Why There’s Less Excitement for New Games This Holiday Season

And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee Gaming Brew.

And I'm your host, Brett Dyster.

And we've got a whole host of things to talk about today, but specifically, it is the dawn of the holiday season.

We're about to enter the holiday season.

So I want you guys to comment below.

Which which games are you excited about to play this holiday season and why?

And Also we have Hades 2 that just came out.

We have Force of Horizon 6 that has been announced.

Splash Damage is.

Well, it's going independent again.

Maybe Black Ops 7 and the schedule and kind of just the fatigue that players may be having that devs may have actually finally addressed.

Also the new trailer for Avatar Fire and Ash.

There is also the game version that's kind of doing this cone sighting thing, so it should be interesting to see.

Sony has released new speakers, so we'll talk about that.

The remaster of Deus Ex and Man, I don't think it's going very well.

And then we're going to talk about the Foxhound multiplayer for Metal Gear Solid Delta, Snake Eater and then talk about the holiday season.

Preparing for the holiday season.

All right, let's get on with the show.

That's good.

All right, I hope you guys are having a fantastic Friday, so let's get on with it.

So Hades has officially launched in Full Version 1.0.

That was per Thursday.

The game is currently available on PC and Switch consoles.

So lucky for you Switch users, you can finally actually play a game, not have it delayed or indefinitely delayed or run like crap.

If you have the Switch two, there is a Day one patch indicates numerous changes since the early access phase.

Key features include the true ending of the game.

So there'll be a true ending of the game.

A total of 50 achievements have been added, which can be earned without restarting the game.

Players can expect new artwork, including visual effects, environmental art and visual improvements, as well as new music and more decorations for the Crossroads.

Additionally, keepsakes can be collected and there are numerous tweaks across various aspects of the game, including combat and character animations.

So it looks like they just did a whole host of new things.

It's doing very well on Steam, which is no surprise.

It's not like Borderlands 4, where they're telling you to be a premium gamer or it's your fault the system isn't work, your system isn't working for the game, or a myriad of other excuses they've given.

No, it actually works.

Actually works quite well.

It's kind of like Dying Light, the Beast which actually works really well and is very optimized.

So at least some developers actually try to optimize their game before the release and actually do it and continually do it.

And not just it's your fault because you didn't get the new Nvidia card that is incredibly difficult to get in some ways and not some ways.

Looking at Walmart if you are guys looking for a new 5080 Walmart, it's got a really good deal on it.

Anyways, this is looks like it's going to be a really good game so far, so it should be interesting to see where this all goes and how well this is how well it's going to be over the long run.

But looks like as for the pedigree of the original Hades, this is also a good game so you should look to pick it up.

It's about $30 so it's not too bad of a price for it.

All right, so Forza Horizon 6 has officially been announced at the Tokyo Game Show.

The game will be on PC and Xbox time exclusives with PS5 port planned for a later date.

The PS5 port will be developed in conjunction with Turn 10 Studios.

Forza Horizon 6 will be available on Steam, Xbox and the Microsoft Store with Steam page already available for wish listing.

The the trailer actually revealed Mount Fuji and the Japanese countryside, suggesting races on mountainous roads.

Steam page indicates that the game will have an open world and the exploration scenery will be a significant aspect of the game.

So similar to what the the current version of the game is, but in a different place.

So it could be good.

We'll have to see if actually it's going to be any good, but it's good that they're coming out with a new one.

Horizon was always a good different side of Forza type games and it's good to see that they're continuing with this with Given the fact that Microsoft has laid off or shuttered a bunch of different studios, at least some of them are still alive and kicking and doing what they need to do.

All right, Splash Damage is no longer owned by Tencent, has been acquired by private equity investors.

The studio will continue to operate under its existing leadership team and will not provide further comment at this time.

Well, they were founded in 2001 and was recognized for the Wolfenstein expansion Enemy Territory and then they've done various other games now.

Tencent acquired Liu Liu Technologies in 2020 for approximately 1.3 billion, which includes splash damage in its portfolio in 2021.

CEO Richard Jolly expressed optimism about the studio's future and plans.

Following the acquisition, studio announced it was working on a game titled Transformers Reactive in 2022, an open world survival game codename Project Asteroid in 2023.

The Transformers Reactive was canceled in January 2025, resulting in potential redundancies at the studio.

So I haven't really seen a lot from Splash Damage.

I think they did one a while ago.

I forget the name of it, but it was kind of like a destiny type game which you had like powers and stuff.

I don't remember the name of it for the life of me, but it was all right.

It was the best game I've ever played.

I mean really the claim to fame was the expansion for Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.

Wolfenstein expansion but also Enemy territory for the Quake wars which Quake wars was an interesting thing.

I think they should have really expanded upon that because it was a very interesting type of game, but I don't think it sold well.

So we'll see.

I mean they've done various different types of games, but I just don't think any of them have actually been a huge hit beyond the Wolfenstein expansion that was very, very popular.

So with that said, we'll see what else they actually do and if will actually be anything worthwhile.

The Transformer games is no longer there, so we don't know about that.

But they do have a survival open world game so we'll see if that's any good.

It's just weird because you.

I mean Bulletstorm was the only one I can remember from Splash Damage.

I know they did another one that I can't remember the actual name of the game, but that was the most recent game of it.

And so the games have kind of been forgettable and not and mediocre at best.

So I'm hoping they actually do make a good game.

But I'm not really like looking forward to any other games because I don't know what games are actually going to be making.

So a new trailer for Avatar Fire and Ash has been coincide with the game as well from Ubisoft.

So Ubisoft is making expansion to their avatar the game as well, which also is.

Is entitled the same thing so.

Or from.

From the Ashes I should say so.

I mean there is.

There is a coinciding of this.

It's from the Ashes is so the Fire and Ash is the movie From Ashes is the actual game and so that has been released and it looks interesting.

It's.

The Release date is December 19, 2025.

There is no news on actual price on this one whatsoever.

This will be expansion, not really a dlc.

So it will be more significant update to the actual game if anybody's actually still playing the game.

The game came out a few years ago, had various different expansions for it, but I mean it really hasn't.

I mean I. I really don't know how many people are actually playing this game anymore.

It kind of was like a blend of as the division plus like a little bit of like Zelda in there a little bit.

So it should be interesting to see if anybody will actually jump in and play it.

So it came out December 7, 2023.

So it's been a few years, two years, almost two years.

There'll be two years in December.

So past the two years of it being made they will come out with the expansion for it and so we'll see if it does anything for it.

Supposed to come out with a third person mode or camera view for this one as well.

So we'll see if that doesn't generate some interest from people.

But right now nobody's really playing it.

Should be interesting to see what if people will play this if it will actually do anything or if not.

But there is going to be a new expansion in December if you guys are actually interested in that at all.

All right.

Sony has just revealed the Pulse Elevate speakers.

The speakers are compatible with PS5, PlayStation and PlayStation Portable.

There are.

They are wireless desktop speakers available in black and white.

The speakers feature high end plein air magnetic drivers.

They include a built in microphone with AI enabled noise rejection technologies feature.

The speaker can function as standard Bluetooth speakers.

They come with charging docks for use at a desk and can be used on the go.

The sides of the speakers have not been disclosed.

The white color option will be a limited edition available while supplies last.

The speakers will be available in 2026.

So yeah, and you could also like put them, play them flat or tilt them up too.

That was like one of the like cool things about it.

I don't really know.

Usually when speakers have a microphone built into it, they're not that good.

They could be good with.

They could be decent.

Not even good, but decent with the AI technology.

But they're usually not that great unless you actually have like a speaker.

So I really wouldn't use those for like the microphone version of it.

Maybe the speakers are good.

Not really quite sure about that one since they really aren't out yet.

But Sony's making periphery now.

Watch out.

We're going to see a lot more soon because well, they have to figure out a way forward with the weirdness of consoles right now and how Microsoft is basically just putting most if not all their games on PlayStation eventually too.

So this is just another way for them to expand their horizons for what they could do in the gaming industry.

And probably a lot less expensive that way instead of building new consoles every.

So every.

Was it five years, something like that?

Five, six.

I mean, I know the PS3 and the Xbox 360 was like a 10 year gap between that new one, but it's kind of like a five year cycle, it seems like for the most part.

So we'll see how well these do.

I just go with the black anyways, so doesn't really matter about the limited edition.

Usually limited edition means it's gonna be.

It's gonna be bought up by scalpers and you have to pay more money for it.

So you might as well just get the black one and not have to pull your hair out just to figure out where you can get the white ones.

I really hate the while supplies last limited edition because basically it just tells scalpers to buy them up.

So you can't really buy them at MSRP because they are the worst of the worst.

All right, moving on to DX remaster.

So it was announced as Sony State of Play for this one.

And DSX was kind of the pinnacle in the 90s, late 90s of like really good RPGs with different types of ways of going about your objective.

It was hard, it was harder than the newer ones, but it was fun, it was interesting and it was very much rpg.

And if you didn't really have great skill and gunplay, you would miss more times and you would hit.

But it was a very fun game.

Looking Glass, I think Looking Glass was the one that actually created this one before they disbanded and everything.

But it was a great game, great fun.

I kind of missed the DSX franchise.

Unfortunately, Mankind Divided did not do very well, so we do not have that.

But unfortunately the remaster is not going very well because players have expressed disappointment in the graphics, describing them as dreadful, bafflingly shiny and alarmingly just bad in general.

It.

I mean the graphics are enhanced, but yeah, the character models look more shiny than they should, which is weird to have shiny character models.

They do look enhanced, but I think the shininess needed to go away a little bit more.

So we'll see if they course correct on this one or not.

They probably won't because it looks like it's pretty close to being done and it's remastered so they don't put a ton of time into it.

I mean, they put enough to make it look better, but looking better, like environment wise, not so bad.

Looking better, character wise, not so good.

Not gonna lie, the shiny and I noticed the shininess too, does not look great.

Love the game.

I love Deus Ex.

I think it's a great game, but unfortunately this is not IT type of a thing, if you know what I mean.

So we'll see if it actually is.

And now players are hoping there is a toggle between the enhanced and original graphics because I'm pretty sure players will just be like, I just want to switch back to the original.

I know they're not as great, they're more low quality, but I'd rather just switch the original.

Which I mean begs to differ about the remasters, is like maybe sometimes not remastering everything is probably the better way of doing it.

Maybe remastering the environment but leaving the character models like how they are.

Because I feel like sometimes the remaster of character models does not go according to plan.

And that is the other problem with it.

So I hope, I hope they figure this part out and maybe tweak some things because people are complaining that the mods have done it better.

Which is funny because usually the mods do do it better and the developers don't really look at what mods are out there and kind of figure out how they can utilize or emulate, but not steal, but emulate how they can do it as good as the mods.

A lot of times they don't.

So now this was a surprise, but Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater is releasing a multiplayer called fox hunt on October 30, 2025.

So next month, which is great.

The announcement was made during Konami's Metal Gear Production Hotline presentation at the Tokyo gaming show in 2025.

Multiplayer mode was first showcased in June 2025.

Prior to the launch of Metal Gear solid delta in August 2025, there was uncertainty about the inclusion of the multiplayer mode in the remake, similar to what was present in Metal Gear Solid three, Snake Eater.

So from the videos I saw, and they didn't give you a lot from the videos itself, it looks interesting.

It doesn't look like it's the same multiplayer feature from metal gear solid 3, but it looks very interesting when they said they're leaning more into like the stealth of it.

It looks like when you're crawling, you kind of like morph or you.

You have a chameleon like skin that just goes into you to help you Camouflage yourself more.

So it should be interesting to see what how this game will play out, what it's actually doing and what the features will be.

But I mean, Snake Eater, the remake of Metal Gear Solid three, is a really good game.

It's very similar to the original one, except with updated graphics.

Kind of funny in some ways, especially when boss fires her gun in the beginning and the bullets are like whipping around and it's like that's not how bullets work, but it's stylized.

So you let it slide because, I mean, it's not that big of a deal.

It's like, it's a weird thing, but it's not that big of a deal.

But that's how much they like tried to make sure that it was to the original.

Except for just the Unreal Engine 5 making sure that works well.

Because we all know that Unreal Engine 5 sucks and it doesn't work very well and there's always stutters and everything.

I could go on an episode on how terrible Unreal Engine 5 is and why it should not be the most popular engine just because of just how big bad it is at just being optimized.

I mean, the key the epic tells the developers you should optimize early, but it's like you also should optimize your game to make it, I mean, your engine to make it work for a lot of different systems.

It's not just the developers.

I agree.

The developers should optimize their game and that should be a high priority because Dice and Battlefield 6 have done a great job of that.

But they also aren't using the Unreal Engine.

They're using their own Frostbite engine.

So there's a difference in that as well.

But we'll see how this works out, what it actually entails and how good it's going to be as well.

Because if it's really, really good, it could be a thing that they continue.

But we'll see.

Also on the list is Black Ops 7.

Now, it's supposed to launch on November 14, and there is going to be a close slash open beta right before Battlefield 6 launches.

Sneaky, sneaky, Activision.

Very sneaky.

And this comes after a year of Black Ops 6 and the developer is a little cautious or a little worried about Black Ops fatigue.

I would say they should be more worried about Call of Duty fatigue because it looks like people at least online now, I'm pretty sure it's going to sell well, but it looks like more and more people are getting a little bit more fatigued on just Call of Duty in general.

I know streamers love it because of Warzone, but I haven't played Warzone since it first came out.

I really don't care about Warzone.

It's not that fun to me.

But Battle Royale's aren't really that fun to me anyway.

So I may try the Battlefield six one.

But I'm not that like gung ho about it.

It's okay.

But the issue is I think that Call of Duty has, at least in Black Ops 6, was the worst offense just lost its way and was just trying to have any company, any movie or anything, TV shows, whatever, into the game.

And it just never made a lot of sense like Beavis and Butthead in the game.

Weird American dad weird into a game in the 90s.

Ninja Turtles.

All right, that's fair.

At least they were popular in the 90s, but still weird.

Like just keep it gritty, just keep it multiplayer.

I mean not multiplayer military focus.

Multiplayer focused too, because that's their big money maker.

But military theme focused.

Like it's all you really had to do.

But then you just kept on getting weird with like Diablo skins because of Blizzard.

Like, I mean the best ones I knew of that was kind of a good skin was the Modern Warfare 2019 when they had Rambo and Die Hard.

I was like, okay, that's kind of cool.

But a lot of them know, I mean the Doom one was kind of cool.

That wasn't too bad, but.

But it wasn't like, man, these are really cool.

This is like, okay, how crazy you guys going to get?

And they got really crazy.

And I think the fatigue was players going, I don't think you guys understand what you're doing.

And I don't think you understand what the players want.

And then the calls for AI skins or AI slop skins, that was another issue.

So it goes more than just Black Ops fatigue.

I think it's going more with Call of Duty fatigue because you just don't know what the player wants anymore.

You're just throwing in skins to generate more money, which begs to differ.

What's the point of Call of Duty?

And why can't you just make it more Fortnite instead?

Don't make it a gritty military shooter.

Just make it a bombastic multiplayer shooter.

Call, call Call of Duty if you want to, but just make it a bombastic multiplayer shooter.

It's all you really have to do.

Just like go balls to the wall 100% and never make it a military shooter again.

Because that's not really what you want to do is it.

You don't really want to make it a gritty bomb, a military shooter.

You just want to sell skins in the game, but you also want to sell skins because that's really all you care about in the movement, tech.

Well, that's where we're at, like.

And to be honest, I just think it's Call of Duty fatigue.

I think people are eventually just going to get tired of it.

It does happen eventually.

I mean, look at Marvel.

We're all kind of like, do I really want to watch that movie?

Does it really matter anymore?

No.

I mean, I look at them like, I might watch him, probably not, but I might haven't.

Didn't see the Fantastic Four movie.

The last thing I saw was Daredevil, Born Again.

That was.

That was okay.

But it doesn't reinvigorate me to go watch the new Marvel stuff.

I like watching the old ones prior to endgame, but after that I'm count.

Maybe Spider Man Homecoming, the one after endgame.

I think that's the last one prior to endgame that I will willingly watch, but everything else I won't.

But I mean it leads back to the fatigue.

I do think there is starting to become more fatigue happening with Call of Duty.

Like a lot of the old school gamers left because they just didn't care about it anymore.

And now I think there could be rise of a new audience and they could still like it.

I mean, there still will always be an audience for Call of Duty, that's for sure.

But I think the dominance of Call of Duty is not going to be there anymore.

But we'll see what actually happens.

Which leads me into the holiday season and there's so much going to be happening.

We have Battlefield 6 and we got Call of Duty Black Ops 7 coming out October, November.

And those are really like the big things that are coming out.

But I mean we've got like new keyboards, new mice that have already come out and we've got just a slew of hardware to actually keep up with too.

Now, I know graphics cards aren't really the best thing right now because, well, Nvidia really doesn't decide to create more.

But you can right now get the PNY non RGB 5080 for 920, which is actually way below MSRP.

Who knew that that graphics card in 2025 could actually be below MSRP?

That's like never happened in recent times, but I think this year will probably the year that we actually get some decent, decent games.

Hopefully.

I'M more looking forward to 2026, where developers finally understand how to make a decent game.

That's the other, like, issue, how to make one.

So, I mean, we'll see how well this actually does.

But I'm just.

I don't know if it's just fatigue in general of just gaming, but it's just more and more games aren't really exciting that much.

I think Battlefield 6 is the only one I've actually been excited about.

The rest of them I'm not really that excited about.

And there's not really as much as I would hope there would be coming out as there is.

I mean, we got.

We got bloodlines two coming out in October 21, supposedly, unless it gets delayed again.

I mean, no GTA 6, which I don't know if I'm really that excited about.

So there's that.

We got Kingmakers, which really looks very interesting on October 8th.

So those are kind of the few that, that I know of that are coming out that.

I mean, it's funny because you, you, you would see like these 10 big games coming out.

And for right now, there's not as many as I was hoping there would be coming out.

I mean, you.

Right now you have Hades 2 that just came out.

The Sonic Racing game that was Mario Kart, that just came out.

But beyond that, there really hasn't been a whole lot.

I mean, they're all kind of coming out before.

Oh, Arc Raiders.

That is another really interesting game that's coming out as well somehow October 30th.

So we do have, like, I would say about good four or five ones.

Arc Raider would be on top of that for being an interesting game.

That could be good because from Embark and they do a great job with the finals.

I'm not really too happy about some of the developers saying things about assassinations and death, because we all should really stop doing that.

But beyond that looks interesting, looks good.

But like I said, beyond all this, I really just don't know.

I mean, I wish there would be more great games coming out.

I mean, you've got the Sonic Racing that so far is overwhelmingly positive, which is interesting.

It's also.

Oh, it's just $60.

The Deluxe is 90, but could be good, could be fun.

If you're looking for a Mario Kart alternative that's actually on the PC, that's pretty funny, to be honest with you.

And they've got additional stuff like Pac Man, Mega Man, Minecraft, spongebob squarepants Ninja Turtles.

Okay.

But I don't know, like When I was even writing this down, I was like, oh, the optimism of the holiday season.

I'm like, well, it's not really that much.

I mean, you've got Bloodlines too, which, okay, you got Arc Raiders, you've got Battlefield six, you got.

You got Black Ops seven.

I mean, just writing this down, I was like, hoping to be more optimistic, but I'm just not.

Not because there aren't actually games coming out.

It's just, see the same old and there's some new ones, but not as much as they used to be.

I mean, I used to remember a time when you had, like, Titanfall, which, by the way, I still miss Titanfall and a bunch of other games.

Witcher 3.

I mean, we're.

I don't even know when that new one's coming out or if you even want to play it.

I mean, Sony side, you have Ghost of Yotai, which I don't really care about, to be honest with you.

So, yeah, I mean, it seems like it's a light holiday season.

Maybe because of all the layoffs, maybe because all the bad games coming out.

I don't really know.

But I was hoping to be a little bit more optimistic, and I'm not.

I'm like, oh, wait, there's only one that I really care about.

And for those that really want to play Black Ops 7 for you, I'll probably play the open beta, but I just not really hope for the holidays.

Not because of Christmas.

I can hopeful for that.

Just the gaming ones.

Not.

Not really interesting.

Well, anyways, thank you for joining Digital Coffee Gaming Real.

Really do appreciate it.

And please subscribe to this episode on all your favorite podcasting apps and join me next week as I talk about what's going on the PC gaming industry.

All right, guys, stay safe.

Get to the games you want to play.

There's no new games coming out.

Just play the old ones because they're just as good.

And see you next week.

Later.