PS5 Game Reviews
Mini Review Patapon 1+2 Replay (PS5) - The Best Versions of Two PSP Classics in One Package
Pon-Pon-Pata-Pon
The PS4 remasters of Patapon and Patapon 2 did a sufficient job of reintroducing people to the quirky PSP rhythm titles where you direct tribes of warriors to the beat, but they definitely had their share of problems. Input lag and muddy textures put a dampener on the initial attempt. Bandai Namco has taken a mulligan here,...
Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 (PS5) - An Imperfect Remake, But a Great Skateboarding Game
Memory gap
A few years ago, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 brought back the iconic skateboarding series in fine form, presenting the first two games remade and in one package. It was so successful in what it set out to do that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 uses practically the exact same template. While the end result is another fantastic arcade...
Ghost in the machine
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is Nightdive Studio's tribute to the hugely influential 1994 original. Offering a much-needed technical upgrade, along with a bevvy of extras, System Shock 2 is still an impressive game, even if some of its forward-thinking mechanics feel quite quaint three decades later. Originally...
Mini Review Missile Command Delta (PS5) - A Radically Different But Successful Series Reboot
Top bunker
Missile Command Delta is a big departure from the original game that Atari fans are familiar with, and while we're sure purists won't enjoy the drastic changes, this modern spin brings the concept forward in a refreshing and imaginative way. A group of adventurous teenagers plans to spend the night in a creepy, disused bunker, only to...
Mini Review Anger Foot (PS5) - Chaotic Kick-'Em-Up Satisfies from Head to Toe
Foot you
You may have seen Anger Foot described as a first-person Hotline Miami — and that's probably a good comparison to, er, kick things off. Playing as the titular Anger Foot himself, you'll kick and shoot your way through the superbly named Shit City in search of your beloved sneakers. It's an unapologetically punk setting where just about...
Mini Review Into the Restless Ruins (PS5) - An Inventive Spin on Roguelike Dungeon Crawling
Deck of halls
Roguelike dungeon crawlers and deck builders are prolific these days, but many of them manage to stand out in one way or another despite sharing some similar elements. Into the Restless Ruins does just that by splicing the worlds of dungeon-delving and card-collecting together, the result being a unique, clever game where you literally...
Mini Review Ruffy and the Riverside (PS5) - A Cute Platformer with Missed Potential
Roughy
Ruffy and the Riverside has always looked rather striking with its 2D characters in a colourful 3D world, and while its aesthetic is a strength, the game itself doesn't really match it. This is an open-ended 3D platformer with a unique swap mechanic, which lets you copy certain textures and apply them to other objects — turning water into...
Review Death Stranding 2 (PS5) - A Masterpiece in Every Sense
Death can't tear us apart
The overriding feeling utterly coursing through the veins of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is confidence. Five and a half years ago, Kojima Productions released its first game after the Konami split to a somewhat mixed reception. Those looking for the next Metal Gear Solid did not find their new Solid Snake. However,...
Mini Review Rematch (PS5) - Fun, Fresh Football Game Holds Huge Potential
All hail FIFU
Rematch is very close to being a real blinder. An online multiplayer football game in which every player controls an individual person on the pitch, it's a totally fresh take on the sport that takes more than a little inspiration from Rocket League, and the result is fantastic. Playable in 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 matches, Rematch plonks you...
Raidou or die
Given its vast PS2-era catalogue, Atlus' decision to revive Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army is a bit of a strange one. Something of an experimental foray into the realm of action RPGs, it's not necessarily a game that springs to mind when looking back on the developer's most prolific console generation. But maybe...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube166k
Mini Review Still Wakes the Deep: Siren's Rest (PS5) - Scottish Horror Loses the Magic
It dinny be the same
Still Wakes the Deep was one of our favourite releases of 2024, so the news of a slice of DLC dropping in the form of Siren’s Rest was music to our ears. This paid expansion, which picks up a decade after the events of the main game, sees diver Mhairi swim to the depths of the ocean to uncover the truth of the Beira D oil...
Mini Review TRON: Catalyst (PS5) - A Deftly Delivered Return to the Grid
How many cycles has it been?
Bithell Games returns to the world of TRON with TRON: Catalyst. Following in the footsteps of visual novel TRON: Identity, Catalyst is something of a different beast. Much more ambitious in scope across the board, this is an action-adventure brawler that incorporates light RPG elements. You play as Exo, a courier who...
Review FBC: Firebreak (PS5) - PS Plus Shooter Proves Remedy Should Have Stayed in Its Lane
Stick to what you know
FBC: Firebreak is a funny kind of game, especially from Remedy Entertainment. In an odd first, Remedy — the team behind single player games like Alan Wake 2 — has pivoted to multiplayer with its latest project. FBC: Firebreak is a first-person co-op shooter set within the Remedy Verse. And while there’s plenty to like...
Mini Review Date Everything (PS5) - Delightfully Silly Visual Novel Has a Lot of Heart
Including the kitchen sink
After finally gaining a degree in Customer Service, you begin your exciting new career as a customer service rep! Unfortunately, it only takes a single day before you find out that your job is being outsourced to AI. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as a mysterious hacker sends you some new technology – a pair of...
Review MindsEye (PS5) - GTA Producer's Latest Is a Futuristic Faceplant
Red Rock Bottom
Until we actually got our hands on MindsEye, we weren't clear what kind of game it even is. Is it an open world title? Is it linear? How does the user-generated Everywhere project fit into it all? We’ll get into all of those, but the most important thing to know about MindsEye is that it’s a disjointed and tragic mess of a game...
Mini Review The Alters (PS5) - Thought-Provoking Sci-Fi Caper Is 11 Bit Studios' Best Game Yet
Hope you're good company
The Alters plays like a mix of XCOM 2's base building, The Sims' personal needs management, and a third-person survival adventure. This sci-fi game begins with a ship crashlanding on a distant planet, leaving one survivor: Jan Dolski. During the day, you explore and gather resources outside the base to improve it. At night,...
Review Splitgate 2 (PS5) - Sleek Shooter Sequel Is Uninspired Fun
Bigger and better?
The Halo meets Portal shooter is back in the form of 1047 Games’ Splitgate 2, an ambitious sequel that aims to be bigger, better, and slicker than ever before. But has the developer managed to realise the potential of the first game with its bigger budget? There's certainly a fun and snappy shooter here that's technically...
Mini Review Star Trucker (PS5) - A Tough But Fun Spacebound Haulage Sim
Star truckin' across the universe
Turns out driving a huge truck through zero-gravity space is pretty hard. Taking the popular haulage sim to its final frontier, Star Trucker tasks you with flying across the galaxy, delivering freight and maintaining your vehicle in challenging conditions. Much of our time with the game has been spent on the...
Review Zenless Zone Zero (PS5) - v2.0 Update Completes Gacha Game's Glow Up
No Hollow victory
Zenless Zone Zero has changed dramatically since it debuted last summer. The game, which paced its story around controversial board game-inspired television segments, has seen its main quest structure completely revamped. The release now resembles a more traditional character action game, with combat gauntlets interspersed with...
Mini Review Hypercharge: Unboxed (PS5) - Aesthetically Pleasing, Disappointingly Thin
I love the smell of polyurethane in the morning
Hypercharge: Unboxed, the toy-soldier shooter, has finally made its way to PS5 after releasing on PC back in 2020 and Xbox last year. Now, though, we have the full package with Hypercharge: Unboxed, an aesthetically pleasing shooter that does very little to keep you interested. Hypercharge puts you in...
Review Elden Ring Nightreign (PS5) - A Ruthless Roguelike Reinvention of the Lands Between
FromSoftware goes all-in on multiplayer
Elden Ring Nightreign is a vastly different kind of FromSoftware experience. It’s taking the hallmark, tough-as-nails combat and applying it to a three-player co-op title that takes inspiration from battle royales and roguelikes. But with these core changes, does that FromSoftware magic remain? This may not...
Mini Review to a T (PS5) - The Most Joyful Game in the World
You're the perfect shape
It is borderline impossible to play to a T without a beaming smile plastered across your face the entire time. This is one of the most joyous, feel-good games on PS5, and all it takes is a teenager stuck in a permanent T-pose. From the Katamari creator Keita Takahashi and his team at Uvula, the quirky adventure is a bit...
Review EA Sports F1 25 (PS5) - Another Fine Racer That Mostly Sticks to the Formula
That's a good Sainz
You know this song and dance by now; Codemasters is well versed in the realm of Formula 1, and its latest entry in the annual racing series further fine-tunes the long-established series. The first iteration to release only on current-gen consoles, EA Sports F1 25 makes some adjustments in its ongoing mission to somehow cater...
Level-5 Alive
It's been a long time coming, but talented Japanese developer Level-5 is finally back — and it's back with a bang. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time takes the blueprint of the original Fantasy Life — a Nintendo 3DS title from 2014 — and massively expands upon it. Seriously, we're still in shock over just how much stuff...
Review Deliver At All Costs (PS5) - Special Delivery with Mixed Results
Return to sender
While the world waits patiently for GTA 6, it seems smaller developers have started to turn to the origins of Rockstar’s open world juggernaut for inspiration. The Precinct recently proved that an isometric crime caper can work, and now we have a similarly presented package in Deliver At All Costs – albeit with an emphasis on...
Review Blades of Fire (PS5) - Steely Action with Blunt Art and Storytelling
Fantasy epic sure to quench your thirst for combat
Blades of Fire is a dark fantasy action adventure game inspired by Santa Monica Studio's modern God of War series and FromSoftware's Souls series, and it's a fairly compelling melding of the two. Central to its narrative and gameplay is the ability to forge a wide variety of powerful melee weapons,...
Review RoadCraft (PS5) - Saber Interactive Avoids All Disasters with Its Best Vehicle Sim to Date
Into the storm
It seems like an absolute age since we first sat down to sample Pavel Zagrebelnyy's inspired off-road sim, Spintires, when we first caught wind of it back in 2014 and, even then, this intricate and hugely challenging slice of driving action felt as though there was something very special in its unique, almost puzzle-esque mixture of...
Review The Precinct (PS5) - GTA-Style Sandbox Is a Dynamic, Addictive Cop Movie Homage
Reach for the sky
The Precinct is an indie game with ambition. Its fictional 1980s setting of Averno City is an enjoyably complex little sandbox, presenting players with an endless supply of procedurally generated crimes that need to be stopped from a top-down perspective, reminiscent of old Grand Theft Auto games. You play as rookie cop Nick...
Mini Review Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (PS5) - A Classic Conquers Sony's Console
All hail the King
When you think of the real-time strategy genre, Age of Empires 2 is probably the first game which springs to mind. Originally released way back in 1999, the legendary Ensemble outing served as a gateway into the world of strategy for many gamers. After a brief dalliance with the PS2, courtesy of unexpected publisher Konami, Age of...
Review The Midnight Walk (PSVR2) - Dark, Melancholic, and Hauntingly Beautiful
Can it walk the walk?
The Midnight Walk is a beautifully poignant kind of experience. It’s one filled with misery, heartbreak, and sorrow — all personified by the game’s impeccable claymation visual design. But it’s one you need to let wash over you before its true brilliance begins to show — and for us, it almost never managed it. The...
