It sometimes leans a bit too much into its influences, bringing with it its own set of platforming frustrations and technical issues, but when it all comes together, Motorslice offers an incredibly engaging experience that invokes some of the best games of all time but adds its own twists that make it memorable on its own.

Motorslice puts you in the shoes of P, a chainsaw-wielding Slicer sent with a simple mission to destroy every machine she encounters, alongside her friendly drone Orbie. It quickly becomes clear that the world has been taken over by evil construction equipment that range anywhere from tractors and loaders to massive bulldozers and motor graders, and the only way to save this world is to climb to the top of the megastructure controlling these machines and destroying everything in the way.

It’s a compelling if somewhat familiar setup that paves the way for platforming challenges and machine obliteration, and the construction environment gives the entire game the kind of lighthearted enjoyability that comes with battling 80-foot-tall excavators.

"The game does a fantastic job at teaching you its rules through a gradual build in each level and forces you to come to grips with each of its individual systems."

Where Motorslice defines itself is in its clear influence from a handful of beloved action-adventure games, most notably Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Shadow of the Colossus. Most of the game is centered around platforming challenges, separated into five checkpoints each for all of its 8 main chapters.

These task you with wall-running, precision jumping, and climbing your way over and up various obstacles as you make your way to the top of the megastructure, and they increase in difficulty as you near the apex of the tower. The magnetic platforming and linear level design here highlight the admiration for The Sands of Time, and the platforming has built on that foundation to make what is a largely recognizable but nevertheless satisfying experience.

The game does a fantastic job at teaching you its rules through a gradual build in each level and forces you to come to grips with each of its individual systems. What starts as wall-running down straight corridors evolves into scaling massive moving machines and often keeping your feet off the ground for extended periods at a time. You can also challenge yourself with more obscure challenges to obtain Orb Drones, and while these don’t offer much aside from a collectible, the platforming challenges they offer are another way that it allows you to hone and show off your skills.

The platforming feels great most of the time, but in some ways it also takes some of the quirks and frustrations of its influences as well. It can often be immediately unclear which direction you’re meant to go, and because this is a game where platforming and movement are king, it can be a drag to spend time away from that while trying to eyeball the path forward. The platforming, too, can be finnicky, especially in the late game where precision is amplified and mistakes are punished.

You never quite know which direction P is going to jump when coming off a wall or whether she will jump straight up a wall or begin wall-running, nor is it always clear which platforms are reachable from a certain spot. Some of this encourages trial and error throughout each level, but as the levels get longer and retries become more arduous, the frustration that comes from seeming inconsistencies in the platforming logic grows. Add on top of this controls that can sometimes feel non-responsive, such as when you’re repeatedly wall-jumping, and there are certain moments where the platforming can feel more disheartening than satisfying.

Alongside the traditional platforming, Motorslice introduces its new titular mechanic as another way to quickly get around and frequently get past certain obstacles. Through this mechanic, P uses her chainsaw to cut up or across heavily delineated pieces of certain walls and traverse larger obstacles. This also provides for an additional wrinkle to platforming challenges, as P will often need to combine traditional platforming with motorslices to get past particularly long sequences. As a novel mechanic, this works for most of its usage but creates some of its own frustrations. In particular, the way that you initiate motorslicing is by holding attack while facing toward or to the side of a wall that can be sliced.

"Where motorslicing becomes most important, though, is in combat, especially in boss fights."

If you face toward the wall, you slice up, and if you face to the side, you slice sideways in that direction. This is intuitive enough and gets more natural as the game progresses, but the game does not allow you to switch directions easily despite having numerous challenges built around going both up and to the side without touching the ground, meaning that you have to let go and switch the direction P is facing in mid-air. When it works, it’s incredibly satisfying, but too frequently I found myself slicing in the wrong direction or falling off the wall entirely while doing these challenges.

Where motorslicing becomes most important, though, is in combat, especially in boss fights. Outside of bosses, combat primarily consists of fighting packs of grunt-like loaders and drones, most of which can be killed in one or two hits.

There’s a parry system and a charged attack on top of your normal attack, though aside from drones that can only be killed by parrying their projectiles back to them, I rarely found myself having to use any of my special abilities and never really struggled to progress through these combat sections.

"The health bar represents the sections of the boss you need to slice through, and only once you’ve hit each section does the boss go down."

The bosses, however, are an entirely different beast. Each chapter greets you with a shot of a massive machine in the distance, and all of your traversal is in service of reaching this machine and ultimately destroying it. With these bosses, Motorslice takes a clear cue from Shadow of the Colossus, as each boss is less of a combat challenge and more of a puzzle in which you have to motorslice your way up and around the boss until it’s destroyed.

The health bar represents the sections of the boss you need to slice through, and only once you’ve hit each section does the boss go down. Bosses are an impressive feat of scale, and ascending them is often just as much about solving how to get the boss to the ground as it is about execution. I found these bosses to be the most interesting and memorable aspects of Motorslice, if only because of the impressive scale. They’re not particularly difficult, though I did find myself using the in-game hints in the final few chapters, but these are more about the frequently astonishing visual feast that you can experience while the camera zooms out and you take down colossus-style heavy machinery.

Intertwined between each chapter is a lightly-told but intriguing narrative that centers around P and Orbie learning more about the structure they’re scaling and the nature of the machines they’re destroying. It’s largely told through intermittent periods of slacking off where the two of them discuss their purpose and how they relate to the machines, and it’s almost entirely skippable if you only want to experience the gameplay.

"Visually, Motorslice excels with a distinct art style and color palette despite often being drenched in the classic construction browns and yellows."

While the story isn’t outstanding for this type of setting, it adequately sets the tone for the rest of the gameplay and offers some questions about why we’re fighting these machines and what they actually want, and P’s writing and voice acting provide enough charm that I found myself wanting to hear her inner monologue.

Visually, Motorslice excels with a distinct art style and color palette despite often being drenched in the classic construction browns and yellows. The core visual feature, though, is its sense of scale through both bosses and large scalable or sliceable walls. It’s frequently awe-inspiring when it zooms out and shows you everything you’re conquering, and the stellar lo-fi score often kicks in at the perfect moments to round out the entire experience.

It’s a shame, then, that there are a number of technical problems at launch. I had around half a dozen crashes as well as a number of moments where I was sent through the floor or into an altogether unknown location, and a signature experience of my playthrough was the game soft-locking by sending me into an unknown level without a path forward and requiring me to reinstall the game and delete all save data. The developers have promised a day one patch and additional support after launch, and because of how smooth the experience is when it runs well, I hope these bugs are quickly resolved.

"The titular mechanic enables a new wrinkle to classic platforming challenges, and the game excels in its sense of scale, particularly when solving and taking down its impressively large bosses. "

While much of the experience will feel familiar for fans of old-school 3D platforming adventures like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and the bosses take clear cues from Shadow of the Colossus, Motorslice manages to put them together in a package that feels familiar but fresh.

The titular mechanic enables a new wrinkle to classic platforming challenges, and the game excels in its sense of scale, particularly when solving and taking down its impressively large bosses. It’s not perfect, as its controls and inconsistencies can cause some extended periods of frustration, but it succeeds for a game that is evidently attempting to recapture and bring forward the magic of some of the most important games of all time.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

"The Career offers the meatiest piece of gameplay, as usual, and has a handful of refinements that make it a smoother and more efficient experience."

MotoGP has historically been one of their titles with the most gravitas, running for more than two decades with its official license with MotoGP, but as with most annual sports or racing franchises, new releases have varied in their balance between adding new modes or content and simply updating rosters or licenses. While still gorgeous and smooth to play, MotoGP 26 falls more on the latter side of the balance, offering what is largely a mirror of last year’s game with some physics tweaking and minor expansions on the Arcade gameplay style and specialized Race Off modes. It remains the definitive MotoGP experience with a wide range of tracks, race types, and accessibility options, but MotoGP 26 doesn’t transform the formula for anyone who’s played it in recent years.

As with past MotoGP games, MotoGP 26 focuses on getting you on the track as quickly as possible. There are no major new modes this year, nor is there much of a story in the Career mode, as the core single player and multiplayer modes remain largely in tact from previous entries. There are your traditional single player and online modes, including the expansion of online lobbies to 22, though we were not able to test the online experience during the review period.

There’s also an introduction of a new card pack collection mode in the visual vein of an Ultimate Team experience, but fortunately these are costless and purely collectible, offering just another reason to keep playing and fill your collection.

The Career offers the meatiest piece of gameplay, as usual, and has a handful of refinements that make it a smoother and more efficient experience. You can create a character as always, but you can now also play as any of the real-life MotoGP riders and step into their shoes throughout the season and beyond, even if you choose to start your career at Moto3.

There is also more definitive week-to-week intrigue, as you are more able to directly respond in press conferences about who your rivals are and what parts of your bike you want to continue developing, and these directly impact the key opponents you have on the track and the way in which your bike improves over the season.

Beyond those updates, though, the Career mode is largely unchanged from previous entries. You play through the full season of Moto3, Moto2, or MotoGP as your selected or created driver, and each grand prix consists of the full weekend of practices, qualifying events, and races, including sprint races when you make your way to MotoGP weekends.

"The Arcade mode significantly pulls back the realism in favor of accessibility and ease of use."

Your ultimate goal, of course, is to collect as many points as possible throughout the races to win the championship by the end of the season, and in the meantime there are also weekly goals and multi-week rival challenges that pit you against another rider of your choosing to score more points than them in the coming weeks.

All of this is in service of keeping you on the track as much as possible while shaking up the week-to-week marathon of the season, and the on-track experience is another incremental step forward for the franchise. MotoGP’s gameplay has always been among its strongest features because it highlights the strong balance needed in this sport between high speeds and cornering, and the updates this year do nothing to disrupt that balance.

Bikes certainly feel more unique from one another than they have in the past, as some slower bikes would allow me to turn a corner easily while others struggle to turn but outpace other riders on straightaways, and there is something immensely satisfying about figuring out your bike’s tendencies and being able to perfectly make a tight turn and zoom past your opponents.

On the other hand, it can be immensely frustrating when you feel like you have no control over your bike, but the game fortunately offers a host of accessibility options to adjust to both your play style and your skill level, including returning its two main racing experiences: Sim, the pure simulation at the core of the MotoGP franchise, and Arcade, the more forgiving experience introduced last year. The Sim experience offers the most in-depth control over your bike and your team that you can have, down to tire compression and pit stop strategy, while also imposing the most realistic rules and riding physics the game offers.

The Arcade mode significantly pulls back the realism in favor of accessibility and ease of use. It’s much more difficult to wipe out, penalties are enforced at a much slower pace, and you can more easily recover from bouncing off of other drivers or running off track. It’s much easier to play in Arcade mode, but the Sim offers much more granular control and higher potential for your bike.

"Sound design is also a standout, as crowds roar over engines firing to recreate the feeling of being in high-pressure moments and reward the effort to reach the pinnacle of the sport."

These two racing experiences highlight the range that MotoGP’s gameplay can have from a difficulty and flexibility perspective. You can take either of those experiences at their default settings, or at any time you can change any number of rules around penalties, computer assistance, or AI difficulty, which can also be set to adapt to your own skill level. At their extremes, these could be either far too lenient or far too stringent for any individual player, but the ability to change the experience so drastically creates accessibility for hardcore and non-hardcore MotoGP fans alike.

There’s also an expansion of the different types of races that you can enter with the expansion of the Race Off mode, which has a variety of different bike types and tracks away from the spectacle of a full grand prix. The new production bikes, for example, add to the roster of flat bikes and minibikes that can be taken out for shorter races, and these handle completely differently from traditional bikes. These are fun to race, particularly when they show up as interlude weeks within the course of a Career season, but they certainly don’t have the depth that the classic on-track experience offers.

From a technical perspective, even for a MotoGP game, this game is gorgeous and runs incredibly smoothly. Each track is beautifully rendered and can look completely different depending on time of day and weather conditions, in addition to the impact those have on the racing itself. I had no technical hiccups throughout my time with the game, and while the off-track visuals are lower-quality, the overall visual style is beautiful and realistic.

Sound design is also a standout, as crowds roar over engines firing to recreate the feeling of being in high-pressure moments and reward the effort to reach the pinnacle of the sport, complementing strong and responsive controls that effectively use the controller’s haptic feedback.

"With its limited improvements, MotoGP 26 doesn’t move the needle from past entries in the franchise, but it remains the definitive experience for MotoGP fans."

Developer Milestone continues to up its game each year with the MotoGP franchise. While changes year-in and year-out aren’t always the most expansive, this franchise continues to cobble together the most refined and expansive MotoGP experience on the market. With that said, MotoGP 26 is one of the entries with fewer upgrades and more incremental changes.

The game continues to take steps in visual and auditory fidelity and offers a wide range of accessibility options that open the door to fans of all experience levels, but this year’s game largely feels like a slight update over last year. With its limited improvements, MotoGP 26 doesn’t move the needle from past entries in the franchise, but it remains the definitive experience for MotoGP fans.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Narratively strung together with an otherworldly mystery, the game focuses on a handful of intricate puzzles that offer multiple independent solutions and force you to solve increasingly difficult questions, largely without holding your hand. Ultimately, The Cosmic Abyss, like its titular character, uses its overtly ominous presentation to hide even more secrets to discover underneath.

"Where The Cosmic Abyss differs from many of its counterparts, though, is in its lack of combat."

The Cosmic Abyss puts you into the shoes of Noah, an ocean investigator looking into the mysterious disappearance of a group of miners on a deep-sea expedition. Because of the nature of the investigation, you are sent alone with only your AI companion, Key, to track the miners and quickly find yourself sent through a portal to another world and set out on a mission to both understand the mysterious and unsettling world you’ve found yourself in and ultimately find your way back home.

Though it might be inexplicable to send someone alone on this type of mission, it properly sets the tone for the ominous and secluded experience you have through Noah, and naturally, as a Lovecraftian horror game, you begin to come across signs of other races with intelligence far beyond humans and terrifying supernatural beings.

Where The Cosmic Abyss differs from many of its counterparts, though, is in its lack of combat. While it’s possible to die at the hands of a monster on a couple occasions, this is a linear puzzle game wrapped in an atmospheric horror shell, as most of its 7 main chapters consist of one complex self-contained puzzle. These puzzles strike a delicate balance between forcing you to explore each area thoroughly and learn the rules of the game without becoming overly obtuse.

This is where you can clearly tell the influences from immersive sims like System Shock in the way you explore each area and are forced to largely handle things on your own. One highlight puzzle, for example, sees you having to open a portal on the other side of an uncrossable body of water. To do this, you have to learn the steps to complete a sacrificial ritual by translating the ritual’s steps, locate a number of crowns throughout blood-red waters, and manipulate the crowns in the right ways to trigger the ritual. Structurally, many of the puzzles, including this one, are familiar, but they each have a distinct eerie atmosphere with strikingly beautiful visuals and largely intuitive level design that propels you to always be finding new clues, even in areas you thought you’d already explored completely.

One of the key ways this is done is through your Sonar ping, which allows you to match frequencies with certain objects and locate other objects in the area with the same material. This means that the game doesn’t highlight every key item needed to progress. Those crowns, for example, are made from Bones, and you can only search for the other crowns made of the same material once you’ve found the first.

"On top of this, there are options to ask for more help from your AI companion in the form of three additional clues in certain situations."

This is a clever way to keep pushing you to experiment if you get stuck, even if this is where the game’s creativity can give way to opaqueness when you don’t quite know if you even have the material you’re searching for. As you work through each chapter, the puzzles increase in variety and difficulty. Another puzzle has you finding a way to either destroy or get around a massive otherworldly monster by finding its weaknesses, and later game puzzles require you to truly come to grips with the world you’ve entered and the characters within it.

When you put it all together, these puzzles can get very challenging very quickly, but fortunately, the game offers a bevy of accessibility options that help you solve them. Each discovery is placed on the game’s Mental Map, which allows you to sort clues, color code information, and often pose a deduction question that, when paired with the correct clue, gives you further information to help answer a question.

This system can be finnicky, especially when you’ve solved a question yourself but the correct clue for the deduction isn’t clear, but for puzzles with this much background and this many disparate clues, the Mental Map is an incredibly helpful way to sort and organize information, especially if you’re coming off multiple play sessions or just want to avoid having to backtrack just to read an old tablet.

On top of this, there are options to ask for more help from your AI companion in the form of three additional clues in certain situations. Some of these are direct answers to the puzzle, while others are less clear and more directional, but having these as optional additional help is a refreshing way to give the player a bit more of a hand when they need it without being overly invasive.

This is the type of game where knowing the solution to puzzles will ultimately hamper replay value, but to counteract it here, most puzzles have two independent solutions that connect with an in-game feature called Corruption that reflects how much you’ve given in throughout the game. Where puzzles have multiple solutions, one is typically slightly easier or more transparent but increases Noah’s Corruption, while the other is more difficult or complex but either reduces or has no impact on his Corruption level.

For example, the puzzle involving the sacrificial ritual, when completed, increases Noah’s Corruption by going through with a human sacrifice to open that portal, but there is an alternative path to open the portal through an underground electric system. Though they’re both solutions to the same problem, they hardly overlap, and this approach offers a ton of flexibility in how you approach each chapter.

 The Cosmic Abyss incorporates these choices on a narrative level by making Corruption an evolution of the moral slider. Chapters are interlaced with cutscenes that pull you further into this mysterious world as you follow the paths of the miners and have further revelations about yourself. There are immediate questions about the motivation of the miners to come to this place that subtly touch on the theme of corporate greed and power, but the overall narrative becomes more of a milquetoast Lovecraftian ride that hits many of the same plot points that you’d expect from this setting.

"There’s enough variety to make the runtime never feel overly long, and the optionality within each chapter provides a significant amount of replay value."

The performances are passable if a little stiff, but the writing often leaves something to be desired with the way it conveys information. It doesn’t always seem to know its expectations of the audience’s awareness of the lore, so characters can flip between overly explaining a revelation to having full conversations about it without introduction.

This sometimes clunky dialogue makes it feel like an exercise in getting from one visually interesting place to the next where the appeal is often more in the visual variety than in any major narrative reveals. Your corruption level directly impacts the final act, with multiple endings based on how much you’ve given in throughout the game. Combined with the opportunity to solve different puzzles, these different pieces of content offer an intriguing reason to come back for another 10-to-12 hour run through the campaign.

On the technical level is where the game flounders, at least at launch. Environments are beautiful and highly populated with dozens of clues and other interactable items, but this often comes at the expense of performance. Much of my experience was plagued with an apparent memory leak bug that caused the game to slow down over time and ultimately crash, particularly when looking through the text-heavy Mental Map. It’s a shame because when it runs well, this game is incredibly smooth with almost instantaneous loading, and while it saves frequently enough that it didn’t end up costing any significant time, it’s still an immersion-breaking experience.

Though familiar in its setting, The Cosmic Abyss uses the known Lovecraftian environment to enable the creative and intricate puzzles at the center of the experience. The constantly unsettling atmosphere provides an appropriate backdrop for you to explore each area and answer the increasingly complex questions the game throws your way, and there’s a satisfying sense of progression as you continuously unlock new clues and solve deductions.

The Cosmic Abyss is clever, varied, and propulsive, and while it doesn’t break new ground narratively, The Cosmic Abyss brings enough new to the table with its puzzle design to warrant revisiting a well-trodden influence.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Though that franchise is seemingly dead, Project Motor Racing is here to fill the gap, a spiritual sequel to Project CARS 2 whose main influence is as thinly veiled as its title and whose development team is largely intact. This is a dedicated simulation that puts every emphasis on the distinct feel of each individual car, the in-depth modifications that can completely change how you drive, and the sights and sounds of the racetrack throughout race weekend.

It’s a gorgeous, visually and sonically striking game that offers even deeper car and race customization, which really hums when everything clicks. At the same time, though, its focus on so many small details leaves the broader experience feeling aimless, and at full price, it’s notably content-light at launch and relies heavily on the promise of future content updates and mods, feeling significantly scaled back from its spiritual predecessors.

"The Career mode, where much of the game’s training takes place before sending you into the world of ranked online play, is significantly scaled back."

While arcade racers often leave the car fine-tuning and mid-race adjustments in the dust, Project Motor Racing opts to make them a focal point of the experience, and with the number and detail of options available, this is a game made for the most hardcore motor racing fans.

From your suspension profile to your tire compound, the drivers who optimize their car for the track and conditions are the ones who compete for the championship each weekend, and the new Hadron engine that powers the new handling system gives each car a vivid feel, whether you’re leading the pack at the end of a race or spinning out in practice. I mostly played on a gamepad, where keeping control of your vehicle while competing is at least manageable if a little unpredictable around tight turns, but this game shines on a wheel with phenomenal feedback and truly distinct handling for each car class.

What the detailed optionality comes at the expense of, though, is accessibility. While I hesitate to make direct mode comparisons to Project CARS 2 given the differences in budget and studio size, what’s disheartening in Project Motor Racing is the broad lack of tutorials or guidance.

It might make sense that a hardcore simulation is made for those familiar with these cars and tracks already, but unlike its predecessors, it’s going to feel overwhelming to those who don’t already know what they’re looking for. Aside from a brief introductory tutorial, there are almost no materials to help you learn about which tweaks will have what impact, nor are there recommendations for how to set up your car given track conditions or performance.

Additionally, the Career mode, where much of the game’s training takes place before sending you into the world of ranked online play, is significantly scaled back as well, ultimately landing as a series of individual grand prix weekends strung together loosely with its financial overhang. With a underwhelming career mode, its remarkable limitations in its off-track customization stand out even more.

When you begin, you can choose from an “Authentic” or “Classic” experience, with the only difference being the ability to restart races and the ability to change AI difficulty at the beginning of the Career. Your only real other choice is the sponsorship model, which dictates your income and ranges from the “Rolling Billboard” model that pays you the same amount each race regardless of performance to the “Champion” model that pays nothing unless you win the weekend.

"When the sights, sounds, and feels of a race all come together, Project Motor Racing is truly remarkable."

Those choices are made before you start your first race, so even though you also need to purchase cars and pay entry fees for each race weekend, once you finalize your Career settings, there’s almost no other decision-making to be done afterward. Outside of the Career mode, too, the modes are particularly sparse, only offering quick play, online play, and a handful of time or endurance challenges that promise to have more created by the community. Every mode, from the ranked online to the career, is about funneling you to different forms of races or challenges, but I wish it had some more creativity about how it went about doing that.

Regardless, from that point forward, it’s all about the remarkable on-track experience, a continued strength for the team at Straight4 Studios. Whether you’re practicing, running a race, or spectating, this game looks and sounds absolutely stunning, as different car classes whiz by and tires screech across dynamically-paved tracks.

Each car is intricately recreated both in its performance and its design, and each track is nearly photorealistic to its real-life counterpart, dynamically changing with incredibly impressive weather and timing effects that can make races on the same track feel completely different. Even the music that plays on menus and during setup had me bobbing my head along with it surprised at how much I was consistently enjoying it.

When the sights, sounds, and feels of a race all come together, Project Motor Racing is truly remarkable, especially with higher car classes and at higher difficulties. With so many moving parts, though, it can unfortunately be daunting how much the game expects of you given how little guidance it provides.

Unless you’re in a match with custom rules, penalties are always on, and the only option to change the difficulty is to adjust the computer drivers’ intelligence level. With no ability to rewind, or in some cases to even restart a race, every turn, acceleration, and bump can spell the end for you and your run. Even the online matches, for example, require you to complete 8 laps at Lime Rock Park at just over a minute per lap to even gain access to the league, and that time is no joke.

"Shortcomings aside, Project Motor Racing is a promising start to righting the ship for the racing sim genre."

Without a proper tutorial, or much in the way of recommendations for how to best prepare for a certain race, there’s an inherently unforgiving and aimless structure here that can cause a cycle of failure that might turn new players off before they get the hang of it, even if the payoff is usually worth it. At the same time, the game expects you to put in a significant amount of time and effort to learning its tracks and cars, but it doesn’t offer a heap of content.

With 18 tracks and 70 cars across 13 classes, the roster here is notably smaller than many other games in the genre, including the Project CARS games, even if what it has to offer is done very well. The track listing contains most of the common tracks you’d expect like the Nurburgring and Daytona, and the cars each legitimately feel unique from one another, though I am disappointed we didn’t get to see go-karts again. It’s clear, though, that with this amount of content and a full $70 price tag, this game is made for people who want to go as deep with their car customization and racing styles as possible to optimize their lap and racing times, almost to the point of feeling more like a training simulator for real-life drivers than a racing game at points.

Shortcomings aside, Project Motor Racing is a promising start to righting the ship for the racing sim genre. Experiencing how each individual car handles differently based on different setup tweaks, watching the weather change in real-time, and hitting a turn perfectly feel incredible with the new engine, even if the limited amount of content and guidance kneecaps the appeal to non-hardcore racers.

It’s an experience that can have you jumping from elation to frustration in a moment, for better and for worse. Regardless, if this is the beginning of a new racing sim franchise that can build and expand on this foundation in the same way as the ones that came before it, I’m excited about what the future holds for Project Motor Racing.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Change the perspective between 1st and 3rd person

Among many gameplay settings in The Outer Worlds 2 is the option to switch between first-person and third-person view. This is becoming a common setting across these types of RPGs, and while I personally continue to play them primarily in first-person, the third-person view here is just as high- quality of an experience, so go with your preference!

Use your Tactical Time Dilation (TTD) Gadget

Returning from the original The Outer Worlds, and harkening back to the V.A.T.S. system from Fallout: New Vegas days, you can slow down time during combat or exploration to get better shots, avoid incoming damage, or sneak your way past some surprisingly fast obstacles. This time it comes in the form of a gadget rather than a diagnosis, but the effect is very much the same and is incredibly helpful in a pinch.

Your TTD isn’t your only gadget, try them all out!

Your Tactical Time Dilation gadget is just one of a handful of gadgets you come across throughout the game. Others include a shield with the Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus and the ability to see through walls with the N-Ray Scanner. These are not only useful in combat, but they can often be required for solutions to puzzles or to reveal additional areas of exploration throughout the game.

Some perks can have negative effects too

One of the major twists about the role-playing aspect of The Outer Worlds 2 is the new Flaws system, which are individual traits that have both positive and negative aspects to them, such as one that increases your magazine capacity but temporarily decreases base damage any time you run out of ammo. These can have some game-changing attributes for certain playstyles, but make sure you know what the downside is, because these are permanent!

Objectives usually have multiple ways to complete them

A hallmark of the modern western RPG is the ability to approach different situations and proceed despite each character’s different skills and backgrounds, and The Outer Worlds 2 takes this to a new level. Most main missions have numerous ways to attack them, including opportunities to talk or shoot your way through any problem, and the more you explore, the more likely you are to stumble across another way to progress.

Side quests and optional objectives can often be instrumental to the main quest

As you look to complete each mission, don’t forget to keep up with your side quests and optional objectives as well. While this is likely familiar to anyone who has played an RPG before, it’s easy to forget about some of the missions lower down on your quest log when you’re in the thick of the main story, but these can often give you resources or information you need to make the next main mission easier.

Side quests can be hidden in terminals, collectible objects, or dead bodies

The Outer Worlds 2 heavily incentivizes you to explore around every nook and cranny across the planets of Arcadia by rewarding you with new content and quests. Frequently as you traverse a planet, you will come across empty shacks, computer terminals, and even dead bodies, and very often these will contain either information for a different quest, a mention of something that can be followed up on nearby, or begin a new side quest altogether.

Tune into the wireless broadcasts for new side quests and lore

It’s easy to overlook, but there are radio stations in Arcadia that play music, advertisements, and in-game commentary accessible from the pause menu. Most of the time these are meant as classic radio background noise, but every once in a while you will receive a notification to turn your radio on and listen to a distress signal or other broadcast. The quests can’t be missed as they will always be there if you miss it the first time, but you’ll definitely want to jump on those quests when they come in.

Your medical inhaler is not an infinite healing device

Your healing device in The Outer Worlds 2 is an inhaler that uses the in-game element of Zyranium to heal you, but don’t expect it to be used infinitely or repeatedly. The medical inhaler can be charged by visiting an AutoDoc or finding charging items in the world, but it doesn’t always recharge automatically. Additionally, with each inhaler use there is an increase in the amount of Zyranium in your system, which is fatal if the meter fully charges, meaning you can’t use your inhaler too frequently.

Melee weapons can be just as powerful as guns, if not more

While guns often get the most attention, The Outer Worlds 2 has an impressive array of melee weapons as well, which can cover everything from standard swords to shock rods or corrosive staffs. Enemies frequently have melee weapons and will rush you, so it’s often helpful to have one or more equipped, especially if you’re prone to needing a reload or running out of ammo. Gun damage and Melee damage are separate skills, so be sure you’re giving both of them a shot.

Perks and skill points work in tandem with each other, but are not the same thing

When you level up in The Outer Worlds 2, you typically will receive two skill points to apply to any skills, and you can unlock an additional perk every second level up. Applying levels to your skills incrementally builds them to increase damage, speech skills, hacking prowess, and more, while perks are individual unlocks that give you stat increases or new abilities, like another weapon slot or a boost to your armor. Perks often have skill requirements to meet before becoming unlockable, but both perks and skill points need to be addressed separately.

Don’t forget about your companion skills

Your companions follow you everywhere around Arcadia, and you don’t want to forget their abilities during combat or exploration. Each companion has a skill tree and an active skill that gives you a boost or performs a special attack on an enemy. Don’t worry about making your companions attack normally during combat, since they will do that automatically, but don’t forget about their special abilities, which can come in handy during major combat sections.

Skill checks can create new solutions

As you progress through The Outer Worlds 2, you will increasingly encounter skill checks that require a certain level of a particular skill to proceed, such as the Lockpicking skill to unlock a certain high-level door, the Science skill to perform experiments at a lab, or the Speech skill to say something smart and insightful. Try to keep up with the skill checks in at least one or two main areas, since these will usually lead to unique solutions or hidden paths that wouldn’t be available otherwise during main quests or throughout Arcadia’s abandoned buildings.

Always look up, down, and around for vents and other hidden areas

Stealth is another possible focus area for your character, and vents, tunnels, and hidden passageways are everywhere around Arcadia. Not only will these let you frequently bypass combat, but they’ll also lead to secret areas, high-level resources, or other quests. If you’re stuck on a quest, or just want to find something new, look all the way around and you might find a secret way!

Look for optional info to make your fights easier

When you’re in a dialogue sequence, you will consistently see options that have various requirements, including skill checks or perks. These locked options often require information you’ve discovered in computer terminals around the environments and will lead to some of the more concrete and interesting outcomes you can get in each scenario. Plus, the game will sometimes require information alongside skill checks for even more impactful options, so it’s always beneficial to have as much information as possible.

Whereas in the original game you traversed the Halcyon star system, this time around you’re in Arcadia, which contains another handful of fully designed and lively planets chock full of opportunities to explore and take on a seemingly endless number of tasks and side quests.

"As a former member of the Earth Directorate, which links Earth with all of its colonies, you are tasked with figuring out what’s going on with the rift, how to fix it, and how to end the war between the two sides."

The game takes place some time after the events of the first game, after Auntie’s Choice, a megacorporation created through a merger of the first game’s major corporations Auntie Cleo’s and Spacer’s Choice, invades Arcadia and creates a rift anomaly that is likely to wipe out all of Arcadia if it’s not dealt with. Auntie’s Choice is attacking the Protectorate, which governs Arcadia, and they’re fighting for control of the planet cluster. As a former member of the Earth Directorate, which links Earth with all of its colonies, you are tasked with figuring out what’s going on with the rift, how to fix it, and how to end the war between the two sides.

Sounds like a tall task, right? Fortunately, as is signature for The Outer Wilds at this point, the game is lighthearted through and through, with virtually every character making some sort of joke or other remark. That rift, for example, is 6-8 years away from impact, so your companion classifies it as “low to medium priority.”

And that’s a good thing, because one of the things the game makes clear is that while you are a special agent for the Earth Directorate, you are also someone whose successes baffle virtually everyone you meet by finding ways to talk or shoot your way out of problems. Lots of characters will address it directly, and I chose to adopt that personality entirely, focusing my upgrades around those skills while avoiding any of the more erudite areas like Science or Leadership.

What The Outer Worlds 2 does as well as any western RPG I’ve played recently is balance giving you the freedom to truly role play to your liking and still giving you new ways to improve or change the game even when you’re deep into the story. There are naturally both skill points and perks, which are very familiar and work in tandem with each other. I aptly focused mainly on the Speech and Guns skills and found perks, which you can select every 2 level upgrades, that unlocked only at certain skill levels for each trait and perfectly fit my play style.

"As you get deeper into the game, you notice that the same sense of freedom and opportunity extends to the story and missions."

On top of that, though, is the addition of Flaws, which are game-changing effects that impact some aspect of gameplay, from your movement speed or damage to your perks and loadout slots, but also have a severe negative side effect. You can accept or reject them when they appear, but if accepted they are permanent for the rest of that save file. I was offered about a dozen of these across my 25 hours through the main story but only accepted two, which made it so that I gained an extra skill point on every level but when using them, I could only add skill points to my lowest non-zero trait, locking all others.

This made it much easier for me to prioritize the couple of key traits I focused on and excel in those areas, but it also seemingly locked me into the play style I had chosen. Among the flaws I didn’t accept were one that increases your crouch speed but causes your knees to pop and alert enemies, and one that decreased my overall base damage but would boost it any time a companion damages an enemy. I was surprised at the variety and frequency the Flaws system offers, as well as the replay value that it adds on top of the inherent opportunities to focus on different skills, perks, and backgrounds.

As you get deeper into the game, you notice that the same sense of freedom and opportunity extends to the story and missions. One very early mission, for example, requires you to cross a large ravine, but there is hostile security guarding the only bridge that traverses it and seemingly no other way to cross. Your options, then, can be to help the security with something they need, help a different faction that can tell you another way across, or go in guns blazing and get there by force.

"Over the course of those dozens of hours, these choices add up in a meaningful way."

While the late-game missions don’t give you quite as much freedom, the game does an incredible job at giving you the opportunity to feel like you’ve laid the groundwork yourself and gone through multiple steps to achieve your goals, especially because it’s almost always possible, if not the most elegant approach, to shoot your way through things.

Over the course of those dozens of hours, these choices add up in a meaningful way. The story is adeptly told if not revolutionary, but it serves more as a playground for the decisions and  themes it’s portraying. Your ultimate goal surrounding the rift and settling the war doesn’t change, but along the way you can side with either or both sides and create those branching paths that change characters’ or factions’ opinions of you and alter the course of the in-game world. Auntie’s Choice, for example, is the classic corporate overlord that has become comically large and monopolistically powerful, and the Protectorate is the existing tyrannical government of Arcadia.

Clearly neither is a great option, but the game is very explicit about what choices are being made and how it will affect the story. The only drawback is that this game can get unwieldy with some of its terms and lore, especially given how many characters talk about things in a sarcastic or joking tone, and the Codex is woefully inadequate compared to the Active Time Lore that other games have started to implement.

While the story itself is familiar, the characters are all well-written and well-voiced, especially in the latter half of the game. Dialogue choices are everywhere, including a major increase in the skill checks and perk-required options that are truly punishing if you cannot complete them.

"When you’re out in the world, gunplay and exploration are king."

There are frequently dialogue options that require information you’ve discovered in terminals or through other conversations that can completely de-escalate a conflict or change someone’s opinions, and it’s one of the more rewarding aspects of the game to successfully talk your way through a conflict without violence. With that said, I’m also intrigued by the paths and choices I missed and am excited to return for another playthrough to see how things play out in another path, especially with some of the completely opposite skills or traits selected.

When you’re out in the world, gunplay and exploration are king, and they are both drastically improved over the first game. Guns are weighty and satisfying to use with a significantly larger variety of weapon types, ammo types, and general weapon feel, and you’re inevitably going to find a couple of weapons that stick, like my shock cannon and my trusty revolver.

Gunplay works in coordination with your gadgets, which include the returning Tactical Time Dilation Gadget as well as new ones like the N-Ray vision goggles that let you see through walls and the Deflection Apparatus that puts up a temporary shield around you. The gadgets aren’t game-changing and definitely still feel like a vestige of the Fallout days, but as a wrinkle in an otherwise expansive game, these give you another reason to try everything out and feel what sticks.

Outside of combat, your exploration rounds out the experience soundly. Environments are large, beautiful, and aesthetically diverse, from the bright plants and colors of Eden to the dark and mysterious land of Praetor. There are certainly occasions where stray houses will just have a few coins and a chest, but more frequently this time, there are tons of side quests and other rewards lying around.

"I never found myself bored while trekking or even backtracking through any of the planets."

You can walk into a house to find a note that mentions a potential quest, which you can then take to a town and have a full questline open up, or sometimes you’ll find scripted events happening that are either funny in themselves or lead to another entire quest. I never found myself bored while trekking or even backtracking through any of the planets because I was always on the lookout for something new and interesting, and it felt like the game always delivered.

The Outer Worlds 2 is a landmark sequel and It takes everything from many of the hallmarks of other games in the genre, and improves virtually everything across the board. Though some improvements are more incremental, but things like the Flaws system and the expansive dialogue options, as well as the much improved gunplay, feel like major steps forward.

Arcadia features some beautiful, open landscapes and some of the funniest, most interesting characters we’ve seen in some time, and the combat and exploration are some of the best in the genre. It’s among the best western RPGs in the past few years and firmly places the franchise as one of the best in the business.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox Series X.

Of course, developer Arrowhead Studios delivered on that challenge and then some, and the game has now broken sales records for PlayStation. Now on Xbox, Helldivers 2 represents a landmark moment for PlayStation Studios games published on Microsoft’s platform, and it remains one of the industry’s premier live service multiplayer games for its endlessly satisfying combat and quick but impactful mission structure.

"Those moments of chaos and confusion make for some of Helldivers 2’s most memorable moments, though."

If you’re new to Super Earth, Helldivers 2 is an online-only shooter where you and up to 3 other Helldivers in your squad drop onto various planets throughout the galaxy to fight enemy factions and complete missions for the sake of spreading Managed Democracy and repelling the galaxy-wide invasion from the major enemy factions.

After a quick but worthwhile tutorial where you’re introduced to basic mechanics as well as the game’s relentless tongue-in-cheek tone and hilarious propaganda, you’re dropped right into the Galactic War as a reinforcement for Super Earth. And you’ll do that over and over again, not just because your Helldiver will die many times in the name of Liberty (although that will happen too), but also because the game gets its hooks in you quickly and never lets go.

Each mission you complete for Super Earth is a small part in a larger Galactic War against the enemy factions of the Terminids, Automatons, and Illuminate. Missions of you doing things like finding and killing a certain number or type of enemies, destroying specific buildings, and erecting the Super Earth flag in key enemy territory, and they all end with an extraction sequence that requires you to defend your ship’s landing area. While they may sound complicated, limits missions usually to 40 minutes and guides you well with the mini-map, allows you to focus on getting to your target location and finding enemies to kill.

And there definitely are a lot of enemies to kill, both in number and in type. Across each planet, there are larger community-wide events going on that each mission contributes to, adding just a little bit of progress in the war against bugs and machines.

As you look across the galaxy at ongoing campaigns and future missions, you can see over time how much progress the community has made, and it gives an overarching weight to every mission that feels like progress even if you didn’t perform as well as others in your squad. While these do feel like the closest thing to a true narrative campaign that Helldivers 2 has, they allow you to see overarching progression without taking you away from helldiving for too long.

"Your ship comes in handy between missions as well, allowing you to travel between planets and prepare for your next mission."

It’s understandable that they’d want to keep you in the action, because being on the ground spreading Managed Democracy is where this game really shines. There are tons of different enemy types that you can fight within each faction that build in size and power over time. From grunt-like Terminid Scavengers to mech-like Automaton Hulks, you and your squad have a lot to fight across every mission, but you also have a lot of weapons to use against them.

For starters, gunplay feels great. It’s simple and responsive without feeling too easy, and expressive enemy animations make every shot feel extra weighty. On top of a trove of different guns and explosives you can unlock, you can also use your ship to provide different Stratagems for you in battle. Alongside universal needs like Reinforce and Resupply, you can also choose additional Stratagems for each mission that allow for new weapons, deployable mechs and turrets, or direct airstrikes on certain areas. The sheer number of possibilities with different weapons and Stratagems make every mission feel different and chaotic, where there can be explosions and gunfire coming from every angle and you get split up from your squadmates.

Those moments of chaos and confusion make for some of Helldivers 2’s most memorable moments, though. The environments are beautiful and diverse, allowing for tons of creativity with weapons and strategies, and it’s always just as fun to see what’s happening as it is to play it. Plus, friendly fire is on, and the game does a great job at making you feel powerful yet expendable, so it can often be beneficial to create chaos that may very well kill you or a teammate.

Sadly, this does mean is that the game is almost always more fun to play with friends than solo because there’s more of a chance to create those types of chaotic memories, and while the game’s performance has definitely improved over the last year and a half, it still has a tendency to stutter when chaos ensues with a full squad. But at the end of the day, whether solo or together, Managed Democracy always comes out ahead, and it’s that feeling that you have a slight edge in battle and that anything could happen that keeps you coming back for one more mission.

Your ship comes in handy between missions as well, allowing you to travel between planets and prepare for your next mission. It’s customizable and expandable over time to allow for more Stratagems and weapons, and you’re often sent reminders and other humorous propaganda from Super Earth. It would be easy to make a game about an ongoing invasion by enemy forces trying to destroy democracy feel dreadful and overwhelming, but this keeps it light and fun across the board.

"Helldivers 2 continues to build on its unexpected success with its launch on Xbox, and it’s a better time than ever to jump into the Galactic War and spread Managed Democracy."

Where much of the weapon and cosmetic diversity comes in, though, is in the Warbonds: the in-game battle passes that unlock both new types of weapons and special armor, emotes, and capes. While Helldivers 2 originally launched with just 2, there are now 17 by my count, which typically cost 1,000 Super Credits, save for the lone free Warbond and the “Legendary” Halo ODST crossover that costs 1,500 Super Credits.

There are some opportunities to gather Super Credits in the free Warbond and across other channels, but you can also buy exactly 1,000 Super Credits in the store for $10, on top of the $40 price tag. These luckily aren’t pay-to-win bundles and certainly focus more on cosmetics than weapons, but it’s definitely disheartening to see what is at this point the majority of content locked behind unnecessary microtransactions.

Helldivers 2 continues to build on its unexpected success with its launch on Xbox, and it’s a better time than ever to jump into the Galactic War and spread Managed Democracy. Even though it may be an overwhelming amount of content for solo players and newcomers, especially with its Warbonds, this is the type of multiplayer shooter that makes me want to continue progressing long past the point where I unlock every Stratagem or without purchasing a new battle pass.

It makes every mission quick and to the point, and the chaos that happens within the mission that you and your squad create for yourselves is always enjoyable, especially combined with the over-the-top propaganda coming from Super Earth. Helldivers 2 makes it as fun as possible to send in bombs and rain down bullets on hordes of bugs and robots, and it’s about time we get back to the Galactic War and continue fighting for Liberty.

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.

With the updated “Out of Bounds” MyCareer mode and some significant gameplay improvements, 2K26 has made some great steps forward and streamlined many of its systems, though it’s hard to ignore the pervasive microtransactions that feel built into every mode.

"Rival players in particular frequently appear right before the game in which you face them, forcing you to frequently prioritize outplaying them over winning the game."

2K’s MyCareer always holds the bulk of new content, and it returns this time to having a scripted narrative in the “Out of Bounds” mode. 2K has always had beautiful visuals and high production value stories being told, and this is no different, taking the player-character, who you can name but is always referred to as “MP,” through a season of high school club basketball and a season of European league basketball.

MP is an outspoken content creator documenting his path toward his dream of playing in the NBA, and the short-form videos he creates throughout the story give a surprisingly well-written snapshot of his psyche along the way, especially as he makes a few key decisions, including where to play club ball and which European team to sign with. Aside from those choices, though, the narrative is a linear sequence of a handful of games in each season, attempting to outplay your competition to show that you belong at the next level.

Where Out of Bounds excels, though, is in how it tries to weave the narrative and gameplay together between games with fully written and voiced cutscenes that show MP’s life off the court in ways that make 2K26’s MyCareer feel special and uniquely memorable for the first time in years. The narrative isn’t groundbreaking, especially for a 2K story, but it more than ever links what happens in the cutscenes to your goals, outcomes, and restrictions for each game.

MP spends most of his time with his parents or agent trying to navigate life as an up-and-coming basketball and social media star, but it’s a memorable larger set of characters that includes rival players, coaches, and media figures that make this story click. Rival players in particular frequently appear right before the game in which you face them, forcing you to frequently prioritize outplaying them over winning the game, and it culminates in surprisingly genuine scenes when you see each of your rivals at the European league All-Star Game.

"There’s virtually every type of basketball you could hope to play here, whether it’s pickup, competitive, or professional, and I appreciate how much there is to offer across each type of playstyle."

At the same time, Out of Bounds often gets more right in theory than in execution. It frequently falls into the classic 2K trap of rushing the story to get to the next game as quickly as possible, which amplifies the inevitable narrative tension in MP chasing his dream that we all know he’s going to achieve at the end.

When he does achieve that, though, it feels like he’s earned it, and as I’ve continued to play into his NBA career with the Wizards, it’s very rewarding to see occasional follow-up cutscenes with his parents, agent, or documentary crew as he looks to become the GOAT. Plus, I’m looking forward to replaying the story with a new player build and a new MP to make different choices.

NBA 2K26 cleverly builds its MyCareer into its online social platform with The Park. If you exit the arena for the MyCareer mode, you can take your MP and enter this year’s version of The Park, which is more efficiently laid out than ever, giving you access to the casual courts, competitive online play, and a litany of branded cosmetics shops.

There’s virtually every type of basketball you could hope to play here, whether it’s pickup, competitive, or professional, and I appreciate how much there is to offer across each type of playstyle. It further embraces the mindset of giving you as many modes and opportunities to play as possible and allowing you to pick which ones you prefer, and it’s often fun enough to just skateboard around The Park for some idle people watching.

"Every player, whether in MyCareer, MyTeam, MyNBA, or The W, can be customized with individual cosmetic items, badges, and perks, and these can all make the possession-to-possession gameplay of 2K diversified and enjoyable, depending on their performance."

Of course, the other major mode 2K has to offer each year is MyTeam, the card collecting team builder, though the biggest change this year is the inclusion of current and former WNBA players. As with past years, the main appeal of MyTeam is to collect cards and build your team, and there are dozens of different modes through which to play with your team, from individual games and missions to season-long challenges.

While that remains true, there’s very little here that caters to anyone who isn’t already interested in MyTeam from past years. While 2K is known for its litany of modes, from the more specialized MyCareer and MyTeam to traditional MyGM and MyNBA modes, it’s disappointing that these two modes hold the vast majority of this year’s updates, as the only notable update elsewhere is the limited “Offseason Scenarios” MyGM option.

Regardless of mode, the on-the-court gameplay feels like it’s taken a step forward in 2K26, whether you’re a 60-something-overall benchwarmer or a 90-something-overall superstar. First and foremost is the improved shot timing, which goes back to basics with a universal “Green or Miss” meter to more accurately mimic the actual act of shooting with consistent timing and a green zone that grows and shrinks with how open and balanced you are.

Combined with tangibly smoother shooting and dribbling animations, playmaking and scoring are as rewarding as they’ve been in recent years. Each play has an added weight that I haven’t felt in 2K in years, further improved by the GOAT mode abilities and other in-game changes that integrate a player’s streakiness and confidence. Every player, whether in MyCareer, MyTeam, MyNBA, or The W, can be customized with individual cosmetic items, badges, and perks, and these can all make the possession-to-possession gameplay of 2K diversified and enjoyable, depending on their performance.

What’s apparent with NBA 2K26, though, is how all of these cosmetics and micro-upgrades feed a system of microtransactions that actively detract from the gameplay. With 2K’s VC currency, you can purchase stat upgrades, new card packs in MyTeam, or cosmetics for your MP, and it’s approaching a stereotypical free-to-play pace with how comically slowly you gain VC compared to how quickly you can purchase it.

"However, as has become routine with each 2K game, the entire package, as polished and expansive as it is, requires a significant investment of either time or money in the form of microtransactions."

Of course, you are technically able to progress without purchasing any VC, but alongside the barrage of advertisements that continues to increase year over year, it begs the question whether 2K26 is worth the $70 entry fee on top of the financial or time investment needed to get to a competitive place with your players or teams.

The NBA 2K franchise is an unstoppable force in the sports gaming world, and each year’s entry seems to only move the needle up or down a few degrees. From a gameplay perspective, NBA 2K26 is a significant step forward with its smooth and simplistic style that feels as good as ever, and the attempts to streamline and expand MyCareer with the Out of Bounds mode are a major step forward and a great sign of things to come for the mode.

However, as has become routine with each 2K game, the entire package, as polished and expansive as it is, requires a significant investment of either time or money in the form of microtransactions; if you can overlook that, though that may be a tall task, this is 2K at its smoothest and most streamlined in years.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStatiom 5.

It proved to have a deep, rich setting powered by cinematic visuals and standout performances across the main cast, complemented by a masterful character action gameplay system that encourages experimentation, rewards precision, and provides spectacular feedback. Now, two years on from launch, Final Fantasy XVI finally makes the transition to Xbox after a shadow drop at the Xbox Games Showcase, and while the game itself is largely unchanged in its transition, coming to a new platform just means that more people can now play a genre-defining character action game.

"Two years on from launch, Final Fantasy XVI finally makes the transition to Xbox after a shadow drop at the Xbox Games Showcase."

In keeping with the genre’s tradition, Final Fantasy XVI’s main campaign is a grand fantasy epic with many thematic parallels to real-world issues. Here, in the kingdom of Valisthea, magic is supplied by towering mothercrystals and harnessed by so-called Bearers, who have largely been enslaved across the kingdom to use their magic for political purposes.

As the mothercrystals’ power dwindles, causing Blight to grow across Valisthea, a kingdom-wide battle for power, magic, and freedom ensues. Valisthea and its regions, shine thanks to its different leaders, and conflicts. Rulers make brash and questionable decisions rooted in their own flaws, and you are exposed to countless of this world’s most powerful people and get to experience why they make their decisions and how they reckon with them as they watch the consequences unfold.

Complicating the setting further is the existence of Eikons, massive magical beings that harness standard elemental powers, including Eikons of Fire, Wind, Lightning, and so on. These Eikons live inside of individual people, known as Dominants, who can summon these Eikons and harness their power for their own sake.

Many political or royal leaders in this world are Dominants, and the game begins on the night of the death of the Phoenix, the Eikon of Fire whose dominant, Joshua Rosfield, is the son of royalty in the country of Rosaria and the brother of the playable character, Clive Rosfield, as played by Ben Starr. Clive, who is originally only a Bearer, is enslaved after this incident until finding freedom 13 years later, where he discovers another Eikon of Fire and his ability to harness the power of multiple Eikons.

"Rarely does Final Fantasy XVI feel like it’s dragging out its runtime."

Thematically, the game covers issues like systemic oppression, racism, and power imbalances, and while it isn’t always the most subversive or tactful on the more difficult topics, the sheer ambition of its scale and the consistency in its performances make it one of the most impressive video game settings in recent memory. It constantly hits you with gut punches of revelations or major new events, and it somehow makes everything feel approachable and understandable.

Rarely does Final Fantasy XVI feel like it’s dragging out its runtime, because even when you are on smaller, lower-stakes main missions, you’re finding new opportunities to meet interesting characters, like Cid or Jill, or explore beautiful and often-decrepit landscapes. And when things do start to ramp up, the game finds ways to consistently raise the stakes visually, which culminates in an incredibly memorable third act that contains some of the most stunning gaming moments in recent memory.  

Even if a bit long-winded, the setting is well-paced and well-told, and it gives you ample resources to understand the lore and plot in this world. Its main innovation is Active Time Lore, which allows you to pause the game at almost any point in the world or in cutscenes to learn about the main characters or settings in the scene.

Additionally, when you go back to the Hideaway that acts as your home base, you can see fully-detailed descriptions of past events before and during the game to either fill in your understanding of the lore or get back up to speed if you missed something. It’s a small but revelatory addition that games have already started to mirror in the years since and still should serve as the model for how games can recount their lore. If you do want more than the main campaign, too, you can also explore around Valisthea and take on side quests or bounties in ways similar to other games, though with less freedom than in, say, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. While these give you a chance to continue exploring or battling, these often come across as relatively run-of-the-mill, with content that usually doesn’t amount to more than fetch quests or bounties that feel like they were relegated away from the main campaign.

"The most effective part of Final Fantasy XVI’s battle system is how it rewards you for finding new ways to string together attacks or other moves to ensure there’s never a dull moment."

Where Final Fantasy XVI foundationally differs from its counterparts is in its combat, basically its impressive real-time character action system. As Clive, you have traditional sword attacks and ranged magic attacks, but your ability to harness multiple Eikons allows you to equip special abilities from up to three Eikons at a time, giving you an arsenal of powerful attacks that can focus on one enemy or take down groups of them at a time.

The most effective part of Final Fantasy XVI’s battle system is how it rewards you for finding new ways to string together attacks or other moves to ensure there’s never a dull moment. More so than many other games with class- or job-based gameplay systems, I found myself looking actively for ways to make my Eikon abilities better interact with each other, finding the most optimal combinations of abilities to make sure I’m maximizing damage and not having to wait for too many abilities to cool down at once. You can also power up your standard attacks, dodge, or use one of a handful of movement abilities that allow you to keep moving and acting even while your attacks are cooling down or you’re waiting for the best moment to strike.

Empowering this is the stagger mechanic, which XVI brings over from past games in the genre. Staggered enemies are susceptible to all-out attacks from you and your allies, and a multiplier builds to increase the damage of any attacks on enemies until they get back up. Getting enemies into this state is inevitable and vital, so it naturally encourages you to master your arsenal and know the correct sequencing of attacks to maximize damage. Over the course of 40 hours, not only does it never get old to learn new attacks and figure out your favorites, but it becomes an almost musical experience when you execute everything perfectly.

While Final Fantasy XVI’s combat may lack the depth seen in some other games, it makes up for it with stunning visuals and satisfying feedback that set it apart from similar titles. Every attack, from the swing of a sword to the most powerful Eikon attack, feels incredibly satisfying to hit, with beautiful visual flair and surprisingly effective controller feedback.

When you reach the latter half of the game and the stakes truly ramp up, the visuals only further amplify how fun and effective the combat feels, especially as you reach some of the major boss battles that are the stars of the show. Without spoiling anything, boss battles are often brilliant and epic at massive physical scale, and the game does a phenomenal job at keeping you aware of what’s going on and engaged in the conflict. It doesn’t step in for scripted moments too frequently, and even when it does, I can usually forgive the QTEs for how slick and stylish they look.

"The best part about Final Fantasy XVI being on Xbox is that more people can now play a genre-defining character action game."

The only real drawback of the transition to a character action system is that combat can sometimes be too easy on standard difficulty. Once you get the hang of it, it’s not overly difficult to perform precision dodges, which negate all damage, and there are a few moments where the game takes over to emphasize the spectacle. Additionally, the fact that your potions and consumables fully replenish at each respawn means that death often feels like a reward, and it meant that I rarely had to fight a boss more than twice. Of course, higher difficulties and New Game + are available for those who want it, though, and they offer new reasons to come back and play through the game again.               

The best part about Final Fantasy XVI being on Xbox is that more people can now play a genre-defining character action game. While it differs from its counterparts in its gameplay, it brings a masterful character action system to the table that creates remarkably enjoyable and satisfying gameplay that encourages you to keep trying new things and ensure there’s never a dull moment.

Its setting, too, is an ambitious, thoughtful tale about human rights and systemic societal issues that gives players a huge slate of dark fantasy lore and world-building and sprinkles in some of the genre’s idiosyncrasies on top. It’s all pulled together by an incredible visual spectacle that constantly engages you and continues to one-up itself at every turn and amplifies every moment. Whether you’re a fan of the genre or of action games in general, Final Fantasy XVI embodies the best of its influences and remains a strong recommendation as one of the best action games of the generation.

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.

While it doesn’t always stray from its influences and is littered with technical issues big and small that frequently took me out of the experience, The Fall of Avalon brings its perilous world to life beautifully, with an impactful story and an expansive open world that show incredible potential for this world and genre.

"The main campaign consists of a dozen or so missions, but it encourages you to explore and get stronger on your own between missions, both explicitly and by the fact that you will likely get pummeled by the first enemy you see in the next mission."

But while the franchise is new to games, its systems are heavily inspired by existing, successful games, and it wears its influences squarely on its sleeve. The most notable is The Elder Scrolls, as the opening sequence could have been picked directly from a Scrolls game. You awaken as an unnamed prisoner in a jail cell you meet a mysterious figure who helps you escape and find out that you are a chosen one. In this case, you happen to house part of the soul of the long-dead King Arthur, and it’s your quest to collect the remainder of his soul from across the world of Avalon. It’s from here that you’re sent out into the open world to continue along that quest while finding tons of side quests, bounties, and errands to complete in the meantime.

Narratively, The Fall of Avalon’s biggest strength is its characters, all of whom are well-written and well-acted. Your ability to talk to King Arthur and hear his perspectives gives a unique spin on a relatively familiar story, and most other characters, from Merlin to a generic shopkeep, will leave you with a memorable one-liner or story. The cast brings you deeper into the world and makes you want to learn more about what’s familiar in this version of the story and what’s changed, and even with the traditional deadpan stares these NPCs can have, they bring key moments to life. The visuals are less enticing and look somewhat dated, although cutscenes are

"From a gameplay perspective, The Fall of Avalon is an unbridled western RPG that’s most similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. "

There are a few shocking moments that were direct results of my decisions, and it’s clear where you can have a major impact on the outcome of the world and its characters, such as a moment where I had to decide whether or not to carry about an assassination. By the end, the campaign isn’t revolutionary, especially for a game in this genre, but there are some exciting moments and a lot of potential replayability that I’m excited to explore.

From a gameplay perspective, The Fall of Avalon is an unbridled western RPG that’s most similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. You allocate points to various attributes, such as Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity, and your playstyle determines progress for the underlying stats, such as one-handed and two-handed weapons, light and heavy armor, and agility. There’s a ton to explore and find across the maps, particularly with caves and other dungeons scattered around the world, which give you better weapons, stronger magic, and new quests.

You have a full suite of swords, bows, armor, magic, and other equipment, as well as your special abilities from King Arthur, and the game offers decent flexibility in making each different weapon feel satisfying and throwing different types of enemies at you that test your skills in different ways. both in the story and in the game. It features a full day-night cycle, and some nights become what’s called the Wyrdnight, meaning that a dangerous fog known as the Wyrd comes over the town and summons strong demons that you can either fight or avoid.

Combat feels mostly satisfying, though it’s not always intuitive how to defeat certain enemies, and there are definitely moments where the game’s inherent wonkiness makes it more difficult to tell when an enemy is attacking. I always felt rewarded for exploring or going off the beaten path, though, and the game’s more forgiving encumbrance system and economy made it so that I always felt able to find new and improved gear.

With all of this, this game often feels like a tighter version of a western RPG, but it takes influences elsewhere as well. Primarily, The Fall of Avalon may isn’t impossibly long at 25 hours or so to finish, but its structure gives you much more freedom in your progression.

The main campaign consists of a dozen or so missions, but it encourages you to explore and get stronger on your own between missions, both explicitly and by the fact that you will likely get pummeled by the first enemy you see in the next mission. The difficulty spikes can be sudden, but the fact that there aren’t too many main quests means that they encourage you to explore and see the world at your own pace in order to level up through side quests or dungeons. The overall difficulty ramps up as you approach the end as well, and particular fights can be frustrating, but I never felt like any part of gameplay was unfair.

"Unfortunately, what did mar my experience, and what matched the Elder Scrolls tradition, was the slew of technical issues I encountered playing on PS5."

A day-one patch reportedly has smoothed out some of these issues, but it’s disappointing to see a game in Early Access for so long come out with these types of issues. Technical issues aside, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon puts the AA spin on the classic formula of The Elder Scrolls, with its own twists and unique aspects. There is so much to do across the world of Avalon to learn about the dark history of King Arthur and everyone that surrounded him, and the overall narrative is surprisingly engaging for this setting. The freedom offered in gameplay is a refreshing touch that allows you freedom to see and explore the world and fight some terrifying enemies. While technical issues plague the experience, what’s underneath is an incredibly ambitious and generally well-executed transition into games for the Tainted Grail franchise, and it’s an exciting vision for what this franchise and genre can be. 

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.