A very fair point, but alas… for better or worse, the bar has indeed been raised, and last month only proved that. February 2025 saw the release of a new RPG from one of the most beloved studios in the genre, Obsidian Entertainment. Avowed is modest by design, but nonetheless it’s polished, accessible, and visually impressive, with a rich story from some of the best writers in the business—and the backing of Microsoft, one of the most influential and well-resourced videogame publishers of all time.
Avowed is fantastic IMO. It’s been handcrafted and feels like a living place as opposed to Starfield which was expansive, siloed and impersonal. As a massive Skyrim and Mass Effect fan it is easily my fave game since BG3, probably even more than it in fact.
I loved PoE1, didn’t care much about PoE2, and will probably care less about Avowed. There’s something magical about a map full of tiles that aren’t revealed immediately compared to a world map that you can immediately tell how much has been explored.
Same thing for BG3. I love Larian (been a Kickstarter backer since the original D:OS days, been playing almost every one of their games on release day since Dragon Commander) and BG3’s a great RPG, but it doesn’t feel like a good BG game. BG2 gave an immediate sense of “I have no idea where to go so I can do whatever I want”. BG3 is always nudging you to uncover the map and clear all the quests.
A great game for sure. Probably my most awaited game release.
Only issue is that I need to finish factorio before that release and I wasn’t expecting the factorio DLC to extend the game by like 3x…
Anyway Manor lords was my most played single player game for 2024 in its rather barebone build and it was already a blast. Something that brings back when I was playing Settlers as a kid but with modern graphics.
Veilgaurd was a perfectly good game. It’s not a 10/10, but despite some flaws, I’ve had a great time playing it. Too bad some business suit says it’s not “successful” enough to warrant a follow-up.
I’d like to see how they measured success. Was it to break even? Well from what point? Including the time that it was supposed to be a live service game? Through the committees and executives shutting down ideas? It was in the top 10 for games on Steam that week and had generally favorable reviews. If that didn’t match their plan, that’s on them.
I think the real world implementation of “Kingdoms of Elyria” is Kingdoms Reborn. A multiplayer 4X/city-builder hybrid (although it works just fine in single player too).
Cool, I’ve been wanting to play the new god of war but passed on it because of this bullshit. Time to put it back on my wishlist and … wait some more for a sale, which is never much of a discount with Sony
Great game. First got recommended it here (I saw the game before but didn’t really pay much attention to it) and I love it so much. I’ve always stayed away from city builders cause I feel like they turn into something I don’t really care for as the game goes on, but the short scale rogue lite nature of this works incredibly well for me.
I really like that settlements are inherently temporary and that the game throws a lot of wrenches at me. It’s a good reminder to try and strive for flexibility rather than optimization. Settlements don’t have to be perfect (and likely won’t be), they just have to work well enough to get to the next.
They’ve also added a ton of content and quality of life stuff since I last played a few patches ago. The UI still has some issues, but auto loading saved production limits and the overlay keys for buildings and workers make it so much easier to see what’s going on at a macro level.
Tip for new players: after you get your bearing in game (maybe 1 or 2 settlements), take some time to just go through and check out the overlays. You can easily do stuff like move workers around or see and adjust recipes of all buildings on your map at once. I only just found those options and it’s a godsend compared to menu diving.
Well first of all these games were never listed on GoG.
Secondly, they can’t (legally) do anything about a publisher refusing to sell games anymore. That’s their IP and they have the legal right to make that decision.
What they can do is ensure games that you’ve already purchased continue to work in the future.
I’m curious whether that new feature, Hidden games, appears in this summary. I think it had some early missteps because it would disappear from some views but appear in others.
I don’t have any games that would be too uncomfortable to talk about in my library, so this wouldn’t be an issue for me. Sure I might not want to talk in public about the furry dating sim Amorous, but pretty much anything else I’ve played would definitely be fair game. Especially Ardor and talking about collecting teeth to confuse people walking by.
My worst offender would be the Neptunia games I’ve played (which I genuinely liked for gameplay lol) but honestly, if your gaming family can’t accept you at your Nep, they don’t deserve you at your NepNep.
Walk up to area full of rather boss looking dudes, fuck em all up, take their gear and then spend 30 minutes ooing and aaahing over said gear has been a cornerstone gameplay loop for many games for decades.
It’s, dare I say it?
fun?
Fill the area with cool lore, art direction and fold it into a story and hey, maybe it’s a little more fun.
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