I’m not sure if it has Autumn/Fall vibes, but I’m tempted to get Slime Rancher 2. I guess it’s appropriate for harvest season, as you’re farming and harvesting slimes? Something about it (at least I got this impression from the first game) feels cosy and perfect to play while the days get colder.

Yesss Crosscode is incredible. The soundtrack, visuals, puzzles - just a great package overall and it has stuck with me fondly. Can’t wait for the dev’s next game.

What an interesting concept for a game! Reminds me of Before Your Eyes, in which you have to keep your eyes open - but quite the opposite in this case.

Will check this one out.

Yeahhh the boss fights weren’t that great - just dodge attacks, fire, repeat. I did enjoy the final boss though!

That sounds really fun! The combat in the game feels best when each hit hits hard. So satisfying

Funnily enough I was looking to try one of the recent Assassin Creed games (Black Flag was my last). I heard good things about AC Odyssey, but it also sounded a bit overwhelming in its scale. Ghost of Tsushima perfectly filled this niche and was way better than any AC game I’d played before - I’m really glad I gave it a go!

I can understand that feeling regarding the activities of GoT. I skipped a fair amount of the side content and focused on the stuff I found interesting (such as the mythic tales), which I think helped. The ‘main’ side missions that involved specific characters I thought were quite engaging. What difficulty are you playing on? Perhaps it’s worth bumping it up to make the combat harder.

Have you played Ace Attorney or Danganronpa? It’s definitely going for something similar. I was a bit disappointed by it after the hype I’d seen, but it’s still a decent game. If you want something along the same lines of ‘weirdness’ I’d recommend Hypnospace Outlaw - I think that’s a better game overall.

I don’t find a lot of the things in the video that relevant to be honest. Not many people speaking online in games? Sure, but I never spoke with randoms to begin with. Discord seems to work fine on the PS5 from my experience. Do either of those things really affect the decision to buy a console? Games taking a while to download - you have the same thing on Steam.

I could definitely see that developers being shackled to the previous generation is an issue. Having to develop/optimise for 11 year old hardware must limit creativity.

Being a patient gamer, I think a lot of the issues people have with lack of current gen games isn’t so much of an issue for me. There are a ton of previous gen games that I never got round to playing, and the PS5 experience in playing them is superior. And there are a ton of current gen games I’ve now got my eye on - GTA 6, Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, Dragons Dogma 2, Baldur’s Gate, FF7 Rebirth, Death Stranding 2, Astrobot, Monster Hunter Wilds, Resident Evil 4 remake and MGS3 remake.

I agree that PC is the best option in a lot of cases. For me, I like sitting back on a sofa with a controller. The Steam Deck is really great for this but it’s not powerful enough to play a lot of modern games at full res. The PS5 is filling that niche for me.

This - Cemu is near flawless in my experience.

I was wanting to play something ‘Assassin’s Creed-y’ and this has really fit the bill! I like how easily you can be killed.

Should I play the DLC content after I’ve beaten the main game? It looks like I can go to the additional island whenever I want.

Ghost of Tsushima - Took a while to click, but now I’m really enjoying it. Pulling off some of the sword moves perfectly feels so satisfying. And it’s gorgeous to look at.

And also Dave the Diver. Very charming game and it keeps adding more and more layers to the gameplay. The gameplay loop is really fun so far.

I’m not sure if this is the best recommendation looking at your criteria, but Slime Rancher (1 and 2) are chilled games that have beautiful and colourful visuals. To me it feels like a summer vacation - one where you’re staying at a farm and catching adorable slimes.

Another recommendation I’d have is Tearaway unfolded. It’s a super charming adventure in a papercraft work. It really stuck with me and felt like an adventure. It’s only on PS4/5 as far as I’m aware though, but if you happen to have one of those I guess you could cast it to your Steam Deck using Chiaki. Or on the off-chance that you have a PS Vita, the original version of the game was on there.

Amazing game, but I’m not sure I’d describe the gameplay as chill!

It does feel so easy to get distracted nowadays with the infinite amount of content available online. If you’re pretty certain that there’s a game you’ll enjoy - yes, just give it a go rather than putting it off. If you don’t find yourself enjoying it, at least you gave it a go! On the other hand, maybe you’ll have found a new favourite genre.

Best of luck :)

I’m yet to play Elden Ring, but a friend offered to lend me the PS5 disc. So many people have told me it’s great, can’t wait to experience it.

Yeah definitely, wanting to complete every game 100% is a bit much. I’ll only ever do the side content that I actually enjoy. Ratchet and Clank: RA was great for this as it was easy and fun to complete everything (hence it being the only game I’ve managed to get all the trophies for).

In terms of keeping my to-play list short, I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying any games in Steam sales recently. Because 99% of the time they’ll be on sale again in the near future - buying them now only causes paralysis like you say.

I think that’s a fair way to play a game like that. I like to explore as much as possible, but when there’s a ridiculous amount of side content don’t feel guilty for playing the bits that interest you most. The game was probably designed assuming most people would skip the majority of the extras.

Your labelling system is a good idea! I do have plenty of games from bundles, but I only add the ones to my library that I’m actually interested in. So everything in my backlog is something I want to play at some point. Personally I don’t feel that there is any negative connotation to the word backlog, but maybe that’s because mine is full of stuff I intend to play.

I have a spreadsheet listing the games I’ve got to play, and whilst I do usually set an ‘up next’, this can change depending on how I’m feeling at the time. So it’s rare that I play a game I don’t like or doesn’t fit my mood :)

It works for me at least, and I guess it can’t hurt to try. Best of luck!