Dominic Leighton's Reviews
Season: A letter to the future is a melancholic and touching ode to the things we leave behind, while the world continues on regardless. It's beautiful, and those of an inquisitive nature should step into its world to create memories of their own.
Fire Emblem Engage balances the series' past and its future, offering a renewed focus on the tactical gameplay, an endearing cast of old and new faces, and the best visuals the franchise has ever seen.
Monster Hunter Rise remains one of the best action-RPGs of recent years, and the PS5 release is a perfect example of what should be going into this kind of port.
All in all, the Dominion Malta DLC adds a welcome batch of extras to your park building inventory, while its campaign mode adds further context to a world where dinosaurs present both a capitalist and a conservationist proposition.
Blacktail is a beautiful adventure steeped in Slavic dark fantasy, though this setting sometimes sits at odds with its pan-Atlantic voice acting and script.
Darktide is an absolute blast. Its heavyweight blend of melee and gunplay ensure that the flow of frantic runs into the hive city just keep on coming.
Need for Speed Unbound is the best arcade racer of 2022, and a real statement from EA and Criterion. Why it's snuck out with so little fanfare will be one of the mysteries of the year.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a lovingly rebuilt remake, and one that all tactical RPG fans should experience.
With a revelatory open world to zip around and entertaining boss battles alongside the more traditional Cyber Space levels, Sonic Frontiers is the best that Sega's hedgehog has been for years.
A beautiful, great-sounding narrative adventure that loses its way with annoying and idiotic characters, drawn out exposition, and a distinct lack of challenge.
A crazy, over-the-top spectacle that's uproariously enjoyable, with its only restraint being Nintendo's handheld hardware.
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection gives PC gamers their first taste of Nathan Drake's amazing adventures. It would be nice to have the original trilogy remasters on PC as well, but this is still a great chance to experience two of the best action games of the last decade.
Dakar Desert Rally promises a lot, and delivers on a good portion of it, recreating the renowned rally event in spectacular fashion. While players may have to wait for all of the features on their wishlist, there's a huge amount of enjoyable rally racing to get stuck into.
Madden 23 is still Madden, but little more. If you've been wanting an NFL game that offers something wholly new, or one that can match the NBA 2K series for production values, then this isn't the place to find it. However, there's some key incremental improvements happening here which make Madden 23 a tighter, more engaging experience for fans, and one which will happily see you through this year's NFL season.
We Are OFK is a musical narrative experience that perfectly justifies its genre-defying position; the music is hot, the cast are hotter, and not only will you care about them, you'll care about hearing the next thing they do. It's exceptional.
GigaBash is a love letter to Kaiju cinema, assuming that a love letter can involve throwing buildings at each other. Raucous, entertaining, and brilliantly designed, GigaBash deserves to stomp its way into players' hearts around the globe.
The arrival of Marvel's Spider-Man on PC brings one of PlayStation's signature stars to a new platform. It looks fantastic, plays well across a variety of setups, and is one of the best games of the last five years. It is, in other words, essential, though you might want to wait for it to go on sale.
Endling: Extinction is Forever is a poignant piece of emotive short-form storytelling, telling a tale of survival that isn't just a conversation starter, but one that asks for immediate change.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is another impressive and entertaining RPG experience from Monolith Soft. Its ever-deepening mystery plays out across one of the most beautiful fantasy landscapes of recent years, while its approach to party building and classes means that the experience continually evolves. For a game that asks questions about how you spend your time, you won't want Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to finish.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is a nigh on perfect expansion, bringing meaningful gameplay change, charming new cast members, and most importantly, more monsters to hunt. It is, for those in the know, absolutely unmissable.