Includes PushSquare
Last reviewed: Palworld · today
there's no denying that Age of Mythology’s gameplay can feel simplistic, which is ironic, considering how influential the series has been. Having played a bunch back in the day, the missed campaigns are appreciated, but we can’t see ourselves regularly returning to the well.
If Digimon Story Time Stranger just sat back and allowed its largely fantastic RPG systems to breathe, it could be counted amongst the finest of Digimon games. But instead, it gets bogged down in disappointingly linear design that limits combat and party-based progression at almost every turn.Despite being packed with such clear potential, Time Stranger ends up feeling like a frustrating misfire.
Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition is a warts-and-all revival of a game that, 25 years later, still has it where it counts, and there aren't too many titles that can make that claim.
Epic Mickey is still an enjoyable platformer with impeccable artistic talent driving it. The repetitive combat and exploration remains, but the Rebrushed updates go some way to remedying those shortcomings.
All in all, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code Plus delivers a fun mystery-filled visual novel experience, perfect for anyone who is a fan of Danganronpa or similar titles. There are a few frustrating elements here and there, but the whole package is a mostly solid narrative-focused adventure.
The story and world-building are definitely the most interesting things about Reynatis but it’s a shame everything else feels so half-baked and repetitive. It’s hard to get invested in the characters when the dull combat makes you want to get through the adventure as quickly as possible.
As a remaster, Reforged is about as good as it gets. It hits that perfect sweet spot where the game looks kinda like you remember it looking all those years ago, but then you have the option to switch back to the original graphics and see just how improved the new version actually is. It's a massive leap. There's also a robust and quite granular hint system to help you with puzzles that can be completely tailored to your playstyle, including a story mode that drastically revises how much thinking is required to progress. It's one of many reasons this remaster is perfect for newcomers and returning fans alike.
But it’s this type of boundless creativity that many feel PlayStation is missing these days. Sony may have lifted the overall quality of its output, but it’s come at the expense of unbridled oddities like this; a game that, when considered critically, is barely above average – but ends up more memorable than the latest AAA fancy purely because of the sheer insanity of it all.
This is still a laugh out loud affair, though; a raucous and utterly ludicrous release that deserves to exist on modern hardware. But when the source material is this brilliant, it deserves an exceptional remaster – rather than one that’s just good enough.
A substantial visual overhaul of Dead Rising is what will immediately stand out most, but where the Deluxe Remaster truly thrives is in all its gameplay touch-ups to make the classic play and feel like any other modern game. They all build to the definitive Dead Rising experience, where its time management feature can be properly appreciated.
The Plucky Squire is a delightful adventure that surprises with fun ideas in every chapter. The world within the book offers unique puzzles and challenges, which is compounded by Jot's ability to leap from its pages into the third dimension. Though the combat's kinda flat, and some elements deserve to be used more often than they are, there's an undeniable joy to the game's constant imaginative ideas. It's a short but sweet game that'll win over players of all ages.
Train Sim World 5 shunts the series forward with a number of smaller improvements. While the base package feels a bit unnecessary, it's effectively a free client upgrade for existing expansion owners, and therefore worth your time. Of the new routes included with the Deluxe Edition, we really love the West Coast Main Line, and the other two additions bring their own character and challenges. We just hope, moving forwards, the franchise starts to live up to its moniker – it's Train Sim World, not Train Sim UK USA Germany.
The combat feels awkward; the game is buggy, and filled with abrupt cutscene transitions. At the end of the day, we’re left asking, ‘Who is this for?’ Children don’t care about Battlestar Galactica and The Thing, and adults won’t love the boring, simplistic gameplay loop.
Caravan SandWitch is just a really pleasant video game. It can be a bit rough around the edges in terms of animations and technical performance, but its story intrigues, and its atmospheric brand of exploration is largely a delight.
Wild Bastards is good, but it didn’t quite hit as hard as we’d hoped. That said, the studio's fantastic art direction and writing continue to shine through, enough to make this a title worth looking at.
Crossy Road Castle is a really fun and addictive game, in our opinion best enjoyed solo as the multiplayer doesn’t add a lot in terms of goals for the individual and instead detracting from the action. Whimsical and cutesy, the aesthetic of Crossy Road Castle is such that it really adds to the overall enjoyment of the game, with its simple but compelling gameplay.
Cumulatively, you end up with a title brimming with nostalgia and good ideas, but controls that hold the affair back.