Leah Williams
While Scarlet and Violet aren't a complete reinvention of the formula, and technical performance issues certainly hold them back, they're still an essential leap forward – both in storytelling and gameplay mechanics. New features and clever tweaks along the way make this adventure feel fresh and encouraging, in ways that past games haven't. As a reinvigoration of the Pokemon formula, Scarlet and Violet are some of the best modern games in the long-running franchise.
There’s always more blood on the horizon, making Gungrave G.O.R.E. feel like a break-neck romp with little room to move or breathe along the way. While dotted with moments of joy and violent freedom, the action of the game quickly devolves to repetition – making it a largely enjoyable romp, but one that only rarely makes a meaningful impact.
While its ideas may be supernaturally-charged, and inspired by one of the strangest periods in Marvel Comics, it remains grounded and personal – imbuing its excellent tactical combat with high emotions and stakes. In dark times, light can still shine – and in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, you and your team of heroes are that light.
While Crisis Core‘s shorter length is surprising, given the depth of the story it tells, the hooks it digs in are well worth unearthing. The trio tale of Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis is a relatively hidden side chapter of the FF7 Compilation, but it provides a deep, emotional core that will likely resonate in Rebirth and beyond. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is an essential chapter in the modern Final Fantasy 7 mythos – and the most important spin-off in the entire series.
Frey's story and journey wobbles in places, but it’s redeemed in the game’s epic closing arcs, which reveal Frey’s true nature. Rough and ready, just like Frey, Forspoken is a tale worth stomping through one high-stakes, magic-infused battle at a time.
Snappy dialogue brings the occasional laugh, and the experience remains pleasant enough throughout its entire runtime – but a devotion to the past, and a seeming lack of interesting ideas means The Cosmic Shake simply slides off the brain, like a passing thought.
The Settlers: New Allies feels confused by its own identity. Is it a live service game? Is it a homage to the great RTS games of the past? Is it The Settlers, or a lesser Age of Empires? The answers seem to dance away the longer you play, and the further your settlements grow. While it houses a gorgeous world that actively encourages you to keep exploring, placing roads, and looking after your flock, a lack of depth and identity makes New Allies feel like a muddled experiment.
Return to Dream Land‘s lack of difficulty does dampen some of its more creative ideas, but it remains a colourful, sleek adventure – and one that’s been perfectly adapted, remastered, and expanded for Deluxe. Kirby, as always, deserves more time in the sun – and this collection is a wonderful ode to my favourite pink blob.
While this expansion pack does present a whole new array of challenges – from diaper blowouts to random morning temper tantrums – it adds a much-needed sense of wholesomeness and realism to The Sims 4. It enhances the quirks of Sim relationships, provides goalposts for every Sim to strive towards, and provides a narrative-less game with a real sense of shape.
As a feat of technical artistry, it’s impressive, sleek, and often breathtaking. But as you’re dangling off a cliff edge, taking a breather from endless, repetitive mountain climbing, you’ll find yourself wondering whether novelty is really enough to justify such a loosely-tied journey. While the experience is impressive in fits and starts, Horizon Call of the Mountain ultimately feels like a puzzle with several pieces missing.
Tentacular stretches your mind as much as it stretches the capabilities of VR. It is not necessarily the most novel experience in the now-mature genre of VR games, but it does an effective job of weaving together a cohesive, coherent, and transformative experience for players, pairing a solid yet minimalist narrative together with satisfying and balanced logic puzzles.
Like its predecessor, Burning Shores tends towards more abstract sci-fi elements, particularly in its final stanza – which includes one of the largest and grandest scale fights in Horizon – but in focusing on character and human relationships, this unique expansion successfully charts tricky waters.
While the action remains reliant on puzzle mechanics that occasionally bog down the main story, improvements across the board – including stunningly deft writing, and a sharp narrative – contribute to a more confident, and wildly more engaging sequel.
Minimalism breeds great impact in this adventure, with a sparse narrative approach allowing the game’s inner mystery to grow deeply as the corners of its story darken. Its lack of interactivity renders players largely as passive observers of an unfolding tale, but this powerlessness arguably strengthens Varney Lake. As summer dies, you can only watch in horror as each story beat unfurls.
There is a sense of more hiding beneath the surface of Redfall; and an urge to find it is what pushes you onward through endless vampire skirmishes. But while pieces of promised treasure are sprinkled throughout, Redfall never shines quite as brightly as it should.
At times, the game devolves into weirdness, but that’s part of its charm. As a colourful and creative entry in the racing game genre, it’s bursting with fresh ideas that keep its engine humming with every boost-powered turn.
As much as it inspires fun, the larger your theme park ambitions grow, the more Park Beyond throws extreme roadblocks in your way. There is still hope it finds a more wholesome balance in the future, but for now, the quest for the perfect park feels unfairly locked away.
While it is a simple farming simulator at its core, it’s also profound in its design, leaning heavily into a quiet philosophy that lends the action a sense of meaning and purpose. It’s a wonderful exploration of living, and while silly and simple at times, it understands exactly why the smaller moments are so precious.
This is not the WWE 2K rival many assumed it would be. Instead, like its real-life counterpart, AEW: Fight Forever aims for something different. At times, it feels wild and cheesy, and strange art choices make it an uncanny experience. But equally, it embraces this cheese, elevating its action and storytelling with a welcome silliness.
With recent packs like Growing Together feeling genuinely essential to gameplay, and titles like Cottage Living already making up much of the ground that Horse Ranch covers, it doesn’t feel like an expansion pack that’s particularly necessary. The features it adds are mostly solid, and there’s plenty of mileage in adding a horse to your Sims family – but it’s fair to say its lack of meaningful innovation leaves it feeling like a second thought.