Its been a while since we have had any sort of gaming discussion, and with a new year, I figured it may be fun to see what are the games people are most looking forward to. For me:
Victoria 3: Probably the most hyped I have been for a game in a long time, and so far the dev AAR and diaries have showed that its coming along pretty well, short of some balancing and stability (they have had an issue with the last few games of the AI going full chaos when it wasnt supposed to). But other than that, everything about it has been exactly what I wanted, and looks like it is a pretty major step in a positive direction for Paradox games.
Kerbel Space Program 2: Loved the first game, and it looks like KSP 2 is just going to be more but better.
Elden Ring: Me and everyone else I am sure, but still looks like it could be a very fun time. FromSoftware don't miss, and it looks like it will continue their trend as long as you are willing to git gud.
Frostpunk 2: The original is one of my favorite games of all time, so you better believe I am interest. Unfortunately, not much is known about this one other than it will take place about 30 years after the first game, and that the main conflict will revolve around oil instead of coal.
Two Points Campus: A throwback to the old, silly tycoon games, which I loved growing up. And I enjoyed their other game (Two Points Hospital), so it looks like this one is shaping up to follow the same ideal.
I've generally stopped anticipating games. I think Final Fantasy XVI is the only thing on my radar in the future right now, and that's only because it's YoshiP in charge (anyone else, and I'd stop looking forward to it).
It shouldn't be. Hell, even VII-R isn't Sony exclusive anymore (problem is EGS).
I'm nearly there with you.
I do, however, have my eye on the spiritual successor to Absolver, it's called SiFu. It's like a throwback to classic Hong Kong martial arts action films set in modern times. You go around in dark alleys and seedy night clubs beating up guys and using the environment to your advantage.
It doesn't look like it has any globohomo content in it, but I'll wait to read what the user reviews are like. Here's a trailer: https://youtu.be/Vy-enf5xxgQ
Yakuza games are okay, but I like the more free-form beat-'em-up approach that SiFu has. I didn't really like that they kind of locked you into a battle area in Yakuza. It would have been nice if it was similar to Sleeping Dogs.
Have you tried Deep Rock Galactic? Best game running, in my humble opinion.
"And what do we do to oppressors, boys?"
You might like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2? The first game was a pretty decent hack-and-slash shooter, but given it's [current year] I'm sure they'll find some way to subvert the expectations of fans and insert some sort of globohomo agenda into it.
Check the lead writer
Ha, it's a troon!
The game is ruined.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Mom?
I actually neglected to think of the Legend of Heroes titles. But considering how long those have been out in Japan, all sense of wonder is probably gone, and all that's left is a desire for understanding and experience. Even Hajimari/Reverie feels that way at this point.
Forza Motorsport
202020212022One I'm not looking forward to for positive reasons is the new Rainbow Six. I'm just excited to see how hard it bombs.
Elden Ring for sure, I’ve been following it pretty closely and it really looks to me like From delivered. It looks like they’ve combined all of the best parts of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls with a little Sekiro for good measure and then stuck it in a giant open world. High hopes, and I really don’t see it disappointing, although knowing the Fromsoft fan base I’m sure plenty of people will bitch about something.
Stalker 2 I’ve been waiting on for years, I’m hoping it lives up to the first games. I’ve heard some shit about them trying to put NFTs in it and getting shutdown by the fan backlash, so that’s a little worrisome.
Dying Light 2 is another one, I liked the first one a lot more than I thought I would so part 2 is a welcome surprise. I haven’t really followed it’s development too close so hopefully it’s as good as the first.
Darkest Dungeon 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 are both supposed to be fully released in ‘22, so thatt’ll be good. Liking both of them a lot in EA.
Another one I’ve really been enjoying is called Nearly Dead. It’s a sci-fi zombie apocalypse survival kind of thing, it’s based on this really good rouglike called Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead. It’s in ea so a little light on content at the moment but I really like what I see so far and they add stuff regularly, plus there’s mods as well.
That’s about all that comes to mind, Elden Ring is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to, so if it hits it out of the park I should be set for the next decade.
https://kotakuinaction2.win/p/141EiNJUpF/x/c/4JKyH28eJF9
Oh, gay.
DCS: F-15E, DCS: Mirage F.1, DCS: F-4E…in 2025.
Amen to Victoria 3. Man I played the hell out of Victoria II. My favorite run I triggered the civil war early and crushed the south, then invaded Mexico and added another seven states or so. A few administrations later I launched an invasion of China and by the time the game ended Ghanzhou was the most productive state in the Union.
Canada was there too.
Distant Worlds 2 is on my radar. Distant Worlds was fucking great, loved how it tried to simulate population and supply lines in a space setting. I can't think of another space game where disrupting enemy logistics is a thing you can do with noticeable impact on their ability to wage war. Not exactly a pretty game, to be expected given its age.
And of course, Frostpunk 2, also already mentioned. The first was a great game, quite hard and I enjoyed my time with it. It is rare to have a city building game you can actually lose.
I guess building and strategy games are harder to shove woke shit into, so guess I'm lucky that is my preference. Although somehow BattleTech managed to fit in a tranny pilot and a hijab wearing engineer, so who knows.
Edit: how fucking sad is it that everything I'm looking forward to is a sequel? I hate that new properties are automatically suspect in this day and age.
I mean, the most fun of Paradox games is always doing the wacky shit like that, and everything with Vicky 3 shows that that will still be present, considering most of the AARs they have done so far have had just absolutely batshit things happen. I already have a few of my own playthroughs thought up for when the game actually comes out.
I am also happy that it seems like Paradox is continuing to live up to its name. Because they are still woke as a company. Meanwhile, Vicky 3 is going to have some of the most intricate options of building up your nation and its chosen population, so narrow in fact that you can almost get to the point of saying "Fuck this guy in particular" and even bring new people into slavery for no other reason than the memes.
Weeellll, I am gong to mildly defend that one. Yes, the game gives the option for trans Mechwarriors, but frankly? I have played dozens of campaigns and recruited hundreds of Mechwarriors, and I think the game has rolled me a trans pilot exactly once. So its not like they are trying to shove it in your face.
As for the engineer, remember this is Battletech. Its been lore for decades that in the thousands of years humanity has been in the stars, things like religion have come to be just a thing, and most people dont have issues with each other as now the lines are drawn on your sector of space (Glory to Marik, death to Kurita!) and your planet. Did they make the engineer a Muslim for woke points? Probably. But its at least something that can be justified due to the setting, so at least to me it avoids the usual obnoxious nature of virtue signaling and I can live with it.
True, most of the games I have been interested in are also sequels. But I have still had a decent amount of original properties that I have enjoyed recently, so they still exist.
The tranny mechwarrior is one of your starting four and based on the tranny lead developer. Might be possible to dodge that with mods, but regardless the game also makes you pick your pronouns when you start, which was my first encounter with that bullshit.
I was a kickstarter backer for Shadowrun and BattleTech, but I won't be doing so for Hairbrained studios again. I was not a bottom tier pledge for either product, but damned if I'm going to overpay to be lectured to by leftists in my entertainment.
The Hijab engineer might have gone unnoticed without the tranny insertion putting me on guard, because you're right that it would have otherwise been fairly unremarkable in setting.
Got any particularly good new properties to recommend? I'm playing Rogue Lords right now but will be fishing for another title in a few weeks or so.
Well shows you how much it really doesnt stand out, at least to me. Because I am only just now learning this (which one BTW?).
Sticking to strategy and totally new IP:
Age of Darkness: Final Stand: Takes the style of They Are Billions, but improves it in just about every way, with a better gameplay loop and some more strategy for dealing with the Nightmares compared to TABs zombies (basically, there is a day/night cycle where Nightmares are tougher at night but can drop rare loot).
Call to Arms, and Gates of Hell: Ostfront: Putting them together because Ostfront is technically a paid expansion to Call to Arms, but absolutely worth it. Both are made by the devs of the Men of War games, and so are supposed to be "realistic" RTS games, as in your guys with rifles arent going to kill a tank. CTA is modern military/War On Terror era stuff, while GOH is Russian Front WW2.
Iron Harvest: Literally WW1, Dieselpunk Company of Heroes. Walkers were invented instead of tanks, and each faction plays significantly different from each other, so you can hop around and actually have a different experience. The campaign is also pretty good.
Also not a strategy game, but I love Project Wingman, which is a love letter to Ace Combat and improves on the best aspects of the game and even fixes some things from AC. Its also got a story worthy of its master, and there too in some ways passes it.
Behemoth, the chick with the man face. Although an internet search tells me it was a friend of the lead dev, and also that they pulled up at the last second and made the character fully female due to feedback from Beta backers like myself. There was mixed pronoun dialog for this character still at launch, and apparently that got cleaned up at some point post launch. So I guess that's a win and I didn't even know we'd won it. Nice.
Iron Harvest is in the humble right now, and Age of Darkness has the best pitch of the three. I'll grab one of those after I wrap up with Rogue Lords, thanks for the suggestions.
See, I always thought Behemoth was just a very butch woman. Sure, she had a deeper voice and tougher build than you would normally expect, but I just wrote it off as "Of course she does, she is a Mechwarrior." I guess I didnt hear about that whole situation and since it seems like it never made it to the launch thing, I didnt even know.
And I hope you like Age of Darkness. While I still like TAB, there is just a certain character to AOD that TAB just doesnt have and I cant really explain it. I also think the whole "Expand by day, hunt by night, prepare for the Death Night wave" flows a lot better and more naturally, so it makes it simultaneously easier and harder. Mostly because your best units are melee instead of ranged, so it forces you to get in close, while TAB was just about setting up a gun line and hoping you had enough DPS.
As part of character creation, you mean? Can you pick "they" or something? I honestly can't remember.
HBS may not need your money any more since Paradox bought them.
Still holding out for SilkSong. It will probably come out in 2 weeks!
Elden Ring: Duh. It's the latest Soulsborne game made by FromSoftware, which usually means quality. That being said, my hype for it kind of died when people started showing off their footage from the stress test. The open world doesn't impress me; we've had a million of those and I'm fucking sick of them. And I fear we're going to lose the great level design we got in FromSoft's previous games because of it. Twelve small shitty dungeons scattered around an open world just to fill up empty space is no substitute for one large handcrafted one. I'll definitely be waiting for impressions on this one before getting it.
Soulstice: A spectacle fighter that draws a lot of inspiration from Berserk and stars a character who could best be described as Femme-Guts. Of course this has my attention.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak: More Monster Hunter with those awesome little wirebugs.
Salt and Sacrifice: The long awaited sequel to Salt and Sanctuary, which was both a solid Metroidvania AND the very first 2D Soulsborne game. Hell yeah I'm looking forward to it.
The Last Faith: Another 2D Soulsborne game, this one with amazing-looking sprite graphics that give it a more old-school look. I like it very much.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes: Suikoden's dead, and even if it wasn't Konami would fuck it up anyway. So the fact that this is being made as a spiritual successor is why it has my attention.
Digimon Survive, if it even exists.
Also Elden Ring, because I'm a sucker for Dark Souls.
Maybe Bladurs Gate3, elder scrolls 6 and Fable 4. BG3 I like but I wish it was not connected to Forgotten Realms and I'm not sure how much I can enjoy a Fable game as an adult.
Also waiting on KSP 2. It's a shame "realistic" space flight Games are so rare.
Elden Ring is the only thing I'm really looking forward to because From Software isn't filled with faggots and trannies.
I would be interested in Dying Light 2, except their marketing gave me AIDs. It'll probably sell well but I'm predicting it won't compare well to the first one.
STOP IT
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Yeah sounds about right.
To be honest I've stopped trying to "objectively" judge games. It's kinda pointless anymore.
Now I judge games based on how woke the devs seem. 99% of devs fail here.
You'd think this wouldn't work or be accurate but you'd be surprised at how well the wokedar works. I can smell trannies and faggots from miles off. I wish I couldn't, though, because they smell like shit.
Man, I've been lurking here for a good while, but I had to make an account just to say that I too can't wait for KSP 2. I've never really been a space nerd or particularly into physics or mathy stuff, but KSP just took me by surprise a few years ago. I totally fell in love with it, even though I've never really gotten very good at it. Multiplayer and more EVA activities are what I miss most in vanilla KSP 1, so the sequel promises to be fun.
Oh I hope I can try Frostpunk soon. Looks cool.
I need to get myself a relatively cheap laptop that can run games, though.
If anyone has advice on what to get, something around $800.
I know I need something equivalent to or above a i5 10th gen processor ( AMD has cheaper equivalents ) and 12gb or 16gb of ram at least if I want it to keep up for years. But good laptop deals are sparse in Quebec.
$800 is what I paid for my acer nitro 5 a year ago and it crushes everything I throw at it. Has a 1650ti GPU in there, which is plenty for basically anything you're going to do at 1080p.
In fact, you're going to be hard pressed to find a laptop that isn't a 1080p display at that price point, which means essentially anything with a dedicated GPU will be just fine.
Edit: If you plan to attach a VR headset to it then you should aim slightly higher for a 2060 or 3060.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I will check avaliability of an Acer 5 and similar-specs options around here.
Is it noisy though?
I had to return an Acer nitro desktop because that thing was extremely noisy. ( Now opting for something smaller and more practical than a desktop anyway.)
1080p is HD plenty on a 15 inch screen.
No interest in VR at all.
That's something I never expected to write : I am now curious about the toddler vs laptop decibel ratio.
Good day to you.
Thanks for the info and the laugh. Best wishes for you and your family.
I am looking forward to Frostpunk 2 as well. I loved the first one.
Been waiting for Scorn to come out for a long time--supposed to release in October. https://store.steampowered.com/app/698670/Scorn/
Dying light 2 is coming out pretty soon I think. I had a lot of fun playing the first one with a friend through the co-op mode.
Also looking forward to Breath of the Wild 2.
After they publicly fired Chris Avelonne just because some whore lied on twitter?
I hope he sues the Techland hard (he said he was considering suing up to 100 people/entities).
Hadn’t seen anything about this. Thanks.
Co-op dying light is fun? Might have to try that one.
Tarkov IRL
Silksong, the sequel to hollow knight. I'll wait until it gets to Xbox. But hollow knight was one of my biggest surprises of games I've ever played. Got high hopes to play as hornet
While not a new game I'm really looking forward to the dlc for cuphead. I loved how hard that game was and can't wait to play some new stuff
Elden Ring is it for me.
Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and Bayonetta 3 I suppose. If I were to dig pretty deep, being that these are two games neither of which I have the required system to play them on. Maybe the Trails series translations as well, but I'm still pretty new to that series. So in the end I guess my anticipation would be for a few games I'll probably not play until 2024.
Is it wrong I'm more looking forward to journos bitching about how hard elden ring is than any games? I want to see the Cuphead fuckwit try to play it