Huh, I think I haven't thought about this hard enough, as I'm a Patient Gamer... But I think Reddit and Lemmy are good sources for this :)
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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I like patient gamer communities, since I can get a fan consensus, a lot of hype or hate has died down, and there's been some time to work out the kinks and send out updates.
I’ll be honest, I just look at the steam store page for the game. If the initial impression from the images is good, and it’s a genre I want to play right now, I watch one or two of the videos and read a few top reviews. Then I just go for it. I don’t watch streams or anything. I am usually perusing indie games so it’s at most like $20 on the line, not the end of the world if I hate it, or if it needs a few years of patches to feel worth playing.
Generally not being interested in $60 AAA games makes it so much more fun to peruse new games and experiment.
My gaming backlog hasn't quite made it out of the 2000s. At this point there are years of consensus on most of these games and I prioritise on vibe
ACG Reviews: https://youtube.com/@ACGreviews
Gameranx (Before you buy series)
Random yt channels specializing in the genre/series while searching for reviews.
ACG is my go to. I don't think he's ever steered me wrong.
Obviously watch some reviews he's done of games you've played to see if your tastes align.
I like ACG because it never feels like he's trying to sell me anything
Most have already been mentioned. Rock paper shotgun is a good source too, albeit pc gamers only.
Man, they used to be great when Gillen and Smith were still on board.
I assume you know People make Games on Youtube? Smith's in there, and it's pretty dang good journalism.
Very true.
Zero Punctuation for me. He has a similar taste in games to what I like and a so so positive ZP review is usually a solid buy for me.
I guess the name is changing soon to fully ramblematic? There's drama with the owner of the ZP IP right now and the folks who actually own the IP are 100% gonna fuck it up. Creator is starting fresh after a walking from a bad deal is how I understand the situation.
Are you aware that Yahtzee has left The Escapist?
Yes and his new content will be released as fully ramblomatic, realsed under second wind instead of escapist...
Worth A Buy on YouTube is very honest. He's funny and cynical, a bit like Total Biscuit used to be.
He's one of the few I trust now for an honest review. Would highly recommend him as he's also incredibly entertaining.
Oh yeah Worth A Buy has popped up for me a few times for indie games, and he seemed like he was straight to the point.
I got a Total Biscuit vibe too. I miss that guy.
I like how I can find new games on SteamPeak and helped me find some niche (but still very good) titles: https://steampeek.hu
(I‘m not affiliated with them)
The Jeff Gerstmann Show, Nextlander, Opencritic. Trusted sources are Game Informer, Gamespot, Eurogamer and IGN.
I'd say find a youtuber or streamer who has similar tastes to you and follow them. Personally, I follow SkillUp and ACG.
You can also check out OpenCritic for a review aggregator.
I don't think I've ever really liked the way Metacritic does it. GameRankings was my go-to for years (RIP), but I've preferred OpenCritic for review aggregating since they started up.
There's a lot of churn in video games criticism right now, and this year in particular highlighted some issues I have with how some outlets are doing things with their reviews. Things like rushing to press without finishing games (even just 20 hours in some cases), and omitted technical performance/bug discussion. I was enjoying The Washington Post's game section but that got shut down. Eurogamer and Gamespot were previous favorites of mine, but they seem to have changed their criticism style and I'm not a fan of what either are doing.
I do have some PC outlets I still like (PC Gamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun for anyone else reading), but I can't say I have an outstanding favorite otherwise at the moment. I pretty much just browse OpenCritic and pick out reviews at the extreme ends of the score spread and some random ones in the middle at this point.
I try to do the patient gamer thing too, as I'm always happier with games that have been polished (and they are cheaper). The threads in those communities are great for finding games. The Fediverse has one at !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works although it's still not super active yet.
ACG and SplatterCatGaming are my main sources for discovering new games.
Twitch, especially small streamers. I find out about a lot of games and get a pretty good idea of if I’d like them just from watching friends stream.
Scrolling through Steam, Eurogamer and Edge magazine.
For podcasts I highly recommend Into the Aether. They only bring games they like to the show and it’s a super chill and positive show that feels like chatting with friends who are really into vidya games. The episodes are quite long but great to listen to.
I always look for let’s play series by 2-3 different YouTubers (1-2 episodes) before I decide if the game is for me. Scores are meaningless if I am not interested in that genre or specific gameplay mechanics
Let's Game it Out.
If you can break a game as badly as he does and it still looks fun to play, it's probably something I'm going to like.
I like Adam Millard - Architect of Games, as well as Power Pak. Maybe it's basic, but I actually find that Tomato on twitch has very similar tastes in indie games as me, so I tend to keep an eye on what he's playing from time to time. I've picked up some great, recs that way. Splattercat, as well.
Interesting to see all replies! I’m curious to find new sources as well. I usually go through a set of bookmarks to sites such as eurogamer, kotaku, pcgamesN, ign (sorry for that), as well as checking reddit and lemmy.
I dont value reviews at all, I instead just look up streams / LPs of the games and decide if I want to play them after half an hour or so. Sometimes i'll scrub through if its a slow start and not like a story-focused game.
I'm usually putting on indie game reviewers on YouTube while I work for background noise. Have found many amazing games that way. I cannot recommend Retromation, Splattercat, Nilaus, and ImKibitz enough if you are into their game preferences. I also watch Olexa and Real Civil Engineer, but more for the laughs. They have good first looks though. Nilaus and ImKibitz are more automation and city-building games, Retromation and Olexa do a lot of rogue likes, and Splattercat is kinda a catch all.
Generally, I wait for gameplay footage from official and unofficial sources before committing to buying a game. I have a number of accounts I follow on other social media platforms that keep me updated on new games I might be interested, but none of them are reviewers outside of a quick 30-second blurb on socials or their Steam Curator account.
If I'm leaning buy but still hesitant, I'll generally pick it up and play for a bit to see if I'll keep it.
I don't find that my tastes align very closely with any reviewer, so I generally steer clear of them. If there's any kind of massive community criticism, there's bound to be plenty of people shouting about it online which makes it easy to take into consideration (whether to ignore it or not).
I usually like to watch before you buy on YouTube . And see what moist critical has to say about it.