Mind you, if we consider recency bias then it does make KCD2 all the more impressive, as that came out way back at the start of February but more people have picked that as their GOTY than any other title
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Its my annual GOTY thread time ! 2025 edition
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Sure, but it's an RPG and has a lot more content / depth compared to ARC Raiders, including several DLCs that have kept people engaged throughout the year.
Yup, stonker of a game
Well you nailed the not close part when it came to winning awards tbf. Nobody laughing at you now
Caporegime
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Is it like final fantasy?
It's similar in the respect it's a JRPG style title with semi-linear progression/exploration.
E33 was made by a French studio of ex Ubisoft dev's who jumped ship funnily enough, and the soundtrack was made by an unknown guy they found on Soundcloud of all places. The characters are well written and voiced, the concept and story drew me in, it has a spin on TB combat that people seem to either love or hate.
You can really tell it's a love letter to the genre regardless, if that sounds like your sort of thing at £20 it's definitely worth a punt.
Then, and I say this in a constructive way, you failed to adapt to the game and it's sim mechanics. I'm terrible at the combat, I can't go toe-to-toe with the top NPCs in the game. But I'm the tournament champion in Kuttenberg, because I adapted. I learned that you can poison your weapons, so I did. Then all it takes is one hit to your opponent and they're disabled. Then I can finish them off. Same goes for the combat out in the world. My character uses a bow with poisoned arrows. Using Bane poison, the enemy is immediately slowed to walking pace and starts to die slowly. I can then either pepper them with arrows, or finish them off with my poisoned sword. So instead of having to learn what is an in-depth and fairly complicated combat system, I worked with it in a different way and combat for me was a load of fun, because it became hilarious watching a poisoned enemy double over and shout "Must have been something I ate" and then dying was rather fun!
My character also has very high stealth, so I spend a lot of time hidden away, carefully picking out my targets from behind the safety of cover. Again, I enjoy the stealth mechanics rather than the aggressive approach so it worked for me. But genuinely, the game is so incredibly open and rewards you for adapting. It's a shame that so many people overlook that aspect.
Remember that in the game, you're a young kid, the son of a blacksmith, not some Cavalry General that's seen many battles. You're terrible at combat initially, and it's a difficult craft to master. I practiced a bit and got better, but I was still not great at timing strikes, so I decided to adapt and go down another road. If I lived in that world at the time and I was forced into a life like Henry is, I'd do the same as I'd likely be terrible at combat with swords for real. This is what the game rewards and it's that aspect that so many people missed.
I haven't played it but I doubt that Expedition 33 has the same sim and world mechanics, and I think that's one of the best things that KCD2 brought us in terms of innovation.
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E33 introduces a dodge/parry mechanic to a turn based system, which adds a sort of souls-like flair to things but isn't necessarily anything new and certainly isn't sim-like.
That said, I've yet to play KCD2 but really enjoyed the first. It's on my list but I've a hefty backlog as it is and it's not a short game, I figured I might as well wait until the dlc/expansions are out and pick up the complete edition down the line.
In relation to the sim like combat, that is something I very much enjoyed in the first game. You couldn't just run into a group of armed men solo and expect to wreck them all like some sort of button mashing action game, you needed to adapt to the situations. I struggled a little at first but found solutions to my problems which felt at least somewhat realistic, and became quite fulfilling. When I'd encounter large groups I learned to use hit and run tactics while mounted, became pretty damn good at horse archery after a bit of practice. Whittle them down until there's only 2-3 left and then dismount to finish them off on foot, among many other tactics. When you've no other choice but to engage a group on foot don't rush in, let them come to you and make a slow retreat while making sure you're not flanked etc. It felt like you actually needed to employ a little bit of thought to combat, not just from a raw timing perspective but from a tactical sense of approaching each scenario.
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My gripe with KCD1/2 isn't that combat is hard - it's no Ninja Gaiden either way
I also don't want to avoid combat, or to make it trivial. Knights, swords, shields, medieval armour, jousting... - let's get it on! But the actual final product just looks underwhelming, even when mastered and when you're winning. I mean the animations, the effects, the ragdoll physics. Maybe the mechanics too. Sword doesn't slice, but hits like a club and so on, e.g. here @0:22 :My gripe with KCD1/2 isn't that combat is hard - it's no Ninja Gaiden either way
Maybe it's because the game is in first-person? First-person works great for guns, third-person looks better with melee/swords.
Tbh my only gripe with that is that the damage/gore mechanics are underwhelming, I would have assumed that was partially due to the age rating but I'm pretty sure it's an 18/M rated game.
Soldato
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I can definitely say I've played a 2025 released game now, having finally bought Tireless for £3 last night.
store.steampowered.com
It looks great, but I found the tutorial level absolutely brutal! I suspect mainly my aged reflexes, but also our aged pc (i5-6600 and RX 580) was struggling to stay above 60fps.
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It looks great, but I found the tutorial level absolutely brutal! I suspect mainly my aged reflexes, but also our aged pc (i5-6600 and RX 580) was struggling to stay above 60fps.
The irony here is that medieval swords like broadswords don't actually slice. They're pretty dull and were rather difficult to cut with!My gripe with KCD1/2 isn't that combat is hard - it's no Ninja Gaiden either way
Maybe it's because the game is in first-person? First-person works great for guns, third-person looks better with melee/swords.
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Soldato
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ARC Raiders for me too, incredibly fun hiding waiting for people