Ganepark32

Pretty happy with the lineup myself. Had thought Maquette would be a PS+ title but would've happily picked it up as I do enjoy a first person puzzler so looking forward to playing it next week. Never played Final Fantasy 7 and have been tempted to try the Remake. Do worry that I'll miss out a lot of the nods and such with having not played the original but I'll give it a go. I am currently playing FF12 The Zodiac Age on Gamepass (first time playing that game too) so don't know if I'll simply add it to my library and play it later on or just get on with it. I have Remnant From The Ashes on my Xbox One, the complete edition, and its alright. I didn't get too far with it and it didn't really grab me enough to want to try and play it more but its supposedly fun for those wanting to play co-op (its perfectly playable solo as enemy count and difficulty scale based on number of players from what I remember). Would love to try Farpoint but I likewise don't have a PSVR. Still, its a good month and looking forward to jumping in with Maquette and FF7R.

Narita Boy is releasing across all platforms on March 30th: If there's not a solid techno/electronic soundtrack to go with the game then I'll be massively disappointed as stylistically it looks fantastic.

Oh I'd love for it to be Hades. That bump in resolution for play on TV with all that gorgeous artwork? Yes please! Plus, I left my copy behind when I sold my Switch Lite last September in prep for my PS5 purchase and I've been itching to play again so its an easy sell for me. Shadow drop it tomorrow night and that'll be my Friday sorted I did remember that GTA5 was shown last year for coming to PS5 and had the horrible thought: they're gonna spend several minutes on it talking about new content for the online aren't they...... ugh. It is nice to have a State of Play where it doesn't feel like its necessary to have one. Even if there's no megaton, a slew of dates for indie/third party titles is always a boon on top of a solid first and third party line up thats already got dates.

Confirmation of and release date for Star Wars: Republic Commando: Edit: Oops, didn't see the thread for it. Nevermind, you win again @Julius.

Looking forward to it. Think you've hit the nail on the head with your predictions @drahkon. Pretty much the games from the June State of Play last year that I'm expecting to turn up, maybe change Solar Ash for that Jett game as I know the team at Solar Ash was hiring recently so I wonder if its a coming a little later in the year. Likewise change RE Village as its not long since had its full unveiling. Perhaps a bit more of FF16 in its stead. Expecting a good sized showing for Kena. Very curious to see it in action as its one of those games that looks fantastic but could also be too good to be true/style over substance. Likewise curious how Stray will look and play. Not expecting a megaton drop here with the two new announcements which is fine as the release slate for the PS5 is looking good at the moment, especially with there still being PS4 titles playable through BC, so there's no need to give time to games that are going to be a year plus out just yet. Give the space to the games that are coming in the first half of this year, follow up by highlighting smaller indie games through their blog posts that they've done recently and then showcase the bigger games when they're ready. Roll on tomorrow. As a big indie game fan, I'm looking forward to getting some date for some of those games shown last year (and Disco Elysium: The Final Cut but I'm not expecting that here).

I'd say that Maquette is a good shout for the March PS+ lineup. I've seen so many people banding around Kena due to a rumoured March release but there's been nothing on that game for months and I just don't see that happening. I'd love to be wrong but it seems like Kena will be quite a bit away. Would be happy with Maquette too as I like the look of it and was intending to pick up next week. The only other game I can think would possibly be Disco Elysium seeing as Sony have a short exclusivity window for the console edition and its coming in March (no solid date within that month IIRC). Would be happy with that as well. We'll find out soon enough anyway.

Genuinely bummed out by the news. Discovery, and the accompanying Interstella 5555, is a phenomenal album and one of my all time favourites. I've listened to and watched their Alive 2007 concert at Coachella so many times over the years, enjoyed all their albums (even Random Access Memory which didn't quite hit the mark in many places) and really liked what they did with the Toronto Legacy soundtrack, and hoped they'd be back for the third one. Gutted that they didn't do Alive 2017 to go along with 1997 and 2007 and gutted I'll never get to see them live but they were an incredible act, and one that I don't think will be matched ever for their fusion of sounds. Guess I'll spend the rest of the day listening to them.

Interesting that they've chosen to port this over to the Switch. It's probably one of the weaker 3D Zelda titles in my eyes, even though I correctly guessed before reveal 2 of the major changes to the game (I'd said it should use a watercolour visual style and that they should take a leaf out of Darksiders book and do more open dungeons, though neither came off great due to the hardware limitations). It had some interesting ideas but it all felt very middle of the road. Still, good on Nintendo (or whoever is porting it) for putting the effort in to giving a non-motion control setup. Its probably the best option they could have gone with, though they maybe could have just had the right stick change stance and keep your swords swings as a button press. It'll also be interesting to finally see the HD version of this. IIRC, there was talk around the release and afterwards from people, including some at Nintendo themselves, that the game was developed in HD to start with and then ported down to the Wii so if that is true, then they've been sat on the HD version for some time. Not a game I'm that fussed to replay (having to relight the Imprisoned over and over again is a no from me) but cool that its seeing new light. I'd have preferred Wind Waker HD be ported alongside Twilight Princess HD. Or even the rumours if the Oracle games getting a Link's Awakening style remake.

Oh hell yes! Forgot there was a new season coming. Can't wait. Hopefully the UK release won't be so far behind the US release this time around. Think I might go back and rematch the first two seasons to get ready.

Had really hoped they'd give the game a next gen upgrade so very happy that they're doing one. The game is fantastic from what I've played and looks great but can't wait to play the rest of it as the PS5 version. Roll on March 12th. And if you're on the fence, definitely pick it up if you see it on sale. I was uncertain I'd enjoy it but its exactly what you'd want as a continuation of the original trilogy.

Its on sale on the Xbox store and with it being backwards compatible on the One/Series S|X, I thought why not. Heard a lot of good about it and had a £5 voucher from my Microsoft Rewards so picked it up for some point down the line as it doesn't look like its been on sale digitally for a long time. Considering whether or not to pick up Blue Dragon as its similarly not been on sale digitally for ages but I don't remember being that taken by it when I played it briefly when it released.

Schreier's story no doubt throws even more cats among the pigeons. If there wasn't already pressure on them to show that the game can be redeemed, then there is certainly even more. I feel for those working in the 2.0 build at the Bioware Austin studio. I understand leaving a skeleton crew behind to hash out what the vision is for a soft reboot but leaving 30 developers, programmers, etc. to essentially rework pretty much all of what was there for more or less 18 months speaks volumes to how EA felt about the IP. There's no doubt that the small team working on it has worked their asses of to bring something to the table but the writing is clearly on the wall if the decision next week is simply whether to bring on more people to push the idea forward a bit or bin the lot. I think like everyone else, its going to be cancelled and put out to pasture. There was just so much wrong with the development cycle of the game and how everything was run from management within Bioware to those within EA. Thats well documented at this point and similarly impacted Andromeda (the recent news that they could only put new races in that game that were cos play friendly and that they only had the budget for the 2 new races tells you what EA thinks of Bioware) but it is a shame because the gameplay was fun for what it was, its just everything else wasn't up to snuff. Bioware Austin are doing this and Star Wars The Old Republic and to be honest, I could easily see them shuttering both projects at this point. The latter title is long in the tooth and while it could've had a new lease of life under EA's Star Wars licence agreement, it hasn't had that even with it being free to play. The studio could end up being shifted to help with other EA properties or likely shuttered completely at this point. For EA, its all about the bottom line and the studio hasn't exactly pulled in the big bucks. Even if something could be salvaged, at this point would there be an audience for it? We can point to games like No Man's Sky and say they're similar but at least Hello Games got on with it and put out a massive update within the first year to start the addition of content updates. Anthem has had nothing beyond the initial weeks of its road map, with the latter ideas within that being scrapped completely. As an IP, it holds little cachet with gamers outside of being remembered for how poorly handled development was and how lacklustre the overall package was. When thats you're starting point as a GaaS title, there's not much room for manoeuvring and because of that, its very likely the writing is on the wall. Hell, even The Division 2 which underperformed has managed to winkle out its own space and had substantial content updates that have fundamentally changed things up. So yeah, I expect it to go no further. Refocus them on assisting with the new ME title, put The Old Republic into end of life territory and have them go one more time some years down the line for a new title again once DA4 and ME are out.

Been listening to Darlingside a lot recently. They cropped up on one of my playlists on Spotify recently and I fell in love with their recent album from last year, Fish Pond Fish. I especially love the closing track to the album: Similarly, been enjoying Hiss Golden Messenger's new track Sanctuary a lot: And finally, Skullcrusher continues to put out some fantastic music, following her debut EP last year which I loved. Probably one of my favourite films music wise last year. The newest track, Song For Nick Drake, is just great:

Ended up playing through Donut County on my Xbox One and finished it in one sitting on Saturday morning. Was looking for something to help finish off some of my Microsoft Reward quests and this fit the bill nicely. Had already played through and platinumed it on the PS4 so it was a pretty swift play through. Pretty straight forward gameplay that's very much of the Katamari Damacy style playbook: you control a hole that swallows up objects of increasing size with your hole growing with each item it swallows. Occasionally there'll be an additional puzzle element, like catapulting objects out of the hole, filling it with water the gush out to move objects or to us a snake's tail to press a button, but the overarching gameplay stays the same from start to finish. That in and of itself is fine considering the general brevity of the game but the overall package that the gameplay is wrapped up in perhaps aims to be more than the sum of its parts and doesn't land there. There's a general narrative thread loosely running through the game, with a raccoon called BK controlling the holes under the guise of a donut shop and hoping to get his remote controlled quadcopter. Its silly stuff that never takes itself too seriously but its very much background noise that the game could easily have done without. Unnecessary narrative or not, the overall experience is a short but sweet one that's fun for the time it runs for but doesn't exactly leave a strong lasting impression, though its clearly not meant to be. With its inclusion of Gamepass, its a fun hour or so and definitely worth a shot. At full price, I'd say pick it up on sale if you want something nonsensical but enjoyable. Followed this up by finishing Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on Saturday afternoon. As I'd said in a previous post, I was playing on my PS5 for the next gen optimisations that Respawn released a few weeks back. Sadly, those optimisations fall short on the PS5 and while its a generally more stable game than previously, there's still noticeable frame rate drops and a washed out look to visuals on the PS5 compared to what I've seen of the Xbox Series X version. Its a shame that they didn't go further with the PS5 version and really lock down the frame rate and push the visuals that bit more. Nonetheless, playing through the game again was a treat. Its a fantastic action adventure title and though the platforming is a bit too floaty/Uncharted-esque, the action is superb taking that Souls approach to having to learn movements of your enemies and using your skills, parries and force powers appropriately if you want to make quick work of enemies. Once you've unlocked your full suite of force powers and have the combat tactics down, the game feels great in making you feel like a Jedi cutting down stormtroopers and other enemies through. The cinematic moves of cutting through droids or landing a killing blow on stormtroopers as finishers will never stop being satisfying. It felt just as great playing it a second time through as it did at launch, perhaps more so. I appreciated the Souls bonfire mechanics of the meditation points more here than originally, though it still doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things for the game, and though it takes place between the prequel and original films, there's enough discernable distance between both to not be bogged down by having to play fan service throughout, though it could be argued they played to fan service with the end sequence. I can't wait to see what Respawn do with a sequel. Some fine tuning of the gameplay is all thats needed and if they're willing to risk not playing to the films, they could really stretch themselves more, much in the same way that The Mandalorian has done (while that show definitely plays the fan service card heavily in places, they play a lot of cards that aren't and its those that made it far more enjoyable to watch for me). I'm still miffed that they didn't go full hog on supporting the game with other merch. I was saying to the missus that they really should have done a Lego Ideas build for BD-1, which I'd have promptly picked up, but maybe they were testing the waters. Now that this game has done aa well as it has, they may well push the boat out with the sequel. Not settled on what I'll play next. Moving later this week so things are up in the air there. If I have my internet sorted at my new place, I'll download FF12 when it hits Gamepass on Thursday. I did a toss up between it and the FFX/X-2 package on Switch last year and went for the latter, sadly giving up at Mt. Gagazet (that particular boss battles was enough to put me off, especially as I became aware of further difficulty spikes after that) so I've been curious what 12 is like. Hopefully less difficulty spikes. If that goes well, may try my hand at 7. Either the original before it disappears from Gamepass or try the Remake on PS4.

Pretty much par for the course with Ubisoft releases these last couple of years. They have a slate of 2 or 3 games for the start of the year and then one by one, they're all delayed indefinitely. Likely see this alongside Far Cry 6 and Riders Republic in the October-December going by how they've handled it in previous years. Gives this plenty more time in the oven as it was looking rough to say the least.

Finished up January by completing 2 indie titles: The Pedestrian and Shady Part of Me. Was surprised that The Pedestrian had released as I hadn't seen any news in it since the PlayStation Blog had done a indie highlight thing a few months back, which included it. But lo and behold, last Friday it was there to pick up on the store so I picked it up on the PS5 and finished it the next day. I'd had my eye on it since it released on PC so was looking forward to playing it. Its a short puzzle game where you control a stick man on road signs and drawing boards and pretty much involved getting from one door to the other, solving a puzzle along the way to get through the signs in the right order. That seems simple enough but by the end of the game, its incorporated a bunch of mechanics that add different dynamics to how you get through the areas making it head scratchingly difficult at times. It starts out with things like linking up nodes for doors and ladders is how it starts but the game then has you do things like connect electric nodes to sequentially unlock new signs and then solve a bigger sequence of puzzles. The addition of hazards, like lasers and sawblades, as well as locked doors, triggers launchpads and levers add flavour in amongst the levels and then a late game addition of a spray that keeps progress in a particular sign while you reset other signs really makes you stop and think your steps out ahead otherwise you'll be banging your head against a wall. The final area takes an additional twist that I won't spoil but made a nice touch to end on. As I say, its a short game, probably 3 or so hours, maybe a bit more but I enjoyed the game. It never out stays its welcome and gives just enough variety through the length of the game to keep you going. Haptic feedback is there for the PS5 version (there's a PS4 version available with both an Xbox and Switch version coming down the line) but its mainly for footsteps and things like that. Nothing amazing and doesn't really add much to the experience. Well worth a shot but if you want a bit more, I'd say wait for the sale. I then finished up Shady Part of Me on the Sunday and again, I enjoyed the experience. I'd played a bit at launch when I was announced and released at The Game Awards and had been meaning to plow on with it so sat down and I did. You play a young girl who is going through emotional struggles and the game tells the story of her befriending of her shadow and the struggle to overcome her fear of the light, accepting it into her life and accepting who she is. It may not be an entirely original tale but it's well told and narrated, with a great performance from Hannah Murray voicing the girl. Gameplay takes place through some beautiful yet surreal, dreamist locations with a hand drawn aesthetic. You play both the part of the young girl and her shadow, switching between the two to complete short platforming sections through a series of what are referred to as sessions, acting as overarching points of plot that appear to be a recount from therapy sessions. The platforming never becomes too difficult and the puzzles themselves are similarly simple, making use of light and dark mechanics to have the girl move through the latter and the shadow to move through the former. Moving blocks as the little girl will create shadows that act as platforms for the shadow and similarly pulling levers will move items of scenery for both characters to move through levels. As I say, simple mechanics but done well enough to propel you through. Playing the game brought to mind Lost in Shadow/A Shadow's Tale on the Wii, simply through playing the shadow character and solving puzzles as that. It did make me wish that that game wasn't stuck on the Wii as I'd love to play it again. I loved the look of the game along with the audio. It has the look of a children's book that cosies up to creepy in places to personify the girls doubts and fears but similarly hits on points if dream like fantasy that show her progress and her coming to terms with herself beautifully. The final sequence on a stage surrounded by lights and solving the puzzles there beautifully ties together the struggles to overcome her struggled and her acceptance of the light and herself. Its a game that will sadly have been glossed over because of its release window (and thats with good reviews from outlets) which is a shame as the game is a really nice little experience that plays simply with its mechanics but tells a thoughtful story in an interesting way. Sure, some fat could be trimmed to make it more succinct but as it stands, the package is well thought out and well done. Another worth picking up if you want something a little different. Its on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. Currently playing through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on my PS5, with the next gen optimisations. Already completed on release but I was hankering a single player experience and was very much in the Star Wars mood after finishing The Mandalorian. The next gen optimisation on the PS5 is a bit lacklustre. The game still looks washed out as its only 1200p or there abouts, falling far behind the optimisations for the Xbox Series X version. There's also plenty of frame rate stutters still when it should be a rock solid 60fps so that's a disappointment but the game is still fantastic and really enjoying playing it again. Can't wait for the sequel that Respawn are working on.

Tried a few matches on this yesterday, got a win on my second match with a last second hero power up that got me to the top of the leaderboard by 1 point but even with that win, I'm just not feeling it. Its missing that oomph, that bite to keep me drawn in. The car handling isn't as tight as I'd want it and the collisions don't feel like they carry any weight to them. I'm not expecting Wreckfest levels here but something with a bit more crunch when I get swiped into or when I'm in a head on collision. The out of car antics I can take or leave them. They're a nice touch but I'm not enamoured by them. Obviously not going to drop the game out of the gate but initial impressions from me are that its a bit meh I'll put some more time in over the coming days but I doubt my mind will be changed on how it plays. Oh and whoever at Lucid had the great idea to put voice chat through the Dualsense speaker and not include an in game option to turn that off needs slapped. Yes, you can mute voice chat in the Activity Card window but it should be a setting in game.

Some of the comparison shots doing the rounds look fantastic. I could have maybe done with a bit less lens flare. I know its been used in the original games but that picture of Thane from the remasters is a bit excessive. Not that that'll hamper my enjoyment of the games, just thought we'd moved past the excessive use of it in games. Very excited to jump in. I've held off of doing another playthrough of the trilogy since they announced the remaster, had hoped that it would land a bit earlier to be able to get to that playthrough but it releases the day before my birthday so that'll be my weekend sorted. Yet to find a game series that's left as much of a mark as Mass Effect. Its probably my favourite RPG series. The world building is incredible, especially in the original, and I just love the characters so getting to see them all over again in a new coat of paint is something I can't wait for. A shame that the multiplayer isn't there for 3 as I really enjoyed that mode myself. The mix of characters and classes you could unlock was great (getting to be the Volus god was fantastic). My favourite horde mode from last gen. I get why but I'd have liked to see it back. Curious how they'll handle the Galactic Readiness for 3 then. Hopefully just tie it to missions/side quests as it should have been in the first place. But yeah, roll on May. Always room for another Mass Effect Trilogy playthrough in my life.

Danny and the rest of the team at NoClip put out the final part of their long documentary series surrounding Supergiant Games and Hades, with the latest part focusing on the launch of 1.0 for PC and Switch and the fallout of that. If people are interested in the behind the scenes for the game, NoClip's series has been great and as always, it's great to just see more of Supergiant Games because the team thats over there is just incredibly talented. Its well worth a watch going through the series if you're at all interested in whats gone on behind the scenes or have interest in the development side of things (and that extends to all of NoClip's content which is fantastic).

Finally got a move in date for my new flat. We've been waiting since December but we'll finally have the keys on February 10th. Deposit and first month's rent have already been paid, new bed, mattress, sofa and various other bits have been ordered. Looking forward to it as I've been staying with my sister in law and its starting to feel like we're all getting in each other's ways a bit do it'll be good for myself and my partner to be back in our own place and for my sister in law and her partner to have their place (and their two sheds as all our stuff is currently stored in them) back. Its been a long road to get here, with everything that's happened since November with our old downstairs neighbour. So roll on Feb. 10th new house, fresh start, excited.

Its great to see more people playing A Short Hike and enjoying it. I played it originally when it released on PC and loved the laidback nature of it. When it was announced for the Switch, I double dipped and enjoyed it just as much. Its just such a joy to wander that location, speak to the locals and search out little secrets. Loved the visuals and the soundtrack and audio design are just superb. Well worth a jaunt and well worth exploring the island for all its secrets, especially at that price. Its the game I wish Animal Crossing was, or at least took some ideas from. So far this year, I've only managed to finish Call of the Sea on my Xbox One. I keep jumping between playing bits of this and bits of that but sat down and finished off Call of the Sea over a week ago and enjoyed it. Its very much in the same vein as The Shape of Water to a degree with where it goes but I found it an enjoyable first person puzzle game. Nothing too extravagant and nothing too taxing puzzle wise. Just a simple romp round a Pacific island solving some interesting puzzles. Story didn't really do much for me, which is a shame as the voice work is really nicely done. There were also plenty of technical issues, mainly frame rate issues and stuttering as well as a bizarre choice to darken the edges of the screen for your FOV, but for a first title from that studio, its was pretty good. It being on Gamepass is definitely a plus and if anyone is using the service, I'd say its worth a go of you want a 5 hour plus puzzle adventure.

A bit annoying that if you played Control prior to the Ultimate Edition releasing, either disc based or the standard digital/digital deluxe versions, your save file won't be compatible with the Ultimate Edition on the PS5 because they're using a different version of the Northlight engine or something to those effects, from what I saw. Extra kick in the teeth for me as it means I'll have to start a new save when I've finished it twice but guess I was only ever picking up to see the upgrades and not really do a full playthrough of it.

Netflix have announced some of the main cast for the first season of their adaptation of The Sandman, based on the Preludes and Nocturnes book: I think they've got a solid cast there for those parts. Sturridge looks the part, though I will admit that I had thought James McAvoy would get a shot after his great work voicing Dream in the Audible audio book. Bhaskar and Chaudhry as Cain and Abel is a great touch, should lend those parts a comedic element which is much needed for their interactions. Holbrook also looks the part for The Corinthian and Charles Dance is always a plus in any cast. Interested especially in the choices for Lucifer and Lucien, now Lucienne. Not familiar with Acheampong's work but picking Christie for Lucker is a fantastic choice. Should be a nice take on that character and I'm just very interested to see how it plays out with both of these changes to the characters in the books. Its supposedly set for release at some point next year, provided things go smoothly with filming. I'm still dubious that the show won't carry that Netflix feel to it and miss the mark on the look. Its obviously a tall task, and an expensive one, but hopefully they'll take the time for the set work and the CG to do the look justice. And I'm just curious to see how they'll handle "24 Hours". Its one of my favourite sections of Preludes and Nocturnes but is very much a tonal shift from a lot of what happens in that book so I do wonder if they'll sidestep that whole section. Exciting to finally have news and looking forward to it.

Great month for both the PS4 and PS5. Concrete Genie is a great little game and well worth playing. Control is fantastic but I'm still sour on how they've handled the next gen upgrade. Having picked up the game on launch on Xbox One and then bought the digital deluxe version on the PS4, having them announce that the Ultimate Edition is the only way to get the upgrade on PS5 was like a slap in the face when I've supported the game twice. I wasn't expecting a free upgrade and would've happily paid a small fee for it but to rebuy the whole game was a shocking choice by Remedy and 505 Games. At least they have separate store IDs so shouldn't cause bother for the likes of me who've got the digital deluxe version in my library. Destruction All-Stars is a game I'd love to see more and being 6 days out from launch, we've yet to see a full match. Curious as to why and if it'll have the legs but I'll give it a go seeing as I've maintained my Plus sub since picking up my PS5 but haven't been playing much online that warrants it.

Gamesindustry.biz have put out an article about the working conditions at Scavenger Studios and some accusations made against the creative director: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-scavengers-studio-creative-director-accused-of-belittling-screaming-at-groping-employees Coming off of the back of that showing at the Game Awards, this is disappointing to read and in many places just disgusting. Its good that this is coming to light now but for those employees at the studio who've had to endure some of the creative director's disgusting behaviour or who've been put under the thumb with more work because he over promised to secure a deal, it must be awful. This industry, like many others, seems to have much hidden under many rocks. The sooner they're all over turned to highlight this sort of behaviour the better as it should hopefully lead to positive changes to protect developers from abuse. Certainly made me take a second look at the game having this information at hand.