Returnal and rift apart look fantastic by current gen standards, however with the beginning of this gen it seems to be having a more evolutionary visual leap , im not getting that next gen craving I got with fallout 4, uncharted 4 etc.
So what about you are craving more next gen content or are happy waiting a bit more?
Im gonna be playing on both so Im winning either way.
UC4 and Fallout 4 were 2016 and 2015 respectively iirc. I think weāll see some more next gen goodies soon. Very excited to see how Hellblade 2 shapes up in particular.
Iām personally super hyped for the current generation exclusives line up on both sides excluding timed console exclusives as I count these as being multi-platform. Including Gears Tactics, I have 11 announced console exclusives for Xbox Series X with 7 being 100% guaranteed to be played and completed while the other 4 games are 50/50 and are on a wait and see basis.
Including Spider Man: Miles Morales, I have 4 announced console exclusives for PlayStation 5 with all 4 being 100% guaranteed to be played and completed.
In general, having 60FPS and ultra fast loading timed was easily worth the $1500 I spent combined on both console bundles. No complaints or issues here. And of course, I have a shit ton of third party multi-platform games on my list as well so overall, this generation is an easy 9.0/10 for me thus far. Been very pleased and happy.
Back to the exclusives, I know im going to have at least a 2 (Xbox Series X) to 1 (PlayStation 5) ratio for the entire generation. My only concern on the Xbox side is the quality aspect and if the games are for me and that I want to play them. Thus far, I have 7 games that I definitely want to play but I wonāt know the quality level until the game releases where as on the PlayStation side, quality isnāt even a concern for me whatsoever as Sony has proven themselves to me since PS3 so in this regard, I have no worries. Miles was a great 8.5/10 for me and I know Rift Apart, Horizon 2 and GOW Ragnarok are all hitting an easy 9.0/10 for me.
Just have to wait and see how it all plays out but thus far, I have basically no complaints or issues and am anticipating this generation to be the best generation ever in general and for me personally. 
One thing I do wish for is some good direction for the next gears game, not that gears 5 had bad direction on the contrary gears5 was one of my favourite last gen games but regardless of the franchise when you get past the 3rd installment it gets harder and harder to keep the franchise fresh.
Personally I would like a shorter 2yr dev time 7-8hr campaign more in line with hivebusters, a kind of spin off where you have to go to another planet or somthing crazy. They should also heavily modify the roady run and add a jump.
Hyped as hell for the Xbox line-up, as I know all those games will hit my subscription day one at no extra cost.
Lukewarm on the PlayStation line-up. Iām sure they are gonna be great games, no doubt about that, but the prospect of having to pay 500ā¬ to have the āhonorā to play those games for 80ā¬ day one is not a great value proposition for me, so I mostly see myself waiting until most of the line-up hits a much friendlier price.
Particularly excited for, on the Xbox side: Halo Infinite, Starfield, Avowed, Fable, Everwild, Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3, and other Publishing titles like STALKER 2 and The Gunk.
On the PlayStation side: Horizon, God of War, Spider-Man as of right now.
For me I thought I would like the Medium and didnāt. I would have bought Demon Souls on PS5 when I could get it for Ā£20 if I had one. Ratchet and Returnal lol meh though Iād be definitely try both when free on PS+ or whatever.
I loved Horizon so thatās the big one on the Sony side for me but I guess itās not an exclusive next gen. Nothing else from them announced so far interests me GoW etc
From MS Iām dying to try Flight Simulator but I think my interest will only last a couple of hours unless they have really goid arcade controls option maybe with a another game built in, maybe a delivery service or something, doubtful.
Apart from that there is Starfield, Fable, Avowed, basically all the RPGs canāt wait for those. They actually have too many studios to think about to be honest. Forza Motorsport isnāt for me and I donāt know much about the rest of the games as they are too early in development.
As always, Xbox offers more games that are my kind of thing. Especially now, with Arkane, Bethesda, Ninja Theory, Obsidian & Playground joining the first-party fold. Itās just cemented for me at this point.
But Iām at the stage now where Iām able & happy to buy more than one console, so Iāll get a PS5 eventually & enjoy the exclusives they have which interest me. Horizon Zero Dawn was my favourite PS4 game & I need to play Forbidden West on next gen hardware. Always up for seeing what Santa Monica & Naughty Dog will do next, as well.
I still think this could be one of the best generations ever. Itās a great time to be a gamer.
On the Sony side Iām excited for Horizon Forbidden West and more Uncharted/TLOU or whatever else Naughty Dog is cooking up. Also Final Fantasy XVI and the next part(s) of Final Fantasy VII Remake if they are indeed exclusive.
For Microsoft, the heavy hitters for me are Gears, Fable, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and the other WRPG projects to come.
The RPG output excites me more than anything else for MS.
I see nothing like that from Sony. They have they usual cinematic games which are nice but simply donāt appeal to me.
Avowed, Fable, inXile, Starfield and whatever else they have cooking. Going to be something special when they reach peak output.
Icing on the cake if they get JRG exclusives into the mix.
Horizon zero dawn I only play about an hour and I have not continued it because ive heard all you really do is kill those robot dinos, which sounds pretty boring. So for horizon forbidden west, it will have to have far better activity variety, not just loot and fetch quests.
God of war Ragnarok needs to streamline the upgrade system, i dont need so many dam trinkets and upgrade paths, they need to keep it simple Like previous gowās. Also they need to work on the pacing the first several hrs of GOW get kinda tedious, I miss the good puzzles of the old ones.
Ive never been a huge halo player, I tried to get into it during the 360 days I nearly completed halo1, I enjoyed what I played from it, the subtle story telling was really quite good, but the sequals never really grabbed me, halo 1 felt more like alien1 movie, halo5 felt more like a average low budget sci fi movie. Seeing how halo infinite is with gamepass I will definitely try it, I do hope the story is not so hokey, I do like the theme they seem to be taking with the banished, they remind me of Klingons which is always a good thing in my book.
Very excited by Xboxās lineup, no fewer than a dozen titles I canāt wait to play. Very disappointed thus far in what playstation has announced. Nothing I want to play by playstation other than god of war, Final Fantasy 16 and horizon Forbidden West.
I dont know why so much people give flack to this game. Its the best Sony 1st party game last gen besides Gravity Rush 1-2 to me lol.
Well, i really want to play horizon 2 rn honestly, also ratchet n clank rift apart. Iād love to know about starfield and seems interesting, but thereās nothing else I care enough coming this year. Iām not a racing games fan so meh, and i already dropped the halo franchise with 5. So at least for the line up of 2021, Iām more interested with playstation. Now if we look forward, i really wanna play hellblade 2,fable and perfect dark.
Apparently it had poor side quests and npcs, inferior to that of games a generation older like fallout new vegas, and all the game consisted of was dino combat and basic fetch quests. However clearly it was good enough for a lot of People and the combat and control was very good, but personally I very rarely kike games that rely solely kn the there gameplay.
Iām extremely excited for Xbox and their lineup. Microsoft seems more supportive of Xbox than ever before. It feels like weāre coming up on the edge of a waterfall. The wait right now is excruciating, but weāll soon be overwhelmed.
Iām most intrigued by Avowed and Starfield.
So much promise. Weāll find out soon enough!
What game do you think will be the ultimate showcase for the Series X? Kind of like a Rockstar/DICE or a Naughty Dog game that tries to push the visuals and animations to new levels.
If we go budget wise, I think the most amount of money will be pumped into Elder Scrolls VI, going by studio reputation to push graphics I think it will be the Coalition, Ninja Theory or Id maybe even Playground/machine games.
Hellblade 2, Fable or Gears 6 would be my guess for a game that becomes a visual showcase for Series X.
R&C is a proper next gen visual leap. Returnal looks no better than a PS4 Pro game to me. The Medium was an awkward sorta in between gen kinda aesthetic. Not sure why the image in the OP includes stuff like Bloodborne or Dreams as those are not next gen games. Having the image list Japan Studio is also kinda awkward, heh.
I think Xbox will really shock the industry with its 1P output this gen. We are on the cusp of the spigot turning on full throttle and most donāt seem to realize that yet, but they will. Remember how everyone thought 2021 was a dry year for Xbox? Odds are strong we will see Grounded, Psychonauts, FlightSim, Forza Horizon, Halo, Starfield and AoE all in the back half of the year. Add to that The Ascent, Tunic, 12 Minutes, The Gunk, and Scorn. Then ya got the āmaybe 2021ā games like Wolfenstein 3, Stalker 2 and CrossfireX campaign.
I think end of the year we will look back on the June-Dec lineup for XSX and see that we are already literally at the point where every month a major exclusive game is launching into Game Pass alongside 1-2 smaller/medium titles. If these games turn out great, there will be a huge shift in narrative wrt first party output and exclusive content.
Ratchet is a visual leap alright, but I feel like returns on the visual front are very diminishing at this point. It wowed me, but the āwowā factor didnāt even last for the entirety of the gameplay showcase.
On the other hand, Halo Infinite did not look impressive visually to me at all, even in the most recent screenshot releases, but I donāt think any less of the game for it.
Despite Ratchet looking more impressive visually, theyāre ultimately on equal ground for me and itās all thanks to the gameplay, which will be very engaging and fun on both. I know Iāll be playing Ratchet at 60fps, visuals be damned.
On the PlayStation side, I like Ratchet, Gran Turismo and Ghost of Tsushima quite a bit. Spider-Man not so much but I still like it. No interest in the likes of Horizon, God of War or whatever Naughty Dog makes.
On the Xbox side, I like Halo, Forza Motorsport and Horizon, Doom and The Elder Scrolls. I am also VERY interested in Perfect Dark, Avowed and to a slightly lesser extent Fable. Wonāt say I ālikeā these, as theyāre either totally new or so old that theyāre in for a full revamp, so I donāt really know what theyāll play like in their upcoming releases. Everwild is intriguing but I have no idea what to think about it at the moment.
Ultimately Iām much more interested in the Xbox line-up, which considering I am mainly a PC gamer, is a pretty good state of affairs.
That said, PSVR2 is a thing. I love VR and the Xbox ecosystem has no answer as of right now. And honestly, PC VR isnāt in such good shape without a commited platform holder behind it, especially with Facebook funding VR projects in competition with SteamVR and releasing what are, at least in my view, much more balanced value propositions in terms of hardware. Which aināt good for me considering I wonāt touch Facebook with a 10 foot pole and thereās nothing as cohesive and affordable on the PC VR side without Facebook influence.
