Julius

Awesome, I'll add the tags! EDIT: in just confirming platforms it seems like this is going to be current gen only, i.e. PS5 and Series X|S, going off the descriptions for the trailers for other platforms. I think this happened with a good number of announcements the other day at Gamescom ONL too...has current gen finally arrived? It feels like they're just stonewalling last gen consoles for the sake of it, because these ports and some of these other games could absolutely run on last gen consoles.

I thought that was solid enough, having the two back-to-back I can't tell if the Partner Showcase dragged the Indie World Showcase up for me, if Indie World dragged both down. It was always going to be a strange one with them clearly wanting to clear everything out ahead of whenever we get that Switch 2 reveal and the hype and marketing cycle for it can begin. Highlights of Indie World for me were Neva (getting a release date – only a month and a half away!), Moth Kubit and Coffee Talk Tokyo (so I can RP as Sojiro from Persona 5). Not for me from the IW section but really cool still I thought was the Balatro free update shadow dropping, Pizza Tower shadow dropping, and the announcement of the free DLC for Sea of Stars. I'd give the Indie World Showcase section a 6/10, some things I was curious about but nothing was crazy or a big surprise I feel. For the Partner Showcase, I lost track a bit, as they just kept throwing stuff out there at one point. Really enjoyed the Capcom fighting announcements, the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection finally getting a date was awesome, shame about the wide gap between digital and physical releases but it wasn't at all unexpected, and I'm happy to wait on the physical version in November with how many games are coming our way in the next month or so. Capcom Fighting Collection 2 also has my curiosity piqued, I think I'll see how I get on with the MvC Collection but if I enjoy my time with it, don't be shocked if I dig out some of the other Capcom fighting collections in the future The Suikoden Collection FINALLY getting a release date of 6th March 2025, while still a while off, feels so damn good – you ALL should be playing these games if you're a fan of great JRPGs, and I'll be ready to set the bunch of you to Ignore if you don't support the release Castlevania Dominus Collection is one hell of a shadow drop, and adds to the growing list of Castlevania games on Switch I'll need to get to at some point. Tetris Forever has me really curious as a Digital Eclipse project, plus I do love me some Tetris, and I was kind of surprised the NES version was announced for Switch Online just with this being a Partner Showcase. I'd give the Partner Showcase section a 7/10, it's one of the better ones we've had in all honesty. I'd be tempted to score it higher if not for the fact that some games, even with us two thirds of the way through the year now, are still nebulously labelled as being "2024", "Fall 2024" or "Winter 2024" releases (yes, I'm looking at you, Tetris Forever and Metal Slug Tactics), I feel like that's unacceptable for a presentation this late on in the year, BUT it does give credence to the rumours going around that this was pushed up with the Switch successor's announcement not too far off, and I can see some teams having to stick something on there, even if it's as non-commital as "sometime in the next 4 months maybe." Yakuza also weirdly doesn't add much to the score here for me purely because, as @Hero-of-Time rightly said, it looks rough, but also it's Kiwami before 0, and seems to be a move made more to tie in with the Prime series much more than the wiser move for players of introducing them to the series through what I feel is an objectively better game and story in 0 They finally gave us a release date for the Suikoden collection so SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE

The trailer for the Throes of the Watchmaker DLC announced today during the Indie World Showcase, which will be arriving in Spring 2025 and will be free on all platforms. Really cool stuff!

The free Friends of Jimbo update announced during today's Indie World Showcase: They've done an excellent job from the outside looking in of adding so much to this game, fair play to them

YOU NOW HAVE NO EXCUSES TO NOT PLAY THESE GAMES! ...is what I would say if they weren't starting with Kiwami instead of 0. What?! The Prime series releases the day after on the 25th, so I guess it's down to that, but damn, what a strange decision!

why are they starting with Kiwami lol

YAKUZA ON SWITCH WHAT Y'ALL HAVE NO EXCUSES NOW

Opens with dragon-mounted sword combat How in the world is this a farming sim Rune Factory why

Cosy indeed! Might pick this one up for my sister for Christmas

What a shadow drop!

Digitally available on September 12th, and physically available November 22nd! HYPEEEEE

Releasing March 6th 2025, as announced during the Partner Showcase today. An update at long last! Konami have also released another trailer for the game to go along with this update: This has been cooking for a good while now, and I'm really curious what exactly has spurred on these delays. Hopefully it means it's more than ready for launch, hope they do right by Murayama

THE SUIKODEN COLLECTION UPDATE? WHAT? FINALLY! 2025

Capcom going hard with the fighting collections! What?!

As announced at the start of today's Partner Showcase, the NES version of Tetris is heading to Switch Online in Winter 2024!

Alright, 20 minutes on indies, so should be just a bit over 20 minutes on this Partner Showcase

Don't know whether to be excited or mortified by the Shrek DLC for PowerWash Simulator It's such a relaxing time otherwise, though

Always been curious about the Coffee Talk games with how much they get brought up in smaller indie lists If I can't get in with Tokyo I don't know if I can get in at all looking so cosy

Good lord that's a lot of tie-ins for Balatro Opening with a shadow dropped update is next level though

Right, I had a monster session with the game yesterday, and so I'm now standing at just under 14 hours played; according to the PS5's progression tracker I'm 47% in, but looking at story-related trophies and the fact that I'm only about halfway through my time on the second world at a guess, I have no idea how accurate that is; we had ND-5 (pronounced Andy, I guess?) join up with us and are now putting together a team. I'm not going to post any screenshots this time around - I'm just going to save those for my eventual write-up I think, the PS App is too much of a pain to dig through - but I do have some clips to share with the class. Okay, maybe a lot of clips. I'll save those towards the end, but they range from silly to sillier, so please be excited With that being said, I really need to address the vibes and atmosphere of this game - I think they, along with Nix (the Bestest Boi, Conquerer of Worlds and Prince of the Universe) are the genuine consistent highlight of this game, I seriously can't stop myself from taking screenshots and it's becoming a problem (for my console storage). The first planet you get to roam around on, Toshara, is an Outlaws-original planet...and unfortunately, it kind of shows – it feels like Koboh 2.0 (from Jedi Survivor): dull plains, canyons, just flat orange and dry greens with the Star Wars flair of "giant crystals and a donut mountain", it's a bit drab, save for the lighting because good lord does the sky make it seem much prettier at times. You get off the planet and into its space area, though? It's just so gosh darn pretty. Kijimi, the game-recommended second planet I headed to after being able to finally leave Toshara and a planet originating from Episode IX - you know...my least favourite Star Wars film? - is wonderfully captured, and it's that Disneyland-type feeling which I feel the game captures most, similar to the Jedi games or even EA's Battlefront games: no, I don't think any of these are the best Star Wars games, but the look? The sound design? My WORD, once again, the soundtrack? Amazing stuff. Wilbert Roget II (who also worked on The Old Republic MMO, which I thought was pretty neat! He also did Helldivers 2 earlier this year!), Jon Everist, and Kazuma Jinnouchi did an excellent job. If I'm going to super nitpick - which I am, because I'm a Star Wars fan and also a huge Star Wars soundtrack nerd - this takes place between Episode V and Episode VI, meaning that their use of Episode IV's Imperial Theme is kind of out of place and should perhaps have been the Imperial March, BUT!! It feels damn good to hear that old and original Imperial Theme, and still works – again, just nitpicking. Really loving the theme we get in the PS5 menu as well as the game's main menu in particular so far, so when I load up I just sit and listen for a bit which feels great. 10/10 on capturing the Star Wars look, feel, and sound. Well done guys. So, to return to talking about the gameplay and structure of the game...I'm still very mixed on it. I now have more than enough time in the open world and in space to comment on them. A couple of hours into my monster session yesterday I happily gave up trying to do everything - there is simply too much filler to it all, even for an open world game - and swore off the Plat (I've been trying to 100%/Plat fewer games, but this being Star Wars, I was considering it briefly). I just don't think it's a game structured well enough to go off and explore and do everything, because out in the open world you have question marks popping up every few hundred metres, but because you can't interact with things while on your speeder bike it means getting off, disrupting the flow of what you were in the middle of doing...well, yeah, no more of that for me. I maxed out my standing with the Pykes on the first planet so got my hands on that Imperial gear (also, a trophy/achievement pops for achieving "max rank" with them at only "excellent, so there's that) and bottomed out my relationship with Crimson Dawn. I think at this point my plan alongside the main story is to get max rank with every syndicate (which seems very doable) for the outfits, do the occasional contract, try to complete quests which improve my gear and fully upgrade the Trailblazer, but I don't think I'll do too much beyond that. Anyways, talking of speeder bikes - and this is MENTAL to me - the ONLY way to shoot at people when cruising around and they start chasing you is through the game's Dead Eye rip-off?! You can't freely shoot like you can when you're on, say, horseback in the Red Dead Redemption games. Similarly, you know how Rockstar basically made the Wanted system what it is today? And in all of their games provides the players with accessible ways to remove it, say go to a town and bribe someone, or make a call? How about if you're stuck in the open world getting chased, you have the options of waiting it out in the middle of nowhere for a good while, there's only one Imperial back in the city you can bribe, or straight up attacking an Imperial equivalent of a checkpoint to hack in and stop the chase? WHAT?! How does the make any sense? Oh, and also, not only can you only wield your blaster when the game wants you to, but say you're in a shootout and picked up a stormtrooper's E-11 but you interact with something, either punching someone in the face or trying to hack into something, you drop that blaster more suited for a shootout the same way you would drop a heavy weapon in Horizon Zero Dawn. The first planet weirdly reminds me of Koboh from Jedi Survivor...but it's worse. There's a lot of open and empty space - my problem with this in these games is it's not an atmospheric thing like it is in some of the better open world games like Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring or Ghost of Tsushima, they just didn't put anything there, period - and, man, this games "Metroidvania elements" had me incensed. "Go off and explore the open world!", the game tells you, and so I end up in the middle of nowhere, there are barely any fast travel points in this open world and so I attack a pirate camp searching for treasure with the nearest fast travel spot a good 2+ km away. I clear the place out of pirates, I'm told there are 4 pieces of treasure here, pick up 1, 2, 3 pieces of treasure...where's the 4th? Oh that looks like a cracked wall, let's try shooting it – no? How about a thermal detonator? No still? Turns out I seemingly needed a certain type of explosive round I simply didn't have access to at that point in the game (I have it now, haven't been able to test it out though), and so I'll never go back for that treasure. I don't have enough of a reason to care, and quite frankly, I think the game still cares less than I do. And my goodness the maps suck ass. A flat 2D map for a city with more than one floor? Stupid. No way of guiding yourself through the city or open world even when placing a waypoint, so you're just awkwardly checking the map as you go anyways? It only works in the space section because, hey, you can fly around obstacles, or perhaps even Kijimi does it marginally better because it's filled with straight lines from one place to another (until they start to overlap, at least). One of the highlights of my time with the game so far for me has to be raiding an Imperial Base, it felt almost MGS-like...though obviously seriously lacking the quality of anything close to MGS. Sneaking in, taking guys out, making sure I've obscured cameras while sneaking my way up to a tower and then having the alarms sound while I pelt it to the small hatch I entered from? The game was at its best because it's letting me play around with its systems in a way which would be unique to me, and which I feel is just about the entire point of open world games like this: it is a feeling of ownership over your adventure and encounters. The space stuff is also just kind of solid? It's nothing mind-blowing but because there's very little in the way besides dogfights and points of interest, it feels like it strips back all the busywork of the open world on the planet below. And while I've been playing through this game, I've felt this way a lot: this game is taking bits and pieces from so many games but not carving out any real identity for itself as a VIDEO GAME – it feels like it is Star Wars first and a game second. GTA/Rockstar's Wanted system. Red Dead's Dead Eye. Uncharted's treasure hunting and climbing around. WB's Nemesis System. Stealth I'm not sure what from but it feels barely serviceable beyond what it was for MJ in the Insomniac Spider-Man games. It has me wanting to play Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Ghost of Tsushima, a GTA game, Metal Gear Solid V, and I can't remember the last time I was actively playing a game, recognising its watered down systems, and wanting to play the games it had taken things from. I'm honestly not sure I've ever found myself thinking so actively about other games, or pining so much for something else from Star Wars, I mean if we're going to be dead set on not doing our own things let's really ape off other things, right? A captured Rebel commando team escaping prison a la Metal Gear Solid crossed with some Apocalypse Now? A straight up galaxy-spanning treasure hunt a la Uncharted? An outright OUTLAWS game where I can wield my weapon when and wherever I want, shoot whoever I want in the face, play the game how I want to play it, like a cross between Red Dead and The Outer Worlds? I'm really hoping that Lucasfilm Games are Lucasfilm have better ownership and understanding of the IP and game quality after giving the IP to EA for a decade and having their first non-EA game come from Ubisoft, but I'm not sure they will learn. And it's such a shame. I'm gobsmacked by the game getting the positivity it has – yes it nails the Star Wars vibes and atmosphere, but the rest of the game is letting those vibes and atmosphere down, and I guess it does raise a question of a Star Wars review score bump but also how much vibes and atmosphere factor into a review score? I mean, look at these scores: I'm not trying to say that anyone should hate the game, and by all means enjoy it for what it's worth and people have put hard work into this, but this game is not, in mind, worthy of the scores it's ended up with. There is no way in God's green earth that this games is a high 70s game, it simply isn't. I haven't yet watched their review, because I'm still playing the game, but Greg Miller over at Kinda Funny giving the game a 4/10 sounds kind of in line with where I stand on the game so far – I don't like to score games, though I think I will share my opinion on a score I would've given it when all is said and done in this thread, because I went in expecting and hoping for a 6/10 and I think the game's potentially falling short even of that. There is no way I would still be continuing to play this game if it wasn't Star Wars. Alright, enough being a Negative Nancy, let's get to some clips to lighten the mood. For context, yes the game performs well in Performance Mode on PS5, and I've also gone full screen as it turns out it was the UI getting much bigger which was throwing me off and giving the illusion that the image was cropped, but as mentioned by @Happenstance, it really is leaning heavily on the buggy side of things. Not at all unexpected for an open world, much less Ubisoft, but I felt the need to share, because some of these gave me a good giggle I'll give context where I can for these. On my way to the first Imperial Base I'd try to sneak into, things went a bit awry. This guy has a unique moisturising technique. This next one showcases that upon death/capture, the game forgets who you've taken out and resets everyone, but some in...unique and interesting positions. This next one just looks painful. Here I interacted with the Mon Cala to gain access to the backroom for a game of high stakes Sabacc, but it bugged out and wouldn't let me interact with anything. Fixed with a quick reload. This cantina was bopping along until it awkwardly and suddenly wasn't. Anything the light touches is lava. Just shy of a T-pose, but changing outfits on a ladder into an Imperial uniform really improves your posture, apparently. Doors are an illusion. This guy was playing MMX World Tour I guess? And Kay has butterfingers, aka I couldn't interact with this object for a good 2 minutes to continue my mission and the game hasn't auto-saved for 10 minutes because of it being a stealth mission. I'm sure I'll be back with more thoughts at some point, but for now, back to it tell you what though, if nothing else, this game has really got me in the mood to re-watch Solo for the first time, so I guess that's a win?

It's being rumoured that, once again, a new Bloodborne gaming project is in the works: If PlayStation are doing something with the IP, you can't convince me that it'll be anything other than a remake – it just seems to be the way they like to do things these days

It's been around at least as long as I've been alive (because I've been hearing it my entire life), though I imagine it has its origins in the UK, so can't speak for how long it's served as an export of ours to other countries – and given our diversity in regional accents and dialects which seem to switch up every 10 miles or so, goodness knows who came up with it You don't all sound about a thousand years old right now (I agree with some of these to be fair) For me, I'm just glad that these terms and phrases seem to come and go at a decent clip. "Banter"? Great word for describing a particular type of light-hearted ribbing. "It's just banter" or "I'm looking for someone with good banter?" You sound like a plonk trapped in 2012. Still remember hearing "YOLO" for the first time and was left wondering "you're all just realising this now?"...before, realising they'd used it like a trademark catchphrase, that person just jumped off a high wall and sprained their ankle

@Happenstance (and anyone else picking up the game), some info I hope will be useful to minimise some of my own frustrations with the game: When the game tells you that you've unlocked an ability, what it means is that it is unlocked for you to select and unlock via the menu. Because Ubisoft are actually useless, I swear they've forgotten to point players to the menu a bunch of times between this and my experience with the syndicate rewards I'm not sure it would greatly improve my perspective on the stealth in the early sections of the game, but it would explain why I didn't have any chance of doing anything when I got caught (and it still doesn't totally negate it, so a lot of my criticisms still stand). Hopefully that helps someone

WATCH ANDOR ahem hope your gaming burnout subsides and that things are all good