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In just under 10 years, id Software has created three very different Doom games, with 2016’s being the most pure, Eternal being the most expanded, and The Dark Ages easily being the most bone-crunchingly heavy metal.
This bigger, better, sillier sequel easily delivers some of the most fun I’ve had in an action-adventure game this year, to the extent that I’ll keep on investigating savage planets for as long as Raccoon Logic continues to develop them.
This is a story of heartbreak and loss, yes, but also the importance of persevering. That’s not a hard thing to want to do when a game looks and plays as wonderfully as this.
Luckily, a thing can be beautiful and undercooked in its design at the same time, and South of Midnight is certainly that. I just wish that, much like the spiritual weaver at the heart of this journey, Compulsion Games spent a bit more time better tying up loose ends.
Atomfall doesn’t get every piece of the survival sandbox puzzle right, but this is easy to forgive due to how much fun it is to scoff down Cornish pasties to regain health, uncover a mysterious sci-fi plot in myriad ways, and craft a needle bomb before lobbing it into a group of cultists. It’s the most quintessentially British open-world I’ve had the pleasure to explore in a video game, possibly ever, and I already can’t wait to go back to peel back even more layers of its environmental onion.
In the end, then, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is still an open-world RPG with an Assassin’s Creed skin placed over the top of it, and likely won’t change the minds of naysayers who aren't on board with what the series has become.
WWE 2K25 isn’t a perfect wrestling game, but it comes pretty darn close. Refinements to zanier match types such as Special Referee – which is now applicable outside of one-on-one bouts – and Backstage Brawl are appreciated, while the inclusion of intergender matches shows a willingness to celebrate both divisions in a way WWE itself seemingly isn’t able to.
Mio and Zoe’s growth really is where much of the focus is given – to the extent that you can guarantee heart strings will be pulled upon a couple times before you roll credits.
Even if it does end up being a touch familiar for returning series fans, Two Point Museum still presents enough new quirks and systems to make becoming the county’s best curator an absolute blast.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii takes its admittedly unexpected theme and absolutely dials it up to the max.
The world it presents is beautiful and engaging, and the sheer level of weapon variety present can lead to some of the most flexible combat I’ve ever played from a first-person perspective. Full stop. However, beneath such flashy sights lay a deeply problematic and annoying approach to progression that grates more than it satisfies, which, when coupled with throwaway companions and a generic narrative, ultimately leads to a fun but frivolous RPG experience not indicative of Obsidian Entertainment’s best.
In whatever way you look at it, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a remarkable achievement. Taking place within one of the best realised, most immersive video game settings I’ve ever had the pleasure to explore, I commend Warhorse Studios for sticking to its guns, while not applying every lesson learned from the feedback and criticisms of the original game, finding a way to smooth and expand on them so that they make sense within a sequel that is far more ambitious.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is anything but generic, mind you, and will appease anyone left starved for more historical stealth action. I just hope the next Sniper Elite entry is more ambitious in its over execution, instead of what could merely be just Sniper Elite 5.5.
Ultimately, though, it’s worth it for anyone who hasn’t yet played Donkey Kong Country Returns before, since what they’ll find here on Nintendo Switch is absolutely the best way to play a game that represents a publisher at almost the very top of its game.
If you’re in the mood to lay waste to hundreds with a single sword swipe you’ll have a good time, but layered in on top of this simple joy are a countless number of extra reasons to keep on doing so for dozens of hours. Origins leaves me excited for this new dynasty.
In the end, even over a decade on, Freedom Wars Remastered is still the same unique dystopian take on bite-sized co-op multiplayer it always was. Yet while the smoother framerate and upped resolution present it in its best ever light, I can’t help but feel like Freedom Wars needed the full remake treatment, or even a spiritual sequel, to help give it a proper chance at finding its place in the current era of live-service multiplayer. Thankfully, what is here is mightily fun in the moment to play either alone or with friends, and some appreciated systemic changes have been sprinkled in. Even still, it’s hard to see it holding its own in the modern landscape against something like the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds. Freedom Wars continues to be a relative oddity in just about every sense, then, albeit one now made playable by the wider audience it always deserved.
Hopefully, as the months roll on and further surprises are potentially rolled out as DLC, this walk down memory lane will transform into the worthwhile nostalgic trip fans of the classic TV show deserve.
Coupled with several jaw-dropping set pieces and puzzles that left me scratching my head just enough that it never became annoying, this is about as enjoyable an Indiana Jones experience as one could hope for.
In many ways, Stalker 2 succeeds in being a bold modernisation of GSC Game World’s classic survival shooter packaged and prettied up for today’s audience. That said, it’s a sequel that also manages to stay true to its in-depth PC roots by retaining an emphasis on resource management, scavenging, and a world that is seemingly as wide as an ocean that’s somehow equally as deep. Prevalent bugs and purposefully clumsy gunplay aside, Stalker 2 is an impressive successor worth the decade-and-a-half wait, providing you’re willing to meet it on its own terms.
, Metro Awakening gets a lot of things right when it comes to aping the look and atmosphere of those original two Metro games. The act of scavenging for resources and surviving using your light and gas mask feels great, but it’s mixed in with fast-paced combat that works fine on a flat screen but is overly cumbersome in a VR format.