James Berich's Reviews
Outriders combines immense variety, aggressively geared combat and fun abilities to offer a third person shooter like no other. It's filled to the brim quality content – bringing a stellar campaign that's constantly throwing new things at the player and a compelling well-designed post-game experience in Expeditions. Teething issues with online aside, Outriders is poised to be one of the biggest surprises of the year, and you should definitely give it a go.
Bravely Default II is a fun sequel that does it's best to improve on it's predecessor. While the dungeon designs are simplistic and the side quests lack variety, it's hard to ignore what Bravely Default II does well. A combination of great artistic and audio direction and an engaging battle and progression system make Bravely Default II stand out from the rest. Make no mistakes. It's an earnest throwback to an often forgotten era of RPGs and a stellar modernisation of the classic Final Fantasy formula.
Little Nightmares II isn't content with just iterating on its predecessor, instead improving on it in practically every way. The puzzles are challenging and rewarding, combat surprisingly functional, and the imagery is as striking as ever. While trial-and-error design bogs down Little Nightmares II considerably, it's far and away a better game than the original.
The Medium is Bloober Team's most ambitious game in terms of scope and scale. It successfully leverages fixed camera angles and strong sound design to create a horror experience that's unashamedly nostalgic. Despite its successes, the game fails to capitalise on its unique dual reality mechanic and ultimately feels too similar to the studio's prior efforts in Blair Witch and Observer.
HITMAN III is a decidedly epic conclusion to the events established in the first two games. It offers fantastic, well-realised locales with objectives that are unconventional, at least by HITMAN standards, to come out feeling fresh. Though in pursuit of this, it has lost a bit of the breadth we've come to expect from the series. Ultimately, it delivers what it promised to - a strong conclusion to the trilogy.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game - Complete Edition brings together everything that was lost all those years ago to dreaded licensing issues to remind us of why we missed it so much. It's a fun and quirky beat-em-up, though the lack of online in all the modes offered feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.
Twin Mirror has an intriguing premise but ultimately fails to do anything remarkable with it. While it's DONTNOD's most impressive game technically, Twin Mirror is a by-the-book thriller that only just manages to scrape through to solve its core mystery that's unfortunately lacking thrills.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is an epic adventure that perfectly leverages the rich, storied history of Greek mythology with a focused and honed version of Ubisoft's now-ubiquitous open-world design. Deviating from the norm, the game's unique design and structure help Immortals be one of Ubisoft's most focused adventures and easily one of their most enjoyable yet.
Demon's Soul is without a doubt one of the strongest PS5 launch titles, providing one of the most challenging, yet rewarding experiences. Bluepoint's treatment, although controversial, is immaculate and represents the best way to experience the classic that started it all.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla blends old and new to create a unique experience and one of the best Assassin's Creed experiences yet. It combines series-best combat, a compelling story, and mesmerising locales to dually offer a definitive Viking and assassin experience.