But don’t let this fool you into thinking that the gameplay hasn’t evolved. If anything, E-Day is the most ambitious title in the series yet, with its sweeping changes. Join us as we delve into the 15 biggest differences between it and Gears 5, starting with…

Prequel vs Sequel

Gears 5 took the story forward in some interesting ways, but Gears of War: E-Day serves as a prequel, unfolding on and immediately after Emergence Day. Of course, these represent more than narrative approaches, since the latter is a return to the series’ more horror-oriented roots as opposed to the action-adventure approach of the former (which is what led to shortening the name to just “Gears” in the first place).

World Design

E-Day has some side content to pursue, and according to previews, there will be a sandbox-like approach in places where you’re free to explore, tackling side objectives for different rewards. Comparatively, Gears 5 is a semi-open-world title, where Kat explores large spaces using a Skiff and can complete side quests. While there are plenty of linear sequences, and you can focus entirely on the story, Skiff travel is pretty much mandatory in several places. Meanwhile in E-Day, Marcus and Bravo Squad travel primarily on foot (vehicles in cutscenes notwithstanding).

Kalona vs. Multiple Regions

From Azura to the snow-covered Kadar and the desert of Vasgar, Gears 5 had such sights to show fans, which only added to its semi-open-world approach. And while Kalona has its share of tourist spots in E-Day, it’s the only place that you’ll be fighting in throughout the story, mirroring the first Gears of War and its focus on urban warfare.

Play as Any Bravo Squad Member

Aside from a brief stint as JD Fenix, you controlled Kait throughout Gears 5’s story. While Marcus and Dom are clearly the headliners of E-Day, especially since the narrative explores their developing brotherhood after the Pendulum Wars, you can play as any member of Bravo Squad throughout the campaign. That includes the veteran Mags Carter and rookie Lucas Reyes.

JACK’s Presence (or Lack Thereof)

JACK, the robot companion who mostly stuck with Delta Squad through the original trilogy, played a pretty significant role in Gears 5. He offered a wide variety of abilities for Kait to unleash, and by venturing off the beaten path, you could upgrade him in different ways. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to play a similar role in E-Day, and at this point, it’s unknown whether he even appears in the story.

Split-Screen

Also somewhat unfortunate is the change to split-screen player support. While Gears 5 supported three players in co-op on a single screen, Gears of War: E-Day limits this to two players for the campaign. You can still play with up to three others through online co-op, not to mention the number of players in Horde Siege.

Movement

Sliding is officially in the franchise with E-Day, opening up more options for closing the distance on enemies in PvE and PvP. The Coalition also added jumping, though it’s more situational and applies to areas where you can flank for an advantage. Gears 5 had neither of these, sticking to the more traditional movement system – including the Roadie Run, which is also revamped in E-Day.

No More Wall-Bouncing

Of course, with these movement changes comes the removal of a major facet of the franchise until now: Wall-bouncing. Unlike in Gears 5, you can no longer chain wall-bounces to rapidly move from cover to cover, quickly closing the distance on an opponent with a Gnasher. Wall-cancelling is still possible, but The Coalition states that it won’t be like past games.

Low Cover

For a series that’s always been about strategic usage of cover, it’s amazing that it’s taken this long for Gears to evolve the formula. While Gears 5 stuck to tradition, E-Day introduces low cover, opening up the tactical options in a firefight. The disadvantages have yet to be clearly detailed, but it certainly adds to the realism.

Weapons

While they share some weapons, like the Gnasher, Retro Lancer and Longshot, E-Day mixes things up with the new Prototype Lancer. And unlike Gears 5, the chainsaw bayonet won’t be available from the outset – you’ll effectively play through humanity developing it, leading up to that satisfying first kill. Of course, there are also new weapons which haven’t been seen in previous titles, including the Ripper LMG, the Incinerator shotgun, the Gut Puncher grenade launcher, and more.

Active Reload Changes

Another mechanic Gears pioneered is Active Reload, where a properly timed button press was the difference between damage bonuses for your magazine and a longer reload time. Gears 5 didn’t change the core mechanic, but with E-Day, The Coalition made some concessions, like being able to reload individual shells in the Gnasher. This means you can now cancel the process early and start blasting (though the shotgun now holds fewer shells for balancing purposes).

Weapon Mods

Then there’s the weapon modding system, introduced in Gears of War: E-Day, that allows you to modify your arsenal. There are four slots in total, and they’ll change up a weapon in different ways, like Auto Pouch for reloading the Gnasher when it’s stowed. Mods are only available in the campaign and Horde Siege, not 4v4 Versus (for obvious reasons).

Horde Siege vs Horde

A long-running staple since Gears of War 2, Horde has seen some significant changes from Gears 5 to E-Day. For starters, instead of multiple classes under four main categories, there are now only four. And while you can play Classic Horde, holding out against waves in a singular spot, E-Day’s Horde Siege revamps the mode to support up to 12 players across three squads. Each is completing different objectives on a much larger map but can intersect at different points, like supply drops. In terms of scale, it’s definitely the most ambitious version of the mode yet.

Hardware-Based vs. Software-Driven Ray Tracing

When it first released, Gears 5 didn’t feature any ray tracing – it was only with the Xbox Series X’s launch that The Coalition added software-driven ray-traced shadows and lighting. Don’t get us wrong – the results were spectacular and all – but Gears of War: E-Day is a different beast entirely, built from the ground up with hardware-based ray tracing in mind (even incorporating RTX Mega Geometry). A GPU capable of ray tracing is pretty much mandatory to play on PC, but based on the beta, it’s more or less worth it.

Cosmetics and No More Tour of Duty

Gears 5 was one of many titles to adopt the Battle Pass trend back in the day, though Tour of Duty differed because it was free. The problem is that it was still a grind, and cosmetics cost a bomb. It wasn’t until the introduction of Gears Coins that players had some agency to unlock items without spending real money. E-Day simplifies this further – no Tour of Duty or Battle Passes. Nearly everything can be earned by playing the game, whether it’s completing challenges or spending Coins earned from completing online matches in Versus and Horde Siege. The only items that cost premium currency, i.e. Iron, are the Seasonal Customisation Packs, collaboration items and charity bundles. As far as streamlining and removing any sense of FOMO, especially since seasonal and event items will be added to the Barracks for purchasing later with Coins or Iron, it’s a massive improvement.

See, nighttime Coen’s supernatural traversal skills transform how physical spaces can be approached. The game encourages you, of course, with objectives nestled above street level. A light leaking out of an open balcony becomes an invitation for investigation. Inside, you might find evidence of its former inhabitants who’ve fled the Vale’s authoritarian vampire overlord, or simply another weathered sword to add to your inventory. Point is, whilst you might find curios to follow during the daytime, it’s only at nighttime that the inaccessible become possible.

The Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t make exploration addictive simply by scattering more things across its map. An icon appearing at roof level isn’t transformative on its own. What Coen’s dichotomy unveils, instead, is two maps which occupy the same space. Vale Sangora is effectively two places, layered over one another.

And, sticking with Svartrau, if this city is essentially two places, then there are two ways of reading the world. Human Coen, for instance, is socially capable, with NPCs – especially the occupying soldiers – reacting calmly to his presence. Certain interactions, quests, and opportunities are available, whereas these encounters dissipate in the dead of night. Because of this, vampire Coen operates to a different set of rules. His supernatural abilities allow him to approach physical spaces differently. Those soldiers might not immediately treat him with hostility, although if he’s spotted using his vampiric traversal, they’ll attack. They recognise Coen as the figure of darkness they’ve been told to look out for.

Admittedly, The Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t push the world’s suspicious view of Coen as far as it perhaps should – he can, in large part, wander through villages in vampiric form unchallenged – but it still serves a counterpoint to the wariness of Coen’s blood-sucking tendencies. That is: stealth, subterfuge, and the good-old joy of sneaking around. If you’re a spectre of the night, why not act like one, right? Stick to the darkness, vault over rooftops, Shadowstep to your heart’s content. Neither version of Coen is better than the other, but his vampire form certainly expands the possibilities for traversal within the same geography.

In another game, a wall that seemed impossible to scale, an out of reach platform, or a blocked-off route might suggest gate design. The moment would be planted in your head: I’ll come back to this later when I have the right ability.

Dawnwalker creates almost the exact same feeling, except there’s no need to find a Double Jump. The alternative toolset is already in your possession. You simply need to come back at night. And, this distinction is crucial, as playing as daytime Coen can lead to certain spaces and situations that are closed off by his physical limitations. However, his ability to interact normally with the people of Vale Sangora can open doors that are otherwise shut to his vampiric counterpart, like accessing a blacksmith to check in on the person he rescued previously. Switch to vampire Coen, however, and the rules governing space change. His supernatural abilities are more than combat tricks; they can drastically alter how the game’s design feels.

Suddenly, every building becomes a question: can I reach the top as a vampire? You discover this at nearly every outcrop you reach throughout Vale Sangora, where at night, for instance, Coen has the option to surprise a stronghold of resting soldiers by scaling the crumbling tower behind their base. If it were daytime, your only option, really, is to waltz through the front door. You can still catch the battalion off guard, but swooping in from above, and perhaps silently picking a handful off first, feels much more gratifying.

Missions like these showcase Dawnwalker’s surprising pull. During my playthrough, as human Coen I encountered a particularly well-guarded fortress. Luckily, day soon switched to night, meaning vampire Coen could stylishly break his way in. It made me wonder how I’d have gotten inside if the situation had been reversed. And, more importantly, if there are any other locations that might contain the same unseen possibilities that I’d not been able to see in the inverse form.

Anyway, the point is this: The Blood of Dawnwalker doesn’t necessarily explain to you when you’ve discovered something inaccessible to Coen’s counter form. Instead, you can leave a location with the nagging suspicion that you’ve only experienced one interpretation of it. If I had to return later, it could lead to testing a different version of Coen against the same problem.

These trains of thought extend beyond traversal, too. An NPC who gives little to human Coen might have an entirely different interaction waiting at night. Likewise, a situation resolved could take on a new possibility if approached from the other side of Coen’s existence. Again, the geography hasn’t changed, but the mindset has.

If nothing else, The Blood of Dawnwalker provides a clever twist on familiar exploration loops. Going back to exploration, these games condition us to remember places we couldn’t reach, trusting that a future version of us will make them accessible. Dawnwalker, instead, makes us wonder whether we arrived at a location in the wrong form.

This kind of curiosity feels potent throughout. Expanding the conversation to traditional open worlds, the structure in these games, typically, makes mysteries explicit. Map markers appear, objectives tell you where to go, and once the diversion is resolved, that’s it. In Dawnwalker, you might leave a location fully explored, yet wonder if you’ve seen everything. This idea is why Vale Sangora doesn’t feel like a single open-world map, but more like two overlapping interpretations. And, in case you’re wondering, The Blood of Dawnwalker is designed explicitly to be this way.

The human world is shaped by Coen’s ability to communicate, negotiate, and interact with its inhabitants, while the vampire world changes where he can physically reach. Svartrau’s streets never move, but their secrets do. That’s why revisiting somewhere doesn’t feel like backtracking. Indeed, my first excursion into Svartrau was during the night, and an objective took me outside of the city before dawn. Yet, I was compelled to return, not just to pick up another quest but to test what happened when I saw the same place through a different lens.

And this is why The Blood of Dawnwalker’s exploration is addicting. Vale Sangora is one physical place, sure, but there are two fundamentally different experiences to be had. Crucially, too, the game doesn’t lock these possibilities behind ability gates. You’re given the tools before you’ve even ventured out of Coen’s home village. What the game provides, instead, is the promise of deferred discovery. In most open worlds, revisiting somewhere means simply going back. In Dawnwalker, it can mean seeing it for the first time again.

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters makes some changes here and there, with some notable gameplay improvements making for more enjoyable on-pitch action, but at the same time, suffers from much of the flaws as its predecessor, and in frustratingly similar ways. The end result? An arcade-y football game that is undeniably fun (if somewhat repetitive)- other than when it’s getting in its own way, which Captain Tsubasa 2 does often.

"The end result? An arcade-y football game that is undeniably fun (if somewhat repetitive)- other than when it’s getting in its own way"

The game’s main draw is its story mode, which sees players stepping into the shoes of a custom avatar character as you follow along with a story based on the Captain Tsubasa manga’s World Youth arc, which begins with Tsubasa looking to secure a foothold as a pro in Brazilian football. Several new characters are introduced, while plenty from the first game return as well- though much like the first game, the story mode’s insistence on focusing on the narrative aspects ends up being one of its biggest flaws for multiple reasons.

But let’s focus on the good stuff first, that being the on-pitch action itself. When Captain Tsubasa 2 allows you to take to the field, that’s when it is really at its absolute best. Its charmingly over the top brand of football gameplay is unlike anything else out there, and combines flare and mechanics in a compelling concoction. It eschews even basics of football realism that would have you worrying over tactics and figuring out the best moments for a tackle, or that the perfect through ball, or that one cross that breaks the opposing defense. Instead, it places all of its focus on high octane, offensive action, where your goal is to keep dribbling past opponents, winning the ball back as quickly as you lose it, and assaulting opposing goalkeepers with endless barrages of shots.

"Several improvements to the on-field mechanics also improve the action over the first game"

There’s something immensely and immediately fun about pulling off the perfect dribble past an incoming foe, or snatching the ball away from an attacker that’s about to let loose on your goal, or, of course, pulling off a successful shot that finds its way into the opposing team’s net. Mechanics such as Max Actions and Super Moves also add mechanical layers, while also adding to the over the top moment to moment feel of the gameplay. Several improvements to the on-field mechanics also improve the action over the first game, chief among them being in the goalkeeping department, with goalkeeping actions now requiring quick, reflexive, direction-based actions that determine how effectively you can block an incoming shot.

While Captain Tsubasa 2’s on-pitch action can be a bit frustrating at times in how even otherwise ordinary actions like passing and crossing don’t translate very well to the gameplay here, once you get used to its own unique rhythm and approach to football gameplay – and it definitely can take some getting used to, especially if you didn’t play the first Captain Tsubasa game – you’ll find that there’s plenty of fun to be had in the adrenaline fueled, action packed, insanity-embracing on-field antics on offer here.

At the same time, Captain Tsubasa 2 lacks the mechanical depth and nuance that it needs to stave off repetition. This was an issue with the first game as well, and it seems developer Tamsoft hasn’t found appropriate ways to address it, because Captain Tsubasa 2 is, much like its predecessor, not a very mechanically deep game. As fun as it is when you’re on the pitch, its skill ceiling remains relatively low, which means that given its lack of mechanical depth, it doesn’t take long for repetition to set in. For instance, as fun and varied the super dramatic minicutscenes for various on-pitch actions are, you can only see them so many times before they lose their charm.

The other big issue is that Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t seem to realize that its on-field gameplay is by far its biggest strength. When you’re in story mode, the game has a frustrating habit of keeping you away from the actual good stuff- it insists on hitting you with endless strings of awkward, stilted, poorly written cutscenes, conversations, and what have you. A lot of the optional stuff feels vapid and meaningless, and it feels like you have to make your way through endless story sequences before each match. If the game actually had a good, compelling story, this would be way less of an issue, but Captain Tsubasa 2 is held back by poor writing and characters that are difficult to care for, which only makes things worse.

"Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t seem to realize that its on-field gameplay is by far its biggest strength."

Hell, even when you’re in the middle of a match, Captain Tsubasa 2 finds ways to get in its own way. Often, the game will interrupt the action with overly long stilted narrative scenes and never-ending sequences of dialogue. More than a few times, I found myself going through endless sequences in the middle of an ongoing match and wondering if everyone in the scene had simply forgotten that there was a game going on. All of these were among the first game’s biggest issues as well, so it’s honestly surprising and disappointing to see Captain Tsubasa 2 sticking with its predecessor’s worst tendencies- almost to the point of making those flaws feel even more frustrating.

Outside of the story mode, sadly, Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t have much else on offer. There’s a training mode that has a series of tutorials and lessons for players to go through, as well as a vs mode that lets you play against the CPU, or against other players online in regular or private matches- and that’s about it. Frankly, the lack of even basic options available as far as modes and different ways to play is a little surprising to see. You’d expect a football game to at least offer a few tournament options, if nothing else, but no such options are to be found here. Captain Tsubasa 2 surely does tout a greater number of teams and players than its predecessors, yes, but that only makes its barebones content offerings in terms of modes or gameplay options that much more baffling- why not use what’s already on offer to let players enjoy the game and its mechanics in different ways? Hopefully, Tamsoft and Bandai Namco will add to the game with post launch offerings.

Visually and from a technical perspective, Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is a solid game. The anime aesthetic is as strong as it was in the first game, and from a presentation perspective, the game does an excellent job of bringing the bonkers and gleefully outrageous football setting of the Captain Tsubasa universe to life with its flashy on-pitch gameplay, animations, and cutscenes. There is still some room for improvement though, especially with stadiums looking fairly dead, static, and devoid of the sort of electric atmosphere you would expect from a live football match.

Captain Tsubasa 2 is, overall, an uneven sequel. On one hand, it does offer solid, enjoyable on-pitch football gameplay, and improves on the bombastic, high octane offerings of its predecessor in some minor yet notable ways. At the same time, it’s a game that just keeps getting in its own way, whether that is with its excessive focus on a thoroughly unenjoyable story and set of characters, or with its dearth of content offerings outside of an inconsistent story mode.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

But they’re also noteworthy thanks to being very unafraid to try new ideas, be it with the story or gameplay, to make each title stand out. That’s definitely among the reasons Onimusha continues to command respect even though it’s coming back from two decades of dormancy, with a brand new protagonist in tow.

Of course, you already know that Miyamoto Musashi is definitely an entertaining protagonist, and is also one hell of a swordsman. But what makes his blade sing out so well that it’s a song we keep humming to ourselves when we’re not steering it into the innards of Genma with our controllers? Why do we keep thinking about our last few fights, and what we might have done differently to make a well-earned victory seem more stylish?

We’re diving into all of that and more, so draw your blades and let’s start swinging.

A Capable Warrior

It’s a good idea to begin with the tools Musashi has at his disposal in case you’re here after a little time with the demo and not enough with the full release. If you thought things were easy in the demo, know that it was a slice of the game meant to get you leaning into the various mechanics before the full depth of the combat system opens itself up to you. Of course, that also means that the full force of your foes also gets unleashed, but we’re going to talk about Musashi first.

It’s a stroke of narrative genius to frame him as a samurai on the path to mastery of the blade, since that’s exactly what you’re encouraged to do in Way of the Sword. Your katana isn’t just a deadly tool for killing, but an extension of your fighting philosophy, and a brush with which you paint gruesome yet morbidly beautiful pictures. There’s a lot of potential for player expression, and it begins with the emphasis on using your defensive options as well as you swing your blade.

It’s very satisfying to see a narrative justification work so well to sell the mechanical emphasis on a flow state between attacking and avoiding enemy attacks, and Way of the Sword makes Musashi’s search for mastery a pillar of its combat. It requires nothing but the best swordplay you can produce in any given moment. The intersectionality between its mechanics is a means to produce a spectacle in which you weave between attacks while slicing away at enemies, crossing blades with your enemy with intent instead of merely going through the motions of a simpler combat system.

That Musashi himself is at the center of it all is a huge plus that makes each fight one in which taking even a little damage feels personal. You’re immediately spurred on to see how you could have responded better to it, which then brings a very addictive loop of learning enemy attacks, and then making those moves instinctive in a fight. You know, like training to wield a sword, which is something the man you’re playing has clearly done for a significant part of his life.

Of course, a plethora of options are given to you, but with precision behind their utility and excellent enemy variety thrown into the mix, using it all in the heat of battle becomes a flurry of swings, slashes, dodges, and attacks that soon becomes a medley that you’re just making up as you go along. Think of it as picking up a sick-looking guitar and learning how to play it before you’re just belting out solos to an audience that’s just you. Way of the Sword demands the same dedication of you, and the rewards are just as satisfying to earn.

It isn’t a title that wants you to survive the battles it makes you fight. It wants you to absolutely dominate them. Musashi’s serious about getting better with his sword, and the way that the sentiment is naturally embodied in the fluid combat animations he pulls off is among our favorite parts of playing him. Attack animations cancel into dodges or parries so naturally, while enemy attacks are so readable, responding to them feels like an instinctive effect instead of a calculated button press.

You immediately feel like he’s a warrior who’s kept up with his training, and he’s capable of the speed and precision that the Genma he faces down demands of him, Gauntlet notwithstanding. It’s almost like the game’s systems are doing all they can to encourage you to study your opponent and strive for perfection just as Musashi does.

An enemy attack that you haven’t faced yet is merely an opportunity to get better at a mechanic or two, weaving them into your strategy as you familiarize yourself with a new set of attack patterns, strengths to counter, and weaknesses to exploit. A new fight means you block an attack the first time, your mind already thinking about the perfect moment to trigger a parry or deflect the next time the same attack comes your way before you face it a few times and make an Issen Counter muscle memory.

It’s a combat system that gets you to embody the warrior you’re controlling, making you think tactically and do it fast in situations where split-second decisions can make or break your effort to tear through an opponent’s defences, or perhaps have the tables turned on you if you happen to decide poorly. It makes every fight immediately feel like the stakes are higher for Musashi simply because it isn’t enough to merely wield your blade. Instead, you need to make it an extension of yourself, and your fighting style.

The bow you eventually get becomes another valuable tool in your arsenal, as it can be used to interrupt attacks that are giving you trouble, and perhaps even hit weak points in case you can’t reach them otherwise. It quickly becomes a tool that you use instinctively rather than something you remember to pull out from time to time. It’s a showcase of how Musashi gets many options to bolster his implacable determination to be the best fighter in the land, dealing quite ruthlessly with Genma who wants nothing more than to bring his effort to a premature end.

Worthy Adversaries

Other options like your Break and Reflex Gauges are also at your disposal, and they’re important because they present an interesting undercurrent to the game’s combat system when considered as a part of a bigger picture: it doesn’t want you falling into familiar patterns of attacking and defending, something that can become all too easy in a game like this. And it manages to achieve that goal by using a very important part of the fight: the foes you’re facing.

We’ve already talked about the enemy variety on offer, but it’s equally important to think about how each of those foes comes with unique strengths, weaknesses, and several attack animations for you to remember and learn to respond to in the heat of the fight. They vary those attacks very well, and we’d say the enemy AI is a very important part of what makes this one’s combat as enjoyable as it is.

Let’s also consider that the game throws different combinations of them at you quite consistently, and having to keep track of them all might seem impossible. However, you must remember that this is a combat system that wants to make responding to those attacks feel like it’s second nature to Musashi, and by extension, you. One of our favorite parts of making progress in the game was how taking on an enemy that might have given you trouble a few hours earlier becomes an almost disdainful exercise in dispatching them with clinical efficiency.

Of course, getting there means hours of careful study, and a lot of trial and error in getting the timings right. But with fights that are so tangibly rewarding when you control their flow, as well as the gameplay benefits that you get from fights well done, getting things right is rewarded so well you can’t help but strive for mastery of your blade and knowledge of your foes so you can wield it against them with the best possible strategies and preparation.

It’s important to remember that you’re also encouraged to vary your own attacks. If you’ve fought the Byakue, you already know that it gets a serious buff when it’s covered in its own blood. We wish we’d realized that our light attacks were hastening that process before it got that boost. We paused and marvelled at the myriad ways with which the game was actively pushing us out of our comfort zone, forcing us to change tactics on the fly as soon as we realized what was happening. That was one example of how the game calls you out if you’re on autopilot, forcing you to sit up and pay attention to the enemy in front of you.

Conversely, it’s both aesthetically and practically rewarding to one who does, as Musashi’s upgrades aren’t just an extension of his abilities. Every one of them, and each of your victories, is a reflection of you, and the journey you’ve undertaken to get there. It’s a clever way to make Musashi’s character arc feel like it’s your own, and we’re here for all of it.

That you can enable combat prompts at will to help with learning enemy moves before you feel confident enough to take them is evidence that Way of the Sword wants you to learn every enemy and its moves, and unleash the full force of your skills with the creative liberty its systems offer you. Done right, the visual spectacle of a swordsman tearing through enemies while their blades or claws whiz past him almost as if his very aura deflects their attacks is a reward in and of itself.

It all comes to a head with every boss you meet, the fight soon becoming akin to a song that you’re writing on the fly, your fingers flying away on your controller as if you’re performing a particularly challenging solo, while Musashi lets the magic unfold on the stage. The satisfaction isn’t from bringing those fearsome foes down to zero health. Instead, it’s about making that battle feel like a showcase of your own style, and the skill that Musashi lives and breathes for as he takes on the role of an Onimusha.

A Deadly Dance

At its heart, Onimusha: Way of the Sword makes its combat systems force you to embody the very perfection that Musashi strives for by turning it into a crucial pillar of its combat and progression. You’re encouraged to use every move you have, in different ways based on the situation, and against different enemies who come with their own twists for you to keep in mind.

There’s unpredictability and danger baked into every second you’re holding a drawn blade, but also opportunity packed into it all that it feels like the game’s bursting at the seams with a restless energy that comes from facing life and death on the battlefield. It’s only when you’re in danger of dying that you feel the most alive after all. Musashi understands that, and Way of the Sword has a lovely way of hammering the lesson home.

Now excuse us while we go on another Genma-slaying rampage through Edo-era Kyoto.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

We’ve seen things, both good and bad, in the process, and we can safely say that the tech works very well to make an older title or one with splendid visual fidelity even better, making such titles look substantially more modern and more detailed. However, things get murkier the closer you look, and there’s always the performance cost that the magic it can work would bring.

Well, we put DLSS 5 to work on a beefy setup that includes a Ryzen 7 9850X3D, 64GB of 6000MHz DDR5 RAM, and a 5080 GPU. That gave us a lot of power to play with, and the tech some breathing room to operate in. There were bugs/oddities that are attributable to the mods too, but the experiment was enough to get a good grip on what works and what doesn’t with DLSS 5. Let’s dive right into the games, beginning with:

1. Cyberpunk 2077

A sprawling, first-person open-world title that boasted a lot of detail and some substantial demands on any system, it felt like an obvious choice for our experiment. Wanting to hang out with Johnny Silverhand again might have had something to do with it, of course, but Cyberpunk’s close and personal shots of NPCs you’re in a conversation with are perfect places to see DLSS 5 in action.

Well, that’s just what we did. Getting to the marked location on our map, with all of our settings tuned up to the max, was an already visually astounding experience to begin with, and you might not notice just how much DLSS 5 manages to smooth out details in the open world. We must mention its effect on the game’s lighting systems, though, as it does a great job of creating more natural, authentic reflections and gives a more authentic look to spots lit up by rays of light. However, getting to the meeting with our contact was where things got really interesting.

The dimly lit room with bright neons was a perfect place for the rendering to do what it did best, and it ironed out a lot of glare from a red light nearby, which was reflected quite unrealistically in the NPC’s eyes, while casting a weird glow on their face. Well, not with DLSS working in the background to balance things out, and the resulting image was not only cleaner, but more detailed.

The difference was tangible, with the textures on the man’s skin looking so much more realistic, the light gently glinting off pores in his skin, while his eyes still caught the light, but didn’t make him look like an unhinged maniac in the process. Materials on clothing and the like also got wrinkles and reflections to make what we were seeing look quite authentic indeed. It’s equally impressive that we were able to maintain a consistent 60fps at 4K with everything maxed out.

It’s easy to see why people are excited about what DLSS 5 can do after that hour in Night City. Of course, that was only the first stop on our journey with NVIDIA’s latest. We’re joining Naked Snake in a remake that brings out more of what the tech can manage to light.

2. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

Konami’s remake of the popular classic was already quite a looker to begin with. But turning DLSS 5 on and off in the game’s opening moments showcased a tangible difference between the original image and the new one. The clouds looked more detailed, while the sun’s rays glanced off the plane’s metal surfaces ever so gently with DLSS running in the background.

Inside the cockpit, Major Zero’s skin tone and face might have been too much of a deviation from the original for our taste, but it wasn’t too distracting to be an issue. Naked Snake’s dive from the plane benefited from the better lighting, although the software did behave quite strangely with the fake hair, its color often switching from an ashen-blonde to brown, so darn tangible. That issue solved itself once Snake peels off the mask he’s wearing to conceal his real face, but it does bear mentioning nonetheless.

The jungle you find yourself in benefits greatly from the enhancements that DLSS brings, no complaints there. But as far as Snake is concerned, we did think its enhancements came with the price of looking a tad too artificial. Konami’s meticulous detailing might not be necessarily enhanced by DLSS 5. Instead, it just looks different, and that’s a bit of a problem.

Snake does still look like Snake, yes, but his eyes seem strangely devoid of expression, an unfortunate side effect of the original game’s representation of an operative who is calm and collected at all times, his expressions never giving away what he’s thinking. We can’t safely say it was the case with DLSS running, though, as his face did look more realistic in terms of textures, skin, and hair, but felt strangely devoid of expression in his eyes.

It’s kind of like the effort to make him look more human kind of had the opposite effect, and while we think all of that can probably be ironed out by some optimizations, things were on the fence for DLSS in the game’s take on Russia. We’re off to Gotham City next, where Rocksteady’s deliberate stylization stands to clash with NVIDIA’s new neural rendering.

3. Batman: Arkham Knight

Here’s where things get interesting. We expected DLSS to have a lot to do in an older game, and Arkham Knight’s unique art style and the dark, gritty vibe that Rocksteady brought to it felt like a good choice to see how the tech performs in environments where the lighting isn’t as bright as the last two games we tested.

It turns out that DLSS 5 was surprisingly good at preserving Rocksteady’s original vision for what its characters should look like. The kind waitress from the game’s unforgettable opening looked quite similar to the original game’s rendition of her, although the tech did well to bring out stray strands in her messy bun and improve her reflection on the cafe’s polished floors as she walked on over to the kitchen.

But it’s when you stand on Gotham’s streets and turn it on that you see a kind of accidental remaster of what the game looks like. The lighting gets an instant, very welcome boost, with rays of light now falling softly on the concrete, lighting it up while the pitter-patter of rain becomes ever so slightly more tangible as a result.

This one’s a great showcase of how an older game stands to benefit from neural rendering, generating a better image while not replacing any of the original assets. It wouldn’t have been ideal if DLSS had changed Batman’s iconic jawline too much, or perhaps tried to make Gordon look like he’d just stepped out of a salon. Instead, it preserves that grimy look that most of the characters whose night has gone on too long have, while working its magic on the world around you to make Gotham look even more resplendent despite the grim situation it faces in the game.

We expected exaggerated materials and perhaps even skin thanks to how close the game likes to get to faces, but that was blissfully absent from the experience. However, we couldn’t stay in Gotham no matter how melancholically beautiful it looked, as we had one more stop with our superpowered rig: the Nora heartlands in Aloy’s debut adventure.

4. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

We’ve had a fairly good amount of praise for DLSS 5 so far, but this is where things get interesting, and where a few cracks begin to show in its armor. It does a good job of making Aloy’s whole world look more realistic, with better facial textures and more details in the world; there’s no doubt about it. However, as another relatively older title, it presents an interesting contrast to Arkham Knight.

It was evident from the very second we turned on DLSS 5 in this one, but it totally interferes with what Guerrilla originally envisioned the world to look like. It adds a sort of reddish hue to it all, sort of like the software decided that every minute of every day in-game was stuck in perpetual twilight, the reddish glow of the setting sun bathing the world in a color that was far removed from the original image.

Your returns with all the good things it does in Zero Dawn then become subjective, and quite hard to defend from anybody who argues that the tech can interfere with existing art styles that are deliberate choices from artists and developers. Greater realism doesn’t necessarily mean that the image is better looking in this case, and it’s the first loss for DLSS 5 in our testing. But we’ve been holding back. There’s another part of our experiment that we’ve saved for last, and it’s where the tech met its match!

5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

We saw what DLSS 5 could do with the remake of Snake Eater on a powerful system, but we wondered if it could do the same on a title that was a port of a PS3 game, and manage to make enough of a difference to matter. Additionally, we did our testing on a PC with significantly lower specs, with an RTX 3080Ti working with 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 5950X powering it all.

As you can imagine, trying to run things in 4K with DLSS 5 on tore into our performance, with low framerates interfering with our ability to enjoy the experience. Going down to 1440p made the game playable, but it was at 1080p that we were able to get somewhat stable, consistent performance out of the game. There’s no denying that it did improve environmental details, character models, and lighting and shadows by a considerable margin, but at the cost of a significant nerf to resolutions as it worked behind the scenes to improve on textures and assets that were designed for an era long past.

It’s rather ironic that something called DLSS can demand a lower resolution, but Guns of the Patriots is a great example of how computationally expensive it can be, and how lower-specced systems struggle to make effective use of it.

The Intent Behind Good Performances

There you have it. We put DLSS 5 to work across a variety of games that were chosen to test out what it can do, across two vastly different systems. There are great things like how it immediately improves the lighting and details in environments and on character models, but what it does with a few faces might not be everybody’s cup of tea. Making deliberately stylized imagery more photorealistic might not be the best use of what it can do, and that’s an area that is definitely in need of improvement thanks to how vocal concerns about preservation of artistic visions currently are.

More details do not necessarily mean better graphics, too, and an important question to consider is whether graphical tech should simply reconstruct images to make them better, or attempt to reinterpret them with results that currently seem a tad too unpredictable for the tech to be called consistently good. There is a degree of subjectivity involved, and we must say that things looked really good when DLSS 5 worked as intended, but we can see how others might not like what it does with the images it works on.

We’d say that the tech is impressive, but its implementation is a mixed bag at the moment. We’d say that it needs to be more subtle about what it’s doing, its improvements being subtle enough to make a tangible difference to any scene without it completely switching things up in some cases. Developer control becomes more important than ever with software that threatens to override it from time to time. It’s important to remember that our results were via modded use of the software, and you should take a look at 2K27 to see what it looks like when developers take control of its output.

What it produces is more in line with NVIDIA’s claim that the software is guided by artists and developers, and you can see what Visual Concepts has done to ensure that it doesn’t overdo its job.

It’s why the results of our experiment were both exciting, thanks to what it could achieve in good hands, but equally concerning if it’s left to do its thing without some guidance from the people whose artistic visions it aims to enhance. It cannot become a universal solution to making things look realistic, and its implementation needs to focus on improving instead of replacing aspects of an image that an artist places in it with deliberation.

DLSS 5 adds details and makes games look better in most cases, but whether those improvements would be in line with what the developers of each experience intended is another story altogether. It’s only the beginning of the journey, but NVIDIA would do well to set a path to a more cautious use of its new tech if it‘s going to make it as awesome as what it has managed to achieve so far.

Of course, there is the PS5 Pro’s extra firepower, and the question of how much it improves the experience over its rather skinnier sibling. We’re diving into it all, claws out and roaring a challenge as we tell you all about what it feels like to watch Logan’s latest adventure unfold.

Let’s begin with all of the graphical modes on offer.

Graphical Modes

On the base PS5, Wolverine comes with a Fidelity Mode that runs the game at 30fps with an improved resolution for those among you who want the best possible visual fidelity from the game. However, we must note that the Performance Mode is no slouch, running the game at 60fps with ray tracing enabled. With only minor differences from the Fidelity mode in terms of the details we could see without actually stopping to look closer, we’d say that it’s a great default option to have.

It’s worth noting that performance was excellent across both options, with only minor frame drops that you really need to be looking for to catch. When you’re making your way through a level or tearing through enemies with your claws, these minor issues are not going to be a problem in the slightest.

Things get more interesting on the PS5 Pro, where both Fidelity and Performance Pro Modes retain the same frame rate targets as their PS5 counterparts, but with a higher rendering resolution and more visual effects. The Performance Pro mode is the highest possible performance you’re going to get out of the game, and with the improved resolution, anti-aliasing, and graphical enhancements that come with the Pro, it looks and runs like a charm.

Indeed, it does so well that we found ourselves gravitating to it since the Fidelity Mode’s cleaner image was only a slight improvement, and didn’t feel worth sacrificing the extra frames for considering how blindingly fast fights can unfold when this game gets going. We’re going to talk more about how the base PS5 and the PS5 Pro versions measure up against each other again, but it’s a good idea to get the ball rolling on all the good stuff that Insomniac has brought to Logan’s latest.

Character Models And Animation Quality

Let’s begin with how the cast looks and feels in action, beginning with the main man himself. Logan’s facial model is fantastic, conveying a gamut of emotions on a journey that pushes even him to his limits. The hair and clothing on his model and all of the other important cast members is phenomenal, and Sabertooth’s long, golden locks wave gently in the breeze, lending an ironic beauty to his grizzled visage.

We expected special attention to be paid to the costumes and uniforms that characters in such worlds tend to don to stand out, even more so since this was a game that required its visual identity to retain easy distinctions between friends and foes in battles where you only get a split second to decide where to point your claws. 

Of course, swinging those claws around, or using your battle momentum to unleash their destructive potential in efficient and spectacular ways is a pillar of the experience, and we’re happy to say that it looks as good as it feels. Wolverine feels agile in your hands, his ability to leap astounding distances between foes made believable by how the game handles those jumps. His claws connect with satisfying brutality, and the blood flows generously to make the entire experience feel as visceral to lend a sort of primal, feral ferocity to the combat.

Enemies respond with great realism to your attacks, and it’s all so fluid that it almost feels like the game is doing the heavy lifting for you, requiring only that you tell Logan whom to attack, and how. Unleash his claws in any given direction, and you’re going to see who it isn’t just enemies who respond well to the stimuli he provides.

Destruction, Physics and Environmental Detail

Wolverine is a violent romp through varied environments, the story taking Logan to many places with varying infrastructure laid out for him to make use of in a fight. Explosive barrels, electric containers, debris, breakable objects, and combat that’s appropriately reactive in a physical sense further drive home the sense of violence that Logan’s ferocious attacks are meant to invoke.

Watching the world break down in real time as Logan and his enemies duke it out made us marvel (pun intended) at how Insomniac has managed to make the entire experience feel so naturally reactive to Logan’s chaotic presence while managing to make the game perform as well as it has. You can see a lot of polish in how environments are detailed, and how those intricacies are actually tied into the gameplay in the form of interactions that you can take advantage of in clever ways.

It also helps that each environment comes with a lot of detail, and elements that are constantly interacting with graphical systems to present a clean image and a very dynamic one. There’s always something happening around you to improve the immersion, be it those gentle reflections off of glass panels on buildings, or how shadows and reflections move along, responding to light and movement in ways that look ever so natural.

This is a world that’s believable from start to finish, and Insomniac’s usual polish is on full display, made even better by a more controlled presentation that has facilitated some incredibly detailed stages for you to tear apart.

Lighting, Shadows, and Reflections

We touched upon this briefly in our analysis of the environments, but the lighting system on offer in Wolverine performs well enough to merit a closer look. It’s excellent across the board, rays of light gently glancing off the first things they touch, behaving as they should to make outdoor environments truly shine, while indoor ones are also great at conveying the intended mood for a scene.

The reflections are fantastic, as are the shadows, indicating the level of quality we’ve come to expect from Insomniac while lending Wolverine the cinematic quality it needs to stand tall as a PS5-exclusive release worth its salt. That ray tracing’s present across the board immediately lends the presentation a layer of quality that you’d otherwise have to compromise on if you were playing on a PS5, and we’re glad to see studios making use of the console as well as they are in recent times.

Cinematics

We’ve saved the best for last, as the game’s cutscenes are where all of what we’ve talked about come together, and also allow you to see just how good this game looks without the action forcing your attention in another direction. They come in so seamlessly from the gameplay and transition out the same way, the quality never once declining in a way that was distracting or out of place.

It’s where the game’s polish is on full display, and it’s evident in the facial animations, character details, the sparks that fly between metal surfaces straining against each other as Logan pits his claws against equally ferocious opponents, and in the way the game never really lets up on the intensity of its battles or in the quality of its presentation. The set-pieces you’re going to witness are simply spectacular, and are definitely going to stay with you long after you roll the credits on the adventure.

PS5 Vs. PS5 Pro

From what we’ve already said, it’s probably no surprise that the PS5 Pro version of Wolverine has obvious advantages over the base version. But that’s even before we consider Advanced Ray Tracing, which can give you a vastly superior experience on a compatible display. If you’re in possession of one that can take advantage of these features, you’re looking at an uncapped framerate that doesn’t just chug along but actually thrives when things get intense.

But it’s in these features and the higher rendering resolutions that the PS5 Pro gains an edge, and the base version is more than all right for those of you who are looking to join Logan’s fight on the lower-specced system.

How Does It Hold Up Against Spider-Man 2?

We’re going to kick this section off by highlighting that Wolverine has an obvious advantage over Spider-Man 2 in that it doesn’t have to render and sustain an open-world, and as such doesn’t require the improved draw distance, or the need to render an entire city moving past you at blinding speeds. As it stands, it’s definitely better-looking than Insomniac’s last stab at a superhero, but the improvements are more noticeable up close rather than at scale.

More refined character models, more physical reactions to combat along with smoother animations, and denser environments with improved lighting and more destructible elements are all part of a package that aims to present a more visceral experience this time around. Those tighter spaces plant the scope for more detailed assets, better ray-tracing and anti-aliasing, and generally richer environments, textures, and materials especially on the PS5 Pro.

Spider-man 2 still has its own strengths, but they apply to an entirely different experience and they’re tied to rendering massive worlds, something that Wolverine simply doesn’t have the space to include.

And that’s a wrap on how Marvel’s Wolverine holds up in the graphical front. The PS5 Pro is the version to beat, and its Performance Pro mode was our personal choice to play the game. The superior image quality and visual effects make a significant difference to a title that’s often enjoyed up close and personal thanks to how fights pan out, and you’re in for a treat if you fire this one up on the beefier console although you’re going to be just fine even on the base PS5.

It’s almost time to throw on your most imposing grimace and clench your fists to lay some serious damage out for those who seek to harm mutants, and you can now go into the adventure knowing that it’s going to look and feel every bit as good as you’ve been hoping for.

The core of any Marvel media is its story, and dare I say, this is one of the most tightly knit narratives Insomniac has ever told, with an emotionally charged yet grounded approach that gives its characters plenty of room to shine. We would obviously like to avoid major spoilers so you can experience the story for yourself, but a brief synopsis is in order. After spending years trying to leave that part of himself behind, Logan is inevitably pulled back into the life he wanted to escape when a new threat begins targeting mutants on a terrifying scale.

"At the centre of it all is Wolverine himself, played by Liam McIntyre, who does an exceptional job portraying the character, capturing everything from his anger, grunts, and screams to his emotional lows and quieter moments of sadness with impressive precision."

His return to Team X places him in the middle of a conflict driven by Bolivar Trask, whose campaign against mutantkind quickly turns deeply personal, forcing Logan to reconnect with old allies and confront unresolved parts of his past. The journey takes him across several corners of the world, from Canada and Japan to Madripoor, giving the story a constantly shifting backdrop while keeping the focus firmly on Logan and the people caught up in the conflict.

It may sound like your go-to superhero plot on paper, but the way the in-game characters come together, backed by excellent performances, turns it into a gripping and emotionally charged story filled with action, drama, and betrayal. At the centre of it all is Wolverine himself, played by Liam McIntyre, who does an exceptional job portraying the character, capturing everything from his anger, grunts, and screams to his emotional lows and quieter moments of sadness with impressive precision. Hugh Jackman will probably always be Wolverine to me, but McIntyre comes remarkably close here and delivers a genuinely excellent performance.

Logan’s friction-filled relationship with Victor is also handled well, while characters like Essex and Mystique benefit from strong performances across the board, although the real highlight, as expected, is the dynamic between Jean Grey and Wolverine, which Insomniac absolutely nails. This is a banger of a story and easily one of the strongest reasons to experience Wolverine for yourself.

It’s not a great Wolverine experience if the story isn’t there to back it up, but a Wolverine game without great combat would be nothing short of insanity, and thankfully, Insomniac’s pedigree in this department shines through once again. The violence here is absolutely through the roof, with Wolverine’s brutal, borderline unhinged temperament translated brilliantly into every encounter, making him feel every bit as savage as the character demands.

His claws are naturally the main attraction, and every parry, slash, slice, and vicious takedown carries real weight, helped considerably by some excellent DualSense integration that makes every impact feel that much more satisfying.

"The Technique system is then amplified by Adaptations, which function more like passive buffs, offering benefits such as reducing incoming melee damage, restoring health after successful parries, or increasing the timing window for pulling them off."

You can lunge at enemies from a distance, leap over obstacles while closing the gap, and use objects placed around the battlefield to create some genuinely stylish and savage moments. There are launch points that let Wolverine hurl himself into enemies, opportunities to set his claws on fire for additional damage, and environmental kills that can be downright vicious. Whether you are kicking an enemy directly into a furnace, smashing them against nearby objects, or using the surroundings dynamically to finish them off, combat constantly finds new ways to make Wolverine look and feel absolutely lethal.

Speaking of brutal kills, Wolverine also features a Rage Meter that gradually fills as you keep inflicting damage on enemies, and once it reaches Tier 3, you can unleash some absolutely jaw-dropping attacks that see Logan quite literally tearing through anyone standing in his way. It is quite a spectacle to watch and, more importantly, rarely gets old. That is not all either, as progressing through the game also unlocks powerful area-of-effect attacks, allowing Wolverine to damage multiple enemies across a wider area and giving combat another layer of crowd-control options when encounters become more chaotic.

As is typical with Insomniac’s superhero games, progression is handled through a relatively straightforward system, with players earning XP as they progress and using it to unlock skill points, referred to here as Technique Points. There are roughly two dozen skills to unlock, allowing Wolverine to perform swift multi-target strikes, restore his health by pressing a specific button, deliver drop kicks, execute stealth takedowns, and unleash special moves like Tornado Spin, among several others. The Technique system is then amplified by Adaptations, which function more like passive buffs, offering benefits such as reducing incoming melee damage, restoring health after successful parries, or increasing the timing window for pulling them off.

For example, Tornado Spin can rip through several enemies at once and quickly build Rage, while the right Adaptation can further enhance that playstyle by making Rage easier to capitalize on and giving Wolverine more staying power in prolonged fights.

Insomniac has handled Wolverine’s healing mechanic quite intelligently by tying it to the Rage Meter. If Logan’s health is depleted while there is still Rage available, that meter is consumed to restore his health and allow him to regenerate. If there’s no Rage left, however, Wolverine will die, which does feel a little odd given the character’s abilities. On the lowest difficulty setting, the game removes that restriction entirely, allowing Wolverine to regenerate automatically whenever his health bar is emptied. It’s a fair compromise overall, balancing Wolverine’s famous healing factor with the demands of a video game.

Suits and claws also return, with a decent amount to unlock throughout the game, some requiring materials to craft, others unlocking naturally through the story, while a few are tied to challenges found behind Nightmare Doors, which we will explain shortly. It is genuinely fun seeing and unlocking designs pulled from Wolverine’s rich history, and interestingly, there is also a small progression element tied to them, as crafting more suits gradually provides additional health upgrades.

"The mission pacing also deserves plenty of credit because the game rarely keeps you in one location for too long, constantly pushing you forward into new environments and situations as more of the story begins to unfold."

Wolverine is not an open-world game, and frankly, I don’t think an open-world based on the character would necessarily work. Instead, Insomniac has built a focused, largely linear experience where you move from one mission to the next without being constantly distracted by meaningful side stories or activities. It allows the developer to maintain a much tighter narrative pace, while the level design itself becomes one of the biggest reasons why the experience works as well as it does.

This is very much a globe-trotting adventure, and the way traversal and exploration are handled can vary quite significantly depending on the mission you are playing. One mission may give you a larger section of Madripoor to move through, letting you track enemies using Wolverine’s senses and discover a bigger area to explore, while another in Canada may place a much heavier emphasis on climbing, platforming, and stealth. Traversal is an important part of the overall experience as well, with Wolverine feeling nimble and surprisingly fast as he slides across ziplines, clears huge gaps, scales obstacles, and generally pulls off the kind of larger-than-life movement you would expect from a superhero.

All of this eventually comes together in some spectacular set pieces, whether you are involved in intense story sequences, taking on a massive Sentinel, or speeding through multiple encounters on a bike. The mission pacing also deserves plenty of credit because the game rarely keeps you in one location for too long, constantly pushing you forward into new environments and situations as more of the story begins to unfold.

As noted earlier, there are no traditional side missions to tackle, but Nightmare Doors provide some optional activities, ranging from taking on multiple waves of enemies to parkouring through a level and reaching a designated destination. They are also tied directly into the progression system we discussed earlier, as completing them can unlock Adaptations while also revealing additional story fragments from Logan’s past.

"I obviously cannot go into the later bosses without spoiling anything, but the early encounters against Omega Red and the Sentinel are damn good, even if the occasional QTE does pop up every now and then."

Most of these challenges essentially offer more of the combat and traversal already found in the campaign, but they provide a worthwhile reason to spend some extra time away from the main path. They may not dramatically change the overall experience, but they are a decent addition to what is already a spectacular game.

Speaking of enemies, you should not expect a huge amount of variety here, with most of the regular opposition largely divided between Cyborgs and Sentinels of different shapes and sizes, and that is unfortunately about it. It never detracted too much from the experience for me because these enemies can still be extremely dangerous when they gang up on you, although I can certainly see the lack of variety becoming an issue for some players.

Where the game really makes up for it is with its boss roster, which is spectacular, while the battles themselves are, as you would expect, cinematic showcases packed with scale and spectacle. I obviously cannot go into the later bosses without spoiling anything, but the early encounters against Omega Red and the Sentinel are damn good, even if the occasional QTE does pop up every now and then.

If there is one area I wasn’t particularly happy with, it would be the stealth sections. To be clear, the game never forces you into either a stealthy approach or an all-out assault, but there are a few levels where stealth is clearly encouraged, and I found those moments pretty underwhelming. I get it, Wolverine is more of a brutal predator who uses stealth when the situation demands it, but even then, these sections could have been handled better. Hiding in tall grass and picking off unsuspecting enemies works well enough, but it is definitely time for Insomniac to move beyond some of these basic stealth mechanics and introduce a little more depth.

"Insomniac’s take on the angry mutant may very well represent the character’s pinnacle in terms of presentation and story-telling."

I completed the game on PS5 Pro using the Performance Pro mode with advanced ray tracing enabled, and performance was excellent throughout. I noticed a few very minor drops here and there, but overall, the experience was remarkably smooth, while load times, as expected, are incredibly fast. Visually, the game is absolutely stunning, with fantastic character models, richly detailed environments, impressive visual effects, and accompanying sound design that all come together to deliver top-tier production values; I mean, just look at the detail in Wolverine’s innocent face.

There are also some rare bugs, however, such as Wolverine’s animations not always translating correctly when he gets stuck in a corner, along with one instance where the game simply refused to progress and forced me to reload a checkpoint. None of these issues stopped me from enjoying the experience, though, and given how minor they are, I would expect a patch to iron them out fairly quickly.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Wolverine, and while the complete campaign can be wrapped up in roughly 20 hours, the journey is consistently memorable and packed with moments that stick with you. We haven’t had a truly great Wolverine game in what feels like forever, with 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine immediately coming to mind, but Insomniac’s take on the angry mutant may very well represent the character’s pinnacle in terms of presentation and story-telling.

It’s violent and surprisingly heartfelt, and about as close to the definitive Wolverine experience as you could hope for.

Welcome home, bub.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Here are 15 new things you should know about Grand Theft Auto 6, starting with a question: How big do you think the world really is? Well…

Triple the Size of RDR2’s Playable Area

We’ve spoken forever about how a game’s setting doesn’t have to be absolutely massive – it just needs to feel alive. Well, Grand Theft Auto 6 is achieving that, and it’s also three times as large as Red Dead Redemption 2’s playable area, developers revealed to The New York Times. This is the overall map, so you can likely expect underwater exploration to be factored in, but it’s still absolutely insane to imagine the scale and level of detail.

“Well Over” 600,000 animations

Speaking of which, the quality of animations isn’t the only thing to have massively improved over RDR2. In the same preview, it was revealed that Grand Theft Auto 6 has “well over” 600,000 animations – contrast that to its last game, which had 300,000. Or Grand Theft Auto 5, which had 55,000.

No Microtransactions

As excited as many of us are for single-player, there’s the lingering question about Grand Theft Auto Online. Is it included with GTA 6? If so, will it release post-launch? How long after? Whenever that may be – if it’s even the case – Rockstar told Kinda Funny Games that there are no microtransactions in the single-player story. Straight up, no using real money to buy items in-game.

Reportedly Running at 1440p and 30 FPS

Anyone who’s seen the cutscenes and gameplay can attest that it wasn’t running at 60 FPS. And apparently, it’s unknown if that will even be an option at launch. Day Jones of Flow Games claims to have spoken to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson, who said that GTA 6 on consoles is running at 30 frames per second currently. Details on resolution and ray tracing remain up in the air, although there are reports out there that claim the preview was running at 1440p. Whether high frame rates are possible is purportedly something that Nelson needs to discuss with the technical team. Either way, 30 FPS would be par for the course, considering Rockstar’s last two console releases.

Fit to Function

The ability to gain weight officially returns, but as tempting as it can be to gorge on everything that Leonida has to offer, it may behoove most players to visit the gym. According to TGG, who visited Rockstar last month and witnessed three hours of Grand Theft Auto 6, they’re fully interactive with all kinds of exercises and even memberships. The game even tracks repetitions and overall progress, and even if it’s completely optional, working out will improve your health and stamina – both sure to lend an edge in various criminal activities.

Startup Funds

But as much as health is wealth, sometimes you’ll need actual scratch to progress through the story. IGN notes that a “certain amount of capital” is required to maintain the “flow” of the main missions, which certainly sounds to us like needing resources to organize a big score or three. Either way, money matters, and the more you can make by robbing convenience stores, stealing cars, and more, the better.

Gone in 60 Seconds

Society has evolved in GTA 6, and so has grand theft auto itself. Depending on a car’s age and how expensive it is, entry methods can range from a slim jim to unlock the door to outright cloning car keys. They may even have alarms and trackers, the latter attracting the police if you don’t gun it in time. Of course, if you find a car with the driver still inside, it should be relatively easier to steal from the get-go.

Criminal Profiles

The Honor system from Red Dead Redemption 2 has evolved into something else entirely in GTA 6: Criminal Profiles. Think of it as a rap sheet of sorts – going on killing sprees or lashing out at the world will be considered, and people may react to you differently. It’s not affected by robberies or occasions where firing on enemies is necessary, but given the impact on the story, you might want to think twice before waylaying some poor fool on the street.

Cuff Links

Your phone may very well be your best friend/guilty pleasure (just like in real life!) in GTA 6, but unlike GTA 5, it now functions as a proper phone. Instead of popping up in the bottom right as a separate menu, the perspective zooms in as Jason and Lucia actually browse through it.

Conversations With Passengers

Plenty of apps to peruse, but one that will likely come in most handy is Ryde Me for fast traveling. Even better, like Uber or Lyft, you might occasionally ride with another passenger and can speak to them throughout, per IGN. What happens if they go off the rails and take you along for the ride? Time will tell.

Travel to the Location of Social Media Posts

Of course, there’s also social media, and you can follow different accounts for updates. But that’s not all. As NPCs post about goings-on in Leonida, you can actually travel to the same locations. Occasionally, you might arrive as they’re still posting. Besides mirroring the real-world practice of stream-sniping, it could help track down certain random encounters with unique stories.

Eavesdropping on NPCs

Want to listen in on other people’s conversations? Go ahead, but unlike Kliff in Crimson Desert, you’ll pay if caught. Sometimes, it could be a simple acknowledgement of your creepiness; other times, they may straight up become hostile, according to IGN. So while it can be an excellent way to glean information, don’t make it too obvious.

Quick Gang, Let’s Split Up

You’ll probably have noticed the icons underneath the stars when the police are hunting you, including one that identifies your clothing, vehicle and whether Jason and Lucia are solo or together. Splitting up is viable per IGN, and it may even help the other person avoid arrest. That doesn’t mean they’re completely in the clear, or that you can escape scot-free, but it’s a nice touch, and maybe even the best approach given the situation.

Raul’s Glorious Mane

Thus far, the hair physics have been stunningly on point for both protagonists (well, at least whenever Jason can bother to have hair). But we were caught off-guard by the physics for other characters. Pay close attention to Raul Batista while the trio are escaping from the police – his locks flow so naturally that he may, in fact, be born with it.

Can Take 80 Hours to Finish

Based on all the details gathered from previews and the Extended Look, it’s clear that Rockstar doesn’t just want you to dive into the story – it wants you to live in modern-day Vice City, immersing yourself as either or both characters. But if you decide to witness their ultimate fates, it may take up to 80 hours. That was the length of Nelson’s playthrough, which he told The New York Times included “optional goals with narrative ramifications.” It’s Rockstar’s longest game to date, but players may easily double that total, getting lost amid a sea of distractions.

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, you’re probably among the lucky few who are new to Metal Gear and are currently living through a phantom pain that we’re all too familiar with. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is among the most potent entries in the franchise’s extensive library, and although it did draw its fair share of criticism, its gameplay formula remains as thrilling as it’s ever been, and that’s saying something considering that we’re talking about an eleven-year-old game here.

So why haven’t we seen anything like it in the decade that’s now passed? As always, we’ve got thoughts on the subject we’d like to share, so strap in!

The Freedom Of The Shadows

As a story with “Big Boss” at its center, this one definitely gives its take on the iconic character a gameplay loop that takes advantage of his extensive experience and his innate tactical proficiency to make it a power trip like no other when you nail down its mechanics. It helps that everything is so responsive, with animations for sprinting, diving, crouching, and taking cover feeling so seamless as you flit between safe points in pursuit of that pesky guard and a quiet place to deal with them.

That the animations worked so well while still feeling responsive made MGSV already ahead of its time, and we’d say that they’ve held up pretty well despite a new generation of hardware coming along to make things easier for developers. It’s an underappreciated facet of the experience that we felt deserves a special mention thanks to how fluid Big Boss felt in our hands, which made everything we did with him all the more immersive as a result.

Of course, that fluid movement came in very handy when engaging with stealth systems that gave you an unprecedented amount of freedom to deal with your objectives as you wished. Taking a quiet approach to the problems you were tasked with solving felt akin to a sandbox rather than a curated route through heavily guarded areas, an approach that was all too common for stealth-action titles at the time.

You had sniping, CQC, distractions to employ, vehicles to deploy, the Fulton system to ensure your Mother Base was a constantly evolving safe space that was able to fuel your mission, a bevy of very useful companions, helpful supply drops, and so much more in a world that felt like it was constantly responding to your presence in it, and evolving based on your actions. That evolution is most prevalent in the way enemies responded to your tactics in the game.

An emphasis on taking a tactical approach was underlined by an enemy AI that was smart enough to take note of ways you were exploiting it, and actively counter such efforts. Take out too many guards with headshots, and you quickly find that they come equipped with helmets. Using the cover of darkness to hide your approach sees them bring night-vision goggles and flashlights to the table. Take a closer and more personal approach, and they’re going to don armor to balance out the obvious difference in your skills.

It’s something that makes you feel like the world is recognizing Big Boss as the deadly threat you know he is, and it’s easy to let that power get to your head, only to be humbled by systems that punish a reckless approach unless you’re well-armed and skilled enough to survive the fight. That was a good thing in a game where a static enemy difficulty made way for systems that were designed to prevent you from forming safe habits.

That immediately encouraged experimentation in a world designed for it, and getting spotted was simply an opportunity to pull off a daring escape, evading your enemies to return to the shadows where you could pick them off one by one. It’s great that no one’s ever really safe in the field in Phantom Pain, as it immediately makes engaging with all that it’s offering a very addictive part of the experience.

An Intuitively Intersectional World

All of the innovative gameplay in the world couldn’t have made a difference if the world Big Boss was operating in didn’t support the fantasy that Phantom Pain was selling. Fortunately, Afghanistan and Africa had so much going on that they were far from the checklist-like open worlds that were kind of a rage back then, and continue to be a part of the genre’s offerings even today.

Events unfolded so organically it was difficult to see the game’s systems pulling your strings behind the scenes, pointing you towards new places and new activities in ways that were so organic, and often dynamically unfolding, that you were immediately compelled to see things through. The very ground felt like it existed to give you as many opportunities to approach your objectives in your own way, with terrain that was varied enough to encourage a tactical approach with a variety of options always close at hand.

With every outpost you discovered being a large, tactical playground for you to play with as you saw fit, it’s very good that all of the game’s systems came together to create an intersectionality that was an almost tangible presence alongside your Buddies (more on that in a bit). The weather and time-of-day systems affected visibility across the board, and immediately created choices about when to attempt an infiltration and what kind of tools to bring along for the job. Guards and patrols would switch up too, creating a dichotomy in a single location that you were then tasked with navigating.

You could choose to destroy any infrastructure focused on communications, which would then affect your enemy’s ability to call in reinforcements once they realized you were definitely above their pay grade. You could recruit enemies to your cause, using Fulton to feed your mother Base, which would in turn churn out better gear, which meant more opportunities for infiltrations and general mayhem.

Those interconnected systems form a sort of net that wraps around you from the second you’re let loose in the world, making for a very addictive gameplay loop that we like to revisit every now and then even after all these years. Your Buddies were yet another layer thrown into the mix, each one bringing unique functionalities that had a tangible impact on how you approached missions or objectives in the field.

Remember that emphasis on experimentation we were talking about with respect to the world in general? That applies to what you’re bringing along in your pockets as well, with an expansive arsenal that gives you a lot of flexibility in how you want to tackle a situation while remaining balanced enough to ensure that Big Boss didn’t feel too overpowered once he got his hands on better gear. Each of those tools, including but not limited to sleep grenades, decoys, cardboard boxes, the Fulton device, launchers, water pistols, mines, and all of the support options you had, was unique and came with wide use cases thanks to the world creating them.

Many games have since brought massive arsenals for the protagonists to make use of in their stories. But MGSV’s focus on systemic application of those tools automatically elevates it above anything else on offer. Of course, there are titles that try to emulate its unique vibe with varying levels of success.

Forms Of Flattery

Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint are probably good points of comparison, as they did recreate a military sandbox with an emphasis on a tactical approach with weapons, vehicles, and a lot of other common factors. But both games didn’t have MGSV’s depth in their systemic interactions or adaptive enemy behaviour to make all of it stand out. Hitman did take a philosophically similar approach to stealth sandboxes, but its vibe was a different expression of stealth sandboxes. Sniper Elite 4 and 5 are also great ones to look at, as they were titles that put you in a large map and largely left you to your own devices to figure things out.

Dishonored 2 was quite close to the systemic ambition of MGSV, but didn’t quite manage to recapture the magic thanks to its authored levels instead of the open-world chaos. Each of these games reproduced a piece of Phantom Pain, but largely failed to surprass in a way that recaptured what made it so special in the first place. Why is that?

Well, a game like that needs a lot of sophistication, with its AI, animations, systems, player tools, controls, and environments all supporting a sandbox-styled presentation and gameplay loop. That’s easier to dream about than to actually build, since every new mechanic would need to be worked into all of the game’s systems and woven into the countless interactions that they would encourage.

Combine that with today’s focus on bigger maps, scripted spectacle in key moments, RPG progression systems, seasonal content, and experiences that are too authored to allow for the kind of player freedom that was on offer in MGSV, and you begin to see why it’s a game that continues to remain unique. Its very philosophy is something that’s difficult to scale, and perhaps even not profitable to attempt, considering the complexity that belies the seamless interactions that we see in the game.

MGSV was far from perfect, but it has managed to create a lasting legacy. It’s remarkably difficult to find anything that comes close to it, and the surprising part isn’t that there haven’t been any attempts to iterate on it. But what makes it stand out is that it has remained elusive to those efforts even more than a decade after its release. That’s almost as magical as the time you spend in its world, and that’s the highest possible compliment we can give it.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Reduced AI Auto-Tackles in Competitive Play

Whereas, in previous years, AI-controlled defenders would attempt to win the ball automatically, FC 27 puts more emphasis on manual defensive control. Now, defenders will assume position to control your opposition’s attack, but you choose when to make a tackle. The idea here is for breakup play to be intentional rather than being won outright for you. And, while AI-defenders will still extend a leg if a dribbler comes close, EA confirms they’re reacting to ball proximity rather than the man. This fundamental change, so far, only applies to competitive gameplay, raising the skill ceiling for genuine defensive prowess.

Manually-Controlled Defenders Reworked with Increased Jockey Speed

The effectiveness of manually-controlled defensive work has been emphasised in FC 27 too, with increased jockey speeds compared to last year’s edition enabling defenders to better keep up with quick attacking play. Additionally, this year expands the range of manually-triggered stand tackles. Taken together, FC 27 gives you more tools to position your defenders efficiently, to time and execute successful tackles, and win possession cleanly.

More Player Control in the Corner Ball Jostle

Taking short corners was an often-favourite routine in FC 26 due to the limited influence you had over players in the box. Remedying this, FC 27 introduces more ways to control attacking players via a glimpse of the jostling in the box immediately after the delivery has been selected. During this brief moment, you can switch players, move, make runs, shield, and trigger the new manual mechanic Avoidance, where attacking or defending players become more evasive through the crowd of bodies. Paired with shielding, attacking players can better create space and then protect their position whilst the ball is in flight.

More Precise Crossing Leads to Greater Attacking Variety

Crossing in earlier FC titles was heavily assisted, which meant trajectories had become predictable and finishing animations repetitive. Now, your crossing aim and power has a much bigger impact on where the cross lands, meaning both the ball and your player will be looking to attack the space rather than rely on the cross being delivered into their feet. The opportunity for goal-scoring, then, relies more on your precision, with more attacking variety the result of the ball flying in front of your player.

Headers and Finishing Updated With More Variety

And, building on the previous entries, FC 27 promises more animation variety across the board whether heading or finishing from corner kicks and crosses alike. If it wasn’t clear by now, this year’s iteration is focused on rewarding skill-based play with more authentic outcomes. In other words: connecting cleanly with crosses and corners makes them more accurate, but due to the higher skill ceiling those moments will be less frequent. More likely, your attacker will stretch, dive, and adjust their position whilst the ball is in flight. It’s a more realistic representation, sure, and it’ll feel more rewarding when that header lands with power.

AI Attackers Now More Spatially Aware

In earlier FC titles, AI attackers wouldn’t always react quickly enough to the space emerging around them, leading to frustrating outcomes as you would spot the gap yet your teammate wouldn’t move with urgency. To fix this, FC 27 has updated AI attackers to be more spatially aware, with them making smarter, more responsive, contextually appropriate curved runs to better support your attacking progress.

New Manually Triggered Run Options Give More Off-Ball Control

In addition to smarter, more spatially aware AI attackers, FC 27 also gives you the all-new manually Triggered Curved Run, where players bend their movement around the defensive line, breaking the offside trap to get a clearer run at goal. The trade-off, of course, is curved runs take longer to execute than regular forward runs, so you’ll need to adapt your timing. Elsewhere, the new Pass & Follow Runs sees the passing attacker curve their follow-up run, either overlapping or cutting inside, to meet a return pass behind the opposition’s defence.

Through Passing Relies on Directional Input

In a shift similar to what we’ve already discussed with crosses and corners, through passes in FC 27 are no longer assisted. Now, instead of steering into open lanes, through passes rely more strictly on your directional input. You need to tell the ball where it needs to go, and through the aforementioned AI attacker awareness and run options, finding and meeting the space becomes more deliberate, skillful, and satisfying. On the flipside, deliberate aim also gives manually-controlled defenders a better chance to read the play and make an interception.

Dinked Passes Demand Higher Skill

All of the refinements to passing placement and defensive control discussed so far point to FC 27 wanting to ensure attacking creativity and out-of-possession anticipation are more evenly matched. Supporting this, Dinked Passes now heavily rely on precise aiming and power too, raising the skill ceiling for this specific pass type.

Playstyles Have Been Rebalanced

Based on community feedback, EA has addressed pre-existing balance issues between Playstyles and Attributes, and how some felt too impactful in specific situations. Take Finesse Shot, for instance, where player attributes now play a more significant role in taking a successful shot, while non-Intercept style players have an improved chance of gaining possession off the ball, reducing the gap between Playstyle and Attributes. Elsewhere, Low-Driven shots have had their shot speed boost reduced, meaning velocity now scales based on shooting Attributes and input power. Overall, the performance gaps are being reduced, with both Playstyles and Attributes having more meaning without feeling overpowered.

The Grounds is a New Social Hub

With a central Terrace surrounded by three distinct districts – Montclair’s French urban football, Zeiza’s Argentinian spirit, and Parkside’s UK working-class heritage – The Grounds is an all-new way to experience FC in a social space. Available on current-gen consoles and PC only, this ever-evolving world gives you access to 11v11 stadium drop-ins, Clubs access, mentors, Leagues, Playoffs, and other in-world activities. The mode seems intent on celebrating football’s global cultural imprint as much as providing centralised access to a variety of match types.

The Grounds Gives Many Opportunities for a Kickabout

If you’re just after a quick kickabout, or want to face off in some competitive football from a choice of match types, The Grounds has you covered. Small-sided 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 matches, plus Rush matches, Bocce Ball’s obstacle course-come-target practice, the possession-based Team Keepaway, basketball-adjacent Bucket Ball, yet more obstacles in The Big Race, and more can be played across a range of pitches throughout The Grounds’ districts.

Career Transfer System Sees Significant Overhaul

At the core of FC 27’s Manager Career changes are significant overhauls to how transfers play out. Now, the negotiation process has been reworked, with deals progressing through distinct stages to give you more control over every step of the transfer. Plus, there is a larger range of clauses and contract options, and numerous ways to sweeten the deal for both you and your new team. To acclimatise you to the changes, EA has redesigned the transfer interface to an easily-navigable 2D hub, too.

Dynamic OVR Reflects a Player’s Performance Throughout the Season

In FC 27, a player’s Overall Rating now reflects how they’re actually performing throughout the season, rather than being a static number. Through form, confidence, fitness, injuries, time on the pitch, and competition for places, a player’s rating can rise and fall, ensuring underlying ability isn’t the only metric that matters when balancing your squad.

The All-New FUT Gallery Records Your Players’ Achievements

As a way to recognise the legacy your players earn, FC 27 is introducing the new FUT Gallery. Here, you can create records of Player Items to enhance your gallery rating, even if the Item is no longer an active part of your club. Additionally, the FUT Gallery isn’t just about recording memories, but adding obtained Items to your gallery opens new paths to earning rewards. Built around Sets which you can fill with Items earned, reaching specific set grades can earn you cosmetics or Gallery Tokens, the latter which you can spend in the Gallery Token Store on kits, badges, and other additions for your club’s identity.