What’s good on what’s coming?

I haven’t done a quote/unquote “live breakdown” of one of these direct marketing presentations yet and I’ve been itching to do a little bit of writing today so here we are. I like these presentations, I think its a good way to stay up to date on various gaming platforms and I like video games. So why wouldn’t I like to watch these? So! What’s good? What’s coming? What don’t I care about? Let’s go! (Also farting monkey!!!)

1. Monster Hunter Wilds!

I’m very excited about this, I’m very much Monster Hunter pilled from the switch and Rise. I got properly sherpa’d into the series and have become a huge addict for the switch axe. I’ve played both Betas and will play the third and final one coming up (this weekend maybe?) and do a little breakdown of my thoughts. This trailer looks great and I LOVE Mizutsune as a monster, I just feel like they were made to fight with the switch axe. Looking forward to this release though I’m not thrilled I only have a Series X to play it on because I want to be able to play with Catrena as well.

2. Shinobi: Art of Vengence

This seems great to me, I haven’t played a Shinobi game before but they are on my radar (I have the ps2 game sitting on my shelf just waiting). If this IS NOT a Metroidvania and is level based I’m really going to be sold.

3. Sonic Racing: CrossWorld

Sonic Racing! I bet this is really fun if you love Sonic the Hedgehog! Honestly I would play this if it was in front of me but I’m not going out of my for it. I had played Sonic Team Racing a few years back and it’s very fun. Interesting that this is in the PS direct.

4. Digimon Story: Time Stranger

IF I WERE DRINKING I WOULD HAVE SPIT OUT MY DRINK AS THEY JUMPSCARED US WITH THE DIGIMON REVEAL. Did digimon take place during a nuclear holocaust? I guess you’ll have to play this to find out lmao.

5. Lost Soul Aside

This one I’m really very interested in. Good blade based combat, perfect dodging and bosses with special attack patterns? It feels like we’re getting a DMC-like out of this China studio, UtiZeroGames. Definitely going to keep on eye on this, seems like its PC and Playstation only so I may miss this just like StellarBlade. The ending title card gives off some F2P vibes so I want to learn more, for sure.

6. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Yes, I’m so in, I’m so fucking down, but I have like 6 other Yakuza games I have to play before I can even think about this one. Unfortunately because it looks so fucking fun,.

7. Dave The Diver / Yakuza Cross-over

I don’t know anything about Dave the Diver except that it’s the drama surrounding whether or not its an indie game or not.

8. Splitgate 2 Alpha

CONFESSION! Splitgate was sort of responsible for me getting back into gaming. I had built a streaming PC for Catrena because she was getting into twitch, and some work colleagues convinced me to install SplitGate. That led to my friend giving me his old Xbox One and THEN I bought a Series X. So thank you, SplitGate! I fell off the horse but I am absolutely rooting for you here.

9. WWE2k25

The Island? Seem like there is going to be A LOT of in-game purchases. ::thumbs down/fart sound::

10. Borderlands 4

I cannot believe there is more than one Randy that works at Gearbox. AND that they decided to put them both on my TV. There are plenty of people happy about this, more power to them.

11. Split Fiction

I still haven’t played It Takes Two, Catrena’s wanted to but we haven’t gotten around to it. One of these winter weekends that we’re staying inside avoiding the flu or covid we’ll have to play it. Also obligatory “FUCK THE OSCARS!”

12. Directive 8020

Confession - I LOVE Supermassivegames games. Getting drunk and playing Until Dawn in a dark room full of friends was some of the most fun I’ve had gaming in my entire life. It’s amazing. Having the “choose your characters, pass the controller” multiplayer is such a great way to experience these adventure games. The thing in Space! I’m really into this, anything that can give me vibes of The Dig is immediately great.

13. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Mimick

I don’t know anything about Five Nights other than watching that terrible movie so this is not for me.

14. The Midnight Walk

Claymation FPS. This has a cool vibe but rings very hollow to me. I commend it when devs decide to go the claymation route but it often ends up with something that is not my cup of tea.

15. Darwin’s Paradox

I completely spaced out during this one, sorry!

16. Warriors Abyss

ROGUELITE WARRIORS GAME FUCK YES 16 BILLION BATTLE STATES FUCK YES AGAIN Launching today, need to check it out!

17. Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny

We got an extended look at the remaster and it seems great. It looks as faithful to the original as possible and it seems to retain all of the quirk, which is great. Looking forward to this one.

18. Onimusha 4

They kept the goofy! It’s serious and strong and just silly and I’m so excited that it looks good. Seeing the protagonist gode on the demons and then FLEE with his tail between his legs is all I need to see, this game is going to OWN. Seriously this trailer was great. It is a great balance of everything that makes Onimusha great. There is some interesting environmental interactions that I’m excited about, he lifted up a table for cover and then kicked it to clear enemies in front of him. They showed off a little bit of the combat but not too much. What they did show were some brutal finishers where enemies were split in twain and maybe a mid-boss with some heavy attacks and a dual saber attack. I hope Capcom brings the speed with some of the later weapons and techniques, you could really zoom around in previous games. Pretty thrilled about this.

19. Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater

I didn’t understand the monkey slapping his butt but apparently this is one of the original DLCs which has some of my friends excited that Konami may be finding their juice again. I don’t know anything about the Metal Gear series so I’ll leave any other observations to those with skin in the game.

20. Hell is Us

This is the game that continuously gets mistaken as Death Stranding 2. I think that has a lot to do with the intriguing characters as much as its dark world. This game could be interesting, it has some of the hallmarks of a good character action game but could also be secretly hiding the fact that it’s a souls-like. Which, I should clarify, is not really a bad thing, but those generally are not my cups of tea.

Here are some rapid fire announcements that I didn’t really care about.

• Lies of P Overture DLC
• Dreams of Another (“Weapons that create not destroy” sounds like a 30-Rock throw away joke)
• Days Gone Remastered (LOL)
• StellarBlade Nikke DLC (LOL what a pair)
• Tides of Annihilation

It’s at this point that I’m feeling this presentation should be wrapping it up. Sony and Microsoft don’t know how to pace these things.

• Metal Eden
• Mindseye

21. SAROS (HOUSEMARQUE)

I had NOT played Returnal but heard good things about it. The style of this game along with the Indian overtones have me intrigued. It seems like they are sticking with the hostile shapeshifting environment and resurrection themes of Returnal which honestly, good for them.

That’s it! Some good Hack & Slash announcements, I feel like the veil of Souls-likes have been lifted enough that Platinum/DMC/Kamiya style games are being highlighted once again, which makes this little freak pretty happy. I think we’re going to end up with a PS5 sooner rather than later if they keep investing in small studios that are making weird character action games. I just wish they would make them smaller!