What videogames are you playing in 2026?

[Kaodi]

So what has everyone bought in Early Access, and which of those are you playing (or have played) extensively before release?

I do not have enough disposable cash to really want to buy games in early access. Closest exception I probably would have made was for Hades II, but I waited for the first semi-decent sale after full release.

 

[dbolack]

Hopefully Tex Murphy

 

[abazaba]

So what has everyone bought in Early Access, and which of those are you playing (or have played) extensively before release?

I would not say 'played extensively' before release, but I did try out 'Elder Scrolls Online' when it was in Beta testing (before I bought it). I think I got an access code for that from a friend or something. Not that this would be 'recently' by any definition.

 

[Kaodi]

It only took me like 338 hours but I finally got The Plot Thickens achievement for leaving Act I, XD .

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I am beginning to think ES6 is straight vaporware and will never be released.

I have theory about this. Work was started on a new Elder Scrolls game a decade ago, but put on hold as those people were needed to get Starfield finished. Work resumed when Starfield shipped, but with so much time having passed it was largely a case of starting again from scratch.

The thing with a numerical title in a series is it automatically goes to whatever comes out next. So, there will eventually be an ES6. But there may well be several aborted potential ES6 games in between ES5 and whatever game eventually makes it to publication.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I have theory about this. Work was started on a new Elder Scrolls game a decade ago, but put on hold as those people were needed to get Starfield finished. Work resumed when Starfield shipped, but with so much time having passed it was largely a case of starting again from scratch.

The thing with a numerical title in a series is it automatically goes to whatever comes out next. So, there will eventually be an ES6. But there may well be several aborted potential ES6 games in between ES5 and whatever game eventually makes it to publication.

This is how Ultima IX's development went down (replace Starfield with Ultima Online). And I don't like it one bit.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

I generally avoid Early Access, and just wait until the game launches to 1.0. I think I might have played a little Phoenix Point pre-full release, but probably not since I waited for it to go to GOG and it had an exclusive elsewhere for a while.

Phoenix Point changed so much with every update (both pre- and post-release) that I figured I’d wait until the game was in a stable state before giving it a real crack. In general, I don’t see the point of playing pre-release versions unless you want to complain about stuff and influence the direction of the game. And I’m at a point where I’m too lazy for that, so I usually wait until 6–12 months post-release before I buy stuff.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Phoenix Point changed so much with every update (both pre- and post-release) that I figured I’d wait until the game was in a stable state before giving it a real crack. In general, I don’t see the point of playing pre-release versions unless you want to complain about stuff and influence the direction of the game. And I’m at a point where I’m too lazy for that, so I usually wait until 6–12 months post-release before I buy stuff.

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same. I played a little of PP when it had settled down, and now that they did that last big revision I'm trying to take it through to completion again.

But I won't even step in to most games in the EA period. Only time that's been a thing was when I was still backing computer game Kickstarters; there's at least one that still hasn't come out of that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

PP is faster moving early on, but the late game still drags. It needed more mission variety, and late-game gear that's actually worth having.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

PP is faster moving early on, but the late game still drags. It needed more mission variety…

No argument there. Just a couple more mission types would have really helped. I also think it’s just the sheer volume of missions - in the new XCOMs you’re forced to make an artificial choice, but in Phoenix Point you can, in theory at least, do every single mission, and it’s just too much.

…and late-game gear that's actually worth having.

I hear this complaint a lot and I don’t quite understand it. Even without the DLCs, the late-game Phoenix virophage, NJ piercing and explosive, and Synedrion paralysis and laser weapons are pretty much straight upgrades on the earlier tech. Even the midgame side-grades are usually better than the earlier tech, as long as you know how to use it properly. I vastly prefer it to XCOM-style linear upgrades.