Julius

Got about 3 hours in last night, and came away pretty mixed on the game so far – which, let's be clear, is not at all unexpected. To start out on a brief but much needed positive, let's get this out of the way first: the game's art direction is spot on, and it really does look spectacular at times. (yes, that's a screenshot) So, assuming that back in June the previews were based on the tutorial/opening mission...I absolutely understand their negative response to the game. Holy smokes does it just kind of suck as an opening. You don't really get much of a sense of what's actually going on with Kay and why she's trying to break into this place beyond "because she is, and because someone else is too with her", it's an incredibly linear sequence which has you walk through and around a bit of lower Canto Bight to set the tone before getting to the first heist which sets things in motion, but it does all feel like not much more than set dressing when it comes to the place and it's inhabitants. It doesn't showcase much of the game loop at all. I'm shocked that in a world where Uncharted exists and you pull some inspiration from it, you don't pick up the lesson on the importance of strong starts. I'll admit I spent way too long messing with the options, of which there are an overwhelming amount, but it is nice to see for those that want them – and there's a good set of accessibility options which I scrolled through, too. Turned off the haptic feedback in the end because it is on for LITERALLY EVERYTHING, and let me just point out that this is something I have very rarely done since the launch of the PS5. Every time you move up or down in the menu. Thumping music in a club. It's a pain in the ass and just felt like way too much. Initially couldn't decide between Performance and Quality, but settled on Performance because Quality comes with the camera jitters of a lower frame rate. Chromatic Aberration/Motion Blur/Film Grain all turned off for me, but Motion Blur had separate options for being By Object and the general blur being applied, which I thought was neat. Very customisable. Turned down the sensitivity as it seemed very high. The game also is in this 2.39:1 aspect ratio by default, so while the art direction is FREAKING FANTASTIC... ...it does look pretty atrocious in the way it awkwardly cuts off. I'm going to try the full screen mode today, but when I tested it for a few minutes yesterday it seemed like it was zoomed in more than it was simply removing the black bars the 2.39:1 aspect ratio adds, which is backed by the menu text being much larger when in full screen mode, like the full screen mode is a cropped and zoomed in version of the 2.39:1? Very strange. While I appreciate the inclusion of a Photo Mode and know that it's become a bit of an industry standard in AAA offerings, I do wish I could assign it to a particular button, but way more games need to that I feel. I also really feel the need to highlight the game's performance: I'm playing it early, and so that means I was a bit nervous about performance. Maybe Quality gets straightened out a bit at launch, but outside of sprinting in a bustling city which does cause the frames to drop a little bit, I'm astounded by how well this game is running so far with my chosen settings before a Day 1 patch. Kudos to you, Massive, seriously. Something which has pleasantly surprised me has been the abundance of mini-games, be it gambling on the Fathier races, a couple of arcade cabinets, or getting to a game of Sabacc – which I think the game does a pretty decent job of explaining, as it definitely strikes me as a game you can overcomplicate when explaining. So, let's talk about what has sucked probably the most so far, and that's the sneaking parts of missions. The stealth in this game, I'm sorry, plays like that of an overreaching and overly ambitious, overpromising indie game or small AA effort from early last gen (think The Order but...way, way worse) much more than it does a genuine AAA offering. I'm not talking about the sneaking which can go wrong and then develop into a shootout - that's actually kind of fun - but a few times I've been asked to go into a particular crime syndicate's territory to nab something, and doing so early in the game you do so with a Poor rating for that syndicate (we'll get to it) and so are forced to sneak around, and you're also unable to use a gun despite it being on you because..? And very limited resources; honestly, at this stage, the best you can really do is use your little companion Nix (we'll get to it) as a distraction and knock the guys out or hope the AI is generous and sneaky around them entirely. Look, maybe I'm just having a hard time getting into the flow of Ubi stealth having not played many of their big AAA offerings before, but I had to redo certain sections multiple times and the problem is that they kick you all the way back to the start, and in these stealth-only sections you seem to lose any treasure you've picked up too, so you then need to wait for everyone to get back into place before trying to knock them out/get by them again, so maybe you rush a little when stealthing feels super slow, etc. More often than not, these sections have boiled down to getting slightly spotted or using Nix to lure people over to a corner and knock them out as they turn it...but then it's not consistent because sometimes hitting Square to knock someone out won't at the same time and so you get spotted. These stealth-only sections in particular, I'd argue, are mechanically devoid frustrations more than anything else, so I'm curious to see how others react to them, and if I warm up to them by the end of the game – maybe they'll add some sort of unlockable thing which doesn't make them a pain. You don't even get a real chance to react to being caught, so I've seen this screen way more than I feel I should as someone who ADORES and engages with genuinely good stealth gameplay in other games. The shooting is serviceable, but nothing great; weirdly, again, it's the little touches more akin to the mini-games when it comes to the non-stealth-only stealth sections, like figuring out how I can or who I can pay off to access somewhere I shouldn't be, a trial and error hacking mini-game, or, what might quickly become my favourite lock-picking in any game? Basically you need to tap R2 to the rhythm of some beeps and it genuinely feels great. I've had very limited exposure to the Underworld alliances being so early into the game, which does kind of scream WB's unfortunately patented Nemesis System. Basically, your partnership levels are going to fluctuate as the game goes on, and taking certain missions will improve your standing with one syndicate and lower it with another, but on rare occasions you'll get dialogue options which explicitly state who they'll improve your standing with, and the first one I came across took some mulling over: it was a decision where I was choosing between reporting an internal feud the Pykes were having to the Pykes or Crimson Dawn, and because I'd already looked in-game at the options opening up to me at Good, Excellent and Max rep with the Pykes, Crimson Dawn and the Hutts, I knew that the Pykes offered an Imperial disguise at Max rep which just seems useful. Now, I hate the Pykes - blame The Clone Wars - but knowing they offer an Imperial disguise, which I imagine might make it easier to move around certain locales or maybe convince other Imperials of my standing? I've decided to side with the Pykes until I reach Max rep with them, basically cosying up to them until I get what I want, and they'll betray them all the way until the end of the game once I have what I want from them. As fun as an exercise that was to think about and go through, the crazy part is that it wouldn't have happened if I didn't go out of my way to check what was in offer from the menus first, and so I find myself scratching my head as to why Massive weren't forcing players to look at that stuff earlier, because thinking about what you get out of your standing with the syndicates should be such a key part of the gameplay loop because it causes that questioning on what decision to make. The Hutts even have a very Sabine-like chest plate and jacket combo I know I have to have! Whereas Crimson Dawn are styling. They should have placed so much more emphasis on the rewards! There's also just some general niceties and quirks to touch on. Sell All options for valuables is great and doesn't include valuables which may be of use down the line (Nix still a big shot's ring which didn't auto-sell under Sell All despite potentially going for a hefty fee, and reading it's description it hints that I might be able to do something with it later, which has me intrigued); the city map sucks, you can't let me mark a waypoint in a cramped city with a bunch of alleyways and still force me to open up the map to get my bearings and point me in the right direction; when given options to bribe your way in, you can simply select to see how much of a bribe you're going to offer rather than being left completely in the dark; the hover bike feels fine so far, seems like there's plenty of customisation options for it and your ship, The Trailblazer. Plenty of customisation options in general, already got my eye on a few looks for Kay. Missions come in all shapes and sizes, too, and I like that I've come across some outlined in Datapads which I'll need to take the time to track down in the open world at some point. Kind of just steals Dead Eye from Red Dead, which I guess I'm cool with? But keep forgetting to use. Gunplay is fine if a bit on the loose side, you only have your blaster by default and can pick up other weapons during a shootout but can't equip or carry others permanently (at least I haven't been able to so far). Not in the slightest Star Wars but GTA, your gun up to this point at least has only accessible in shootouts, period. Which...yeah, kind of sucks and doesn't add much dynamism to the game. Anyways, with all of that said and done, let's talk about the absolute highlight of the game so far: your little merqaal companion, bestest boy, saviour of the universe and the anointed chosen one, Nix. Irresistibly adorable and absolutely hilarious, I'm going to say that the lil furry axolotl-looking Nix has made this early part of the gaming something more than bearable, as he's straight up made it enjoyable at times and given me a few good chuckles. The way he plays dead or jumps around to distract enemies during stealth sections, the way he tries to maul their faces when he attacks them, the way you can ask him to go off to retrieve treasure and steal from someone...he's the bestest boy in the whole damn Galaxy. Say what I will when my time with Outlaws comes to a close, or what I have in the past about the Jedi games, between Nix and BD-1, these Star Wars games may have questionable quality at times but there's no doubt that they've produced some S-tier companions (and yes, Nix is already S-tier). I mean, you can even get little accessories for him, and he's even included in the gear rewards for the syndicates! Even they appreciate him! And then there's the way you can ask him to look at your opponent's cards in Sabacc, which is hilariously adorable and endearing... So, yeah, very mixed opening to the game, but I'll be continuing on with it of course. I've barely touched the open world at this point, and haven't had a proper section where I've had to fly around or have a dogfight in the Trailblazer, so hopefully I'll have some thoughts to share on those aspects the next update

It's looking like some changes to the PlayStation Stars loyalty programme are nigh... Basically: subscriptions soon won't be giving you points (such as PS+ renewals) and points will now only be valid for 12 months rather than 24 months. Nothing monumental - I'll be honest, I just throw them at Playstation Wallet funds - but it is some change, and not really for the better? But shouldn't change day-to-day use: just remember to spend your points when you have them!

Digital Foundry have released their hands-on impressions of the game: Man, it looks so wonderful

And just like that, it is over. One hell of a journey, and a fantastic ending. The Star Forge has some...issues, let's say, outside of its boss battles I think. At least with default settings, my party kept getting pulled in different directions as a battle initiated on one side and we got flanked on another through the Forge's many corridors, which was a bit of a pain in the ass to manage, much more so than it was actually difficult. I also made the mistake of assuming a certain someone would return to my side and so brought Jolee with me as well as Carth in place of Juhani, and I think that latter swap really made things a bit more nightmarish than they actually were. Loved how consistent the dialogue options were up until the very end. I'll definitely be taking some time to figure out my full thoughts on the game, but my initial impression is that it has to be up there with my favourite Star Wars game like Battlefront II and Republic Commando. I'm also coming away incredibly grateful that through a cruel twist of fate, Aspyr and Saber won't be developing the remake they had announced. I think it's very debatable whether or not they'd be able to deliver a worthy remake, but much more than that, I'm honestly not sure what form a remake could, and perhaps still will at some point, take – I wish the original game as a real-time RPG perhaps had a fully turn-based mode (rather than the Auto-Pause which takes all of the momentum out of the game's battles), but could this game be made effectively today as the third person action RPG it was seemingly going to shape up to be? I'm not quite sure. The cutscenes would allow a big jump in visual quality, but I also wonder what that would do for the scale and feel of the galaxy and its locales – would a higher fidelity make them feel much noticeably smaller than the vastness which the muddier textures of the original allows for? Again, I'm not quite sure. So yeah, a lot to think on after watching credits roll, but this game is rightly spoken of and held in high regard, and I'm very happy I finally got around to playing it!

All wrapped up on the Unknown World, which was a much more involved but really enjoyable detour. Bit of a shame I don't think the game does that great a job in making you aware of when you've picked a "side" in the conflict, so I was a bit taken aback when I walked into an area and got swarmed by folk who were friendly some 10 minutes before, but it is what it is really enjoyed the Temple dungeon though, a lot of battles, and made use of Juhani for a change after levelling her up from whatever she was recruited at. The game has thrown a LOT of Computer Spikes my way on this planet, curious to see if there's any reason for that. Malak with his lower jaw removed is creepy and a really effective touch I feel. Onto the Star Forge!

So, this has turned up 3 days early... So, my gaming plans for my week off are being tweaked I guess, wasn't expecting this I was planning to finish KOTOR today (still the plan), squeeze something smaller scale in between now and Tuesday, then I'd get on Outlaws. Now we're doing back-to-back Star Wars, because, well, is there any other reasonable option?

Totally forgot to respond to this, just wanted to clarify – so while I post the images on X, rather than share the actual post from X itself, like so... I click the image on the X post (to bring it into full view) and then right click/hold and open the image in a new tab (while still compressed through X, it's much better than the resolution you'll get from opening the image from the standard post view). I then copy that image link and paste in here and it fits in seamlessly I find, and doesn't cause the chugging that X posts can do, so it just looks like this: Hope that helps

Just woke up to see the review scores are currently at a 68 on MC (6 reviews) and 63 on OC (5 reviews). Obviously reviews aren't everything, but no/very little potential positive word of mouth combined with a very muted marketing push and not getting this in the hands of more people for launch (again, is Wukong just eating everyone's lunch here?) evidenced not only by its very small footprint on streaming platforms right now but also the scarily low number of reviews for a PlayStation published game at launch. It's really bizarre how none of their learnings from Helldivers 2 has seemingly gone into carting this game around at all. I thought that game had an ABYSMAL marketing campaign - I still think that to this day, it did an awful job of selling people new to the IP on the game - but ultimately it got in the hands of the right people, blew up on game streaming platforms like Twitch and so had great word of mouth to back what is fundamentally a really fun game loop, not to mention that it's fairly unique in the console space. Meanwhile, I've just clocked that you mentioned this game was in dev for 8 years – what released 8 years ago that this game looks almost exactly identical to? Overwatch. Which still has a community, but is nowhere near as big today and its community is either quieter or it has genuinely shrunk over that time between the launch of the original and the middling reception of 2. With that in mind, this has to be up there as one of the most delayed releases in reaction to something else I've seen. I'm just gutted for the devs, it seems like they really put a lot of passion into the game, but it's mental that this isn't the first time I feel like PlayStation have had a multiplayer game just kind of bomb at launch like this since the launch of the PS5 – remember Destruction AllStars? This is giving me the exact same vibes...though at least this got a nice DualSense to release alongside it hopefully PlayStation pay a bit more attention to the lessons they need to learn this time around I guess we'll need to wait and see, perhaps this game will have a slow build, but I feel like it's just been silenced with everything else releasing around it especially considering the weekly cutscene/story angle they were pushing, I'm also really curious to see how long this gets supported for if it doesn't pick up?

I've seen some people concerned about the Steam CCU count but I think that's a bit blown out of proportion considering it's a PlayStation release first and foremost – for me what's most concerning is the fact that it's prime time on a Friday evening for streaming in a lot of places and this game currently has 1.1k viewers. It could warm up over the weekend but ahead of launch word on Helldivers 2 was just about everywhere. I'm not saying this game was ever going to do as well as HD2, but I wonder if Black Myth coming in this week and blowing everyone away has also completely taken the wind out of Concord's sails? It's the hot topic game right now, and there's much more to talk about than just the game itself – there's the controversy, the performance, and loads more. Guess we'll need to wait and see how it pans out, but I agree, it's absolutely insanity. You can tell it was thought up a long time ago with the Guardians of the Galaxy vibes it's gone for with it's characters and marketing – it feels 5 years late at best even on that front

James Spader is returning to voice Ultron in Vision Quest! So here for this, dude's got a voice capable of silencing a crowd with a whisper Here's hoping for some Ultron California

Completed Korriban last night, which might be my favourite of the planets I've visited on this map-gathering quest – very different to a lot of what I'd faced in the game up to that point. Went full RP and donned the Dark Jedi Master Robes while giving into the Dark Side, mainly trying to weaken the Sith as much as I could during my time on their home world and picking off who I could, before donning Qel-Droma's robes, which are essentially upgraded Jedi Master robes, which I'd been rocking before landing on Korriban With that, the Star Forge map is complete, and so the path was charged and followed...before we crash landed at a beach. Sure, I guess we've got time for a Beach Episode™ detour, it's not like the galaxy is at stake or anything Loving it a lot, just got the home stretch left. Should wrap it up over the weekend

10 million copies sold in just 3 days. Well holy hot damn.

New weapon showcase gameplay: Still looking good

Another month, another Metaphor trailer

Man, I always wanted MySims, MySims Agents and MySims Racing back on the Wii, they were plastered all over my copies of Pokémon World Count me curious if this is getting ported! Feel like my sister would love this especially.

Huh, I didn't realise either of these games were ever part of/had ties to the China Hero Project? If that's what you're saying and they were, you'd definitely think Sony would make a much bigger deal out of their connection to the initiative. Could've sworn Stellar Blade was Korean made and backed already before Sony jumped onboard Personally, I only associate the China Hero Project with the look of games like Lost Soul Aside and The Winds Rising, heck even Black Myth: Wukong (which I think would've been part of it if it didn't explode by itself) – games which take forever to come out and go ham on the particle effects. They've definitely defined the look of Chinese-made games for me. Either way, yeah, the PS5 has definitely become a gacha machine, and I imagine that's probably the only thing to keep it remotely relevant in East Asia, and has probably made them much more comfortable in waiting for GTA VI and the surge that will provide in the West. Absolutely. I was reading the other day about how PS5 sales exploded on Alibaba after the release of Black Myth: Wukong (here's a source, not sure if it's the exact article I read but meh). Definitely feels like East Asian development outside of Japan is starting to have a moment, what with Dave the Diver and Lies of P coming out of Korea last year, and Black Myth: Wukong this year.

PlayStation going around Africa and Asia like

News on TGS panels and the presence of certain companies for next month's event have started trickling in... PlayStation Booth PlayStation Presents: Death Stranding 2 – 29th September from 02:30 BST to 03:30 BST Capcom Oh, it's shaping up real good this will be PlayStation's first major presence at TGS since 2019! Seems like next month is for sure PS5 Pro time, but I'm just hoping they announce some 30th anniversary goodies

Music By John Williams, a new documentary on The Maestro, is coming to Disney+ on November 1st and will also be getting a limited theatrical release. Can't wait!!

Deep dive with the devs:

Launch trailer: Reviews are going to be dropping on Monday 26th at 13:00 BST. My expectations are low, but my body is ready

Because in the long-term, this is a game originally labelled as being exclusive to Xbox (on consoles) which is now coming to PlayStation, and so far, I'd argue, the biggest: this game isn't even released yet on Xbox, it's a big IP, and it's AAA. Yes, there's a gap between it releasing on Xbox and PlayStation, yes they still get the game, but announcing this move ahead of launch disincentivises anyone who might have been considering picking up an Xbox because of the exclusivity of the Indiana Jones game (I'm not sure how many people that would be of course, especially considering it's also coming to PC). This isn't the only game to move over to PS5, but I feel like it's a very significant one. Fewer incentives to buy a console generates less desire for people to buy the console. Less people then buy the Xbox. And it's very quickly apparent then where Xbox, at least on the hardware side, ends up in the long-term. That's why this news would matter to people who have an Xbox, and have invested in that ecosystem. Buying a console at launch or early on in the generation is pretty much a vote of confidence in the platform you're picking up - I'm not saying that's how it should be, but that is how it is; "I have confidence that this platform will have the games that I want", and a big part of that may be exclusive games which aren't available on the other platform. Changing strategy midway through the generation the way they have, a huge AAA game for a massive IP like Indiana Jones going from exclusive to releasing on anything - when it might have been a reason you picked up an Xbox in the first place this gen, seeing it was announced just a couple of months into it - and I wouldn't be surprised if Xbox fans might be scratching their heads: if this, and potentially everything else, is heading over to PlayStation, they might feel like they could have got a PlayStation instead. I agree. At the end of the day, though, it's not a two-way street: more and more Xbox published games are coming to PlayStation, and no PlayStation published games are coming to Xbox. I know some people will defend "their" console of choice - I don't really care to do that, and I feel like both have at least been pretty disappointing this gen in terms of first-party games published - but from my perspective I'm thinking more about the people who bought a console with the promise of exclusives which now, well, aren't going to be exclusive. Going into this gen, exclusives were absolutely still the name of the game, and it's why we saw PlayStation announce a new Spider-Man, a new Horizon, and a new God of War before the PS5 released, so for a company to switch up their MO in the middle of a gen I would also argue is anti-consumer (to the people who already own their console).

Say what you might about Xbox's software output, there's no denying that their accessibility hardware initiatives are excellent, and so here's one more: the Xbox Adaptive Joystick. Excellent stuff, really lovely to see Elsewhere for Xbox, the new Series X|S models are now available to pre-order:

New footage of the game out of Gamescom, where hands-on demos are available: Looks really nice still. Maybe a bit concerned the hits look a little...floaty? But we don't even have a release year for it yet, so let it cook I guess

Announced at Gamescom, and might be the highlight. This is being headed up by Tim Miller – who directed the first Deadpool film back in 2016, founded Blur Studio (an amazing VFX studio), and also headed up Love, Death & Robots on Netflix. It will be premiering on December 10th and there will be a total of 15 episodes. Here's the full list of games the series will be covering: A whole lot of big IP there, curious to see which PlayStation IPs get some love – got to imagine Astro is in there, right? Pick of the bunch for me though has to be Armored Core!