Yet, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle doesn’t just represent MachineGames and Bethesda “getting” what makes the franchise and its iconic hero special. It’s also an incredible action-adventure game in its own right, one that seamlessly blends the genre with light immersive sim elements and a cinematic presentation as meticulous as it is organic. Let’s run down all the boxes it ticks.

"The Prologue, which pays excellent homage to Raiders without feeling too overbearing or cheesy, is a teaser of what you can expect in terms of gorgeous foliage, vibrant lighting, detailed shadows, and a rock-solid frame rate."

Charismatic characters? Check, and even if Harrison Ford didn’t lend his voice to Indiana Jones, Troy Baker does an impeccable job, almost feeling indistinguishable in delivering that same smarmy yet beloved charm (while also delivering one of the most natural portrayals of a character talking to themselves in a long while). Deft seamless pacing, whether you’re engaged in a battle against Nazi troops or crawling through a dark tomb, carefully observing and photographing your environment to find the right solution? Also, check.

Incredibly responsive controls where every step and punch is natural (initial concerns of switching between third and first-person being completely unfounded)? An interface that turns the most straightforward actions like bringing up your map or checking Indy’s journal into a more immersive affair, deepening your connection to the character and the world?

Stellar environmental design with notable side quests, mysteries, collectables and puzzles to pursue when you’re not discovering incredible secrets? An excellent soundtrack that feels so unmistakably Indiana Jones, even without the iconic theme by John Williams (which is still very much welcome, don’t get me wrong)? Check, check, check, and check.

I could go on, but you probably already know that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a great game – of the many secrets it offers, the almost universal praise from critics is far from the most guarded. It adheres to the incredible cinematic presentation and atmosphere of the franchise while finding ingenious (if familiar) ways to gamify everything from combat and exploration to puzzle-solving and platforming. The real question is: How does the PlayStation 5 port perform? As it turns out, quite flawlessly.

From the very outset, the Great Circle is a gorgeous game. The Prologue, which pays excellent homage to Raiders without feeling too overbearing or cheesy, is a teaser of what you can expect in terms of gorgeous foliage, vibrant lighting, detailed shadows, and a rock-solid frame rate. It’s almost impossible that further environments could offer so much more attention to detail, be it in animations and ambient dialogue of NPCs or little critters scurrying around in abandoned catacombs.

"This isn’t to say that you won’t like the Great Circle if you’re a fan of Uncharted, but for all their base similarities, it’s a different approach in terms of gameplay and structure. "

However, MachineGames keeps upping the ante, allowing the ray-traced ambient occlusion and its effect on environments and characters to shine. This is further reflected in the cutscenes where the body language, facial expressions and even eye movements of characters are gorgeously conveyed by the animation work. And yet, it never feels overwhelming, though some sections in the dark did necessitate upping the HDR brightness a bit, especially if there wasn’t a torch handy.

The only detracting factor from all this visual splendor is some slight pop-in while moving, occasionally apparent in the shadows and textures. With the sheer amount of details packed in at any given moment and the consistent performance, it’s something I’m more than willing to forgive, especially since it rarely stuck out like a sore thumb.

Of course, for PlayStation players, the most obvious comparison to the Great Circle is Uncharted, with Nathan Drake compared to Indiana Jones since his inception. You would assume this makes the former a natural fit for long-time fans, but it’s important to note their fundamental differences, especially with the action action.

While Drake experiences an inordinate number of gun fights, the Great Circle often encourages playing stealthy and relying on guns as a sort of last resort, especially since ammo isn’t very plentiful. There’s also a different vibe to the puzzle-solving since photographing clues is as important as pulling levers or yanking switches with your whip. Photography is low-key notable overall since it’s a consistent source of Adventure Points for investing in new skills.

This isn’t to say that you won’t like the Great Circle if you’re a fan of Uncharted, but for all their base similarities, it’s a different approach in terms of gameplay and structure. I’d still encourage trying it, even if you never watched a single Indiana Jones film. And don’t worry – there’s more than enough action-packed set pieces to compete with Drake’s escapades.

"Gunplay is also on point, and as much as I would forget about the whip in favor of leaping into the fray and swinging for the fences, it’s visceral and feels fun to abuse."

In terms of its weaker areas, the hand-to-hand combat does leave a bit to be desired. Once you’ve settled into blocking at the right time and counter-striking, dodging, pushing and charging punches for more damage, it can feel comfortable. Watching the enemy occasionally evade strikes also made brawls feel more natural, as did picking up any object on the ground and smacking them silly until they broke.

However, it easily devolves into button-mashing, and in Adventure mode, it feels a little too easy to take down a group. Unless you’ve alerted an entire compound by ziplining down and alerted two dozen enemies to your presence (which I totally haven’t done accidentally on purpose).

All that said, the actual feel of combat is excellent, with punches having some real oomph. You would think that knocking out an enemy with a mean hook and watching their lights go out as they slowly topple to the ground would get boring after a while, but you’d be wrong. Gunplay is also on point, and as much as I would forget about the whip in favor of leaping into the fray and swinging for the fences, it’s visceral and feels fun to abuse.

And while stealth is enjoyable, whether you’re examining different routes and looking for ways to sneak past guards, throwing bottles to split up and isolate patrols, or bonking enemies with an assortment of objects, the AI can feel a bit too forgiving sometimes. I’ll chalk it up to Normal Mode being like that, but taking out an enemy and watching their friend not fully coming to grips with what’s happening, taking his sweet time to get alerted, does disrupt the immersion. At least they’re enthusiastic enough when alerted.

"Adventure has many names across the entertainment space, but when it comes to action-adventure titles, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is as good as it gets, and then some."

However, these are minor complaints when considering the bigger picture. An excellent action-adventure title is very much welcome, but it isn’t exactly rare. Neither is a stellar video game adaptation of a well-known property, strange as it feels to say in this day and age. However, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle goes beyond all that to deliver a truly memorable yet remarkably familiar experience.

It’s almost like welcoming an old friend you haven’t seen in so long, remembering everything that made them so endearing and yet seeing it in a new light. For MachineGames to have captured and translated the very essence of Indiana Jones as remarkably as it did warrants praise. Adventure has many names across the entertainment space, but when it comes to action-adventure titles, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is as good as it gets, and then some.

This game was reviewed on PS5.

If you were someone who didn’t vibe with the “survival” part of Don’t Starve, then Crashlands served as a pretty good alternative. However, the genre’s landscape is significant all these years later. Amid games with realm-hopping, monster-capturing and loot grinding – not to mention all the heavy hitters receiving extensive amounts of new content and updates – Butterscotch Shenanigans returns with Crashlands 2.

"Quests are still the backbone of the narrative, as you meet with new characters like Atlaa in Haarlipol, who initially dispenses you to various parts of the map to investigate the effects of the Withering."

On the surface, it feels like a worthwhile follow-up with highly improved and even more stylized visuals, highlighting the quirkiness of Woanope and its denizens. Combat is more strategic, even with some nagging issues, and there is an intriguing narrative to dive into. However, like its predecessor, Crashlands 2 is just that – light-hearted and survival-friendly but significantly below the genre’s heavy hitters.

Following her departure from Woanope, Flux is something of a celebrity for “saving” the planet. After years of media stints and appearances, she quits the Bureau of Shipping and ventures back to Woanope to reconnect with her beloved companions (with droid assistant JuiceBox in tow). Upon entering the planet’s atmosphere, a strange phenomenon affects her ship, causing it to crash yet again, but on a different section than the first game.

After meeting with Graal, whose house they, unfortunately, demolished in the process, Flux and JuiceBox learn of a strange Withering taking over various spots in the region. And who else should have their shady fingerprints all over the incident but the Bureau of Shipping? Thus our heroes set out yet again to save Woanope from whatever is occurring.

At least, eventually. Like the original Crashlands, the scenario is fairly open-ended and you have extensive amounts of freedom to explore. On top of materials, exploring nets Juice Gems for upgrading various stats for Flux, from passive regeneration to higher crit chance. It’s simple enough and gets the job done.

Quests are still the backbone of the narrative, as you meet with new characters like Atlaa in Haarlipol, who initially dispenses you to various parts of the map to investigate the effects of the Withering. They’re fairly straightforward, offering enough direction to unlock new parts and potentially discover new resources, but they’re not the most thrilling and the pattern of going somewhere, investigating, and then returning to Haarlipol wears out its welcome quickly.

"Combat features interesting wrinkles, like a brief charge before you attack, and dodge-rolling, which is nuanced enough to differentiate between avoiding an attack and getting scrapped, resulting in reduced damage."

Nevertheless, it’s necessary to gain access to new recipes, which you’ll need to craft more items. The open-ended nature of everything means having to figure out what to complete first to facilitate progression in other quests. For example, raising Graal’s comfort is essential to his Insights, the fancy name for research, and improving his cabin is one method to achieve that.

However, you can’t craft pillars, which are necessary to support walls, from the outset. Another quest that involves hatching an egg hinges on creating a cramped room, but, once again, you can’t do that without pillars. It’s only after visiting another NPC that you’re given the recipe and can thus progress further.

Is it the most challenging thing to figure out? Not really, especially when you’re forced to run down the list of quests due to certain aspects requiring Insight to unlock them and progress the story further. I don’t necessarily mind all this since the overarching narrative and trying to solve the mystery of the Withering is intriguing. Characters like Graal have some pretty decent nuance to them, and the moments of levity pair nicely with the silliness.

However, sometimes the silliness gets a bit too much. Don’t get me wrong – when I see it in the art style, be it in the expressions of creatures before they chomp on a plant or in some of the item descriptions, it works. Even seeing Flux twist herself while dodge-rolling can be humorous just for how random it feels. The dialogue also drew some genuine laughs, even if some conversations can get a bit winded. However, the number of times characters pause to emote with speech bubbles, like the video game equivalent of “That just happened” is a little too high. Not enough to completely dissuade me but enough to trip up the flow.

Combat features interesting wrinkles, like a brief charge before you attack, and dodge-rolling, which is nuanced enough to differentiate between avoiding an attack and getting scrapped, resulting in reduced damage. While it works in 1v1 or 1v2 encounters depending on the enemies, it gets a bit dicier when dealing with multiple foes with more elaborate attack patterns (that too on Normal difficulty).

"Crashlands 2, much like the original, should be viewed as sandbox crafting comfort food. It has its character moments and may pose some decent combat challenges, but it’s still very much in line with the original."

The gear progression didn’t feel super-optimal in the early going either, as I had a trinket, some boots and the same dual blades since the start to fend off against enemies. At least there is some incentive to exploit the environment and lure foes into hazards, even if it’s not the best long-term strategy. I also appreciate the nuance of each enemy’s design, right down to their attack paths (like the Amphy Charger and their bolt-like designs).

Crafting is also straightforward, though it feels like the practice of mashing the button continuously to make an item makes more sense for mobile. It would be nice if various items were divided into different categories or if there were filters for those that use specific materials. At least you can favorite recipes or archive them to avoid clogging up space.

It feels like a tad too many resources are required for some of the more basic items, but at least their cost reduces as you continually craft more, even if I’m not the biggest fan of this mechanic. The building interface takes some getting used to, especially when replacing different structures, but it works well enough.

At its core, Crashlands 2 evolves on the first game’s mechanics and visuals while offering tons of new content. The lack of survival elements, streamlined progression, quests, and colorful characters certainly provide enough entertainment, but the whole doesn’t feel significantly more special than the sum of its parts. Perhaps it’s because the formula feels fairly safe, sticking close to the series’ roots while iterating on it just enough to facilitate the new vision.

Hardcore fans of sandbox crafting titles may still find things a bit too simplistic and narrative-focused for their liking, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a good time. Crashlands 2, much like the original, should be viewed as sandbox crafting comfort food. It has its character moments and may pose some decent combat challenges, but it’s still very much in line with the original. And that’s fine, but I was left wanting for more.

This game was reviewed on PC.

"Far from just your Normandy trenches, Commandos Origins spans the globe."

Right off the bat, I was struck by how much biome diversity the team at Claymore managed to squeeze out of the tried and true World War II setting. Far from just your Normandy trenches, Commandos Origins spans the globe. The visual distinction from mission to mission is stark and appreciated.

And there’s a lot of missions to chew through here: 14 to be exact. This is a notable jump up in content from the 10 missions from Commandos 2 and 12 from Commandos 3. But it’s really the quality of said missions that really matters, and in this, Commandos Origins doesn’t disappoint. Each map provides numerous ways to accomplish your objectives. Want to go in guns blazing? Well, you can shoot up the place if you can manage to avoid alarms and reinforcements. It’s also possible to go the pacifist route and avoid conflict altogether, though this might be even more difficult than the Rambo method. Most players will find themselves somewhere in the middle between these two extremes, avoiding patrols that are out of the way and stealth killing soldiers one at a time to avoid setting off alarms.

The game’s wide map design accommodates either (and both) of these playstyles well, providing plenty of tools and equipment for commandos to take advantage of along the way. There’s even some incentive to explore and comb every inch of maps with the a handful of collectibles in each mission. Obtaining these collectibles provides a nice side challenge in itself due to their being tucked away in soldier’s bunkers and other heavily patrolled areas off-the-beaten-path. Managing to grab these secrets won’t grant any gameplay boons or anything, but they do provide some historic text and images of things like the Willy’s Jeep and its usage in WWII, for instance. Additionally, there’s side objectives which add even more replayability and challenge.

The nitty gritty of how you interact with these maps is quite another matter. As expected, the isometric camera from previous games returns, except it’s fully controllable this time around instead of the limited rotation controls from Commandos 3. You can zoom in and out and fully rotate the cam here. The UI on console is rather minimalistic. All your tools and weapons are found on a hotkey menu using RT, as are your units and orders using LT. The team did a fine job avoiding a clustered and overwhelming UI, just showing unit portraits and tool graphics in the upper corners, with a minimap chilling in the bottom right. Players will find console controls quite streamlined and intuitive for the most part, though toggling and interacting with viewcones is a tad bit clunky.

Since this is such a stealth-oriented game, knowing an enemy’s line of sight is crucial. That’s where viewcones come in. Unfortunately, you can’t just toggle all enemy viewcones in the immediate area on; you have to either set a viewcone marker or select enemy cones individually. I like the idea of setting a viewcone in a dedicated spot, but it’s too small to be useful. Also, enemies patrol and move in and out of zones often, invalidating the usefulness of most viewcone markers. Highlighting individual enemy viewcones isn’t much better since it can be finicky aiming at the individual you want when they’re in groups. The more imprecise nature of a control stick just doesn’t compare to the fine pinpoint accuracy of a mouse in this regard.

Another issue I had with viewcones is how inconsistent they are at times. There have been moments when I was clearly outside the viewcone when all a sudden the enemy starts gunning me down without warning. What’s the point of viewcones if they’re not 100% reliable? Yes, there are other variables at play that override viewcones. If you make noise or enemies see footprints, enemies will be alerted to your presence (and there’s even a visual indicator of noise made). As a result, I found myself mistrusting viewcones throughout my playthrough, which kinda defeats the purpose of such a mechanic.

"The meat and potatoes of the Commandos series lies in the tools each of your units wields."

Speaking of visual distinction, you can highlight interactable aspects of the environment and tell enemies from comrades with an ‘highlight mode’ toggle. I highly recommend turning manual toggle on, since the countdown duration options seems to be bugged at the moment, often leaving everything highlighted until a cutscene or combat occurs.

Of course, by now you may be asking yourselves why Commandos is labelled as a real-time-tactics game despite its actionable stealth gameplay. The answer lies with Command Mode. This tactical mode can be initiated at any time, and will pause all gameplay allowing you to set up movement and commands for your squad to perform. Command Mode isn’t forced upon the player, but it is often helpful when simultaneous control of units is needed. Another option is to play with another player via 2-player co-op. Co-op can be done online or split-screen.

The meat and potatoes of the Commandos series lies in the tools each of your units wields. You take control of six distinct commando units throughout the game, each with their own skillset and playstyle. While all commandos share certain abilities, like using medkits or knocking out opponents, certain abilities like setting bear traps are unique to a particular unit. I found the broad tookit to be satisfying and open-ended. Your Green Beret can set a sound decoy or you can just whistle with the Sapper to accomplish a similar, though slightly altered outcome.

What’s more impressive is how each mission has unique abilities for each of the commandos based on the distinct properties of the environment. For example, the mission in the Arctic Circle has some communication lines with poles between them. The Green Beret can shimmy up and climb across the various poles, allowing quicker access without being seen. Just because you’ve seen all of one unit’s abilities doesn’t mean a mission won’t introduce a new way to interact with the environment.

For longtime Commandos fans, it’s worth pointing out that enemies don’t have inventory here. They drop single items, like medkits, if anything at all. This makes Commandos Origins more streamlined, eliminating some of the inventory management the classic games had. Something this does share with those classics is difficulty. Even on the easiest of the three difficulty settings, Commandos Origins has a steep learning curve that brutally punishes mistakes. You’ll find yourself getting caught and dying often. This brings up load times. The load times may not be egregious on PS5, but they do take a while compared to similar games on the console. I wish the load times were shorter, if not instantaneous, since they occur quite often considering the difficulty of the game.

This leads to several technical issues that I continue to encounter in the game. Some of the more egregious glitches were corrected with a patch. Unfortunately, persistent screen tearing continues to plague Commandos Origins. Whether your playing on graphics or performance mode, rotating the camera up and down results in noticeable screen tearing. And I wouldn’t recommend playing on graphics mode, by the way, the framerate and screen tearing issues are too persistent. Another issue I had occurred within the save menus. For example, looking through autosaves scrolls up and down wildly, at times leading to a softlock situation.

On the gameplay side of things, I’ve encountered a couple of invisible walls preventing me from hiding in time, leading to an early death or two. These invisible walls could have something to do with the vertical terrain they tried to implement, but with no way to measure terrain height with the isometric view, it’s too hard to tell what might just be a slight hill preventing interactivity (and the highlight mode doesn’t show anything).

"By far my favorite aspect of the visuals are the variety of biomes and doodads populating each of the maps."

While Commandos 2 felt ahead of its time with its detailed isometric graphics, Origins is average when compared with its peers. The fidelity of textures is nice and detailed and the lighting is indicative of the Unreal Engine 5 lumen tech it’s using, but it doesn’t do anything other games in the genre aren’t doing better. By far my favorite aspect of the visuals are the variety of biomes and doodads populating each of the maps.

One area that is found particularly lacking graphics-wise are the animations. Vehicles move about with no subtlety or finesse, looking like loosely animated cartoons in spots. Then there’s the absence of proper transition animations with certain character actions. The lack of animation finesse coupled with all the glitches I experienced made Commandos Origins a rather lukewarm experience on the graphical and technical end.

The soundscape is hit or miss, much like the graphics. Commandos has taken a live orchestra approach with its soundtrack, but the compositions themselves lack the punchiness and melodic strength of the original games. The soundtrack comes off as your expected military background music; nothing bad but not memorable either. It would’ve been nice to have the original soundtrack option via toggle, but I didn’t expect that kind of thing. The voices of all six commandos are serviceable, but didn’t particularly wow me. This reboot brings back those delightfully charming sound effects, thankfully. When zoomed-in, buzzing of telephone polls or the engine of vehicles is heard, which makes for some good atmosphere.

Overall, Commandos Origins packs a lot of strategic fun into a modern nostalgic package. The six commando units offer a lot of gameplay variety and the missions vary with distinct biomes and multiple ways to complete them. The game still has some bugs to iron out, but Commandos Origins comes recommended if you’re a fan of methodical stealth and real-time-tactics games.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

The most important thing to mention right out of the gate is how the bike feels to control. Supercross 25 is a neat mix of arcade and sim bike racing. You can’t just haphazardly careen into corners like this is Excitebike or Mario Kart or you’ll faceplant into the dirt. Like past Supercross games, there’s a dual stick approach to controlling your bike here. The left stick steers and tilts the bike backward or forward while the right stick adjusts the rider’s body weight, leaning in and out of turns. Managing the weight you put into turns is crucial in order to maintain traction and avoid slipping out. It’s worth pointing out that this is not a trick-heavy game. It’s encouraged that players perform whips and scrubs in order to angle oncoming turns better, but there’s little more extreme sports flair than that.

What I do find satisfying though is pulling the bike weight back through whoops, which are basically consecutive bumps. The added DualSense rumble enhances the viscerality of the different track conditions well. Managing flow through repeated jumps and corners is an aspect that can find you equally frustrated or satisfied, and it’s something Supercross 25 carries over from the real sport reasonably well.

"Managing the weight you put into turns is crucial in order to maintain traction and avoid slipping out."

One thing that enhances Supercross 25’s sense of realism are the ruts and deformation that change on the dirt terrain. I thought at first this marketed feature was a gimmick, but the evolving ruts around the tracks really do force the rider to pay attention to the ground every single lap. I bailed a number of times due to deep ruts sliding my bike off my line. This new terrain deformation feature further leans the series into a sim-like identity in a positive way.

Like ruts, weather also plays a part in managing bike stability. You can manually set weather conditions for outdoor tracks, though Career events have pre-established track conditions. I didn’t notice weather changing during races, but it’s nice that rainy conditions do cause notable slippage to not just the player but AI.

While I appreciate how ruts and weather add to a more in-depth racing experience, I can’t say the same for the turning and cornering physics. Whether you’re going through a tight hairpin or doing micro adjustments, turning just doesn’t feel intuitive or fun. Yes, turning the wheels on a bike going 45 MPH through heavy dirt in real life isn’t exactly the most intuitive thing in the world, but the game doesn’t replicate it well enough to justify how understeery turn-ins are. No matter the bike, it always feels like I’m fighting a battle of initial understeer and then snap oversteer to correct it. Just staying on track can be a difficult and frustrating ordeal for beginners. Players that didn’t care for the physics of Supercross 6 likely aren’t going to love this one either; the stiffness is largely the same as before.

"You can manually set weather conditions for outdoor tracks, though Career events have pre-established track conditions."

But while the understeer and oversteer of the bikes is a more subjective critique, the stiff animations are unquestionably average at best. In a lot of ways, the rider’s rigid movements look almost identical to past entries. I mean, just look mid-air body animations, there’s hardly any body movement at all, even when shifting weight. The team haven’t done much to improve animations in this title, which ends up taking away from the general graphical improvements. The game does look good, especially with the rain puddles and the changing dirt formations on the tracks. This is the first Unreal Engine 5 game in the series, after all. Though there’s still a lack of viscerality here. I’m disappointed by the lack of mud splashing and loose rider movement in particular, things that UE5 could’ve helped added.

Speaking of tracks, this game supplies a decent collection of them. Despite the same number as the last iteration (with 17), new tracks like Glendale Stadium are a welcome addition. And for outdoor fans, there’s a total of 13 tracks that allow weather customization. The number of riders has shrunk from the 80 of the previous game to just 65. A slight reduction of content is fine since this is something of a reboot, but there’s just not enough variety in bike/rider feel here to really offset that. Every rider feels the same to control, and the only difference in bikes is the sound and stats.

"The rider’s rigid movements look almost identical to past entries."

But let’s get into what we use these bikes for and check out the various game modes. First, the tutorials. This time around, instead of the tutorial being tacked onto the Career, it’s tucked away in a separate menu. Why they decided a reboot was the perfect time to hide away the Supercross Academy tutorial is beyond me. As a fairly new supercross player myself, I found the learning process of this mode lackluster. They did the bare minimum with tutorialization, just giving a checklist of stuff to accomplish without any explanation of concepts or advanced controls. If you want an actual explanation of what ‘whoops’ are, you have to go to a separate text menu for more in-depth explanations. I do not recommend this game for newcomers to the supercross racing game world. The onboarding is almost non-existent and the tutorialization is poor.

The Online Hub wasn’t available during the review phase, but from what we know, it’s similar how it was with Supercross 6. Thankfully, offline split-screen is available if you don’t have a PS Online or Xbox Live membership. Single Event, Rhythm Attack, Time Attack, and Championship make up the single-player modes. If you want to get your creative juices flowing, there’s the Workshop which allow custom suit graphics, bike liveries, and custom tracks with the track editor.

I’ve messed with plenty of track editors in my days, but this one is especially unintuitive and basic . First off, there’s just not that many fun options to experiment with. You have two outdoor and two indoor stadiums to select from and you cannot zoom in or out with the camera as you’re editing. While I’m okay with the variety of straights and jumps types, the size tool is pathetic. Jumps only have three size options to select from, all of which are laughably marginal. Want to make a 20 foot tall jump? Well, too bad; it’s either a tiny bump or a regular jump for you. And why can’t we alter the size of walls or step-up tables? I see little reason to bother with the track editor considering the scant amount of options it gives the player.

"There’s just not that many fun options to experiment with in this track editor."

No matter what mode you engage with, you’re always gaining some experience to progress bikes and riders further. Every level-up rewards a specific part or bike used. The reward progression structure is identical to most live service seasonal rotations, but without the ‘live service’ element. I just can’t help feeling like publishers are getting creatively complacent regarding progression systems, merely settling with copying the live service template even when the game isn’t a live service, but I digress.

Finally, there’s Career Mode. You won’t find anything groundbreaking here if you’ve played any sports game in the last decade as it mostly follows the same formula. You begin your supercross journey at the ‘Futures’ category with no reputation or following. Place within the top 15 of the following races and you’ll be catapulted into the ‘Rookie’ category with the choice to join a team within the 250 East or 250 West division. Opportunities will arise as you race to get other teams interested in partnering with you. The overdone social media aspect plays a role in Career too, with the number of followers affecting reputation. Complete objectives and finish well in races and your followers go up. Oh yeah, and you get DM’d by other riders and media with options to troll them or get in their good graces. I’m admittedly tired of the low effort recycling of career modes in sports games and, well, Supercross 25 isn’t giving me any optimism for the future in that regard. The social media Career stuff is rote and superficial at this point.

"A high team synergy pushes your Bike Development further, improving various stats."

Team synergy is at least somewhat interesting, though it’s been done in dozens of sports games for now. A high team synergy pushes your Bike Development further, improving various stats within the Speed, Acceleration, Handling, and Braking categories. Different teams emphasize certain stats more than others, and of course allow you to ride their particular bike brand.

You move up in Career through a series seasons composed of ‘Acts’. I like how there’s a rival for each act that berates you in DMs and performs aggressively during races. Oh yeah, and the AI in general is somewhat improved from the last game, but only slightly. Racers still brainlessly jump on your head and crash into you due to unintelligent pathing. Even on harder difficulties, they don’t move out of the way or alter their line, though they do flow much better and are hard to beat if you’re not experienced.

I wanted to love a bike game again and was hoping Supercross 25 would do it, but it has a physics model that isn’t fun or intuitive to engage with. I think there’s something to enjoy here if you’re a supercross fan and can get over the initial difficulty curve, but for everyone else, there’s not much here. The game leans in a more sim-like direction with the enhanced track deformation, but doesn’t manage to feel satisfying to master due to awkward physics and lackluster AI.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

So let’s get the most important things out of the way first. The PC version of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is quite excellent. As the reasonable hardware requirements that the studio had previously announced would imply, the game is able to make fantastic use of the resources a modern gaming PC can give it. During my time with the game for this review, I played on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU, and 32 GB of RAM. This, paired with the fact that I had it installed on an NVMe M.2 SSD, meant that I never really experienced any technical hiccups.

Throughout my time with The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, I was able to max out the graphics without having to switch on any of the image upscaling tools like FSR, while still being able to maintain frame rates of anywhere between 90 and 120. All of this while playing on a 1440p display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Running it on the Steam Deck was also quite fruitful, delivering good enough performance with some of the graphics settings dialed in to get me just under 60 FPS. While this may not sound that good, it is worth noting that Steam Deck games often tend to run fantastically with a frame rate of 40 FPS for a good balance between performance, visuals, and battery longevity.

"The PC version of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is quite excellent."

All of this good news also carries over into some of the smaller aspects of the game, like how it actually plays. Turns out the keyboard and mouse combination is a rather excellent way to play The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. It offers players a lot of control and accuracy when you really need to nail that headshot, while also providing more versatility when it comes to doing things like needing to craft a quick molotov in the heat of battle. The only real downside to the control scheme—one I didn’t experience while briefly using a DualSense controller—was what felt like a strange rendering issue.

Essentially, when you’re in-game, Any UI element involving the mouse tends to tank the frame rate. I experienced this multiple times with my frame rate going from the high 90s all the way down to 40. Overall, this strange bug didn’t really have much of an effect on my enjoyment of the game, since you rarely need to use the mouse outside of crafting and upgrading abilities anyway, and the moment you leave the UI and your mouse disappears, the frame rate tends to shoot back up. While I am far from a technical expert on the matter, the issue feels like it might have something to do with how the mouse is being rendered. These dips in the frame rate are basically non-existent just about anywhere else in the game.

Generally speaking, the PC release of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is a big step up—not just from the state of the PC port of The Last of Us Part 1, but also the more recent PC release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Aside from the minor bug involving frame rates dropping in UIs with a mouse, there hasn’t really been much to complain about. Even the controls have transferred over to mouse and keyboard quite well, with the minute-to-minute gameplay involving both stealth as well as action feeling better than ever. The fact that the title is also Steam Deck Verified is definitely a sweet cherry on top of an already-excellent sundae.

"Even the controls have transferred over to mouse and keyboard quite well"

When it comes to the game itself, even five years after its original release, The Last of Us Part 2 can still be considered a certified masterpiece. The game tells an incredible, epic tale of how the cycle of violence tends to hurt those closest to you, and how revenge is ultimately never really worth it. It also does an incredible number of smaller things to make sure that the overall narrative hits hard.

The narrative trick here has been executed incredibly well; while you start off the game hating Abby as a character and spend quite a bit of time as Ellie in her quest for revenge, the script is essentially flipped at one point. You go back in time and take on the role of Abby, and you start to learn why she did the things that kicked off the plot of the game. You also get to see just how horrifying Ellie’s actions have been from an outside perspective, with her kill count getting higher and higher as you progress through the game.

Interestingly, while many players will appreciate Ellie largely because they grew attached to her thanks to the events of the first game, in The Last of Us Part 2, I found Abby’s parts to be much more fun from a gameplay standpoint. While both characters play the same (albeit with separate upgrade paths and weapons), Abby’s gameplay felt a lot more interesting because of the kinds of enemies you get to take on, thanks to some of the best boss fights that Naughty Dog has ever made.

"You also get to see just how horrifying Ellie’s actions have been from an outside perspective"

I also have to make special mention for one of the strangest encounters in the entire game: the Rat King. Feeling like an enemy straight out of a Resident Evil game, the Rat King is an amalgamation of incredibly strong cordyceps infected enemies, including clickers, stalkers, and even a bloater. The entire encounter is an intense one, forcing you to use up just about every resource you can to take it down. In a fun twist, players also experience a separate battle against a stalker that broke off from the Rat King during your fight with it. The whole fight, along with others you get to encounter as Abby, such as the memorable ones against Tommy and Ellie, are some of the highlights of the entire game, really showcasing how well its intense action gameplay works.

The core story of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is excellent, but special mention has to go to its gameplay. The general gunplay and stealth both feel so good to use in the game, that the Remastered release on the PS5 brought with it an entirely new game mode with it in the form of No Return. Essentially a roguelite mode that allows players to fully experience the depth of The Last of Us Part 2’s stealth and combat mechanics, No Return has been a generally great addition since its debut. The PC release brings in some more content for the mode, including new playable characters like Marlene. The mode continues to be an excellent way to re-experience the downright fantastic gameplay of The Last of Us Part 2.

The Last of Us Part 2’s story choices remain divisive to this day, but regardless of where you stand, its gameplay is undeniably top-notch. Playing it on a high-end PC with excellent performance makes this version the definitive way to experience the game.

This game was reviewed on PC.

You play as Hazel, a young woman living with her mother in the American Deep South town of Prospero, which finds itself caught in the middle of a raging hurricane. Disaster strikes early on in the game, and Hazel soon awakens to a mysterious magic known as Weaving, which she must put to use as she embarks on a quest to rescue and reunite with her mother, and heal the decaying land around her with her newfound powers. South of Midnight makes a strong impression with its setting and storytelling right off the bat, and there continue to lie some of its biggest strengths well past those early moments.

"South of Midnight makes a strong impression with its setting and storytelling right off the bat, and there continue to lie some of its biggest strengths well past those early moments."

Most impressive is the incredibly distinctive identity it carves out for itself. Blending its contemporary Deep South setting with local folklore and mythology, it crafts a gothic modern-day fairytale that instantly sets itself apart from anything else out there. From the gorgeous and highly detailed environments that you find yourself on throughout the course of Hazel’s journey to the wonderfully eccentric and quirky cast of characters, each of whom shines thanks to sharply written dialogue and excellent acting performances; from the monsters that you cross paths with to the storybook framing device the game adopts- South of Midnight keeps finding ways to highlight its key strengths, and more often than not, does so in a way that feels very different from most other story-driven action adventure games.

Games inspired by the Deep South that highlight its folklore, culture, and everything about it this constantly and proudly are few and far in between, which means South of Midnight manages to stand out from the crowd in this department. It does still have some flaws of note- Hazel, for instance, clearly got the “I’m an action-adventure protagonist who has to comment on everything in sight” memo. She’s talking to herself constantly and refuses to shut up, which means she got on my nerves more than a few times, even though she is otherwise a fun and charming protagonist. Even so, with its many notable storytelling strengths, it more than makes up for its few writing-related flaws.

Another area where South of Midnight instantly catches the eye is with its visuals. It uses a highly stylized art style that fits perfectly with its modern fairytale framework and folklore-infused setting, and combines it with a stop-motion animation style that helps it stand out even more. Whether you’re moving through its stunningly crafted environments or watching its lovingly directed cutscenes, South of Midnight is wonderful to witness, both in motion and otherwise. Its stop-motion animation style might prove distracting to some in gameplay – personally, I didn’t mind it once I’d gotten used to it – but the game does give you the option to turn that effect off outside of cutscenes.

"South of Midnight uses a highly stylized art style that fits perfectly with its modern fairytale framework and folklore-infused setting, and combines it with a stop-motion animation style that helps it stand out even more."

Where it shows ambition and unbridled creativity in the narrative and visual departments, on the gameplay front, South of Midnight is happy to chart a well-trodden path. Close your eyes and picture a linear, third-person action-adventure game with a mix of melee and magical combat, some light exploration and progression mechanics, and a focus on nimble and parkour-based traversal, and you probably already have a pretty good idea of what you’re signing up for. South of Midnight doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but ends up being anywhere between serviceable and forgettable to legitimately fun and solid in most areas of note.

When the game starts out, the gameplay feels maybe a little bit too simplistic and straightforward, but over the course of its opening a couple of hours, it briskly introduces one simple gameplay mechanic on top of another that are all fairly simplistic tropes by themselves, but are used in combination pretty effectively. Light and heavy attacks in combat, dodges rolls and perfect dodges, telekinetic abilities that let you push and pull enemies and things in the environment- mechanics like these (and others) are the kind that you have seen in a multitude of games in the past, but though South of Midnight doesn’t use them in any way that feels too different or extraordinary, it does get the basics right.

What that means is that gameplay, though it’s never breathtaking by any means, can often be more engaging than you might expect if all you had played of the game was its first hour or so. Levels are pretty condensed and the environments you find yourself in are never too sprawling, but South of Midnight’s light exploration elements remain fairly compelling throughout. Progression is pretty standard and, if I’m being blunt, unimaginative, but it does just enough to make you care at least a little bit about the next upgrade you’ll unlock, if not the one after that.

"More than a few times in recent years, we’ve collectively lamented the death of the so-called AA action-adventure game, so to see one as distinct as South of Midnight is heartening."

Combat can be surprisingly fun when you’re taking on multiple enemies of different types at once, weaving together different abilities while dishing out your own attacks. Particularly enjoyable is the traversal. Once again, it brings together familiar elements like ledge climbing, wall running, and what have you, and that moveset remains largely fun to use across the game’s runtime. Both combat and traversal can sometimes feel a bit rough around the edges at times due to the occasional instance of clunky movement, unresponsive inputs, or iffy hit detection, but by and large, South of Midnight is a fun and well-functioning gameplay experience.

In the gameplay department, what stands out most about South of Midnight is how much it feels like a throwback game, specifically where its design style and sensibilities are concerned. More than a few times in recent years, we’ve collectively lamented the death of the so-called AA action-adventure game, so to see one as distinct as South of Midnight is heartening, to say the very least- not least because it’s coming from a major AAA first-party publisher. It’s not often that we get a dozen-hour-long single-player story-driven game that wastes no time with semi-open world maps, skill trees, multiplayer elements or what have you, and South of Midnight deserves recognition not just for being just that, but being a really good version of that.

With strong writing, memorable characters, stylish visuals, great music, and an excellent setting, South of Midnight pumps itself full of personality and carves out a unique identity for itself, while with its combat mechanics, progression system, traversal, and light exploration, it sticks largely to the status quo, perhaps even to the point of being unambitious. In the end, when those two halves combine, what we get is a brisk and enjoyable game that leaves a stamp on you one way or another. South of Midnight is the sort of game that feels like a victory for the medium simply by existing in exactly the form that it does.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X. 

But first, does the game control well? It absolutely does. I don’t know if it ranks among my favorite controlling soulslikes, but it’s certainly up there among the most elastic and intuitive ones to play regarding movement. The turning radius of Arrisa’s movement is very tight and snappy and she’s a quick runner with lightning-fast attacks. There’s hardly any ‘clunk’ at all to speak of here. The camera is very well behaved during fights, though it does require manual adjustments here and there.

There are a lot of things to discuss about AI Limit, but one particular element of combat deserves frontloaded attention. That system is the Sync bar, which effectively replaces the stamina found in other titles. Unlike any other Soulslikes that I’ve encountered, AI Limit doesn’t actually have any stamina. Instead of patiently waiting for a green meter to fill back up again before sprinting, you can just sprint eternally without a care.

"AI Limit doesn’t actually have any stamina. Instead of patiently waiting for a green meter to fill back up again before sprinting, you can just sprint eternally without a care."

You can also attack and dodge without a single thought paid to stamina. This is because AI Limit doesn’t burden basic actions behind any energy requirements; instead, advanced actions like magic and special attacks consume stamina… I mean Sync energy. I cannot emphasize enough how freeing it is just running around swinging without a single thought paid to stamina, but let’s continue.

The Sync bar itself is rather ingenious. It’s divided into tiered sections which affect your combat prowess based on what tier the bar is at. The game has nuanced terms for all these mechanics, but in general, sync rate is how fast or slow the sync energy accumulates or depletes when fighting. This kind of system encourages either type of approach: an aggressive offensive approach where you’re continually boosting sync rate akin, or a defensive one that stabilizes sync rate by avoiding hits.

There’s more packed into AI Limit’s combat that we’ll get into shortly, but let’s take a breath of fresh air and explore the multi-layered world of Havenswell. First off, no, AI Limit is not open world in any way. It’s not strictly on-rails either. The game map is structured based on district zones containing a dozen or so ‘levels’.

Each level has a handful of shortcuts that loop back to the starting Branch (your typical ‘bonfire’ in souls parlance). The map design manages to guide the player from branch to branch with a urgency while allowing some exploration with the branching paths and optional dead end areas. The level pacing hits a nice sweet spot. And those optional diversions are worthwhile most of the time, containing hidden items or quests occasionally.

Overall, the map structure is somewhat similar to Dark Souls 2, except with no dedicated hub area. Instead of a hub, the game has multiple vendors and NPCs scattered about the different districts. Thankfully, fast travel between Branches is available as soon as you reach your second Branch. Load times between warps aren’t long either, so if you find yourself returning to a grind spot to sell materials to a trader halfway across Havenswell, the process isn’t too bothersome.

The branch system is more forgiving than other soulslikes due to your currency not being lost upon death. Not all of it anyway. Only a marginal number of Crystals (your currency and experience) is lost upon death, and that amount can be adjusted based on equipment. There’s also no retrieving of lost Crystals, so that cuts down on all the backtracking to our last death that so many similar games have, and I’m thankful for that.

On the graphical front, AI Limit isn’t overtly impressive. The graphics are clearly budgeted, which shows when viewing far distant areas or objects up close – the draw distance and texture detail just aren’t that great here. There’s also not a ton of environmental props or ornamental stuff to examine, but it’s serviceable and more than makes up for it in its level design. The modest graphics don’t really translate into amazing performance either. Framerate can dip when many enemies are on screen. Turning vsync off can help with stutter and occasional input lag, but results in consistent screen tearing. It’s not a very well optimized game, but I found it perfectly manageable, but maybe that’s because I gleefully went through Blighttown on the Xbox 360 and thought that was acceptable.

"AI Limit has its fair share of bugs."

My bigger problems had to do with some of the glitches and bugs throughout the experience. The most persistent bug I encountered made enemies invisible except the weapon they were holding. Desperately running through a street filled with floating guns to reach the next Branch wasn’t exactly a highlight of the game for me, but my bug woes don’t end there. Elements of clothing or body parts would disappear from enemies, to the point where Rayman-like heads and legs with no torso star swinging at me as if from a low budget horror game. This wasn’t game-breaking for me, but the invisible enemies did make it difficult and annoying to trudge through, despite the game’s excellent controls and combat.

Despite the lower graphical detail of AI Limit, what is graphically presented is varied. Each level is distinct, looking and feeling different from the last. The districts within Havenswell have their own challenges, giving the world an interconnection that feels lived-in.

The plot itself will be hit or miss, and it certainly isn’t cinematic in the slightest. Oh yeah, and NPCs have their own set arcs and quests. These inhabitants show up in different locations throughout your adventure and the voice acting behind most of them is surprisingly impressive. What’s more, how you interact with these characters, along with certain key decisions you make, determine one of a couple different endings.

Now let’s return to the bread and butter of AI Limit: combat. Each weapon type has a unique normal attack pattern, light Special Attack, Heavy Special Attack, and Weapon Skill. That kind of toolkit is nothing to sneeze at and it allows for some nice build variety and experimentation. But there’s something especially satisfying about the Special Attacks in particular. Special Attacks are performed with the shoulder buttons with the heavy ones requiring a windup hold. I’ve never felt as swift and ninja-like in a Soulslike quite like I do with the Dashing Slash Special Attack on the Blader Swords here. Dashing Slash performs a breezy pop-in/pop-out stab which positions your character just perfectly out of range of the enemy’s close attacks. Spamming this special attack with carefree aggression is just something you can’t do in other games, thanks to the unlimited stamina.

There’s also a ton of really cool weapon items in AI Limit. Weapon items consume a portion of the Sync Bar, dealing significant damage, occasionally with flames or poison applied. Further opening up your combat arsenal are spells. Spells really diversify the offensive toolkit with everything from a railgun projectile to homing missiles and more. But what about your defensive options? Well, defensive tactics are open to you within the Frame Abilities. Frame Abilities determine whether you want to emphasize blocking, parrying, a risk/reward berserker mode, and more. Switching between Frame modes is rather intuitive with its hotkey activation and it even shows visually with Arrisa’s arm activating.

Seals add even more tools to your arsenal with Sync bar customization. Want an ‘all or nothing’ approach to Sync Rate? Well, there’s Seals that allow that. And then there’s other ones that chop up the Sync Bar into many small energy levels to create a far more fluid and linear sync rate. Weapons and Seals can be enhanced to further their output, so it’s entirely possible to beat the game with the first seal and weapon you obtain.

The enemies you use your weapons on are no less impressive than the toolkit afforded to you. Enemies are spaced out and paced in a satisfying way. You never feel too overwhelmed by large mobs and yet always have enough stuff to fight around every corner. Early on, I got the impression that enemy variety would be lacking. I mean, how many varieties of the ghoul-like enemies can the game have? Turns out a decent amount. The game’s different factions have good variety and you’ll even stumble upon them fighting each other. Some of these faction battles allowed me to run past them on my way to the next Branch. You’ll fight poisoned flying bugs and robot drones, among many other abominations throughout the duration of the game.

"Each boss has unique attack patterns and AI behavior, as expected, but some encounters feel like a genuine test of the game’s systems."

Oh, and the boss fights. I didn’t think I would get impressed by more soulslike boss fights, but the game even managed to surprise me there. Each boss has unique attack patterns and AI behavior, as expected, but some encounters feel like a genuine test of the game’s systems. I won’t spoil it, but a certain encounter finally made me cave in and explore a side area in hopes of obtaining better gear. After exploring multiple zones and defeating a side boss, I returned and found myself in lock-step with this tank of a robot with a giant grin on my face with tons of confidence. AI Limit’s bosses are up to the genre’s lofty standards, and I’m looking forward to fighting them with all the weapons I ignored on my first playthrough.

So is AI Limit a traditional soulslike? Yes. It’s got your post-apocalyptic setting and of course, the bonfire system is an almost 1-to-1 adaptation here. If there was any debate if this was really a soulslike, there’s even the same exact run jump from Dark Souls 1 (with no dedicated jump button, or course). But there’s a special ingredient here that makes it feel so much more fluid and freeing than all the other soulslikes, and that’s the unrestricted stamina. Having basic actions not being burdened by an energy resource is wonderful, and the game’s difficulty curve isn’t too badly affected by it, all things considered. Whether you’re a soulslike action newcomer looking for something with less friction, or are a longtime fan seeking out the next great challenge, AI Limit comes highly recommended despite its modest budget.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror puts you in the shoes of celebrated singer Eliza de Moor. The story largely revolves around Eliza exploring her past in an effort to find herself again. The setup is quite simple; one evening, during a performance, Eliza suddenly collapses. On waking up, she finds that she has no memory of who she is or what happened, and has been taken into the care of Dr. Stern – a man claiming to be quite close with the de Moor family. In the early minutes of the game, Eliza and Dr. Stern come to an agreement about trying out an experimental treatment that promises to be extra spooky.

"The horror is ramped up very quickly once you actually reach Ravenhill"

Most of Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror takes place in the quaint town of Ravenhill, which was once well regarded for its dollmaking industry. The horror is ramped up very quickly once you actually reach Ravenhill and try to get to the de Moor family mansion, which is referred to by the people of the town as the Dollhouse. Interestingly, there aren’t any characters that you interact with throughout your time exploring Ravenhill. The story is almost entirely told either through vivid hallucinations, or through notes you find strewn about in the town and the Dollhouse. Even Dr. Stern, who is supposed to be accompanying you on this journey down memory lane, decides to maintain his distance from you in order to make sure that the “therapy” works.

In this way, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror does a pretty decent job at setting up its atmosphere. Since you’re always alone, the sense of isolation is incredibly thick. Interestingly, despite the lack of people in Ravenhill, the game does a good job in making you believe that there might be hope around the corner. Good usage of lighting through hanging lanterns and candles always gives you the impression that, “maybe this house is safe and has someone I can talk to.”

Through Ravenhill, the game is able to tell an interesting story of the downfall of a small town. Largely told through environmental storytelling, like how certain houses might be in disarray while others are surprisingly clean, you get a pretty decent idea of what went down when the dolls inevitably rose up to fight against their masters. And ultimately, you start having to take down these dolls as well.

Most of the gameplay in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror feels reminiscent of Resident Evil 7. You’re largely going to be exploring through dense environments, meticulously looking for clues and items that might help you figure out a way forward. Along the way, you’ll find cryptic puzzles that you have to solve, like finding the right statues to shoot in the correct order. And every now and then, you’ll have to use the more lethal qualities of your weapon to take on deranged dolls that are trying to kill you.

The puzzle design here isn’t particularly noteworthy. You’re not going to get head-scratching riddles that leave you running around looking for answers for hours on end. Most of the puzzles were fairly straightforward, and even managed to be quite self-contained to specific areas. If, for example, you happen to find a lock that requires a combination of numbers, you won’t have to go too far to find a letter that gives you the answer. The statue shooting example I used earlier was also confined to the same small area.

"Through Ravenhill, the game is able to tell an interesting story of the downfall of a small town"

Aside from having to fight against mindless enemies with limited resources, you also get similarly-cryptic yet simplistic puzzles, and even a minor crafting system that allows you to get more ammo. And considering the enemy AI, even fighting against dolls evokes a feeling similar to playing the Resident Evil HD Remake with modern controls that let you simply run around enemies without having to directly deal with them. Even the health and inventory system UIs feel like they might be from early drafts of a Resident Evil game.

The combat encounters in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror don’t come about too often, but just about every single time you do have to fight something, the game feels much worse for it. The combat feels incredibly clunky thanks to monotonous enemies and an excruciatingly-slow movement speed, and the amount of ammo you get from early on tends to erase quite a bit of the tension that you might otherwise expect from a combat-centric horror title. Just about every bit of atmosphere the game slowly builds up thanks to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the moment you have to engage in combat, and the game would have overall been much stronger had it simply skipped having a combat system to begin with or you know, made it better.

One of the big twists in Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror revolves around the use of mirrors. Every now and then, you will find mirrors that let you enter a different version of the area you’re in. Sometimes, this version might just be a glimpse into the past. Other times, it might end up being a much more surreal experience. These mirrors are used as a way to move forward, often marking a significant point in the game’s story. Sadly, there isn’t much more to these mirrors than just a sequence that occasionally happens. There aren’t any optional mirrors that you can find that might expand further on the plot, and they generally tend to stay on the linear path forward through the story.

"Just about every bit of atmosphere the game slowly builds up thanks to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the moment you have to engage in combat"

Another area where the game loses quite a bit of its steam is in its visuals. While I am a firm believer that solid art direction is much more important to a game looking good than raw visual fidelity, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror definitely loses a lot of what it was going for from the very beginning. At the risk of veering into the realm of hyperbole, Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror might just be one of the most dull and drab looking titles out there. Even at its highest settings, just about every surface looks like a muddy mess because of low-resolution textures, and the few characters you do meet early in the game tend to look like they might be ripped right out of an early PS3 game.

The only reason any of the thick atmosphere of the game is able to land is largely thanks to the clever use of lighting and the inherent creepiness of human-shaped dolls. The lighting is especially doing a lot of the heavy lifting here, and plays a big part in instilling any sense of fear that might arise from the very idea of turning around a corner.

Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror is a bit of a disappointment. There are some interesting ideas in its story and the creepy dolls that you often have to deal with end up largely being window-dressing. While there are some frights to be had, largely thanks to the excellent lighting throughout, the general monotony brought on by the game’s clunky combat system, poorly-designed enemies, and excruciatingly-slow movement speed tend to make the very idea of playing the game a rather boring experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.

One of the first such questions Karma: The Dark World brings up is about the nature of memories. In the game, you take on the role of Roam Agent Daniel McGovern, working for the Leviathan Corporation as a peacekeeper of sorts. As a Roam Agent, you are tasked with investigating various small-scale crimes that might threaten the hegemony and power of the Leviathan Corporation. To do so, you will be exploring various crime scenes to find clues, and occasionally, your investigations might even end up taking into peoples’ minds and memories.

"I noticed just how much inspiration Karma: The Dark World takes from David Lynch’s classic TV show Twin Peaks"

The idea of being able to explore the minds of people is where the game is able to flex its horror muscles. While the “real-world” parts of Karma: The Dark World tend to be generally creepy, with a sense of dread constantly weighing you down, the minds of the various people you get to explore are where most of the game’s horror aspects intensify, becoming tense and oftentimes frightening. The parts of the game where you get to explore the minds of your suspects are often the most interesting, both visually and thematically.

The first time I jumped into the memories of a suspect was around the time I noticed just how much inspiration Karma: The Dark World takes from David Lynch’s classic TV show Twin Peaks. While the game doesn’t have the campiness of the seminal show, it does feature similar surreal imagery, including a room draped in red where we get to experience some of our suspect’s deepest regrets.

The story in Karma: The Dark World is told in a non-linear fashion. The game kicks things off by having the player wake up with no idea of who or where they are. After a short bout of exploration, we meet another person who, in a series of events, straps us into a chair and throws us into the depths of our own mind. From this point on, the game makes the protagonist’s role and objectives quite clear: solve crimes and, in the process, maybe even figure out the nature of the Leviathan Corporation.

You will constantly be hopping between different time frames as you get further into the story, and will ultimately have to figure out the actual order of events yourself. The game does provide plenty of hints in its story through environmental clues, however. Subtlety also feels like it was not the priority when it came to the story of Karma: The Dark World. The allusions to classic dystopian fiction like 1984 is ever-present, especially considering the role the Leviathan Corporation plays in the everyday lives of the game’s citizens.

Speaking of which, the Leviathan Corporation definitely sits right up there with the most nefarious antagonistic forces in gaming. Alongside running its dictatorship to fuel further profits, hints of how the company tends to treat regular citizens can often feel downright horrifying. An early example of this pops up when you find a letter where a person was punished for picking up something they shouldn’t have, ultimately being forced to live out the rest of their life as a pipe cleaner, while also losing what is referred to as “social credit”.

"Subtlety also feels like it was not the priority when it came to the story of Karma: The Dark World."

At its most basic level, the core gameplay revolves around slowly and methodically exploring crime scenes in order to find the way forward. Obstacles often take the form of puzzles that can range quite a bit in difficulty, from just needing to find a hidden vent, to figuring out the combination to a lock from environmental clues. A lot of the core gameplay structure feels like it was taken right out of a classic Resident Evil game, and unfortunately, things never really get much more complicated than that.

There isn’t really any combat in Karma: The Dark World, and the most you’ll end up running when facing down a horrifying creature as you traverse a suspect’s mind, and sometimes even hiding. Ultimately, the full extent of the gameplay falls under what the studio itself likes to refer to as a “cinematic interactive story.” Now, don’t get me wrong; this is far from a walking-sim where you just get to passively experience a story happening around you. You get a lot more agency in this game, and absorbing every drop of environmental storytelling along with the main story being presented is incredibly important to enjoying the game.

When it comes to atmosphere, Karma: The Dark World has absolutely nailed it. Visuals are a big part of this, and the environments are often downright gorgeous. This is especially true for the creepy parts of the game that have you enter peoples’ minds. Even in the “real world”, the dreariness of the world and the oppressive nature of the Leviathan Corporation’s iron fist on society feels ever-present. The audio is downright fantastic too; most of the music you get to hear tends to be diegetic – with the sound probably coming out from a record player nearby. There are a few musical stings used to heighten the tension here and there, but most of the time, you mostly end up with just the environmental sounds and your own thoughts to keep you company.

"When it comes to atmosphere, Karma: The Dark World has absolutely nailed it."

The only downside with the visuals is that the character models aren’t quite as polished as the rest of the game tends to feel. This even ends up being a detractor to the atmosphere when the ambient lighting can’t quite cover up for the models. Most of the time, however, this tends to be a non-issue, since just about every other aspect of the visuals tends to make up for the relatively poor character models, be it through the expert use of lighting and volumetric fog effects, or even just a heavy dose of surrealism thanks to the distorted perspectives you often get to see through.

Karma: The Dark World is ultimately an interesting experience. It’s the rare horror game where, while you’re not killing things and counting bullets by the buckets, you’re also not focused entirely on hiding. Rather, investigation is the most important thing here, and the puzzle design, even if somewhat simplistic at times, goes a long way in reinforcing this idea. Pair that with some deliciously-thick atmosphere courtesy of excellent visuals and audio, as well as an intriguing story that’s being told in a compelling way, and you get a horror experience that is well worth your time.

This game was reviewed on PC.

It’s important to state this upfront, because it is also important to not go into Xenoblade X with the wrong set of expectations. Fans of the numbered trilogy who come into this game expecting the same moving, operatic, epic stories that balance life themes with truly personal tales following their leads, for example, will find X to be disappointing. Or if you come into it expecting the sort of nuance to quest design or combat that the later numbered games in the series would go on to develop, you’ll find this title a step back. If you come into it expecting the same sort of soundtracks as the rest of the series – those soundtracks are widely acclaimed and among the most beloved component of the franchise, after all – then you will be disappointed. None of this is to say that this is a bad game, to be clear – just that where its strengths lie differs largely from where the strengths of the other games lie.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (and by extension this Definitive Edition) is, more than anything else, like an offline MMORPG. That description has often been used to describe the other titles in the series too, but it holds truer here than it ever has for those other games. Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t have the same sort of narrative focus those other games do. It has a core premise that sets up a reason for you to venture out into, and tame, its vast world, and then it largely leaves players to their own devices. There is still a story here, but the quests are gated by multiple requirements that space them out by hours – often dozens of hours – of gameplay, gameplay spent exploring the world, fighting the wildlife, completing quests, getting closer to the people of New LA, and more. 

By definition, that structure implies a lack of focus on the plot – the story is being diluted specifically to facilitate more gameplay. Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t really have any pretensions towards being a narrative heavy title either. Unlike the leads of the other games, who are fleshed out, named characters who are often arguably the best in their respective games, X has you create your own silent character as the protagonist. Obviously it’s not focusing as much on the story then.

"Xenoblade Chronicles X (and by extension this Definitive Edition) is, more than anything else, like an offline MMORPG. That description has often been used to describe the other titles in the series too, but it holds truer here than it ever has for those other games. "

This can feel frustrating if you are coming into this game expecting anything like the numbered Xenoblade games, but it does work for this game. You see, the star of this game – more than for any of the other games in the series, which is really saying something – is the world. And everything in the game is specifically designed and structured to facilitate as much engagement with that world as possible.

The setup of Xenoblade Chronicles X has mankind fleeing Earth after an all out alien war above its skies scorched the planet. One of the ships that fled Earth crash lands on a planet named Mira, where they set about constructing a community, both in terms of the infrastructure, and the people who will populate it. An organization named Building a Legacy After Destruction of Earth (BLADE; yes, really) is leading the charge to help set things up and push exploration out further into the planet, so that it can be better understood, and humanity can learn to coexist in its new home with the indigenous life better. The protagonist obviously ends up becoming a member of BLADE, and then carrying out various missions and quests, both within New LA (the name of the human city on Mira), and outside it, in the wilderness of Mira itself. 

Obviously things are never that simple, and eventually the plot does escalate stakes from its initial open ended setup to a more coalesced central conflict that seems to have chased humanity across time and space. The story in Xenoblade X is not bad, in fact it is on occasion surprisingly compelling science fiction. However, it is never the point – and that is one key area of difference between this game, and the other Xenoblade titles.

Actually exploring the world is where this game ends up being most similar to other Xenoblade games. The developers have put their experience of creating exotic and surreal seeming landscapes and vistas to good use here, creating a truly alien landscape that still nonetheless looks and feels cohesive and grounded, as if all of it could have naturally evolved on another planet. In parties of up to four, players go out into Mira’s wilderness to install probes for research and mining, to catalog and tame the wildlife, to find other survivors from the crash landing, and more. Along the way, you fight some truly impressive indigenous life. Every part of Mira is crawling with all sorts of life. And in true Xenoblade fashion, no area, no matter how early in the game, is safe from higher levered monsters skulking with the lower leveled grunts.

World exploration in Xenoblade X is a joy, something that you can easily lose hours to. The world lacks structure as much as the game itself, meaning once you are exploring Mira, you can simply keep going, guided by nothing but your own innate curiosity, or the jaw dropping sights and vistas on display, the treasure or the sinister lore you can uncover, or simply the challenge of getting to some place that you can see but not make your way to. Dozens of hours into the game, and exploring the world can still be a delight – in part because right around then is when the game finally lets players have the much vaunted Skells, mech suits that make traversal and combat a breeze, and open up Mira to the player like never before.

"The developers have put their experience of creating exotic and surreal seeming landscapes and vistas to good use here, creating a truly alien landscape that still nonetheless looks and feels cohesive and grounded."

Combat involves managing auto-attacks, cooldowns for player initiated abilities, and positioning. X rewards players who properly leverage status conditions and buffs, and unlike that game, it involves a full featured class system which ends up leading to a surprising amount of variety for the builds that players can create. In terms of the moment to moment combat, X is among the weaker games in the series, even with some of its own twists to the formula (such as forcing an ability before cooldown). The class system, however, does add a lot of nuance and texture to the act of creating builds. 

Earlier I mentioned the soundtrack of X as being one of the areas where it differs from the rest of the hames in the series. And it does – whether that’s in a good way or bad is probably going to come down to individual music tastes. However, what I can say is that the musical identity and sound of this game is almost nothing like that of the rest of the series. That should theoretically lead to some of the best music in the series, if not outright across the genre and medium. Unfortunately, at least for me, that is decidedly not the case.

At best I find the music in X to be tolerable, perfectly bland and blending into the background. At worst – such as whenever I am in New LA – I find it grating and annoying, and it actively takes me out of the game. The music of the Xenoblade games has been a huge part of my immersion in their worlds and stories – X’s soundtrack disappointing me, in spite of the obvious talent behind it, is definitely a mark against the game in my opinion. Again, others may very well have different takes on this – music is a very personal and subjective thing, and if you like what you hear, I can see it being a big strength of the game for you. For me, however, and I imagine for anyone who wants something that sounds more like, well, Xenoblade, the music may be an uncharacteristic miss in X (the poor sound compression absolutely does not help either).

"In terms of the Switch release versus the Wii U one, it’s almost all improvements."

In terms of the Switch release versus the Wii U one, it’s almost all improvements. While obviously, Wii U specific functionality (such as dual screen gameplay enabled by the Gamepad, or Miiverse integration) is no longer a part of this release, everything else has made it over as is. The big exception is the UI, which has been greatly improved from how horrible it was in the original Wii U release, and is a lot more sensibly laid out and legible now.

Graphics also look better than in the Wii U release, including in the portable mode, an area where Xenoblade 3 and especially 2 both struggled on the Switch heavily. There are, however, framerate drops and pop in often enough to be noticeable. And, of course, there is the elephant in the room that is the new story content added to the game in this Definitive Edition. The original Xenoblade X left some threads hanging, and with the rest of the series not following up on those, it’s great to have them properly resolved here.

It’s also great to have X available on a modern system, other than leaving it stranded on the Wii U. In spite of my complaints with it, it’s a great game that has a lot going in its favour – chiefly related to exploring its exotic and hostile world. While its differences from the rest of the series mean that players may not enjoy it in the same way or for the same reasons that they do the rest of the series, its considerable strengths do mean that they will enjoy it all the same.

And hey, perhaps in charting out the wilderness of Mira, many Xenoblade fans will find a title that to them is far more compelling than anything else that the rest of the series has to offer. That is not where I landed on X by the end, but that doesn’t mean that will be true for everybody else too. More than anything else, it’s great that this game is now available on Switch, and people have the option and the opportunity to finally play it and form an opinion on its strengths and weaknesses of their own.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch.