In lesser hands, The Dark Ages would be fun but forgettable. In Id’s hands, this is a deep action experience solely focused on a relentless, but brilliantly controlled flow state. It’s a game that takes the simplest, yet coolest ideas and commits completely to them with peerless execution, making sure above else, it’s sick as hell.
If you’re looking for something to get lost in for a little bit, Rebellion has offered up a mostly pleasant jaunt. Especially as something to pick up and play on Game Pass, it’s easy to recommend trying. That’s good too, Atomfall works better as a cheap, last-minute package weekend to Cumbria, rather than a two-week vacation. While it’s charming for a short stay, you’re sharing a single-sized bed with your partner, and the B&B owner’s eyes just started to glow blue.
Avowed continues Obsidian’s tradition of creating excellent RPGs that feel heavily linked to well-trodden genres, yet not doing quite enough to carve out a new identity. There’s a lot to be charmed by, be it nuanced characters and choices, a heavy dialogue focus, and a compelling central mystery where what’s ‘good’ isn’t often clear. While it doesn’t push the envelope, it does enough to justify its place, and for just the price of a GamePass subscription, it’s easy to recommend trying.
While performance woes hinder it, STALKER 2 is a fiercely unique and immersive survival game. It asks the player to put in the work and struggle against its harsh systems that may turn many off. However, if you’re willing to persevere through its systems and technical issues, there is a special experience waiting to be found within the enchanting Zone.
One of the best Call Of Duty games in years, with one of the greatest campaigns in the franchise's history, along with solid, if somewhat less ambitious, multiplayer and co-op modes.
The Final Shape is a sentimental love letter of the social and community aspects of gaming. The power of creating a group of friends and playing something together. The stories you experience in-game and out of it. It’s not just the culmination of memories of the expansions and seasons of the last 10 years, but also the people we met along the way. It’s so rare for games to get to this moment – a climax of a decade of storytelling – and it’s practically unheard of to have it end so satisfyingly. Bungie did what seemed impossible with The Final Shape – they nailed it.
I’m rooting for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League though. There is enough here to suggest that Rocksteady has a grasp of what could make this game great. It will take effort and some big releases, but despite having an uneven experience overall, I’ve left relatively favorable. It has a rebellious spirit that makes it endearing. For all the noise around the game, from those fighting loudly in its corner and those trying to tear it apart, I’ve left with an unceremonious “Yeah, it’s pretty good” with a tinge of hope to boot. There is a world where the game has a future, and it’s a multiverse I’d like to live in.
Ubisoft Montpellier has brought an invigorating energy, with a breathtaking art style, impressively expressive combat, mindstretching platform puzzles, and deeply challenging bosses. When it is all coming together in an audio-visual crescendo, it’s a thing to behold. This ode to Symphony of the Night and other greats in the genre understands what made those so good, and finds new life. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is an absolute triumph, charting the future for this fallen franchise. Here’s hoping it finds its audience because it would be a tragedy to have something this good lost to time once again.
When Insomniac taps into the heart of its subject matter, be that Peter or Miles, it’s glorious. Being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is compelling. You’re equally important in saving the world or helping someone cross the street, a dichotomy this game understands beautifully. That’s why it’s a shame the main narrative gets tangled in its own web of disparate elements, falling just shy of greatness
Starfield is truly impressive, and when it allows you to breathe and live out your fate in the stars, it’s a consistently compelling journey. However, the main story and the central mystery act as a black hole, threatening, but never quite succeeding to drag it down into complete oblivion.
With a cast of characters that are easy to invest in, a story that pays off the promise of its impossible scale, and one of the best action combat systems ever committed to disk, Final Fantasy XVI is a game that you owe it to yourself to indulge in.
Redfall is one of the worst-performing games I’ve played in years, and even when it’s working, it’s undercooked and uninspired. It’s impossible to say if this is the case, but Refall ‘feels’ like a game that has succumbed to too much compromise. There’s a world where there’s a great version of this concept, complete with a much grander vision, however, we sadly don’t live in that timeline.
With Dragonflight, Blizzard has done an exceptional job at breathing life into a game that had been floundering. This is thanks to a fun campaign that anyone can enjoy, an adventurous spirit at the heart of the world, satisfying dragonriding, as well as a location full of stories and secrets to unearth. This is as good a jumping on point for the game as ever, and it's likely the best there will be for some time. After such a tumultuous time for the MMO, this feels like a clean break – a new beginning and a recapturing of the spirit that made the release back in 2004 so captivating. If you're a lapsed player, or even a new one, scared by the sheer weight of 18 years of backlog, Dragonflight sheds most of that. It truly feels like the triumphant return for World of Warcraft and I can't wait to see what's next.
A surprising, old school looter propped up by a contained sci-fi campaign, ferocious combat, and a modding system that encourages endless creativity.
It's amazing it runs on the hardware at all, but the performance is a huge compromise, especially in a solely competitive environment.
A great finale to the World of Assassination trilogy and the perfect time to end the reboot era, as the once revolutionary formula begins to show its age.
One of Destiny 2's best expansions thus far, providing an assured roadmap for the series to move into. It is just more Destiny though.
Outlast 2 is a true improvement on its predecessor, with Red Barrel Studio planting its flag to claim the standard for horror games in 2017. From the beautifully horrific environments, the ambitious ideas to the sheer unsettling nature, it's disturbing in the ways you'll want from it. It makes this title truly interesting, even affecting. While it's aggressive in its assault on the player, perhaps to the point of becoming tiring, on the whole the game is very, very good. This is especially true of the exquisite second half of the game that sings to a developer in tune with its vision. Outlast 2 serves up an expertly crafted horror experience that will likely find itself burrowing into you even after your time in the Sonoran desert has come to an end.