I really really want this game to be good, but having been spoilt by BG3 recently, I’m hoping for the characters to relatively well drawn

got it on pre-order, looking to boot it up later this week.

Sounds like it could be challenging, but surely no worse than Lost Lace at the end of Act 3..

Great article NintendoLife - but a small request for future... is it possible to get all the games noted/listed in some kind of table format? To save clicking through several pages?

Would be ideal as would let me take a screenprint and save for viewing later!

Wow just played 15 mins and Ubi have done a great job here.

The second this game hits sale price, as most Ubi games do, I'll be purchasing for sure

3rd party adoption of Switch2 is absolutely a good thing…. Fallout4, AC Shadows and 40k Rogue Trader all announced in same week. Really positive and has me hopeful for BG3 and RDR2.

Awesome news. So this is sort of like Baldurs Gate 3 meets Warhammer? I wonder if mouse-mode will be taken advantage of. Delighted to see this

Kart racing games generally 'aren't for me' - but the MKW Switch2 bundle was too good a deal to pass on.

I enjoyed the little time I spent with MKW (maybe 20-25hrs tops) and challenged myself to get 3* rankings on all cups 150cc/mirror. The conventional grand prix mode was hard, but Knockout Tour was a level of difficulty spike that makes Silksong look fair! The adaptive AI is really jarring, in so far that it is almost actually beneficial to 'play worse' so that the AI doesn't overcompensate and wreck you.

The open-world element was what felt really undercooked as well, not to mention that only recently (last 2 weeks?) a 'checklist' function was patched in..... for the life of me I cannot understand why it wasn't a day 1 feature. But checklisting aside, so much of the open world element just felt like busy-work.... and not at all in the spirit of MK.

I would have personally preferred some kind of 'open hub' (similar to Monster Hunter) where you can zip around between races and perhaps upgrade your kart and characters stats + aesthetics. IMO this was a real missed opportunity to allow players to customise karts/characters as well as play with stats. Maybe even some minor crafting, based on items looted from particular tracks and/or open world challenges.... something to incentivise the exploration and reward completion of Pswitch challenges.

I basically put the game down once I'd got 3*** on all the cups, and played a bit of Knockout online. Admittedly though Knockout online absolutely pops IMO, pure chaos and insanity but a ton of fun.

Played a bit of Sonic at a friends on PS5. On face value, it seems a slightly better package (currently) than MKW and also far stronger value for money. I think if SEGA manage to pull off a decent Switch2 port then this thing will really sell.

Competition is good though, and I hope that SEGA infringing on the karting market might force Nintendo to re-look at MKW and look/work to expand the title via some solid DLC roadmapping.

Cracking game, and a really really solid port. The quality of this + SW Outlaws makes me hopeful for the next couple years where 3rd party efforts are concerned

I played the Early Access on Steamdeck last year, and even in its unfinished state the game really is a masterpiece.

I still think E33 will ultimately be my personal GOTY but it’s going to be a really hard call to guess how the award itself will land.

But yeah for anyone who enjoyed Hades 1, this is an easy recommend. Such immaculate writing and iconography as well, the characters you come across all look fantastic too. Chronos makes for just as interesting & nuanced a villain as Hades did in the first game

@BrewsterTea I think I'm sold! I played a lot of Hades 2 in Early Access, so I'm less fussed about that. (BTW, H2 is amazing)

FF Tactics gives me a week to finish off Silksong, which I am absolutely ready to say goodbye to

I've never played this game before, and am very interested. I've actually never really committed to a SRPG before....

I enjoy deck-builders, and the turn based elements of Slay-The-Spire + Balatro etc.... so I'd like to think I have the patience and strategy. Is FF Tactics penetrably enough for newcomers to the genre? Newbie friendly?

I really really want to believe that GF have a 'great Pokemon game' in them somewhere.... but they seem to keep missing the mark?

I'm not a huge fan of the franchise (just 'not for me' ) but I have incredibly fond memories playing Red/Blue on the original gameboy back as a kid.

I wonder if part of the problem is just how much of a mega franchise Pokemon is. The sales figures on the last 2 mainline games, especially considering the few years since release, are absolutely insane... even moreso when you consider how divisively S/V was met due to performance and graphical hiccups.

I guess GF are maybe conditioned to know that whatever they release, and in whatever state, the sales will always be there by virtue of it being Pokemon.

I must say I like what they are doing with the battle system in ZA, and it almost looks like they've cribbed from FF7 remake with a mixed turn-based/action hybrid system.

They seem to have a lot of good ideas... but execution of these, and performance/fidelity, seem a little haphazard?

I'm rooting for ZA, and hope it comes good in the end

@Deemo37 just wait until you go through Mount Fay to get the double jump ability... absolutely the worst part of the game, and borderline unenjoyable! Aside from that though, I think SS genuinely delivers... and I'm pleased that Team Cherry delivered the game 'they wanted to make' without compromises or pandering etc. A good job, and the boss designs/patterns are really excellent I feel

I’ve actually enjoyed this game more since hitting Act 2, and so far I think it’s a solid 9/10.

I still slightly prefer Nine Sols, but Silksong is still a tremendous game…. And the quality of workmanship is quite something, considering the tiny dev team.

It’s had me banging my head against a wall quite a few times, but I really respect the devs for creating the game they wanted to - and not compromising by pandering to a mass-market.

It won’t be for everyone, and is perhaps even more obtuse than HK, but I’d definitely suggest giving it a shot if you don’t mind challenging games.

(The boss run backs though…! I must have done the run-back to Last judge about 100 times)

Question - when FF7R was originally released, you needed to beat the game on 'Normal' mode to unlock the 'Hard' mode.

Will this mean that 'Hard' is available from the get-go? Or similar to before you will need to beat Normal?

Interesting debate here, but more curious for me is the bosses they chose to nerf….

I beat Moorwing a few days ago (pre-patch) and genuinely didn’t think there was a balance issue here. I’m certainly no elite gamer (I still cannot beat Savage Beastfly… coming back to him later once I’m more OP lol) but Moorwing has pretty well-telegraphed moves, it’s just the projectile dodging that caught me a few times

Generally so far this game is hard for sure, but hasn’t felt insurmountable at any point yet.

Generally speaking though I’m actually a little against difficulty options in games, as I would prefer to play as per the developer’s ‘vision’. It’s not really clear what is the intended experience when selecting a difficulty option, at least not for me.

Not wanting to sound like a gatekeeper, but HK was a hard challenging game / made for people who like that kind of thing (I’m one of those people regrettably)

I guess not every game can be for every player and this also works inversely… for instance I’d be far more drawn to Bananza if there was opportunity to ramp up the difficulty

Anyway, nice to see SS out in the wild and complete. So far for me it’s probably an 8/10….. I still prefer Nine Sols and the Blasphemous games though!

A demo is a great idea. Perhaps Ubi themselves are surprised with how successfully this game has landed... with even Digital Foundry giving it a rubber stamp of acceptable performance.

Ubi probably want to ride this wave, and convince those on the fence that this game is worth playing (via a demo no less, a great convincer when the quality is there to show off)

Outlaws being a runaway success and performing adequately on Switch2 was definitely not on the 2025 bingo card for me... fair play to Ubi.

Admittedly I’ve downloaded the demo but not played yet…..

I understand this is kind of like Monster Hunter, in terms of gameplay loop/mechanics, albeit with mechs?

I really loved Armored Core 6, and am a huge MH fan too

How bad is the frame rate for those who have the game? I’m currently playing Wildhearts S, which absolutely has a few big drops occasionally…. But it actually hasn’t hindered my enjoyment at all (maybe my expectations are low, as MH Rise on OG Switch struggled a bit and the drops didn’t bother me then either!)

Obviously Silksong...

But concurrently I'm still chipping away at Wildhearts S, maybe the most addicted I've been to a game since MHRise/Break (!) Now at the chapter 5 stage, hunting the Volatiles and 'Deeply Volatiles'... not managed to beat any of the DVs yet, so constantly grinding materials to upgrade armor and enhance survivability.
Wildhearts is definitely a rough gem, and if framerates/performance were slightly improved I genuinely think it could/should have been viewed as a legit competitor for MH. Tons of great ideas that are relatively well executed. Just needs more monsters, more maps and additional weapon skills/playstyles.

Back to Silksong though... a few hours in and definitely enjoying it, great pricepoint. Its fun for sure, but I think I still favor the parry-based combat of Nine Sols (which is a top-tier Metroidvania, up there with PoP Lost Crown)

@crispfood2 In fairness, >80% of my playtime has been handheld - so I can't speak much for docked performance. Glad that a patch is inbound though for those who have noticed and/or been disappointed in the graphical fidelity

Ah ‘the game that broke the e-shop’ is a nice final publicity angle for Team Cherry (!)

Less than 17 £GBP in the UK, so I certainly don’t begrudge the additional waiting time from release… had a few mines crashes but managed to get it downloaded now

Maybe there’s hope for Elden Ring yet….!?

As others have said, as soon as Outlaws hits the inevitable Ubisoft price-drop then I’ll be grabbing this without hesitation.

Other Ubi games I’ve played recently, including PoP Lost Crown and Immortals Fenyx Rising, have been pretty enjoyable. Especially Lost Crown, which IMO is a criminally underrated metroidvania

@Picola-Wicola yeh it’s a weird space we find ourselves in today, regarding expectation and entitlement…

I’m definitely not defending games that are outright broken and/or buggy messes, but equally I don’t think an occasional frame drop is reason for mass outrage and boycotting (!)

I remember one particularly nasty thread about Donkey Kong, with various contributors spitting some real venom due to the 60fps occasionally dropping just slightly lower

The Switch2 is an awesome device, but it’s not a miracle machine… the portability factor + hardware limitations are always going to mean it’s ’behind the curve’ vs its competitor contemporary consoles

I’m fine with the trade off as I travel for work, so portability is ‘the only show in town’ for me.

But Shinobi looks and plays awesome as it is IMO - but hoping the new patch works to alleviate some of the negative discourse that is ruminating..

Maybe my standards are lower than others, but the game seems fine on Switch2?

I’m definitely not turning my nose up at any patch that will improve performance/fidelity… but seems that the occasional consumer outrage is somewhat unjustified?

I'm 100% going to get this.. but not right now.

Ubisoft games seem to go on sale super quickly, like a couple of months following release... so DekuDeals alert is set up

I'll grab this 100%, but only as/when it lands on sale

Aside from the lengthy period/s of absolute silence, and all the contention around whether or not this game would exist (!)…. You’ve got to hand it that TC have been extremely pro-consumer since the announcement at Gamescom.

Honouring the KS pledges of the original game with a free copy of Silksong, plus putting it on Gamepass Day1, plus an incredibly reasonable price point for everyone else….. it really is quite disheartening that TC are the exception here instead of the rule!

Would be great to see this kind of pro-customer attitude from other studios

Good luck to TC, and here’s hoping it lands well critically and commercially (I’m certain it will on both fronts)

Great to see the Birdman still hanging in at #10…! Would hope the sales revenue can justify a THUG remake - or even better, a completely new entry..?

@Notsoavid 100% mate..... I honestly think this game could have really 'taken off' if the performance/bugging had been resolved at the original launch.

Its defo scratching the MH itch. Not enjoying it as much as Rise, but I actually favour Wildhearts > World

I'm interested, but I'll just hang on a bit for gameplay footage via video reviews etc

I recently brought Wildhearts S, which many review outlets and gamers defined as 'unplayable' due to some frame drops in busy combat periods ... but genuinely I am 70hrs deep into that game and its a blast. Similar performance to how MHRise ran on Switch1.

Switch2 isn't a miracle machine, and some of these 3rd party ports will be a bit ropey....

$ 20 / £ 20 will be a killer price-point for this game, and probably the perfect sweet-spot to entice those that are 'on the fence' but not yet certain about committing.

I was expecting around ~30$ / 30£, and would have happily paid this, and equally I think Team Cherry wouldn't have been outrageous in asking this either.

If it turns out to be true, seems to be a very consumer-friendly pricing strategy.... even moreso considering the landscape of gaming becoming an increasingly expensive hobby.

My excitement is definitely tempered, mainly due to this title being BC with Switch1....

I appreciate it will still look and play remarkable on Switch2, but I'm really keen now for new titles to fully take advantage of the new tech.

Yeh I like the style, albeit the length of development time still fascinates me.... I'd love to be a fly on the wall 'behind the scenes' just to understand what took so long? I'm delighted its finally here, and it will be a day 1 for me - but my mind is blown that the development years are pretty much the same as Baldurs 3!

@H3X3NH4MM3R - that is a great quote! A podcast I regularly listen to (WhatCulture Gaming, UK) quoted the same words last week, and rings very true.

Props to Team Cherry, as ultimately I want to experience the nature of the game as the devs intended it - in its purest curated form etc

Quite looking forward to it actually, bring on the 4th

I like that Team Cherry have 'stuck to their guns' in terms of difficulty/challenge.

I appreciate that this may make the game inaccessible for some players who appreciate an easier ride, but equally I think that arbitrary 'difficulty sliders' can sometimes compromise the artistic vision...

@PeterPanana Sorry to hear that but I haven't experienced this at all! Maybe something else? Have you since re-tested the Nintendo dock??

@Divide_and_Wander On a serious note.... I wonder if Nintendo have been purposefully waiting to hear/lock-in the Silksong release date, and holding back on MP4 until it is clear when the release window will be.

Likely that MP4 and SS have a similar audience(?) and Nintendo is perhaps wanting players to have time to play, complete, digest SS... and then maybe this means MP4 in November/December?

@Spedfrom Fully agree re. FromSoft... they are missing an open goal here. The game just needs to mirror how it runs on Steamdeck, decent/steady 30fps with medium graphics. Also, if they put it on an actual cartridge then it would be like printing money! (ala Cyberpunk)

This news is great of course, but I fear that expectations of this game have surpassed the reality of what will be delivered.

I'm sure that Team Cherry will have created a great game, but the development time + hype might hurt the landing somewhat..