Luke Addison 's Reviews
TRON: Catalyst is a shorter experience from a AA developer well-versed with the TRON IP, and while the world is incredibly well represented, the thin combat system, 2D characters, and paint-by-numbers story won’t light a fire under any fans to get involved.
The entire package of The Alters is incredible from start to finish. Be it the immersive soundtrack that delivers a gut-punch time after time, the incredible blending of new crew members with the philosophical questions posited around the right to create life, and the performances given by Alex Jordan and the smaller roles by the rest of the cast. When I wasn’t playing The Alters, I was thinking about The Alters. The decisions were difficult, and the choices matter. 2025 seems jam-packed with incredible, Game of the Year contenders, and for the last five months, mine was easily Split Fiction. Now, however, there’s only one choice for me. The Alters is Game of the Year.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition does exactly what it means to. It brings the 14-year-old release to the modern audience, further building on the franchise’s popularity. There’s plenty it can do better, sure, but it’s also incredibly good fun in what it does well. From the campaign to the multiplayer, it’s everything we remember, with some new bugs and a new lick of paint.
Hypercharge: Unboxed is especially great fun for those who remember the more classic times of local multiplayer co-op gaming, and also offers an online component to fight the scourge of evil invading. I enjoyed the gameplay loop immensely, from the shooting to the base-building and especially jumping around the levels, and will continue to return to the game continually.
Doom: The Dark Ages may be my favorite Doom experience throughout the years. Whilst it may be 'slower' than previous Doom's. feeling the weight of Doomguy as I cut my way through waves of demons, using the shield as a weapon as much, if not more than a defense, and some glorious level design that never got boring, I just can't wait to get back into the fight and really give it my all on all the difficulty levels. It's a blast, and any FPS fan should be looking at this. The only drawback is the thin and at times boring story getting in the way of more slaughter, but you can't blame iD for trying something new.
Empyreal is one of those AA games that come along once in a while. They’re good fun, great to look at and you come away wanting more. From unrelenting combat to ‘one more go’ at another Cartogram, another level and another attempt at getting the best loot, Silent Games didn’t do much wrong.
A lacklustre story is propped up by fun, if unoriginal, stealth gameplay, with some fun nods back to the ‘good old days’ of action platformers. A few glitches and crashes here and there didn’t help, but it hits the intended points and doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not.
For fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Alien: Isolation, or even Nicholas Cage’s Willy’s Wonderland, Finding Frankie will be a hoot, if not a short adventure. The parkour is more than serviceable, and the atmosphere is outstanding, enough that I immediately wondered if we’ll see a Finding Frankie 2.
WWE 2K25 is a huge step-up for the franchise in many ways, with more on offer, better customisation, far improved gameplay, and an entirely new mode that hopefully gets refined and bettered as time goes on. Beyond a few small mistakes, it feels like the best entry in the franchise for a long time, and certainly the best wrestling game available right now.
A beginner’s introduction to difficult games, The First Berserker: Khazan has many of the accessibility options Soulslikes/Action RPG fans have cried out for, and it does it all with an excellent combat system, interesting lore and story, and some fine visuals.
Hazelight Studios has crafted an adventure that almost transcends what it is, a video game, and goes a long way to prove that games are as much art as books and films. Split Fiction is one of the best games of the year, this generation of gaming ,and potentially ever, with equal measures of finesse in its execution and brass balls to take some big risks. It’s one of those games you don’t want to miss.
À La Mode Games have crafted a great indie experience here, and the transition to consoles from PC has been a successful one. With extra modes available, the experience is even bigger now, and with a unique premise and execution, Sorry We’re Closed is now just the beginning of a fruitful future for the studio. Don’t miss out on this, especially if you’re a survival horror fan!
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has crafted a thing of beauty here. Managing to send the already finely balanced franchise into the land of absurdity with the pirate theme, the studio still pulled together a tight enough experience that’ll have you laughing, shouting, crying, and enjoying every single moment. More Majima moving forward, please.
Don’t Nod has taken what they learned with Life is Strange and made something different, yet impressively better. It’ll make you think, both about your in-game actions and out of game life, and will stick with you long after you switch off. Most importantly, it goes to show games are an art form that can have a message, be fun and also still be unique and different to what we’ve seen before.
Odd Bug Studio has managed to build on the first game in some great ways, with deeper combat, even better visuals, and the magnanimous Doug Cockle narrating throughout, but a boring story and some lackluster additions make it fall just short of being perfect.
Rebellion gives us another go-round with the arcade sniping sim with Sniper Elite: Resistance, and all-in-all it's an enjoyable one. A few post-launch patches from the devs could go a long way to fixing some issues, but a stronger story and more interesting characters are much needed next time. That said, shooting Nazis was an absolute riot, which is the most important thing.
Aspyr has done enough with Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles to warrant the remaster, giving it a fresh lick of paint, tighter controls, accessibility through the wazoo, and a bit more besides, but performance problems, lacking story and audio that keeps cutting out do tarnish the experience somewhat.
Dreamcore may not be the longest game, nor one full of features, but what it aims to do, it does incredibly well. Spend your time walking through seemingly never-ending mazes of desperate environments you never feel safe in, and do your best to escape. And then play the level again.
Infinity Nikki is a cozy game aimed at gamers who want a carefree exploration, simple mechanics and a gameplay experience that’ll make you unreasonably relaxed and cheery come the time you switch off. A lackluster narrative, poor and congested menus and hollow characters will make some parts of Infinity Nikki feel like it’s dragging though.
Aged combat can prove repetitive, with some rinse-and-repeat combos, but an incredible facelift both in graphics and audio proves enough to keep the experience as good as we remember it. Add some basic quality-of-life additions like the compass, and Aspyr has succeeded in making this a more than serviceable remaster, but also a genuinely fun one.