This is an automated monthly post from your friendly neighborhood DVD Talk Bot!



August Game Releases
(list courtesy of Polygon)

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles 2 (PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 5
• Gradius Origins (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 7
• Mafia: The Old Country (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 8
• Drag x Drive (Switch 2) - Aug. 14
• Madden NFL 26 (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X)- Aug. 14
• Sword of the Sea (PC, PS5) - Aug. 19
• Black Myth Wukong (Xbox Series X) - Aug. 20
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road (PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 21
• Dying Light: The Beast (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 22
• Gears of War: Reloaded (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 26
• Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (PC, Switch, Switch 2) - Aug. 27
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World (Switch 2) - Aug. 28
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 28
• Super Robot Wars Y (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 28
• Lost Soul Aside (PC, PS5) - Aug. 29
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X) - Aug. 29

Disney Speedstorm.

Getting Drag X Drive for the sw2 and Voxelgram 2 for the pc.

Have a handful of sw2 games I play everyday. Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Party SW2, air hockey game, Fast Fusion.

I’m still (!) playing Metaphor: Refantazio. That’s surprising to me in that it’s not an outrageously long game, and I started it in June. It’s extremely rare for a game to spill over into three different months for me. I am in the last few in-game weeks, so I do think I’ll be finished relatively soon.

Metaphor has been so all-consuming that I haven’t been playing Donkey Kong Bananza as much as I’d like. That will 100% be my fixation once I finish the last few things in Metaphor.

Dunno what’s next for me after Bananza. I might check out the Kirby and the Forgotten Land expansion. I’m still playing Mario Kart World with my wife near-daily, and hopefully we’ll get back to Split Fiction again soon.

I’m not looking at buying anything this month (barring a compelling sale!), and my backlog is basically down to the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster, Baldur’s Gate 3, and the second Mega Man Legacy Collection.

I've hit the burnout point with the Diablo 4 so I'm finally getting around to Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Been playing the Skate early access alpha or whatever.
PUBG
Looking forward to the new Mafia game.

I'll be curious to hear what you think! The Veilguard was my first Dragon Age game, and personally, I had a tremendous time. One of my best friends is a very avid fan of the Dragon Age franchise and had a very different experience.

I bought the Final Fantasy I-VI collection and have been working through that, currently maybe 50% of the way through III. I played one of these early ones with a friend way back on NES but am really enjoying these games and seeing the gameplay iterations through each one.
A couple hours into Metaphor, after I finish FFIII I think I'll be ready for a break and will go back to Metaphor.

Please do share your thoughts on Veilguard. I loved DA 1 and 2, really didn't like the third game for some reason, so I haven't really looked into Veilguard much.

Red Dead Redemption 2

I’ve played them all and I’m enjoying it so far, but I haven’t played the series since Inquisition came out 11 years ago so it’s hard for me to compare them.

^ That’s a really underrated one! I had a blast with Guardians of the Galaxy, and it’s one of my favorite Marvel games.

Tried Just Dance and liked it so much I got 2023, 2024, and 2025 for the Switch and Just Now +, the online subscription. Have sneaked in a few songs and man am I out of shape, one song and I'm breathing hard. Plan to get Just Dance 2026 when it releases this October. I can't play it until the kids go back to school a week from Monday because my oldest says I dance so bad I can't dance in front of her (7 years old going on 16).

I need to give this another chance. I played it for about a week and got to a point in the game where I could not make the jump to the next platform. I kept falling and falling and falling so I just gave up.

I’m playing Metaphor as well. Looking forward to MGS3 and maybe Mafia. I’ll play Madden with the EA trial.

I'll tell you, it's addicting. I'm really liking it and have forsaken my other games except Handy Hockey. Really great game. Great action, good voice acting and great gameplay.

Just began Journey 2 of The Alters and am having a blast. It is difficult in all the best ways.

4 or 5 hours into Ninja Gaiden. Super fun game. Excellent visuals and soundtrack. It's very hard, though. Definitely not one for casual gamers.

the new side scroller, Ragebound?

How are you liking Metaphor? I'm trying to decide on starting it or Expedition 33 next. I've been playing Hades and I'm wrapping it up

It’s a refinement of the Persona structure — well, at least Persona 5 — in a lot of ways: the Archetype system and the ability to more deliberately craft your builds is a vast improvement over Personas, the social bonds are more straightforward, the schedule is a lot more generous (you won’t feel compelled to consult a guide and can still do everything with time to spare), and it’s also a good bit shorter (though still probably longer than it needed to be). There are no real romance options either, which I’m okay with, although I understand it’s a bit divisive. The dungeons have puzzles on occasion but they aren’t obtuse or annoying as ones in other Atlus games I’ve played have been. But in being streamlined, some of the dungeons do feel a little same-y. On the other hand, there are proper side dungeons rather than the monotony of Mementos. The ability to restart a battle mid-stream is appreciated, making it easier to experiment.

I like the writing, world building, characterization, and performances, but I’ll confess that it didn’t hook me in quite the way that Persona 5 Royal did. I’m not sure I could name a favorite character or dynamic, for instance. If there were spinoffs or an expanded edition, I wouldn’t be first in line. But I’d be up for a sequel.

I’m not sure how helpful all of that is. I’d say my feelings are largely very positive but not, like, 10/10.

Persona 5 is one of my all time favorite games. I'm just trying to decide if I want to dedicate 100 hours to Metaphor or 50-60 to Expedition 33. I might fire up Metaphor and play it for a little bit and see how I like it.

FWIW, I think my completion time for Metaphor was more around 75 hours. Long for sure but a good bit less than Persona 5 Royal. I admittedly would read the subtitles and skip past some of the recorded dialogue, though.

Great. 70 hours is a lot less daunting.

Yep. Some of the bosses have given me trouble. Many attempts to get them down. And a few of the optional platforming sections have been too hard for me. I may go back and try to get those done, like I did with Prince of Persia.

It's different in the sense that you can't go back to old areas with new upgrades like what we've become used to with the Metroidvaina-style games. Each level is a stage you select from a map. When you do an old stage, you only have what you would have had at that time other than your few equipped items which will carry over, I believe.

I finished up Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I really enjoyed it. Of this trilogy, I think it had by far the best challenge tombs/puzzles, which is more in the spirit of the original games. Pretty good boss fight at the end, too. The climax of the first game in this trilogy--fighting the giant samurai dude and then scaling the tower/mountain during a blizzard--was really thrilling. The ending of Shadow doesn't quite reach those heights (pun intended), but it has probably a better overall story.