Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

How do!

Looking to invest in a new game for my PS5. But because I’m old and not that up on modern stuff, to the degree I still expect to find reviews in printed mags (big up the Mean Machines massive!), I’ve no idea where to start looking for sober, non-reactionary, click baity game reviews.

And so I turn to the whippersnappers of Dakka, who just this once, can come on my lawn to recommend decent, reliable reviewers who give a balanced view of why they do or don’t like a game.

Ha, no.

Best thing these days is finding some youtubers that share your tastes, and watching some gameplay to see if you think you'll like it.


I've got a couple people I'd recommend for RPGs (Retcon Raider and Mortismal Gaming) or strategy games (mostly just quill18, when he gets around to new stuff), but none that will really help with PS5 stuff.
Those are about the only ones I can think of that try for balanced and reasonable (Mortismal even gives pros and cons, even for stuff he likes).

I’ll check Mortismal out

Agreed, youtube is the best place for reviews, I mainly watch Mandolore Gaming, though he sadly does retro / GW game reviews for the most part, but good production quality.

And for the older crowd out there, a joke from the heydays of when review sites were still a thing: Don't ever bother with IGN, cuz you can't spell ignorance without IGN. /rimshot

When I'm looking for a new game I tend to just hit up youtube and see what comes up. I tend to more look for gameplay and hear the common critique and such. I'll sometimes skip to the end to hear summaries.

So I'll watch a handful from different sources and make my own mind up on what they say; looking for common pros and cons. I try to avoid lets-plays if only because they can spoil stories, though sometimes I will look them up if the reviews tend to not really show full gameplay or leave me confused as to how the game actually works and flows (eg the reviews show clips and short segments)

My tastes seem to generally align pretty well with ACG. (well, except he does enjoy a couple Souls-like games, I don't)

One of the "nice" things with ACG is that he buys a copy of any game he reviews, even if given one by the publisher. He does positives, negatives, and occasionally even some cross platform comparisons (ie, which console should I buy Elden Ring for? as an example). Like, I've generally felt like I was informed on a game, rather than "sold" on a game, if that makes sense.

Voss wrote:
Ha, no.

Best thing these days is finding some youtubers that share your tastes, and watching some gameplay to see if you think you'll like it.

That's a good idea. Personally i just listen to friends with similar tastes in things as my game critics. If we like the same stuff and they hated something then chances are i will too.

These days it's rare to find a reviewer that doesn't spoil the game, let alone one that is reliable, lol.

Only reviewer I'd listen to is Angry Joe.

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a reliable reviewer.

I think it's easier to find a relatable reviewer. Find someone who seems to like the games you like for the reasons you like them.

Personally what I find harder today is just finding games themselves to know they exist. Since magazines kind of lost their lustre and since Steam opened the floodgates so that their front page is almost useless now; its super easy to just not be aware of games being released.

Same for consoles as well I find. The big names are fairly easy because they do a lot of their own marketing and do normally land on the front page of big webstores and console stores; but all the middle and lower weight games are all jumbled together.

 Overread wrote:
Personally what I find harder today is just finding games themselves to know they exist. Since magazines kind of lost their lustre and since Steam opened the floodgates so that their front page is almost useless now; its super easy to just not be aware of games being released.

PC gamer does a pretty decent list of releases.
I just put 'pc games 2022' into google and get it.

But... https://www.pcgamer.com/new-games-2022/#section-2022-games-august

I doubt they have everything, but they've got at least some of the smaller stuff, and its broken up by month.

This year is really depressing, though, especially November and December, which used to be good months simply because of holiday releases. But at this point soooo much has slipped to next year.
Cyberpunk (among a laundry list of bungles) really shook a lot of studios.

 Overread wrote:
Personally what I find harder today is just finding games themselves to know they exist. Since magazines kind of lost their lustre and since Steam opened the floodgates so that their front page is almost useless now; its super easy to just not be aware of games being released.

Same for consoles as well I find. The big names are fairly easy because they do a lot of their own marketing and do normally land on the front page of big webstores and console stores; but all the middle and lower weight games are all jumbled together.

As I’m a PS5 slag, I mostly find my info from their reveal shows. And sometimes trawling their online store.

God of War Ragnarok is coming soon, that’s a must buy for me. The next Arkham game is also out soon, which I’m tempted by. Spider-Man 2 is coming, and that’s another definite auto-buy for me because Spider-Man and Miles Morales are genuinely Just That Flipping Excellent.

But outside of AAA? My ignorance is near complete. Was tempted by the Vampire The Masquerade game, but whilst reviews are somewhat positive, the face graphics are, for me, too distractingly bad.

I'd recommend Worth a Buy for sure, although it's mostly up to finding a reviewer who has similar tastes.

https://www.youtube.com/c/WorthABuyreviews

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Only reviewer I'd listen to is Angry Joe.

Another one in the hat for Angry Joe for me too, even if I don't always 100% agree with his takes for some games, he does give a solid video for the pros and cons for yourself to decide and his skits are always pretty top notch.