Captain_Insano

I'm most of the way through "A Plague Tale: Innocence" which a friend recommended and I scooped up via Game Pass. I'm really enjoying it - the story, world-building, graphic design and voice acting is all really strong and I'm having a fun time going through it. The gameplay itself is pretty boiler plate and the puzzles are pretty straighforward with no real heavy thinking involved - so it's not doing much from the 'game' side of things. However, I'm still having a good time with it

That ship has sailed - even looking back on Inquisition, it was a bit of a better return after Dragon Age 2 (which I really disliked), but it still wasn't a patch on Dragon Age: Origins. I'll see how the new Dragon Age reviews - I have no qualms about getting back into it, but to be perfectly honest I'd completely forgotten that another one was in development.

OP has a good list

Mine:

2011: Skyrim

2012: Xcom: Enemy Unknown

2013: Bioshock Infinite

2014: Dragon Age: Inquisition

2015: The Witcher 3

2016: Hitman/Stardew Valley (couldn't split but I had Hitman at #1) - also Bloodborne was my 2016's '2015 GOTY'

2017: Super Mario Odyssey

2018: God of War

2019 (I stopped doing lists): Sekiro (but after having played a bunch this year - Anno 1800 is 2019s best game)

2020: FFVII Remake (but also Ghost of Tsushima this year with the director's cut)

2021: Metroid Dread - though Halo Infinite is making a strong case at the moment

1. Demon's Souls

I'm not even past the Tower Knight yet, so I don't love my chances

2. Halo Infinite

When it fully releases, I plan on immersing myself into it

3. Wildermyth

I need to work through at least one or two of the scenarios

I've gotten back into Ghosts of Tsushima with the Director's Cut (and having procured a PS5). I dropped off it originally on Ps4 after playing through the first island. I've started from scratch but I think it's hooking me more this time around. I expect it will fall into that typical open world everything is samey trap that most open worlds games do, but I'm having fun with it so far

I also picked up Anno 1800 in an Epic sale like 3 or 4 weeks ago and I'm now 50 hours into playing it. I friggen love this game - I'd never played an Anno game previously but I did like city builders like Caesar III 'back in the day'. Anno does such a fantastic job with the production chain loop and having so much to consider. The mini quests and expeditions shake things up, it looks gorgeous and I think it might be moving right up there as one of my favourite games. I find it hard to sit down for long stretches with games anymore, but Anno keeps me wrapped really easily. I've got the first two Season Passes and have barely scratched the surface with them, but I like what they added so far. I'm holiding off on the 3rd until I've sunk more into this game. The campaign in it was a good intro to the game's mechanisms - I can't fault this game at all. I'm all in on it.

To be honest for me, I'll still listen to the podcasts intermittently but I'm moving on - I've been following the site since the Arrow Pointing Down days (well, really from before that at Gamespot). GB has been a huge part of my adult routine and life. I understand the pandemic completely shook things up - I understand the business moves to have a more solid platform but I'm not enjoying what it being produced at the moment (with the exception really of Borne to Run and Guilty Treasures).

The personalities are massive for me. For me, personally, GBeast was my preferred podcast for quite some time and really, Nextlander are doing more of what I enjoy in a way that I enjoy it. I loved Bakalar's contributions to the Beastcast but the dynamic between him, Vinny, Alex and Dan (and Abby) is what I really liked.

Danny does phenomenal stuff - which is why I also support Noclip and Shift F1 - so I get my O'Dwyer fix there.

Unless things dramatically shift I won't re-up my sub at the end of the year. I get that they can't just return to the old GB, but the old GB is what I liked. They're doing new stuff and this is not me criticising that - but it's just not what's clicking for me really.

18 hours into Yakuza: Like a Dragon

I am over-deluged with podcasts I listen to anyway, but nothing quite fits the void of the Beastcast - was definitely my preferred of the GB podcasts.

Having Jeff B on the Bombcast regularly is neat, and I am really enjoying Fire Escape cast because Dan, Mike and Mary just create a good, fun vibe - but I do miss my Vinny fix

Metal Gear Scanlon

This is the Run

Steal My Sunshine

Giantbomb becoming an NFT confirmed