Thief and lords of shadow 2 get major thumbs up from me.

I've played them both for like 5 hours each today and I'm greatly enjoying both of them. Lords of shadow 2 is most likely going to be on my 2014 game of the year list. I'm enjoying it that much.

You have bad taste in games...

5 hours EACH?! In one day? I wish I could just play 10 hours of video games on a random Tuesday.

Glad you are enjoying them! I personally am excited for Lords of Shadow 2. I can't shake the feeling these two games are being reviewed based on what they aren't, which is exactly like the old games in the franchise. People need to just accept that this is a different breed of Castlevania especially. Which is not to say these games are 10s, I have not played them, but Lords of Shadow 1 was a fine game, but hated for not being the Castlevania many are nostalgic for.

Then again, I am also really enjoying Lightning Returns, so maybe I'm just an optimist.

Despite the mixed reviews I'm still looking forward to getting my hands on Thief. After reading a few of the more negative reviews most of the things that have turned the reviewers off aren't much of a negative to me.

That's really good to know. I'm still very much interested in playing both when I can get them during a steam sale.

I haven't played any old castlevania games except for Symphony of the Night and Castlevania 64. I played and LOVED the first Lords of Shadow. What exactly are people looking in a 3d era Castlevania game?

You know, as far as the traditional Castlevania model goes, no one ever figured that out in 3D. Lament of Innocence was cool but didn't set the world on fire. So I'm glad they took the direction they did with Lords of Shadow.

Going forward, I wouldn't mind seeing Iga return for more 2D installments. But if LoS 2 ends the trilogy as definitively as people have said, Konami is back to square one when it comes to building a sustainable Castlevania franchise in 3D. And again, approaching it in a traditional way seems to be a monumental task.

I'm interested in Thief, but not enough to buy, download and store it. Don't care about Lords of Shadow 2.

Less emphasis on set pieces. Almost no cutscenes. More openness. I don't mean wide environments, but levels that are more labyrinthine and Super Metroid/Dark Souls-like. Free exploration. More swords to wield, which aren't all enormous.

@milkman: yeah woke up at 5 am downloaded them from PSN and didn't move for ten hours.

@MikeFerrari7: los2 totally has all the you gotta come back later with an upgrade stuff.

@bigboss1911: I want them to do the classic sequenced exploration of the metroidvania games. Dark Souls might be the closest we have gotten to to 3D SotN in many years... :(

I just wanna run through imaginative areas that maze in and out of each other, every one containing hordes of unique items and weapons, with my decently moldable character that can adapt to my different playstyles and character builds. Good music too plz.

Tomb Raider and the Batman games, too. Now that I think about it, if you substitute Arkham Asylum for a castle it'd be a pretty good template.

Haven't played Thief yet as the game isn't out in Europe yet.

I'm enjoying LoS2 quite a bit tho. Once you get your 2 other main weapons the combat really opens up with each. But to me the most brilliant change they made was to tie weapon power progression "Mastery" to require you to perform various moves, in effect if you want to properly level up your weapon you are going to have to use every move there is plenty of times. This means less getting stuck in the same patterns over and over and instead constantly trying out and doing new shit, unlike you do in most action games of the type. Sure you can still find a move set that's comfortable for you and just go with that, but your weapon mastery will at a point just stop progressing then. I find myself constantly switching things up.

It looks alright on the PC, definitely better then the QL, tho is has a bit of a budgety feel, and runs buttery smooth with everything maxed even on my 2 year old gamin laptop.

Nice to hear some positive impressions, I'm hoping I at least find some stuff in Thief to enjoy, but I'm fully prepared for the possibility that I may hate it like I did Hitman Absolution (and I don't even have any kind of reverence for Hitman).

Hearing you're enjoying Lords of Shadow 2 has me feeling even more confident I'll enjoy it, there's just something about that series that I really like that I can't quite put my finger on. I even enjoyed my time playing through Mirror of Fate to 100%. They're competent and I enjoy them. *shrugs*

Are you the Armond White of making video game threads?

Joking. Please dont take offense to this

Wow such bad taste in games

I am also enjoying Thief so far. Only played for a couple hours. Got to the end of Chapter 1.

I'm so sorry for your loss

Don't be that person. Nobody likes that person.

hehe

@csl316: Arkham Asylum is damn awesome. But it doesn't entirely hit the same spot. It feels a lot more like an open world archetype with instanced dungeons, while the secrets aren't much fun. And it's completely missing the rpg and character building aspects. Tomb Raider I don't even know how you got into this conversation. Though I could maybe have been more specific in what exactly makes the maps special.

I'm also loving Lords of Shadow 2. IF you enjoyed the first one then you'll probably like this second one. I kind of wish they don't start the game with all the powers, so that as you slowly build up your arsenal everything feels fresh and new. Zobek is a true gangster in this one.

As a minor gripe I really wish Gabriel was clean-shaven. I know.. awkward complaint to have, but in the concept art he doesn't have the stubble and I think he looks a little dumb with it. The combat is great and the game looks awesome on PC and runs beautifully too, which is a nice change of pace after I played Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist and AC3 back to back, all of which simply refused to run at decent framerates despite my more than competent PC.