Here's where mine ended up at. TLOU2 took the top and it wasn't particularly close. That's an all timer for me and I generally remain baffled by the cool reception the gang gave it when it came out. The coolness around Alyx I understand more given the access issues around VR, but Valve came in John Wick-style and declared "I'm thinking I'm back!" and put out a hell of a game. FFVIIR was so much better than I was expecting... I'm glad that Square mostly got it together to make that thing really work. The award for raw hour count goes to Hades, that game leapfrogged Breath of the Wild for overall playtime on the Switch and I did not see that coming. I haven't quiet finished Cyberpunk, but I was surprised at where I found myself putting it. There's just something about it in spite of all the issues. And hey, three PS5 games!? Nice work, Sony.
@jjweatherman: Yeah, it's weird. I don't begrudge anyone who isn't "ready" for it, but it's the sequel to their 2013 GOTY so it's just a little odd to hear 4 people shrugging as Brad vaguely pushes them away from this experience. He basically said the game has the hooks in deep and he's eager to finish, but that was almost an afterthought.
Hoping East has some more insight. We already know Jeff B really dug it and I suspect the whole crew over there is going to at the very least give it a shot.
@whozzev: Yeah, the dunking on VR was a bummer. Everything we are hearing about this Half-Life game sounds awesome, but I think at one point Alex even called it an "experience." This is exactly what the people who were at least intrigued by VR said they wanted (AAA, not just a "tech demo", 12-15 hours). Oculus has also been putting out some bigger titles lately like Asgard's Wrath as well. Just wish they would come at this a little more open minded.
There's something about the interface of Dreams that makes game design feel more fun to me than in any of the traditional game engines I've ever messed around in. It really feels like you can make almost anything, yet the friction to get something up and running that looks and feels okay isn't as high as it is for a "regular" game engine. Regarding any argument about the skill set not translating to real game design, that's BS. It's obviously not the ideal path to learning the professional tools if that's your end goal, but anyone who gets adept at Dreams will have a huge head start over someone starting from nothing.
Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is still excellent. I re-watched all of them recently when the 4K versions came out and was bracing to be disappointed in a post-MCU world. They were all excellent, particularly 2 and 3. I think some of the talk about these films transcending their genre roots back at release was a little much, but they are still best in class action movies. And they are movie-ass movies with bombastic visuals, lots of memorable (and often practical) action sequences and big sweeping music. There are some issues with the writing and they probably overstay their welcome, but there's a damn lot of good there.
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