Ikai was a horror title I was actually really looking forward to. A game steeped in Japanese folklore in a self contained location could (and to be fair, should) have made for an absolutely terrifying and unique experience. However, it just didn’t manage to make the cut: its short runtime, generic gameplay loop and complete lack of scares resulted in a really underwhelming and, more often than not, frustrating, horror title you should avoid.
Let me be clear: if you didn’t like Death Stranding when it first came out, then this Director’s Cut will do basically nothing to fix any of the game’s issues for you. It is still obtuse at times, a bit too long, a bit too confusing for some. However, if you were a fan of the original launch, then there’s just enough new content here to justify the upgrade. It sure gave me the perfect excuse to start a fresh save and enjoy these brand new additions.
If Pavlov is the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive of the VR market, and Onward is its Insurgency, then ALVO can easily be described as the Modern Combat of the VR market.
Ghostwire: Tokyo is a delightfully intriguing and unique gaming experience that blends a wonderfully weird world with a great story and fast-paced combat. Despite some repetition in its open world activities, the pros more than outweight the cons. Tango Gameworks’ spooky adventure was worth the wait, and it is a game I can highly recommend.
Ghostrunner Project_Hel is a fun, if a little bit short-lived expansions. Hel is an interesting character and it was great seeing a little bit more of the world that the base game introduced but rarely explored. Whilst it’s great to be back in the fantastic world of Ghostrunner, with some new abilities to spice up gameplay a little bit more, there’s just not enough content in here to keep you entertaining for more than an hour or two.
Republique is a fascinating game with a unique gameplay hook that works incredibly well all these years later. Whilst the story doesn’t hit the landing, with a somewhat weak final act, it is shrouded in plenty of mystery and a world intriguing enough to push you through. Here’s hoping that, with this Anniversary Edition, there’s plans to return to this franchise, or, at the very least, a resurgence in this particular type of stealth-based gameplay loop.
Martha is Dead’s compelling narrative is let down by some dull gameplay that just can’t support it in any meaningful way. It does deal with themes of loss in a uniquely told story that had me guessing what was happening every step of the way, but the sheer amount of monotony annoyed me more than I could stand. If what you are looking for is a proper horror experience, this will not be for you. With that being said, if you want a compelling narrative, then, as long as you can get past some tedious lack of proper gameplay, I can recommend picking this game up.
If you have somehow enjoyed the base Serious Sam 4, you will most certainly enjoy Siberian Mayhem. It’s pretty much the same damn game, just with some slightly less terrible performance and some better level design. However, most of these changes don’t make up for a very superior overall package. If you didn’t like that game, this won’t be the one that will make you change your mind. For every fun action-packed encounter, there will be something else that is equally dull to bring the experience down a notch.
Dying Light 2 isn’t a massive reinvention of the original game, but honestly, it didn’t even need to be. It successfully manages to improve on the core aspects that made its predecessor so appealing, adding more content, set pieces, and improving on its presentation, whilst delivering that same thrilling feeling that captivated us all those years ago. The story may fall flat at times, but the fun of free running around the open world of Villedor will still keep me busy for many hours to come.
Rainbow Six Extraction is so much better than it had every right to be. There’s some solid cooperative action to be had in here, but while I did have a blast with its modes, I don’t think the game has knocked it out the park… yet. There just needs to be a lot more of it, be it in terms of maps and readily available modes. With that being said, if you just get some friends together for a few scary rounds, you all will most likely have a good time.
Endwalker does exactly what it sets out to do. It ends a long-running story with style, and give us even more of the game that we love. Such a fantastic end to the storyline, and I am looking forward to what the future holds for Final Fantasy XIV.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice was a surprising release five years after the original’s debut, but I’m glad it exists. Whilst it doesn’t tread any new ground, it doesn’t need to, thanks to its excellent level design and gameplay that still fresh and rewarding.
Does Halo Infinite reignite that Halo passion? For the most part, yes! I will admit that there is a lot of frustration regarding the decisions in multiplayer and a rather static open world. However, the core gameplay experiences keep Halo Infinite fresh and one of the best first person shooters in years. Halo is back!
Chorus is a great game that just doesn’t quite meet its full potential. The amazing story setup doesn’t manage to hit the mark, with lacklustre characters and underwhelming emotional moments. One the other hand, the combat is definitely worth getting into, with some fantastically smooth controls once you get used to them. Fishlabs’ first attempt at a bigger-budgeted game ended up being a good one, and this is worth checking out if you’re in need of a substitute for the Rogue Squadron series of games.
Battlefield 2042 provides a surprisingly complete multiplayer experience with a game mode for everybody. Although, with it’s countless number of bugs, mediocre map design and balance issues it also makes it a very difficult game to recommend especially at the current price. There is a fair amount of fun to be had with the game that might be improved in the next year or so.
World War Z is one of the better horde shooters out there right now. There’s nothing quite like mowing down hundreds upon hundreds of zombies in a single wave. However, with the DLC content not in this particular Switch version just yet, it is hard to recommend to people who may have already played it on a PC or other consoles. Still, if you can overlook this, and if you really want to experience this on-the-go, then World War Z on Switch is still worth playing.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water might be one of the weaker entries in the franchise, with flaws that can be really hard to ignore. The awkward controls, repetitive mission structure, and lack of variety somewhat bring down an otherwise engaging experience. However, if you can overlook these issues, give it a shot. The concept of Fatal Frame is still incredibly fresh in the genre, with its more restrained approach to horror and unique mechanics.
For a budget horror title, Shadow Corridor isn’t as bad as I expected, but it certainly isn’t a good game. The core gameplay loop of searching for items through a variety of dull environments whilst avoiding enemies gets old stupidly quickly, especially when you add the tons of frustrations this game throws onto you into the mix. This horror title is better left ignored.
The Crysis Remastered Trilogy is finally here on pretty much all modern systems. These flawed but wonderful tactical shooters have never hit their fully potential in terms of popularity and polish, but have always been enjoyable on so many levels. It’s even better now, all thanks to some pretty good remastering work coming from Crytek. The trilogy is well worth playing today despite its flaws, and I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the Nanosuit.
I didn’t know what to expect from UNSIGHTED, but all I know is that I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It’s a game that features a really fun and fast-paced combat system, with some excellent world design, all tied together by a really unique time mechanic. This might be a game that will fly under everyone’s radar, but I would highly recommend UNSIGHTED to anyone looking for a good challenge or a fun world to explore.