Honestly not a lot of games coming out this year have me interested.

Halo MC collection for PC is something I'll probably get just for nostalgia. Also MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries is supposedly being released in September, so that might be interesting.

But honestly there's just not much that's been mind blowing to me. I feel like either games are less interesting the past couple years, the EA cynicism has gotten to me, or I'm getting (old and un-fun.)

Edit: Mount and Blade Bannerlords too, if it comes out.

 

My list is:
Cyberpunk 2077
Mechwarrior 5
The Outer Worlds
Biomutant

There's a couple of DLC packs for various games I want as well (Urban Combat for Battletech is the one that immediately comes to mind), but that's really it for full games. I'll probably also end up checking out Borderlands 3 at some point, but haven't made a decision there at all.

Edit:
Actually yeah, I'd add Fallen Order and Ghost of Tsushima to that as well. I'd forgotten all about those.

 

It's been an off year. I went back to Destiny 2 for a while, the content leading up to season of the Drifter was good but the season itself fell flat.

2077
Bannerlord
Sable
Eitr
Ghost of Tsushima
Psychonauts 2
Lost Ark (if it comes to NA)

It's been a really bad couple of years for MMOs too, pretty much since the release of Black Desert everything has been shit. Everyone I know has been going back to things like Guild Wars, WoW, Terra, Archeage, and FFXIV while waiting for something worthwhile to come out. Most seem to be banking on Ashes of Creation as the next big one.

On a bit of a Roguelike kick, and currently enjoying the fuckery of Caves of Qud. Not many games let you be a cannabalistic 6-armed telepathic gunslinger who wears the faces of the people he's killed.

 

I love playing Anno 1800. I love the series in general (with a few minor exceptions) but this iteration really takes the cake.

I've invest about 40 hours since playing and am now finally at the final stage in my big city. And oh shit there are so many things that become a total game changer later on in the game which require you to rethink the way you set up your empire. I won't spoil those, because honestly I had such a glorious moment of ephiphany when it dawned on me what some of the changes actual meant (and demanded of me). I wouldn't want to ruin that for anyone if they decide to give Anno 1800 a go.

In any case, it's one of the few games I haven't regretted pre-ordering. And you can be sure that I'm putting my pre-order ornaments all across my city lol.

Edit: And have I mentioned how absolutely fucking gorgeous it looks? I'm continuously blown away by the optics!

 

I've been playing a bit of Anno 1800 aswell. Great game, a little too much like civ though i.e. that I get to the point in the game where I just have to tell myself to progress further because I have been wasting so much time on getting the perfect setup and so forth.

They could upgrade the UI a little better though. They need a better way of looking for buildings etc and graphs with more detailed information on the economy/production to better streamline your cities. The ones that they have are very basic, adequate I guess for the game but if you want to min/max it can come down to alot of guess work. Also as a beginner to the Anno series I had to learn things like optimal production chains from online sources as it wasn't explained that well or if at all from what I remember. Considering how massive an impact it can have on your economy/happiness and overall the game I felt like they could of went into depth a lot more for that, and have somewhere in game you can look up for the optimal production chains instead of having to tab in/out if I forget what ones are what. I ended up deleting my first save because I had zero idea about production chains and scuffed up so bad.

Definitely loving it, I was looking for a good city builder because I haven't played one for years and this came along to scratch the itch.

 

I agree that some work is required, especially in terms of progressing to another stage of your city. The jump from artisans to engineers took forever. However it's been worth it in my opinion.

The only thing I'm really missing in terms of additional information is a tab that shows you how much your citizen currently need vs. how much you are producing. That would really help in maxing out your cities.

The chains aren't up to guesswork, however, even though they require some math to figure out. Every building shows you how long it takes to produce something. From that you can actually calculate the optimal chain (+ overtime work if necessary).

 

I've been really wanting to try out an Anno game for awhile now, but every review for the various games has always been discouraging. It's definitely my type of game.

 

Final Fantasy remake trailer has dropped.

 

I'm so excited for this. Was introduced to FF with X, but I heard a lot about 7 and loved Crisis Core. Absolutely love the characters, but the game is old enough that I couldn't bring myself to play it through when I got my hands on it.

I know we're probably a long ways from it being released, but it's encouraging to see a trailer with a date for more details after so much silence.

 

I like how the trailer is an announcement that there will be an announcement.

Never change, Japan.

 

Having missed out on FFVII in my youth, I'd be really excited about this... if it wasn't episodic. I'll either end up ignoring it entirely or waiting what will probably be a long ass time for the complete edition.

 

What do you mean episodic?

 

IIRC, the game is going to be released in three parts. Not sure if you’d call it episodic or a trilogy in this case.

Edit: https://www.unilad.co.uk/gaming/final-fantasy-7-remake-not-episodic-in-way-everyone-thought/

 

We've had no news whatsoever since they brought the game inhouse. Assume you know nothing about the game except what you saw in the SoP trailer.

Though tbf, the best part of VII was Midgar and that arc would make a killer game on its own. Shift the Gold Saucer to be at Midgar's summit and you can pretty much ignore the rest of VII's world, lol

 

From what I've seen, the ratings for Anno 1800 oscillate somewhere between 85% and 95% depending on who rates it. In general I hold Anno 1800 to be the best iteration of the series. All I can say is give it a go. I certainly didn't regret it.

 

Sounds good, but then there's the second hurdle that the game is an EGS exclusive, which is a hard pass for me. Going to have to live vicariously through others playing it.

 

Seems it’s still going to be split into parts.

 

What does EGS exclusive mean? I activated the game in the uplay launcher from Ubisoft.

 

I assume Epic Games Store, but if it's in the uplay launcher then he has bad info.

 

Looks like my 5 1/2 year-old PS4’s Blu-ray drive has finally bit the dust. It was a bit reluctant in giving up discs over the last couple of months, in that I had to use the manual eject option twice (you have to use a screwdriver to turn a screw that’s connected to the drive and slowly ejects the disc). Now the drive itself sits empty, but I can’t put any discs inside, it’s like there’s something physically blocking the entrance.

It’s the second part that’s failed me in the last months after my original HDD broke in September, so I’m a bit reluctant to have it repaired and am seriously thinking about upgrading to a PS4 Pro, as the 50€ price difference (339€ vs. 389) we currently have is pretty much negligible.

Pretty much the only things steadying my hand at the moment are the facts that I invested in an SSD last year (it’s only 500GB though, which I’ve quickly come to regret) and the upcoming release of the PS5. In the case of the latter, I should add that none of the games/franchises I particularly care about – with the possible exception of Destiny – are currently both rumoured and realistic be featured as a launch title, so that most likely gives me a more generous time window.

Oh, and the fact that my first PS4 broke on the same day it arrived back in 2013 hasn’t particularly endeared me to the whole launch-day early adopter malarkey.

Any advice would be appreciated!