Top 10: 1. Alone in the Dark - 62 2. Black Myth: Wukong 3. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 4. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 5. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 6. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 7. Outcast - A New Beginning - 69 8. Persona 3 Reload - 90 9. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 10. Tekken 8 - 90
Alternates: 1. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 2. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - 62
Top 10: 1. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 2. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 76 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Granblue Fantasy: Relink - 81 5. Little Nightmares III 6. New 3D Mario 7. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 8. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 9. Under Night In Birth II - 85 10. Unicorn Overlord - 88
Alternates: 1. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 2. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77
Top 10: 1. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - 81 2. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 5. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 7. Persona 3 Reload - 90 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 10. Unicorn Overlord - 88
Top 10: 1. Avowed 2. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Helldivers 2 - 82 5. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 10. Tekken 8 - 90
Alternates: 1. Skull and Bones - 60 2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Top 10: 1. Black Myth: Wukong 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Hollow Knight: Silksong 4. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 5. Persona 3 Reload - 90 6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Silent Hill 2 10. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - 62
Alternates: 1. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 2. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Top 10: 1. Another Code: Recollection - 74 2. Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore - 76 3. Contra: Operation Galuga - 75 4. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time 5. Penny’s Big Breakaway - 77 6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Shadow of the Ninja Reborn 9. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution 10. Ufouria: The Saga 2 - 78
Top 10: 1. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Granblue Fantasy: Relink - 81 4. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 5. Metaphor: ReFantazio 6. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 7. Persona 3 Reload - 90 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 10. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak
Alternates: 1. Little Nightmares III 2. Tekken 8 - 90
Top 10: 1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 2. Granblue Fantasy: Relink - 81 3. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 4. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 5. Metroid Prime 4 6. Mina the Hollower 7. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 8. Tales of Kenzera: Zau - 77 9. Tekken 8 - 90 10. The Plucky Squire
Top 10: 1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 2. Hollow Knight: Silksong 3. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 4. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 5. Metroid Prime 4 6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 7. Persona 3 Reload - 90 8. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 9. Star Wars Outlaws 10. Tekken 8 - 90
Alternates: 1. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Top 10: 1. Avowed 2. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden - 82 3. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - 81 4. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 5. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 6. Frostpunk 2 7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 8. Hollow Knight: Silksong 9. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Alternates: 1. Homeworld 3 - 80 2. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77
Top 10: 1. Black Myth: Wukong 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Hollow Knight: Silksong 4. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 5. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 6. Persona 3 Reload - 90 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Silent Hill 2 10. Tekken 8 - 90
Alternates: 1. Animal Well - 89 2. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77
Top 10: 1. Decapolice 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Hades II 4. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 5. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 7. Persona 3 Reload - 90 8. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 9. The Wolf Among Us 2 10. Unicorn Overlord - 88
Top 10: 1. Earthblade 2. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - 76 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Frostpunk 2 5. Jurassic Park: Survival 6. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90 7. Mewgenics 8. Rise of the Ronin - 76 9. Tekken 8 - 90 10. The Wolf Among Us 2
Alternates: 1. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 2. Star Wars Outlaws
Top 10: 1. Avowed 2. Black Myth: Wukong 3. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - 81 4. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 5. Fable 6. Persona 3 Reload - 90 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 9. Skull and Bones - 60 10. The First Descendant
Alternates: 1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 2. Rise of the Ronin - 76
Top 10: 1. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Hollow Knight: Silksong 4. Metroid Prime 4 5. New 2D Zelda 6. New F-Zero 7. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 8. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 9. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 10. Star Wars Outlaws
Alternates: 1. Homeworld 3 - 80 2. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - 90
Top 10: 1. Another Code: Recollection - 74 2. Decapolice 3. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time 4. Little Nightmares III 5. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 6. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 7. Tekken 8 - 90 8. The Plucky Squire 9. Unicorn Overlord - 88 10. Visions of Mana
Alternates: 1. Cat Quest III 2. Metaphor ReFantazio
Top 10: 1. Avowed 2. Black Myth: Wukong 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Hades II 5. Homeworld 3 - 80 6. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 7. Metaphor: ReFantazio 8. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 9. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 10. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Alternates: 1. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 2. Rise of the Ronin - 76
Top 10: 1. Behemoth 2. Contra: Operation Galuga - 75 3. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 4. Little Kitty, Big City - 78 5. Little Nightmares III 6. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 7. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 8. Silent Hill 2 9. South Park: Snow Day - 63 10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Alternates: 1. Skull and Bones - 60 2. World Of Goo 2
Top 10: 1. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 2. Hades II 3. Hollow Knight: Silksong 4. New Kirby 5. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 6. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 7. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution 8. Tekken 8 - 90 9. Visions of Mana 10. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Alternates: 1. Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 77 2. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - 62
Top 10: 1. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Hades II 4. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 5. New 3D Mario 6. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door 7. Rise of the Ronin - 76 8. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 9. Star Wars Outlaws 10. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Alternates: 1. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 2. Tekken 8 - 90
Top 10: 1. Avowed 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - 93 3. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater 4. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 5. New 3D Mario 6. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - 87 7. Princess Peach: Showtime - 77 8. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II 9. Silent Hill 2 10. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Alternates: 1. Dragon's Dogma 2 - 89 2. Rise of the Ronin - 76
Upcoming Releases:
January: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - January 18 Another Code: Recollection - January 19 Under Night In Birth II - January 25 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - January 26 Tekken 8 - January 26
February: Granblue Fantasy: Relink - February 1 Persona 3 Reload - February 2 Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - February 2 Helldivers 2 - February 8 Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore - February 13 Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden - February 13 Mario vs. Donkey Kong - February 16 Skull and Bones - February 16 Penny's Big Breakaway - February 21 Nightingale - February 22 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - February 28 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - February 29 Ufouria: The Saga 2 - February 29
March: Unicorn Overlord - March 8 Contra: Operation Galuga - March 12 Outcast: A New Beginning - March 15 Alone in the Dark - March 20 Dragon's Dogma 2 - March 22 Princess Peach: Showtime - March 22 Rise of the Ronin - March 22 South Park: Snow Day - March 26
April: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes - April 23 Tales of Kenzera: Zau - April 23 Stellar Blade - April 26
May: Homeworld 3 - May 13 Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - May 21 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door - May 23 World Of Goo 2 - May 23
July: Frostpunk 2 - July 25
August: Black Myth: Wukong - August 20
September: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - September 5 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - September 9
October: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time - October 10 Metaphor: ReFantazio - October 11
League Overview:
Welcome to Year 7 of the GameTZ Fantasy Gaming League! This is basically fantasy football with games. Each person picks 10 games and those 10 games make up your "team" for the year. The OpenCritic scores for your 10 games are tallied up at the end of the year to determine your total. Highest overall score wins. You also get 2 alternate picks (these should be safe choices) just in case one of your picks gets delayed into 2025. So if you shoot for the moon with a game like Marvel's Wolverine and it gets pushed into 2025, one of your alternates takes its place and you don't end up with 0 points for that game. The goal is to pick games that you think have a very good chance of releasing in 2024. Don't YOLO your way into a bunch of 0s lol.
The Rules: 1. No DLC or Expansions 2. No Ports or Remasters (full remakes are allowed) 3. Alternate picks can only replace games delayed into 2025. They cannot be used to replace games in your top 10 that review poorly.
The Prizes: 1st Place: A $100 Amazon Gift Card 2nd Place: A $20 Amazon Gift Card 3rd Place: A $10 Amazon Gift Card
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:
> 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.
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.
> 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.
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.
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.
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.
> Has anyone here played it? Is it really that bad a game?
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.
>> Suicide squad now down to a 59 from 54 reviews.
>>
>> Has anyone here played it? Is it really that bad a game?
>
> 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.
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.)
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?
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.
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.)
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.
>> Helldivers 2 comes out tomorrow. Reviews gonna drop tomorrow?
>
> 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.
>
>
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.
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.
> 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.
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.
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.
> Mario v Donkey Kong currently at a 78 with 18 reviews
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
>> So is Skull and Bones just ship battles pretty much? Nothing hybrid on foot like
>> in Black Flag? (Which I loved)
>
> My understanding is there is a wood harvesting minigame too.
>
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.
> 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.
>
>
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:
> Lol top game this year so far is Balatro. Can't believe nobody had that one.
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.
> 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.
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.
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.