I think Monday mornings might be the new thing moving forward. This way I get to enjoy my weekend and wind down by talking about videogames. Plus, Mondays can sometimes be slow on game news, so this gives me something to fill the void.
The Rumor That Can Finally Die
Earlier in the week there was a narrative that XBOX is going 3rd party and I could only express disdain for the people who genuinely believed that, not even as an Xbox fanboy but just a basic understanding of business. A company spends billions to improve the allure of investment only to lower the allure of….investment? Really? Jez Corden of Windows Central sat down with Phil Spencer and gained clarity on the situation when Phil said “There are no plans to bring Gamepass to Playstation or Nintendo”. There have been previous statements also made by Phil specifying that Xbox-made games will be exclusive to the Xbox console with few exceptions. Xbox is slated to have a great 2024 performance with the games we both know and don’t know about. There have also been notifications by Xbox to tune into the game awards as they’ll have big news to share and I can’t think of what that is besides maybe a new Hellblade trailer with a release date. Thursday is approaching fast.
Niel on The Last of Us
As a follow-up to last week’s conversation about TLOU 3, there was an interview with Naughty Dog co-president Niel Druckman regarding the series’ future. All in all, he said the company’s main focus is shipping The Last of Us 2 Remastered with no comments on a sequel happening. He also confirmed that other projects are being worked on under the Naughty Dog roof which is exciting to hear. I heard somewhere this will be a completely new IP which is always a good thing especially coming from a long-standing platform holder. I think they could deliver a good stealth game in a modern futuristic setting. I have no reason to believe this is as its wishful thinking. I just think that the space that Deus Ex is leaving unfilled needs to be visited ASAP.
Fool Me Once…
CD Projekt Red faked us out in the sense that they said there would be no more updates for Cyberpunk. The ultimate edition is set to launch this upcoming week, Dec 5, with a slew of updates for the game adding formerly promised features like a subway system. I’ve heard that some people are annoyed by this because they wanted their ultimate playthrough to be the previous 2.0 update. I’m glad I put it off as I have other games to play and now I’ll jump in when a fully finished game experience. I sometimes wonder if the praise is deserved for a game that took 3 years post-launch to finish. I guess it shouldn’t matter to me because I have so many other titles to get through but I feel bad for the people that had this one as their front-runner. Once again update 2.1 launches on December 5th, 2023. Hopefully, it’ll have a great reception.
Baldurs Gate Continues to Impress
On the topic of updates, GOTY frontrunner (IMO due to performance and impact) Baldurs Gate 3 released another update with a lot of fixes and an epilogue scenario for the game. Once again I’m happy I waited to get this game (the deluxe next year) because I’ll be getting a better product this game continues to be relevant and inviting to nonfans of the genre very similar to Elden Ring it’s quite amazing to witness two huge genre-defining games back to back years. This year has been amazing for games in general but this one stands on top in my eyes.
More Resident Evil on the Way
Capcom confirmed no Resident Evil games will be coming soon but there are more remakes in the works. Before I say anything else, I want a Code Veronica remade. I played Veronica earlier this year and was thoroughly pleased as it’s my 2nd favorite to RE 0 right now. I would like to see Clair in her standalone game taking on Umbrella and the game-associated title. I want RE 5 to be remade in a competent way i don’t think it’ll ever be one of my favorites as the core DNA of the game just isn’t something I agree with for a mainline RE game. I feel the same way about RE 6. But speaking of RE 6 here’s my pitch: RE 6 will be a launch client and the campaigns will be released separately with Leon’s being first because I think that would garner the most attention. they’ll all be remade/reworked to get back to the RE that we all love. Will it happen, no. but I think that would be really cool. I can’t wait to see what games Capcom has in store I’m sure they’ll be high-quality fun titles especially if the RE engine is being used.
Great Games Need Attention
In October I pledged to fund two games on Kickstarter both of which look unique and good quality which are Penny Blood and Armed Fantasia developed by Machida. There was an update sent out at the end of last month and while Armed Fantasia seems to be progressing fairly well, Penny Blood is almost at its limit. Machida has set plans to release a roguelite companion game, Penny Blood Hellbound and its reception will somewhat determine the fate of the parent game. I just wanted to bring attention to it so hopefully I can encourage more people to pledge. Below I’ll have the trailers for all three games as well as the Kickstarter link for anyone interested.
WIBP
- Starfield
- Pretty much the same as last week. I found a couple of new planets with some cool questlines and I must say the music is really good. It gives me the same feeling as hearing the Star Wars score from 4,5, and 6. I think I’ll finish this game this year as I can feel myself getting restless to move on to other titles.
- Shin Megami Tensei 5
- This year I’ve surprised myself at how many JRPGs I’ve played and finished and this one might be at the top of my list. The art design, music, demons, and quests all help create a world I like to explore and a mystery I want to uncover. I’m only 8 hours in and I can’t wait to dive deeper into the combat and story.
- Resident Evil 8
- This year I finished every other RE game (except Outbreak and the PVP one on PS4) and it’s been a pleasant experience opening myself up to the father of survival horror games and the genre as a whole. I must say this one is the scariest for me. Getting through Castle Dimitrescu was gut-wrenching having to pause the game and take breaks every time I entered a new section or had to go into the cellar. The lycans are unnerving and Mother Miranda is semi-disturbing. I think I can finish this one this week and move on to RE4R to round the year out.
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Another returning game from last week with all the same sentiments. I got to another biome with new robots and it was a blast battling them. I’m not too sure how far the enhancement aspect of the game goes. Maybe I’m just expecting too much and It’s as simple as it looks. I’ll just have to wait and see.
- Slayers X
- This one’s a bit obscure as I found it through Gamepass and tried it and bought it because of the vibe and style. Slayers X is a retro boomer shooter with a teenage sense of humor from the weapons and dialogue all the way to the story and setting. I’ve laughed at least once on every level because there’s always something I just didn’t expect and the game feels responsive so it satisfying to shoot around the area taking out Psykos (the game’s enemy faction).
36th Gen 