Video Game Thread v. Series Xbox One X Series Switch S 5

[Herrick]

Interesting. I wonder if it'll actually look like that when it's released...and if it does look as good, what will the system requirements will be.

Probably not as extreme as you might think. Apparently Unreal 5 is super efficient.

That would be very cool if it ends up looking like that.

[ErHaO]

Most of the time these very impressive tech demo-ish games end up failing to deliver. I do not doubt this is rendered in real time and it is impressive, but I wonder how the game will be.

But I think Unreal 5 (and a.i. as well) will be a game changer in game development. Small teams will definitely be able to make games that look and play akin to current AAA efforts. And in the future when all machines are capable of ray tracing, lightning will solve itself with little dev time (see ray tracing mods of 90's games). The tools are there. In the coming years there will be way more full fledged 3d indie titles. With how modern tech is developing, things like dialog, voice acting,

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Most of the time these very impressive tech demo-ish games end up failing to deliver. I do not doubt this is rendered in real time and it is impressive, but I wonder how the game will be.

But I think Unreal 5 (and a.i. as well) will be a game changer in game development. Small teams will definitely be able to make games that look and play akin to current AAA efforts. And in the future when all machines are capable of ray tracing, lightning will solve itself with little dev time (see ray tracing mods of 90's games). The tools are there. In the coming years there will be way more full fledged 3d indie titles. With how modern tech is developing, things like dialog, voice acting,

Their new facial animation tech is wild. Just place an iPhone in front of the actor's face and voila. They fully capture the facial animation right then and there. There are games that have crashed and burned just because their facial animations were terrible, and that won't really be a problem anymore, or at least it will be far easier to solve.

[cramx3]

Most of the time these very impressive tech demo-ish games end up failing to deliver. I do not doubt this is rendered in real time and it is impressive, but I wonder how the game will be.

Yeah, while Unrecord looks incredible, that's a promotional video so I can only take it for what it's worth here.  We'll have to see more gameplay footage, because honestly, the gameplay doesn't look very good.  It's just so realistic, that's its draw, not necessarily being a good game.  We will see.

[Dublagent66]

Sackboy A Big Adventure was included with PSplus this month and I played it for a bit. I think it is a great game, judging on the first one and a half hour or so. Seems like a really underrated/overlooked title to me. Thus far it is not anything less than Mario 3D World, Crash 4, and Kirby Lost World to me. It looks amazing, plays very well, and has a solid amount of mechanics.

Since it was free, I checked it out for a bit over the weekend.  Pretty cool little 3D platformer with some cute puzzles.  Kinda reminds me of Astro's Playroom.  Nice casual gameplay without having to think too much. lol

[Chino]

Sackboy A Big Adventure was included with PSplus this month and I played it for a bit. I think it is a great game, judging on the first one and a half hour or so. Seems like a really underrated/overlooked title to me. Thus far it is not anything less than Mario 3D World, Crash 4, and Kirby Lost World to me. It looks amazing, plays very well, and has a solid amount of mechanics.

Since it was free, I checked it out for a bit over the weekend.  Pretty cool little 3D platformer with some cute puzzles.  Kinda reminds me of Astro's Playroom.  Nice casual gameplay without having to think too much. lol

Agreed. A lot of the puzzles I've come across playing co-op online have been a ton of fun. There are some levels that require co-op.

Sackboy A Big Adventure was included with PSplus this month and I played it for a bit. I think it is a great game, judging on the first one and a half hour or so. Seems like a really underrated/overlooked title to me. Thus far it is not anything less than Mario 3D World, Crash 4, and Kirby Lost World to me. It looks amazing, plays very well, and has a solid amount of mechanics.

I've been meaning to snag this. I've always thought Little Big Planet on the PS3 (what eventually became this game) was one of the best side scrollers ever.

I put a few hours into this game over the weekend. I love it. I was ready to be disappointed because I felt like the LBP franchise was getting worse with each release, but this game is solid. I wouldn't be upset at all if I paid retail for it.

I've put a solid 25 hours or so into this game. It's really, really good. Pivoting away from the side scrolling seems to have paid off, and I'm glad they stuck with just a single character this time (sackboy) rather than that posse from the last LBP game. That combined with all the accessories your guy had, they bit off way more than they could chew. I finished all the levels in a single sit down and remember thinking "alright, world 1 down", when it was actually the end.

[ErHaO]

I played a bit more of it and I think it is a great game. Not sure why it reviewed so "low" to be honest. It plays very well, has good level variety and design, and the difficulty thus far seems like a natural increase. It is also easily the best looking 3d platformer I have played.

[XJDenton]

Armoured Core 6 gameplay trailer and launch date just dropped. It's coming late August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khP047JyVXM

[ErHaO]

Armoured Core 6 gameplay trailer and launch date just dropped. It's coming late August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khP047JyVXM

Never played any Armored Core, were they any good? Looks like it could be something I dig. I assume this is going to be very different from their recent Souls-esque output.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Did anyone give Redfall a try? From what I've read, it's pretty rough. I think that people are maybe a bit too quick to jump the gun and criticize games for releasing in an "apha" or "beta" state, but from what I've seen, it seems like this is a situation where the game really was released in essentially an unfinished testing state. Crazy stuff.

[Dublagent66]

Don't know about anyone else, but I've been a FF fan for over 30 years.  The pixel remasters for FFI - FFVI just came out for consoles.  Downloaded the bundle over the weekend.  Wow, what an improvement over the original gameplay.  Don't have time for random encounters?  Just switch it off at the push of a button and then back on when you need it for leveling.  What a godsend that feature is!!   Extremely impressed so far.

[XJDenton]

Armoured Core 6 gameplay trailer and launch date just dropped. It's coming late August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khP047JyVXM

Never played any Armored Core, were they any good? Looks like it could be something I dig. I assume this is going to be very different from their recent Souls-esque output.

Not played them either, but my understanding is that they were pretty in depth tactical combat sims with a grindy loot and equipment component. Be interesting to see how the souls series might influence this one: seems like the unique bosses take inspiration from how the souls series handles them.

[ErHaO]

Did anyone give Redfall a try? From what I've read, it's pretty rough. I think that people are maybe a bit too quick to jump the gun and criticize games for releasing in an "apha" or "beta" state, but from what I've seen, it seems like this is a situation where the game really was released in essentially an unfinished testing state. Crazy stuff.

I watched the review from Skill Up and am convinced it sucks and isn't worth the time. The technical state seems the least of it's problems. The leveldesign is missing any trace of immersive sims, there are only a handful of enemies and they can't do shit to you if you stand behind any object, the open world is empty and full of copy pasted stuff. And it has the "free these zones to progress story" of some Ubisoft titles mission structure. Also the story presentation seems terrible and incredibly low budget/effort.

I am a huge fan of Arkane, but this game seems to be a victim of a studio attempting a genre they have no experience in and aren't equipped to realise. Really sad. I think they should just drop it and focus on a game like Dishonored or Prey for the next 5 years.

Also bad on Microsoft/Xbox to just let this title release like this. This reflects realy badly on the prestige of their first party. Sometimes canning a game is better (which Nintendo and PlayStation have done multiple times). Their year started incredibly strong with Hi-Fi Rush, which will be a GOYY contender for me despite Zelda, Final Fantasy, and From Software. But this? Oof.

Armoured Core 6 gameplay trailer and launch date just dropped. It's coming late August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khP047JyVXM

Never played any Armored Core, were they any good? Looks like it could be something I dig. I assume this is going to be very different from their recent Souls-esque output.

Not played them either, but my understanding is that they were pretty in depth tactical combat sims with a grindy loot and equipment component. Be interesting to see how the souls series might influence this one: seems like the unique bosses take inspiration from how the souls series handles them.

I listened to their interview and it seems like they also incorporate elements/experience from their Souls stuff, to have the game represent what people like from their modern output. That in combination with badass highly customisable mechs could be awesome.

[Stadler]

So....may be close to wrapping up where I wanted to go with Skyrim; I finished all the main quests and (I think) other than the mask quest, I only have to kill a legendary dragon to 100% the game (already got platinum on the base game). 

Any recommendations for xBox One-exclusive games in vein of Prey or Deus Ex?

[ReaperKK]

Did you do the dlc's for Skyrim?

[ErHaO]

So....may be close to wrapping up where I wanted to go with Skyrim; I finished all the main quests and (I think) other than the mask quest, I only have to kill a legendary dragon to 100% the game (already got platinum on the base game). 

Any recommendations for xBox One-exclusive games in vein of Prey or Deus Ex?

Exclusive not, but maybe these games are worth to check out that are playable on the One:

Dishonored 2 First person stealth action title, partially by the studio behind Prey. Consist of a series of large scale maps with a lot of ways to interact with.
Resident Evil VII First person action horror, with a good amount of exploring/puzzling/sneaking around. Intricate levels to explore (in particular the family house/mansion early on) and eventually plenty of action when you get your guns.
Alien Isolation First person survival horror, like Prey it takes place on a space station/colony gone wrong. This is not as much an action game but a thinking mans survival experience. There is combat, but it more focused on sneaking and utilizing your tools to survive).
Control Third person action with super natural powers, takes place in a mysterious paranormal FBI headquarters-esque setting where things went wrong, a building you get to explore.

Not exactly Prey or Deus Ex, but I do think these titles share DNA.

[Stadler]

So....may be close to wrapping up where I wanted to go with Skyrim; I finished all the main quests and (I think) other than the mask quest, I only have to kill a legendary dragon to 100% the game (already got platinum on the base game). 

Any recommendations for xBox One-exclusive games in vein of Prey or Deus Ex?

Exclusive not, but maybe these games are worth to check out that are playable on the One:

Dishonored 2 First person stealth action title, partially by the studio behind Prey. Consist of a series of large scale maps with a lot of ways to interact with.
Resident Evil VII First person action horror, with a good amount of exploring/puzzling/sneaking around. Intricate levels to explore (in particular the family house/mansion early on) and eventually plenty of action when you get your guns.
Alien Isolation First person survival horror, like Prey it takes place on a space station/colony gone wrong. This is not as much an action game but a thinking mans survival experience. There is combat, but it more focused on sneaking and utilizing your tools to survive).
Control Third person action with super natural powers, takes place in a mysterious paranormal FBI headquarters-esque setting where things went wrong, a building you get to explore.

Not exactly Prey or Deus Ex, but I do think these titles share DNA.

I like the sound of all of them.  Thank you!!!!

[Podaar]

Dishonored and Dishonored 2 are both great!

[Podaar]

I’m about to fire up Jedi Survivor in celebration of May-the-fourth

[Revenge319]

Has anyone here played Outer Wilds (not to be confused with the similarly-titled game "The Outer Worlds")? It's a really cool space exploration game. If it sounds interesting, I'd recommend going into it knowing as little as possible about it. I went in almost completely blind and had a very great experience with this game.

[orcus116]

I played a few hours of it but it didn't grab me the way it grabbed other people. I think the timing of the loop is a bit too punishing and I never felt like I was making significant progress. I may revisit it at some point but I'm not sure what headspace I need to be in.

[ErHaO]

I also played it for a bit, but did not know what the fuck I was doing. And then it got removed from Gamepass. Maybe I will buy it in the future and really delve into the experience, seems like something I could love if I take the time.

[Herrick]

So....may be close to wrapping up where I wanted to go with Skyrim; I finished all the main quests and (I think) other than the mask quest, I only have to kill a legendary dragon to 100% the game (already got platinum on the base game). 

Any recommendations for xBox One-exclusive games in vein of Prey or Deus Ex?

Exclusive not, but maybe these games are worth to check out that are playable on the One:

Dishonored 2 First person stealth action title, partially by the studio behind Prey. Consist of a series of large scale maps with a lot of ways to interact with.
Resident Evil VII First person action horror, with a good amount of exploring/puzzling/sneaking around. Intricate levels to explore (in particular the family house/mansion early on) and eventually plenty of action when you get your guns.
Alien Isolation First person survival horror, like Prey it takes place on a space station/colony gone wrong. This is not as much an action game but a thinking mans survival experience. There is combat, but it more focused on sneaking and utilizing your tools to survive).
Control Third person action with super natural powers, takes place in a mysterious paranormal FBI headquarters-esque setting where things went wrong, a building you get to explore.

Not exactly Prey or Deus Ex, but I do think these titles share DNA.

I like the sound of all of them.  Thank you!!!!

Have you played any of the Bethesda Fallout games?

[Stadler]

No.   Good?

[Kwyjibo]

Was and still am a big fan of Fallout 2, in fact it's the only rpg I played through more than once to try every faction and discover every nuance.

I had high anticipation for Fallout 3 and at first it totally delivered, but after a time, maybe halfway through I lost interest. Not a bad game but not one I could totally immerse myself in.

Haven't played New Vegas or Fallout 4 but heard they were better.

[Herrick]

No.   Good?

I liked them all. You might like Fallout 3 and onwards because they're much more similar to Skyrim.

[orcus116]

New Vegas is an absolute blast.

[ReaperKK]

New Vegas is an absolute blast.

If you play fallout then start with New Vegas, I replayed 3 and New Vegas and 3 is a little rough around the edges.

[Phoenix87x]

3 I slogged through, but New Vegas is really something special.

4 has mixed reactions, but I played the crap out of it.

[Cool Chris]

I really enjoyed Dishonored and Dishonored II, but had to quit II halfway through as it wasn't running great on the set-up I had at the time.

[XJDenton]

I wouldn't start with New Vegas if you plan to play 3/4. It will only serve to show you how those two games are lacking.

[Herrick]

I wouldn't start with New Vegas if you plan to play 3/4. It will only serve to show you how those two games are lacking.

I haven't played any of these games since they came out. I remember really enjoying Fallout 3. I thought New Vegas was better but I don't know how or why it's considered to be so much better. 4 was disappointing but I still spent almost 100 hours on it.

Fallout 76 is weird...I didn't play it when it released because of how bad the reviews were and really, as soon as I found out it was multiplayer with no NPCs I didn't pay much attention to it. In a moment of weakness and boredom with video games in general, I eventually bought it on sale a couple years later. I install it every now and then but I don't really get into it. It's fun but something about it just feels off...I don't know.

[XJDenton]

Primarily, for me its the writing and world building: Bethesda have never really been known for "good" writing at the best of times but compared to Obsidian their deficiencies really show.

[Herrick]

Primarily, for me its the writing and world building: Bethesda have never really been known for "good" writing at the best of times but compared to Obsidian their deficiencies really show.

I'll have to play that one again with some mods. I don't think I used any mods when I first played it years ago.

[ErHaO]

3 has some really engaging quests and characters in it. It is the first Fallout in the Elder Scrolls format and I thought it was fantastic back then. But New Vegas is on another level in writing and world design, I agree. A bit more of a slow burn, but it is one of those experiences that keeps getting better and rewarding. 4 has by far the best shooting gameplay and I enjoyed it a lot. Did a bit of Fallout 76 recently, it seems that game has become solid as well, after several years of development, though obviously it is still a MP experience at heart.

To be honest, I feel like I have been reading how the latest Bethesda game sucks for nearly two decades. When Oblivion came out it sucked compared to Morrowind, when Skyrim came out it sucked compared to Oblivion. Fact remains that every Bethesda game I have played have been great experiences for me (outside of the obvious technical messes they are).