Multi Upcoming games you are looking forward to

Mate, it's been one of those days for me, I'd not recognise my own reflection right now.

It started by being unnerved by a dream I can't remember a damned thing about followed by successively feeling like I'm floating about in an off centre temporal bubble.

 

Frick me, who needs games when you have entertainment like that!

 

Ha, probably explains while I'm a bit behind on the gaming front.

 

I'm liking the look of Stray. https://stray.game

 

Well, at the risk of a tangent...

I know that pretty much everyone has been here at one point or another, but I'm just not really into games anywhere as much as I used to. As a result, I'm really out of the loop on current affairs. Not to mention that over the last few years, I've built up a not inconsiderable backlog of games on Steam that I've bought in sales and will run fine on my current hardware, without the need for the current silly expensive raytracing G1000000X GPU (which are snapped up by git miners anyway). Not only that, but I actually am more tempted to replay older games that I know will be good rather than some new thing that may let me down. Maybe I'm just going old and senile...

Having said that, here are some games that do somewhat interest me:

• Homeworld 3
• Mass Effect: The Next One
• STALKER 2 (I'm not putting all the damn full stops in, though it would've been faster to do that than type this)
• Atomic Heart
• Robocop: Rogue City

Star Citizen would be on that list, but it's been so long, I've kinda just given up and waiting for whenever it's done. Not to mention that back when I first got into it, my circumstances were different and I would be tempted to invest many hours of my life into it. Now I just want to go back to a sensible length, quality single player game, with a possible option for co-op so I can play it with a friend if desired.

 

Time is never wasted on a principle.

 

I feel ya, bud. I've got about 875 across all platforms, without including the Xbox. I keep picking things up cheap (Human Revolution in CeX the other day for a pound) and then realising I have them on another platform/launcher. So I'm trying to stop buying them, since they're all free these days anyway and I have less time. Kind of ironic, since all the kid wants to do now is play, but I can't squeeze the time in. Going to have to though, if I want to leave this plane without regrets.

I had a dabble on that "time to complete" website and worked out that I probably need to be reincarnated in order to finish everything.

 

Having just finished the second Witcher series this evening (got better towards the end, by the way), a couple of questions occurred to me:
- if I were to play them in reverse order, so as to enjoy the newer games first (hedging against probable lack of reincarnation, you see), would I be missing too much in terms of backstory, or carried-over saves etc. (like Mass Effect, which as I understand it, needs to be played in order)?
- have I just created massive spoilers by watching the series before playing the games?

 

Part 1. No, but sort of. There are no cross game save states like Mass Effect. However characters are introduced in 1 and 2 which 3 just expects you to know them by then. Aside from that the games are pretty self contained.

Part 2, No, TV series runs it's own continuity separate from the games.

 

You can actually import save game data from W1 to W2 and W2 to W3.

It does affect some dialogue and a/some characters.

This can be decided during a fresh game at some point during dialogue so it doesn't really matter.

I think I just started fresh anyway.

@ModSquid Part 2: Yeah, @fix-the-spade is correct, it won't spoil your gaming at all.

Personally, i'd play the games in order anyway. The game mechanics in W1 seem to be a love/hate thing and the graphics improvement are significant.

 

Late to the thread but mate, this is the most relatable thing. I struggle to play a game for more than 30 minutes these days. I have the time, but gaming just feels - to borrow a phrase from Ben Croshaw - like playing with the gravel at the side of the road of life. Pointless. As soon as a game isn't delivering concise and interesting experiences to rival another hobby or project, I just bug out.

My friends and I have all been experiencing this in recent years. We're not old. Nor is modern gaming devoid of things we've enjoyed. So a frequent topic of debate now is whether we're getting crotchety and disengaged or whether games are actually getting less engaging and interesting lately. I now believe it's the latter. As one lad pointed out, games are incredibly homogenized and similar now, and all compete to hold your attention with constant dopamine breadcrumbs and oversaturation of content. Older games were more measured, deliberate and thoughtful. I picked up FFVII recently and noticed just how different it was in design ethos from modern games. Steady, to the point but well paced, willing to subtly world-build and trust the player to invest the requisite attention and thought. And a density of originality in design, music and ideas that I haven't seen often in modern games. The last time I went "hot damn" at a game's originality and intellect was Portal 2. Frightening how many years ago that was already.

On topic, it's technically already here but I'm looking forward to Half-Life: Alyx. I have it. Haven't the time to play it yet. But I'm stoked to give it a go.

 

Not seen Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw quoted here before - I'm a big fan of his books... I liked the review vids but I always have a credit spare for when a new audiobook drops! And I feel the same regarding games... I have so many in the various libraries and consoles that I'm overwhelmed - I stick Raid Shadow Legends on when I get twenty minutes then afk/ auto for an hour then turn the bloody thing off.

I've almost given myself buyers remorse on my PC setup now... Just over a year old and I rarely put anything AAA on that will put the 3080 to good use! That and the lack of employment at the moment may be enough to do a pricecheck post!

I'm 47 and have been watching woodworking videos pretty much exclusively for the last four weeks!

 

There're truckloads of new games out there, loads of which are still sensationally innovative and enjoyable. I agree with your characterisation as far as it extends to mainstream AAA games though - they are so expensive to make that serious risks cannot be taken.

Perhaps if you're finding yourself in a rut of boring experiences, you need to either push yourself out of your comfort zone, or perhaps change the sorts of media you are consuming around game recommendations?

 

There seems to be a clutch of games where the pacing is not quite right and it seems to take a good amount of investment before anything bears fruit. Maybe it's impatience or maybe it's all the gaming experiences over the years which dull the senses toward a game that is a sleeper hit but only rewards with great effort put in. I'll give a couple of examples - I had a go at Dandara which is quite a clever game but the mechanics of it opening up just seemed too slow-paced, but I could get why another gamer would attain near nirvana with something so different. Thinking about it, maybe it's just with years of gaming experience and playing just about anything and everything at least once, maybe.. just finally.. I'm settling into what I actually like and enjoy in a game style, i.e. strategy, platformer, open-world, etc. I must admit, when I fired up Stars Wars Jedi:Fallen Order, it got me hooked and three hours later I'd forgotten what time it was. Then having a look at something like a space strategy game - Galactic Civilizations III I think it was, and there was just too much to the game. It looked ok, but as I say, perhaps I've finally decided what style of games I prefer now as I had a quick go but it just didn't gel.
Keep at it though bud, there are always great games out there.

 

I did mean to say, I only refer to big budget mainstream games as homogenized dishwater. The indie market has another problem which prevents me from broaching it tho which is sheer volume of content and duplication. No way to sort the wheat from the chaff. And boy, is there a lot of chaff!

 

Okay, I'm adding this to the list of upcoming games that look promising.

 

Out now. Well reviewed but short game.

 

Holy JFC. That looked incredibly ordinary to begin with, but then by my toes did it start to get interesting! Never heard of it at all but I'm going to look at getting Game Pass soon so will definitely check this out. Good spot, Mr J

I think this is the new Dead Space, which also looks pretty wicked. The eye-opener at 1'10" was decent, if slightly expected.

I just finished the expanded campaign for SW: Battlefront II (which I didn't even know existed until I loaded it up recently for a quick headset chat test) and I found myself glad it was over. So I'm going to make a decision here and now to try and resist being an achievement completionist any longer and instead enjoy the games I have, even if that requires playing on Easy to experience the full story content (@Pete J - much like you pointed out in your Doom Eternal commentary). In fairness, this comes from a legacy Xbox heritage where achievement points are displayed on your profile so that all can see your awesomeness and revel in it - The Men really knew what they were doing when they started pushing this crack-based mechanic.

However, I don't believe this really exists on PC (meaningfully) so there's little point and is just another annoying obsession that I could sensibly do without as life ticks slowly onwards. Hopefully this resolution will result in less existence wasted chasing hidden box-crates and more time contributed towards saving galaxies, damsels and the lives of innocents (plus increased enjoyment of more and more varied titles, of course).

After I've found all the shiny crap in Wolfenstein though, so I can tick it off and uninstall it .

 

Hogwarts Legacy for me because inside I'm still a child and hoping my acceptance letter is going to arrive.