GNamer Fantasy Games League (And your Year Four winner is...)

Here's my lineup peeps and peepettes:

Horizon Forbidden West
It has a release date! My first pick last year was Silksong I believe which was agonising to wait on, this time I've gone for something which looks quite finished to me. It seems they're making huge strides ahead of the first game and I think the PS5 review hype will still be super high.

Sifu
For that same reason Sifu was a 2nd pick, it's PlayStation exclusive and we're all still looking for more justification for our massive consoles and this would be that. The premise looks unique and the gameplay looks kick ass (literally) so I've got high hopes for this.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
I wouldn't have gone near this before I seen the trailer from The Game Awards, now I'm really anticipating this, looks a lot of fun and it's Rocksteady who as far as I'm concerned never miss. Just gotta hope it actually releases this year.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
I played the original early last year and absolutely loved it so I was understandably excited when this was announced, shouldn't be too far off seeing as it was supposed to be released last year and fully expecting decent scores.

Pokémon Legends Arceus
Surprised this lasted so long in to the draft, I think nobody knew what to expect from it but now we've seem the most recent trailer I'm very hopeful with this scoring well.

Have a Nice Death
Revealed only last month but looked really smooth from what I've seen, big issue I have with this is it going in to early access soon might mean it doesn't get officially released this year, if it does though it'll be a hit, I'm confident of that.

I counter picked Suicide Squad in the Pod of War Fantasy, as my logic was we've seen more of Gotham Knights and that got pushed back into 2022 from 2021, I can see in turn SS getting pushed back to 2023 for them not to cannibalize each other plus WB has Hogwarts and LEGO Star Wars coming out.

I'm super excited myself for Oxenfree II, Afterparty was meh though that I hope Night School Studio aren't a one hit wonder.

Unless I'm mistaken we've seen Suicide Squad more than Gotham Knights and it already looks more solid than that.

We've seen 17 mins of Gotham Knights and 5 trailers, compared to 8mins and 3 trailers for Suicide Squad which 2 have gameplay where all of GK has gameplay in it.

I don't disagree SS will be likely be the better game because Rocksteady, just you can see where I'm coming from hey here's a 2021 game pushed to 2022 which we've seen quite a bit of compared to a game we've seen less off and only got a vague 2022 date.

Also just three of us in the Pod of War, that leaves not a lot to counter pick between the Zeldas, Horizons, God of Wars in our teams.

Double Post

A load of bidding just ended where I picked up Atelier Sophie 2 for $1 the last Sophie did 76/77 but Ryza 2 did 82, so I'm hoping Sophie 2 builds on that framework.

Then I did bid on a bunch more, however Andy got them and that's Nobody Saves the World for $15 (Jay and Smurf also bid on this) which I was going for because out soon & from Drinkbox. Far: Changing Tides which Andy won for $20 (Balla really is confused now), I was going for as it has a date and the first got an 80.

Andy also seemed to have got AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative for $10, I think Andy liked the first when I was talking about it when it came to Xbox (I should give it a go), and it got an 81.

Only other action, Jay got Somerville for $5 it looks like it be a great game from a bunch of Playdead (Limbo/Inside) guys, just will it come out is the question.

I'm pretty sure Andy said he was properly gunning for the title this year during one of our FFXIV sessions, so that flurry of activity doesn't surprise me!

I'm happy enough with getting one of my two titles. Like you said Mas, Somerville may not come out this year, but I'm quietly hopeful it does. Should review well if it does, I'd imagine.

More bidding this week, where I bid on four games but won three as Jay took Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 for $10, which the first got a 79.

The three I did get:

Neon White from the man behind Donut County (Only a 76, so low man) this Annapurna (Can go either way based on last year) published Switch console exclusive (might be timed) has been highlighted a few times by Nintendo, and I'm personally keen on it.

Chinatown Detective Agency, the free prequel Day One was very well received which I hope translates to the actual game.

Open Roads, more Annapurna here with the new game from Fullbright who did the 85 rated Gone Home and 77 rated Tacoma (This seems a low score), that's an 81 avg.

This leaves me with 2+1 spots, I hope all my games come out and look good that I don't need that +1, so sticking with just the 2 spots with a $96 budget still which I'll now be saving for a Super Mario Odyssey 2 or Mario Kart 9 is announced.

JayMoyles wrote:

I'm pretty sure Andy said he was properly gunning for the title this year during one of our FFXIV sessions, so that flurry of activity doesn't surprise me!

Is he fuck. Andyman wouldn’t know a good game if it smacked him on the arse!

On another note, is there actually a game called Neon White?

Yeah it's been in Nintendo Directs

I'm very curious to see the results of the bidding tomorrow - looks like we've all been busy bees following this week's Direct!

I'm surprised only three games from Direct but then Chrono Cross wouldn't be allowed, Live A Live might be as remake.

Hmm see what happens.

I'm not sure about live a live. It looked pretty but it also seemed to be a load of stuff that wasn't really connected. I'm pretty on the fence about it. Was nice to see a flurry of pickups though. I think everyone qt least tried to grab something.

Aye, I think the new style of bidding will be a lock for any future editions of the league. I think it's been a great success so far personally.

Yep, gives you more reason to check it each week & you can get wee laughs at certain $70 bids.

Then having to get 4 games with about $4

No no, he has 2 slots left to fill so not that bad.

I'll be sneaking under the radar during E3 week with some wee picks, don't you worry about me.

The new bidding option has been really good and made the league a livelier place for sure. It's helped that there has been a lot of stuff to bid on as well which is a bit of a difference to last year too.

Seems like everything is still relatively tightly poised in the league. I've got a few releases this month that I picked up for a buck a piece in Sniper Elite V and Evil Dead: The Game.

I feel like Sniper Elite will do well enough, although I don't really have any interest in playing it. I'm genuinely excited for Evil Dead though. I've really enjoyed the TV show, and from the looks of the previews the game is capturing that feel. It's got cross play from the start, it's a co-op PvE game, but there is also a PvPvE mode where you can possess parts of the level and set traps if playing as the evil dead.

It's a game that's definitely taking quite a few risks, but it looks surprisingly polished in the previews so I'm hopeful it'll not only do well but give us a pretty unique game.

Dam it


Does also mean Xbox has no games for this year, which hopefully means Forza Motorsport does come out this year, and they've got a few surprises at the Summer Showcase worth a bid.

Got no idea what those could be as all the Xbox games we know about seem far away or who could be making anything.

The lack of a proper E3 showcase this year is making it difficult for me to decide what to go for to try and fill my last roster spot.

Have the rest of you got your eyes on anything? I'd imagine Jas isn't fussed with his whopper 30 point lead right now.

Waiting after the 20+ events this week or so coming.

I think the not e3 style makes it a bit more interesting as folk might miss or overlook something, also despite my current lead I'm still on the look out to fill my final few spots.

I’ve got every faith in masofdas meticulously assessing all the announcements from the 20+ events this coming week, comparing and contrasting dozens upon dozens of different options and then picking out an unmemorable indie that gets a score of 66 after four Opencritic reviews.

I’ve got a couple of games that I think I can pick up later. I might need them: six months into 2022 and without any word in ages, I’m not optimistic about Bayonetta 3 and Mario & Rabbids both releasing this year. We’ll see about Hogwarts Legacy too – in every regard it’s a punt to say the least.

You mean another Battlefield after last year.

I know CW in the Pod of War one swears he's not picking a indie next year because trying to find the next undertale or whatever just not worth it.