Travis Northup's Reviews
Once you get past a weak first act, The Outer Worlds 2 sharpens Obsidian’s RPG formula with smarter writing and better combat.
Yooka-Replaylee works a little better in this remixed iteration, but introduces all sorts of new wonkiness along the way.
Baby Steps is an infuriating ordeal of intentionally awkward physics that’s brutal, unbelievably stupid, and downright awesome.
Dying Light: The Beast is a goofy, bloody sequel with a monstrous twist, but doesn’t do much else to mix things up.
Borderlands 4 gives the series the massive kick in the pants it has needed, with a fantastic open world and greatly improved combat, even bugs and invisible walls can sometimes throw off that groove.
Grounded 2’s early access debut is a stellar starting point, despite a rocky technical performance.
Wildgate’s 4-player mayhem makes for a wild ride, but it currently feels like a proof of concept for something really great.
Despite an incredibly promising premise, Tales of the Shire is dreadfully boring and extremely buggy to boot.
Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate isn’t the worst expansion the looter shooter’s been given, but it’s a major step back from The Final Shape in almost every regard, mixing content that’s simply more of the same with a few experiments here and there that don’t always work out.
Dune: Awakening is an excellent survival MMO that brilliantly captures life on Arrakis, usually to its benefit.
Even if it’s clearly dancing on the same old strings, Lies of P: Overture is an excellent expansion that adds a whole lot more to a game that was already great.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is an excellent blend of cozy life sim and action-adventure RPG that rarely stops surprising throughout its 50+ hour runtime.
Palia is a fantastic multiplayer life sim with strong characters to bond with, engaging activities to grind, and a nearly endless chase for more resources to build your perfect home in the world’s kindest village.
AI Limit is a soulslike without any soul, offering a few interesting but unimpactful new ideas and a whole lot of bugs across its entirely unremarkable adventure.
Avowed is a perfectly competent RPG that showcases Obsidian’s writing and worldbuilding chops, but has little else to distinguish itself among swords-and-sorcery adventures.
Alien: Rogue Incursion is a compelling first crack at bringing Alien to VR with lots of room to grow.
Path of Exile 2’s redefined action and surprisingly fleshed-out endgame have gotten this sequel off to an exciting start, even in its predictably rocky early access state.
Despite a few interesting ideas, Unknown 9: Awakening is a bland and janky adventure with a generic story and dull combat.
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is a stellar expansion that hits all the right notes, but only feels like the first act to a larger adventure.
Despite its name, Satisfactory is much more than merely adequate – its finely tuned loop of automation and escalating expansion is downright excellent.