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Last reviewed: Mina the Hollower · 5 days ago
A referential and joyful deep dive into the world of Batman, the latest LEGO effort from TT Games is elite brick gaming. Legacy of the Dark Knight just wants to be an enjoyable time, and it refuses to falter from that commitment. This new LEGO Batman will be some of the best fun you have all year.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an excellent action RPG that offers an even more hardcore take on the increasingly popular Soulslike formula. It's fast, frenetic, and hits like a truck, with one of the most mesmeric combat systems we've ever had the pleasure to master. It might scare off more casual players, but those looking for a challenge, well - you can stop looking.
Yoku's Island Express is one of the most surprising games of 2018. The combination of pinball and Metroidvania is, on paper at least, a little like dipping your French fries into your milkshake; as good as the two elements are separately, they shouldn't really work together. But thanks to an array of smart design choices, a wonderful art style, and some genuinely inventive puzzles, Yoku's Island Express is a game that only rarely frustrates – and frequently delights.
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a lovely compendium of every single Street Fighter from the arcade original right up to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Fans of the franchise will really appreciate having so many entries in a single place, and the wealth of customisation options, online modes, and extra content in the museum will go down a real storm.
Moonlighter is a delightful mix of action RPG, rogue-lite dungeon crawling, and shopkeeping sim with an ingenious gameplay loop that'll have you hooked. The way the game's contrasting parts blend into one another means you're always making progress, and it feels great. Exploring the dungeons is challenging and fun, and managing the shop is addictive, thanks to an intelligent economy system. There are some rough edges, such as complex menu screens and one or two minor bugs, but when this game gets its hooks in, you won't care. Shopping around for your new favourite indie? Look no further.
PixelJunk Monsters 2 is a brave sequel that attempts to fix something that isn't broken, and has ended up taking away more than it adds.
Detroit: Become Human is vintage Quantic Dream, delivering a multifaceted choose-your-own-adventure that's both ambitious and somewhat of an acquired taste.
Everspace is a fun and fast paced space exploration roguelike with beautiful visuals, solid combat, and rewarding progression systems. Unfortunately, it's let down by regular crashes and major drops in frame rate throughout. Rockfish has created a slick ship in the form of Everspace - it just requires a few patches before it can take off.
With a dearth of decent games based in the Warhammer 40k universe, Space Hulk: Deathwing seems at first glance to be heading in the right direction. With a reverence for the source material that'll appeal to Warhammer 40K aficionados, it successfully evokes the space hulk setting and the relentless battles at its heart. While the basic building blocks of a decent experience seem to be here, the undeveloped gameplay, and repetitive structure – that degenerates into tiresome battles of attrition – mean that even transplanting it into the co-op multiplayer mode and adding more unlocks and rewards won't be enough to keep your finger on the trigger for long.
Dark Souls Remastered is an excellent remaster of a standout entry in the Souls franchise. Those who played the original will feel right at home, and will really appreciate the visual and technical improvements – particularly to Blight Town, which now runs at a butter smooth 60 frames-per-second. However, those that weren't there at the beginning may not appreciate the inferior visuals and general jankiness that later entries have all but ironed out.
Omensight takes a lot of the ideas founded in Stories: The Path of Destinies and runs with them, successfully building on its predecessor with a very clever gameplay loop. While we doubt this repeating tale of the apocalypse will blow anyone away, Omensight is still a fine example of an interesting concept executed with style and confidence.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time manages to capture the essence of the anime brilliantly. There's plenty of fun to be had exploring Luna Nova as well as all the various dungeons. Some slow story pacing and frame rate drops let things down slightly, but if you're a fan of the series, you should definitely pick this up.
If earning gold trophies isn't enough, there are collectable coins to find in each race of the surprisingly lengthy campaign. As you progress you'll unlock new cars with unique stats that you can enhance with permanent buffs. Additional modes give you slightly different ways to play, but this is where Horizon Chase Turbo begins to let off the gas. Screaming through its colourful courses at ludicrous speeds can be lots of fun either alone or in local multiplayer, but the repetitive nature of the game will hit you sooner rather than later. You won't be left wanting for more content, but it's arguably too much for such a simple title. If you're after a very different racing game on PS4, this certainly fits the bill -- but watch you don't fall asleep at the wheel during the long haul.
Wizard of Legend is an enjoyable roguelike dungeon crawler with fun, fast-paced combat, beautifully crafted music, and pleasant pixel visuals that come together to form a fantastic fictional setting. Although the difficulty is steep and there is the occasional balancing issue, the available co-op modes are an excellent addition that help negate those problems.
Conan Exiles is a surprisingly good open world survival game that does a good job of blending genre mechanics with the harsh world of Conan the Barbarian. It's seriously addictive stuff despite general jankiness and a strange obsession with nudity, but the multiplayer is the real highlight. If you're looking for something new to play with your friends for a bit, look no further.
When you find yourself in the zone, Laser League is a joy to play. Controls are as straightforward as they come and the game's rules are easy to follow, meaning anyone can pick up a pad and join in. However, the depth that comes with the various character classes, their abilities, and power ups is surprising. This is classic "easy to learn, difficult to master" territory, in other words, and whether you're playing online or offline, it can be excellent fun with a few friends. Ultimately, this is the sort of game that lives or dies on the strength of its player count, and we sincerely hope it remains healthy. Aside from the occasional bout of lag, fairly limited content, and one or two disappointing omissions, this is a unique multiplayer title that deserves your attention.
Like its predecessors, Destiny 2: Warmind struggles to justify its price tag thanks to a throwaway campaign and some incredibly tired mission design. The quality of Destiny's core gameplay is still clear to see and the expansion as a whole is dotted with a handful of high points, but it ultimately just feels like the game is purposefully treading water until September's big arrival -- and that's simply not good enough.