somnambulance

This genre of games isn’t typically for me, but this was sort of the highlight of the Direct for me. Definitely wasn’t expecting something like this, let alone being excited for something like this. The music in the trailer was outstanding. I loved it. It’s an unsettling concept, but in the cutest way possible and it’s genius.

2026 seems stacked next year and it feels like Nintendo hasn’t even told us the half of it yet.

I have no idea what to think of this one, never played a Tomodachi Life game, but my son got pretty excited about this one and he couldn’t articulate why, so I’m interested. Love when there’s an intangible excitement to something!

@Ulysses I could get behind this. If we’re waiting for Legends 3, I’ll wait, but Tron Bonne better be on that Legends collection!

Although I’ll… wait.. either way, I suppose.

Much like Battle Network, hard pass on this iteration of Megaman for me.

How much longer must we wait for Legends instead?

I love this and agree 100%. This year and last has turned me into someone that beats fewer games, wastes time in open worlds just to go to another open world to do the same thing, and has been in a catatonic easy mode fix. Silksong remedies so many of the issues in modern gaming by being uncompromising in its vision. It’s one of those types of games that recontextualizes everything else released this year for me.

Please Hades, Witchbrook, Metroid this year, and Mario 2026 🤞

The game forces me to be present within it. I love that. It makes me realize how complacent I am most of the time when I play games. I’ve gotten easy mode catatonic, but Silksong tells me to be better than that. It’s hard, but it’s good hard.

Also, the challenge makes it such a delight when you destroy a boss first attempt too. Lace and Fourth Chorus, I felt like I went ultra instinct for a moment and annihilated them. I didn’t even get hit fighting Lace.

Hopefully the difficulty doesn’t wear me down later, but it feels perfect right now. The mobs are the only time I really sweat, oddly enough.

Sort of get the gist Cronos didn’t have a big sales pull this last week, based on that ranking. It sort of seemed like Hell is Us was also getting a “don’t sleep on this” trend of hype from the internet and it doesn’t look like that helped it pull better numbers. I suspect Cronos and Hell is Us may have overlap in who would buy either of them and neither one of them did favors for the other, on top of the fact that I’m sure Silksong snatched interest away from both games as well. Got to wonder if Daemon X Machina is going to be viewed as a flop, as that’s a fairly low ranking launch.

Wouldn’t be surprised if digital sales for Silksong were comparable to the combined total of the rest of the new releases last week.

Agree with DK and Silksong being at the top. Mario Kart World is underrated. Otherwise, not much else interesting on Switch 2 yet

@Mikey_205 I buy a lot of games full price at launch, but this year has been slower than most. If I don’t count indies, the only AAAs I purchased full price at launch this year were Death Stranding 2, AC Shadows, KCD2, Split Fiction, MKW, and DK Bananza. I’d say MKW, DK, and DS2 were incredible value.

I felt like I made a mistake purchasing KCD2 and AC Shadows. I just didn’t like KCD2 and AC Shadows, even though they’re good games. Split Fiction… I think I wasted money on that one too. It’s an incredible game that I don’t know if I’ll ever finish since it’s too difficult for my wife and it makes her upset when she plays it!

Even so, that’s a slim purchase slate for me. I used to preorder that many games or more at E3 time every year. Even including the fact that I purchased a Switch 2 this year, 2025 is my lowest spend I’ve had in gaming since I’ve had disposable income! Feels honestly the industry lost a lot of momentum with the release schedule after FF Rebirth.

I bought this one and haven’t even tried it yet. Only game I’ve done that with in 2025! Alright, I’ll fix that following this review! I’m quite intrigued!

I’m all caught up on everything else, so it’s Silksong. Then more Silksong. Then more Silksong.

Half the Switch 2 library is Switch 1 games with a paid upgrade right now. Then there’s a bunch of ports of old games too.

Right now, Mario Kart and DK are the only reasons to get a Switch 2. They’re good reasons too, but it does feel light right now.

I like the console a lot and I’ve switched… ahem… to purchasing games Nintendo first instead of my PS5 for third party games again (mostly indies), but it does feel like there’s a gap at the moment.

That said though, gaming as a whole has had a lackluster release slate this year too, so I’m not sure that’s a Nintendo problem or an industry problem, especially as I’ve loved the first party slate so far. First party’s been a 9/10, the total overall release schedule has been a 6/10 for me though.

I mean, when Hollow Knight launched at $15, that was basically the price of indie games across the board. I expected Silksong to be $30, given the current cost of indie games in 2025.

To be honest though, the price creep in indie games has caused me to purchase far fewer games the last couple years. I used to be able to justify buying four or five indie games in a month because I hadn’t bought a AAA game. Now, however, with the price creep, I have only been buying maybe one indie game a month. The math might not make sense from above, but it comes down to the value of a $30 purchase as well. If I spend $15 and get a four hour game, that’s awesome and fine. If I spend $30 on a four hour game, that’s a lot for a little. And that rationale is the same in 2025 as it was in 2015 or 2020 because the cost of products has increased but the cost of my wages by way of inflation has not increased to match it, I suppose. I know I’m not alone in that boat.

I understand developers and publishers probably feel financially the same way I do, but I do think they’re edging out consumers from purchasing games based on their pricing. It’s interesting that the dev from Unbeatable is directly quoted here for me, as the pricing they choose will 100% dictate if I buy their game at launch or if I maybe buy it down the line on a sale… and even then there’s no guarantee as my purchase then will be affected by reviews, what other games are releasing, etc etc. It’s a game I want, but for me to spend $30 on it, it’s going to need to justify the cost. I know things like Shinobi justify the cost with name recognition, but I do believe that game should’ve been cheaper too.

Silksong is basically releasing at incredible value where people feel comfortable buying the game and I think they did the right thing. That’s my two cents anyway.

Can’t wait! Day 1 for sure!

Shinobi deserves a better launch than that!

Silksong, Mina the Hollower, and Pokemon for me with the potential for Katamari and AVGN 8-Bit too… I’m even thinking about double dipping on Silksong and Mina for physical and digital. And maybe Outer Worlds 2, Dreams of Another, Silent Hill, and Ghost of Yotei elsewhere. Was planning on getting Tactics if the release slate is slow enough to warrant replaying an old game, but… I don’t think it is!

And then there’s Metroid Prime 4, Hades 2, Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, and Witchbrook that I’m eying up, waiting for a release date for… Might not even have the bandwidth for Kirby Air-Riders to wrap up the year! Crazy how so much looks to be crunched into the end of the year this year!

UFO 50 is just far and away far better than anything else in August. It’s the best eshop release this year by a decent margin, I’d say.

No PR for Henry Halfhead? That one looks more interesting to me than most of these to me! That said, I think we can all agree that September is exciting for Silksong.

You gotta wonder if there’s going to be any surprise releases from Nintendo coming up this month as well. With the rumor of a Direct on the 12th, it’s always a possibility we’ll have even more to play than we already know about! Imagine if Hades 2 or Metroid Prime 4 shadow drop this month… I don’t think it’s gonna happen, but you never know!

@Suketoudara They’re randomized. It’s different each time. Exit 8 took me maybe 20-25 attempts to complete, whereas I best Platform 8 on my first attempt. Might be experience, might be luck. I love them both and they’re very similar, but also distinct enough to play them both. They’re fun social games too. They’re “let’s show this one to grandma and see what she thinks” types of games since they’re easy to play and novel enough to cause surprise from new players, which gives them a fun level replayability.

Drag x Drive is slightly more successful than Switch Sports (which was not as good as Wii Sports), but slightly less successful than Arms (which is perhaps the most overrated Nintendo IP currently, as I feel the game is super barebones to be sold at $60). Having Miis would be cuter and would help, sure, but I think the game was likely to be a hard sell either which way. And no mouse controls? That’d ruin the game as a unique experience, even if it’d make it easier to play, so that makes no sense.

Drag x Drive and Welcome Tour both would’ve been pack-ins. I think if the Switch 2 was priced $30 higher and had them both included, I think people would’ve said it was generous the console launched with two built-in games, there’d be a larger download base, and people would’ve welcomed both games for being experimental little examples of the creativity Nintendo is capable of rather than be flagged for being lightweight.

I’m just trying to beat Death Stranding 2 before Silksong. I don’t know if it’s going to happen, but I want it to!

For me, I’d say Exit 8 is a 9/10. It’s short, but it’s also distinctly memorable. It’s not exactly a horror game that intends to scare you, but rather one that intends to make you uneasy. It manipulates the mundane in interesting ways. For me, the Exit 8 and its sequel are two of the games that’ll stick with me that I played last year much more so than some of the bigger, flashier games because the games evoke feelings instead of the completion of tasks. The frustration is part of it. But what can I say? I played both games shortly after reading the book The Anomaly and I was really in the headspace for that vibe.

You can get both 8 games for under $10 though and that’s surely worth it for a short, single playthrough set of games. The Exit 8 has sold a lot of copies, so it makes sense that it got a devkit too, for anyone that doesn’t “get why it got one.”

@JohnnyMind If it makes you feel any better, my 7 year old found the Exit 8 and was able to beat it and play it without any issues and he loved it as well. He’s perhaps too young for it, and some of the game was scary to him (and he’s a chicken), but it wasn’t too scary, you know? This one isn’t really scary horror. It might raise your heartbeat a bit because it surprises you, but it’s not quite PTesque where there’s legitimate dread behind you at all times subliminally. I don’t know your threshold, but for the low price of the game, you might as well try it? That’s what I’d recommend at least!

@AussieMcBucket Apparently Pixel had been making prototypes for other games for a couple of years and posting them, only to scrap them later. He hasn’t really done much publicly in like two years now. Can’t believe Cave Story is 20+ years old now. Gotta wonder if he’s a hobbyist that does something else full time.

@Vyacheslav333 @AussieMcBucket Cave Story is basically the only game that’s been on my wishlist since the Switch launched due to its price. Indies were usually cheaper than $30 at launch in those days. Sometimes they’d launch at $10, $15. Crazy, right?

I’ve already played it, but feel like it’s such a good fit for the Switch that I’d like to double dip, but seriously, why no sales? I should’ve jumped when it was 50% off three years ago rather than hoping for a 75% off deal like games used to get in ye olde two years ago-ish.

Why is Cave Story never on sale? 😭

Same games, different sale it feels like.

If that’s true, I’m a bit disappointed with the future of Sony after this generation. They’ve lost a lot of what made their identity unique as they’ve pivoted away from being a platform for the best cinematic gaming experiences in the market to chasing the live service bubble and this sounds like more trend chasing from what used to be one of gaming’s most consistent and innovative brands.

It was September 4th, but Nintendo pushed it back because of Silksong

Glad Nintendo is finally committing to mega evolutions. Feels like this should have been a priority back in Gen 7, given that it was a big deal for Gen 6, but hey, what can you do? I like the megas better than the gigantic Pokemon and terra stuff

Time is not my friend with gaming at the moment. I’m nervous about finishing my current gaming slate before Silksong!

@HelloCraigo Glad to see you still reviewing for the Hookshot team!

That said, I think this may be a game to get on sale and play during a snow day perhaps.

I’m aiming to beat Death Stranding 2 before Silksong comes out, though I won’t be home for most of the weekend, so… yes…

I did bring my Switch 2 along with me though and so I’ll likely fire up UFO 50 and Chibi Robo in the meantime.

I don’t understand the hate for MKW. I mean, I’m fairly casual for Mario Kart in general, and I really liked 8. Played about 50 hours of it and still boot it up from time to time. With MKW though, the more I played it, the more I liked it. It’s not going to be my Switch GotY, but it is solid through and through and it’s far more complicated than 8 was, even if it’s not obvious about it. If MKW was priced at $60, I’d guess the game would be perceived more positively.

That said, Donkey Kong Bananza is utterly genius. It executes perfectly what it means to do. It comes very close to the peak that Mario Odyssey has created for the genre. I mean, honestly, both games provide a solid argument that the Switch 2 is off to a very strong first year.

2025’s GotY incoming in t-minus 2 weeks…

Curious how this one will be. Outside Silksong, I’d say Air Riders might’ve been the best looking game at Gamescom for me, but… I’m not sold on buying another racing game so soon after MKW. I suppose I’ll wait for reviews.

That attach rate is insane for MKW…

If Prince of Persia came to Switch along with the other platforms, I’d have bought something

Watch the game get shadow dropped in September

Bubsy was the highlight… and that says more about the other announcements than being an announcement itself.

Fantastic Direct, but I’m not 100% sure about how interested I am in the game. Seems weird for the Switch 2 to have two big racing games side by side year 1. The game itself looks well made, but I’m not a big racing guy and I sort of have had my fill with Mario Kart World with the genre. The curiosity of Sakurai helming the project drives my interest more than anything else. Might be a game to get for the kids? $70 is a bit high for a price for what I saw with the game though with MKW being so recent.

Watch this be a Direct for Kirby and Metroid Prime 4. 45 minutes seems a bit long for a single game. I mean, 15 minutes was enough to give us an in-depth look at Bananza, of all things.

@pawlslax Agreed. There’s no teaching or hand holding and it’s ultimately sort of confusing on how to steer or turn. The game reminds me of a Wii era barebones tech demo game that overdoes it with the motion controls, only this time with mouse controls. I dunno. I felt like the game wasn’t the most receptive to some of the actions I tried either. It sort of feels like a game that actually needs peripherals, but the peripherals don’t exist?

Probably 6/10. It’s interesting, but overall uncomfortable to play long term and it doesn’t have much in the way of longterm depth for a multiplayer game. It lacks the “Nintendo magic” in style, even if it has some in substance.

Japan for me.

Jeez, I wish we’d get an Adventure Island collection for Switch. I want to replay them so badly!

Been there, done that with almost all of these games. I’d like some new games instead?

Death Stranding 2 and UFO 50. I get the feeling I’ll be saying that every weekend until I beat Death Stranding 2. Unless we get a shadow drop of something truly exciting at Gamescom, I think this might be a lock til sometime in September.

@Znake Arceus is an 83 on OpenCritic. Obviously, mileage will vary on any game, but most professional critics would agree that Arceus is a pretty solid Pokemon game. Honestly, Arceus might be my personal favorite Pokemon game. It’s either that one or HeartGold/SoulSilver. Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy it!

Personally, I’m glad Game Freak doesn’t listen to the “fans,” as I don’t think many of them are fans at all at this point. There’s plenty of Pokemon-likes for people that want an experience similar to Pokemon, but with the more niche-specific bells and whistles someone might want from previous entries. Pokemon reinvented itself in the X/Y era and has basically been more geared toward a younger demographic and families since then. I think some of the fans that are upset about what Game Freak is doing should think about it and maybe admit to themselves that they just don’t like Pokemon anymore.

If it’s anywhere near as good as Arceus, it’ll be one of the best games of the year.

X/Y was when I became interested in Pokemon again after losing interest in Gen 3, so I’m nostalgic for that era. Without X/Y, I wouldn’t know how great Gen 5 was, you know?

This game is a 10/10 for me. While not every game hits, there are so many actual hits here that I can’t not say that. Many of the games would be flat out indie classics if released on their own. Barbuta, Magic Garden, Bushido Ball, and Party House in particular are just incredible.

@boxyguy If Arms would’ve been allowed to tell more story, it would’ve fleshed out the experience a lot. A sequel with a proper story mode (even if it’s a visual novel between matches), would’ve been a huge thing to developed that world and game. It honestly deserved it. Outside myself, I don’t know anyone personally with a Switch that didn’t buy Arms and didn’t sell it early in the console’s lifespan.