John-Paul Jones
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Writing For
Playstation Universe
GameWatcherLatest Reviews
Wanderstop won't win any awards for its deliberately thin gameplay mechanics, but over its 10-15 hours you'll be reminded how a simple act of kindness can change lives and that just slowing things down and taking time for yourself away from the stresses and white noise of daily life is perhaps just what the doctor ordered.
Ravenswatch has the hard stuff nailed down - the combat is sophisticated, the roguelike mechanics are spot-on and there is no shortage of progression avenues and opportunities; it just needs more content than it currently has to really shine. As it is, Ravenswatch is a roguelike overflowing with innovation and potential, it just needs a bit more content to turn a very good experience into a great one.
Sure enough, while it doesn’t seek to reinvent the roguelike wheel or provide an especially captivating story or cast of characters as Hades does, [REDACTED] nonetheless provides enough clever adjustments to the formula while embracing some incredible combat fundamentals to come out of seemingly nowhere and secure its spot as one of my favourite roguelikes of the year.
Though Lego Horizon Adventures is the best looking Lego game ever made by a wide margin, it does still suffer somewhat from the repetition which has afflicted previous Lego tie-in titles. Nonetheless, with its snappy 15-20 minute missions, breezy co-op play and relentlessly lighter, grin-inducing tone, Lego Horizon Adventures also represents both a new direction for the Horizon franchise at large, as well as a great way to get newbies and younger folk involved with the adventures of PlayStation’s marquee flame-haired heroine.
If by dumb luck or some other unique set of circumstances you have yet to play Horizon Zero Dawn, then this is arguably by far the best way to experience one of the best open world efforts out there that still holds up extremely well even today. Perhaps most encouragingly, Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster also heralds the fact that Nixxes is a force to be reckoned in the console porting space too, representing an added feather in the cap for Sony and its burgeoning PlayStation Studios portfolio as we barrel towards the fourth anniversary of PlayStation 5.
Even though nearly a decade has passed since Until Dawn first spooked and tore its way onto PlayStation consoles, its keenly judged take on the teen slasher trope together with convincing voice actor performances and non-linear narrative still remain appealing - and arguably sit at the apex of anything developer Supermassive Games has created. Of course, if you were indifferent to Until Dawn when it originally released, this shiny new 2024 edition will do precious little to change your mind. For everyone else however, Until Dawn's PS5 outing represents the definitive version of one of the most effective horror titles released in the last console generation.
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.
Though The Casting of Frank Stone doesn’t make any sweeping changes to the formula etched out by the likes of Until Dawn, The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology, it does manage to effectively marry up that formula with the universe of Dead by Daylight with impressive results. Notably, the usual flaws also apply here, with The Casting of Frank Stone beset by the same plodding horror adventuring, wooden dialogue and mostly annoying cast of characters that are usually the hallmarks of similar efforts. If however, you’re fine with all of that and just want another handsomely made Supermassive Games romp then The Casting of Frank Stone will surely appeal. Should you be a devoted Dead by Daylight aficionado though, feel free to add a point or more to the score and dive in.
Concord largely nails the fundamentals - it feels highly responsive, is handsomely made, has good feeling, if slower gunplay than other games, super stable servers and minor concerns aside, has a roster of mostly well balanced characters. With Concord's obviously passionate team of developers confirming that they are absolutely in it for “years to come”, I would love for Concord to still be around in one, two or three years time and even beyond that. I just don't know if gamers who have been experiencing varying amounts of genre fatigue will be generous enough to put a significant amount of time into a title that, on the starting blocks at least, seems roundly decent enough but doesn't offer anything thunderously new to upset the status quo. I know that I'll be playing Concord in the weeks and months to come, I'm just not sure a sufficient number of other folks will be joining me.
Though the in-game shop feels poorly realised and it sometimes veers away from what it does best, Pepper Grinder nonetheless remains a resolutely well made, roundly attractive and frantically satisfying platformer that basically turns you into a terrifyingly militant dolphin obsessed with high speed loot and murder. And, well, who has never wanted to be one of those before?