We are getting down to the last handful of releases for the season.  Including this week, there were only a dozen titles left with solid release dates.

Fantasy Critic League – Like Fantasy Football, but for Video Games

Week forty-three saw three titles release, which had some potential to shake up the scoreboard, but first we need to see how things were lined up last time.

Week 42 Scores

Out of the gate on Monday we had an update for Planet Zoo 2, Arhanta’s final title to release, which took a bit of a hit.

  • Planet Zoo 2
    • [Picked by Rodent Entertainment (Arhanta)]
    • Score has gone DOWN from 82.5 to 80.8

That dropped their score a bit, but will it be enough to put anybody else within reach of first place?

Meanwhile Bhagpuss got a one point boost as more Nivalis Nights reviews came in.

  • Nivalis Nights
    • [Picked by Pretty Blue Fox Games (Bhagpuss)]
    • Score has gone UP from 70.0 to 71.0

After that we started seeing some of the week’s titles show up, opening with Final Fantasy Resonance.

Final Fantasy Resonance

I’ve never found any appeal in the series myself, but it has a dedicated fan base that Square Enix tends to fairly well, so a strong score was not a surprise.

  • Final Fantasy Resonance
    • [Picked by Hidalgo Trading Company (Pallais)]
    • Now has a score of 84.6

That was followed out of the gate by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, another of the week’s releases.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Another popular series, though without the lengthy pedigree of Final Fantasy, I will admit I had low expectations for it, and those low expectations seemed to be confirmed by the opening reviews.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Now has a score of 76.7

About 77 is not awful, but it is below average.  My sense of the series, as a complete outsider who has never played a single version of it, is that Activision might have milked that particular cow too hard and too often.

Then we had a couple more updates for titles already released, with upticks for both Ula and Arhanta.

  • Toem 2
    • [Picked by Anthania Interactive (Ula)]
    • Score has gone UP from 82.2 to 83.9
  • Planet Zoo 2
    • [Picked by Rodent Entertainment (Arhanta)]
    • Score has gone UP from 80.8 to 82.5

That put Planet Zoo 2 about back where it left off last week.

At about the same time we saw the third and final title for the week get its first score, with One Piece: Grand Gourmet arriving.

One Piece: Grand Gourmet

Unlike the other pair of week forty-three titles, this one was not from quite as storied franchise, though with 56 titles in the series it has its own history, so I had no expectations for a score.

  • One Piece: Grand Gourmet
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Now has a score of 81.2

That fell right in the “average” zone for picks in the league, at least using last year as a metric; not bad, but nobody is likely kicking themselves for not grabbing it first either… and all the more so when addition reviews knocked it down by about a point.

  • One Piece: Grand Gourmet
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Score has gone DOWN from 81.2 to 80.0

Wednesday night saw both One Piece: Grand Gourmet and Final Fantasy Resonance hit their release mark and the scoreboard recorded the impact of both titles landing.

  • Publisher Score Updates
    • Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)
      • Score has gone UP from 49.8 to 59.8
      • Moved from 10th place to 8th place
    • Rusty Shackleford (Shilgrod)
      • Moved from 8th place to 9th place
    • Pretty Blue Fox Games (Bhagpuss)
      • Moved from 9th place to 10th place
    • Hidalgo Trading Company (Pallais)
      • Score has gone UP from 26.9 to 41.7
      • Moved from 13th place to 12th place
    • Neutical Publishing (Cyanbane)
      • Moved from 12th place to 13th place

That got us to Thursday when Ula took a hit on Mio: Memories in Orbit.

  • Mio: Memories in Orbit
    • [Picked by Anthania Interactive (Ula)]
    • Score has gone DOWN from 82.8 to 80.6

That was the first title to launch in the league, way back at week four.  I guess somebody finally got around to reviewing it and had a bone to pick.

Then, as the date on the east coast changed to Friday, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 released.  And with the release it also got a decent boost in its score.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Score has gone UP from 76.7 to 83.7

Maybe that cow hasn’t been milked as hard as I thought.  That was enough to get Shawn another step up the scoreboard.

  • Publisher Score Updates
    • Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)
      • Score has gone UP from 66.5 to 73.5
      • Moved from 8th place to 7th place
    • Frabjous Day Enterprises (Archey)
      • Moved from 7th place to 8th place

Then, as Friday wore on, another boost for the title.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Score has gone UP from 85.3 to 86.5

As Corr pointed out on Discord, that was almost a 10 point score boost in a single day.  However, not everybody was in love with the game and some more reviews pressed it back down a bit.

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
    • [Picked by Crash and Burn Games (Shawn)]
    • Score has gone DOWN from 86.5 to 84.8

Still, a very respectable outing, making it the top scoring title for the week. (For those playing at home, I setup the posts now so the top scoring title is the featured image for the post when it lands on social media, so I keep an eye on that.)

And then, as quickly as it went down, Mio: Memories in Orbit went back up.  Did it suddenly get some new attention?

  • Mio: Memories in Orbit
    • [Picked by Anthania Interactive (Ula)]
    • Score has gone UP from 80.6 to 82.1

That pretty much wrapped up the week, leaving the scoreboard looking like this.

Week 43 Scores

Four players have all nine of their titles ship, even if not all of them have a score yet.  Three more of us our waiting on just two titles.

We did get one bid this week.

  • Bids in TAGN League
    • Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World
    • Won by Hidalgo Trading Company (Pallais) with a bid of $25

Pallais dropped Hollow Knight: Silksong – Sea of Sorrow, which had no announced released date beyond a 2026 target, to make way for Dragon Quest Monsters.  Pallais also has four titles  yet to ship, including Grand Theft Auto VI.

When it comes to week forty-four we have but one title launching.  These are the next ten titles on the launch list.

Week 44 Coming Up

Those are also the last ten titles with 2026 launch dates nailed down, the final one landing on December 10th. The remainders all have estimates.

We will soon start getting to some quiet weeks.  I will use those to start suggesting what the 2027 league might look like.

Related:

  • TAGN Fantasy Critic League
  • Fantasy Critic Site
  • Fantasy Critic How to Play
  • Fantasy Critic FAQ
  • Fantasy Critic Most Desired Reviews
  • Open Critic Review Site