Joshua Duckworth
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That's not to say Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a bad game; it's a budget game and it wears that on its sleeve. If you were to look at Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn from the top down, it becomes clear that the top has a lot more depth than the very bottom, and a lot of little design decisions do not live up to their full potential.
The plot of South Park: Snow Day reveals that the main characters—Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny—have been fighting over the rules of their role-playing adventures since the New Kid (the player character) has become OP in the past two games. At the same time, the blizzard blanketing South Park is of unnatural origin, and the plot goes in some fun directions with these two elements at play. However, Snow Day makes it clear that the story is not as important as in The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole, with the humor also not hitting the same benchmarks the franchise is known for.
As a whole, Assassin's Creed Mirage genuinely feels like a sequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed, which may be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it encapsulates what makes the original action-adventure games so great, but on the other, it sometimes feels like a game stuck in the late 2000s. The result is a fun, nostalgic experience that walks a fine line between being an homage and feeling dated, but it's clear from the onset that the good far outweighs the bad.
Redfall is ultimately a fun experience thanks to the world, the enemies, and the gunplay itself, but as a whole, it's an incredibly shallow one too. Because of this, some may question whether it's worth the price tag, but it's noteworthy that Redfall is launching on Xbox Game Pass. It feels like the game is designed for the service, with an experience that is easily digestible, is full of simple mindless fun, and is easy to move on from.
Need for Speed Unbound also features an online mode, where the difficulty is upped as players race against real people. There are full race playlists where players can compete against others, and the server size is just right to ensure there are constant races going. Here of all places, the intense gameplay manages to shine even brighter. The problem is that it's presented exactly like the story mode, meaning everything wrong with Lakeshore and NFS Unbound's general design is evident here too. It's impossible to predict the future, but unless it is heavily supported with a plethora of renewed content, NFS Unbound's online mode is likely to fade into obscurity.
The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me packages an enigmatic killer, stories of true crime, the spectacle of horror movies, and a group of shy misfits and powerful personalities into a plot that feels deserving of its own big-budget film. It'll leave players questioning everything they know about the killer and each other, and yearning to dive in once again to see other endings, discover more secrets, and try to save everyone.
God of War Ragnarok is a once-in-a-generation game. It doesn't just live up to its high expectations, but it subverts them and expands beyond them all the same. There is nothing quite like it on PS4 or on the PS5 yet, and it would be hard for anything to live up to the same heights. God of War Ragnarok may not make full use of the PS5's features, as there is nothing necessarily groundbreaking that couldn't be experienced on a PS4, but it's absolute proof that vision, artistry, and creative direction far outweigh hardware.
Gotham Knights is a lot of fun, and for someone looking to mindlessly beat criminals as a superhero, it's an easy recommendation. Yet, anyone interested in anything more than that is going to face a lot of disappointment with its story beats, gameplay elements, individual features, and many other elements.
Indeed, Ghostwire: Tokyo is at its best when it allows the player to go full-blown Spirit Detective, which occurs mostly in the side quests. Players will sometimes have to find doorways hidden by Yokai, solve a quick little mystery, chase spirit weasels around, bring certain spirits together, drive them apart, save them, and far more. There are, of course, more traditional side quests in the game—there’s a series of “fetch quests” called requests where players must seek out items for a friendly cat Yokai named Nekomata—but the stories that embrace the Japanese folklore are the absolute best.
Players can visit Gnarvana to generate “forever levels” with certain settings for skill level and environments, while continuing to push for mastery. They can also just generate “chill” levels for that uniquely relaxing experience the game can provide too. On top of that, there are asynchronous multiplayer leagues where players can compete against others to achieve the highest score possible. This definitely leans into the more intense aspects of the game, really giving players the best of both worlds.