An open world was the right move for a Borderlands franchise that's on its back foot. If you can grin and bear through some bad console performance, Borderlands 4 rewards you with a whole lot more looting and shooting. Some small new additions around the edges and a solid slate of bosses and side-quests spice up this fourth numbered entry that's still as brazen and immodest as ever.
Despite a sputtering start, As Dusk Falls eventually finds its footing with a character-driven story that rewards replays with insight into the backstories, motivations, and psyches of its troubled cast that’s been battered down by their everyday existences. It’s a tale that grows increasingly engrossing, provided a tolerance for some sensationalised theatrics and protracted payoffs.
Blowing stuff up is fun, and Teardown gets that. Its varied voxel environments combine with nuanced physics and deformation systems to make levelling buildings, eviscerating vehicles, and orchestrating massive explosions a thrill. An inconsistent campaign and lack of multiplayer don't keep it from setting a new standard for video game destruction.
The Last Worker’s principal problem is that it’s a game made for VR that’s better without it. Fulfilling online orders in a capitalism-induced apocalypse is an excellent idea marred by inconsistent execution and confounding restrictions placed on VR movement. It’s short enough not to overstay its simplicity, but it’s not smart enough to make any astute thematic statements.
Cave Digger 2 is no technical showpiece, and annoying little issues do have a tendency to pop up just often enough to be a distraction. Pickaxe swings often don’t register right, you can find yourself lodged into nearly inescapable crannies, and hand tracking has a tendency to bug out occasionally. So, Cave Digger 2: Dig Harder is still a delightful diamond in PSVR2’s launch catalogue, but its intermittent issues and wanting variety cause it to lose some of its lustre.
No More Heroes III is a pleasant sendoff for Travis Touchdown – especially so now that it's no longer stuck on hardware that couldn't keep up with it. The lack of performance problems make it so much easier to enjoy its wide variety of combat encounters, eclectic minigames, and zany story sequences. It comes at the cost of its other flaws becoming more pronounced, but it's still a brash and daring passion project from a Grasshopper Manufacture that continues to do whatever it desires.
The Nioh Collection crams two great games and six story expansions into one complete, content-stuffed package. Despite its extensiveness, the lack of exclusive content or noteworthy new features make it a hard sell in its entirety. It gives Ninja Theory a good excuse to try and grab some more attention for some legitimately great games, but calling these remasters is perhaps a bit of an embellishment.
Teensy quibbles aside, it's difficult to imagine how this Demon's Souls remake could be any better. It looks great, it sounds amazing, and it's extremely respectful of the PS3 original, which has aged surprisingly well after all these years. This is an exceptional remake, and it's exactly what Demon's Souls deserves.
Space Junkies is an incredibly competent multiplayer arena shooter that dodges the VR matchmaking bullet by flexing its cross-play capabilities, but it suffers from inadequate implementation. There's plenty of bullet-blasting action to keep you engaged, but the limited control options only let you partake in a fraction of the fun when compared to your PC brethren.
A Fisherman's Tale is a typical puzzle-solving first-person VR experience that stands a cut above with a good-quality gimmick that doesn't overstay its welcome. It barely stays long enough to finish saying hello, but it has the wit, charm, and novelty to make it worth the single sitting it's asking for.
Megalith is a run-of-the-mill MOBA that, despite its VR novelty, does nothing to distinguish itself. It's cool to be placed in the shoes of larger-than-life titans, but the game's single mode is middling at best. There's still enjoyment to be had with its varied albeit limited cast of characters, but better MOBA's have had difficulties maintaining a consistent player base mere months after release.
Earth Defense Force 5 is an intentionally bad-looking and dated technical mess of a third-person shooter that boldly relishes in its campiness and mechanical simplicity. Mowing down the endless seas of extra-terrestrial arachnids and UFOs while melodramatic voice clips play in the background makes for an excellent stress reliever or a fantastically fun time with some friends, but its complete lack of depth causes the monotony of repetition to quickly seep into what's an otherwise joyous celebration of video game escapism. If this is your first giant bug slaying rodeo, there's plenty here to keep you keep you amused for dozens of hours, but it functions best as a distraction from our notably less zany reality.
Ultimately, Asterix & Obelix XXL2 is a PS2-era remaster that's not worth its near-AAA asking price. The brand new additions and lack of availability undoubtedly add some value, but this still feels like the decade-old game that it is. It may be worth the fairly hefty price tag for those with Asterix nostalgia or for an audience that wants to see what a late PS2 licensed platformer looks like, but it's hard to recommend otherwise. It's a game that deserves to be remembered and preserved, but the high cost will prevent many from experiencing this strong albeit unoriginal adventure.