Which begs the question, who is Lego Horizon Adventures for, especially at its full $60 price tag? It's obviously tailored for younger players and for devoted fans of the Horizon franchise. Heck, I own the Lego version of a Tallneck from the games, too, but I wouldn't count myself among the core audience for this one. Lego video games tend to parody the mythos of their parent franchises, even if it's done in tame ways. They play as both a love letter and a limerick to the source material. But Lego Horizon Adventures feels like it only exists as an embellishment.
Nixxes' latest effort is undeniably stunning in its own right, even when it stands on the shoulders of the excellent original. A $10 upgrade cost is a fair ask from existing owners of the game, considering the breadth of improvements present in the game and the very apparent labour it must have required from the developers.
The remake, however, is easier to recommend on PC, where it can take advantage of high-end hardware and find players who have never experienced the game before. Despite its questionable value, the Until Dawn remake is undeniably fun. Its modernised retelling of a scary story I enjoyed long ago remains just as engaging and visceral as it was the first time around. As an interactive horror movie, Ballistic Moon's Until Dawn takes meaningful strides towards storytelling excellence. But as a remake that shies away from mechanical improvements, it stops short of transforming its parts that are all video game.
The on-pitch gameplay takes a few steps forward in the right direction, empowering the defensive side of the game, but FC 25 stops short of taking necessary strides towards meaningful upgrades that could change the game for good. The continued apathy towards career mode, however, remains the biggest complaint. Gaping cracks in the quintessential mode have repeatedly been ignored for surface-level improvements — as if a new coat of paint would change the fact that the underlying wall is rotting. EA Sports FC 25, disappointingly, opts to do the same, even though a foundational change is long overdue. Over the past few years, EA's long-running football franchise has essentially embraced a live service strategy, with minor seasonal upgrades rolled out annually to an audience hooked to its unethical commercial model. The only difference is that EA asks you to pay full price every year for a “new” game.
Big-budget triple-A titles, with eye-watering visuals and interminable development cycles aren't the only way forward. And smaller games aren't just an option, they are a necessity. With Astro Bot, Team Asobi has crafted one of the best 3D platformers since Super Mario Odyssey. It's a game that is committed to being a game, to being fun and joyous and playful. It's hard to find a more vibrant title in PlayStation's stable, and Sony must invest in similar smaller games going forward. Because right now, it seems PS5 owners are stuck playing remakes and remasters while waiting for the next God of War and the next Spider-Man. Sony is sitting on multiple beloved IPs of yore, and the PlayStation parent surely must realise that people like all kinds of games, not just triple-A open-world, action-adventures. And Astro Bot is living proof of that.
The game does make an effort to strip away borrowed limbs, but then it's left with hollowed-out interiors of Ubisoft gameplay we've come to expect and bemoan over the last few years. It's as if Star Wars Outlaws occupies the negative space of other Ubisoft games. And while Outlaws sheds some of the flaws of its kin with that approach, it also brings issues that are entirely its own. It is marred by inconsistency, saved by its authenticity, and ultimately defeated by its mediocrity. Is Star Wars Outlaws a good Star Wars game? At times, absolutely yes. There are moments where it inarguably soars. But is it a good game? Outlaws inevitably stumbles on that question.
Concord is fun and serviceable and a far cry from broken, cash-grab titles like The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and The Day Before. But it's asking for an upfront payment for an experience most people paid for, played and enjoyed eight years ago when Overwatch launched. Heck, even Overwatch 2 launched as a free-to-play title last year and still found itself standing on the stage in front of a tough crowd. It's then baffling that Sony thought a hero-shooter in 2024 could be released with upfront pricing. Concord should have been free-to-play, launched on PS Plus — I hope it does make a comeback in that form at some point. Its release should have been pushed back after the dismal open beta. Instead, Sony let it walk out to its grave.
DMC and Bayonetta games have always had a distinct personality, and Final Fantasy, despite leaning towards real-time action combat in recent titles, has always placed its strong characters, meaningful RPG systems and sprawling stories front and centre. Stellar Blade doesn't do that. Shift Up has also clearly tried to appeal to a certain sensibility with its lead character design. However, a protagonist provocative on the surface, but completely unremarkable in every other layer beneath can only carry the allure so far. Eventually, Stellar Blade is held up by its fun combat and slick presentation, but it's consistently held back by almost everything else.
But then, games can be a lot of things. The are fewer boundaries in gaming than any other form of artistic media, and titles that challenge established understanding of the medium push the margins further out. Hellblade 2 doesn't offer meaningful exploration, it doesn't come loaded with side quests and activities, and it doesn't let you play your own way. It has a strict vision for what it does offer: an uncompromising and harrowing story, immersive environments, photorealistic visuals, and excellent sound and performances. And with its sensitive and important representation of mental health disorders, Senua's Saga stands distinct among formulaic big-budget games.
The companion system adds meaningful decisions and choices and attempts to add depth to every character in the game. The diverse set of weapons and tools at your disposal always keep combat fresh and engaging. And the game's evocative setting and its colourful cast of characters always push you forward into the story. Rise of the Ronin is clearly lifting above and beyond its weight-class, and you can see it wobbling at the knees. But to its credit, it never crumbles under that load.
In that way, Helldivers 2 could become an important inflection point in the games business, too. And its larger implications aside, the game is an authentic co-op shooter that keeps you coming back for more. Playing Helldivers 2 took me back to some of my best online experiences in Battlefield games, where a large part of the fun feels organic and player driven. It's hard to find that sweet spot, to carve a distinct identity amidst a glut of online shooters and live service titles competing for player attention. But Helldivers 2 takes a deceptively simple path to walking the complicated ‘games as a service' tightrope without tripping and falling down. It is refreshingly funny and self-aware, in addition to being mechanically sound. It never takes itself too seriously, but also doesn't force the humour. Most generic live service games feel like clueless products trying to jump on a trend and pretending to be hip. Helldivers 2, on the other hand, consistently appears to be in on the joke.
Perhaps the most baffling fact is that it took Rocksteady, a famed developer whose past games are considered undeniable classics that are being played to this day, took nine years to make a game that falls abysmally short of the studio's own high standards. Suicide Squad isn't a terrible game — some of the negative attention could perhaps be attributed to marketing misfires, and some of the criticism is perhaps too harsh, even if not unwarranted. But it constantly pales in comparison to Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games in every aspect that matters. There are seeds of ideas, systems, and story here that could have delivered a legitimately fun and distinctly unique shooter. But as the self-destructive game that it chooses to be, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League only shoots itself in the foot.
It is not for everyone, and it is not an easy game to pick up and casually run through. But for those who've played Metroidvanias like Dead Cells and Hollow Knight or intense platformers like Celeste and Super Meat Boy, The Lost Crown will offer more than just transferrable skills. It might also be the most accessible entry point into the genre for new players; the newest Prince of Persia is not as oppressive as some of its inspirations. And while some of its later platforming sections and mission design slow the game down, it never completely runs out of steam. The Lost Crown might just be the coronation the Prince deserved.
Activision had earlier decided against releasing a CoD title this year, opting instead for a “premium expansion” for Modern Warfare II. The publisher, perhaps scared of the financial repercussions of not sticking to an annual release cycle, later decided MW III to be a standalone entry. All the evidence from MW III's campaign, however, points at little effort to do so. With rehashed missions, lazy Warzone style sections, and a sore lack of typical Call of Duty knockout set pieces, Modern Warfare III does not feel like a full game, especially at that $70 price point. The original Modern Warfare games redefined the first-person shooter genre; the trilogy's uninspired rerun, on the other hand, represents its decay.
Honestly, if your biggest complaint about a story is that it ended too soon, you can't help but acknowledge that it did a lot of the things right. Spider-Man is an icon that has endured through changing times, living on in the pages of comic books and the grain of moving pictures. And more than any other hero, the beloved bug has found a home in video games. So, there is a considerable history to reckon with. Insomniac's Spider-Man sequel does just that and more. It tips its hat at Spider-Man stories that came before, and then turns around to tell its own. Spider-Man was swinging before; the friendly superhero is now gliding over his neighbourhood, feeling right at home.
FC 24 is new, but only skin deep. It brings cosmetic updates to the same old formula, while ignoring more important issues on the pitch. Sure, the gameplay gets refined little by little each year, but much remains missing in the core experience. EA prioritises its money-spinning Ultimate Team mode, but stubbornly refuses to bring new ideas to the Career mode. It's telling that FC 24 recycles the same cutscenes for transfer negotiations that we've seen in FIFA games for past three to four years. When the franchise had to move away from its FIFA branding, it presented EA a rare opportunity to forge a new identity for a series that's fast getting frustratingly familiar. That will have to wait. EA Sports FC 24 could have been so much more than what it is — the same dish with new dressing. It does not come as a surprise, though. In a rapidly changing football landscape, EA Sports FIFA has found success in consistency. And in its consistent, familiar approach, FC 24 remains preoccupied with dribbling the ball along the same lines, too scared to take a shot at goal and glory.
Immortals of Aveum comes at a time when games are almost like homework - they demand time and attention. They require you to almost put your life on hold and live a different, more exciting, and rewarding life in the vast virtual playgrounds they offer. This is not something to complain about — I look back fondly at the time when, for a good three months, I abandoned everything in my life to become an outlaw in the American Frontier when Red Dead Redemption 2 came out. Video games possess a transformative and teleporting power that frankly no other medium can replicate. But sometimes you don't need your games to be a full course meal. They're perfectly palatable as a snack. Immortals is that bite-sized biscuit that won't really leave a memorable flavour in your mouth, but will taste just fine, and be the exact kind of meal you need at that point. Right around the time when ambitious video games are showcasing the incredible depth they can offer, Immortals of Aveum represents a bygone simplicity and shallowness of the medium, that perhaps is just as important.
Still, it is an excellent action game with perhaps one of the medium's most likeable protagonists in recent times. Final Fantasy XVI is a worthy return for an iconic franchise — that much is clear. Whether this success can light the path for future Final Fantasy games and elevate the series to its past heights, is perhaps a trickier question to answer.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores often feels like one long side quest, but it attempts to fill some gaps left by the main game.
Dead Island 2 straddles the line between these wins and its demonstrable failures.