It's always hard to predict sleeper hits, simply because they almost never look like a game that will take the world by storm. No one saw Among Us, Fall Guys, Rocket League and the like and thought that these are games that will take over the world - but like damn it happened.

When it comes to lavish single-player games, it's a little easier because there are simply so few releases, but even so, it's often difficult to pinpoint them. New game series have nothing to lean on.

With that said, I still thought I would take the opportunity to either appear brilliant - or as a lost gentleman without control. The more I hear about the Mass Effect-inspired (the developers admit it themselves) The Expanse: Osiris Reborn - I am convinced that it will be a multi-million seller who will be fighting hard in GOTY 2027.

As the name suggests, it's based on The Expanse universe and the premise seems so promising that I just wishlisted it, something I normally rarely do. If it is only technically complete, I think nothing can stop this.

<bild>

Top grade, bottom grade or somewhere in between - that remains to be seen. Do you have a sleeper hit you think will surprise the world?

One of our lovely readers (you're one of them, you know that) sent a nice PM with a very well-reasoned question: "Where's your Halo: Campaign Evolved review?"

And... It's reasonable to think about. Halo is one of my absolute favorite series ever and I value my memories with Master Chief highly, where the ones from 2001 and 2002 with Combat Evolved are perhaps the finest - in competition with Reach. So where's the review?

Well, it's on its way, but unfortunately we didn't get the code until now that the game has been released for everyone with previous access via a more expensive edition. The reason doesn't seem to be primarily due to Microsoft's fear of low ratings (on the contrary, people seem to love the game), but problems that have arisen with the distribution of the codes. However, I am not particularly interested in speculating about that, and once is not once.

However, I just want to let you know that I'm at least in full swing with the game and hope to be done with everything late on Friday, where I'll also play some co-op with my partner, both locally and online. Then I will return with my review, but I can already after the first hours state that it will almost certainly be a positive review.

Master Chief's Unreal debut feels as familiar but gorgeous as I had hoped - although of course I regret that multiplayer is missing.

<bild>

Yes, it's Halo, just an awful lot prettier.

For many years, I had something of a break from Japanese role-playing games. Not that I didn't play them, but it wasn't at the same level as it used to. It became Western instead, perhaps from 2005 to 2020. At the same time, I also felt that the genre kind of slipped away from me a bit.

Instead of being just role-playing games, it was almost exclusively about action games, and the extremely controlled combat was replaced by people flying back and forth with rather sloppy game controls. If I want third-person action, there are simply much, much better options - which is also one of the main reasons why I've never really been hooked on the Final Fantasy VII: Remake games, even though the original is one of my best games ever.

But... Around 2020 somewhere, the pendulum seemed to swing towards some kind of "Make J-RPG great again" and menu-based battles came into vogue, games were designed with clear inspiration from the Golden Age and countless classics came in a short time. And here we are now. I revel in games like the Octopath Traveller series, have enjoyed Dragon Quest 1-3 remakes, got new favorites in Yakuza: Like a Dragon/Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and I just bought Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok.

Right now I'm playing Dragon Quest 7: Remake at the best and loving every second of it. It's fast, cozy, just right in every way and also gorgeous and well-sounding. And in fact , it's further elevated by the fact that it's available for the Switch 2.

The adventure is big, but since I get into it in five seconds with the Switch 2, I have time to get the time I need. It will be equal parts on the TV and portable. And the more time passes, the more I feel that Switch 2 will become my main format when it comes to Japanese role-playing games. Their slightly slower and more "playful" setup makes them extremely easy to just pick up and drive on, and they are rarely the games that push the limits technically.

<bild>

The Switch 2 is perfect for Japanese role-playing games (image from Dragon Quest VII Reimagined - and you can read our review here).

He definitely has his sides and hasn't always been the nicest on social media, but I've always liked Cliff Bleszinski. He has been more naked than most other developers during his career, and always dares to say what he thinks and thinks.

Therefore, it feels a bit sad when he now once again talks about the probably extremely stressful and pressing period he led Boss Key and flopped raw with his Lawbreakers. There were plenty of people who wanted to see him flop, with the Playstation audience seeming to dislike him for the Xbox background while the Xbox audience disliked him for the fact that his games were only available on Sony's console.

Now he is also coming out as a sober alcoholic, which I really appreciate and hope is something that may spur some people somewhere to stay on track - or at least serve as a warning example and increase the understanding of the tragedy it means for so many.

Where do I want to go with this? Well, really, I probably just wanted an excuse to show a video of X where Bleszinski was a guest on Jimmy Fallon during the era of Gears of War. An era when a AAA game could have a campaign of 6-7 hours and a multiplayer part with a handful of levels without any stores as far as the eye could see - and all of them were Very happy with what they got.

An era when games existed both digitally and physically, and then were actually on the discs and could be used online. And at this time, it was so incredible that it could take just over two years to develop a AAA game that Fallon rehearsed asked that very question, precisely to show how demanding it is with big games.

Today, it takes at least twice as long (beloved AAA comics only get one new sapel - or less - per generation), the campaigns often need to last at least 30 hours and the content online is half endless and requires a season pass and you are constantly asked to buy different products for it.

It's a bit of an old man's warning to say it, but some things were really better in the past, and it's a hill I'm going to die on.

<bild>

We didn't know how good we were doing.

I have no idea how scientific it is, but I readily admit that EA's predictions with their football simulators about the World Cup results are starting to get downright creepy. As we could tell you today, the company has now during five football World Cups in a row scored the right winner.

Many people usually point out that it is pure luck and that they do not have anywhere near the same results about, for example, the NFL or the NHL - but these are completely different sports with completely different simulation properties, and regular football is of course most important as the biggest and best-selling sport. Quite simply.

When we report on its prediction of the World Cup again in 2030 (Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay - not completely sold on that setup, I can tell you) we will have to consider whether it is not time to mark the news with spoiler warning, And betting companies are also likely to start keeping an eye on this.

<bild>

How good is EA's simulator? Whatever you think and believe, the correct winner has been picked in five out of five World Cups.