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I’ve longed for the franchise to go to Japan ever since the first game was released in 2007. It seemed like the perfect setting for the series, and although Assassin’s Creed: Shadows doesn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations, it still delivers a generally good and enjoyable experience. The world is stunning, brimming with feudal Japan’s rich culture that oozes into the atmosphere, and the core gameplay remains as engaging as ever. While it may not break new ground or take the series to the next level, and it certainly has faults, Shadows captures the franchise’s spirit in fresh and exciting ways that I’m sure any diehard fan will come to appreciate.
While we’re not quite at a hole-in-one or eagle quality, 2K once again builds upon their previous outings to be in birdie territory with PGA Tour 2K25. The gameplay is phenomenal yet again by providing about as realistic representations of the sport as you’ll find in gaming, but the downside is that what surrounds it is still rather bare bones and has a very sluggish menu to navigate when doing so. Even with a few major flaws, the true-to-life gameplay that is even further enhanced via the EvoSwing system makes up for the issues to provide players with yet another fun golfing simulator in PGA Tour 2K25.
At the end of the day, the remasters are exactly what you'd hope for out of a graphical update that remains faithful to the original releases. They are the definitive way to play through them, especially if you've never played through them before. Sure, I would have loved to see just a bit more in terms of enhancements and new features when it comes to some of the gameplay elements and options. Still, this is a splendid collection that retains everything I loved about the originals, though now with a shinier coat of paint that makes it feel fresh and exciting to revisit. I can't think of a better way to reexperience these gems of a masterpiece, and though I don't feel as fondly for the latter iterations, I do hope this remaster paves the way for more collections in the series.
Monster Hunter Wilds is a great entry in a fantastic franchise. While there are a lot of mechanics to consider, the game’s tutorials should help most new players to quickly acclimate and join the upper ranks of hunters in no time. A full-fledged, cinematic, occasionally surreal, campaign whisks players from biome to biome, with a meaty play time of 40-50 hours just for the main story, and probably hundreds of more hours to get to 100% completion, there is plenty of content to keep hunters entertained for a while to come. Monster Hunter Wilds comes highly recommended for gamers of all types, but especially RPG fans or fans of the series.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii may not be moving the series forward in much regard to its gameplay and story, but at the end of the day, it does what it sets out to do. It’s fun and provides fans with a wild, over-the-top adventure full of eccentric characters, absurd humor, and dramatic plot twists. If you wanted to spend more time in Hawaii after Infinite Wealth, Like a Dragon Yakuza in Hawaii has you covered, offering a unique spin on the Yakuza formula while keeping things as entertaining and chaotic as ever
Warhorse Studios has delivered a worthy sequel and set a new benchmark for what medieval RPGs can achieve. It’s clear that they’re not just creating a game—they’re crafting an experience that invites players to lose themselves in a rich, detailed world that never feels like anything less than a living, breathing testament to the past. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 kicks off the year as a top contender for Game of the Year, and regardless of its ultimate victory, its impact on the RPG genre will be felt for years to come.
Putting its flaws aside, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a fantastic adventure that delivers everything fans have come to love about the franchise. It’s a thrilling ride filled with action, mystery, and unforgettable moments, capturing the very essence of what makes an Indiana Jones adventure so iconic. From the heart-pounding chase scenes to the witty dialogue and historical intrigue, it’s everything you could dream an Indiana Jones game would be, and it leaves audiences eager for more. Being Machine Games’ first crack at the licensed IP, they’ve certainly managed to live up to the expectations that fans hold on to for the series; I look forward to what might be a glory-filled future for both the studio and the franchise.
Look, if you’re a fan of the Stalker franchise, then Stalker 2 is going to be everything you’d hoped and probably expected from it. It’s a spectacular game with enjoyable combat that is filled with challenge and thrills, with a story and world that will have you hooked the moment you step in. It’s not breaking away from the formula established by its predecessors, but despite coming out 14 years later, it’s impressive that GSC Game World still has that magic touch that made the original games so special. That’s with everything going on in Ukraine; it’s commendable that GSC Game World even managed to release this. It doesn’t excuse the technical aspects, as Stalker 2 needs more polishing on both bugs and performance, though if you can look past that or wait a few months, you’ll find Stalker 2 to be quite an experience. That’s, of course, if you can even make it into the Zone alive.
Metro Awakening is easily one of the best VR experiences you can play right now, which shouldn’t come much as a surprise, considering Vertigo Games’ previous work on the Arizona Sunshine series. Still, it’s impressive that the veteran VR developers were able to take an existing IP from another studio and transition it so well into VR while maintaining the very essence of what made so many fans fall in love with the franchise. They’ve absolutely knocked it out with Metro Awakening, giving us a whole new perspective on the franchise. It’s downright terrifying to the point that it sent shivers, and yet something about the world is so well crafted that it just kept drawing me back in.
At this point, it’s pretty evident that I am digging my time with the remake, and there’s not a lot of “buts” to go along with it, which is a testament to how Bloober Team revived this classic. Clocking in at around 14-18 hours long in your first playthrough, the game features eight endings which means repeated playthroughts are almost a necessity and further adds to its replay value. The outstanding horror remakes started by Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes, EA’s Dead Space remake continues with Konami’s Silent Hill 2, and horror gaming fans should be delighted, as Bloober Team manages to make this horror classic better in every way, and in turn become a classic of its own. Hopefully, this very promising start means we’ll see Bloober Team continue to remake the rest of the series’ games in the coming years. Regardless if you’re a horror fan or not, you owe it to yourself to brave the fog, paint the town bloody red in Silent Hill 2.
As much as it seems weird that a studio would release a single-player game based on their multiplayer IP, The Casting of Frank Stone makes that premise work. Will it draw player interest enough that they’ll want to play Dead by Daylight after playing this? Probably not, but taken on its own, The Casting of Frank Stone is a solid horror game, and could very well be Supermassive’s finest work to date.
Ultimately, Star Wars Outlaws’ biggest strength is that it has the Star Wars license, but in terms of gameplay? It feels by-the-numbers for the most part. This is one outlaw that might want to spend some time in the pokey to reflect on their missteps.
Finally being able to retire my old copy of NCAA Football 14 for Xbox 360, I was so happy to find that EA Sports College Football 25 was all I wanted and more in its return. There is still room to improve in some areas like with the bugs or additional game modes in the future, but this is a fantastic jumping back on point for the franchise after more than 10 years. For anybody who loved the original series or is just tired of the usual Madden formula, EA Sports College Football 25 may be just the game you’re looking for as it is a love letter to what makes college football so special from the bottom to the top.
Nobody Wants to Die is a fun time, if you like piecing together a whodunnit. Outside of that, though, don’t expect anything more. The story is thoroughly entertaining, and at least two endings paired with branching story beats ensures you’ll see or hear something different if you play it more than once. While a low-action, linear game probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, those who like this style will find plenty to love in Nobody Wants to Die. Critical Hit Games has done a great job for their debut title, and hopefully we will see more from them in the future.
Fans of survival MMOs should get their share of resource gathering, combat, and building in Once Human. For a free-to-play game, it offers quite an impressive playtime to enjoy without any constrictions, and the production values are quite good overall. It can be a riot for solo players for some long hours but it gets more enjoyable in a group, and the issues that be aren’t enough to deter any player who is having fun with it. Give it a shot and the most you can lose is the time it took you to install it and play for a while.
In terms of visual direction, EvilVEvil is a bit rough on the edges. First impressions are quite mediocre, warehouse level looking like something out of the early 2000s, and the looks only improve slightly as you move into the city streets and begin realizing that the art and the areas have a certain flair to them and are not that bad. But there’s no going past the fact that enemy models – and your very own playable vampires – are extremely rough, the UI is crude, and it could have done with some more time in the oven… or the coffin, in this case.
Anger Foot is a lot of fun, there’s no question about it. But some players may feel that it’s also something of a one-trick pony, which I understand to an extent. It’s all about furiously rushing through a stage kicking and shooting, reaching the end and doing it all over again in a different but often similar area. I didn’t get tired of doing this for a few hours, but your mileage may vary.
Ultimately, the battles in Crown Wars: The Black Prince end up being extremely long, somewhat dull, and worrisome due to some of the issues described above. It’s not necessarily a bad game and the gameplay loop can be interesting if you stick to it, but it lacks polish and fine-tuning, resulting in a flawed offering that will quickly make fans of the genre start looking elsewhere for better alternatives.
King Arthur: Legion IX doesn’t represent a true step forward from King Arthur: Knight’s Tale, and in some regards it’s even a simplified version of said game. The value for those who own the first one is debatable, but if they are looking for more of the same, this is a good option although it may disappoint in some aspects; on the other hand, new players may get more enjoyment from this tactical game, assuming they are looking for a challenge and aren’t bothered by the lack of playable characters or the middling writing.
The First Descendant is a solid looter shooter with some exciting moments that falls into repetition due to its grind, something that is somewhat expected but still tiresome. It could easily be a premium title if the monetization had been worked out in other ways, so now we have a free-to-play game that offers many hours of entertainment, but that could also potentially outstay its welcome faster than it should. It looks terrific at times, with good character design and some interesting bosses, although the downside is that it can often be another one of those advocates for the “grey and dull” environments. Gunplay feels fast and enjoyable, but grind and monetization may end up being the factor that will keep it from ascending to the next level.