I'm just pointing out that in terms of how Ciri is represented in published media might be now 8 to 1 in terms of consistency. When book readers or young gamers in 2030 decide to check out what TW3 was about they might find it strange too.

And I haven't seen anyone else with that particular complaint, so you might not be speaking for a lot of people anyway...

Didn't watch it, but from newly announced games only few piqued my interest - Okami sequel, "Team ICO" game, Overcooked dev's new coop game and Solasta II (not sure if it's actual sequel or just another module marketed as sequel).
I wish Witcher 4 is among them, but I was hoping for actual "choose your Witcher" RPG, not Ciri spinoff.
Outer Worlds 2 might be fun - I find first one to be one of Cain/Boyarsky weaker games, but it was still fairly enjoyable.

I've done more reach into it. The devs say they want to get rid of the neutrality of Gerlalt and add more emotion to choices. I don't feel this is a good move but I trust them.... I suppose, I have to trust them. It just seems like something integral about the quests and stories will be lost, the idea that Geralt was a bystander in place for the player. If they can pull it off, Props to them but I've seen this with Assasins Creed when they tried to copy TW3, it just ruins the magic sauce. 

I'd consider it moreso an action-adventure with platforming as part of the variety.

Crazy that It takes two and Astro Bot are both bigger platform series in terms of awards than Mario. Not a good look for Nintendo that Sony every year cleans the game awards while Nintendo never shows up and never win anything big. I mean the gigantic Nintendo mascot Mario being less relevant for the game awards than a tiny Sony side project like Astro Bot?

SPAM REMOVED

Mario Odyssey would have crushed this year as well. It just had to go up against Breath Of The Wild...

I also consider it a 3D platformer since that's the biggest part of the variety but that's fair enough. The next 3D Mario winning next year would be cool for two platformers in a row but the competition will be fierce no matter how good it is. 

Elden Ring: Nightrein Network Test is coming in February.

▫️ Standalone adventure set in the Elden Ring universe
▫️ 3 player co-op, survival action roguelike
▫️ Choose from 8 pre-defined characters with unique abilities and Ultimates
▫️ Not GaaS, priced around the same as SotE
▫️ Set on a modified version of Limgrave (Limveld)
▫️ Ever-changing map
▫️ Survive a three day and night cycle
▫️ Spend about 10 minutes each day to loot, level, and explore
▫️ Loot includes new gear, items, perks, abilities, buffs, etc
▫️ Face a boss at the end of each night
▫️ On the 3rd night, face-off against a powerful Night Lord to earn a special drop/upgrade for your character
▫️ Unsuccessful runs will grant players relics, allowing them to customize and upgrade their characters to their playstyle
▫️ Enemy types and loot rewards will change each run
▫️ No cross-play
▫️ Faster movement speed, no fall damage.
▫️Simplified levelling system
▫️ The map will shrink as the day passes until ultimately facing the boss
▫️ HUB is a remixed version of the Roundtable Hold, can speak to the other "hero" characters and progress their story between runs
▫️ Unlock hero skins by completing runs
▫️ Network Test coming next February with registration beginning January 10th
▫️ Coming 2025 to PS5, PS4, Xbox, and PC

Elden Ring not planned to release on Switch 2 according to FromSoft:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/12/is-elden-ring-nightreign-coming-to-switch-2-fromsoftware-knows-nothing-about-the-console-apparently