Ninchilla

Maybe I feel like it's been a long cycle because this generation and the previous one kind of blur together in my mind.

That's definitely the case for me, I've been trying to think of games to mention and what leaps to mind immediately is almost all tail-end PS4 rather than PS5 (The Last of Us Part II, Horizon Forbidden West); very few of Sony's own PS5 Essentials list, even, are un-remastered.

---

Astro Bot has to get a mention here; I've completed most of the game 2-3 times, as I was handed the controller repeatedly on behalf of the kids, but rarely minded. It's a great game, and has had I think 10-15 levels added for free since launch. It also doesn't trade on the PlayStation nostalgia half as much as people claim - yes, there are a lot of costumed bots, but the platforming is really solid, inventive, and it's a lovely-looking thing to boot. Definitely recommended.

---

Tunic has lodged itself in my brain like nothing since Journey, and I can barely articulate why; I think it's mostly that the way Tunic pieces out its story is so, so good (I played with infinite HP/Energy and just treated it as a puzzle/exploration game, and I even went as far as to learn the lettering system - never quite got the hang of the vowels, though…). There's a jaw-dropping amount of stuff that's there in the open right from the start, but with the context obscured until just the right moment later on. That it's all the work of one person (plus two composers) is astonishing. Speaking of the composers, the score is also great.

---

Beyond that… maybe Spider-Man 2? It's a great game, and a heck of a technical showcase, but it's really just an evolution of the first game, and didn't really stick with me after I finished it. I'd be hard pressed now to remember much that happens in it, outside a few big set-pieces. God of War: Ragnarök would probably be on here, too, if I'd played more than about three hours of it - even in that short time, it's clearly very good, but I'd need to finish it, really, before I could feel certain.

To be clear, there are a lot of games I've enjoyed - it's just that I don't know if Star Wars Outlaws, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Helldivers II, or Marvel Rivals quite reach the "of the generation" heights.

Astrobot is 59.99 on the PSN store though from a quick scan?

Apologies - I meant the character, rather than the game Astro Bot; Astro's Playroom was the free tech-demo pack-in on PS5.

I skimmed the video, but for some reason I've never really clicked with Nintendo, and this didn't sway me.

Mario Kart looks like Mario Kart. The 12fps video chat takes up a third of the screen. I'm not seeing the same DK Bananza everyone else seems to be. The Switch 2 Welcome Tour has all the charm of a corporate PowerPoint presentation - and they're charging money for it!? Astro Bot wants a word.

I'm getting a bunch of it, but definitely skipping the minis. I like the flippable motion tracker ping/character tokens, and I have a bunch of wooden circular tokens that I've used to make my own in the past.

I'm also using this as an excuse to pick up the Colonists and Marines books at a slightly reduced rate, since I don't have those.

Free League are currently Kickstarting the Second Evolved Edition of their excellent ALIEN RPG. The changes advertised are more of the "streamlined and refined" variety (plus a much cleaner and more readable layout), but that hasn't stopped me backing it at a probably over-generous level.

It's due to fulfil in September, too, which seems like a remarkably quick turnaround if they can stick to it.