List items
-
The myth, the legend, it's almost here. Hard to truly, literally believe this is about to be real. But it's also been so long now that my passion for FFVII has receded into the past to a degree. I haven't replayed it in more than 10 years now, and I used to replay it every couple years or so. Some things might not click with me, such as the real time battle system and the new 'filler' content to stretch out the play time. The visuals look incredible though--I actually can't quite believe out how well realized the characters look--hard to imagine them being any better. Music will probably be very good, since that seems like SE's one consistent strength with FF these days (FFXIV and FFXV had excellent soundtracks). This game will be a weird mix of emotions and experiences, but I'm going to try to approach it in a relaxed way, with simple excitement and not anxiety, and take the good wherever I can find it. I think I'll find some moments of great enjoyment, but it might also leave me feeling a little unfulfilled/let down/lacking if it feels like it doesn't have an inspired reason for existing--i.e. it might feel like it's impersonating FFVII rather than -being- FFVII. I'm sure this will be on my top 10, so I'm going with the safe (and optimistic!) bet and giving it No 1!
-
I loved DOOM 2016, and this looks bigger and better across the board. My one major overarching concern is that they're leaning into artificiality too much, between the comic book story and the arcade-like gameplay elements. The game might suffer from 'too much design' and feel contrived and fake. DOOM 2016 had just a hint of that already. Regardless, even in the worst case, there should be some solid fun to be had here. Can't imagine this not making my top 10.
-
Seems like Supergiant at their best. I hope the story and writing work well for me, since Bastion and Pyre were partial hits and Transistor was a total miss. Gameplay looks like the refined and superior version of Bastion, which is cool since I quite liked Bastion's gameplay and I enjoyed it more than Transistor or Pyre. I'm guessing I'll like this game somewhat more than Bastion except without the strong element of novelty that Bastion had; basically I won't love it, but it'll be really good.
-
Sounds like this is just more Nioh, except bigger in every possible way. I liked Nioh quite a bit, but didn't love it. I think this is almost certain to be the best Souls-like yet outside the Souls games. Assured to make my top 10.
-
I never liked the gameplay very much of NMH (or any Suda games, in fact), but I have quite appreciated many aspects of the story in NMH1 and TSA. It's key that Suda is back to write and direct this game--that gives me confidence that there will be worthwhile story stuff here. I bet there will also be fun presentation as well. Gameplay will probably be whatever, but I think there will be enough highs to make my top 10 list.
-
Everything here should be right up my alley--it's like Fallout Tactics but with more polished gameplay inspired by XCOM. But the alpha demo left me underwhelmed--the writing was a little too try-hard, the combat felt a little out of my control, and interface was ugly, and I didn't really like how short and trivially gamey the boss conversation was. Somehow I suspect this game is going to be a disappointment. But probably still quite good, so it's still on my top 10.
-
I have no idea what to really expect from this except a kind of reboot of the Souls series with an open world, more technical combat in the vein of Sekiro, and more conventional writing/story (but probably quality stuff, since it comes from an acclaimed writer). I might not get around to this, or I might kinda of bounce/slide off of it, or I might get super into it and it could be just about my game of the year. Or it might get delayed and not come out this year. I'm going to say most likely it won't have much impact on me this year one way or another.
-
The good: big-budget Deus Ex by way of genuine cyberpunk. The bad: CD Project Red (didn't like the Witcher, skeptical of their SJW leanings, don't care for the sheer abundance of 'inappropriate subject matter'). I think it might fall into the squisky middleground between shooter and RPG where the shooting doesn't feel very good/satisfying and yet the RPG systems are undermined if you're good at the shooting. I'll almost certainly give it a try though. I bet there will be a number of quite impressive qualities about this game, though I'm unsure how much I will emotionally like it.
-
I really liked Shadow Tactics, so this follow-up might be awesome. Don't really know any specifics about it.
-
This is moderately outside my comfort zone. Good chance I either won't get to it or I'll bounce off it quickly. But I can see a small but real chance it might seriously hook me, since I like tower defense style gameplay, and some aspects of the presentation look pretty cool (good music, swarming enemy attacks on computer screen HUD); I'm just not sold on the character art at all though. Seems like a genuine passion project by Vanillaware and Kamitani, so it'll probably have a real spark of inspiration, which I ought to be able to appreciate to some degree.
-
Everything I know about this game comes from the one trailer, but that trailer looked absolutely amazing! It looked like Persona by way of Yakuza, with the craziness cranked sky-high. I like turn-based JRPG gameplay more than brawler gameplay, so that's an improvement in my book. Although I'm not into Yakuza (yet), this just looked super fun. I'm a little worried that it might be so focused on side activities that the core gameplay suffers (shallow, unsatisfying). That it's the first mainline Yakuza game with a new protagonist makes it a perfect place to jump in, so I think I'll pre-order this (vote of support and I just need to try it for myself), and plan to go for it. No idea if it'll make my top 10 though.
-
I don't think this will come out this year; maybe Early Access like DOS1&2. Even if it does come out, I probably won't play it--I'll probably be too swamped with games late in the year, I might wait for patches & DLC, and I'd like to somehow play POE 2, Pathfinder, and DOS2 first
-
C&C + Red Alert remaster. A known quantity, except for the remaster part, which I expect to be decent--a few minor improvements (QoL features like selecting campaign missions from a list), a few tradeoffs (newly recorded voice acting is no better and less nostalgic, newly mixed music likewise), and a few inferiorities (e.g. no EVA installer). I don't think this appropriately qualifies to be in contention for my top 10 list. I might play it, since I've been kind of hankering for classic RTS gameplay, but I have scratched that itch with TibSun, RA2, and AOEII, so maybe I'll have had my fill, and I won't get around to this this year. Whenever I do play it, I'm sure I'll enjoy it nice and moderately.
-
This game popped onto my radar with its announcement just a couple weeks ago. I never had much interest in the first, but after quite liking Octopath, which was made by the same team, I'm more receptive now. I liked the music of BD2's trailer--it all reminded me a lot of Octopath. I'd like to go back and play BD1 before playing 2, and it's unlikely I'll fit that into this busy year, so that makes it unimaginable that I could ever get around to playing this game, so I think I'll put it on the backlog. If I did play it, I'd probably like it slightly less than Octopath--I'm assuming it would have better pacing/structure, but a worse combat system.
-
I was really excited for this before I played DL1. This sounded great on paper (zombie open world, survival action, humans are the main threat in the daytime and zombies in the nighttime, major choice and consequence with Chris Avellone writing), but then I played DL1 (parkour is as clunky as it is fun, dull melee and shooting action, kinda tedious crafting and loot systems, cliche story). So I'm left thinking that it'll be a somewhat more interesting, dynamic, and better version of DL1. A fairly good game that I won't love. I can't see it making the top 10 given the steep competition.
-
Don't know anything about this except what I got from the one trailer I've seen: classic style shooter with Brutal DOOM-style over-the-top violence. Could be gimmicky if the level, weapon, and enemy design isn't up to snuff, or could be a lot of fun. Safe bet is kinda like Dusk--solidly good, but won't make my top 10 compared to the ultra steep competition this year.
-
I'm expecting another experience like Finding Paradise--charming, humorous, and emotionally touching at times. Novel on the surface, but familiar in structure since this is the third game from Kan Gao. I think this game might be more of a comedy than a tear jerker, so I'm not sure how the comedy will connect--the Steam page writing was a bit try-hard, which is concerning, but the first two games did have s decent sense of walking the fine line of humor. I think this game will be good, but a step down from the last one, maintaining a mild but consistent trajectory downward in my enjoyment. Won't make the top 10.
-
This game seems to be in development hell, so it's random whether it comes out this year or not. Even if it does, it's hard not to expect something comparable to SS3, which was pretty underwhelming, so even if this is modestly better than SS3, I doubt it will make my top 10.
-
Kind of a technicality that this is even here, since it leaving Early Access doesn't seem like much more than just another patch. I love Factorio though, and I always mean to play more of it. But this year is so busy, I probably won't get to this.
-
I like Persona a lot, and Persona 5 in particular as the Persona game I'm most into currently (still need to wrap it up). But I'm pretty lukewarm (at best) on Dynasty Warriors clones. This Persona+DW spin off looks remarkably good in trailers though--way better than any DW game I've ever seen. THe Persona style is there in spades, the production values look comparable to a full fledged Persona game, and the gameplay variety looks solid (not just churning through thousands of stationary fodder enemies). There's probably a high chance I buy this game! Maybe even pre-order it if it continues to look this good up to release. Still probably won't crack top 10 with such stiff competition, but I can see a tiny chance of a surprise.
-
I don't have much affinity for DP1, though I did appreciate some of its quirkiness and the fact that it was clearly a passion project. If Swery is full involved with this, then I'm curious about it, but it seems Swery is fully busy with The Good Life (which looks completely weak to me), so I have a hard time finding any reason to be optimistic about this game. I'll be curious I guess just to see it, since it's so weird that it even exists, but I doubt there will be much substantive appeal here. I don't think I'll play it.
-
Another 90s-style shooter, this time modelled after Quake and running on a source port of the Quake engine. I like the authenticity, but it doesn't seem to have the really cool and distinct setting/atmosphere of Quake. It seems more like Dusk. Probably won't be any better than Dusk--good chance of being a little worse, especially since Dusk has tapped that novelty already now. Might not play it, and very unlikely to make my top 10.
-
I can't imagine this will make it out this year. And if it does, I'm sure it'll be super half-baked and need another year or more of patches to be finished. I'm very skeptical of Warren Specter's practical competence (he seems to have his head in the clouds all the time) and Otherside's overall competence (Underworld Ascendant was apparently a complete disaster). I think this game has disappointment written all over it.
-
I like XCOM-style gameplay a lot and I'm open to prohibition era settings, so this could be solidly enjoyable, but I can't help buy think of Omerta (exactly the same pitch, and it turned out mediocre) and Romero Games being awfully untested (they've made mobile games for years, Romero's Sigil wasn't my favorite Doom stuff, and they must be a small studio), so I don't expect much from them. Probably going to be a kind of simplistic half-mobile-half-indie game with a lot of bugs. Don't think I'll like it much, and I doubt I'll even play it.
-
Doubt this will come out.
-
Might be cool. Trailer looked good, but I don't remember anything about it now. Might be mediocre. I'll keep a loose eye on it. Probably won't play it unless it gets an amazing reception. Too much other stuff to play, and between AOEII from last year and the CYC remaster, I'll have enough classic RTS to play.
-
I wonder if the writing will be as good as the first, and if the gameplay will be as bad as the first. Probably no to each--it'll be more smoothed out. Might play this on a whim, but more likely I'll skip it.
-
I don't think this will come out this year. No idea if I'll take to it anyway, since I didn't really take to AOEIII.
-
Basically a Renegade clone by Petroglyph. Kind of exciting because it's such a dopey idea. Honestly, hard to imagine I'll enjoy it much beyond novelty and meager camp value. Still, I like to support Petroglyph in general, especially when they are channeling a bit of that dopey, business-unsavy Westwood-like creative spirit. I'll almost surely buy it (so long as it has no Denuvo and isn't a spectacular disaster), and give it a simple shot. But there's no chance this makes my top 10.
-
Mild curiosity for the setting. Just looks like another Sony first-party exclusive (third-person story-driven action adventure game). At least it looks more interesting that TLoU2.
-
Might be a good game--some people seem psyched for it. But I'd have to play the preceding games first, and I'm a loooooong way off from starting this series.
-
Mild curiosity. Don't know anything about it. Didn't like Nocturne back in the day, but I've since gotten into Persona a lot, so who knows if this might appeal.
-
NO interest, since I have yet to play the first. Not sure I'll even like the first.
-
No interest, since I don't have VR and don' tplan to buy VR. Also not that into Half-Life, and this game seems primed for disappointment (inferior to Boneworks in some ways, Alyx recast, lots of last-minute development).
-
Mild curiosity, but I suspect this will end up absolutely not appeal ing to me.
-
Doubt this will come out.
-
Can't help but be skeptical of this one.
-
I expect no appeal in this. Torchlight 2 was remarkably underwhelming and devoid of fun. This looks like that but with microtransactions.
-
Just another Platinum game. Not interested.
-
Not sure why this is even here anymore. It's out in Early Access already, and doesn't look especially interesting to me there.
-
Probably not good, but I liked the style of that first trailer. My only interest is the presentation.
-
Just more Rock of Ages. known quantity. Diminishing returns. Not sure I'll play this.
-
Blech.
Load Comments