Board 8 > Did you play any games for the first time this year...

(+) Yeah! (+)

If so, which were your favorites?

Probably more than games from this year.

Dishonored 2, One Step from Eden, and the FRAMED games are standing out for me.

Too many to count.

The best was definitely Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth which is a top 5 game of all time for me

I would be very surprised if there was anyone who only play games from the year they're released in

Usually for me it's a 50/50 split

Only one that immediately comes to mind is AI the Somnium Files, which was very good

I play way fewer games in general. I did play a couple new games from this year, but everything else Is stuff Ive been playing since 2020 or earlier. Surprised I was the first no vote

The 3 main standouts for me were:
Yakuza 0
Xenoblade 2
AI: The Somnium Files

This is probably true every year that I have played video games

Yes, far more than from this year!

Standouts for me include Xenoblade, FFVI+IX, Nier Automata and AI Somnium Files.

I'm pretty sure this is true for every year since I started playing video games

Oh right Outer Wilds, how silly of me to forget that wasn't this year. Yeah that's probably my favorite not from this year

Murder By Numbers
Paradise Killer
Spiritfarer
Trails of Cold Steel II
Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero
Crosscode
Horizon Zero Dawn
Mirror's Edge Catalyst
West of Loathing
Unavowed
Timespinner
Trine 4
Mini Metro
Mass Effect: Andromeda
The Outer Worlds
Supraland
Escape From Tethys
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark
Children of Morta
AER: Memories of Old
Pepper's Puzzles
Stories: The Path of Destinies
Outer Wilds

Favorites from that were...hmm...I dunno. Nothing that I absolutely loved to death. I'll say Timespinner.

I feel like the better question would be what's the oldest game you played for the first time this year

which for me would be Famicom Detectives Club, since that had not come out in English until this year

Hades was the biggest stand out for me. But yeah, every year I almost definitely play way more old games than new ones.

I beat Ghosts n Goblins (once) and Kid Icarus

Hollow Knight and Hades

I guess I'd say Monster Sanctuary. Tales of Berseria close second.

TheArkOfTurus posted...

Probably more than games from this year.

Arti posted...

The best was definitely Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth which is a top 5 game of all time for me

These.

Actually, 13 Sentinels was 2020 wasn't it. ...That's actually a competition then, both are Top 10 I think.

Quite a few but games this year I've played for the first time. Enough time to say I enjoyed it though....maybe Pirate Warriors 4? And Suikoden. All of them except for 3.

Yakuza 3-6 & Judgment
Mass Effect 2-3 (sort of, since it was LE)

I've gotta be forgetting something else, but I guess I have played a lot of Isaac lately.

Hades (though I don't remember if I started playing it late last year or early this year)...
But for sure:

• Yakuza 7
• Dead Rising 3
• Ring Fit Adventure
• Virtual Villagers Origin 2

And likely a few more other games.

LeonhartFour posted...

I feel like the better question would be what's the oldest game you played for the first time this year

Baten Kaitos Origins

Paper Mario is amazing

Yakuza Like a Dragon is the big one that comes to mind for me.
Loved that game.

That's pretty much all I played

Best one was Trails from Zero or Trails in the Sky 3rd. Oldest was Ys 1

Games I beat this year that qualify (although all of my beaten games this year were new beats, I had at least played many of them before; even if I played it for a minute before 2021, I didn't include it here):

Spider-Man
The Gardens Between
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Spyro 2: Riptos Rage
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Yoshis Woolly World
Treasure Planet
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
We Love Katamari
One Night Stand
The Last of Us Part II
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (although I DID play the GBA version)

My favorites of those were Spider-Man, Spyro 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, and TLOU2.

I always had the impression that the majority of dedicated gamers' first time playing a game (at least from what I've seen in boards) was only with the current-year ones, and that any older games they played throughout that year were already games they'd beaten or played in the past.

Nice to be proven wrong!

There are way too many quality games released in a year and ongoing from previous years (for me it is Apex Legends and Rocket League) to be able to get to everything.

Hm, for me there's probably three main reasons I don't mainly play games in their release year:

• I already have so many well-liked games to catch up on, new ones don't typically jump to the top of my list.
• I usually like waiting a while after the initial release buzz to see if a game's reputation holds up. Sometimes games that get showered with praise upon release virtually disappear within a few months.
• ...I like buying cheaper things >_> Even just one year on, many (non-Nintendo :( ) games are half the price they were on release.

As it stands, Game Pass games are about the only ones I play in their release year these days. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate!

Advokaiser posted...

I always had the impression that the majority of dedicated gamers' first time playing a game (at least from what I've seen in boards) was only with the current-year ones, and that any older games they played throughout that year were already games they'd beaten or played in the past.

Nice to be proven wrong!

Just logistically speaking, a ton of games tend to come out in November and playing through them all before January would be difficult. And I'm sure people here get video games for Christmas, and unless they immediately jump into them, they likely won't be playing those until the next year.

This question might have been better if you excluded games from 2020 for those reasons.

Yeah the highlights for me were definitely Dark Souls and Bloodborne.

Bastion, Gravity Rush 2 and Grim Fandango were also fantastic.

Advokaiser posted...

I always had the impression that the majority of dedicated gamers' first time playing a game (at least from what I've seen in boards) was only with the current-year ones, and that any older games they played throughout that year were already games they'd beaten or played in the past.

Nice to be proven wrong!

This board is old now and most working adults just don't have the same free time to stay up to date on every new release.

I played The House in Fata Morgana: Requiem for Innocence [2018] and Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies [2013], really enjoyed both of them.

Let's see...

Jak X: Combat Racing
Streets of Rage 4
Crash Bandicoot 4
Trails of Cold Steel
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spider-Man Miles Morales
Bugsnax
Blasphemous

Best were Ori and Crash

I don't think I played a single game that came out this year. The best "new to me" game I played this year would probably be Panzer Dragoon Saga.