Summit Reviews's Reviews
Yet, it speaks a lot to Silksong's obscene quality that its biggest flaw is largely a matter of calibration—something subject to change. Sure, there are a bunch of menial fetch/kill quests now because is it really a sequel if we don't get some random new feature nobody asked for? And yes, there are little things here and there I never liked about the first game that slipped through. But any shortcomings aside, I'm just in complete awe of what a conceptually perfect sequel this is. Team Cherry had almost no room to build on the shoulders of Hollow Knight, so they went sideways, masterfully recontextualising everything that came before, crafting an experience somehow familiar and appealing yet completely its own, and well and truly cementing themselves as the gold standard for indie game development.
While I enjoyed my time with Shadow Labyrinth, notably when beating the bosses and mazes, and uncovering the world’s most useful items, there is not much about it that has me yearning to return. For as much as there is to appreciate, there are an equal number of undesirable elements I know I’ll have to re-experience to get to the good bits again. This isn’t the type of game where you can cleanly skip past the bad, but even if it were, those parts nonetheless weigh the package down to create a deeply flawed experience, and there are certainly many other titles in the genre that have fewer rough edges you need to contend with. If you were also curious about this game’s crazy concept, then I still think it’s worth checking it out at some point, at a level of entry which works best for you. Whether you will roll credits is its own story entirely, but I believe you will find various sections to appreciate if you stick with it. But when I think back to watching the Secret Level episode and beginning to wonder what the video game version would be like, I was not able to picture what I imagined it would become. And while Shadow Labyrinth is certainly partway there, it is a notable distance removed from the potential of its initial idea, and I can’t help but feel disappointed that it didn’t fully meet those expectations.
Powerhoof decided to tackle some serious, hard-hitting themes in The Drifter, and it mostly succeeds. The sublime pixel vignettes, rocking sound design, and impeccable mood sense further elevate this adventure out of the average bin. Even the paint it black monologues, and the extended sci-fi plot in the second half, can’t tarnish the shine out of this one.
Ragebound continues Ninja Gaiden’s successful year of revival by delivering a best-in-class experience that looks and sounds beautifully retro, feels modern in its controls and production value, yet is nonetheless faithful to the franchise with its firm but fair challenge level. The Game Kitchen clearly have a lot of respect for this IP, and I hope they are given the green light to make a modern trilogy of retro revival 2D platformers, whether via more new characters or perhaps finding a gap in the timeline for Ryu to be playable again. Now that the bar for 2D has been set, Ninja Gaiden 4 has a lot to live up to for the 3D era to be on the same level. Succeeding that, and this will easily be one of the highest quality franchise revival attempts we’ve seen in recent memory.
TG feels unfinished, as if more areas were planned, like Kamelot, that were ultimately too big for the scope of this title alone. Characters that appear grandiose and important come and go without ever making the impact that they should, and while the core gameplay loop is strong, it is not enough to overshadow the issues of trying to play it due to the slew of technical issues TG is currently tainted by. What it offers is an interesting setting and a unique interpretation of Arthurian legend—strong progression systems and exploration due to its fantastic world design—but the experience is marred by being spread too thin—by too many gameplay systems that feel pointless and by the game's writing being desperate to have one more act to coherently finish its various plotlines.
When all's said and done, you simply can't deny the excellence of Cataclismo's individual systems, and no matter what it is you're looking for in an RTS, you're all but certain to find a brilliant rendition of it somewhere in all this; however, you simply can't ignore the tremendous lack of cohesion either, resulting in a game that's barely more than the sum of its parts. You still feel every strength of Cataclismo's ambitious design, enough for me to recommend it at the very least, but it's sadly far from the genre-defying masterpiece it had every potential of being.
All in all, whether you’re a fan of the series or stealth strategy games in general, there’s some fun to be had here, but your mileage will vary. There is a strong contrast between the elaborate and eclectic world design, the sometimes brilliant webs of enemies fueling an intense risk/reward incentive to untangle them and the otherwise scarce and imagination-starved writing and modular approach to the campaign. This certainly doesn’t make Commandos: Origins a bad game by any stretch, but considering the shoulders it climbed on, it could have been a whole lot better.
Koira has some good moments, but overall, it leaves some to be desired. While the visuals and soundtrack are magnificent and effectively convey the emotions of the narrative, I didn't receive the kind of experience I anticipated. Although the story is touching, it feels somewhat unpolished, and the overused gameplay elements only aggravate this issue. It might be that I was anticipating a calm and worry-free journey or that I encountered the game during a more challenging time in my life, but I couldn't fully immerse myself in its world.
After the 25 hours it took me to complete Atomfall on Veteran (Very Hard) difficulty, I realized that it is a suboptimal, amateurish, half-assed attempt at an Immersive Sim by Rebellion. Despite some good points and a decent narrative, its utter, abysmal failure in most gameplay departments and evident lack of polish completely demolishes any enjoyment you might try to get out of it. It’s just not good enough—not for a AAA title or compared to its contemporaries in 2025, in a time and place where many extremely successful examples of the genre exist, all of which are infinitely better than this mediocre slop. Without exaggerating, Atomfall is one of the worst Immersive Sims on the market currently, and something I would not recommend getting under any circumstance.
There certainly are moments to write home about in AoD: the Louvre may not be a tomb but Lara feels right at home sneaking through its galleries, giant suspended botanical gardens make for an interesting setting for high-altitude gymnastics and while most maps feel a lot more conventional action/adventure fodder than the thoughtful, elaborate platforming structures of earlier games, there are dozens of good ideas in the disjointed mess that is this game, once you step back enough. Still, it’s hard to deny the level of love and care that was put into it. If you ever wanted to binge the Tomb Raider franchise, I can say with confidence that the remastered trilogies are the definitive way to experience even the more bug-ridden games like AoD, and it was an absolutely amazing way for me to experience The Last Revelation for the first time, a title which has quickly become one of my favorites in the series.
Look, Everhood 2 is still Everhood; if you love the first as much as I do, you won't get nothing out of the sequel, and if you're up for some mindless entertainment, you're likely not going to run into many of the same roadblocks I did. Yet, when there's such a perfect example of all this game could have been right there, it's impossible to look at this with anything other than jaded cynicism. More than anything, it feels like Foreign Gnomes don't understand the balance that made the original so superb. It feels like they didn't have anyone with the courage to tell them no. It feels like they value meaningless absurdism over good storytelling. Everhood 2 has, at the very least, soundly escaped Undertale's shadow, but I'm not so sure it should be all that happy with where it's wound up, and I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone but the most diehard fans.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a massive, ambitious and, for the most part, excellent game that is sure to be played and modded for years to come. It may not take giant leaps forward in terms of mechanics or gameplay, but it builds and modernizes much of what made the first game such a unique experience. Even at full shelf price, there is a lot of bang for your buck, with a number of quality of life and minor improvements on the way. With breathtaking scenery, an absurd amount of content and meaningful quests, it will keep you immersed in 15th-century Bohemian life for many dozens, perhaps hundreds of hours. If you can tolerate a quantum of clunkiness and the occasional Benny Hill AI moment (both drawbacks that can be expected in a game as complex as KC:D II), what awaits you is a doorstopper of a story that is only the cherry on top of a very flavorful cake: the open world itself.
Eternal Strands is a solid action-adventure title that stands out from the crowd thanks to its original gameplay formula and setting, but leaves you wanting when it comes to its narrative. It took me around 30 hours to complete it on Hard difficulty, taking considerably extra time to complete all side quests and explore each area thoroughly. The story and content are linear, offering no tangible reason for a replay. Still, do I recommend it? Absolutely, yes. If you enjoy third-person action games that focus on player freedom and diversity of approaches, and don’t mind narrative drawbacks, then this is a great pick.