Discussion The 2025 Game Thread: Big Stupid Games Edition

[GodisanAtheist]

Mother of God, wrapped up the Mass Effect Legendary Edition playthrough. 90 hours for all 3 to games, and that's using a save editor to give me all the money, skills, and resources to avoid any tedium.

I won't go into detail of the core games, that's a known quantity. The legendary edition did do a good job cleaning up and unifying the trilogy a bit better visually, mechanically, and thanks to all the DLC packed in fleshed it out from a story perspective as well.

For any ME veterans who never bought the DLC, the LE is absolutely worth it for the $5 it goes on sale for. I'll give a brief overview of the paid DLC below, as it was my first time experiencing much of it.

ME1:

No paid DLC, only Bring Down the Sky which was free. Pinnacle Station isn't included but it was a garbage free arena combat thing anyway so no major loss.

ME2:

Overlord: Solid. Has Sheperd assisting a Cerberus base that has a mysterious rampant rogue VI. Good mix of combat, using the Kodiak hover tank, and plot intrigue.

Kasumi: Meh. You get another Zaeed style mercenary character on your team who has limited interaction with the rest of the crew and a somewhat unique if silly loyalty mission. As a squad mate Kasumi is pretty low tier.

Lair of the Shadow Broker: Meh. This mission certainly helps from a lore perspective filling in major parts of Liara's arc between 2 and 3, but as a mission itself it's a bit of a grind. At least there is some solid lore payoff at the end.

Arrival: Garbage. This DLC was clearly put together in the dark. Tons of reused assets, no squad interaction, characters doing stupid things to move the plot forward, and honestly the whole thing is a grind. It's also important to understand the start of ME3 as well, which just makes it worse.

ME3:

From Ashes: Legendary. It's honestly criminal that this was cut from the game to be turned into DLC content. You get Javik, a new fully fleshed out squad member who is absolutely fantastic. Tons of interactivity, squad interaction, lore... This is it chief.

Citadel: Great. A sort of love letter to the franchise, this DLC is heavily character driven and a sort of final get together for your entire ME1/2/3 squad set to a goofy but fun side story. Play this one last before you cross the point of no return.

Leviathan: OK. A quest to discover the origins of the Reapers. Starts with a fun detective routine that slowly opens up into a sort of Lovecraftian horror vibe. While fun and varied, the actual payoff leaves something to be desired.

Omega: Ugh. Omega has you helping the insufferable Aria retake Omega station from Cerberus. The mission is just a really long slog, you're forced to partner with Aria who has all the charisma of nails on a chalkboard, and it's another "characters do stupid things to advance the plot" missions. High point of the DLC is actually one of the side characters, low point is how stupidly the side character dies.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Completed Jedi Survivor.

Damn what a game. Great platforming, great combat (except those red attacks that track for WAYYY too long), and at this point the game was pretty well patched up and big free.

The story is pretty standard but executed better than most of the mainline movies ever were.

Kids had a great time tagging along for the story missions.

I'll noodle around post game found some achievement hunting for a while before moving on.

Definitely worth the asking price.

Next up is Dead Space 3 for my October spooky game.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Completed Jedi Survivor.

Damn what a game. Great platforming, great combat (except those red attacks that track for WAYYY too long), and at this point the game was pretty well patched up and big free.

The story is pretty standard but executed better than most of the mainline movies ever were.

Kids had a great time tagging along for the story missions.

I'll noodle around post game found some achievement hunting for a while before moving on.

Definitely worth the asking price.

Next up is Dead Space 3 for my October spooky game.

-Havent gelled with Dead Space 3. Beat the prologue and first mission and the game just had a completely different vibe than DS 1&2 across the board.

So I installed and fired up Control as my fall season "spooky" game and man this stuff is peak Remedy. Solid creep factor without getting into gore/slasher/horror nonsense. Fun writing, solid mystery and paranormal activity stuff.

It's weird enough to keep me interested but sure enough of it's own quality that it doesn't appear to need shock value. The 13 and 9 year old are tagging along and they are both hooked but creeped out.

Gameplay feels a bit repetitive after Jedi Survivor (I mean Jesse basically gets force powers) but it's executed well and doesn't get in the way of the fun which is really what I want from a Remedy joint.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Was interested in Ninja Garden 4, but it's $70?! Yeah, no way, especially for a game I'd likely complete in about 10 - 12 hours. On the bright side, Team Ninja has appeared to have overcome whatever had possessed them to replace blood with colors of the rainbow in one of their games.

So, these days, with most games just adopt the same playbook, I suppose. Wait for to come within range of $20 - $30, unless, YMMV on this one, it's a FromSoft or maybe GTA6, I suppose.

I ain't buying $70 games especially when ER was only $60. Just can't do it.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Was interested in Ninja Garden 4, but it's $70?! Yeah, no way, especially for a game I'd likely complete in about 10 - 12 hours. On the bright side, Team Ninja has appeared to have overcome whatever had possessed them to replace blood with colors of the rainbow in one of their games.

So, these days, with most games just adopt the same playbook, I suppose. Wait for to come within range of $20 - $30, unless, YMMV on this one, it's a FromSoft or maybe GTA6, I suppose.

I ain't buying $70 games especially when ER was only $60. Just can't do it.

- Never much of a good reason to buy games brand new anyway, especially the single player games. Expensive, buggy, unbalanced, etc.

Don't let FOMO win.

 

[MoragaBlue]

- Never much of a good reason to buy games brand new anyway, especially the single player games. Expensive, buggy, unbalanced, etc.

Don't let FOMO win.

Agreed. Very salient point.

I'd imagine 99% of games will require some kind of patch at some point. Moreover, in my experience, virtually every game will go on sale fairly soon. The exceptions being the ones that sell 20 million + units fairly quickly, and they're incredibly rare; only ER, BG3, BMW and the upcoming GTA comes instantly to mind.

Still, waiting 2 - 3 years isn't too bad with a game library. For instance, I'm about to download Jedi Survivor (picked it up on sale for about $15 - $20) and start playing that based on your post above.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Completed Jedi Survivor.

Damn what a game. Great platforming, great combat (except those red attacks that track for WAYYY too long), and at this point the game was pretty well patched up and big free.

Wow, couldn't agree more!

Probably not unusual on this board, but I've picked up so many games on sale over the years, especially on Steam, it's hard to pick one to play amongst so many. Jedi Survivor was one of those games, but I really wasn't too thrilled about it because of the poor reviews on Steam. I mean, it was around $15 bucks? Though it's EA, I figure it's worth it.

Had forgotten all about this game until your post. All I can say is, what a game! It's fantastic and I just love the Souls-like combat with light sabers! I enjoy all the stances and find them all so fun, it'll require multiple playthroughs! Amongst the best $15 - $20 bucks I've ever spent.

Also, though I have Jedi Fallen Order (think it was $5.99), I haven't played it yet. So, this game was entirely new and novel to me and, IMHO, probably the best Star Wars game I've ever played.

I've heard EA's working on JS 3? If so, can't wait! Never thought I'd say that about an EA game.

 

[JujuFish]

I've heard EA's working on JS 3? If so, can't wait! Never thought I'd say that about an EA game.

EA is just a publisher. Respawn makes the Jedi games.

 

[MoragaBlue]

EA is just a publisher. Respawn makes the Jedi games.

Oh wow! LOL...See how little I know about this game?!

I had no idea what Respawn was or that it was even a game studio until you've mentioned it. Regardless, I hope the rumors are true and they're indeed working on the next one. JS was very well done and I felt right at home with the game play the moment I started.

Not that I'm proud of this, but I had probably spent 20+ hours hunting and creating lightsaber styles!

 

[JujuFish]

Oh wow! LOL...See how little I know about this game?!

I had no idea what Respawn was or that it was even a game studio until you've mentioned it. Regardless, I hope the rumors are true and they're indeed working on the next one. JS was very well done and I felt right at home with the game play the moment I started.

Not that I'm proud of this, but I had probably spent 20+ hours hunting and creating lightsaber styles!

I hate to say it, but you probably should have played Fallen Order first. Survivor is the sequel and a notable improvement over the first game.

I really enjoyed both and also look forward to the third game.

 

[MoragaBlue]

I hate to say it, but you probably should have played Fallen Order first. Survivor is the sequel and a notable improvement over the first game.

I really enjoyed both and also look forward to the third game.

Probably, but just never occurred to me, since I had purchased these on sale so long ago, had forgotten all about them.

For better or worse, I doubt I'll ever play Fallen Order. I mean, after using the Bloodborne-esque lightsaber setup, there's no going back! This epee & pistol thing is just so fun!

 

[MoragaBlue]

Not sure where to post this, but I'm assuming most on this thread are PC gaming enthusiasts? Just checked out the Steam machine. Wow! My first thought is that it solves the issue I've had my entire gaming life; namely, can't use my gaming rig on my big screen TVs. So, this is the solution!

Am I missing anything? Assuming this performs well (they claim 60 FPS with frame gen), I may have to pick one up. This seems like a game changer for me.

 

[Stg-Flame]

8GB of VRAM has me concerned about the performance.

List of resources can be found here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1ovbki9/new_valve_hardware_megathread

 

[labayds]

Three new steam hardware toys
RDNA 3 GPU on the GabeCube
New steam controller has 3 ways to connect (steam controller puck, bluetooth usb)

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

 

[Fenixgoon]

Three new steam hardware toys
RDNA 3 GPU on the GabeCube
New steam controller has 3 ways to connect (steam controller puck, bluetooth usb)

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

Lets goooooooooo

 

[MoragaBlue]

HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED

For real? IMHO, this is gonna sell like 10 million units in 3 days. Gamers, including myself, have been waiting so long for this, we've given up hope.

The 8 GB VRAM does seem on the low side. Maybe, if this is successful, they'll follow with a, for lack of a better term, Cube Pro? LOL

 

[MoragaBlue]

8GB of VRAM has me concerned about the performance.

List of resources can be found here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1ovbki9/new_valve_hardware_megathread

You know, after having some time to give this more thought, I'd love nothing more than a future where this little cube can just play PC games at a respectable level. While I suspect this is sacrilege to many PC gaming enthusiasts, probably including myself during my younger days, I care much less about optimizing performance because modern hardware is so good.

For instance, the standard PS5 plays games just fine on a big TV. Is it 100+ FPS absent frame gen on 4K? No, not even close; but, it's good enough, at least it is for me now.

With my corp days long in the rear view mirror, I'd love nothing more than to never use Windows again, ever. If this Steam thing can and with the PS can just offer me the gaming experience I've always and will always crave, then my MacBook can easily handle all of my computing needs at this point in my life. I'm already so vested in the Apple ecosystem anyway, why not?

20 or 30 years ago, I probably would've felt differently and likely insisted on the most expensive powerful gaming rigs for the performance. It's like Formula One, in a way. If it takes, say, 500 million to create a car at 180 mph, it'll require another 500 million to increase the speed another 10 - 20 mph. I'm no longer interested in the "law of demising returns" cost & effort, because games are already so great even in its vanilla form.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Dead Space 3 completed.

Much better than the reviews would suggest, if you're a fan of the dead space series it is absolutely worth playing.

The game does have some significant drawbacks, but they were not enough to tank the overall experience:

- The game was obviously intended to be played in co-op mode, and while it's fine as a solo experience the devs did some fun things with co-op that you will completely miss as part of the single player experience. There are also some heavily gamified elements that will take you out of the moment, like a door to a side objective literally flashing "Co-Op Only" if you are playing solo.

-The love triangle nonsense. It's really bad, and it commits the additional sin of making characters do absurdly stupid radically counterintuitive things in a literal life or death nightmare scenario. Luckily the "Triangle" becomes a line about half way through the game and for the better.

-The mid-game is pretty weak thematically as it loses the claustrophobia of the first portion of the game without picking up the eldrich/Lovecraftian horror of the last part of the game. Bright, sunny open snow environments with derelict human equipment carry a strong "The Thing" vibe but lose a lot of the tension.

-The main human bad guy is like a weird cross between Elton John and Charles Manson and it doesn't work. There are also a number of segments where you find yourself fighting human enemies and frankly it's just not much fun. Too rarely you find yourself in the middle of a three way battle between Necros/Unitoligists/Yourself and the game should have leaned into those moments more.

-Weapon crafting is a ton of fun and gives you a bunch of options to create some heavy weaponry, but like any crafting system with this many options the devs had to balance around all kinds of weird stuff so you'll find yourself crafting guns that make combat trivially easy rather quickly. That said Dead Space has always been action horror and even a fully upgraded plasma cutter from the first game made short work of basically everything so I didn't find this to be as much of an issue as people make it out to be.

All in all DS3 is a good time, especially the front and back portions of the game. I'm thinking I'll leave it installed and do some co-op cheevo farming stuff and will play through the final DLC of the series, Awakening before calling it quits on Dead Space until EA decides to thaw the series out.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Dead Space 3 completed.

Much better than the reviews would suggest, if you're a fan of the dead space series it is absolutely worth playing.

The game does have some significant drawbacks, but they were not enough to tank the overall experience:

- The game was obviously intended to be played in co-op mode, and while it's fine as a solo experience the devs did some fun things with co-op that you will completely miss as part of the single player experience. There are also some heavily gamified elements that will take you out of the moment, like a door to a side objective literally flashing "Co-Op Only" if you are playing solo.

-The love triangle nonsense. It's really bad, and it commits the additional sin of making characters do absurdly stupid radically counterintuitive things in a literal life or death nightmare scenario. Luckily the "Triangle" becomes a line about half way through the game and for the better.

-The mid-game is pretty weak thematically as it loses the claustrophobia of the first portion of the game without picking up the eldrich/Lovecraftian horror of the last part of the game. Bright, sunny open snow environments with derelict human equipment carry a strong "The Thing" vibe but lose a lot of the tension.

-The main human bad guy is like a weird cross between Elton John and Charles Manson and it doesn't work. There are also a number of segments where you find yourself fighting human enemies and frankly it's just not much fun. Too rarely you find yourself in the middle of a three way battle between Necros/Unitoligists/Yourself and the game should have leaned into those moments more.

-Weapon crafting is a ton of fun and gives you a bunch of options to create some heavy weaponry, but like any crafting system with this many options the devs had to balance around all kinds of weird stuff so you'll find yourself crafting guns that make combat trivially easy rather quickly. That said Dead Space has always been action horror and even a fully upgraded plasma cutter from the first game made short work of basically everything so I didn't find this to be as much of an issue as people make it out to be.

All in all DS3 is a good time, especially the front and back portions of the game. I'm thinking I'll leave it installed and do some co-op cheevo farming stuff and will play through the final DLC of the series, Awakening before calling it quits on Dead Space until EA decides to thaw the series out.

I have this too.

Picked it up on sale in the $15 - $20 range, which appears to be the sweet spot for me. As with Jedi Survivor, had forgotten all about it until your post. However, since this doesn't appear to be the same enthusiastic praise you had for Jedi Survivor, I think I'll place on queue behind Silksong.

About to wrap up my Exp 33 play and just debating whether or not I'd like to platinum it. Silksong will be my next game. if it weren't for gamers' recommendations, it would never have occurred to me to purchase either, let alone play them.

 

[Stg-Flame]

About to wrap up my Exp 33 play and just debating whether or not I'd like to platinum it.

How is this game? I didn't know it existed until people kept saying it was going to be a GoTY contender with Silksong.

 

[MoragaBlue]

How is this game? I didn't know it existed until people kept saying it was going to be a GoTY contender with Silksong.

Likewise.

The first I had heard of the game was reading it on, if I recall, the PC Game thread about 3 or 4 months ago? After reading about it, I recalled the name and started noticing bits here and there (on Steam) from gamers who highly recommended the game.

In my view, the game is made for gamers who ordinarily aren't necessarily pure turn based players, a la the Persona crowd. I suspect from the latter's perspective, the game's mechanics would appear underwhelming and probably a rehash of concepts already introduced in some form of games they've played over the years. However, for a gamer such as myself who rarely plays turn based games and unlikely to ever pick up a pure turn based game, it offers an element which makes it appealing--the real time parry element. I suspect the games popularity, 5 million units sold in 6 months is impressive for a new IP, stems mostly form its appeal to normies (for lack for a better word and not meant as a pejorative) and Souls gamers looking for a turn based light with real time combat elements to hold their attention.

The story is pretty compelling, but, while I do have some criticisms, I don't want to risk any spoilers. The musical score, in my view, is phenomenal. A minor criticism I have is the combat while fun & novel to me, is a tad on the easy side; and, while I enjoyed tinkering and planning the order of turn based battle, it's mostly unnecessary since I can parry just about everything. This isn't necessarily the fault of the devs, since I suspect they meant this game to appeal to the more "casual" turn based players while hoping to attract players like me, the Sekiro/Bloodborne/Souls players, who would give it try. In that respect, I think they've succeeded spectacularly.

As to the game of the year, I have no qualms should they win, but I've yet to play the other contenders. I'm hoping to have a better compare & contrast once I play Silksong, assuming I'd get pass Hallow Knight relatively quickly. I suspect, Hallow Knight & Silksong will likely give me some trouble, since it's not a genre I frequently play and I'm not very adept at naturally. But, my philosophy is, you don't have to be good at a game to enjoy it!

 

[JujuFish]

CO: E33 is my favorite game of 2025, followed somewhat closely by Blue Prince. But the latter is not a game I can recommend to everyone, whereas I'm comfortable recommending the first one to a general audience.

 

[MoragaBlue]

CO: E33 is my favorite game of 2025, followed somewhat closely by Blue Prince. But the latter is not a game I can recommend to everyone, whereas I'm comfortable recommending the first one to a general audience.

Let me elaborate a little, if I may.

Of all the games introduced this year, this is my favorite; however, with the caveat that I've yet to play Silksong. During the past week during the 20% sale, I'd recommend this as a "must pay" to most gamers, maybe except for the turn based purists out there.

My criticism for this game was similar to the one I had for Black Myth: Wukong (BMW). Just as with Exp 33, that was Game Science's initial foray into the genre, and while they indeed did make a great game, it was a little on the easy side lacking the kind of dept & complexity that often drives re-playability. In essence, the game was boiled down to perfect dodges, building the power meter, and then just max smacking bosses. Not that the game wasn't fun, but it was just one dimensional and never pushed the player.

I'm looking forward with great enthusiasm to Sandfall's next game, just as I'm with BMK's successor. The Game Science devs have vowed to improve the dynamics and complexities of their combat system in their next game, reportedly based on the legend of a mythological Chinese General. It's in the similar vein I offered my criticism. This is their initial foray and, just as with BMK, a smash hit. Their next game should improve on this one, and, IMHO, I think the combat system could use some refinement, be it more complex, nuanced, and challenging skill-wise (I don't mean just giving bosses a gazillion HPs & godlike damage), just how the BMW devs have tacitly acknowledged and vowed to improve upon in their next installment.

What I will reiterate is that Exp 33 has the best beginning to a game I've ever played. It completely captivated and drew me in with a musical score that's amongst the best of any game I've ever experienced. The only thing better may have been Rellana's orchestral piece accompanying the fight.

 

[JujuFish]

I disagree. I think the challenge of Clair Obscur was quite good. It also has quite a few different ways to play, since the different characters play quite differently from one another. There are ways to break the system, especially later in the game, but until then, I think it's quite well balanced.

I've played Silksong and would probably place it as the 4th best 2025 game I've played, after Clair Obscur, Blue Prince, and Split Fiction.