...and that's a wrap for October. As expected, the month was filled to the brim with new releases big and small. Some of them hit their mark (Escape Simulator 2, Absolum), others are still a bit rough around the edges but show potential (DAIMON BLADES, Fellowship). And then there is your usual lineup of titles that should've been a slam dunk - but someone managed to stumble (Painkiller, Little Nightmares III).
We counted 69 (nice!) releases last month in our calender across all platforms. We know: Its a theme across many of these updates that we focus on the huge amount of games hitting store shelves. But time and time again we are baffled at how much there is to play these days. So many really good games both with and without co-op functionality are vaiing for our attention. It is literally impossible to play them all which in turn makes us a bit sad. All those adventures we will never have. All that joy we will never experience with our friends. Just because we are limited by such mudane things like time and money...
As one of the last remaining big gaming conventions, Germany's gamescom was once again the place to be in August. Okay, that's a bit of a lie. There were already too many people there. So instead we chose to just watch from the sidelines the unveiling of long-awaited titles like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV and Darksiders 4. Witness the surprise announcements of Daimon Blades (read our preview!), LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight and others. And read all of the new information for upcoming games (see for example our preview of Hela!) that came down the old press-release-chute.
July saw the release of a couple of highly anticipated Remasters/Enhanced Editions/whateveryouwanttocallit featuring a co-op mode: System Shock 2, Stronghold: Crusader and Neverwinter Nights 2. However, it seems like such things are not created equal. While Nightdive Studios did a banger job with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster and FireFlys Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition was also well received, Aspyr Media didn’t hit the mark with Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. The reviews show that They basically just released the same old game with no fixes or improvements to decade old problems. And it’s even worse now, since they added more than a couple new bugs. Hopefully they can turn the ship around in the coming weeks/month.
June was, as we call it in the industry, quite a month. We did expect it to hit hard with over a dozen Summer Games Fest showcases and Steam Next Fest afterwards. That's always a busy time. But the amount of titles with co-op that were announced this year? Very high.
You know... on the one hand, the state of the world is not looking that good right now. *waves around at everything going on* And that makes us very sad. On the other hand, we as Gamers(TM) have never had it this good, not in the history of any entertainment medium. Dozens, no, HUNDREDS of titles are released each month, catering to even the smallest niche. Yes, not all of them are worth playing, but even if you filter those out, you could still play a new game only 10 minutes, move on to a new one and repeat, and I'm sure you would never run out.
April saw a whopping 150 new entries to our database, 15 of which are versions for the hottest new thing in town: the Nintendo Switch 2. That's a good start for a new platform and we're sure there are many, many more titles to come. For comparison, we currently have over 1,800 entries for the first Switch, and there's no sign of the new releases stopping any time soon.
Honestly? There is not much to say about March. Our release calender was filled but not overwhelming. So we got the usual mix of new releases. Like the ones entering (Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone) or leaving (Time to Morp) Early Access. The retro-inspired (The Phanom, Kemono Heroes) ones as well as re-releases of old classics (Castle of Shikigami III). The surefire hits (Split Fiction) and the ones that were expected to be hits but didn't quite make the landing (Rise of the Ronin on PC). And of course tons and tons of indie release (Party Club, Astroloot).
We are lucky to have our Database Manager to write these monthly reports. Otherwise, we would have no time to do it. We are after all way too busy to "catch all those mons." No, we are not talking about Pokémon. That's for little babies! *contemptuous sniffle* We only play real games here at Co-Optimus! Like Monster Hunter: Wilds, the long-awaited 27th entry in the series that finally hit store shelves yesterday.
In January, we hit another milestone for our database: We now have 15,000 entries for active co-op games. "Active" means that the game is still technically playable in co-op in some form and hasn't been fully become inoperable by a server shutdown. To give you a bit of additional perspective on that number, back in 2020, we were at around 6,000 entries. So our Database Master definitely has been busy the last few years - and we'll make sure he continues to keep busy! *whip crack*
The Game Awards - which featured quite a few co-op titles this year - be damned: the biggest highlight of December for most of us was Path of Exile 2 entering Early Access. Even in this early state, it seems to successfully scratch that itch the lukewarm reception of Diablo IV left behind. Hopefully it can keep up the momentum until release.
When we look at our release calender, its fascinating to note that even in this digital age without any retail restrictions, there's still one day in the week most of the games are released: Thursday. What's more, almost everyone agrees that Saturday and Sunday are off limits for new releases.
