Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a nice prequel that mixes storybook with elements of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and suggestively parallels the Metroidvania genre, including a high focus on combat, by being much more linear than this. But there are many things providing the game to be a must-have. The main reason for that is the low aspiration for being at least half-way tough, especially in terms of fighting.
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Nearly as fast as Sekiro dye, but still with a lot of tactical options in its duel-based fights, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty delivers a unique mix of different Soulslike attitudes. If the first boss wasn't a little too hard and the difficulty curve flattening more and more afterwards, Wo Long maybe could have beaten Nioh 2. That way it's not outstanding, but just a well done action RPG that can easily be recommended to any fan of the genre.
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Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe remains a fine jump-and-run game that makes mostly anything right concerning new HD graphics and new skills. It is fun to play, as long as you don't expect something very challenging. Also the scope of the game is fine, but especially fans of the Wii original should know that they should not expect too much from the completely new epilogue mode.
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The first Octopath Traveler is still a great game. The sequel does not change anything beside story and characters, but simultaneously maintains the strengths and rises comfort and depth. If you like the predecessor or JRPGs in general, you will need to play it.
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Horizon: Call of the Mountain is nothing less than one of the best VR games so far and a fantastic start title for PlayStation VR2. The visuals are just amazing, the gameplay is very dynamic and gets in top form especially during the spectacular fights. It is not a perfect game in any aspect, a VR high flyer close to the quality Valve has delivered with Half-Life: Alyx.
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Hogwarts Legacy is a fully fleshed action RPG with everything that belongs to that. The fights are fun, the magic based riddles are nice, the presentation is beautiful, even if the game does not deliver a technically through and through next-gen experience. Don't think so much about the open world, think more about a magical atmosphere, that should reach any RPG player, in particular fans of the Harry Potter franchise.
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Deliver Us Mars proves, that its predecessor has not been just a flash in the pan. Developer KeokeN Interactive delivers a nice sequel with a twistful story, a pleasant heroine and a comparatively diversdye gameplay. At least, if you're a fan of Deliver Us the Moon, you need to get the sequel as well.
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One of the best survival horror games gets one of the best remakes we've seen so far, that is what you need to know about the new version of Dead Space. If you're a fan of the original game or just of the genre, it's a need to play.
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Marvel's Midnight Suns is a fine tactical RPG and also a great superhero adventure. So if you're a fan of Marvel comics and the game's genre, it is a need to play. But if you just like one of these „sides“, it's hard to get around this game.
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In one point, however, opinions are likely to differ on "Pokémon Crimson and Purple": the technical implementation. The performance goes to its knees from time to time, Pokémon or NPCs pop into the picture a few meters in front of us. And "normal" graphics errors occur significantly more often than in any other "Pokémon" game on Switch before. How serious these and other weaknesses actually are, however, is, as always, in the eye of the beholder. We like the style overall, which is why we can usually overlook even the sometimes gross weaknesses in performance or texture quality. Nevertheless, these weaknesses are the reason why "Pokémon Crimson and Purple" has to take a back seat to "Pokémon Legends: Arceus", although we ultimately like the playful concept of adventure in Paldea at least as much, if not better.
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We love the more realistic story approach and character set of The Devil in Me as well as the expanded gameplay mechanics. Don't expect a totally different experience or an absolute genre high flier from the season's finale, but in any case the best episode inside The Dark Pictures Dye Anthology so far.
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God of War Ragnarök isn't free from weak spots, but the game is better in nearly every aspect than its great predecessor. There is more variety in combat. There are more spectacular boss fights. And you will visit all nine regions of Norse Mythology, all of them looking amazing on PS5. There is no way around this great adventure, if you love the series, action games in general and own a current PlayStation.
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With its innovations and other fresh and creative ideas, "Bayonetta 3" reaches a high level.
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They are not able to tear the otherwise in almost every respect better sequel into the abyss, but contribute to the fact that "Requiem" can only slightly surpass its predecessor at the end of the day.
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Return to Monkey Island is no high flyer, but a good classical adventure game, far away from disappointment. Essentially it is fan service pure. That's a huge benefit for lovers of Guybrush's adventures, but series beginners don't really profit from the mass of allusions in any area. The great puzzle design or the top voice-over do not change anything about that.
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Compared to its predecessor, "Splatoon 3" certainly offers some innovations, especially for weapon and enemy types in the Salmon Run, which make the game experience more diverse and rounded. However, this does not result in radical innovations. If you have not come into contact with the series so far, "Splatoon 3" is an extremely entertaining multiplayer shooter with a unique game mechanics that continue to be very distinctive in the genre, which motivates even in the long run.
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We don't want to argue about whether "The Last of Us Part I" deserves the term remake or not. In terms of technical improvements in any case, because apart from little things that could have been done even better, the new edition looks essentially as we would expect from a native PS5 game. In essence, however, it remains the same game with the same story, the same levels and rather fine adjustments in the area of game balance.
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With minor swabs the Saints Row reboot maintains the madness of the series, delivering entertaining, effectfull action and humorous cutscenes and dialogue with a myriad pop cultural references. It is still not on eye level with GTA, but especially concerning customization of characters, cars or weapons, Saints Row sets a new standard for the genre.
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It would be too much to say that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" revolutionizes the series. Despite numerous innovations, especially in character development and combat system, developer Monolith Soft has the fans of the series firmly in view and does not dare any risky experiments. While fans can strike without hesitation, those players who were less fond of the combat system in the predecessors should also get their money's worth. Although the core of the system still works very similarly, Ouroboros shape, chain attacks, fusion skills, class system or even just the now up to seven-person party improve the game feeling enormously. In addition to the clearly improved game balance, it is noteworthy, especially with regard to the latter, that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" does not clean up the occasional overview problems in combat, but also does not reinforce them. The bottom line is that "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" is not enough to become a JRPG masterpiece, but within a strong series at least for the best part so far.
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We like the basic idea of "Live a Live" with the eight characters, whose seemingly independent stories are later linked together. In combination with different settings and sometimes strongly varying game mechanics, this also results in a certain variety, but not to the extent that the title can decisively set itself apart from other JRPGs. In fact, the individual chapters are playful in themselves and sometimes too limited in the dimensions of the worlds, so that a feeling of monotony rather than a great variety arises. The bottom line is that "Live a Live" is a decent JRPG that genre fans in particular can take a look at, although for most of them, despite some special features, it will hardly have what it takes to be a must-play.
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