JonB wrote:

These are the ones in contention for me so far. In order they arrived:

Journey to the Savage Planet
Nioh 2
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Streets of Rage 4
The Last of Us 2
Hades
Vigil: The Longest Night

I expect mine will include some of these. Can't even think of any other contenders, except Flight Simulator & Ori, and maybe Demon's Souls who knows...

My list, with reviews lifted from the 52 games thread.  With references to gifs that aren't there and mid-year GotY musings etc.

1. Huntdown 

Superb run & gun firmly rooted in the arcades of yesteryear.  It's an over the top pastiche on the surface; there's no real subtlety to the tone - the GET SOME is tongue (lightly planted) in cheek, but it's also born to kill.  It's framed as an amalgamation of all the video covers in the action section of an early 90's Ritz, yet the gameplay is perfectly refined.  If nothing else it's the ultimate form of the genre it mimics.  Whether you're down with this sort of thing or 'down with this sort of thing' is on you, but it ticks all the boxes for me.  It's bizarre how the best game of its type (IMHO) has been made thirty years after the genre's heyday, but the more I played the more impressive the achievement became.   It's mostly slow paced, so measured play reaps the rewards, although there's scope for better players to tear around thanks to the dash/slide moves. 
The most obvious touchpoints in the way it plays are Rolling Thunder, with its horizontal fire, and the original Data East Robocop, with its immensely satisfying slug thuds and general 6000 SUX-iness.  I mentioned Cuphead in another thread, which gets my endorsement as a very good game, but it's at the opposite end of spectrum with shot feedback.  Enemies in Cuphead are bullet soakers, whereas Huntdown has far more weight and bite to its gunplay.  Even your standard popgun pops.  Of course, restricting the fire to two directions means even some run 'n gun fans may automatically find something amiss, but I've always been into this style if done well, from Shinobi to Gunman Clive. 
 
The characters are just about varied enough to warrant experimentation, but their abilities aren't game changers.  Wisecracking heroes is an easily made yet bold development choice as it so often goes wrong, but they don't repeat lines too often and I was fine with it.  It over-eggs the hard boiledness, but so what?  Two player mode works perfectly, although I'd recommend a harder difficulty setting for couch co-op lovers thanks to the revive move.  Just about the only complaints I can think of are the melee weapons, which seem to have a delay on the input nerfing their effectiveness somewhat, and the fact that it's over.  Twenty stage is fine, but I would've lapped up an extra ten.  Perhaps they trimmed the fat as it doesn't put a foot wrong with its layouts or bosses.  Did I mention bosses?  It's treat time if you like a pattern-based toplads/lasses waiting for you at the end of every stage.  There's not a dud in the pack either.    

I said this in the Switch thread and I'll say it again, I'd love this as an arcade cabinet.  There's plenty more to say and I could type about it all day but there's a pretty niche appeal to it, so you'll either look at the (early build) gif below and feel the sweet coin drop nostalgia pull or scoff at it like a young Elijah Wood.  For me it's either GotY or just behind. [9]

2. MO: Astray 

Inside is one of my favourite games this gen and Super Meat Boy is one of my favourites from last gen.  What if a talented bunch managed to successfully combine strong elements of both styles into one glorious indie offering?  As near perfect as Inside is, it never really tests the player with its platforming, whereas MO never really stops - the SMB/The End is Nigh screen of insta-death template goes hand in hand with most of the puzzles; you'll need quick thumbs to execute plans successfully, and you'll die a lot.  I was amazed by the quality of pretty much everything on offer here, especially for a game that arrived with such little fanfare.  It's very close to Celeste in terms of pitch-perfect overall excellence.  Everything bar one particular section works well and the controls are always spot on.  Full recommendation alert, easily one of the best games I've played this year, if not on the Switch full stop.  [9] 

3. Streets of Rage 4 

The Bear Knuckle/SOR franchise is a suitable poster child for a dormant genre that once had heavyweight clout.  Most gamers of a certain age will have played Streets of Rage 2 at one time or another, and from those you'd be hard pushed to find anyone who wouldn't describe it as (at least) one of the best scrolling beat 'em ups ever made.  In the late 80s/early 90s Double Dragon/Final Fight clones were ten a penny in the arcades, but the format grew stale. With the advent of more powerful consoles and a frenzied push for 3D experiences, the genre was jettisoned in favour of uncharted territory and any genuinely well-known examples since could be listed on one hand. God of War/Bayonetta and their ilk are an evolution of the format, but the side scrolling, meat in oil drums, gutter pipe toting army of doppelganger style 2D beat 'em up is a very specific thing.  Since 1992 the biggest splash made by a game of this type (or thereabouts) was probably when Castle Crashers had its 15 minutes on XBLA.  It was a fun game, but it really wasn't a patch on the genre's best.  The top efforts since remain comparatively unknown.  Some quick shouts: Scott Pilgrim (which nailed the more simplistic approach), Mother Russia Bleeds (cracking in co-op, deserved more attention), Wulverblade (quality solo, outstanding audio).  The recent indie boom has paved the way for a mini resurgence, most of which have flown under the radar.  There's a Jay & Silent Bob effort with an 8-bit style on the way.  Slaps & Beans are doing their thing if that's your thing (who?).  There's even one where you parry your way to victory (Way of the Passive Fist, and it's actually quite good!).  Anyone heard of Coffee Crisis, Fight 'N Rage or Dusty Raging Fist?  Hello?  Enough preamble then, what I'm getting at is that the scrolling beat 'em up has quietly made a comeback in recent years, but you'll often have to sift through online stores to find them.  The release of Streets of Rage 4 is like when a big wrestler returns to the ring and all the pretenders continue to strut their stuff with as much gusto as they ever did, but everyone knows the Big Daddy is back.  I probably shouldn't have gone for a wrasslin' analogy as I've never really seen it, but I imagine that's what happens.  More importantly than anything I've just typed, Streets of Rage 4 is the best game mentioned so far, and that includes Streets of Rage 2.  And Bayonetta.    

Crucially, Lizardcube decided that the key to refreshing the franchise close to 30 years on was to refine and tweak the foundations.  There's never been a scrolling beat 'em up that could accurately be described as notably superior to SOR2, so it makes perfect sense that this feels closer to that than the entry in between (no.3 is a good game, but it's rarely described as a great one for a reason).  The roll move from that game is absent, and the characters here feel weighty again.  Each of the four street brawlers has roughly the same number of moves available, all of which are executed with the same inputs as before, so straight off the bat this feels welcoming and familiar for anyone seeking that sweet Sega nostalgia hit.  The more you play, the more you begin to appreciate the deftness of the evolution - yes, it's SOR2 at its core, but the subtle tweaks appear to be successful across the board.  Moves can be chained together far more effectively than before, with air juggles now a viable option for combo seekers.  Previously energy sapping specials now only drain health permanently if you take a hit before a getting a few extra punches in yourself.  Adam suffers from this as the drain on his specials is pronounced, whereas Axel can be slightly more liberal with his big hitters.  Floyd and Cheery represent the new blood in the roster, but they're both familiar.  Floyd is Max and Cherry is Skate, and both characters scream early 90s.  They've either been designed by someone who deserves to be sniggered at (metal arms beefcake & Guitar punk grrl? lol), or they're the brainchildren of someone who absolutely gets what slightly shitty scrolling beat 'em up characters are supposed to be.  Either way the end result is perfect, and the whiff of jank to the cutscenes leads me to believe it's deliberately on the nose.  Well played says I.  Lalalala.  Adam can dash, Cherry can run.  Floyd can barely retreat from an exploding barrel without taking a hit.  From my two and a half playthroughs so far, none of them appear to be noticeably useless, although Adam (a secret character of sorts anyway) does seem to flex quite considerably in most key areas.  The grunts are a good mix of easy to dispatch and slightly annoying, the stages are tightly designed around a 3 life starting point and the bosses are decent.  Of course, everything is better in co-op, but this is easily the best solo SOR experience. 

Visually it's a triumph, I had some doubts from trailers but the finished product is absolutely glorious.  Blaze's nork-walk looks silly, and Barbon looks like a Slimfast Stacy Keach wearing Simon Cowell's strides, but the overhaul is a resounding success on the whole.  At first I thought the tunes lacked a certain something, but the score came alive in the back half, and when I went straight back in I realised the early efforts are quality too.  Nailing the audiovisual package was always going to be tough, but it gets a 'good job very well done' on both counts from me.  

It's the right length, the rinse & repeat nature of the core gameplay is enough of a hook to provide many hours of post credits enjoyment and the score attack element works well.  My only real gripes are the slightly weird screen push problem that can occur in co-op (a player being left behind feels a bit wrong for the series), one or two too many repeated boss fights (essential to the genre, but even so...) and the fact that numerous stones appear deliberately unturned with an eye on DLC.  This could have been the complete package, but it probably won't be for another 18 months or so, and I'm fine with that. 

As a series update it's even better than the excellent Sonic Mania, and I fully endorse this trend of faithfully updating franchises without fucking with the elements that made existing fans fans.  All eyes on Battletoads (titter).  [10] 

It's not really a 10, but it gets a lockdown point for arriving at just the right time to cheer all the old Segaboys up. 


4. Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition 

Narrative adventure that masquerades as a point and click to the untrained eye.  There's no [USE] [wax lips] on [sleeping dwarf] here though, as there's no inventory to speak of.  Gradual progression is the order of the day, so if you're looking for something challenging in a traditional sense you may well bounce off.  It flows along like some sort of Lynchian stage adaptation of a Flannery O'Connor inspired John Prine shroom dream, which means it's just about the most beautiful thing I've ever held a joypad to.  There were sections where even the feels had goosebumps, to the point where most other companies making walking sims and suchlike need to give their heads a damn good wobble.  I don't even necessarily mean feels in terms of where the story goes either; the whole thing just has this delicate overarching melancholy that resonated with my tastes completely.  Even when I wasn't reading about naked banjo players.   

Visual novel isn't a bad way to describe it as you'll read your way through five distinct acts, selecting dialogue choices that affect the journey rather than the destination, while taking in the glorious sights and sounds.  I can't do it justice really, so I won't bother hammering out paragraphs to explain something that should be experienced rather than described.  

I absolutely loved it and would place it alongside Melee to Monkey Island as the best trip in videogame history.  Wild. [9] 

5. What the Golf? 

What an absolute treat this game is.  If you think crazy golf is crazy think again, is the sort of thing a full page advert for this might've yelled at you in the days of ten a penny magazine ads.  Even golf games claiming to be zany aren't a patch on the shenanigans at play here.  It's gentle indie fare, with a similar breezy/unhurried feel to the likes of Donut County or Untitled Goose Game, and it's genuinely funny without being as embarrassingly try-hard as most recent humorous games (honestly, I'm still suffering from a residual taste of Freedom Finger).  The whole thing is just....pleasant.  I loved it, it's consistently inventive to the point where none of the stages stood out as weak sauce, and the frankly brilliant Vs mode is quite possibly even more appealing than the campaign.  Find someone to battle with and pack four pairs of trousers in case you both wee yourselves.  Will be all over the DLC on day one. [9]   

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6. Spiritfarer 

What a beautiful game.  The whole thing bears the hallmarks of a good Studio Ghibli film - you know that Ghibli feeling that's hard to describe - somewhere between a dream escaping as you almost remember it and a faint childhood memory of The Moomins?  Yes/No - anyway: that feeling.  Somehow it manages to create a joyful whole out of a macabre journey filled with incessant pockets of busywork.  It's essentially a cross between the seafaring of Wind Waker, Animal Crossing and (warning: educated guess incoming) Stardew Valley, albeit with surprisingly tight 2D platforming controls.  There's a minor smattering of Metroidvania in there too as certain areas can't be visited until you've unlocked certain abilities, but the overwhelming majority of your time will be spent either running errands or repeating set routines.  It's quite clearly not for me, is it?  Well, I thought that and I was wrong too.  The unusual two player mode helped win me over, along with the overspill of charm (it's rare to find a co-op experience where both players lead, but aside from player two not being able to initiate conversations it's pretty much shared duties throughout).  I played 90% of it with Tilly - some of the busier busywork aside - and when the credits rolled we had a really nice chat about how she couldn't work out why she was crying as she felt happy and sad at the same time.  "I get that with John Prine songs sometimes" was about the best I could offer.  AND WE HUGGED IT OUT. 

The visuals are always pleasant and occasionally gorgeous, the writing is strong in all areas and the soundtrack is absolutely sublime.  I thought Paper Mario or Kentucky Route Zero would win the year for me in terms of audio, but the score to this is frankly ridiculous.  

Not for everyone, which I've been typing a lot recently but it's especially true here.  I can't really explain why it grabbed me, because on paper it absolutely wouldn't, but I can say it'll end up as one of my games of the year.  [8] in current form as it's a glitchy little number at present.  We had numerous issues and it always felt like we were sailing close to the wind with something gamebreaking waiting to sink us.  Mercifully that didn't happen, but holding out for a patch might not be a bad idea.  Minor imperfections aside the whole thing is a warm hug that goes on slightly too long.


7. Ori & the Will o' the Wisps 

Moon Studios have described this as Mario 3 to Blind Forest's Super Mario Bros, and they nearly pulled it off.  At one point in development they were probably well on course for a masterpiece.  Then they got lazy and all started working from home like a bunch of layabouts with one eye on daytime TV, presumably.  Joking aside, it's a shame they didn't quite succeed.  A few minor problems in amongst the grandeur - and a couple of whopping ones - clip its wings considerably.  What we're left with is probably more Mario Sunshine to Blind Forest's Mario 64, or any franchise you'd care to reach for where the sequel sticks to the same format, tries more but achieves less.  Super Monkey Ball 2, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Perfect Dark Zero, Sonic Adventure 2 - you do yours!  

Ori was a precision platformer moonlighting as a Metroidvania, whereas this is more confident with its exploration and provides you with an abundance of tasks and side missions.  There's far more to reward the off-piste player, evidenced by my half-empty kit bag as the credits rolled.  It nods so heavily at Hollow Knight in a couple of places it's probably risking whiplash, but the systems it pinches are well implemented on the whole.  Back to the platforming though, it's mostly somewhere between good and very good, which is me purposefully damning it with faint praise - the assault course style design was tighter and more inventive in the original.  Yes, there are some excellent abilities to find in this that are very well used, but on the whole it lacks the masterclass of the The Blind Forest when scrutinised as a checkpoint platform game.  The chase sequences are back, despite what I read elsewhere, but of the three I can remember two were exhilarating as ever but far too easy and the third was an unwelcome difficulty spike.  Alongside the chase sequence we now have bosses, and as a boss man it broke my heart to discover that they're all poor.  Chalice described the combat as scrappy and I think that's a good description, but I also think it's a good fit for the game's standard stages.  Ignoring the bosses, the overhauled combat system works well once you're got a few weapons under/in your belt.  It all starts to fall apart when a screen-filler appears though.  It's an unashamedly difficult game, and the bosses will relentlessly destroy you while you try to juggle too many systems and muddle through the absolute carnage.  It's too much, they're too fiddly, and they're all too frustrating.  Case in point: I spent 10 minutes trying to chip away at one, before trying a different tact with an optional weapon I'd bought half a game ago.  I then proceeded to decimate the fucking thing in 25 seconds, which just felt wrong.  What if I hadn't bought that weapon?  Why is my standard kit so ineffective?  I'm sure there are many different ways to take them down, and I bet plenty of players smash them all over Youtube without breaking a sweat, but as someone with an affinity for level guardians based on over 30 years of 'being well into them', I'm here to tell you they goofed. 

As expected, it's a stunningly beautiful game, sitting somewhere close to Cuphead as the best looking game ever for me.  I just love the whole aesthetic, truly glorious stuff.  The music is a win for me also, it probably just about edges out the original here too.  The story is punctuated by 'feel this now' moments, so it's manipulative to an extent, but as with the first game it feels like a good fit for what's on offer.  It's Dark Moomins via Princess Mononoke; it wants to give your heartstrings some gyp and it makes no attempt to disguise when it's trying its hardest.  I'm down with that, the whole thing is so beautiful it makes the ladlefuls of straight-ahead storytelling quite palatable.

In terms of performance, Xbox One S owners can self-medicate with the game in its current form.  I found that when it starts to freeze, rebooting the game kept that particular problem at bay for an hour or so.  Annoying, but a workable fix.  The framerate still stutters too much for this sort of game though, it's no constant by any means, but there will be the odd occasion where a frame dip seems to gloss over the fact that you just pressed a button.  It's not game breaking, just heart breaking.  If you're an Ori fan don't follow my lead, wait for the inevitable full fix.

Overall then, it's a very good game with fairly sizeable technical issues in its current state, some bold design decisions that paid off and a few that most certainly did not.  I've been down on it for chunks of the review, but it's still in with a chance to make the GotY list. [8]

8. Journey to the Savage Planet 

A pleasant surprise for sure.  It's an explore 'em up with unlockable abilities used to access previously inaccessible areas.  Someone should probably come up with a more suitable descriptor for the genre.  It's also another humour heavy type, falling somewhere between Portal 2, Twisted Pixel games and Starship Troopers.  The voice over never got annoying for me (there's an option to reduce the waffle or turn it off, so it seems pointless to complain even if it does grate).  It also has plenty of PAKISTAN IS THREATENING MY BORDER type TV ads, but they're mostly okay as a one watch, and you can turn them off too.  

It's not an absolutely whopper, but it is a bigger game than I assumed it would be going in.  Still, it's a tiddler in comparison to something like Breath of the Wild.  I much prefer these smaller, intricately designed game worlds over square foot dick measuring maps, and this really does give off a lovingly crafted glow at every turn.  Visuals are surprisingly excellent too; it's a damn fine looking game.  I quite liked the platforming in the end, especially once your character becomes a bit more manoeuvrable.  The ledge grab traversal assist is fairly well implemented, especially when you're scrambling over clusters of rocks that are often surprisingly scalable.  The exact rules for the grapple hook LB trigger still remain elusive to me - and I like exact rules in games - which means I fell in frustration half a dozen times, but it rarely takes long to pick yourself up and try again.  The shooting never felt quite right either, and I can't put my finger on why.  There's a chance I've lost any meagre FPS skills I had during the wilderness years, so it could well be a case of me not you with the gunplay, but half the time it felt like the aim assist was set to '1mm off target trollolol'.  Either that or it had no aim assist, but according to the settings it does.  Shrug.  As Tin mentioned in the thread there's huge scope for cheesing a lot of of the time, which compensates somewhat.  It's serviceable anyway, not strong enough maintain a shooting game for sure, but not weak enough to detract more than a smidge from the overall package here.

The exploration was quite addictive, which isn't something I say very often.  It was nice to have a good old fashioned bastard as an end boss too.  You know the drill, montage incoming: that's not fair/that's shit/bollocks did that hit me/what the fuck is hitting me/nooo not again/where am I supposed to stand then/aargh [slowly and lightly pounds joypad in frustration]/FUUUUUU...oh, I've done it, great stuff.  

It's an odd game, and I've spent most of the review wondering whether to plump for a 7, 8 or 9.  No prizes for guessing that we'll take an [8] for the bottom line, but it's better and worse than that.  #Insight.

And I forgot to mention co-op, which is what I bought it for in the first place.  The way the game saves for two players is a bit odd though, as player one hosts, and player two joins their save.  So the guest is just a visitor really, which to me feels like it either has to be played entirely in co-op, or completed solo by each player first.  I'll do a bit of mopping up in co-op, but in the end the single player was too good to resist so we both ploughed on.

9. DOOM Eternal 

The 2016 entry is one my favourite games this gen.  This is more of the same, so fundamentally it's still superb, but it over-eggs things a smidge in comparison.  The in-the-loop mini arena skirmishes with melee focus remain roughly the same, so you'll know what to expect if you played the reboot, but attempts to flesh it out fall a bit flat here and there.  The perk game wasn't insubstantial in the last one, but it enters Numberwang territory here with weapon upgrades, weapon points, power cells, mastery coins, suit upgrades, crystal upgrades and probably more besides that I'm forgetting.  There's even some sort of XP progression going on.  It's all a little bit jarring in a game with this much immediacy (there's a hub now too), and I could have done without quite so much menu fiddling and ability tweaking.  Kudos to the devs for making much of it optional - slayer gates and so on - but it's still a bit much for my tastes.    

Difficulty wise I struggled on Hurt Me Plenty (default setting) to the point where it's probably time to admit that my 3D gaming skillz haven't retained anywhere near the ultimate form Muzzy l33tness of my 2D abilities.  I got stuck for ages on at least two checkpoints, and ended up claiming my 5lbs of armour on every boss past the midway point.  It's fucking tough, and I've not heard much noise about it being full capslock tough, so it looks like this one's on me.  I'd rip & tear my hair out if I had to play the last two or three levels on Ultra Violence or above, whereas the 2016 struck me as well suited to replays on higher difficulties.  I'm not gonna lie, as the kids like to start sentences with these days; I had a strong desire to give up on the final stage.

In terms of design I thought a couple of enemies let the side down slightly.  The Marauder just about works as a comparison to the game itself.  Bear with me here.  Once you get used to them, they're excellent badass level baddies.  Adding an element of counter attacking to the mix works surprisingly well, so it still feels right in the scheme of things even though they're doing something new.  Pats on the back all round, good work.  But wait, someone had the bright idea that a ghost cat should appear alongside them and clamp its jaws to your arse intermittently, which just seems too irritating to be considered a success.  It's the extra layer of dev spitballing that turned something potentially great into something merely good.  /End analogy.   

There's plenty to like, but I've decided not to focus on that for some reason.  I had no real problem with the jumping, which a few reviews mention as a negative.  Some of those sections aren't great, but pulling off the moves was far more enjoyable than working out what to do imo.  As a rule of thumb, green bits of scenery highlight your path for progression, but I found some of the wayfinding a bit irritating.  Much as I did in the original games to be fair.  I get that it's there to mix things up a tad, but I would've preferred a relentless 8hr arena battler to a bloated 16hr FPS with jumping bits.  Actually, a 10hr mix of both might've been about right.  Anyway, /end Goldilocks musings.  It's too long, but I'm probably in the minority with that opinion as most gamers want more for their money these days. 

It's a very good FPS overall, but only maintains an [8] average this time.

Edit: I should've mentioned the visuals really.  It's a beauty.  Double double doors ftw; I loved the way some of the 'what have they got in there, King Kong?' doors had more doors behind them just because.


10. Paper Mario: The Origami King

30hrs still counts as epic, right?  It felt pretty epic to me, Tilly and I have been chipping away at it most days since launch.  I had hoped to click with the battle system, despite most reviews suggesting that it's not the main draw.  I didn't, unfortunately, but I didn't find the panel moving line-em-up sections as obtrusive as battle systems in RPGs of yore (the Final Fantasy VII battle music would still annoy me no doubt, and I used to place the pad on the floor in despair when the Dreamcast whirred to denote a fight was coming in the otherwise excellent Skies of Arcadia).  Folded minions can often be avoided, so believe it or not this didn't prove to be massively problematic even over the course of such a long game.  Special mention for the bosses though; I thought the slightly tweaked system worked a treat for them.  

I didn't know what to expect from the non-battly bits, but it turns out everything else on offer is big-grin gaming.  The toad hunting is just about the most moreish optional extra I can think of - I've never been a hundo hunter but we found the vast majority of them, and having each one become a visible hype man in the arena is genius.  There's a ton of variety to the tasks and quests, most of it front and centre in the trailers but I'll avoid direct spoilers, and just about everything attempted outside the arena felt more hit than miss to me.  It looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is one of Nintendo's best for years, its pun game is stronk (as is the script in general), plus the story unfolds beautifully and genuinely goes places.  Was reading all text to Tilly and I needed a good cuddle once or twice.  I take back wot I said in the Switch thread about Nintendo's not-quite-major releases lacking a bit of spit & polish on Switch as this is about is lush & lavish as it gets. [8], but I tell you what, it'd be a straight [9] with more agreeable battles.   In with a shout for my GotY top 5, with Olivia winning character of the year hands down.

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Four John Prine/Moomins references in ten reviews, it's a PB.

Read the fine print m8

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Read the fine print m8

Numbers are in bold, no need to read anything else.

Wow. I've heard of all of those.

Flicking through the Metacritic list and I've played so few games due to playing 100 hour whopper JRPGs this year that the board game complication for Switch is actually gonna get points from me.

hylian_elf wrote:

JonB wrote:

Wow. I've heard of all of those.

Maybe you’re just becoming like Moot and Muzzy and just playing anything?!

Only for money.

Doom Eternal, Resi 3, Last of Us 2, and Ghost of Tsushima so far for me in my placeholder. Everything else I’ve played it’s out of date for the list!

Hades will be 1 by default for me. Even though I played most of it in EA.

Mo:Astray and art of rally if we're looking 2020 stuff. 

Trying to think if I've played anything else new.

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

We’ve lost most of the pedants so this’ll probably be much smoother this year anyway.

lol

Totally not really fussed about this year. I suppose Paper Mario, Hades, FF7 and THPS1-2 were all pretty enjoyable. Yakuza might make up the 5 but that's only lining up a solid, not earth shattering year. Hades probably the best there.

Cyberpunk, Neon Abyss, Foregone, Doom Eternal and Hades are the 5 from this year so far

What’s this Neon Abyss I am hearing of?

Ah ok. Just saw it on front of Switch eshop. Used some gold coins that were about to expire for a discount and just bought MO. Let’s do this.

Dark Soldier wrote:

Cyberpunk, Neon Abyss, Foregone, Doom Eternal and Hades are the 5 from this year so far

A good list but eternal might end up being my most disappointing of the year. I stuck the original on my 2016 top 5, possibly number 1 or 2, and this one I've put 3 hours into and have no desire to go back to.

It isn't on my worst of the year as it isn't a bad game at all, but there are about two or three elements that changed that were not for me at all.