Latest Reviews
Not only has SHIFT UP successfully established itself as a formidable console game developer, but it has provided PS5 players with a worthwhile AAA action game in a year that’s set to be exceptionally quiet for Sony’s first-party studios. Stellar Blade might not pack a narrative punch, but it’s a...
That's because it's the storytelling where Surgent Studios shines. The best example of this is in the game's boss battles with the Great Spirits. Mechanically, there's nothing particularly innovative at work, but the narrative beats that lead up to them are what will prove most memorable. One example involves the...
Despite a few mishits, TopSpin 2K25 is well worth the wait. Though this revival doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, it gets the fundamentals right. Mastering the new swing meter is challenging, but once you get the timing down, it’s easy to get into the zone and spend...
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a different kind of retro throwback than what I’m used to. Normally a game like this is a mish-mash of genre homage points that encapsulates a broader historical context alongside the individual creators’ more homegrown ideas. Suikoden was already kind of a niche in its...
Inkbound can be a demanding mistress for those looking to see it through to the end. It has a lengthy campaign, so while individual runs are often short, you'll need a lot of them to reach the end. Even if my progress is slower than I'd like, I haven't jumped...
2024 has been a year so full of RPGs I can’t begin to imagine ever being able to finish all of them. Coming across Harold Halibut in the middle of so many massive, complicated adventures was a breath of fresh air. Just being able to slow down, soak in all...
Ultimately my time with Broken Roads didn’t light up any of the parts of my brain that video games typically do on some level or another. There’s some promise at first with its distinct, all-encompassing cultural flavor. But the scenario holding up the setting only struggled to capture my interest....
Children of the Sun is an absolutely weird game, but in a lot of good ways. The narrative and aesthetic are intensely gloomy and disorienting, the puzzles of how to dispatch all cultists in any given level are smart and engaging, and the alternate gameplay sections aside the main shooting...
Despite its brevity, Botany Manor is a wholesome puzzle game that turns academic research into an engaging endeavor. The central theme focuses on finding the conditions to allow a living entity to flourish, a concept that is elegantly reflected in both Arabella’s personal journey as well as in gameplay. The...
Beat Slayer is a game that falls short in some areas. I don't think it goes far enough in establishing its unique setting and the characters are just people you want to tune out after a while. With that said, I enjoyed the game on the whole. It's not a...
MLB The Show 24 is another very good baseball game from San Diego Studio. It suffers from a lot of the same pitfalls as other annual sports titles, but The Show is so clearly head-and-shoulders above those games. The Negro Leagues Season 2, inclusive additions to RTTS, and the introduction...
Open Roads is the quintessential Annapurna Interactive video game. There are prominent actors giving authentic performances in a story that’s beautifully written, there’s a unique approach to art direction, and the music is top-of-the-line. I didn’t vibe with all of the design decisions, but it’s impossible to walk away from...
