VideoGame_Discussion

A super kamehameha bullet sir.

Scott wrote:

Yeah I debated having it on my list or my backup. Put it on my backup and then took it off a few days later lol…phew

You all chose wisely. I on the other hand, did not. But it’s all good. One year I’ll wise up and vote with my head instead of my heart.

Nah man, so much more fulfilling to go by heart/gut.

You’re right. It’s also why I can never breach the top 5 in these rankings haha

It’s cool. I did that with Horizon: Call of the Mountain last year and it probably cost me a shot at the top spot, but I don’t regret it. I still think it’s an underrated game.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Yeah it happens. I’m just more like boo since it’s my 2nd year guessing something with either a low ish score or missing something completely and guessing wrong. Like in 2022 I thought God of War Ragnarok was gonna miss the year completely and get delayed to 2023 like most other games due to the pandemic yet it slid in a month or two before 2022 wrapped. Still kicking myself for that one since I’m such a die hard GOW fan.

Yeah, I did that was Helldivers 2 this year. But only as an alt. I can't wait for it and I just have a feeling it'll review really well. I was surprised to see it on 3 other lists. I thought I'd be the only one.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

That's what I did last year with Spider-Man 2. I really thought it would get pushed to 2024 for sure so I left it off my list. Regret that one big time.

Oh bummer dude. Guess that happens to all of us at one point!

So, I started Suicide Squad tonight, and, while I was getting bad Gotham Knights vibes at first, once I got past the tutorial stuff and into the story, it hooked me. It looks good, the traversal is decent once you get used to it, the combat is more my cup of tea than the Arkham games, and the story is actually pretty solid so far. Potential downsides: no real enemy variety so far, and some of the dialogue is really cringy, although it’s growing on me a bit. Captain Boomerang is fun to play as but super annoying anytime he speaks. Still, it’s fun so far.

Okay guys OP updated with scores for Suicide Squad. It's at 62 on OpenCritic from 30 reviews

https://opencritic.com/game/14351/suicide-squad-ki...

Not that I have any stake in it, but I for sure thought it would jump up to a 70 with more reviews. Good game (as in R.I.P.) for anyone who picked it. Its hard to come back from a low 60's score. Especially with the bangers that have already dropped this year. And honestly even a low 70's score will be hard to come back from this year again just like last it seems.

Suicide squad now down to a 59 from 54 reviews.

Has anyone here played it? Is it really that bad a game?

Archer wrote:

No. I’m 14 hours in and loving it. Had super low expectations though. Also, I’m not a huge DC or superhero fan and don’t read comics or anything. Also, only beat Arkham Asylum (played the other two but didn’t finish). The story is a ton of fun and legit funny at times. I think too many people are upset it’s not what they wanted them to make.

Shane12m wrote:

That's my thoughts. I'm holding off for a sale or for it to hit either Game Pass / an upcoming Humble Bundle. The game seems like a fun experience if taken on its own.

I think everyone's upset because this is the same studio that brought us 3 AMAZING Batman Arkham games. I think if this had been released by a subsidiary, similar to Arkham Origins, the reception would have been better.

Ironically, Gotham Knights sort of proves that theory. It has a 67% on Metacritic, yet from what I've heard, it runs somewhat poorly on console. Where-as from what I've heard, Suicide Squad runs really well.

I agree with @Shane12m. It’s better than the reviews. I like the combat a lot better than the combat in the Arkham games, the graphics are solid, and the story is interesting so far. The only things I don’t like are the lack of enemy variety and the sometimes cringy dialogue. Also, Captain Boomerang grates on my nerves despite being really fun to play as. I’m only 4 hours in, but, as of now, I’d probably give it a 7/10. It’s a fun game to just pick up and play for a mission or two.

(For context, I should also note that I really didn’t like Gotham Knights.)

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Boomerang is definitely annoying and not funny but I don’t think he’s meant to be as the other characters make fun of him a lot lol.

I played through Gotham Knights after getting it on a deep sale for like $30. It was ok, but way more fun coop with a friend. It had an ok story. Pretty repetitive though and the framerate at times was ROUGH. Mandatory 30fps in the modern era is just not very sexy.

And I’ll get Suicide Squad when it too hits that $30 mark. You betrayed us for the last time Admiral WB and I’m not paying full price for your live servicey crap.

Helldivers 2 comes out tomorrow. Reviews gonna drop tomorrow?

Shane12m wrote:

Doesn't look like they sent out early review codes for this one which is always a little worrying. But I played it for about an hour this morning and it's fantastic! It'll be interesting to see how it reviews.

I think this one they were waiting on turning on servers and didn't bother with pre-release. Don't have it on my list but hope it's good.

Sounds like the PC port is struggling for people :(

The gameplay I watched of Helldivers 2 reminds me of firefight mode in Halo 3 ODST. (You team up with someone and see how many aliens that spawn in you can defeat.)

TalonJedi87 wrote:

I picked up Gotham Knights recently. I hope I'll still be able to enjoy it single-player. I haven't been able to convince anyone else to buy it

Frank wrote:

I finish every game I start. But Gotham Knights broke me. I couldn't do it. It's just soooo boring. Also worst Batgirl ever!

Yeah I would have likely given up on Gotham Knights too if I didn’t have a friend to play with to get me thru it. The repetitiveness and redundancy was just too much to bear. It’s a shame though. It had such potential to have a compelling story but it shat the bed liquid diarrhea like.

Heavyd814life wrote:

To reiterate, Helldivers rocks! Played it until about 3am last night with a few friends. Mind you, I'd be out by midnight on a normal night. Fast-paced and hectic. Tons to unlock and collect. A little disappointed by the in-game currency and battle pass type stuff, but such is the way of it now.

Finished suicide squad today and my overall impression shifted pretty drastically once I beat it. Went from a solid 8 to maybe a 6 if not lower. The gameplay got stale but that took 20 hours. The story had some really cool high moments but the last quarter of it really sucked.

Oh Rocksteady. How far we have fallen from the top. Went from Arkham games averaging a 9/10 to SS ranking with a 6. Where’s Ollie at? Because you have failed this city.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Blame WB for tasking them with chasing the live service train even though it left the station long ago

Absolutely. That was implied. And Rocksteady was probably against it too but what can you do when you’re owned by a greedy corpo? Go private I guess but I’m sure that’s more work than it’s worth sometimes.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

From a practical perspective, you can only go private if the corp is willing to let you. You can't just buy back your company stock unless the people that own it will sell it.

Oh then nvm. No way WB would let one of their cash cows go willingly like that. Unless they sell off their games division which I heard was a thing a year or so ago when they were hurting financially but I think since they merged with Discovery those woes have partially ceased for now. I was kinda hoping they would have sold off some of their gaming assets though to other companies because with the exception of a couple of newer WB games, like Hogwarts Legacy, most lately have been trashy and live servicey crap for the most part.

OP updated with scores for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. It's sitting at 82 on Opencritic from 33 reviews. Very solid!

https://opencritic.com/game/15909/banishers-ghosts...

Another solid AA game from Don't Nod looks like. I'll have to check it out at some point.

Nice on Banishers! As soon as I saw who was making it and the trailer it went into my Amazon wish list. Looked like it had potential.

Helldivers 2 sitting at 82 with 14 reviews. Currently the same score the first game averaged.

Speaking of Banishers, Target is the worst. They never sent my Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince pre-order, and I finally cancelled after more than a month. Now, my copy of Banishers (that I pre-ordered months ago) is backordered to the end of February. I still have plenty to play, but they're super unreliable.

Shane12m wrote:

Thanks for the heads up! Just updated the OP. Still at 82 from 15 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/15908/helldivers-ii

Arzette releases today!

https://youtu.be/oki_dGhip3E

Mario v Donkey Kong currently at a 77 with 20 reviews

Damn so sad :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/EiyudenChronicle/comments...

Shane12m wrote:

I was really on the fence with that one, I had a feeling it would be in the 70s, or at best low 80s. Glad I at least only put it as an alt, but I wish I had just gone with something else instead.

Shane12m wrote:

Damn dude that's so sad...

benstylus wrote:

Weird one but I can't seem to find an OpenCritic page for this game. I do see it on Metacritic, though. It has 4 reviews so far. I'll check back later today.

OP updated with scores for Mario vs. Donkey Kong. It's sitting at 77 on Opencritic from 20 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/15498/mario-vs-donkey-...

Wow wrecked by a Nintendo game, oh well. See you all next year

I FULLY expected that.

I enjoyed Mario vs DK on GBA all those years ago, but cut it off my list at the last minute before submitting it. While it was a pretty fun game in 2004, that doesn't always mean it'll still be fun 20 years later. 77 sounds about right. And now that the remake exists they'll use that as an excuse not to put the GBA version on the NSO Expansion Pack service.

edit: I just watched Dashie play this on YouTube. It's a 50 minute video, but I was done watching after barely 20 minutes. It doesn't look nearly as fun as I remember it being. Not only am I kinda glad I didn't put it on my list this year, I'm glad I didn't rush out to buy it based purely on how fun I remember it being 20 years ago. Now I just hope Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario 2 have aged much better.

High 70s/low 80s kinda felt like the ceiling for Mario vs DK. I was actually pretty surprised to see that it made it onto more lists than Paper Mario did.

Oops. Bet that bites me in the ass later this year.

Completely forgot Paper Mario TYD remake was releasing this year. And Luigi’s Mansion 2 remake. So many games. So little time! (And room on lists)

Helldivers now sitting at 84. Going up
Played for a bit and it’s a lot of fun

Shane12m wrote:

Yeah, it's awesome! I've played it every night since launch. It's honestly the most fun I've had in a co-op game in a really long time.

OP updated with scores for Skull and Bones. It's sitting at 60 on OpenCritic from 10 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16299/skull-and-bones

@Archer that's probably GG unfortunately. Tough to stay in the hunt with a score that low. But maybe it'll go up a bit when more reviews come in?

Yeah, I knew it was a mistake not to edit my list and remove it. I even made a joke last month about not doing it. Should have actually done it. Oh well. Next year.

AAAA gaming's first game is a 60.

Kommie wrote:

Yeah but AAAAA is gonna turn it around. Once we hit that billion dollar dev cost games are gonna be good again. At least a 70.

I just watched some actual gameplay of the AAAA game, and wow. 60 seems about right. Looks like its Black Flag without all the actually interesting gameplay. This should have just stayed an addon for black flag like it was originally developed. Not sure how that took 11 years to make.

So is Skull and Bones just ship battles pretty much? Nothing hybrid on foot like in Black Flag? (Which I loved)

I've been putting Skull & Bones on my list for years...and this is the thanks they give me? Ubisoft titles are now banned from ever making my list again.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

My understanding is there is a wood harvesting minigame too.

benstylus wrote:

From the boat. All the mini games are timing mini games, and you do them from the boat. The start of the game has you running around an island to get supplies and money to built a boat. But it seems once you get the boat, that is all there is. The boat.

That is beyond pathetic. 5 delays and $70 later for a 16th century boat sim.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

At least you were smart enough to put it as an alt and not a main pick like I did.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Sounds like it was designed in the 16th century too

Heavyd814life wrote:

Agreed. So many people are playing it from my friend list. Usually I'm luck to have 2-3 people playing the same game I am. I have like 6-8 every night playing Helldivers. Always down to join a group and go bug/bot hunting. Looking forward to the return of mechs and all the other content possibilities.

After having watched around 3 hours of gameplay of Tekken 8, I'd say the 90 is deserved. Solid gameplay, good cutscenes, and a continuation to a story that, while I know little about, made me want to know more.

Found a little glitch in the gameplay. Not a big deal, just for fun:

image

There's a scene where the main bad guy is asked what his hobbies are.

Lol top game this year so far is Balatro. Can't believe nobody had that one.

sefjwm wrote:

Maybe because its rouge lite deck builder where you play poker indie game that no one knew existed until the other day, lol. I saw that score on there yesterday myself and was like, wtf is this game.

Oh noes, now it's dropping. I think there were a couple small indies nobody heard of last year in the top 10 as well.

Edit - looks like a bunch of them: Videoverse, Against the Storm, Turbo Overkill, Jack Jeanne, and even Pizza Tower kind of came out of nowhere.
And now I have a list of games to check out.

sefjwm wrote:

Against the Storm is fun, but I thought it lost its luster pretty quick. I played it for around probably 15-20, and it seemed like it would have taken five times that long to actually accomplish/beat this game. As a RTS Rogue-like this is definitely a unique one.

Turbo Overkill demo was cool. I picked it up yesterday before the same ended.

Reviews dropped for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth this morning. It's currently sitting at 92 from 57 reviews. Wow! It's on 26 out of 28 lists so almost everyone has it. I'll have the OP updated sometime this afternoon.

https://opencritic.com/game/15136/final-fantasy-vi...

Heavyd814life wrote:

I did not expect reviews to drop so soon. Nice!

lol of course eurogamer gave it an 8. I feel like they give most games an 8

Holy moley! It’s up to 93 now on OC. And even a 94 on Metacritic. Dayyyuuum!!!

Okay peeps OP has been updated. Looks like everyone is finally on the board!

This is going to be an interesting year! Thanks for doing these @Heavyd814life, they're always fun to participate in!

Wow another unheard of Indie over 90. Congrats FF Rebirth!

Penny's Big Breakaway released yesterday, still no reviews on either MetaCritic or OpenCritic, but there are multiple reviews on YouTube, so clearly the publisher did send out keys. It's a game I was looking forward to (still am, it looks fun but backlog is too big to buy it right now) but only benstylus has it on his list.

Scott wrote:
Wish I had joined in previous years. Really enjoying this so far. The discussion, finding out about games I didn't know about, etc. Even the anticipation of upcoming games, although not easy, adds to the enjoyment. Good fun.

I’ll enjoy the #4 slot while it lasts!

I picked Skull and Bones, AND put FFVII Rebirth as an ALT pick. I'm killing it this year.

Archer wrote:

Don't lose hope - It's still possible that time travel will be invented this year.

Archer wrote:

Yeah I’m genuinely curious to hear your logic behind that decision. Not saying that to be mean. That’s part of why this is so fun, I love seeing what other people think will score well and like mentioned, learning more about games I wouldn’t have otherwise

Shane12m wrote:

I put FFVIIR as an alt in-case Fable gets delayed. Which it seems like it will. But wanted it on the list just case. But I messed up by not fixing my list in January and removing S&B thinking it wouldn't be that bad, and so of course it was. I was going to remove it and put FFVIIR in its place and add a different alt, but then thought fudge it, I'll let it ride. So I didn't edit my list before the deadline.

No one had it on their list, but its a game I'm very interested in playing. King Arthur: Knight’s Tale sitting at a 79. I might pick it up this weekend. I was going to wait for a price drop. But most all the reviews only real complaint is how many 'repetitive hard battles' there are, in a turn based strategy game.

Same with Pacific Drive. Also scored a 79. Sounds interesting. Survival game where you drive a car through the pacific northwest, with paranormal things happening around you while you try to figure out why.

Its kind of crazy how many good to amazing games have already dropped this year. We aren't even two full months into it.

Archer wrote:

I put Suicide Squad as a main. I too am cleaning house!

Archer wrote:

Pacific Drive looks really unique. And I'm usually down for anything set in the pacific northwest. Definitely adding this to my wishlist.

OP updated with scores for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. It's currently at 78 on OpenCritic from 36 reviews. Much lower than I expected. Really thought this would be in the mid 80s for sure.

https://opencritic.com/game/1867/brothers-a-tale-o...

Ugh, WTF is up with reviews from years ago being counted in opencritic for this game? They are including reviews from the original version for some reason. I think their AI script to pull them in fudgeed up. They have reviews from 2013 through 2019 of the original version of the game based on releases for different platforms. From when it released for those platforms. So that score is not correct.

There are only 9 legit reviews for this version. The rest are from the original game.

However, those 9 scores only equate to an 80, lol. Crazy all those other scores only dragged it down 2 points.

I see the problem now. They just added the new scores to the old page. They didn't create a new entry in the database for the new game. So it just pulled the new scores in and added them to the old game.

Ah, I see it now. Thanks for the heads up. I'll leave the OP as is for now until they create a seperate database entry for this game. If they don't I guess I could just go in an average out the new scores myself.

Even Open Critic is getting confused by which remakes count

nonamesleft wrote:

This is the best part. I've added a bunch of games to my wishlist from this

sefjwm wrote:
Nice. Like what?

Lil Guardsman, Balatro, Banishers, those Indies I list above. All look neat, now to invent a time machine so I have more time to play things

They now have a new proper entry for the game:
https://opencritic.com/game/16366/brothers-a-tale-...

80 from 10 reviews.

sefjwm wrote:
Haha. Same.

Archer wrote:

Nice! Updated the OP

Also added scores for Penny's Big Breakaway to the OP. It's currently at 77 on OpenCritic from 14 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16347/pennys-big-break...

OP updated with scores for Ufouria: The Saga 2. It's currently at 78 on OpenCritic from 12 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16372/ufouria-the-saga...

Damn I think Mario vs. Donkey Kong is gonna screw me this year.

Boss wrote:

I feel you. I feel the same way about Brothers. With all the high scoring games we've already had anything in the high 70s/low 80s feels like a disappointment. We both have Unicorn Overlord though and the demo makes me feel like it could hit the high 80s. But who knows.

Suicide Squad royally screwed me. Or I screwed myself by not taking it off my list against my better judgment. But that happens sometimes when you vote with your heart and not your head.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Sometimes you follow your heart. Sometimes your heart cuts a fart. - Tenacious D

So guys I was thinking that maybe we could play "Guess the OpenCritic score" to keep everyone engaged throughout the year. We each try to guess the score for an upcoming game and anyone who guesses the exact score gets a $5 Amazon GC. If multiple people guess the score then I can do one of those random number generator things to pick a winner.

We could try not to do the super niche stuff that might not get a ton of reviews and only do the ones that should have 20+ reviews on the day the embargo lifts. Whatever the score is the morning after the embargo lifts is the score we go with.

So first up would be Homeworld 3 and Overlord Unicorn which both drop on March 8. You just guess a score for each game. A little game within the game. Could be pretty fun. What do you guys think?

Overlord I am going to guess 90
Homeworld 3 - 84

Gonna edit this after looking up more about Homeworld

Great idea!

Homeworld 3 - 88
Overlord Unicorn - 88

Scott wrote:

Seeing as unicorn is not on your list I’m guessing the demo won you over? So good :)

Shane12m wrote:

I actually just thought it looked pretty good in the Direct recently. I didn't know anything about it before then though, so I hadn't even considered it for my list.

Homeworld 3 (never heard of this) - 87
Unicorn Overlord - 89

I’ve not heard of either of these games but here’s my 2 cents !

Homeworld 3- 85
Unicorn Overlord - 91

Guys actually scratch Homeworld 3. Looks like it was delayed to May 13 a couple of weeks ago. So just Unicorn Overlord.

My guess:

Unicorn Overlord - 87

I don't know much of anything about Homeworld 3 or Unicorn Overlord. Without bothering to look up any info in advance I'll guess Unicorn Overlord gets an 81.

Unicorn Overlord- 87

Unicorn overlord - 84
Homeworld - 86

Unicorn Overlord - 88
Homeworld - 84

Unicorn Overlord - 86

Unicorn Overlord- 82

Yall guessing anything under 84 for unicorn overlord are out of your minds lol

Neither of these games are even on my radar. I'm going to choose 87 for both Unicorn Overlord and Homeworld.

This is a cool little bonus to keep things interesting. Thanks!

Homeworld 3- 88
Unicorn Overlord - 89

@Heavyd814life Fun idea, a game within a game. I like it.

I'll say 89 for Unicorn Overlord.

Score aside, something about the art style makes me think of games made by Atlus. What I've seen so far of the game makes me think of what the product of a Fire Emblem meets Atlus type of game would be.

Fun idea to keep the group talking about games. I had never heard of Unicorn Overlord but the art style looks good and it sounds like the demo is great.
Unicorn Overlord - 86

I guess, i'll join the conversation too

Homeworld 3 - 87
Overlord Unicorn - 87

Unicorn Overlord - 92

Just played the demo to Unicorn Overlord, I'm changing my score from an 83 to a 65.

Unicorn Overlord - 79

Unicorn Overlord - 90
Homework 3 - 85

Archer wrote:

We got the winner right here! Just give him the $5 now

Archer wrote:

Damn for real? I loved the demo!

Maybe Archer doesn't like strategy games. And Vanillaware is kind of a niche developer. My CE is now preparing for shipment!

Heavyd814life wrote:
Pretty sure he’s trolling lol

I thought it was going to be within 6 weeks. Turns out they made it to 7.

https://m.gametz.com/Hot_Deals/prince-persia-lost-...

That's still longer than it took for Skull and Bones to get a discount

Free to Play games shouldn't cost $70 to begin with. So it's still quite overpriced.

So far I've just been seeing 9s for Unicorn Overlord. So I was close!

BloodPuppetX wrote:

And a 60.

Shane12m wrote:

I am not. I genuinely think its a bad game. And the blurb from that 60 score on opencritic pretty much sums up how I feel about it:

"Ultimately, Unicorn Overlord excels in its graphics and art style. However, the gameplay is mostly just fun for a few hours before it devolves to becoming stale due to repetitiveness and a lot of insignificant mechanics that don't affect the gameplay. On the surface, it looks pretty excellent, but the final 40+ hour experience from start to finish makes you feel like your playing a mobile game."

Obviously, that one 60 from Kakuchopurei can't be wrong..lol.

I think it's silly for someone to say that you're trolling because you didn't like the demo, btw. I can definitely see the gameplay loop getting repetitive for some people. (I never really understood that "mobile game" insult though.)

BloodPuppetX wrote:

No I thought he was trolling for saying the game is gonna have a 60 something average on opencritic. Not for disliking the demo

Unicorn Overlord currently sitting at 88 with 12 critic reviews.

Shane12m wrote:

Yeah the score is a legit troll/hyperbole number. There is no way it will average that low. It will probably be in the low to mid 80s after all is said and done. That one 60 review wont be the only one.

Archer wrote:

See I know you haha :)
It’s all good fun here

BloodPuppetX wrote:

For me replace the "mobile game" thing with "visual novel with no actual combat or gameplay" and that is how I feel. Its not a real strategy game. The only "strategy" is to just pick up the best units as you go and that way you never lose an AUTO battles. Which is just baffling game design to me. And the fact that people like this confuses me.

Fire Emblem and other strategy games are basically auto battles. One difference though is that the percentages aren't 100% accurate in FE. You'll attack with a 95% chance and miss, and enemies will one-hit kill you with a 3% crit chance. That doesn't appear to be the case in Unicorn Overlord, the game just straight up tells you what the damage output will be. The strategy comes from putting the right units together and using the Gambit system. (That's what it was called in Final Fantasy 12 anyway.)

I'm more interested in the overworld stuff though. But I can see that being bland for others.

Speaking of Fire Emblem, I saw on reddit that a difficulty unlocks after beating the game which is basically like perma-death in FE. Units don't die, but can't be redeployed after they've fallen in battle. (And difficulty can't be changed once selected.)

Played all that I could of the demo, and see that my CE is on its way for tomorrow. Can't wait.
There is only one game in my mind that Unicorn Overlord is mimicking and it's Ogre Battle 64. There are some things I already miss from Ogre Battle that I'm not seeing in UO.

- Why can't you attack/be attacked from the side or back, which flip flops your formation? It adds a bit more difficulty in troop positioning

- Why, especially on the world map, does everything move so fast? And the only unit your character isn't faster than appears to be the cavalry units. This makes running around to areas you aren't ready for and finding materials pretty easy.

- Speaking of fast, slow down the combat as well...I can't tell what attacks the units are using half the time. Also, they appear to do the same thing no matter their position in your formation. In OB your attacks could be different based on front/back row. An added level of strategery.

- No Lawful/Chaotic scale to drive different outcomes at villages and in the story. (Who you can recruit).


When combat is mostly automated, you need more systems in place to fluff up the gameplay. So I understand @Archer critique.
OB64 is an 'all-time' game for me. I've wanted more games like it for so long now. Being that I would rate OB64 a 95+ for myself, and given a few of UO's shortcomings, I felt a high 80 was about right. Of course, we've only seen the first 5 hours or so of UO, so the combat and gameplay enhancements may not be fully divulged to us yet.

I still need to play Ogre Battle 64 someday. I will if it ever comes to NSO.

Yeah, the demo felt like a modern Ogre Battle with a hint of FF12 (which if memory serves @archer didn’t really like). I loved the demo. The only thing I was and still am kinda iffy about is the story, but I only played it for an hour so too soon to really pass judgement there. High 80s felt like a really safe bet having been payed the demo but obviously everyone has different tastes so no real surprise it didn’t resonate with some people.

@Shane12m Did you see Outward 2 was announced today? I'm so hyped for that. I think you are the only other person on here who played the first game and liked it. They didn't announce a console version yet. But I hope this one doesn't end up PC only. I put over 500 hours into the xbox version, and over 200 hours into the PS version.

Archer wrote:

Oh dang! Yeah that game was rough around the edges but it was pretty cool. Glad they are doing a sequel

Okay guys OP has been updated with scores for Unicorn Overlord. It's currently at 88 on OpenCritic from 20 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16408/unicorn-overlord

Unicorn Overlord - 88

Our guesses:

1. Thatfootballguy - 92
2. TalonJedi87 - 91
3. Boss - 90
4. Shane12m - 90
5. BloodPuppetX - 89
6. Frank - 89
7. Nonamesleft - 89
8. Incubus421 - 88
9. Scott - 88
10. Bleed_DukeBlue - 87
11. Bonham2 - 87
12. Heavyd814life - 87
13. Hum - 87
14. DemonAlcohol - 86
15. Mattyg00013 - 86
16. Lunar - 84
17. Ryan - 82
18. PizzaTheHutt - 81
19. Kommie - 79
20. Archer - 65

@Incubus421 and @Scott are the only ones who guessed correctly. Here's a little race to determine the winner. I'll PM the winner with their $5 Amazon GC later today.

https://100yardrush.com/v/BCmorIYHAi

It’s 20 reviews it could go up or down 1 with more lol. But yeah, great guess you two!

That was fun

Shane12m wrote:

I know! I figured there'd be more reviews by now, but it's a pretty niche game so maybe there won't be a ton when it's all said and done. The thing is that a score can go up or down 1 or 2 even weeks after the initial wave of reviews drop. So the only really ideal time to decide a winner would be at the end of the year but then that's kinda boring, I think.

Heavyd814life wrote:

Oh for sure, I think that’s totally reasonable and was just being silly :)

Also I am hoping it goes up more for my own overall score

Not sure if it’s on anyone’s list (thought I saw a few with it) but Contra is sitting at a 74 with 15 reviews

I didn't even know there was a new contra game.

It looks decent. Surprised about the low scores. Looks like, based on the quick gameplay I just saw, very much what one would want from a modern contra.

Shane12m wrote:
I'm surprised at the lowish score. It looks pretty good from what I watched of it. Looks like a straightforward gunner (the gameplay I saw) so maybe reviewers are disappointed that the fomula wasn't tweaked, that it isn't all new mechanics/etc?

I think it deserves higher. It has a quality look to it, that work was put in, imo.

That's disappointing. The score is even lower on Metacritic. It's from the same devs that did Contra 4 on DS in 2007, and that reviewed well.

It looks like the Switch version in particular is the worst way to play the game. Nintendo Life's review says to skip the Switch version and play it on Steam instead. But then the Steam reviews are not that much better, so this isn't a case of reviews of the Switch version dragging down the overall score of all versions.

Updated the OP with scores for Contra: Operation Galuga. It's sitting at 75 on OpenCritic from 21 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16422/contra-operation...

We've got 4 pretty big games dropping in the next week and a half. Let's get those guesses in! Same rules as we had for Unicorn Overlord.

Alone in the Dark - 72
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 90
Princess Peach: Showtime - 74
Rise of the Ronin - 85

This was tough. I'm probably way too high on DD2. Really curious to see where everyone else lands.

Alone in the Dark - 80
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 87
Princess Peach: Showtime - 85
Rise of the Ronin - 80

Alone in the Dark - 86
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 86
Princess Peach: Showtime - 86
Rise of the Ronin - 86

Alone in the Dark - 63
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 88
Princess Peach: Showtime - 82
Rise of the Ronin - 3

Alone in the Dark - 69
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 87
Princess Peach: Showtime - 72
Rise of the Ronin - 83

I have no idea what to expect for Rise of the Ronin and Dragon's Dogma 2, as those are games I probably would never play anyway.
But last May I played the Prologue/demo of Alone in the Dark and really wasn't blown away by it (but it was only 10 minutes long), though they have had multiple delays to work on fixing things like the graphics, which looked kinda last-gen.
Princess Peach I've had little interest in since it was first shown, and impressions of YouTubers that have played the demo weren't good enough to change my mind, so I don't have high expectations for this one either. I actually can't decide if I want to swap the scores for AitD and Peach or leave them as is.

Alone in the Dark - 65
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 92
Princess Peach: Showtime - 88
Rise of the Ronin - 70

Dragon's Dogma 2 - 94
Rise of the Ronin - 86
Princess Peach: Showtime - 82

Alone in the Dark - 69
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 93
Princess Peach: Showtime - 83
Rise of the Ronin - 93

Alone in the Dark - 65
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 85
Princess Peach: Showtime - 75
Rise of the Ronin - 85

Alone in the Dark - 75
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 92
Princess Peach: Showtime - 86
Rise of the Ronin - 89

Alone in the Dark - 68
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 88
Princess Peach: Showtime - 79
Rise of the Ronin - 82

I do hope DD2 scores high because I really liked the first one.

Alone in the Dark - 64
Dragon's Dogama 2 - 91
Princess Peach - 82
Rise of the Ronin - 87

Rise of the Ronin - 86
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 90
Princess Peach Showtime - 85

Alone in the Dark - I really don't know.

Edit. I'll go 79 on Alone in the Dark. A guess is better than no guess.

Here's my 2 cents... this is fun!

Alone in the Dark - 67
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89
Princess Peach: Showtime - 77
Rise of the Ronin - 87

Alone in the Dark - 63
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 84
Princess Peach: Showtime - 81
Rise of the Ronin - 79

Alone in the Dark - 71
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 91
Princess Peach: Showtime - 84
Rise of the Ronin - 88

Alone in the Dark - 71
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 88
Princess Peach: Showtime - 83
Rise of the Ronin - 77

Oh wow I thought I’d be way higher than everyone else on Dragon’s Dogma 2. Glad everyone feels as strongly about it as I do. Thought I was being too bullish since Dark Arisen is only like an 80 on OpenCritic.

@Heavyd814life

I edited my post and picked a number for Alone in the Dark. I figure that a guess, even if based on very little, is better than no guess at all.

Heavyd814life wrote:
I don't think you're going too nuts with Dragon's Dogma 2. To me, the game play I've watched indicates very solid.

I cannot get into the dragons dogma franchise for the life of me But hopefully dragons dogma 2 can change that. But I am aware of how I’m feeling it will score at least. And that is my Spidey Sense is telling me

Yeah, I tried to like Dragons Dogma 1 and it just bored me.

Yeah, Contra Operation Galuga had really positive previews (not counting the Switch version) and we see how that turned out. Rise of the Ronin is looking really positive too, with the only consistent negative being the visuals.

Contra burned me with the last one that came out I forget the name but I sold it after one time playing it so I’m weary to invest in another Contra game. I’d rather replay Blazing Chrome instead of buying a new Contra game.

Alone in the Dark - 76
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 87
Princess Peach: Showtime - 83
Rise of the Ronin - 78

I’m suprised by the low score guesses for rise of the ronin. Their last game Nioh 2 was an 85

I put high 87 as my guess for Rise of the Ronin. I’m sure it’ll do most good.

Shane12m wrote:

Their last game was actually Wo Long (81) and before that it was Stranger of Paradise (72). People sometimes forget how many games Team Ninja churns out. But Fumihiko Yasuda, who is directing Rise of Ronin, directed both Nioh games so I have very high hopes for it. I've seen some complaints about the visuals, but Team Ninja games have never really been cutting edge so as long as they nail the gameplay, I think it'll review really well.

But also it's an open world game and they've added RPG elements like a branching story, side quests etc so it's definitely unlike anything they've made before. And we all know Team Ninja games aren't exactly known for great storytelling. So I'm optimistic because it seems ambitious, but I'm also a little uncertain because it's a little out of their wheelhouse.

It's going to be fun to see how it reviews.

Alone in the Dark - 72
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 88
Princess Peach: Showtime - 79
Rise of the Ronin - 83

Heavyd814life wrote:

Those were different teams all together that’s why nioh 2 was that teams actual last game (or at least so I thought haha)

I didn't realize Rise of the Ronin was made by them. I'm kind of bummed they are the ones making it. I know I'm in a minority on this, but I've yet to play a game by them that I liked or enjoyed playing enough to finish it. And after my disappointment with Wo Long, I'm not even sure I'll bother to try with this one until its on GP or PS+.

Same. I never finished either of the Nioh games. I mean I’ll still play Rise of the Ronin on a sale but I just hope I can make it to the finish line this time.

Hated the Wo Long demo so I didn't bother with it and Stranger of Paradise is garbage and I wish I hadn't played it, but I did really enjoy both Nioh games. 1 more than 2 even if I think the gameplay in 2 is better. But I know it didn't really click with some people and they definitely go overboard with the loot in Nioh 2. Rise of the Ronin is going to have difficulty options so I think It'll be much more approachable than the Nioh games are. And the open world stuff and the RPG elements they are adding give it an AssCreed and Ghost of Tsushima type vibe to me. It definitely seems like it's their attempt at a mainstream game. So I wonder if maybe it won't be hardcore enough for the people expecting Nioh and maybe not mainstream enough if they don't nail the open world and RPG stuff.

I'm really optimistic, though. They've been releasing little vignettes and it looks better and better each time they show it. At least to me. I just wish it wasn't coming out on the same day as Dragon's Dogma 2 because I likely won't get around to playing it for a while.

Rise of the Ronin def sounds more accessible. I didn’t realize it would have difficulty options. Interesting.

The waiting. Argh.

nonamesleft wrote:

Not much longer. Looks like the embargo for DD2 lifts on Wednesday, Thursday for Princess Peach and Rise of the Ronin and Friday for Alone in the Dark.

@Jim269 @SupremeSarna @Zidimo @Frank @Bleed_DukeBlue @Sailorneorune @Lunar @Tonymack21 @Scott

Figured I'd ping you guys just in case you want to get your guesses in before the embargos lift.

Guesses for game scores?
Alone in the Dark - 73
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 90
Princess Peach: Showtime - 84
Rise of the Ronin - 89

Alone in the Dark- 70
Dragon’s Dogma 2- 87
Princess Peach: Showtime- 73
Rise of the Ronin- 85

Alone in the Dark - 75
Dragon's Dogma 2 - 80
Princess Peach: Showtime - 70
Rise of the Ronin - 78

OP updated with scores for Alone in the Dark. It's currently sitting at 66 on OpenCritic from 45 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16050/alone-in-the-dar...-

66 is rough, but I'll probably still grab it once it's like $20 because I loved the original. No one guessed 66 but 2 people guessed 65 and 1 person guessed 67 so still a chance we get a winner if the score moves up or down a point.

@SupremeSarna @Zidimo @Sailorneorune @Lunar @Tonymack21 @Scott

You guys can still get guesses in but only for Dragon's Dogma 2, Princess Peach, and Rise of the Ronin.

Figured Alone in the Dark would land in the 60s. I’ll still play it too on a deep sale.

It is now at a 61 from 83 reviews. Ouch.

I was 1 off on Alone in the Dark xD

Outcast: A New Beginning is sitting at a 69 from 40 reviews. Looks like just SilverOwl had this one.

Nice

Archer wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. Just added it to the OP.

Dragon’s Dogma 2- 85
Princess Peach: Showtime- 78 (likely due to whining from the "it's too easy" crowd that also throws a fit about Kirby)
Rise of the Ronin- 86

sailorneorune wrote:

Isn't Nintendo's target audience.... Small kids/children? Why would they make their games not easy?

Dragons Dogma 2 currently at 89 with 59 reviews!

Nice!

Shane12m wrote:

Alone in the Dark - 62

Our guesses:
1. DemonAlcohol - 86
2. Boss - 80
3. Nonamesleft - 79
4. SilverOwl - 76
5. Bogo - 75
6. Frank - 75
7. Jim269 - 73
8. Heavyd814life - 72
9. Ryan - 72
10. Shane12m - 71
11. Thatfootballguy - 71
12. Bleed_DukeBlue - 70
13. Hum - 69
14. PizzaTheHutt - 69
15. BloodPuppetX - 68
16. TalonJedi87 - 67
17. Mattyg00013 - 65
18. Sefjwm - 65
19. Bonham2 - 64
20. benstylus - 63
21. Incubus421 - 63

No winners this go round. We were all too high on it. The score was at 66 yesterday but it just kept dropping and dropping.

OP updated with scores for Dragon's Dogma 2. It's still at 89 on OpenCritic from 63 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16051/dragons-dogma-2

@Archer Happy birthday, dude!

Heavyd814life wrote:

Thanks.

Who guessed 89 for dragons dogma 2?

Shane12m wrote:

Just @TalonJedi87. If the score holds through today then he wins. We were all really close on this one, actually. A lot of guesses in the high 80s to low 90s.

It's crazy how Capcom never misses these days. Back in the PS360 era it felt like everything was a miss. But ever since RE7 they've just been on a roll.

Heavyd814life wrote:

Dang, good guess! @TalonJedi87 why didn’t you put it on your list with that guess haha?

Heavyd814life wrote:

It’s at 63 now so if it stays there then it would be a tie between Ben and incubus

So what I do right now is I recheck the score the day after the embargo lifts and just go with whatever the score is at that moment. Once I post the list it’s official…

Unless everyone wants to make it a year long thing instead. So the OpenCritic score at the end of the year is the score we go by. That way we don’t have to worry about the score changes. I can create a separate section in OP and just keep a tally of all our guesses throughout the year. And then the winners for each game get their winnings then.

Thoughts?

Heavyd814life wrote:

Oh sorry haha. I think the way you do it is great.

Rise of Ronin reviews will be up tomorrow morning
I’m expecting the same for Princess Peach

Shane12m wrote:

Oh wow I did? Hah. Honestly I didn’t have it on my list because I didn’t care for the first game. I may check this out tho if I can ever free up some time from the never ending backlog.

Heavyd814life wrote:
I say how it is now, and not all at the end of the year. Leaving everything until the end makes for too much waiting without much interaction related to the scores.

Yes, scores might have fluctuated between a game's release and the end of the year, but the current way seems more fun and interactive to me.

Princess Peach currently at 75 after 51 reviews.

Rise of the Ronin much lower than I expected
Currently at 76 with 40 reviews

Good thing my year was already done and dusted. Those scores don't help, lol

Ugh. That may be it for me.

Bleed_DukeBlue wrote:

Why? It’s on a lots of our lists. You are still in it

Yeah you still have a shot at top 5 @Bleed_DukeBlue since everyone above you had at least one of them as well.

Lol. I should have looked first. I actually didn’t realize how many people had it on their lists.

BloodPuppetX wrote:
Wow. That's not super low, but that's still pretty low. I'm surprised. It's been years since Peach was a main character. I'd have thought a new game with her as the main would be very solid. 80-89.

nonamesleft wrote:

I think a lot of had that exact same thought.

Didn’t that Princess Peach game on the DS do really well? They should have just made a sequel to that instead of trying to stir the pot.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

That game got about the same overall review average

Wow, didn't expect Rise of the Ronin to be in the 70s. Updating OP now...

EDIT: OP now updated. Rise of the Ronin and Princess Peach: Showtime are sitting at 76 and 77 respectively

Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89

Our guesses:

1. Archer - 94
2. Hum - 93
3. Bogo - 92
4. Mattyg00013 - 92
5. Bonham2 - 91
6. Shane12m - 91
7. Heavyd814life - 90
8. Jim269 - 90
9. Nonamesleft - 90
10. TalonJedi87 - 89
11. Benstylus - 88
12. BloodPuppetX - 88
13. Ryan - 88
14. Thefootballguy - 88
15. Bleed_DukeBlue - 87
16. Boss - 87
17. PizzaTheHutt - 87
18. SilverOwl - 87
19. DemonAlcohol - 86
20. Sailorneorune - 85
21. Sefjwm - 85
22. Incubus421 - 84
23. Frank - 80

Wild one! A lot of us in the same range, but only @TalonJedi87 guessed 89. Nice dude. PM incoming...

What is the final score for top 3, from the last few years

Heavyd814life wrote:

Thanks man! I guess I’m partially obligated now to use that $5 to put towards Dragon’s Dogma 2 haha

SilverOwl wrote:

2023:
Shane12m Current Total: 893
Best1989 Current Total: 887
Heavyd814life Current Total: 883

2022:
Heavyd814life Current Total: 863
BloodpuppetX Current Total: 855
SwiftJAB Current Total: 850

2021:
Ryan Current Total: 839
Heavyd814life Current Total: 826
Tonymack21 Current Total: 820

2020 (tie for first):
Mattyg00013 Current Total: 874
Roko Current Total: 874
Heavyd814life Current Total: 870
Ryan Current Total: 865

Tbh 75 is a great score (for the game, not so much this competition). We're just spoiled

Heavyd814life wrote:

Forgot me

Nintendo games starting to disappoint. This is late cycle activity. The gimmick is over and they will have to re-gimmick to continue back up.

The Nintendo gimmick is if you want to play first party Nintendo games, you can only buy them on Nintendo systems. They put no effort into Pokémon and it still sells millions.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/princess-peach-sho...

Man I was stuck between guessing 75% and 70%. Here's to hoping it drops a bit more

but in all seriousness, I'm glad it's doing alright, and might pick it up at some point when it goes on sale, or rent it to give a quick playthrough.

@Frank We aren't using metracritic this year, we are using opencritic. The game is currently a 78 there. https://opencritic.com/game/15497/princess-peach-s...

Archer wrote:

Oh neat! I wonder if I'll end up reviewing any of the games this year...

https://opencritic.com/critic/7093/frank-v-

Runs out to buy a copy of Princess Peach to skew the results

Nah I would never do that

Lunar wrote:

Damn my bad. I’ll edit the OP when I’m at my laptop.

Princess Peach: Showtime - 77

1. Mattyg00013 - 88
2. Bogo - 86
3. DemonAlcohol - 86
4. Boss - 85
5. Nonamesleft - 85
6. Jim269 - 84
7. Shane12m - 84
8. Hum - 83
9. SilverOwl -83
10. Thatfootballguy - 83
11. Archer - 82
12. benstylus - 82
13. Bonham2 - 82
14. Incubus421 - 81
15. BloodPuppetX - 79
16. Ryan - 79
17. Sailorneorune - 78
18. TalonJedi87 - 77
19. Sefjwm - 75
20. Heavyd814life - 74
21. Bleed_DukeBlue - 73
22. PizzaTheHutt - 72
23. Frank - 70

Really wide range of guesses on this one. The OpenCritic score is currently 76, but I was supposed to post this yesterday but wasn't able to because I didn't have my laptop. The score when I checked and made things final yesterday was 77 so @TalonJedi87 wins again! Amazing!

Rise of the Ronin - 76

1. Hum - 93
2. Bogo - 89
3. Jim269 - 89
4. Shane12m - 88
5. Bonham2 - 87
6. TalonJedi87 - 87
7. Archer - 86
8. DemonAlcohol - 86
9. Nonamesleft - 86
10. Sailorneorune - 86
11. Bleed_DukeBlue - 85
12. Heavyd814life - 85
13. Sefjwm - 85
14. PizzaTheHutt - 83
15. Ryan - 83
16. BloodPuppetX - 82
17. Boss - 80
18. Incubus421 - 79
19. Frank - 78
20. SilverOwl - 78
21. Thatfootballguy - 77
22. Mattyg00013 - 70

No winners for this one. @thatfootballguy came really close, though. Scores were definitely much lower than most of us thought they would be.

2 back to back for me? Wow!!! And I love how many of us rated ROTR in the mid to high 80s and it scored mid 70’s.

OP updated with scores for South Park: Snow Day. It's currently at 63 on OpenCritic from 28 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16489/south-park-snow-...

Damn. I'll probably still play it just because my friend and I are always looking for co-op games, but definitely waiting for a sale now or even better if it just gets added to PS+.

They should have stuck to making RPGs. Their last 2 were great.

I realized I hardly know anything about any of the games here from April:

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - April 23
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - April 23

Followed by
Stellar Blade - April 26

Should we start placing our bets /guesses for the April releases ? If yes here’s my 2 cents…

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - April 23 - 73
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - April 23 - 68
Stellar Blade - April 26 - 83

Eiyuden Chronicles - 84
Tales of Kenzera - 77
Stellar Blade - 88

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 81
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 72
Stellar Blade - 85

I have no idea what the first two games even are, so just stuck random numbers on there without even looking them up and I'm hoping that works out.

I want to play the Stellar Blade demo before making a guess. I have no real feel for that one. I was going to try it out this weekend, but Dragon's Dogma 2 is everything to me atm!

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 83
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 74
Stellar Blade - 79

Flat 75 for all 3 of them

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 80
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 70
Stellar Blade - 86

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 83
Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 85
Stellar Blade - 79

Eiyuden Chronicles - 87
Tales of Kenzera - 76
Stellar Blade - 87

I have no idea, but it's worth a guess:

Eiyuden Chronicles - 83
Tales of Kenzera - 78
Stellar Blade - 81

Eiyuden Chronicle 82
Tales of Kenzera 73
Stellar Blade 89

I feel like we’re entering a partial lull after April. What’s really happening in May? Hellblade II? Dassit?

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Paper Mario Remake too.

And the new endless ocean game.

Looks like June is pretty sparse as well according to the release for 2024 thing on wikipedia.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 remaster I think is June too but beyond that I’m hearing some crickets unless some announcements for concrete release dates happen between now and then on some other titles like Silent Hill 2 and MGS3 remakes etc.

Eiyuden Chronicles - 83
Tales of Kenzera - 76
Stellar Blade - 77

Eiyuden Chronicles - 75
Tales of Kenzera - 83
Stellar Blade - 78

Eiyuden Chronicles - 68
Tales of Kenzera - 81
Steller Blade - 82

Eiyuden Chronicles - 87
Tales of Kenzera - 83
Stellar Blade - 78

Eiyuden Chronicles - 85
Tales of Kenzera - 84
Stellar Blade - 87

Stellar blade looks interesting. I haven't played the demo, but overall impressions from others seem positive.

August 30 for Star Wars Outlaws. I'm a bit surprised how soon that is coming.

sefjwm wrote:

Well it's an Ubisoft game..... We know what to expect.

Kommie wrote:

Either Far Cry re-skinned or Assassin's Creed re-skinned. Climb that tower (but with force powers this time), reveal that map barf. Find all the things! Also you should buy all these "Time Savers™" "DLC" macro-transactions. It will make the game much more fun, we swear. Because we know you don't have time to find all this stuff on your own. We made it that way on purpose! We love exploiting people with FOMO.

On damn. Kinda mad I didn’t put it on my list now but again to the point of it being another FC re-skin. Yeah I’m not too mad. Although it’ll prob still somehow land in the high 70’s or low 80’s cause those FC and AC sandbox nonsense games still have large followings I believe. It really is kinda sad to be a SW fan nowadays for reasons such as this. Stupid live services. Sigh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcdKEy-aJ6o

Animations and script are a bit rough. They still have a few months though. I hear the Avatar game, while the same basic Ubisoft open world style, was interesting and pretty to look at.

Just re skin the Avatar game, slap Star Wars on it.

sefjwm wrote:

Yeah, animations definitely look rough, but I'm into it. Unfortunately. It's almost certainly going to be tedious and grindy and feature the same ol' formulaic, creatively bankrupt excuse for open world game design that has become Ubisoft's calling card. And I'm going to hate myself for playing it. But it's Star Wars. And it's a female protagonist and I'm a sucker for any games with a female protagonist. I'm going to play it and I'm going to complain, but hopefully it's like Odyssey where the good outweighed the bad and not like Valhalla which made me swear off AC games forever.

The one good thing is that Ubi games tank in value fast. Should be $30 by Black Friday. That's when I'll pick it up.

Yeah I second that. Outlaws wreaks of a $30 Black Friday sale.

I'm honestly betting it hits below $30 before Black Friday. Look at what happened to Prince of Persia, which scored 86-87 on Open/Meta critic.

This is true. PoP Lost Crown is pretty great tho. There’s no hope for AAAAAAAA games now that Ubi is putting out at 70 smackers. They’re all gonna be slogs. Go here. Tick this box. Stop by our shop to buy an occasional time saving upgrade with real world money. Blah.

sefjwm wrote:
Some 🧀 y moments, but it doesn't seem so bad. Does seem kinda plain though to me, not exciting. Nothing that makes me really want to play the game.

Eiyuden Chronicles - 80
Tales of Kenzera - 81
Stellar Blade - 86

Frank wrote:

Ubisoft: 50% off within 50 days

Prove me wrong

benstylus wrote:

I can't, I agree with yah

I think 101% of the folks on here would agree with you.

Eiyuden Chronicles in the high 70s (currently 77) That's about where I expected it and can't wait to play.

Man I was just 1 point off from my guess on Stellar Blade! It’s sitting at an 84 on OC.

https://opencritic.com/game/16510/stellar-blade

Zau - 77 from 56 reviews
https://opencritic.com/game/16584/tales-of-kenzera...

Eiyuden - 76 from 56 reviews
https://opencritic.com/game/16605/eiyuden-chronicl...

Thanks for the heads up guys. I’ll update the OP tonight.

Sorry for the delay, everyone. OP should be up to date now with scores for Stellar Blade (83), Tales of Kenzera: Zau (77) and Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes (76).

I also included the release date for Metaphor: ReFantazio which is coming out on October 11

Lastly, I'm going to tally up guesses now to see if anyone guessed correctly for any of these three games. Totally spaced and forgot to get my guesses in.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 76

1. jim269 - 87
2. nonamesleft - 87
3. Hum - 85
4. Lunar - 84
5. bonham2 - 83
6. incubus421 - 83
7. sefjwm - 83
8. tonymack21 - 83
9. BloodPuppetX - 82
10. PizzaTheHutt - 81
11. DemonAlcohol - 80
12. SilverOwl - 80
13. benstylus - 75
14. Frank - 75
15. TalonJedi87 - 73
16. mattyg00013 - 68

Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 77

1. sefjwm - 85
2. Hum - 84
3. Frank - 83
4. nonamesleft - 83
5. mattyg00013 - 81
6. SilverOwl - 81
7. bonham2 - 78
8. Lunar - 77
9. jim269 -76
10. tonymack21 - 76
11. benstylus - 75
12. incubus421 - 74
13. BloodPuppetX - 73
14. PizzaTheHutt - 72
15. DemonAlcohol - 70
16. TalonJedi87 - 68

Stellar Blade - 83

1. BloodPuppetX - 89
2. Lunar - 88
3. Hum - 87
4. jim269 - 87
5. DemonAlcohol - 86
6. SilverOwl - 86
7. PizzaTheHutt - 85
8. TalonJedi87 - 83
9. mattyg00013 - 82
10. bonham2 - 81
11. sefjwm - 79
12. incubus421 -79
13. Frank - 78
14. nonamesleft - 78
15. tonymack21 - 77
16. benstylus - 75

Okay so we have two winners! @Lunar guessed correctly for Tales of Kenzera and @TalonJedi87 guessed correctly for Stellar Blade. I think this is his 3rd win now which is wild!

Congrats guys. PMs incoming...

Oh wow wait so I did win again? Haha sweet and thanks! Now if only I can guess this good at craps or roulette at the casinos then I’d be sitting on a beach right now earning 20%…

What’s on tap for May besides these lovelies below?
(With my guesses)

Hellblade II: Senua’s Sacrifice - 89
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door - 86

Ya know what kinda bugs me about Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (specifically the remake)? Normally I have no complaints about games running at 30fps as long as it is consistent and doesn't dip below that. Of course 60fps would be ideal, but I can deal with 30. But this Paper Mario remake was confirmed yesterday to be running at 30, when the original on GameCube was a locked 60. I feel like when you are tasked with remastering or remaking a game, you should aim to match the fps of the source material, or improve upon it if it was sub-60 to start with, but not cut it in half. I know the Switch is old hardware at this point, but it shouldn't be breaking a sweat with this game.

Ewww really? That’s despicable by today’s standards. Hellblade 2 is also making console versions locked to 30fps. Luckily that I’ll just be getting game pass for a month to hit and quit it though so that’s really no love lost but spending $60 on a remake, first of all, only for them to have the original perform better is beyond baffling not to mention frustrating.

PizzaTheHutt wrote:
That seems strange to me. I don't know that much about hardware, but I would think that the switch is more powerful than the and while that doesn't necessarily mean that a remastered game would automatically be a simple thing to capture the same fps, it's surprising to me that it would go from 60 to 30. Personally, as long as there's no lag I don't mind. But still. Surprising to me.

Nintendo is waiting for Switch 2 sothey can charge $70 for that 60fps port of a Switch 1 game.

I wouldn’t put it past them. I’m sure they’re already salivating at the idea. They already started flirting with the $70 price tag with Zelda TOTK at launch.

Nintendo's favorite game to sell you is one you've already bought at full price.

Alright with two low scores in a row I’m def not winning this year haha, but maaaaybe top 5?

Kicking myself for taking Animal Well off my list. I had it last year but news about release dates was lacking so I decided not to have it. Looking to be like mid to high 80s so far

Really looking forward to Animal Well. I’ve been enjoying Dunkey’s Daily random video updates too about the countdown to the Animal Well update.

Animal Well is up for PS+ Extra subscribers today. I have it downloading now.

I don't know if anyone other than me has it on their list, but Little Kitty, Big City reviews are out too, it's at 78.
https://opencritic.com/game/16635/little-kitty-big...

Opencritic updated and it's 89 wow. I knew it was going to be good, just didn't trust the release dates xD

Animal Well looks pretty good. Had no clue about it until today. It's interesting to me how certain games I know about long in advance but certain games I hear next to nothing about.

I guess never doubt The Dunkey!!! 7 million subs for a reason. Did anyone have Animal Well on their list?

:'( sadface

image

Pretty sure I saw it on one or two lists this year.

TalonJedi87 wrote:
It wasn't even remotely on my radar. Pretty sure I didn't hear about it until today on this site.

The art style (at least of the gameplay I watched) reminds me of Undertale, Celeste, and Omori.

Best part is we get the game freeeeeeeee with PS+ Extra woooo

sefjwm wrote:

Oh man great call there!!!

PizzaTheHutt wrote:

Just updated the OP with scores for Little Kitty, Big City. Thanks for the heads up!

TalonJedi87 wrote:

Just @scott and he only had it as an alt.

Well he'll get it since Silksong is somehow still unlikely xD

OP updated with scores for Homeworld 3. It's currently sitting at 80 on OpenCritic from 16 reviews.

https://opencritic.com/game/16052/homeworld-3

So, uh, is everyone going to have Hades 2 next year xD

If it leaves Early Access next year.

While I liked Hades 1 it exhausted me. Rogue likes just aren’t for me sadly.

Dude same. I got through it twice and had zero interest in playing any more. But I understand the appeal for sure. It’s objectively a damn fine game.

Oh snap guys I totally forgot about guesses for games this month. Should we do Hellblade 2 and Paper Mario? Both are out in about a week

Hellblade 2 - 85
Paper Mario - 85

Since I have Hellbade 2 on my list, it will probably score a 77.

Hellblade 2 - 86
Paper Mario - 82

Hellblade - 88
Paper Mario - 88

Hellblade 2 83
Paper Mario 87

Hellblade 2 - 86
Paper Mario - 86

Hellblade 2 - 69
Paper Mario - 91

Hellblade 2 - 77
Paper Mario - 84

Yep I put in my two cents on those earlier on a few weeks ago...I would be SHOCKED if Hellblade 2 was in te 60's and 70's but if it is good call on that, gents.

Hellblade II: Senua’s Sacrifice - 89
Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door - 86

Too bad Hellblade will sell poorly since no one will buy it because of LamePass

Kommie wrote:
But that wouldn't affect the scoring though.

You make a good point about game pass. I'm speculating that Microsoft's financial team has data to support that enough revenue comes in from either game pass or other sources in order to offset actual copies sold.

Paper Mario - 89
Hellblade 2 - 83

If I had known that remakes were allowed, Paper Mario would likely have been on my list. That game was great.

Yeah I have no intention on buying Hellblade II since its gonna be on GP. And I’m in no rush to play it as I have a bunch of stuff ahead of it. Perhaps MS should rethink their strategy and push out new 1st party releases on GP for like 6 months post launch as I’m sure everyone who isn’t a kid anymore and has real world responsibilities isn’t lining up to play it on launch day. That's like half their demographic right there. So it might mitigate frequent GP price hikes too and boost overall sales near a game’s launch window at the same time.

TalonJedi87 wrote:

It's MS, it's gamepass, prepare for disappointment.

Paper Mario - 87
Hellblade 2 - 89

Hellblade - 88
Paper Mario 84