CJD87

@SolBlazer I'm actually inclined to agree with you here...

I'm certainly not being contrary for the sake of it, but I personally found HK to be somewhat overlong and even obtuse at times. I appreciate objectively 'what it was going for'.... but as a MV experience I much preferred Blasphemous, Metroid Dread, the new Prince of Persia - and even preferred The Last Faith.

The boss fights were definitely a stand-out feature though, and masterfully executed in terms of difficulty curve (very challenging, but not impossible).

I found myself constantly getting lost though, with a lot of unnecessary backtracking.... which I appreciate are tropes of the MV genre, but in HK it just felt quite excessive.

Maybe it says more about me as a player, but I much preferred the shorter/tighter experiences such as Blasphemous 1+2

Nonetheless, I'll definitely be picking up the sequel - as I think the first entry showed a lot of promise for what the future could hold

TOTK is stellar of course.... but BOTW was such a nicely compact experience, and just felt so 'fresh'.

Nothing beat diving off the Great Plateau for the first time, utterly amazing.

TOTK suffers from the same issues as Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, Horizon FB.... more of 'the same' but bigger/better - ultimately though the special feeling of the predecessor games.

Nonetheless TOTK still great, but I would have personally preferred a new/different map as well as slightly 'less' game to avoid burnout

Are the 'platform split' %s based on total boxed sales since release? Or boxed sales from the given week?

Love all this data, very interestingly - and put together in an easily digestible format by the NL team.

IMO, somewhere between Rise & World is the 'ultimate' MH experience. I love the 'pick up and play' arcade-ish style of Rise, but I think it could benefit from some of the actual 'hunting' nuances from World.

I enjoy the Quiros crafting in Sunbreak also, can be frustrating at times.... but great for those of us who love to min/max loadouts.

Whilst I agree that this rating is utterly ridiculous, I suspect (and also hope!) that this instance gains the game a degree of 'notoriety' and keeps it in the headlines... thus provoking additional sales + general interest.

Also, I wonder what the core audience demographic is for this game? At risk of sounding patronising, I wonder how many <18yr old would actually be interesting in playing this? My kids only have interest in Fortnite, Fifa, Rocket League etc...

Ultimately, the rating is absurdly justified - BUT I am hopeful that this area of contention keeps the game newsworthy, and propels sales figures. Genuinely a fantastic game, a must buy for any Spire fans or poker players

I wonder if Nintendo purposefully chose their moment to strike, pursuing action ahead of an imminent Switch2 announcement?

Working to issue "a message" to any other aspirating emulators, who may work to emulate S2 games?1

@Ironcore 100%!

Wildfrost is a great game....

I'll vouch for Balatro, best Deck game since Spire IMO... Balatro is so utterly addictive, I can't put it down. I'm a poker player also, so this game is ticking every box for me - but it is definitely very accessible for those who haven't player poker before, and/or have limited experience.

I really hope the rating issue gets ironed out ASAP so the game can get back to the eShop... hopefully the publicity of being pulled (temporarily) will gain it some notoriety and boost sales upon its return!

Best (new release) game I've played 2024 so far, deserves to be part of the conversation alongside Prince of Persia, Helldivers, Rebirth etc

@luciobar1980 It is 100% true, as the joker cards will activate their buffs in a sequence: left - - > right.
Jokers trigger from left to right so you should have your multipliers on the right. (by multiplying last, you ensure to yield the highest return.... so have your chips and +Mults first in sequence, with xMults at end)

It is a tremendous game, if you enjoyed Spire (and/or have any interest in Poker whatsoever) then this game is definitely for you.

Even if you're just looking for something 'new' - this is a great time-sink game to work as a cleanser between (or even alongside) meatier bigger titles.

A quick tip for any newcomers, which I only discovered after 20hrs (!) = pay attention to the ORDER in which you position your Joker cards.... (make sure you rearrange so that your largest X-Multipliers are on the right side!)

Be nice to see some unexpected ports... Dark Souls 2 / 3?

A shadow-dropped StarFox game that is actually solid, a spiritual successor to the N64 game (albeit less 'on-rails' and more open space exploration)
The Ubisoft crossover (Starlink, Battle for Atlus?) showed how solid the IP can still be... imagine if it had some of that BOTW-dust sprinkled on it.

I think this could be a potentially solid & shrewd move for XBOX in terms of their future plans. Instead of being 'console focussed', perhaps instead look to develop the ecosystem of GamePass.... and working to bring this to competitor platforms.

I'm not sure how this would look in practice, but there is a lot of scope for innovative thinking on Microsoft's part.

@sketchturner
I was holding out for the Switch reviews before choosing a platform to play on, and this write-up (along with others) confirmed my suspicions that the port would struggle. A real shame here, as generally the Switch is an ideal platform for this genre… and look how well the recent PoP runs!

Currently playing on Deck, and surprised to see that Grime still isn’t that slick technically. What settings are you using if you don’t mind me asking? (In-game and also Steam OS?)

I’m currently targeting 45FPS, but there are still stutters and drops occasionally…. Tried 30, but this actually feels quite sluggish and buggy - despite being locked.
Any advise would be great, probably favour performance over graphical fidelity for games like this.

Blows my mind that the Deck can(decently enough) run Elden Ring, Cyberpunk, Resi4…. But seriously struggles with Grime. Equally, Switch’s version of Witcher is fairly serviceable - hardware considering.

Grime is a great game for MV/Souls lovers, would have been great to have better optimisation

For anyone on Switch interested, Blasphemous 2 runs incredibly well and would be a solid alternative (same with Hollow Knight, Dread, Prince of Persia)

After polishing off 100% on ‘The Last Faith’, I’m sticking to tradition in alternating between brutally challenging games and old-school P&C adventure games…

Last night started “Justin Wack & The Big Time Hack” - great P&C very reminiscent of classic Lucasarts, with similar art style to Day of the Tentacle.

Once I’ve finished Justin Wack, I’m torn between what to play for the next ‘hard’ game. Choosing between Lords of the Fallen, Grime or new Prince of Persia

@MegaVel91 Sorry to hear that this whole narrative has you 'disgusted'....

I think ultimately a lot of games are influenced by their peers, but of course some wear these influences more on their sleeves than others.

Lies of P for instance, an absolutely immaculate Souls experience, borrows incredibly heavily from the school of FromSoftware.... but the fanbase seem to have embraced LoP for its spin on the From formula.

Strange how Palworld seems to have been met differently? Maybe it boils down to the fanbase at the end of the day.

I'm not a Pokemon fan, but appreciate the franchise objectively (played Red as a kid, loved it and fond memories). But Pokemon fans sending death threats to the Palworld developers is a level of insanity I cannot get on board with

Honestly, GameFreak/Nintendo need to have some kind of competition in this arena... the Pokemon franchise has been able to rest on its laurels for far too long. The release state of SV games was insane, and I feel sorry for fans of the series that had to stomach the bugs/issues associated with the release.

Anything to make GF 'step it up' is a good thing

Finished up getting 100% achievements in ‘The Last Faith’ so will be jumping back to BG3 after a brief hiatus (mid-Act 2, temporarily put it down to avoid burnout).

On the side I’ll also be doing a few levels of ‘Humanity’ which is a great Lemmings-esque puzzler - really good!

I also picked up Marvel Midnight Suns in the Steam sale, so might give that a whirl

Ubisoft gets a bad wrap, and in some cases perhaps deserved, but their output on occasions can be solid.

Immortals Fenix Rising, and the Switch port included, was a pretty decent take on BOTW - and I have fond memories of playing Immortals during the pandemic.

Glad to see that PoP has landed well, and even more pleased to see that the Switch version isn't a broken mess (!). Not available on SteamDeck, so will likely grab this on Switch

I think the Switch could pull this off, depending on how much love the devs put into the port.
I have this on SDeck, and can get 60FPS with relatively high graphical settings. Assuming that graphical concessions and/or fidelity downgrading can be feasible, the Switch could maybe attain 60 also?
I don’t necessarily think 30 would be disastrous, but it’s definitely one of those games that would benefit from best FPS possible considering that the rhythm/beat nature of the mechanics

Taking a brief hiatus from Baldurs Gate so as to avoid burnout! Currently midway through Act2, loving every second, but am wary of overplaying this game and don’t want to get BG fatigue.

Whilst I break from BG3, I’m playing ‘Humanity’ and ‘The Last Faith’. The former is a terrific little puzzler that is essentially a 3D version of Lemmings, whilst the latter is somewhat of a Blasphemous clone…
Both games are solid enough and should be short playthroughs, after which I’ll get back to Baldurs

Side note - last week I played and completed ‘Cocoon’, which was genuinely an amazing little puzzle game… a high recommend.

A high-recommend for any Souls-lovers out there...

"You Died: The Dark Souls Companion" - by Keza MacDonald (Guardian columnist, covering off culture/games)

Blurb below, but on a personal note it is a fantastic and insightful read - even moreso now that the genre has really popped off into the mainstream. (Original publication 2017, well before the recent surge in popularity for FromSoft)

"YOU DIED is an exploration of Dark Souls, one of the greatest, most enduringly mysterious and best loved video games ever made, and the slightly mad people who play it. It traces a path through the dense lore of the game, but also tells the stories that go beyond it."

@MediaKing Not forgetting of course the potential cost of a replacement TV (if playing docked) + at least 1 broken window per/10hrs of play.

My expectations are very tempered here... but I really hope Sega manage to pull this off. The IPs that they list are phenomenal - truly some of the greatest legacies in gaming history!

I think I would feel more comforted if they have named fewer of the initial 5... maybe 2 or 3 max, suggesting a more direct focus on 'quality' vs quantity. SOR and Jet Set would have been plenty to get the fanbase salvating IMP

@Farts_Ahoy Same!
I actually enjoy this award show.... its a good time, pretty fun/haphazard and a few decent announcements.

BG3…. GOTY 😉

Loving this so much, despite putting it off for so long due to the incorrect assumption it wouldn’t ’be for me’

So rich and diverse, things finally starting to click as well after a ropey start

Clear metrics are definitely needed, and an agreed criteria of what actually constitutes 'indie'....

Bizarrely, and depending how you look at things, Baldur's Gate could potentially constitute 'indie' (irrespective of the game's AAA status)

Geoff's statement is fantastic though, vintage Keighley "it is a small game" ha!

There is a huge portfolio of Souls-Roid-Vania games on Switch, and I'd steer people more towards Blasphemous 2 if they haven't already played this yet.

Salt and Sanctuary remains one of the best 2D souls games around (albeit the sequel, Sacrifice, is not great).

Ender Lillies, Hollow Knight, newly released Astral Ascent are all much better

Even Dark Souls remastered is a class act on switch!

Goss Harag! Love that fight

I agree it doesn't 'NEED' a remake... but I would love to see a FFVII-style complete overhaul, with new mechanics, voice acting etc etc.
I can't see the big N ever going there, but would be thrilled if they did

@woopox I am also keen to see this answer... please tag me if you get a response? I try and avoid games that are too 'on rails' / easy

Vampire Survivors on Switch, great game to kick back with and just chill out on - such a great deal for the price.

Then on Steam Deck.... pushing towards the end of Lies of P - managed to get a (relatively) stable 45FPS by tinkering with settings, and it is absolutely playable. A real love-letter to FromSoftware, and definitely wears its influences on its sleeve

Inscryption is a solid recommendation- an amazing 10hr experience

I'm delighted that this game is landing so well with critics and consumers alike - great to see Mario go 'back to basics', and open itself to a new audience potentially (perhaps the film might have incited new interest throughout a wider net?)

I personally won't be grabbing this one... I've many fond memories of Mario, but I really need some element of difficulty curve to grab my attention these days. Just beat Blasphemous 2, which was horrendously hard in places, but I am addicted to that feeling of accomplishment!

I wonder if this will factor into GOTY discussions? Currently seems a 2-horse race between TOTK/BG3, with Resi4 as an outside bet I guess

I don’t have a huge physical Switch collection… maybe 30-40 cartridges?
If BC is a ‘thing’ then I’d definitely shell out for the physical more expensive Switch 2. If BC is off the table completely, I’d probably look to go full digital ….. unless of course the digital Switch 2 has lesser spec vs the physical version (like Series S being underpowered vs Series X..)

So basically, if there is no BC + no spec difference between the 2 units, I’d probably be fine to go full digital

A sound decision, and fair play to the developers in this case.

Too many games are released 'prematurely' at the moment, and even some AAA titles are coming out as buggy messes needing all manor of patches within their launch weeks/months.

I understand there is pressure on devs to get things out the gate as soon as possible, but I applaud decisions like this - IMO much better to push back release by a few weeks to ensure a quality final product for the consumer.

I really don't want to sound negative, but this Direct really didn't do much for me.
Objectively speaking, I don't necessarily think it was terrible... but equally it just seems like Nintendo are now riding the final wave until Switch2 - and being wholly reliant on ports of old games (albeit good ones, Tomb Raider / MGS etc) and remasters (Thousand Yr Door).

In the wake of BG3 & Starfield, not to mention RE4 and SF6, I was hoping Nintendo might have another big-hitter before end of this year....

But people here are right in saying it makes no sense to announce Switch2 now and consequentially kneecap their sales potential for one last holiday season for original Switch.

I'm certainly not a hater, and Nintendo are probably my overall favorite in the space of the 'top 3' (Sony 2nd, Microsoft 3rd).... but I'm considering buying a SteamDeck to tide me over until Switch2, just to play BG3 RE4 etc

At this point I am eagerly anticipating any/some news on the Switch successor. I love the Switch, but it would be amazing to see a more powerful piece of kit that could run recent 3rd party titles (BG3, Elden Ring, AC6, SF6 etc)

Imagine a new Switch with the power capabilities of... the SteamDeck (?). That would be the dream, and the best of both worlds.

I am partially tempted by SD due to the availability of titles, but I am absolutely not one for tinkering with settings...and very much welcome the simplicity of the Switch + first party titles + battery life.

@-wc-

Ah so you’re now 100% Nintendo? If so, I would really highly recommend the Dark Souls remaster on Switch. It runs pretty great (as you’d hope, considering the age!) and IMO it levels up massively from its predecessor.

You’ll also be at an advantage, having played DeS you’ll know what to expect… and also I think you’ll be really pleasantly surprised with how much better DS is (mechanically, lore, build diversity, world building etc)

Additionally, and assuming you’re still into ‘Souls-y’ titles - my absolute favourite non-FromSoftware title on Switch is called “Salt and Sanctuary”. Essentially this is 2D Dark Souls, with vast skill trees and epic boss battles. Nearly always on sale in EShop also!

So yeah definitely 100% get Dark Souls, as it really is an amazing experience … nothing quite like it. Such a shame that the sequels haven’t been ported to Switch (yet?) as they would sell massively

@-wc-
I see where you’re coming from, and whilst I’d certainly argue that Dark Souls was the game that really launched the ‘genre’ popularity… Demons Souls was absolutely the launch pad for Dark Souls.

I’ve played an beat both, Inc PS5 remake, and really think FromSoft learnt a lot of lessons from Demons - -> Dark.

IMO - Demons Souls is almost ‘too’ obtuse in its structure and side quests, and the World Tendency system is executed v poorly (great idea in concept, but the application just doesn’t work for me)

The ‘mission’ structure of Demons is a bit odd as well, and doesn’t seem to work as well as the inter-connected world of Dark Souls.

But yeah I guess you could say that Demons Souls walked so that Dark Souls could run…

I never played either game at release though, and can’t imagine how rock hard a truly blind playthrough would have been! (Especially DeS)

Imagine not having Fextra at your fingertips to research builds etc?!

Ah bit of a shame. Immortals was one of my Pandemic games, and I actually really enjoyed my time with it. The quips and 'humor' were pretty shocking, but gameplay and puzzles/vaults were great.

I would have enjoyed a sequel, especially if it would have been a BOTW/EldenRing rip off!

Double-dipping between 2 great games on Switch -

1) Hollow Knight: really enjoying this, and the challenge level is solid, but wouldn't perhaps rate it as highly as others have. Just beat Soul Master after a few tries (Soul Sanctum area) and now exploring where to go next...
I understand exploration is a huge piece of Metroidvanias, but I seem to be getting ridiculously lost a lot of the time!
Also not a fan of some of the run backs to bosses after dying, reminiscent of Demons Souls (and not in a good way). Would much prefer to be right back at the boss door for another shot (ala Elden Ring)
A good game though, and the challenge is tough but not obnoxious.

2) Cuphead! Wow so great, brilliant bosh rush game but incredibly hard. Doing each boss on "simple" first before tackling regular. Hit a couple of walls, but it is a nice break from exploration in Hollow KNight.

After finishing those 2, I'll do a similar concurrent playthrough of Red Dead with Vampire Survivors on the side

Great, pre-ordered the physical based on this - thanks NL

Any mention of X-axis camera inversion?? I don’t think the original had this

Asking for a friend… 😂

I am definitely interested, albeit cautiously so.

I understand there are differences between this port and the recent GTA disaster... but I'm hanging fire for the reviews and technical assessment.

The other deal-breaker, which I'll admit may sound strange, is that I really would like to see both Y-axis and X-axis camera inversion in options.

(This is a sickness I know, but I play all games - even third person adventure games - with both Y and X inverted. It is now so engrained in my bizarre muscle memory, that any games without this are 'unplayable' for me!)

I don't think the original RDR had X-Axis inversion... and neither does the GTA remasters? Be good to know the score here

Beat Disco Elysium earlier in the week... just wow.
Unlike anything I've ever played - intricate, well-woven narrative, genuinely funny and with a wealth of great characters.

I love how you're actually solving 2 x mysteries concurrently - the murder/hanging, alongside trying to decipher your own identity and piece together the elements of the previous night's blackout.

I tried to roleplay this game as 'myself' and built the character's traits around my own personality - as well an answering questions / dialogue choices as I would in real life. Very amusing outcomes, and it definitely gets you thinking.

Now that's done - onwards to Eldest Souls, another backlog beauty. Just downed the fourth boss (EON, God of Unity - fire and ice) which took me maybe 40-ish tries ha!
If you enjoy souls-esque bosses, and a high difficulty curve, this game could be up your street. It sort of reminds me of Hades a little bit, but the combat in ES is far more deliberate - and the learning curve much tougher.

I'm enjoying it though, and wanting to hammer through the backlog as much as possible - prior to Vampire Survivors and Blasphemous 2 dropping later this month

Personally.... I'd love a Starfox launch, something like Starfox64 crossed with elements of Starlink Battle for Atlus.

But Metroid is probably the way. To launch with Metroid, and assuming it has a 'darker' undertone than majority of Nin's IPs, would potentially support in capturing a more mature audience as well.

Maybe a launch with a new Metroid and also new Mario could work

It blows my mind how quickly ScVi has gained traction - and is well and truly at the heels of SwSh....... especially considering ScVi has only been out for 7-8 months?! (vs SwSh which has years behind it?)

Would be interesting to see the digital/retail split and also understand how many of the games were bundled with console

edit - we almost can't blame GameFreak for their approach with this IP... if Sc/Vi can still sell as well as it is, in the state it was released, then what incentive do they have to change and up their game?!

Talking to my necktie again whilst attempting to (poorly) manage my propensity for substance abuse, alongside solving an unsightly murder and juggling the conceptualisation of my own identity....

Then, when it comes to games - I'll be continuing Day #2 in Disco Elysium.

Still not got that body down yet..

@ToniK - that is what I love about these games though, how 1 boss can be an absolute living nightmare for 1 person... but a cakewalk for another!
Out of interest what what the boss you struggled with the most?

OK good to know that the devs ramped up the difficulty on the last boss by a significant margin, as it was probably the most I've struggled with a boss - 2nd only to the final boss in Sekiro!

I enjoy that though, and find it fun to memorise the patterns/tells and look for the openings. In fairness also, my character wasn't fully 'levelled up' and I was missing a couple spells (missing the big beam, which I hear is a good way to tackle final boss)

Looking for something similar to play, maybe focussing on boss rush now... (I've played Metroid Dread, Salt Sanctuary already)