Like a Dragon Gaiden is my end-of-year treat to myself | Kaser Focus

We’re pulling into the ultimate days of 2023, and I’ve been making an attempt to wrap up and check out any video games that I haven’t gotten to already. I’ve accepted there are a lot of video games from 2023 that I’m not going to have the ability to play earlier than the tip of the 12 months, so any sport I play now’s extra of a private factor. I believed my remaining deal with of the 12 months was going to be Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — however we all know how effectively that turned out. As a substitute, I’ve been placing a while into a distinct sport that got here out within the post-October glut, particularly Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify.

I haven’t performed sufficient to do a full evaluate, and that is extra of a tribute to a sport that’s introduced me some pleasure over the previous few days. I don’t assume RGG Studios has ever made a sport I didn’t like, and TMWEHN is simply pretty much as good as another within the collection. Having change into invested within the lifetime of Kazuma Kiryu over the course of about seven-and-a-half video games, I used to be already invested in Gaiden’s story when it began. With out spoiling, it’s a touching story about life after calamity and heartache, and the way to deal with the aftermath of adverse selections.

That’s to not say it’s an ideal sport: It’s shorter and leaner than different video games within the collection (in all probability becoming for a gaiden title), and the minigames and substories make up a higher portion of this sport than they do the others. It’s nothing new by Like a Dragon requirements, and definitely not the perfect sport within the collection, but it surely’s comforting and acquainted. It’s simply good to return to the back-alley beatdowns that had been a part of Kiryu’s journey for therefore lengthy, even when the collection itself is slowly shifting previous that now.

Oh yeah, issues occurred this week

I used to be naively hoping that this week was going to be a calmer one contemplating it’s so near the vacations. Frankly, I don’t have the power to correctly digest all of it, however I feel the one which wants essentially the most consideration is the hack at Insomniac that resulted in over 1,000,000 information being dumped on-line. It’s a horrible factor to occur to any firm, particularly given how a lot delicate worker information was included within the information. I’ve been making an attempt to keep away from the leaked sport footage on-line, as a result of I already comprehend it’d be folly to evaluate a sport primarily based on that stage of its growth.

We’ve additionally seen that Bobby Kotick of Activision is on his method out — which we kind of knew already, provided that Microsoft solely confirmed he’d be staying via the tip of the 12 months. For higher or worse, it’s the tip of a protracted period for Activision Blizzard and I’d be curious to see what change (if any) this fosters inside the firm itself.

Actually, it’s been such a protracted 12 months and I’m drained. And I mainly already expounded on what video games I’m enjoying proper now. So I’ll simply say that is my remaining “correct” Kaser Focus for 2023. It’s been an excellent journey this 12 months, even when the tales I wrote about right here weren’t at all times joyful ones. Even so, I used to be joyful to put in writing them for all of you! Subsequent week will likely be my remaining, year-end rating of all of the video games I’ve performed this 12 months and, effectively . . . for those who thought the 70-game listing I wrote final 12 months was extreme, you ain’t seen nothing but.

What to play this week (and subsequent week)

New on subscription providers:

• Grand Theft Auto V (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Stranger of Paradise: Closing Fantasy Origin (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Moto GP23 (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Steel: Hellsinger (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Salt and Sacrifice (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Moonscars (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Mega Man 11 (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Gigabash (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Grime (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Tinykin (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Prodeus (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Shadowrun Returns (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Lower (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Prolonged Version (PlayStation Plus Additional+Premium)
• Mega Man Legacy Assortment (PlayStation Plus Premium)
• Mega Man Legacy Assortment 2 (PlayStation Plus Premium)
• Thrillville (PlayStation Plus Premium)
• Thrillville: Off the Rails (PlayStation Plus Premium)
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (PlayStation Plus Premium)
• Kombinera (Prime Gaming)
• A Tiny Sticker Story (Prime Gaming)
• Asteroids: Recharged (Prime Gaming)
• Blasphemous 2 (GeForce Now)
• Bloons TD Battles (GeForce Now)
• Darkish Envoy (GeForce Now)
• Figment 2: Creed Valley (GeForce Now)
• Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Journey (GeForce Now)
• Loddlenaut (GeForce Now)
• Monster Hunter: World (GeForce Now)
• Nova-Life: Amboise (GeForce Now)
• RIDE 5 (GeForce Now)
• The Smurfs 2 – The Prisoner of the Inexperienced Stone (GeForce Now)
• Tintin Reporter – Cigars of the Pharaoh (GeForce Now)