PS5 Game Reviews
Review Luna Abyss (PS5) - Don't Skip This AA DOOM-Like Shooter
The Red Moon rises
When I first started playing Luna Abyss, I really wasn’t sure about it. Admittedly, I can be a bit of a snob when it comes to shiny graphics and gameplay feel, and from my first moment with the game, I could tell that Luna Abyss was firmly AA. However, across my 10+ hours with the game, I was steadily won over by a shooter that...
Review Bubsy 4D (PS5) - The Best of a Bad Bunch
Woolie or won't he
It's pretty remarkable how Bubsy has bounced back time and time again, despite numerous games that, by rights, ought to have seen him never return. However, cats are said to have nine lives, and with Bubsy 4D — game number seven — he may have finally landed on his feet. Well, sort of. It's complicated. I think this is almost...
Review LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (PS5) - Brick Gaming at Its Joyful Best
Batman Begin
When making LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, I like to think developer TT Games agreed to one phrase, and one phrase alone: if it’s not fun, scrap it. The veteran studio has created an experience with an uncompromising commitment to having a good time. Using the framework of the Batman universe and its deep lore, a campaign...
Review Directive 8020 (PS5) - Dull Sci-Fi Thriller Is a Supermassive Letdown
Ridley Carpenter's The Alien
Taking the Supermassive formula and applying it to a mash-up of Ridley Scott’s Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing was exactly why I was intrigued to check out Directive 8020. I’m a huge fan of both films, and the idea of having to decide whether my crewmate is actually my crewmate, or some murderous alien, and...
Review Mixtape (PS5) - A Truly Special Story Experience
Follow that tune
For years now, it feels like story games have been stuck in a rut: when was the last time a new title broke into the list of elite recommendations like the first Life Is Strange, Gone Home, and What Remains of Edith Finch? It has been a while, even with some quality titles along the way — nothing has truly challenged the top dogs...
Review NTE: Neverness to Everness (PS5) - Ambitious Anime Open World Gets a Lot Right
Perfect world
The irritatingly named Neverness to Everness – which I’ll refer to as just NTE for the purposes of my own sanity from this point onwards – has launched into a crowded genre on the PS5. Ever since Genshin Impact exploded during the pandemic, there have been several console copycats, all adopting the same free-to-play format, with...
Mini Review Monster Crown: Sin Eater (PS5) - So Much More Than Your Typical Pokémon Clone
Sintillating
Monster Crown: Sin Eater surpassed our expectations — but then our expectations were misguided to begin with. We went into this one expecting a somewhat cutesy, nostalgia-infused, Pokémon-style retro RPG — but what we got was a shockingly mature, story-driven adventure with more mechanical depth than most creature-taming titles...
See things from a new perspective
Little Nightmares always felt like a perfect fit for VR. The adventures of Six in the creepy, larger-than-life environments of this world are ripe for first-person exploration. And, at long last, after three mainline entries, developer Iconik has seen fit to grant that wish. You play as Dark Six (Six’s spectral...
Review Invincible VS (PS5) - Comic Book Carnage That Comes Alive Online
Test your (Viltru)might
How has it taken this long to get an Invincible game? Okay, so technically there was the PC-based visual novel Invincible Presents: Atom Eve, which by all accounts is pretty good. And there was also Ubisoft’s idle game Invincible: Guarding the Globe, which is still supported today. But without being snobby, we mean a...
Review Saros (PS5) - Housemarque at the Peak of Its Powers with Its Best Game Yet
Rahul breaker
The thing about Housemarque is it makes some of the gamiest games in the AAA space, and that's a gift among big budget titles that play it so safe they start to feel a bit homogenous. With Returnal, the Finnish studio released the biggest game it had ever made. However, despite a substantial backing from Sony and a stronger focus on...
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Mini Review Vampire Crawlers (PS5) - Just as Fiendishly Compelling as Vampire Survivors
Cardfax
Vampire Crawlers is unusual; it's simultaneously just like Vampire Survivors and completely different from it. It's similar because it's effortlessly compelling to play, time evaporates while you do, and it shares many items, characters, and presentational cues. It's different because, well, it's a whole other genre. The magic is in...
What a horrible night to have a curse
While there are no shortage of Metroidvanias flooding the PS Store these days, Castlevania’s side-scrolling era is a well that remains largely untapped. Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege unashamedly draws inspiration from Konami’s 1987 NES classic, delivering a mostly delightful action platformer with fun...
Mini Review Mouse: P.I. for Hire (PS5) - Elite Art with FPS Action to Match
Simply brie-lliant
It's efforts like Cuphead, and now MOUSE: P.I. for Hire, that provide the video game indie scene an everlasting attraction and curiosity: you'd never see a big-budget game dare go near such a striking art style. Polish studio Fumi Games has taken the rubber hose animation style of the 1930s and made a shooter out of it, placing...
Review Hades 2 (PS5) - Godlike Sequel Is Pure Power Fantasy
Keep running up that hill
Hades 2 continues developer Supergiant Games' reign of isometric action dominance, which began with Bastion back in 2011 and was firmly cemented by Transistor in 2014. Building on the foundations of 2020's excellent original Hades, the sequel to that godlike roguelike features the studio's sublime music and art direction,...
Review Pragmata (PS5) - Brilliant Combat Is the Star of Yet Another Capcom PS5 Hit
To the moon and hack
We've known about Pragmata for nearly six years — or, to put it another way, since before the PS5 even launched. Announced during the initial PS5 showcase event, Capcom's sci-fi action game has been in the works for the console's entire lifespan so far. After such a lengthy development period, the question many will have is...
Review Starfield (PS5) - Better Than Ever, But Still No Space Skyrim
See that star? Don't go there
Starfield is a very different proposition compared to the many Elder Scrolls and Fallout games Bethesda has made in the past: it’s a space RPG where the worst thing about it is space. Instead of a single open world to explore, there are theoretically hundreds — but you can count the ones actually worth visiting on...
Review People of Note (PS5) - A Catchy Musical RPG That Hits Most of the Right Beats
A catchy number
It doesn’t happen very often, but occasionally a game comes around that’s tailor made for me. People of Note, a musical RPG from indie outfit Iridium Studios, is that kinda release. This one fuses Final Fantasy with K-Pop Demon Hunters, delivering a distinctly dulcet adventure that’s bright and breezy from beginning to end. I...
Review Life Is Strange: Reunion (PS5) - Twee Mystery Finale Falls Flat
In another life
The Life Is Strange series comes to its supposed end with Life Is Strange: Reunion, a quasi-sequel to the 2015 original, and a full-on sequel to 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. However, its commitment to either of those prior games is a little inconsistent, leading to a disappointingly flat and messy finale. We’d say...
Review South of Midnight (PS5) - The Most Beautiful Simple Game
Into the Deep South
South of Midnight is the kind of game Microsoft would have had to consistently publish to make its Xbox Game Pass subscription truly succeed. This is a relatively straightforward 12-hour adventure with little in the way of gameplay innovation, yet it ships with such stunning presentation and design that you feel compelled to...
Review Marvel MaXimum Collection (PS5) - A Retro Comic Book Beat-'Em-Up Bonanza
Welcome to die
Retro compilations have become quite commonplace this generation, but Marvel MaXimum Collection is one you should be paying attention to. While it would be all-too easy to lament the lack of SEGA’s superhero games here – like its System 32 Spider-Man effort or the home console adventure Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin – publisher...
Review Crimson Desert (PS5) - A Generational Open World Buried in Early Access Cruft
Kliff bracer
Crimson Desert is a fascinating video game. It's an open world adventure of frankly absurd scope, taking blatant cues from notable examples of the genre, like Red Dead Redemption 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and The Witcher 3. But where those three titles have a clear identity right out of the
Honoring the legacy of the Stars
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection continues Capcom’s streak of remasters, this time bringing attention to a somewhat overlooked era of Mega Man. The collection bundles together a trilogy of Nintendo DS RPGs: Mega Man Star Force, Mega Man Star Force 2, and (for the first time in some territories) Mega Man Star...
Mini Review Rushing Beat X: Return of Brawl Brothers (PS5) - Revival Turf
Final delight
Even in its compromised home console format, few would disagree that Final Fight was the king of Super Nintendo brawlers. But the 16-bit system was bursting with beat-’em-ups, and we’ll always harbour a fondness for Jaleco’s kooky 1992 effort, Rival Turf – or Rushing Beat, as it was known in Japan. The title spawned two...
Mini Review 1348 Ex Voto (PS5) - An Intriguing But Disappointing PS5 Console Exclusive
Broken vow
With Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its stellar sequel gathering a legion of fans, and the Plague Tale games offering epic dark fantasy on a double-A budget, the medieval genre has found fresh momentum. 1348 Ex Voto (from the Latin ex voto suscepto, meaning "from the vow made") rides that wave with a tale of revenge sweeping across the...
Review Marathon (PS5) - Bungie's Extraction Shooter Is Truly Brilliant, and It Only Gets Better
It's a marathon, not a sprint
There’s been a lot of heat surrounding Marathon in the lead-up to its launch. Some say it’s not what they want from Bungie, others say it's a far cry from the glory days of Halo. But cutting through all of the noise, we think Marathon is actually a bold new adventure from Bungie. It may take you a little bit to...
Review Screamer (PS5) - Finally, a Racing Game Doing Something Interesting
In its own lane
Arcade racing games still exist, but only just. The only big budget series that's still around is Forza Horizon, which is fine if you're in the mood to zip around in a fairly safe open world. The full breadth of what arcade racers can be just isn't represented these days. Fortunately, Screamer is here to remind everyone that, yes,...
Holding hands is good for your health
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is absolutely terrifying. Team Ninja delivers unequivocal, spine-chilling survival horror, if — and it’s a really big if — you’re willing to stomach a few familiar frustrations. In recent years, Koei Tecmo has attempted to resurrect the Fatal Frame/Project Zero...
Mini Review WWE 2K26 (PS5) - Grappling Sim's Championship Reign Holds Strong
It's clobbering time
13 years since he last graced the cover of a WWE video game, the controversial "Best In The World" is back on top, with World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk lending both his face to the box, and story to WWE 2K26's Showcase mode. Accompanied by video from the man himself, players are once again immersed in a playable documentary,...
Ranger danger
Our big take from playing Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is that this spin-off series has come an incredibly long way. It's gone from being a handheld RPG of relatively limited scope to being a big budget, borderline open world adventure packed with high quality cinematic storytelling. This could be Stories' true...
Mini Review Scott Pilgrim EX (PS5) - Fans Will Be in Lesbians with This Fun-Filled Brawler
Greatest hits
You probably already know if this is a game for you. If you enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game back in the day, you'll absolutely love Scott Pilgrim EX, as it's simply a new and improved version of that same idea. When most of Scott's band, Sex Bob-omb, goes missing — along with all their instruments — it's down to him,...
