Latest Reviews
Mini Review Unpacking (PS5) - Making Chores Fun
What’s in the box? What’s in the box?!
Unpacking’s title marvellously — and succinctly — informs you of what to expect. You inhabit the life of a young woman across a number of years, living in her shoes solely through unboxing her worldly possessions. One year you might be decorating your college dorm room, the next moving back home to...
Mini Review Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (PS5) - Attractive Action RPG Struggles to Rise Above
On Runebarrowed time
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising acts as something of a prologue to the crowdfunded Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is aiming for a 2023 release on PS5 and PS4. It's a side-scrolling action RPG with an emphasis on character-switching combat, but it also dabbles in Metroidvania-esque exploration and even town building. An...
Mini Review This War of Mine: Final Cut (PS5) - Sombre Survival Hits Hard
War, what is it good for?
Originally released on PC in 2019 for the original game’s fifth anniversary, the acclaimed survival game This War Of Mine: Final Cut has been repackaged in a for new-gen consoles. Hitting PS5s with remastered versions of the original and DLC locations, This War of Mine gives a harrowing and to the point view of war from...
Review Trek to Yomi (PS5) - Short Samurai Slasher Thrives on Amazing Atmosphere
Highway to hell
Trek to Yomi isn't much of a trek, to be honest. This tribute to classic samurai cinema is only a few hours long at most, taking place across just a handful of story chapters. But what Trek to Yomi lacks in longevity, it makes up for in sheer atmosphere and spectacle. It's a superbly crafted indie adventure from a visual point of...
Mini Review The House of the Dead: Remake (PS4) - Faithful Arcade Recreation Is a Bit of a Misfire
Goodbye, Curien
Playing the likes of Point Blank and Time Crisis on PS1 was a novelty unlike any other. Bringing these predominantly arcade experiences, often replicated immaculately, into your living room felt incredible at the time – especially if you were lucky enough to own a G-CON 45 or any of its alternatives. That magic was often enough to...
Mini Review Samurai Bringer (PS4) - The Price Is Right for This Randomised Roguelike
Bring it
Samurai Bringer exceeded our expectations. It's a fairly simple roguelike at its core, tasking you with hacking and slashing through procedurally generated stages. But in its skill system, which promotes a near ridiculous level of experimentation, Samurai Bringer can flourish into something that's seriously addictive. Defeated enemies drop...
Mini Review Chernobylite (PS5) - This Dark, Oppressive Survival Shooter Radiates Quality
Exclusion Zone, Act 1
Survival is difficult enough as it is, but doing so within the heavily irradiated grounds of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone? That's a whole different kettle of fish, and you don't even have a kettle in Chernobylite. Or, indeed, any fish. And you're also able to open wormholes and travel through time in order to change the past...
Mini Review The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (PS5) - A Surreal, Hilarious Trip into Madness
Meta quest
Reviewing The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is borderline impossible. Not without spoiling everything that makes the game so unique, at least. We'll do our best, but know that this is absolutely one of those things you should experience with no prior knowledge. Frankly, you should probably stop reading this and just play it for yourself...
Mini Review Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) - Dungeon Crawler Lights the Way with Unique Mechanics
A curse and a blessing
Republished on Wednesday 27th April 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. In Curse of the Dead Gods, you explore randomly generated maps in a cursed dungeon. Light is your best friend, as you take more damage in the dark...
Review FIFA 22 (PS5) - Football Sim Makes Meaningful Strides on the Pitch
Beautiful game
Republished on Wednesday 27th April 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The biggest compliment you can pay FIFA 22 is that it feels like real football for once. EA Sports’ soccer simulator still has its fair share of quirks,...
Mini Review LEGO Builder’s Journey (PS5) - Popular Mobile Game Turned Pleasing Console Puzzler
Another (LEGO) brick in the wall
Under ordinary circumstances, we wouldn’t blame you for hearing “mobile game” and immediately fleeing to the nearest forest, but this is one mobile-game-turned-console-title that’s worth your time. A puzzle game making the most out of everyone’s favorite plastic bricks, LEGO Builder’s Journey is a puzzle...
Mini Review Ganryu 2 (PS4) - A Brutal Tribute to Retro Side-Scrolling Action
Die by the sword
Ganryu 2 is an often brutally tough side-scrolling action title — the kind of game that harkens back to a simpler time when we'd be willing to smash our head off the hardest of challenges over and over again because we didn't know any better. And in that sense, this is a truly faithful sequel to the original Ganryu, which released...
Mini Review Road 96 (PS5) - Political Trek Gets Our Vote
My way or the highway
At the height of an intense, fictional presidential election, Road 96 is about both escape and discovery. Procedurally generated scenarios dictate your objective to leave the country by crossing its northern border, but the characters you meet along the way make those journeys fruitful ones. While repetition does start to creep...
Mini Review Lake (PS5) - Mail Sim Stuck Between First and Second Class
Still better than Hermes
Death Stranding may not be considered the instigator of a new genre just yet, but the earnest mailing simulators roll on. Lake, from developer Gamious, is a much more grounded attempt at replicating the career path. There are the usual letters and parcels to deliver, and you interact with actual humans instead of holograms...
Mini Review Nobody Saves the World (PS5) - Fun, Unique Premise Shines Through the Cracks
Spoiler: Somebody does, in fact, save the world
Esteemed readers of Push Square, we present to you the first game review produced entirely through random generation. Quench. Sycamore. Lithe admonishment. Right, done. Seven out of 10. Hang on, that wasn't very satisfying, was it? See, that's the issue with anything randomly generated — it's about...
Review MLB The Show 22 (PS5) - Baseball Sim Plays Great But Doesn't Do Enough
Diamond in the rough
For those who’ve spent the past year embedded in MLB The Show 21’s bullpen, Sony San Diego Studio’s slight but specific improvements in MLB The Show 22 will be welcome. This is an annual instalment where one of its headline tweaks includes adjustments to trade logic, preventing teams from swapping their star players for...
Mini Review Slipstream (PS4) - OutRun 2022 Makes a Real Splash Wave
More than a Passing Breeze
Back in the mid-1980s, video game veteran Yu Suzuki went on a short sabbatical around Europe, researching the exotic backdrops for stylish arcade smash, OutRun. Almost three decades later, the series’ distinctive blue skies and sparkling oceans have become something of a racing sub-genre; much like WipEout, there’s a...
The worst timeline
For some, Chrono Cross is a classic PlayStation-era RPG, and it's nice to see it being revived all these years later. While we wouldn't say that it's remembered anywhere near as fondly as Final Fantasy VII through IX, or its predecessor, the legendary Chrono Trigger, it's still a title steeped in PS1 charm — from its carefully...
Review LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (PS5) - The Best LEGO Game in Years, This Is
Plastic fantastic
TT Games released the original LEGO Star Wars in 2005, completely changing the studio's direction such was its popularity. Since then we've had countless brickified movie tie-ins, but a few years have passed since one of these family-friendly platformers has graced PlayStation. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is finally here to...
Mini Review Moss: Book II (PSVR) – A Sweet and Wondrous VR Reunion with Mouse Heroine Quill
The Quill is mightier than the sword
The Redwall-esque world of Moss was an absolute joy to play through when it first launched on PSVR. Inhabiting the mantle of the omniscient, invisible “reader,” you guided the ASL-fluent mouse heroine, Quill, on her journey to vanquish Sarffog. Moss: Book II picks up in the immediate aftermath of the first...
Rumble in the urban jungle
Look, we like Judgment protagonist Takayuki Yagami — even though he was a bit of a wet blanket in Lost Judgment — but he's been completely outdone by Masaharu Kaito, the man who usually plays second fiddle as Tak's roughhousing sidekick. The ex-yakuza is the star of the show in his very own expansion — appropriately...
Review Weird West (PS4) - Ambitious Top-Down RPG Comes Close to Greatness
Darn shootin'
With the success of Deathloop last year, the comeback of immersive sims from their late 90s/early 2000s heyday seems to be in full swing. Through dogged determination and fantastic game design, Arkane Studios has almost single-handedly revived the genre a decade after releasing the first Dishonored title. So it makes sense that Weird...
Mini Review Agent Intercept (PS5) - Modern Spy Hunter Is Shallow But Satisfying Fun
Mission absolutely possible
Agent Intercept is an extremely accessible game, but that's not to say it doesn't deliver some thrills and spills. This modern, Spy Hunter-esque title is an easy breezy good time that aims to put a smile on your face, and we'd say that's mission accomplished. Gameplay is very basic; you simply steer, boost and drift with...
Review Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (PS5) - Borderlands Fantasy Spin-Off Can't Quite Find the Magic
No time to dice
If you read our review of Borderlands 3, then you've basically read our review of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, only this game isn't as good. We're just doing it again in different words, and we're a little more weary this time around. Nothing of much consequence has changed between the two games. The budget is lower, clearly, and the...
Review Hood: Outlaws & Legends (PS5) - Competitive Stealth Title Is Real Refreshing
But it Sherwood help if it had more players
Republished on Wednesday 30th March 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2022's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. What if a classic Assassin’s Creed quest was the basis for a competitive multiplayer game? Hood: Outlaws &...
Review SpongeBob Rehydrated - Battle for Bikini Bottom Remake Is Rough and Ready Fun
Doing the Sponge
Republished on Wednesday 30th March 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2022's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Say what you like about SpongeBob SquarePants, but there's a reason it's still one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows. The cartoon starring a...
Mini Review Crusader Kings III: Console Edition (PS5) - Strategic Royalty Rewards Patient Players
King me
Crusader Kings III is the kind of game that you could quite easily lose days, weeks, or even months to once you've wrapped your head around its many, many systems. It's a ridiculously in-depth strategy title — the kind that you rarely see on consoles — but port studio Lab42 has done a solid job of making the whole thing manageable on...
Review Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS5) - Not the Bethesda Swansong We Hoped For
The evil without
From The Elder Scrolls and Fallout to Dishonored and Wolfenstein, the Bethesda catalogue has been a staple of many a PlayStation console's third-party lineup. Its games are unique and varied. And while not all of them land, you're always in for something a bit different. Microsoft's acquisition of the company means that's all set to...
Mini Review The Ascent (PS5) - Gorgeous Cyberpunk Shooter Is Enhanced on PS5
A steady climb
The Ascent was met with slightly mixed reviews when it launched on PC and Xbox platforms around eight months ago, but it arrives on PlayStation 5 a much improved game. A slew of updates have fixed bugs and rebalanced various gameplay elements since the title's 2021 release. What's more, new content — like New Game+, a transmog...
Mini Review Paradise Killer (PS5) - A Wild Murder Mystery That Puts the Player in Charge
Nani the hell?
The core conceit of Paradise Killer is so brilliant and yet so simple: the player dictates how the whodunnit story plays out. This first person adventure title drops you into a fantastical island setting where you must solve a mass murder, but the responsibility rests with you. There's little guidance — you simply need to explore...
