whatchu waiting for

A thread for anticipating games that might not rise to the level of getting their own threads.

For instance, this quasi Name of the Rose RPG: https://www.polygon.com/23319825/obsidian-pentiment-preview-xbox-game-pass-pc

Pentiment looks interesting. I'll play it on Gamepass for sure.

I think some of the best releases will just be good existing stuff moving to new platforms, like Tunic and Inscryption on Playstation, or Dorfromantik on Switch.

I'll probably give Gotham Knights a spin unless the reviews are brutal.

Reviews for Pentiment seem pretty well recieved.

I've never played The Witcher 3. There is a free PS5 update upgrade coming in a couple of weeks, I think I'm all in.

Don't get your hopes up like I did. It's not groundbreaking so much as piles and piles of convention.

My hopes are still up!
But my backlog is so bad, I actually have both The Witcher I and II to play first... I need a better PC setup

Huh. People do seem to love it. Helpfully, I typically have low expectations, since because I missed out on basically an entire couple of generations of games, they're all pretty cool to me.

They do love it but I think they're all wrong.

But seriously, take this to the Witcher thread, this is a rolling anticipation thread for smaller niche/indie games!

my most wanted at the moment:
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley - loved the Moomins books as a kid, so a gentle puzzle adventure where you get to roam around as Snufkin tootling on his flute is like my dream game
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1808680/Snufkin_Melody_of_Moominvalley/
World of Horror - a "1-bit love letter to Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft". been following this for a while, but have held off until it's out of early access next summer.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/913740/WORLD_OF_HORROR/
Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons - Visual Novel coming out early next year, I just love the "blue sky dystopia" sci-fi stuff that Japan makes
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2156620/The_Future_Radio_and_the_Artificial_Pigeons/

I still eagerly await Truck Heck, whatever the hell it turns out to be.

This sounds like a lot of fun: https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23702866/mr-suns-hatbox-review-roguelike

I need more word games: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2072840/Word_Factori/

Others of note:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1382070/Viewfinder/ -- I lost interest in The Witness pretty quickly but maybe this time?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1864950/Beastieball/ -- from the makers of Chicory!

Beastieball looks fun!
looking forward to Sea of Stars https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244090/Sea_of_Stars/
and The Invincible https://store.steampowered.com/app/731040/The_Invincible/

I am waiting for so much right now, Summer Fest showed a lot of interesting developments for me.

Nivalis in particular, as I enjoyed Cloudpunk and would love to see the city used more than just for delivery jobs.

The next Microsoft Flight Sim also looks impressive.

Mars First Logistics

Came out today, early access, and I'm all for these Moebius style looking games lately

(some early gameplay)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uauRDqR4zBY

Yeah there's actually a bunch of indies that I have my eye on and even though I didn't mention it the Mars game is definitely something I'm interested in.

I got it, been playing today in between, ahem, work.
It's great, it's more difficult than expected - the rover rolls over a lot and there's a ton of mountains and rocks to negotiate, i guess that's part of the game to build something that can navigate the terrains.

Very nice to play though, building the vehicles is smooth and frustration free.

Deck building tower defense? Right into my veins, please.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2455350/The_Deadly_Path/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2160480/Hellboy_Web_of_Wyrd/

There's going to be a Hellboy game?!

Viewfinder reviews have been pretty rapturous.

That looks awesome and crazy and the trailer almost made me barf.

Gotta say, Lords of the Fallen 2 looks like the greatest Dark Souls ripoff ever. Maybe it will succeed where all others have failed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi7o_WyN43E

just reading my steam wishlist, all games that are not out yet (order in date added):

Toxic Crusaders
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth
Ships At Sea
Route 66 Simulator: The Free Ride
Space Trash Scavenger
Blight: Survival
Synergy
Hammerwatch II
Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together
Macabre
Bzzzt
Sand
Breathedge 2
MULLET MAD JACK
Fortune's Run
The Invincible
Dread Pilots
D.O.R.F Real-Time Strategic Conflicts
Star Trucker
ARK 2
The Brew Barons
Life By You
Pixelshire
Pacific Drive
Car Manufacture
Taxi Simulator
Tiny Glade
Streets of Rogue 2
Starship Simulator
Little Martian
Derelicts
Thunder Helix
Pirate Commander
Nivalis

Nivalis is the Cloudounk spinoff? I bought that recently, looking forward to playing it.

yeah, i have cloudpunk plus the dlc story. Not a lot to them, but a nice chill story to plod through and great looking scenery if you like that sort of thing. I turned off the audio dialogue btw, just a word of warning.

I turned off the audio dialogue btw, just a word of warning.

Good god, I thought this was going to be on the hyperbolic side but now having played 5 minutes of it, the VA really is worth turning off.

yeah, I don't think I've ever played another game with such oddly recorded and off putting voice acting, it just sounds like shit. Not turning it off though because I am a masochist.

Between TotK, Elden Ring, and perhaps BG3 I'm probably set for gaming for the next 2 years, not including other shit I bought, but I'm eagerly anticipating the Switch release of Dave the Diver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85VHMpE0to

Have we talked about these Spellbound rumours, ostensibly the working title for the next FromSoft IP?

I'm hoping it'll be amazing, but personally I'd be just as happy for them to keep releasing Elden Ring DLC content every couple of years rather than a new Souls-based franchise. That, or make a Souls game based on the Mandy movie, but that's not gonna happen

AFAIK the sole source of those rumors is a 4chan post, so I am taking that with an enormous grain of salt. IMO it would be cool if Miyazaki & the studio at large broke out more of the Souls formula. I'd really like to see their take on other styles.

I watched some youtube video on it, of course I'm down for a new Souls-like variation from From. Their approach to spells really hasn't changed that much from Dark Souls to Elden Ring (and I almost never play a magic-focused build), so I'm into the idea of a wizard game.

Moebius art + language puzzle solving, definitely intrigued:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5fsaiDgfoU

Psychedelic Hollow Knight?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2HHC--J_M4

Chants of Senaar looks very interesting

xpost A trippy Metroidvania seems like a path not yet taken.

Speaking of Souls-like, everyone seems to love "Lies of P."

Also, the clips making the rounds from Spider-man 2 show off what the PS5 can do when designers actually design with the PS5 exclusively in mind.

For some reason Lies of P just doesn't look appealing to me, b but Lords of the Fallen really does.

Lies of P I'm definitely waiting on, but the reviews have been pretty convincing, basically saying it's one of the few Soulslikes that gets it right but also makes the right changes.

I never played Dragon's Dogma but I'm intrigued now seeing some footage from the upcoming sequel. Kinda seems like a blend of Souls-like combat x more straightforward D&D/Baldur's Gate type story & quests? So many giant fantasy games these days.

The first game is only $5 on PS rn, just grabbed that because why not.

dragons dogma is more like a character action game meets open-world fantasy rpg, not 'souls-like'. its by the same designers as the devil may cry series

Ha I guess I haven't actually played any 3D third person action-rpgs besides From games. So that always reads as Souls to me, but I guess Devil May Cry/Monster Hunter/God of War/The Witcher/etc must feel quite different.

the fundamental gameplay concept of the souls games is "you can't cancel your attacks"
the fundamental gameplay concept of character action games is "you can cancel your attacks"

so they're fundamentally opposed

(cancel in action game parlance meaning interrupt the attack with a new one before its animation finishes)

Interesting, I don't think I've ever heard it put like that before but it makes a lot of sense.

Hmm. If this is turn-based or tower defense or real time strategy or whatever I'll probably skip, but if this is, as implied, more adventure/story-based, I'm intrigued.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5r0nEd2ag

Replaced, gorgeously animated pixel art cyberpunk side scroller:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWkOcpZEk4I

Looks cool!

Patient though I may be, my fomo flares up when they start announcing DLC for games I haven't gotten yet because I'm waiting for lower prices. Remnant 2, Ragnarok, Lies of P ...

Yeah, two DLC packs are planned.

Night Springs – 2024

Night Springs will allow players to control several familiar characters from the Alan Wake setting. They’ll experience mysterious and unexplainable events inside multiple, self-contained episodes of a fictional TV show called Night Springs. If you thought Alan Wake 2 got very meta a couple of times, it sounds like you’ll get more of that with this expansion, which should launch some time in 2024.

The Lake House – 2024

A secret government organization, a lonely research facility, and ambitious scientists – naturally, something goes wrong with that combination of factors being involved. Players will explore the Lake House in this expansion in two separate adventures as the realities of Alan Wake and Saga Anderson once again collide.

Spamming Death Howl on ILG:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14MSXWMFIYg

very excited for Blue Prince coming out later this week. reviews/impressions are extremely positive

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/Blue_Prince/

Ooh thx, always looking for a game my wife and I can play together (complete list so far: Portal/Portal 2, Limbo, Inside, Cocoon, Inscryption, I think that's it).

Would Lorelei and the Laser Eyes be up your alleys?

https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3lmabtmtcqs2j

I loved the Blue Prince demo. Probably the rare day 1 buy for me.

Jordan: have a look at this page for some ideas. I think you'd really like Outer Wilds.
https://thinkygames.com/games/?essential=true&page=1&query=&sortBy=-relevant

Blue Prince (took me a second to get the pun) looks really intriguing! I'm worried it's a sort of game my brain struggles with. Logic puzzles, inventory management, needing a notepad by your side to figure out what is going on...How difficult is it meant to be?

The inventory system is very simple. From my memory, you can carry 2 items and there are around 10 items. The demo had one room that required some inventory planning. (spoiler: the garage.)
A notepad can help but the main things to write down are some short passwords. No need to memorize a map as you always have a map.
The logic puzzles in the demo were all easy, on the level of "find the two numbers that add up to 100". What's harder is finding some of the puzzles.

i'll definitely try the demo, if it's steamdeck compatible.

Crashlands 2!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY9A6asR3qs

This looks like ... Crazy Taxi meets GTA meets Teardown meets ... awesome.

that does look like a fun lark with a silly bad story

I played the Steam demo and couldn't get on with it. The silly bad story was too much

New 2D Ninja Gaiden looks fun and I'm sure I will play it at some point, but I hate the music :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqh5gBmLlIM

Type Help is getting a graphical version made by the Roottrees are Dead team
https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help/devlog/967999/the-incident-at-galley-house-announcement

"Without revealing too much, there are certain things that I couldn't do with the original game" ooooo

toxic crusaders, absolum, and marvel cosmic invasion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1_eZyFM5-4

yeah out of everything announced Thursday, that's what I'm most amped for (presuming I'll have a machine capable of playing it).

Do you have a PS5 or (lol) Xbox Series whatever?

A little bummed that Jesse doesn't seem to be the protagonist but this is the Remedy that I like. And it's targeting 2026 (I guess normal AAA caveats apply)!

Between this and Clair Obscur, I might finally get some use it of my PS5!

Nice...that looks wild. But will it be a *fun* game? Re: Remedy, I haven't played the original "Control" (I read comments that the gameplay was tedious). I finished "Alan Wake" (years ago, on Xbox 360) but thought that the gameplay was lacking and repetitive (but I forced myself to finish), although there were a few memorable moments. I started playing "Alan Wake 2" this month, but after 3 hours, I think I'm stopping, because it's just not any fun for me. I went into the game cold, but after three hours, I started reading forum posts (to help me decide whether to continue or not) - the story and art were praised, but a bunch of people didn't like the gameplay. I mean, I appreciate a good story, but if the gameplay is lacking, then why should this even be a game, rather than a movie or a book? And why should I sink 20-30 hours into it? I don't doubt that the people who said they loved "Alan Wake 2" genuinely loved it, but so far it's not for me.

IMO calling Control tedious would be an overstatement. The combat can definitely be repetitive and doesn't have a whole lot of variety but it's still a blast.

I loved playing Control. Some of the coolest moments in my entire life of playing videogames are in that game. Hoping for something as striking in this new one

realized recently that the arrival of my DQ7: Reimagined 0re-order is going to land right before the Winter Olympics kick off - so I guess I’m waiting for the end of the Winter Olympics

Thanks - I was on the fence about "Control" but it sounds like it's worth giving it a shot.

especially at the cheap price it is this weekend

Ok "Control: Ultimate Edition" is $5.99 on the Playstation Store until 1/7/26, so I snagged that - thanks again for the recommendation!

It's a weird, wild ride!

https://i.cdn29.hu/apix_collect_c/ngg_images/2602/13/legacy_of_kain_ascendance_092715_2_original_1520x1520.jpg

there's a new Legacy of Kain game! but it's 2d and it thinks "sufficient enough" is a good thing to say

my jrpg slate for this year

Monster Hunter Stories 3
The Adventures of Elliot
Kyoto Xanadu

there'll probably be 1 or 2 more in the 2nd half of the year but no idea what, not much announced rn

marathon

it’s starting to look like it may have some sauce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW22jwFNxU8

They didn't need to go this hard but God damn I'm glad they did.

Shout outs to neat demos I played & wishlisted during Steam Next Fest:

Denshattack! - This one has been getting a lot of press. It's a game where you drive a train at high speed through an eye-popping Jet Set Radio-style world, and you make the train do skateboard tricks. Naturally, it's on literal rails, which makes it unusual for a skating game, since those are usually free-roaming. There are branching paths in the courses, but most of the player expression is in just how you'll chase that high score. It is a very arcadey game and I love that.

Airframe Ultra - Multiplayer futuristic combat racing thing with PS1-style graphics. It's chaotic as hell and I had a blast with it, despite never winning a race and not having a clue what was going on half the time.

Calx - 3D action-adventure game with a cool Moebius art style. The dev clearly adores Aphex Twin, and that comes across in a ton of references (the title of the game for one) and also the music and sound design, which is quite good. So this gets a lot of points for aesthetics. The gameplay is...not bad. It's kind of like a 3rd-person Metroid Prime (scanning!) with some Souls-ish combat (dodge rolls!). Movement feels good. However, I found the level design very bland. I have no idea how far along in development this is, so I don't know how representative the demo is of the finished game. I'm hoping they manage to make things a bit more interesting because there is a solid foundation here.

Forbidden Solitaire - Lo-fi horror with a game-within-a-game conceit. You find a copy of a controversial CD ROM game you sort-of remember from the 90s. The game is a horror dungeon crawler where everything you do, combat, navigation, etc. is done via playing Solitaire. The game was controversial because of its over-the-top graphic violence (rendered in lovingly silly, period-accurate fashion). Via an ongoing chat convo with your sister, who is researching the game while you play it, you discover that the game may hold darker secrets than you anticipated...

"the WARP-corrupted planet Syro" Calx sure is subtle with its influences! looks nice tho

Hah I noticed that too.

Forbidden Solitaire sounds a bit like Inscryption?

I never played Inscryption (I should probably knock it out before Coint & Plick), so I can't speak to that. It made me think of a more cursed Hypnospace Outlaw

Titanium Court is a like a greatest hits of ILG faves -- weird narrative + match 3 + resource gathering + tower defense -- that seems pretty fun so far.

salute to you guys for braving the demo wilds

Started playing the demo of Cairn and it's really good ao far.

Funny how the few games that have clearly been influenced by Death Stranding (Cairn and also Baby Steps) aren't so concerned with the "Strand-type" nature of it nor the quirkiness of its story.

Rather, they've understood that the core appeal is about finding your way over tricky terrain. Both take that concept and run with it (or climb/fall over with it). Rather than controlling Sam as an avatar, both games give you control of the central character's individual limbs. This boils the experience down to closee replicating the experience of climbing itself: Cairn in a realistic way, Baby Steps in a preposterous way.

There's a lot less of this in Death Stranding 2. And while it is a smoother experience with more access to trucks and monorails etc, fans who miss the experience of having to scale rockfaces without aid could do worse than trying out Cairn at least

I've been playing Cairn. It is hands down the most difficult game I have ever played. Or at least the most frustrating. I think that most of that is on me, and not the game. You have to take it slow and be extremely methodical. I would find myself hurrying up a cliff face because I wanted to get to the next plateau, see the next thing. It got a bit easier once I slowed down.

I also struggled to get to grips (no pun intended) with stamina management. It's the one thing that isn't explicitly displayed in the HUD so you have to pay close attention to Aava's physical cues--breathing rate, limb shaking, etc. I turned on the feature that shows you when you have a good hand/foothold. Even with that turned on, I would find myself in what I thought was a stable position, still rapidly losing stamina and falling to my death.

To say nothing of he survival aspect. Now I'm a good chunk of the way in and starving because I'm out of food. I assumed I would find more, because this is a video game, right? And the developers want me to finish it, right?

It sounds genuinely fascinating, but at the same time I know I never want to touch that game. Like a serious simulation of Getting Over It?

70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X - just from the title I want to play it!
originally released on PS1 (on 4 discs!) it's getting a remaster in the summer with english subs.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4120310/70sstyle_Robot_Anime_GeppyX/

"70's Robot Anime Geppy-X is a 2D side scrolling shooting game. Stages in the game are presented as if they were episodes of a fictitious episodic anime series named Geppy-X. Following the anime episode format, stages play the format of opening theme, Part A, Eye Catch, Part B, ending theme, and ending on a next episode preview. The stages even include fake commercials and its own theme music. For example, one such commercial in the game promotes a fictitious series which is a parody of Ashita no Joe, and another for merchandise related to the show such as shampoo."

in a a development nobody could have seen coming, it appears Crimson Desert is a bit of a boring mess

lol i assumed this would be the case.

I look forward to getting this hella cheap in 5 years time to mess around in the open world for a few hours before getting bored

sort of feels like the devs spent 7 years and god knows how much money implementing every single idea any of their kids pitched to them

jetpacks, rideable dragons, pettable cats, ability to perform the leaping three quarter turn facelock jawbreaker popularly known as "the RKO", an actual circus: yes definitely

good controls or UX: pardon?

lol you can do an RKO? SOLD

lol https://bsky.app/profile/lexluddy.xyz/post/3mheiimhcjv26

vampire crawlers demo is v fun

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