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.
Airoheart's, er, heart is in the right place — and it is an okay Zelda clone overall — but the game's got noticeable flaws. A potential recommendation if you're desperate to play something resembling retro Zelda on PlayStation, but that's about it.
All in all, the title jams a surprising amount of content into a reasonably priced package, while offering a satisfyingly silly experience worthy of your time.
Unfortunately, there are also a lot of bugs present in the game. Characters will glitch in and out of existence while you’re talking with them. Sometimes the whole screen will go black and your character will pop up in a different part of the map when fast travelling. It’s things like this that really stop Potion Permit from reaching its potential, and its charming visuals can only do so much to counter this.
There's no denying that Prodeus is derivative, but that's not necessarily a problem when the end result is this well realised. An absolute blast from start to finish.
There’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t stop the game from feeling stale. Only getting to do one battle per in-game day makes the title's pacing feel very slow, and the story feels disappointingly broken up as a result.
The tweaks to FIFA 23's gameplay make for a more deliberate, physical representation of the beautiful game – and while it won't be to the taste of sweats who are used to five-star skilling their way up the ranks in Division Rivals, personally we appreciate the commitment to authenticity. As an overall package, this is a strong end to an impressive 30-year run, but an overemphasis on microtransactions and some cumbersome UI decisions underline everything that's been frustrating about this franchise for the past decade or so. Make no mistake, with crossplay and a wealth of things to do, this is the best shape the series has been in – but we hope EA Sports FC, unshackled from the overbearing eyes of governing body FIFA, brings a little bit more to the field.
We won't spoil what happens, but Tunic slowly peels back layers right to the very end. It's a cohesive, satisfying game that scratches an old school action-adventure itch, going above and beyond with subversive, cerebral puzzles. It maybe goes on a touch longer than it needs to, but this little gem of a game punches above its weight.
Valkyrie Elysium is a game of two halves. The level design and objectives feel at least two generations old and the characters and storyline are more like placeholders than the finished article. There's no capital F feelings here or much in the way of narrative justification, but if you're okay with that and you just want fifteen to twenty hours of fast, frantic, fluid combat then we can just about recommend this one.
Other than the puzzle conundrum, the second season offers more of what made the series a hit. Fans of the first season will greatly enjoy this second run. While it isn't necessary to play the first one to jump on this wagon, it is highly recommended, as there are plenty of returning characters and in-game jokes and references that you might miss if you have not played the first one yet.
Still, with enough humour and its fun game mechanics, Let’s Build A Zoo will have you sinking hours into your park, if you can get past its poor UI and lack of guidance.
SUPERHOT is excellent. It may lack the physicality of its virtual reality alter-ego, but it makes up for this with a mind-bending story and an on-point menu system. The slow-motion shooting is still super satisfying, and the added locomotion makes for a different kind of cadence to the PlayStation VR version. Buy both editions if you can, as they complement each other nicely and are unmissable in our humble opinion. Now, tell all of your friends…
All in all, The DioField Chronicle is a decent strategy RPG. Its characters certainly won't live long in the memory, and it can be a an unnecessary grind, but it's well crafted and fairly engaging on the battlefield.
So is this an improvement over the original version of the remake? Absolutely. Tower Five seems to have done its best to re-work the experience without completely starting over, but it could only take it so far. This is one remake we really don't need.
The mission structure of the game devolves into going to a place, doing a trick or route, strung along by forgettable story dialogue. The missions have a habit of being poorly explained, furthered by being unable to re-read text boxes explaining what you need to do. And rarely do the inputs needed for specific moves get shown during these prompts. For better or worse, Session is a game for the hardcore skater. While its dedication to realism is impressive, the frustration in the early hours is likely to turn most off.
Trails from Zero has been well worth the wait. This is a classic Falcom RPG - an engrossing, crime-fighting adventure through one of the property's greatest settings. The experience as a whole does get bogged down in tedious side content and some poorly aged design, but fantastic characters and fascinating story beats hold everything together. Based on our time with Zero, we can't wait for Trails to Azure in 2023.