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Half Year Mark - GOTY

Anywho, I still don't know what edition of Skyrim to get be it special or anniversary. Anyone got a recommendation!?

Have you played Skyrim before? I think the difference is that the latest version has a bunch of Creation Club shit, which might be a bit too much for a new player / better suited for someone who has played before.
 
Have you played Skyrim before? I think the difference is that the latest version has a bunch of Creation Club shit, which might be a bit too much for a new player / better suited for someone who has played before.
Yeah I put 100 hours into it back in the day but I screwed up my save with a ridiculous quest lock and never went back.
 
Probably Requiem at this point, but it doesn't scream GOTY energy at all. Neither do games like Pokopia, Crimson Desert, Pragmata or Saros.

I suspect the GOTY will come from this raft of releases between September and November.

This has been a pretty weak year so far for generation-level games.
 
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Top 5:

1. Marathon (much to my own shock)
2. RE9 - one of the best in the series
3. Hades 2 - first game was a masterpiece, this is somehow better
4. 007 First Light - the perfect James Bond game
5. Saros - some of the best action ever seen in a videogame

Honorable mentions to Pragmata and Mina the Hollower. Worth noting I clocked 50 hours into Crimson Desert, love it, decided to wait for more of a dry spell before continuing because it's such a massive game and with every patch it keeps getting better. Good chance it will enter my top 5 upon completion.

There are so many games I'm looking forward to in the second half of 2026, no doubt my list will get shaken up.
 
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If you like difficult, deep, and immersive RPGs then I think you'd really like it as well. I never got to play the original, but I'm a massive fan of Morrowind and this remake definitely gives me those type of vibes.
 
Crimson Desert. Generational game. This gen's Skyrim.
Every time people hype up Crimson Desert it raises my interest...
And then they compare it and call it the "Skyrim of this gen" and it craters all my curiosity, because Skyrim has always been liquid shit with garbage core mechanics and anyone praising it gets my side eyes.
 
There's quite a bit I still haven't played, primarily because I'm waiting for price drops.

But I did play Resident Evil: Requiem, and I enjoyed it a lot. Hell, a LOT more than Village. So, it'd probably go to that. Mewgenics is an honorable mention, though it can get hard AF and be pretty unforgiving, lol. I really did enjoy Marathon as well, though I got burnt out on it pretty quickly, no fault of the game though, just a personal thing.

I'm sure I'll enjoy Crimson Desert, but I'll check it out in due time.
 
Every time people hype up Crimson Desert it raises my interest...
And then they compare it and call it the "Skyrim of this gen" and it craters all my curiosity, because Skyrim has always been liquid shit with garbage core mechanics and anyone praising it gets my side eyes.

I mean Skyrim as impact and world building. It's much better combat/gameplay mechanics but a lot less story.
 
Disappointed in Forza personally.

More of the same, low stakes gaming isn't for me. Impressive location though.
Yeah, that's understandable. It's pretty much the least surprising game ever in that it's basically the same game in a new location. I just really like the series, so I've enjoyed my 40 hours with it...though I'll admit I might be done for now until the expansions.
 
Probably Nioh 3

Re9 and Crimson desert are pretty fun but also slight disappointments.

Still have to get Saros, Pragmata and 007 which I'm excited for.
 
Haven't played Pragmata, Mina, or Bond yet.

RE9 gets my vote. Overall a very satisfying package with the dual protagonists, among the best uses of that game design, and a much needed realignment back to core values after RE8.
 
Pokemon Pokopia! Mina the Hollower is up there too, but nothing has really sunk it's claws into me like Pokopia did. And there's more content coming soon!

Some good stuff coming out this year still though, Zelda will be the favorite for me until proven otherwise. Always is.
 
1 - MIO - Memories in Orbit - This will definitely join my regular Metroidvania rotation along with Super Metroid, SotN, and the Ori series.

2 - Ball x Pit - Lovely, straight forward, "mobile-like" game that is just mindless addicting fun.

3 - Resident Evil 9 - even though it's probably the 6th best RE game, it's still the 3rd best game this year.

4 - Forza Horizon 6 - I'm a car guy so yeah. There is a TON of room for improvement but still great.

Bonus - I have no idea what year these released, only that I got around to playing them this year - A Game About Digging a Hole, and Kill it With Fire 2. Loved them.
 
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I have yet to play a 2026 game since I'm pretty retro invested. Some very good games mind you.

Super Metroid
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Mother 3
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

Next week my first 2026 game will be Elliott!
 
Tbh., I only had a look at a gameplay vid and it was a bit short.
Still the best 2026 game I've witnessed.
The thread is about games that have released in the first half and you claim are GOTY based off you playing them.

I swear man reading isn't that hard if you just try.
 
007 has great presentation and story

Forza horizon 6 is very good.

I think crimson desert has a great open world.
 
The thread is about games that have released in the first half and you claim are GOTY based off you playing them.

I swear man reading isn't that hard if you just try.
It was just a joke. Actually I really didn't get to play anything released in 2026 yet but from what I've seen so far Crimson Desert and RE9 are the best.
 
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I think all I've played this year was requiem and briefly replaced. Still wanna play Pragmata and bond. So requiem currently.
 
It has to be Pragmata or Crimson Desert.

In the case of Crimson Desert. The game keeps on improving so much that you can't even compare to what it was in version 1.0. If anything, it should receive at least a nomination on the community support category in the Game Awards. The only game dethroning it for me will probably be Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.
 
Resident Evil Requiem for me, followed by Nioh 3 and Pragmata. Also, Crimson Desert is closing in, thanks to the updates, it might even get ahead if they don't stop improving the game.
 
Nothing that has come out so far deserves the GOTY tag. I've had fun, but it's been all 7-8/10 kind of games so far.
 
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Bond
Crimson Desert
Resident Evil 9

Not a super beginning half for me - but starting with Bond here recently i think the next few months are shaping up nicely.
 
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