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In more ways that one, Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit is a first for the series. A new direction and a return to the classic horror roots that began the series serves as a reminder that these games can actually be a tense experience if they want to be. Doing away with the fluff that has shifted the focus, I enjoyed my time exploring these dense environments, when I could do so without interruption. Despite the clear passion and direction here, the experience of playing the game was far clunkier than it should have been, with some downright tragic bugs plaguing the experience during the review process. While I can see a great survival horror experience under the hood, I have to take into the account the issues that I had with the game. I really hope the team can address these in the coming days.
FC25 is an improvement on the previous entry, moving in a positive direction. Ultimate Team continues to be egregious, but Rush is refreshing and fun. Refocusing its gameplay to a more deliberate and slower paced brand of football, that takes tactics into account, makes for a more enjoyable game. With some minor updates, its potential can be fulfilled. FC25 has found its form, and is the best an EA footie title has been in years.
Some decent changes help elevate NBA 2K25 from last year's release, such as a more consolidated experience in The City as well as even more gameplay animations to enhance the gameplay experience. Learn 2K even helps you get back into the swing of things. However, menu input lag, incessant microtransactions, and clunky standard movement show how much room this franchise has to grow, even after all this time.
Beyond Galaxyland tells a fantastic tale full of colorful characters in a vast world full of surprise and wonder. It's a shame that its combat system is locked to an ability system that seems to hinder you more than help. Though its world is grand, the game's lighting gets in the way, making dark areas impossible to see and the light regions blinding the eye.
There is a lot to love about Bloomtown: A Different Story. Thanks to the game's fantastic writing and characters, I quickly fell in love with the town and its residents. Its soundtrack is brilliant, and the pixel art style really catches your eye. It's just a shame that some parts of its questing and combat hinder it from truly rising to greatness.
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE Plus is an absolute blast. Each mystery kept me on the edge of my seat as I franticly tried to solve the case with my team of colorful, though sometimes insane, fellow detectives. There is a lot to love about Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE Plus, and fans of mysteries and the Danganronpa franchise will fall in love with it.
Epic Mickey is a stunning-looking game packed with memorable locations, a cast of unforgettable characters, and solid gameplay. The paintbrush mechanic is satisfying and feels right at home in the Wasteland without ever coming across as too gimmicky. There's a few annoying hiccups here and there, but overall, Epic Mickey is an adventure worth your time.
Castlevania Dominus Collection almost flawlessly brings back a collection of games that were previously trapped on hardware that was tough to bring to new platforms. Extensive effort has gone into making sure that they suit the form factor of a home console and the effort is admirable to say the least. Some incredibly mild and brief frustrations with the remaining touch controls isn't enough to properly dethrone this game from being essential for Castlevania fans to invest in, especially with the deep cuts included here.
Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis retains the same commitment to bringing the original game to a new generation, but unfortunately ends up remaking the same mistakes that make this epilogue such a divisive experience for players across the board. There are some memorable character moments here for players looking to spend that little bit of extra time with the team, but I finished this DLC questioning if it was truly worth the tedium of the dungeon-crawling, even if the combat is fun and the production values are still off the charts. While Atlus' dedication to bringing the old game to a new audience is commendable, I think this epilogue deserved a little bit more of a rework than it got.
All told, Jot's maiden adventure is a resounding success, a confident melding of mechanics, personality, and charm, all executed with a degree of confidence that few developers can match for a first release. The seams of its ambition are seldomly seen, certainly not to the degree where it would overly detract, and as result within the eye-catching pages of The Plucky Squire lies a story that everyone should give a read.
Everything you enjoyed from Dead Rising is here and the flurry of meaningful enhancements to the core game make it the complete package. Sure, some lingering quibbles remain from the original game like the time-sensitive gameplay, the pop-in, and bosses that repeat the same predictable attack patterns, yet this remaster refines many of the drawbacks of the original game, and fine-tunes it for a game befitting of the year 2024. Now get out there, snap photos, mow down zombies, and savor all the juicy lunacy Dead Rising has to offer - cos it's a real treat.
Evotinction is a solid stealth adventure that explores what could happen if friendly AI assistants turned into deadly AI assailants. Take that idea and expand it into a facility once filled with just over 2,000 scientists, with one man determined to save the day for himself and everyone else, and you have a recipe for a fun time. It succeeds as an engaging narrative, atmosphere, and with fun gameplay, making it an easy recommendation to anyone looking for something to scratch that stealth action itch. It is Metal Gear meets Watch_Dogs in the best way.
Vampire Survivors is a thoroughly addictive and beautiful-looking game that is packed full of content to unlock, with the levelling system ensuring you will put tons of hours into it without a second's thought.
I certainly enjoyed my time with Wild Bastards. The blended Wild West and sci-fi settings, together with hybridised strategy and roguelike FPS approach, all make Wild Bastards feel a lot fresher than many of the shooters on the market right now. Sure, the nuts and bolts of its face-blasting might not rub shoulders with the genre's best in the purest sense and the visual presentation is lacking somewhat, but the level of design ingenuity and rough-shackle charm that is on display here ably makes up for such shortcomings.
If this game came out in 2012 I'd probably have nicer things to say. It could potentially have been ahead of the pack back then. But now, in this day and age where developers have taken the formula and ran with it, having created racers in the same vein that are more impressive in almost every way, KT Racing have sadly finished in last place.
MARVEL vs, CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is exactly what it says on the front and so much more. This collection is a triumphant return for a selection of games that many thought lost to complicated industry red tape, and it comes back with some serious bite. The 6 fighting games in this collection are almost perfectly preserved for new hardware and modern audiences, with a suite of additional features to fill out the experience into both a preservation effort and a deep-dive into Capcom's history with Marvel. While it might take a bit of work for newcomers to get to grips with these classic games, the effort is well worth it for one of the most well-realised crossovers in gaming history.
Despite some hefty flaws, the fact that Antstream Arcade has come on leaps and bounds since its debut in 2013 gives me hope that the service will continue to improve in the weeks, months and years after its PlayStation debut. Even so, in its current far from perfect form, Antstream Arcade still represents great value for what is a veritable mountain of games from a broad swathe of gaming systems that would otherwise be lost to time and garnishes that offering with a compelling social gaming hook.
I enjoyed my time with Akimbot. It is a charming and surprising lengthy game, with tight controls and a well voiced story. As a diehard Ratchet & Clank fan with no new Ratchet game on the horizon, it was nice to just relax and run around a colorful, platform-y world, and just shoot some bots. However from the visual bugs I kept running into, as well as some key quality of life systems I was missing from current Ratchet & Clank games I found myself wanting more, more often than not.
An obscenely polished and soul-affirming triumph from every angle, Astro Bot isn't just an unabashed celebration of all things PlayStation, it's a deeply passionate celebration of everything you could and should love about a video game. There are no microtransactions, no season passes and no busywork padding - just precisely engineered 3D platforming with an overabundance of joy on offer. Astro Bot is a big, warm hug of a videogame that also happens to be not just one of the best platform games ever made, but one of the best PS5 games ever made, too. Team Asobi, please never stop making these games.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 follows a lot of the same beats as its predecessor but enhances all of its mechanics to suit the constant war in the 40K universe. Space Marine 2's combat is visceral and challenging, and taking on the Tyranid hordes with friends is a blast. It's just a shame the game suffers from some seriously long load times and slow progression. However, none of that should stop fans of the franchise from eating it up, while newcomers will find plenty to love as a space-traveling Marine blasting through alien hordes.