Gameffine's Reviews
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is RGG at its finest. It is a massive RPG overloaded with things beyond belief, and it somehow manages to execute all of it flawlessly. Its overpriced DLCs and a few minor hiccups can be easily overlooked in the service of its well-written story, refined combat system, larger-than-life character arcs, and an astonishingly detailed map of Hawaii. Overall, it is easily a strong contender for Game of The Year.
Despite the caveats, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a brilliant game with thoroughly enjoyable combat and a compelling story that keeps you going. It improves on many things than the previous game and introduces many new aspects like character customization, new stances, perks, specials, bounty hunters, and much more. While the performance may not be the best and most polished, it still delivers a fair playable experience
Rise of Ronin is a mindblowing action-adventure open-world RPG set at the end of the Shogun Era. While the game may have soul-like elements, not the difficulty, allowing more people to enjoy the game. Inspired by many mechanics from Nioh titles, the game boasts to have a compelling story with the freedom of shaping your future under your control. Rise of Ronin also excels with fluid combat and amazing sights but slightly lacks in matching the current generation graphics.
Spider-Man 2 is our prime GOTY contender. The thrilling storyline with mindblowing climax and plots, backed with completely action-packed combat with brand new abilities and fresh features, is more than we could’ve asked for. With a few bugs still needing fixing, this game is a must-play for every PlayStation owner.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth outshines its predecessor in every aspect by providing a vast world to explore, numerous mini-games to master, and an expansive story free of filler content. However, it falls short of replicating the emotional resonance of the original’s pivotal climax. Nevertheless, it excels in developing relationships, delving deeper into character exploration, and introducing new, unforgettable story elements.
Blasphemous 2 is the perfect sequel fans could ever ask for. The sequel doubles down on everything Blasphemous is beloved for, and then proceeds to add a slew of new features. The result is a beautifully rendered action platformer with challenging combat, varied character builds, rewarding exploration, a plethora of side content and some great music. I would have liked to see more epic screen-filling boss fights, some post-campaign modes and reasonable regional pricing, but I guess the last wish is not up to the developer. Team17, if you’re reading this, fix your prices. Blasphemous 2 is a gem of a game otherwise.
Remnant 2 is a massive improvement over its predecessor thanks to fine-tuned gunplay, build customization, the massive amount of content, and excellent co-op support. It’s been a while since we’ve played a co-op action title that feels like it deserves the asking price (looking at you, Darktide). Whether you’re a Souls veteran or a casual player, Remnant 2 has something for you in store.
Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC surpasses its original counterpart in almost every regard by introducing a more cohesive and fleshed-out take on Ada’s side story. It leverages its linearity with its no-nonsense take on a bombastic campaign that not only compliments the events of Leon’s story but also hints at the series’ possible future paths. By introducing Ada’s grappling hook, it re-invents its combat and traversal in a non-tedious way but leaves little room for backtracking. It is easily the best downloadable content we’ve had in 2023.
The Crew Motorfest is genuinely what the name suggests – a Festival celebrating motor vehicles. With insane graphics and detailed vehicles, every ride or race becomes a solid experience that stays with you. Having many custom-designed mainstream content and creators’ collaboration took us by surprise. But even after the main story, you get a brand new theme each week and the constantly rotating multiplayer races. The Upgrade parts may force you to grind more to win more.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the best revisit to the nostalgic experience and truly pivots to be the OG Assassin’s Creed game. With the city of Baghdad being highly detailed and dense, the game will often keep you hooked on how magical the city looks and feels. The combat is light but makes you prefer stealth since each area is well-designed, allowing multiple approaches and infiltration opportunities. The game’s story may not be the most memorable, especially with the shorter length, but the closure leaves more options for future content.
System Shock (2023) is a fantastic remake of the groundbreaking 1994 original with an eagle eye for attention. Above everything else, it’s a love letter to the original made by folks who knew the ins and outs of the Looking Glass classic. The striking visual design, rewarding exploration, challenging puzzles, and a menacing performance by Terri Brosius make System Shock not just a great remake, but one of the best games of this year. The wait was worth it.
Ion Fury: Aftershock is a must-play expansion for fans of the base game. Superior level design, better level variety, faster paced campaign, more firepower, more enemies, the awesome Road Ripper and the Arrange mode make Aftershock a noticeable improvement over Ion Fury. Those are some big enough reasons to grab the expansion at full price.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus is a brilliant VR experience for an Assassin’s Creed game. It revisits famous titles, helps fans reconnect to the character they had always enjoyed playing, and takes it a step further. The VR experience pushes the boundary of making you experience the real struggle of jumping onto ledges and grabbing edges, and also ducking around the corners gathering intel is guaranteed to make every AC Fan bring a tear to their eye with joy. The story is quite Mid, and the graphics are limited to what the Quest can do; the game still plays smoothly with significant structures and sights to behold.
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered on PS5 is a definitive package of its PS4 original, thanks to the notable inclusion of Lost Levels, No Return, and a new in-game commentary which makes the campaign worth revisiting even after beating it. The rogue-like No Return expansion alone is worth the upgrade fee -thanks to its changing environmental effects, enhanced enemy AI, and mods that make each encounter memorable. In terms of visuals, the new fidelity mode and VRR support are worthy of inclusion. However, the visual difference in terms of assets and foliage is barely noticeable. Overall, this definitive package is an easy recommendation for old veterans and newcomers.
Helldivers 2 is an Action-Third Person Shooter Co-op game that is entirely community-driven. The game offers an entire list of difficulties to find the perfect pick that you can handle with your squad. With a long list of planets to discover and prevent infestations by performing various operations, you are guaranteed to devote yourself to fighting for democracy for hours. With an actual seamless, optimized, efficient performance of the game and multiplayer, I was always in for a good time while playing the game.
Howl is a masterpiece in writing that takes the features from basic games like chess, adds a touch of childhood nostalgia, and supercharges it with card-based mechanics. There’s very little left to flaw here with this game. The game is quite cheap on the PlayStation store and is definitely worth a try. Players having a PlayStation Plus subscription are encouraged to download the game trial and give it a go – one session should be enough to make one take the nostalgia train back to the time when they were children.
Bulwark Falconeer Chronicles is a city-building game slightly different than the other ones of its genre. It tries to carve its own niche with in-depth world-building and a post-apocalyptic theme that blends very well with its various elements (like graphics and sound). Tomas Sala has created another masterpiece – one that deserves to be played by most people who are into strategy and/or simulation games.
Dave the Diver is a complete package of a full-sized game, designed to be enjoyed in the most relaxing mood that will give you the taste of experiencing thrill and adventure in the first half and drive your management brain cells to their max in the other half. Backed with an impressive storyline and much extra content, Dave the Diver exceeds its value for money. However, the grind will become repetitive after a while, and you may need more clarification about things for which the game does not elaborate well.
If you stare long into an abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. Dredge stops just a tad short of greatness owing to its occasional repetitive nature and indie budget, but that is but a small nitpick against the overwhelming positives it provides. Fishing, inventory management, saving for upgrades and exploration – each aspect of Dredge is gamified just right, and sandwiched effectively to keep you coming back for more. Clocking in at a good 12–15 hours to complete the story, this thalassophobic collect-a-thon provides enough fun, excitement, horror and mystery to tide you through this quaint fishing adventure!
The tag line for WWE2K23 is “Even Stronger”. In all fairness, that’s a pretty accurate statement. Everything that the last game did has become better and “Stronger”. However, high load times, finicky online play, and weird collision detection remains the game’s weakness. So much so that they stand in even more contrast than last time, because how vastly improved other areas of the game are. 2K tried a few different things last year, and got a lot of feedback on them. I am happy to say they took most of it and resolved it in WWE2K23. Its a huge improvement over the last iteration and speaks well of the team behind it promising even better things in the future.