Question How do you decide on new games?

[SkyNin]

How do you decide on new games? From friends recommendations, from forum community recommendations? Looking for videos and reviews on the internet?

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I think everything you mentioned. A lot of the time, I'll hear about something from people on a forum. If something piques my interest, I'll look up reviews to read about the game, but I put more stock in gameplay videos, so I can see for myself. We could have a whole discussion about how reliable reviews are. I might actually start a thread about that if there isn't already one.

But gameplay videos are where it's at. You can't watch them for too long, though, or you'll get spoilers. I usually pull up a vid and skip around, watching a few seconds here and there. But you have to find out about a game before you know to look up videos, which is where forums and friends come into play.

 

[Alm]

I usually find out about new games on YouTube. I would then just watch / wait for gameplay footage and decide whether or not to go for it off that. Sometimes I find reviews helpful but I usually watch video reviews rather than written ones.

 

[mjs warlord]

I never buy a game until it has been around for a few weeks but i do look at what players say when it first comes out , if it gets slated by a lot of people i steer clear of it , lets face it , if everybody pulls a game to bits they cant all be telling lies can they. I do except though that some players troll certain companies by giving them bad comments , and markers in the discussion pages show that most of them dont even own the game they are bad mouthing. I have even seen devs say .... hey we recognise the phrases that person is using even though he changed his user name again.

I also look at you tube videos .

Finally if i make the wrong choice i am able to get a refund on steam but users have said if you make too many refund requests they can refuse a refund in future.

Dont know what the refund policy is on other games interfaces

 

[Zloth]

I hear about the games on/in PC Gamer, here, or RPG Watch. If they sound interesting, I'll put the game on my Steam wish list. I'll read reviews of the game if I can find them. When the big Steam sales roll around, I'll go through my list to see the state of the game and see if I can glean anything from the Steam reviews. If the game has gotten stable (i.e., most of the DLC I'm interested in has been released and patched) and I think I'll have time to play it before the next seasonal sale, I'll buy it.

I only rarely watch game play videos (other than official trailers) to help me decide. They might get used if the descriptions I've gotten aren't all that clear.

 

[Brian Boru]

Discovery:

PCGamer.com
This forum.
YouTubers I follow.
'Similar games' on retailers' sites.

Decision to put on Buy List:

Steam (mostly) or GOG player ratings and reviews, also scan Steam forum for game.
Does it look like all DLC and patches have stopped dribbling out?
Wikipedia 'Reception' section.

I rarely watch video playthrus cos most/all of 'em play very differently to how I play. Written reviews are generally only helpful when they compare the game to another I've played.

Purchase:

Daily 'Item on wishlist is on sale' emails from Steam, GOG, Epic.
Major semi-annual sales.
The excellent Augmented Steam browser extension from ITAD shows quickly how current price compares to historical prices on a number of sites.
Sometimes free on Epic Store.

 

[ZedClampet]

Thanks for the format, @Brian Boru
Discovery:

Steam: I will frequently look at the "just released" and "best sellers" games to see what's going on. Then I'll search those same categories by a few of my favorite tags. It's really the best way to find new games. There's no way any publication can keep up with the number of games released each week.
PCGamer.com: Of course, I scan through the articles most days and see what games they are talking about.

Decision to put on Buy List:

Steam: If I like the looks of the game, I'll wander through the user reviews. For indie games, the percentage of positive reviews is generally a pretty accurate indicator of a game's quality, but I still look through the negative reviews to see what people don't like and read the top couple of positive reviews. I also look at the trailers on the Steam page, hoping to find gameplay trailers.

YouTube: I never watch playthroughs or reviews on YouTube.

PC Gamer: In the rare case where they've reviewed the game and it isn't a narrative game, I'll read the PCG review, but I don't always find them helpful.

Purchase:

If I really want it, I buy it. If I'm unsure, I'll put it on my wishlist and think about it some more when it goes on sale or when I get in the mood for that genre. I have, on rare occasions, bought a game simply to support the developers.

 

[Brian Boru]

I'll search those same categories by a few of my favorite tags. It's really the best way to find new games

One thing I haven't done in a while is go thru my Steam 'Discovery Queue'. Anyone find that helpful?

Here are 3 resources I have in my notes—I don't recall anything about them at the moment, and don't have time to dive in, so for what it's worth:

Games Finder
Recommendation Engine
Steam Recommender

 

[ZedClampet]

One thing I haven't done in a while is go thru my Steam 'Discovery Queue'. Anyone find that helpful?

Here are 3 resources I have in my notes—I don't recall anything about them at the moment, and don't have time to dive in, so for what it's worth:

Games Finder
Recommendation Engine
Steam Recommender

Steam Discovery Queue is kind of fun to use, but I find the games on there to be pretty random. It's more of a running ad than anything, I think.

 

[Zloth]

One thing I haven't done in a while is go thru my Steam 'Discovery Queue'. Anyone find that helpful?

Well, back when Steam was "paying" us in some way to go through the discovery queue twice a day while the seasonal sales were going on*, I would typically find one interesting game per year. That's dozens of times through the lists to find one game that I might think about buying.

It was handy for adding to my ignore list, though.

* Yes, I went through those lists just to get a little memento from Steam sales. I'm such a tool.

 

[Brian Boru]

the discovery queue … was handy for adding to my ignore list

Ah, good that it has a use!

You should start a thread on proper management of one's Ignore List

 

[Frindis]

Discovery:

PC Gamer
This forum
YouTube
Steam/GOG news
Twitch
Epic Games
Xbox Game Pass


Decision to put on Buy List:

Mainly watching gameplay from different platforms like YouTube, Steam, Twitch, etc. If still in doubt I'll check out Metacritic and compare critic/user reviews for some extra info and also here if some of you have been talking about a game or I need some more info, like my question about Elex 2 https://forums.pcgamer.com/threads/elex-2.119129/post-308361


Purchase:

Checking for the lowest price through Game deals/IsThereAnyDeal to mention some.

 

[Pifanjr]

I used to have a subscription to a gaming magazine where I got a lot of my gaming news from. Spend quite a lot of time on the GameTrailers website as well.

Nowadays it's basically all word-of-mouth from friends, this forum or reddit. And most of the games I'm interested in buying are sequels of games I've already played and enjoyed. Every so often I hear about a new game and will check out the Steam page to get an indication of what the game is like and what the review score is.