2023 was a real roller coaster of a year, but when it came to my personal life, it was really terrible. Plus, a lot of the games I actually wanted to play, got postponed to the next one. Rather than making a long list, I wanted to talk about a few short selections that I primarily want.
And yeah, they're sequels. It's hard to create a new IP when it costs too much money and needs more talent, a thing that is dealing with drainage from major companies due to hazardous work environment, and because it pays better to make an indie game self published. But not all game developers are like that, well am hoping unless the current terrible circumstances catches up.
With the way the world is going, and game publishers being predatorial, as well as gatekeeping, I might end up getting disappointed. But I have no doubt, given the track record these studios have, that they'll deliver on the final product. That or I stay too broke to even check.
Yakuza: Infinite Wealth
How are you going to proceed with the story, now that nobody is a Yakuza member anymore? Hell, Yakuza Gaidan is the only game we got giving us the last vestige of the Yakuza world. Now that same world has no Yakuzas, you get me? After the ending of Like A Dragon, some of us were shortly convinced the storyline was over, and that the next game would be a new protagonist entirely.
Not so fast, because Ichiban still his story left. Alongside Kiryu. A double whammy it seems. This sequel has both protagonists playable as an RPG, taking place in Hawaii, and a game mode inspired by Pokémon called Sujimon. This is touted to be a far more ambitious title.
New modes, and mini games. New characters are introduced, old ones are returning including Adachi and Nanba, where with all their might, they get to battle all kinds of foes from foreign gang to a giant shark. No, that last one was not figurative, they literally battle one.
The combat system will be different, with different moves, more streamlining for easier takedowns, and being able to position teammates elsewhere during fights. This is RGG's second RPG style action game, and considering the first was one of the greatest I've played in all my life, I am willing to bet they're going to raise their standards even further this time.
Ichiban has a far more interesting story arc that will flesh his character even more, all while trekking a place with broken English, and few cash to spare while he goes searching for his other parent who might have survived. And you bet a fat chance I'll be playing it this month.
Homeworld 3
I know most people have never heard of this series before, but ones who played RTS around the early PC gaming eras, knows this one was one of the most iconic ones out there. Especially for your 12-year old me, who saw how amazing and terrifying of a game it was to play.
There are many reasons as to why the Homeworld series was one of the greatest of its time, it had an amazing storytelling with eerily detailed world-building, great factions, beautiful artwork and ship design, and most of all, the gameplay. From the legends themselves, Relic Entertainment. You know, the guys who made Warhammer 40K Dawn of War, and Company of Heroes titles.
I was shuttering when I played the Cataclysm expansion, with a zombie faction known as the Beasts possessing over the enemy and my own ships, before turning them into a vicious hostile entity. And they seemed pretty unstoppable, in fact, as if what they were doing was a genocide of sorts.
After Relic gave the IP away, Blackbird Interactive has developed the remaster of both Homeworld games. They also made a prequel ground-based strategy game called Deserts of Kharak, and a certain indie game. Seeing more of the previews, I feel like my trust is well placed.
Homeworld is one of the few RTS games that has vector based movement, where units can move up and down as well, depending on the camera angle. The new game will provide a more contemporary version of the familiar gameplay but also allow the main ship to change formation to horizontal and back. In fact, it'll be like playing space sandbox.
It's been 2 decades since a mainline entry came out, I can't wait to go back. I am loving the visual presentation, and larger scale combat too. I do hope they don't tone down the atmosphere of the prior games, and do a great job of creating a better story.
Hades 2
Need I say more? The first game was in early access before it became this smashing hit in 2020. And now, they're coming back with another crazy protagonist(Zagreus sister) . I loved the first game, And seems like the second one is also coming to early access.
Melinoë will be going on a journey through Tartarus yet again, in a rescue mission this time instead of escaping. So, level wise, instead of going to the top, she'll be going down the bottom from there. Will feature new challenges, locations, gameplay changes, and different upgrade system. There's no date yet for official release, but I am willing to fork in for the early access when it's out.
Honorable Mentions: Wolf Among Us 2 And Rise Of The Ronin
Telltale hasn't really been doing well, in general. And that sucks to hear, especially since they were supposed to close down, before they got bought back and in their resurgence made, brought us a game based on The Expanse universe. But this is something else.
Outside of the first Walking Dead season, The Wolf Among Us is another one of their biggest titles, these guys manage to create a fantastic narrative game adapted from The Fables comic book series. But more than that, they made characters that grew on me with a story hard to forget.
There's no other game that touches on fairy tale characters the way this one did, they mixed noir, intrigue, gritty violence into a 10hr experience unlike any other. Unfortunately, as much as the sequel is showing promise from the promotion, marketing, Telltale's situation hasn't really helped with the expectations I have. I guess all I have to accept is that they're working on it with little crunch.
Rise of the Ronin from Team Ninja, man I am a sucker for their souls-like games. They've made killer titles like Strangers of Paradise, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. While, the latter has various issues, it's still a lot of fun to play and their next title looks sick.
Also, I get to play as a Ronin in Meiji period Japan, fly from top of buildings, use late 19th century weapons, and other cool stuff. I mean, it's an exclusive, seems they're going to be more ambitious with this title. Now if only I could get my hands on a PS5, that would be great.
I hope 2024 turns out to be a good year, hell maybe even greater. And I hope I get that PS5 as well, because god knows why buying another expensive PC is important.
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I forgot about Rise of the Rōnin, the trailer they showed looked amazing, I didn't know it was coming out in 2024. I don't have PS5 either though and I just saw that it's going to be exclusive, maybe that's why I forgot about it haha. Yakuza: Infinite Wealth is just around the corner, I'm looking forward to that game too, I'm sure it will be one of the best of the year for me.
Wow, I've never heard of Homeworld before but by what you said about the series I need to check it out because it sounds like it would be right up my street.
I'm looking forward to the Wolf Among Us 2, my partner streamed it, so maybe I can get to play the second one. I prefer watching those sort of games to be honest, but might give it a go myself if she doesn't want to.
One game on my watch list is Manor Lords, I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's well worth checking out if you're interested in FTS/ city builder games.
If Manor Lords come out to be good, I could play it to forget about my bad experiences from City Skylines.
I enjoyed the first one and want to check out cities skylines 2, which is actually free on gamepass. I haven't had a chance to download it though.
I would suggest to wait it out, this game needs a lot of fixes to function the way it should have at released.
Thanks for the heads up on it, I'll wait a while before giving it a go.
!PIMP