Jon Scarr's Reviews
The Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection’s a massive package that treats Geo Stelar’s story with the respect it deserves. The second game’s a grind, but the fast combat and Noise transformations in the final entry make the trilogy worth seeing through to the end. The transition’s a win for you thanks to the accessible Buster Max tools.
Screamer is a high-energy reimagining that captures the spirit of the 90s arcade era while offering something genuinely new. The twin-stick drifting and tactical Sync/Entropy management are the most interesting things to happen to the genre in years, rewarding the effort it takes to get a handle on the controls. The dialogue-heavy story pacing is a real drag and the AI rubber-banding feels cheap, but the sharp lighting and hard-hitting soundtrack keep the energy high. If you’ve been waiting for an arcade racer that respects the classics but isn't afraid to innovate, this is worth the effort to master.
Pearl Abyss built something massive with Crimson Desert, and the cracks show alongside the ambition. The visuals are the best I’ve seen in an open world, the combat is one-of-a-kind, and I never ran out of reasons to keep exploring. But the story lets the whole thing down, Kliff is too blank to carry a game this long, and a lot of the side content just doesn’t hold up. It’s worth playing, but go in with your eyes open.
WWE 2K26 is the best the series has felt inside the ropes. The improved physics, the I Quit match, and the CM Punk Showcase all give you genuine reasons to be here. MyRISE and The Island are both better than last year, and the roster depth is hard to argue with. The Ringside Pass is the one thing that’s hard to get past. Locking characters behind a slow grind, particularly for people who already paid for a premium edition, is a decision that leaves a mark on an otherwise strong package. If you love wrestling, this is the best game the series has ever produced. Just go in knowing what the Ringside Pass is before you buy.
MLB The Show 26 is the same game on the surface and a noticeably different one underneath. The on-field strategy changes are the most meaningful the series has introduced in years, Road to the Show finally has an amateur arc worth caring about, and Diamond Dynasty is launching with more content than it ever has before. The visuals haven’t moved and the grind is still the grind. But if you play this series for the baseball, this is the best it has felt in a long time.
Mr. Sleepy Man is weird, personal, and built around movement and world design that most indie platformers don't come close to. The freezes and collectible respawning are genuine issues, and the nonlinear structure asks more patience than some players will want to give it. But Devin Santi created something here unlike anything else you'll play this year, and that alone makes it worth your time.
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is the strongest this spin-off series has been so far. Its story finally gives the adventure real pull, the combat asks more from you in the right ways, and Habitat Restoration gives the whole game a better sense of purpose. The political side of the story could have used more room through the middle, and the Nintendo Switch 2 version has pop-in and frame drops that are hard to ignore. Even with those issues, this is the Monster Hunter Stories game that pulls everything together best.
WiZmans World Re;Try has a good mystery, a party-building loop that gives the game its own identity, and enough fusion-based customization to keep the dungeon crawl interesting for a while. The problem is that the dungeons repeat themselves too often, and the story scenes don’t do enough once the opening setup is in place. The remaster cleans up the visuals, music, and menus, but it doesn’t do much to hide the older parts that drag the game down. Even with those limits, there’s still a solid RPG here if building a party and planning around elemental matchups is the part you care about most.
Wishfully took everything that worked in the original and made it better. The puzzles are more inventive, the world is richer, and Lana and Mui’s bond carries the whole thing without ever feeling forced. It’s short, and the new abilities leave you wanting more. But Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is a beautiful, emotionally honest game that earns every moment it asks of you.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is a massive RPG with an equally massive open world that rewards every hour you put into it. The 60fps upgrade makes a real difference, especially in Skell combat. The main story lacks the emotional pull of other Xenoblade titles, and the higher resolution exposes its age as much as it flatters it. But Mira itself remains one of the most impressive worlds Nintendo has ever published, and this is the version worth owning.
God of War: Sons of Sparta turns Kratos and Deimos into the leads of a side-scrolling Metroidvania set during their Spartan training days. You move through camps, villages, and ruins with a spear-and-shield kit that rewards clean blocks, rolls, and stun finishers, then branch into different spear heads and shields to tweak how fights play out. The pixel art, camera pullbacks, chiptune score, and T.C. Carson’s narration give this prequel a strong Greek-era identity without trying to copy the main games outright. If you’re already into God of War and like 2D Metroidvania games, Sons of Sparta is worth making room for in your backlog.
Resident Evil Requiem pulls you back to Raccoon City with two strong routes. Grace’s chapters bring slower, nervous survival horror, while Leon’s side sticks to harder-hitting combat. You sneak through hotels and clinics with a flashlight, juggling blood injector choices and limited ammo. Then you swap to over-the-shoulder fights where kicks, axe swings, and quick weapon swaps clear the room. The story spends a lot of time on old Umbrella lore and gives Leon more of the focus by the end. If you are already into Resident Evil, this stands up as one of the strongest modern games in the series.
ChromaGun 2: Dye Hard is a first person colour puzzle game built around a tri-colour ChromaGun, Magnetoid Chromatism, and multiverse test labs where you pull WorkerDroids onto switches, pick apart long chambers, and hunt hidden golden guns through crumbling corridors. Frequent loading screens, spaced-out auto saves, chatty supervisors, and a few timing-heavy rooms drag the whole thing down, but if you like Portal style puzzles and want something smaller that plays with colour rules in its own way, this is still worth a look.
FUR Squadron Phoenix is a Star Fox-style on-rails shooter with eight stages that mix virtual training and real combat, giving you tight tunnels, busy enemy waves, and an upgrade loop built around XP, special weapons, and Overdrive. Stiff fine aiming, repeating routes, and a last boss that drags hold it back a bit, but if you want a focused single-player rail shooter, it’s a strong pick that scratches that Star Fox 64 itch.
The 9th Charnel is a short cult horror game where you work your way through half-built sites in a closed-off valley, hiding from brutal stalkers and solving tile and logic puzzles that call back to older survival horror. Clumsy enemy behaviour, stiff gunfights, and flat cutscenes hold it back.
GRID Legends: Deluxe Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 gives you busy pack racing, a documentary-style Story, and a long Career that rotates you through touring cars, trucks, and other builds across street circuits, arenas, and off-road routes. You spend your time weaving through traffic, managing throttle and braking on digital triggers or a GameCube controller, nudging rivals as the nemesis system turns repeat clashes into personal duels, and swapping between Story chapters, Career ladders, and custom Free Play grids. The missing online multiplayer and cutscenes that sometimes talk longer than you might like hold it back a bit, but if you enjoy single-player racing and want a packed calendar of events to work through, GRID Legends: Deluxe Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 is an easy pick.
Styx: Blades of Greed pulls you back into stealth-heavy goblin heists, with tall maps, an airship hub, and Quartz powers that let you swing between rooftops, glide over patrols, and set up tricks like cocoons, mind control, and nasty traps. You spend your time picking contracts from the ship, sneaking through The Wall, Turquoise Dawn, and Akenash, crafting tools, and dragging bodies out of sight. Odd guard behaviour, camera slips, and a stealth loop that repeats the same scout, separate, clear pattern hold it back, but the mix of vertical routes, goblin chatter, and room to plan your own approach still works well if you’re up for patient sneaking and can live with some quirks.
High On Life 2 pulls you back into sci-fi bounty hunting with bigger alien hubs, a skateboard that replaces sprinting, and a pharma story that drags your family and chatty guns into something larger than last time. You spend your time swapping between Gatlians, riding rails through cities, and tackling bounties that mix short investigations, arena runs, races, odd jobs, and side routes that can lead to extra scenes or endings if you chase them down. Frequent reloads, gunfights that feel oddly flat when music fails to kick in, and hubs that are easy to get turned around in hold it back, but when everything behaves, the mix of talking weapons, colourful streets, and sharper pharma satire still works well if you want to dive back into this world.
Tokyo Scramble is a stealth-first horror game that traps you in derailed subway tunnels under Tokyo, with dinosaur-like Zinos waiting for you to make a mistake. Sneaking, heart-rate management, and Anne’s watch apps turn vending machines, alarms, gates, and elevators into tools for surviving short, stage-based runs, with GameShare co-op letting friends split movement, camera control, and gadget duty. The group chats and casual banter don’t always match how much danger Anne is in, but the chapter format makes it easy to play a few stages at a time and, paired with steady performance, it’s a strong fit if you want horror that’s all about planning routes instead of pulling the trigger.
Crisol: Theater of Idols is a first-person horror game where every shot drains your own blood, turning ammo management into the heart of each fight. Tormentosa’s twisted churches, frozen processions, and hostile idols give the story a strong Spanish religious horror hook, helped by characters like Mediodia and La Planidera. Some encounters run long and a few speeches go over the top, but the blood-for-ammo combat, compact districts, and fairground hub come together into a tight horror run that’s easy to recommend if you like deliberate, lore-heavy scares.