The Star Named EOS tells a wonderful, bittersweet story through a unique gameplay lens that marries point-and-click puzzling with some light photography to great effect. If you've got a couple hours to spare getting lost in this hand-drawn and beautiful little game, you're in for an absolute treat.
As an approachable, bite-sized introduction to the world of speedrunning through the lens of some bonafide classics, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a decent enough package. It lacks a little added flavour, but the way it gently teaches you to find those perfect lines, hidden quirks and cheesy hacks makes for some very rewarding moments, and it doubles as a surprisingly good party game.
Unsurprisingly, Spin Rhythm XD is as good on PlayStation as it has been on other platforms. It's a top-tier arcade rhythm title that's remained sorely underappreciated, a fact that will hopefully change with this release. With novel mechanics, a banging playlist, fantastic options for gameplay customisation and a fun (if strange) VR mode, there's never been a better spin on this experience.
Beyond Good & Evil's 20th Anniversary Edition does a commendable job of freshening up an experience that had long aged out of its must-play status. Enhanced visuals that don't dull the original charm, welcome quality-of-life and control improvements and a nice smattering of extra content go a long way to making this a worthwhile revisit to Hillys.
Though it does little to stray from the formula, Banana Rumble is a worthy original entry in a series that has somehow survived decades on a fairly simple concept. With a worthy Adventure Mode full of fun stages and addictive challenges, some great inclusions for approachability, a healthy suite of unlockables and some amusing, if not particularly compelling, multiplayer Battle modes, this is a decent overall package for Monkey Ball vets and newcomers alike.
At the end of the day though, the Kingdom Hearts games being on Steam is a big deal not because they’re very moderately updated or because it’s at all new to be able to play them on PC, but because it’s a huge portion of the PC audience that can finally play them via their distribution platform of choice. And, in the amount of time I’ve been playing the Steam versions prior to launch, everything looks great and works as intended, which is wonderful news.
I jumped into The Smurfs - Village Party on a whim, hoping to feel the same dumb glee that I did when burning through Garfield Lasagna Party's trophy list. To my surprise, Village Party's ambitions rose much higher than a lot of games like it, but unfortunately the ensuing fall was much, much deeper than I could have imagined. This isn't worth your time, your kids' time, or anyone's.
Indika is a thoroughly compelling work that succeeds in throwing out the narrative adventure game rulebook and building on processes from all forms of art to create something wholly unique. It's a brisk, bold, frequently dark, sharply critical and deeply weird thing that deserves to be played by anyone with the stomach.
Mullet Mad Jack is a blistering, balls-to-the-wall throwback to 90s anime and violent, dystopian sci-fi that marries boomer shooters with speedrunning and roguelike aspirations to form an absolutely intoxicating brew. It's short, and there's not much to keep you invested even with infinite floors to climb, but you'll be having a good fucking time while you're in it.
Little Kitty, Big City is a hugely charming, succinct romp that's littered with gags laser-targeted at cat owners. It's light and breezy in the best ways, and although some technical rubs soured my time on Xbox Series X, it's a purr-fectly pleasant time.
Endless Ocean Luminous is a mildly confounding product. On the one hand, it's still got that very compelling offering of hours spent drifting through gorgeous oceans and coming face-to-face with hundreds of stunning creatures, without complex mechanics or urgency to get in the way. On the other hand, the overall gameplay experience has been dulled down so much to feel like a backwards step, and the system of randomly-seeded dive spots dilutes a lot of its personality.
Another Crab's Treasure is a scrappy, succinct and soggy soulslike that doesn't just pay homage to FromSoft's pioneering efforts but stands out in its own right. There's no getting around the fact that it has serious issues of performance and polish that can really bring down the experience, but it's a game so packed with charm, so inspired, so unexpectedly cooked and with so many flashes of brilliance that I can genuinely say it's worth suffering through the pain points. I don't think I've been quite so enamoured with a game like this in a long time.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is an earnest first video game effort from a studio that's destined for great things. Weak exploration and a lack of combat variety are minor flaws in an overall package that offers up fluid platforming, some great gameplay hooks, an emotionally-resonant story and a rich tapestry of sights and sounds that's like little else in the space. It's almost the perfect pairing to the recent Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, offering a succinct and approachable take on the concept that offers even more story, worldbuilding and visual flair.
The Rising Tide is exactly what a Final Fantasy XVI DLC expansion should be. It's got a beautiful, mysterious new region to explore, an engaging questline with great new characters, hugely satisfying new additions to combat and plenty of extra challenge for those ready to seek it out. It doesn't do much to fix the main game's few flaws, but what's here is some of the most compelling and exciting content in the entire game.
It might not come as a surprise, but Dave the Diver is just as good on PlayStation as it is elsewhere. If you're yet to experience this intoxicating combination of scuba, sushi and silly mini-games, there's really never been a better time – especially because you can snag it as part of a PlayStation Plus Extra subscription.
House Flipper 2 is a genuinely impressive effort to spin an awkward, viral oddity into a more structured and goal-oriented game that builds on the moreish qualities of the original while honing its visual language and hugely expanding on its possibilities. It's just as good on PS5 too, with solid performance and mostly-intuitive controls making it a great choice of platform for budding flippers out there.
Botany Manor is a delight. It's sweet, succinct and serene, packed with clever puzzles that reward thoughtful exploration and engagement with its narrative. At a little under three hours it's the perfect lazy weekend getaway for those that like to stop and smell the flowers as much as they like to enrich the soil of their mind.
Planet Zoo is a fantastic zoo management sim with a heap of depth and flexibility, along with some welcome incorporation of important conservationist messaging. It's also packed with gorgeous-looking animals to fawn over. The Console Edition's long-awaited arrival isn't without some frustrating quirks, mostly when it comes to controls, but the overall experience is mostly intact and still very enjoyable over a chill weekend.
Despite its technical woes and pervasive simplicity, there's just enough of a spark in Princess Peach Showtime! that it had won me over by the time the curtains closed. It might not be deserving of a standing ovation but it's certainly got the stage presence to attract an audience. It's good, light, family fun that's consistently charming and perfectly cast.
Balatro is one of those deceptively-approachable ideas that will absolutely consume you the more you start to puzzle out its secrets and intricacies. It somehow makes playing the same game over and over feel completely fresh in possibility each time, and doles out just enough new ideas and just the right amount of intoxicating feedback to keep you thinking "one more game" well into the AM.