Despite agreeing with the common criticisms of the game (uneven pacing, overly simple combat, hand-holding) I did enjoy my time with it. It’s gorgeous and charming, and often delightful, and that goes a long way with me.
If you’ve been playing it you may have felt that the game introduces a few gameplay itches that it ultimately doesn’t quite scratch. With in mind, here’s a list of four games you should absolutely look at playing next…
As we continue our celebrations leading up to the 30th anniversary of the first PlayStation console launch, we have a special treat to reveal today that brings the past together with the present.
Introducing our PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection to celebrate this wonderful milestone.
But if you thought the PS5 Pro RRP was eye-watering, get a load of the inclusions for this special edition:
PlayStation 5 Pro Console – 30th Anniversary Limited Edition BundIe
Includes the limited edition PS5 Pro console with 2TB SSD, Wi-Fi 7 in territories supporting this standard, and matching limited edition accessories – DualSense wireless controller, DualSense Edge wireless controller, DualSense Charging Station, and a Console Cover for a Disc Drive (Disc Drive sold separately).
It also includes a Vertical Stand and special collector’s Items:
Original PlayStation controller-style cable connector housing
Four PlayStation Shapes cable ties
PlayStation sticker
Limited Edition PlayStation Poster (1 of 30 possible designs)
PlayStation Paperclip
Still no disc drive (lol) but the Dualsense Edge alone is already already a $199 item, not to mention the charging dock and other inclusions. USD $999 would be a nice looking price point, but tbh it’s possible this pack will break well into the thousand dollar range.
With only 12,300 units available, good luck getting one, even if the bank approves the loan.
They are high on some crazy shit if they think I’m dropping 800 euros for a standless, digital console with a blink and you’ll miss it graphical boost during a console generation that’s been so stale in terms of first party exclusives that most of the games they used to promote this are on fucking PS4.
The rumour is that this will be announced next week, with a launch date to follow.
This rumour certainly tracks, imo. Like Sea of Thieves, FH5 is a years-old game, with a very active player base, it recently crossed 40M total players, and has no real competition (first or third party) on PlayStation.
This rumour has already kicked up all sorts of reactions about The Future of XboxTM, and in particular has re-stokesd a general ‘uncertainty’ around knowing what games will be Xbox exclusives or not, and for how long.
Xbox is still in the experimenting phase when it comes to porting games to ‘rival’ platforms. The console base is stagnant (like PlayStation), which means they’re looking for growth opportunities where they can.
Sea of Thieves was in the top sellers on PlayStation for 2 months, and no doubt FH5 would land near the top in sales charts on PS5 too.
But the strategy is a balancing act – Xbox want to leverage revenue growth opportunities, but if these moves come at the expense of engagement (monthly actives) or on-platform activity, they may well pull back or adjust.
In the meantime, Forza Horizon 5 is an absolute banger of a game; it’s great news if more gamers get to experience the festival!
My sources indicate that Forza will not be announced for PlayStation next week. Although I can’t yet confirm what game, if any, will be announced as a port next week.
On the one hand, calm for Starfield, there are no active plans for it yet.
However, for Forza Horizon 5 there are, and it will be released in the not too distant future. The announcement? It doesn’t matter if it happens this week, next week or the week after, but it is coming to PS5 in the next few months as I confirmed in my [post] and as many colleagues have already confirmed.
Some of our colleagues believe that the announcement will be imminent, others not so much, but it is coming.
Via comments by a user from earlier this year, which have proven to be 100% accurate so far:
Flight Sim will be multiplatform, and a few other older 1st party IPs are also going to be multiplatform
(Of note from the leak, and that hasn’t been shown to be correct yet: Xbox have been in discussions to move to a ‘licensed device’ model, where 3rd party manufacturers can build consoles that will play Xbox games.)
Tango Gameworks will live on, as Microsoft has reached an agreement with publisher Krafton to maintain the studio. Krafton Inc, known for games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has fully acquired Tango Gameworks from Xbox, as well as the the rights to recent action hit Hi-Fi Rush.
In an interview with pcgamer.com today, Asobo’s Jorge Neumann gave some extra detail of what to expect from Flight Simulator 2024, when it launches later this year.
Here’s a quick review of the key features that were discussed:
Flight Sim 2024 “see[s] every tree on Earth” using an AI tool, and can guess the tree species.
FS24 will use a “thin client architecture” with much more of the game offloaded to the cloud, reducing the game install size to around 50GB.
They added “every oil rig” and “every lighthouse”. “It feels like whatever comes to your mind you can actually do now, if you embrace the cloud.”
“Every ship on Earth” is represented in the game in real time via transponder tracking. You can “land on every ship”.
“Hundreds” of new animals have been added to the game.
“You can now exit the plane [and] walk around[…] You can literally walk your favorite mountain path to your favorite hut in the mountains. Sit on the lake. See the sunset. It is truly a digital twin you can absorb.”
The breakout hit, and my early contender for if-this-game-isn’t-nominated-for-game-of-the-year-then-what-the-fuck-are-we-actually-doing-here-people, has officially sold 2 million copies.
We're announcing this today as we officially celebrate TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! pic.twitter.com/oziwEqyL3a
The folks at XboxEra know their way around the console wars (they’re on Twitter, after all), and that experience and love of gaming has resulted in a hilarious and unique idea:
Featuring a wonderful collection of “classic game franchises”, you play by navigating the ins and outs of game publishing, like releasing a game, dealing with fanboys, going to battle with market leaders, or handling IP theft.
Announced today at THQ Nordic’s digital showcase, this game looks stunning – like a twisted mishmash of Rayman, OlliOlli World and Cuphead.
We wanted to make an uncompromising 2D game of amazing beauty, so we went back to the genre’s roots and took the most difficult path possible – meticulously drawn, colored and animated by hand using classic frame-by-frame techniques. We didn’t cut any corners, and the results are worth it.
In The Eternal Life of Goldman, no two rooms or landscapes are alike. Every place, every object, every character, every visual effect — everything is carefully planned and executed to the finest detail.
The studio describes the game as challenging but not gruelling, with no backtracking – so expect a more traditional platformer rather than a metroidvania.
