Horizon: Zero Dawn, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Torment: Tides of Numenara, and the Switch all coming out in one week! Sorry Xbox One fans. I think it’s a safe bet these three games will make it on a lot of end of year lists. Zero Dawn has already received really positive reviews, I’m very excited to see if the game holds up. I actually wasn’t that excited about the new Zelda, never played the previous Wii or Wii U ones. However the buzz that’s starting to come out with the previews seem to indicate this game might finally and truly be the AAA open-world game we’ve never had before. I’m not buying a Switch but I’m fully onboard the hype train and will be picking it up as soon as I’m done hunting robo-dinosaurs. And I’m a little surprised by the lack of buzz about Torment but if it fulfills the promise of a true spiritual sequal to Planescape I’ll have to find time for that as well.
So is anyone else planning to pick up all three? Who’s playing what first?
I’ve pre-ordered Horizon Zero Dawn and the Switch with Breath of the Wild. I’ll play Horizon for a couple days, and see if I can resist moving straight on to Zelda.
Some really encouraging previews! EG says “It’s good. Very, very good”, and “a direction which sometimes seems to have as much in common with Monster Hunter or Skyrim as it does Zelda” which sounds great to me. I also read things claiming it’s challenging, doesn’t hold your hand, feels like a survival game, and one that said Horizon Zero Dawn feels simplistic by comparison…
Torment’s got some good early access reviews on Steam, but I think I’ll wish-list that one. I liked Planescape well enough back in the day but Pillars of Eternity kind of filled my desire for that type of game, not sure I want to play another just yet.
If Horizon Zero Dawn/Torment are day one of the week, then we also have Nier: Automata and Tom Clancy’s Wildlands releasing on day seven! Probably not ‘end of year list’ material but hey. :)
True! I’m hoping InXile will come through in letting me get an Xbox One version of Torment for a few extra dollars on top of my old Kickstarter pledge. But they will only do that if there was enough interest from other backers, and I haven’t heard back since they put the feeler out.
It will still be released on all 3 platforms of course (PC, PS4, XB1), but the only question is if us backers can get a console copy on top of our PC copies.
Horizon: Zero Dawn will be on a nice sale on Black Friday, I think. So I’ll until then to pick it up. Zelda I’m planning on picking up in 2029.
Oh yeah i didn’t even think of that! I’m not really interested in another Tom Clancy game but the Nier demo was interesting.
As to Breath of the Wild I’m trying not to get swept up in the hype train but pretty much every preview of the first 5 hours is basically “OMG THIS GAME IS AMAZING” and I don’t think that’s just fanboi love. I’d love to think I’ll have the discipline to hold off until I’m don’t with Zero Dawn but something tells me I’ll be trying to juggle both!
You should give the beta a try this weekend, since you get to try it out for free. It’s on PC, XB1 and PS4, so just try it out on any platform you have. It’s a really sizeable chunk of content too. I wasn’t interested either until I played the beta. It might surprise you. But if it doesn’t, hey, that’s another game you never have to add to the backlog since you tried it and chopped it.
Geez @Rock8man just tell me it sucks! I definitely don’t have the time for the games I already know I’m buying. The last thing I need is another good game. A free beta is tempting though…
I really want to hear some opinions around here once Horizon is out. It’s gotten a lot of praise, but the lukewarm Eurogamer and US Gamer reviews make me wonder about the discrepancy. I’m not sure I’m ready to agree it will be on GOTY lists yet.
I can’t swing a Switch yet, but I’m very fucking interested in the new Zelda, and will be picking up a Switch, a Pro Controller, and that title ASAP as the summer wanes on and I can save up some funds.
I am, however, getting Torment as well as Horizon Zero Dawn. I’m torn as to what to play first, Torment is more directly in my wheelhouse but it will likely benefit from early patching more than HZD will need. Kind of a tough call there.
Nier: Automata is right around the corner as well (and I think it’s already out in Japan), and people are raving over it on Reddit, calling it GotY, best Platinum game, etc. Since it’s done by the A team at Platinum, I’m indeed expecting great things of it.
That said, it’s not a console (PS4) exclusive - it’s coming for the PC as well at some point, though when exactly is still open.
Obligatory reminder horizon is a Ubisoft game. You will collect shit in a UI filled with 3D hud elements and will climb something that will look like a tower. Why? because.
Teiman may be using Ubigame as a genre designation rather than a literal part of the design process. The reviewers seemed to agree that it’s better than the shallow Ubi crap we usually get.
For the sake of clarification, last week’s Giant Bombcast talked about how it on the surface looks like it could be a Ubisoft style open world game, but even filling the map with icons is optional (you can purchase maps or something if you don’t want to just explore) and even then, they reined back pretty hard on all that stuff. For example, you can climb “towers” to get the lay of the land, but not only is the context of doing so well explained within the game world, there are only around 4 (Jeff was sure it was just four) times in the entire game you do it, so it feels like a fun little bonus and not something that gets tiring and wears out its welcome.
