This cinematic, side-scrolling adventure from indie team ZDT Studio, then, brings a strong, relatively unique premise, casting you as a resourceful cephalopod who leans on its natural abilities and intelligence to navigate tricky platforms and solve environmental puzzles. With clear inspiration ranging from Playdead’s Inside to Moon Studios’ Ori, and through presentation infused with cartoonish movement, characterful animation, and a whimsical score, ZDT delivers a thoroughly charming, yet thoughtful experience.

"Where things begin to falter slightly is in the precision of platforming, particularly as the game introduces more demanding sequences."

And likewise, to the studio’s credit, much of their vision comes through too. The game rarely stumbles outright, but the ingenuity promised isn’t fully realised either. See, Darwin’s Paradox! is built on a brilliant idea, but it rarely stretches its inspiration as far as it could. This is a platformer that’s enjoyable in the moment, but only occasionally as inventive as its premise suggests.

I go back to this review’s outset: octopuses are uniquely suited to the kinds of systems video games thrive on, and Darwin’s abilities reflect that in ways that are immediately intuitive. Camouflage lends itself to subterfuge, firing ink allows opportunities to disrupt threats and divert attention, and his tentacles’ suction-based movement allows for traversal across walls and ceilings.

Even smaller touches, like impressive compression seeing Darwin squeeze through tight spaces, reinforce the idea that this is a character defined by adaptability. There’s a pleasing logic to how Darwin interacts with the world, as if each mechanic has been plucked from the real-world and reimagined through a playful lens. Because of this, there are plenty of moments where it feels like Darwin’s Paradox! is tapping into something genuinely fresh, but its novelty doesn’t always carry through to the broader experience.

For all the creativity in its mechanical foundations, the game falls back on standard platforming tropes too often. Pulling levers and pushing boxes make up the majority of the game’s obstacles, bringing the overall experience down to something more conventional.

Yet, moment-to-moment, the game feels good in the hands. Movement is smooth and responsive, as Darwin shuffles, clings, and squeezes his way through environments with a fluidity that suits his character. Transitions between swimming, climbing, and platforming are handled seamlessly, often reinforced by expressive, almost-caricaturistic animation which gives even simple movements a memorable personality. Combined with lively environments – currents rippling through underwater sections, background machinery grinding in industrial areas, even fire engines responding chaotically to a factory blaze – it creates a strong identity which runs throughout.

Where things begin to falter slightly is in the precision of platforming, particularly as the game introduces more demanding sequences. Early on, the forgiving nature of movement works in the game’s favour, but later challenges expose a lack of clarity in how certain obstacles are meant to be overcome. Navigating giant rotating cogwheels or fast-moving conveyor belts feel less like tests of Darwin’s ingenuity and more like exercises in trial and error. I’m not talking Limbo-style learning-by-death, but it’s not far off.

And, because it’s not always possible to see far enough ahead to properly anticipate what’s coming, poor Darwin was squished, electrocuted, and burnt to a crisp often enough that it began to feel unfair. At best, these trickier “trial by death” sections break momentum, but worse: the charm and whimsy which the game’s mechanical systems are working hard to establish is replaced by unjust punishment and frustration.

"Each environmental puzzle is immediately understandable, and because of that, rarely surprising."

What would make these situations worse still are difficult puzzles. Yet, for a game that places so much emphasis on ingenuity, Darwin’s Paradox! delivers straightforward puzzle design. Now, I don’t believe this is inherently a problem; if it helps ease the pain of repeatedly failing through game design, then puzzles that are on the easy side are welcome. But, likewise, there’s value in keeping solutions readable and accessible too. However, this does sit slightly at odds with the expectations set by the game’s premise and its marketing alike. There’s no scope for experimentation here as most environmental obstacles funnel you toward a single solution.

In practice, this means puzzles feel functional rather than inspiring. As already alluded to, you’ll be moving objects into place and pulling levers frequently, alongside more contextual moments like sabotaging factory apparatus to manipulate the height of an object that you’ll inevitably use to scale an unreachable height.

Each environmental puzzle is immediately understandable, and because of that, rarely surprising. Again, games of this type don’t necessarily need complex solutions. Heck, even Inside, amongst Darwin’s primary influences, thrived on a minimalist approach. But, alas, in Darwin’s Paradox! there are flashes of more engaging action, particularly when octopus-specific abilities like camouflage or ink come into play, but these ideas aren’t explored as deeply or appear as frequently as they should. There’s a lingering sense that the puzzles here could have been designed to accommodate multiple solutions, or at least make fuller use of Darwin’s aquatic skills and compound intelligence. The lack of ingenuity stands out here more than it does in Inside, for instance.

"However, if there’s one area where Darwin’s Paradox! consistently shines, it’s in its presentation."

What Darwin’s Paradox! does have, however, is a decent amount of variety in its environments, shifting from aquatic shallows, to tight, sewer-like tunnels, plus a raft of industrial spaces like steaming production lines, fluorescent offices, and elaborate packing facilities, and more, all amplified with Looney Tunes flair. Certain chapters are punctuated by lively setpieces too, and these moments – explosive factory escapes, crumbling tower evasions, tenuous highwire platforming – not only inject a welcome sense of urgency but embellish the game’s comedic undertones, supported further by a rather pesky seagull adversary.

That said, overall flow can occasionally feel uneven. In one particular area – the office-like interiors where I leaned on Darwin’s camo ability to blend into cardboard, ceiling tiles, and sofa cushions – visual whimsy dominated over spatial clarity. Whilst tonally this fits, I felt my way through moments of disorientation, where the way forward wasn’t immediately obvious. Now, I know I’ve prattled on about puzzles being too obvious, and thus not surprising, but in these multi-level layouts of impossible architecture I had to use the hint system to help nudge my progress along. This could be my own skill issue, of course, but my gut feeling is that the level design didn’t communicate its intent as clearly as it should.

However, if there’s one area where Darwin’s Paradox! consistently shines, it’s in its presentation. Darwin himself is full of personality, brought to life through expressive animation. His slower, cautious movements – almost eight-legged tiptoeing – are a particularly humorous highlight, with the intrepid mollusc’s actions exemplifying the game’s offbeat world. This cartoonish tone carries through to the narrative, which gradually introduces a surreal, conspiratorial edge befitting Konami’s famous tactical espionage action series, one that is directly referenced here by exclamation points and cardboard boxes.

"Darwin’s Paradox! is a game built on genuinely inspired ideas, and when it’s at its best this creativity is reflected in expressive movement, memorable characterisation, and varied environments."

From a technical standpoint, performance is generally stable, though the distinction between visual modes is clear-cut. ZDT themselves advise playing with performance settings enabled, so that’s what I did. It proved to be much smoother than the alternative quality mode which sees a noticeable drop in framerate for a minimal fidelity boost. For a game with such fluid movement and emphasis on exaggerated animation, performance mode is definitely the preferable setting.

Audio design is solid throughout, with plenty of environmental sounds and tactile effects to sell the space Darwin is creeping through. Even less noticeable sounds like the soft suction of Darwin’s tentacles adds to the overall immersion. The orchestral soundtrack supports the game’s tone well, even if motifs and melodies rarely stand out as defining elements.

In conclusion, Darwin’s Paradox! is a game built on genuinely inspired ideas, and when it’s at its best this creativity is reflected in expressive movement, memorable characterisation, and varied environments. The game’s playfulness makes it an experience that’s easy to enjoy, even if its sometimes shallow systems keep this enjoyment at surface level. So, while it may not evolve into something truly exceptional, Darwin’s Paradox! remains a charming and worthwhile adventure, even if its greater potential is never fully reached.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

It smartly reworks familiar ideas through a new lens, weaving its themes into the journey of the Formless, an art mimic brought to life by the mysterious Rippler of Waves and told that the world before it exists to sate its appetite. That setup gives real purpose to the combat, pushing you deeper into the world as you cut down enemy after enemy and encounter the occasional ally along the way.

"The world itself carries an ethereal charm to it, its dangers seeming so natural and organic that you’re compelled to learn more about how it came to be the way that it is."

Before getting into combat and progression, though, it’s worth highlighting how strongly GRIME 2 is built around the idea of individual agency, with hands serving as a constant visual and mechanical expression of that theme. That idea runs through the entire game, and the repeated presence of hands in the world, in enemy designs, and even on your character, helps reinforce it in a way that feels organic rather than forced.

The world itself carries an ethereal charm to it, its dangers seeming so natural and organic that you’re compelled to learn more about how it came to be the way that it is. It’s also elegantly structured, with areas folding back into one another so naturally that the path forward remains coherent even when you’re poking around every hidden corner for much-needed upgrades.

Part of what makes that structure work is how vulnerable the Formless feels at the start. You begin with light and heavy attacks, along with a jump, dash, and parry for movement and defense. It’s a simple setup that the developers have utilized well with additional layers and moves opening up as you keep taking down some incredible bosses.

Each area teaches you how to use the mechanics it introduces, and its boss usually serves as the final exam, forcing those lessons into your muscle memory through punishing attacks. While I wouldn’t put them on the same level as a full-blown Soulsborne, they still offer a stern challenge, with the standard difficulty in particular keeping me on the back foot more often than I’d care to admit.

"The environment could work either for you or against you, depending on how you use it, which adds interesting wrinkles to fights."

Every boss fight you take on is tough but fair, requiring precise use of dodges, parries, and a grapple that’s introduced a little later. The weapons you use against them are also quite varied, and nailing down the timings on each animation was a huge part of the fun. You’ll likely settle into a preferred pairing of melee and ranged options, which gives you the flexibility to handle most encounters efficiently.

Of course, the art mimic does have one massive trick up its sleeve, and that’s the ability to absorb Molds of your enemies, using their own moves against them. Several enemies come with a yellow dot on their health bars. Whittling them down to their breaking point opens them up to a grapple that lets you copy their abilities. Repeat the process enough times, and that move gets added to a growing list that you can then mix and match to make your mimic your own.

The environment could work either for you or against you, depending on how you use it, which adds interesting wrinkles to fights, ensuring that things in this weird world never get boring. That’s because exploring each level requires a fair bit of dexterity on your part, be it in dealing with the various enemies in differing combinations that stand in your way, or some platforming challenges that were a pleasure to pull off correctly, thanks to how cool it all looked! Even slight mistakes can quickly shatter your rhythm, whether that means eating damage from enemies or blundering into carefully placed traps.

You recover health through the Breath mechanic, which involves building up the eponymous meter by killing enemies in the field before you use it all up to give yourself a heal-over-time effect. It’s fairly quick but does require that you continue to avoid damage in case you’re really low on health. The Force meter adds an interesting layer to offense, rewarding you for managing it well rather than simply mashing attacks.

"The story helps set it all up with context for your adventures, and is another solid part of the experience."

Managing all of these elements when you’re juggling multiple enemies or trying to learn the ins and outs of a boss’s attacks is deviously delightful. It looks so simple to a spectator, as you’re probably going to see for yourself if you dive in, but it is challenging and incredibly satisfying to pull off. It’s the kind of combat system that feels instantly inviting even while demanding real concentration and precision.

The story helps set it all up with context for your adventures, and is another solid part of the experience. I’m a fan of games that tell their stories through world-building, and this one has that in spades. You meet a range of characters, some welcoming and others decidedly less so, who stand out thanks to strong visual design and sharp writing. It’s a testament to GRIME 2’s quality that there is a certain wit and charm to be found in its bleak world, and the story brings it all together very well.

The soundtrack deserves special mention, giving many areas a haunting beauty that makes it easy to stop and simply take in the atmosphere. I’m particularly fond of the adorable noises some enemies make when they let an attack loose. It made me chuckle to myself even as I was laser-focused on the action.

The game performed very well on my base PS5, running smoothly enough for its combat and platforming to consistently look and feel excellent. Although there aren’t any graphical options on offer, I reckon they’re an unnecessary addition to a game that looks and performs like this one does.

"Its combat is spot on, while its platforming trappings can have you grinding your teeth as you try to nail down the timing on its various challenges."

I did encounter one early bug that froze the game and forced a restart before I could continue, but beyond that, I ran into no major technical issues. There was also the occasional bit of pop-in when traversing between areas, but you’re unlikely to notice it unless you’re actively looking for it. It does bear mentioning, though.

You’ve probably already guessed that for me, this one’s very easy to recommend. Its combat is spot on, while its platforming trappings can have you grinding your teeth as you try to nail down the timing on its various challenges. Put that challenging gameplay loop beside a world and story that are quite intriguing, and you’ve got the recipe for a title that lets you fully immerse yourself in its absurdity.

If you were a fan of the original title, you’re going to love this one. If you’re new to GRIME, strap in for a very entertaining romp through a world that’s spellbinding right from the get-go. Either way, this one’s worth your cash and the time and effort it takes to master all it has to offer. Its difficulty may look intimidating from the outside, but it shouldn’t put you off, because you’d be missing out on one of the more compelling RPGs in recent memory.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

The Star Force series has often been overlooked in favour of Battle Network, and the decision to bring all seven versions of its three instalments into one comprehensive package is definitely a clever one. But is that enough to make Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection worth its price tag? Let’s take a look at what works and what doesn’t.

"Coming to the games themselves, your mileage is going to vary depending on how nostalgic they feel to you."

Star Force is set around two hundred years after Battle Network, introducing Geo Stelar as a new protagonist and host for Omega-Xis, or “Mega” as it prefers to be called. Mega is an extraterrestrial being from a planet known as FM, which Geo’s father had previously attempted to establish friendly relations with. That resulted in his disappearance, leaving Geo devastated and withdrawn from the world around him as a result.

The first game wastes no time in getting Geo and Mega to combine, taking on the Mega Man mantle in the process. It’s an interesting story for those who never played the Star Force games back in the day, but by modern standards, it can feel dated enough to make you roll your eyes at times. Nevertheless, Geo’s story is a coming-of-age adventure spread across three games that’s probably the biggest draw on offer in this collection.

But looking at it as only three games might be doing this collection a disservice, since it’s actually three versions of the first game, and a couple of variants each for the second and third ones. Those variations come with their own unique cards, often tied to the versions released in different regions, so returning players who have a preference for one version over another should be pleased. However, if you’re looking for something drastically different from each one, you’re going to be disappointed.

Coming to the games themselves, your mileage is going to vary depending on how nostalgic they feel to you. They’re faithful recreations of the original games for the most part, quality-of-life changes notwithstanding. Battles feel smoother and faster than they did in Battle Network, while the simplified deck-building makes the action more immediately engaging

"The story is paced quite well across the three games, and the worldbuilding is consistent enough across them all to give Geo’s story the emotional weight it needs to click with those of you who aren’t familiar with it."

But that doesn’t stop the battles themselves from being far too simplistic and repetitive from a modern standpoint. While things do improve over the second and third titles, there was only so much grid-based fighting I could do before the entire thing got stale. It doesn’t help that the first two games require you to find a Grid Wave before you can Phase In to the FM World as Mega Man, which quickly becomes tedious. Thankfully, the third game addresses this.

The story is paced quite well across the three games, and the worldbuilding is consistent enough across them all to give Geo’s story the emotional weight it needs to click with those of you who aren’t familiar with it. His banter with his friends and Mega stands out, and there’s a charm to it all that’s quite light-hearted and fun.

As a package, the collection gets stronger from game to game, and the overall quality remains fairly consistent throughout. I do wish the developer had included an option to skip tutorials in each game, because clicking through the same speech bubbles every time a character walks you through combat or other systems gets tedious fast.

All of what I’ve said thus far holds true for the original versions of each title, but this collection brings a few new additions to the table. Autosaving is quite nifty, as is the ability to pan your camera when you’re out in the game’s world. It can be quite helpful when you’re looking for an objective, and it definitely served me well during my time with Geo.

"Since Star Force was originally released on the DS, getting to play these titles on a PS5 was certainly novel."

The option to adjust the game’s speed, tweak encounter frequency, and recover lost HP after fights are all welcome additions. However, with the combat being as simple as it is, and a generous amount of recovery cards showing up during fights, that last one isn’t really a necessity. It’s still nice to have, as is the option to increase the amount of Zeni earned after each battle. That makes it easier to collect more cards, and can perhaps stave off boredom with the combat system to a large extent.

You also get the option to adjust the amount of damage your enemies get to do, as well as another one to guarantee an escape for rare occasions when you’re on the losing end of a fight. Once again, I didn’t find any need to use them for the most part, but they are thoughtful additions that make the package more accommodating.

I’d say that all of these upgrades are respectful to the original games, making them more palatable to both newcomers and veterans who are playing them for the story. That said, all three games are easy enough that most experienced players probably won’t need these options in the first place.

Since Star Force was originally released on the DS, getting to play these titles on a PS5 was certainly novel. However, the way the two-screen setup is implemented did force me to sit closer to my TV to clearly make out what was happening on the smaller screen. The customizable screen layouts don’t really help, but the option to tweak the experience to your liking is always welcome.

The menus are perfectly serviceable, the text is clear and readable, and I didn’t really miss the DS touchscreen while navigating them. However, I can see how players used to the original versions might find this one a tad frustrating, but I’d say it just takes some getting used to.

"Performance on a base PS5 was solid throughout, with a stable image, fast load times, and smooth gameplay across all three titles."

As far as extras go, this one brings a ton of artwork and soundtracks, battle card archives, and other goodies to the table that you may or may not appreciate based on how invested you are in the Mega Man franchise and its lore. If you are someone with only a passing interest in the character over the years, they wont entice you enough to give that part of the collection more than a second glance. Still, the extras themselves are well presented, for what that’s worth.

While I couldn’t test the collection’s online functionality, the lack of cross-platform support is disappointing, especially for a release spread across both current and last-gen systems. Performance on a base PS5 was solid throughout, with a stable image, fast load times, and smooth gameplay across all three titles. Considering their simplicity and lower resource-intensiveness, that isn’t really a surprise.

However, I did come across instances where I could not progress past a dialogue box, requiring a restart of the game and a tedious amount of clicking through the same conversations before I could continue. It happened often enough across all three titles to become a real annoyance.

"If you’re looking for a simple, fun experience for kids on your consoles, this one’s definitely worth looking into."

With all of what I’ve said up until this point, you might be wondering if the Star Force Legacy Collection is something I’d recommend to you. Well, if you’re a die-hard fan of Mega Man, and you’re looking to collect all of the games in this subseries, this one’s for you. But for everybody else, there may not be enough here to justify the asking price.

The deliciously retro look and feel of it all, along with the nostalgia that Geo’s story evokes, aren’t going to be enough to keep you invested in it from start to finish. However, if you’re looking for a simple, fun experience for kids on your consoles, this one’s definitely worth looking into. But as an adult, I found myself drifting off far too often for this one to be a first-day purchase. I’d recommend waiting for a sale.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

"The story is largely told through conversations Dakota has with herself, both through dialogue during gameplay and through the notes she writes in her journal."

The main story of Project Songbird is a personal one. Protagonist Dakota, a musician performing under the stage name Neon Songbird, has been suffering from writer’s block after her last musical release failed to see any critical or commercial success. At the recommendation of her friend and record label executive, Rob, Dakota decides to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle of Pittsburgh, and retreats to a remote cabin in the Appalachian woods, largely cut off from the outside world thanks to a large body of water and the complete lack of mobile reception. Over the course of a month in the cabin, Dakota must rediscover her creative spark and put together a new album that she hopes will reconnect with both critics and her fans.

The story is largely told through conversations Dakota has with herself, both through dialogue during gameplay and through the notes she writes in her journal. Project Songbird also makes strong use of environmental storytelling. Just about everything you find during exploration, from a small cove of beautiful flowers to a strange easel in an open field, has at least some relevance to Dakota’s emotional and physical journey. Notes scattered throughout the game range from warnings not to go near a creepy remote location to apocalyptic logs left by someone who may have met a gruesome fate in the area.

"Dakota decides to spend some time away from the hustle and bustle of Pittsburgh, and retreats to a remote cabin in the Appalachian woods, largely cut off from the outside world"

Project Songbird’s story is surprisingly refreshing because its stakes remain personal rather than world-ending. There is no larger threat to the world that can only be stopped by Dakota and her shotgun. Rather, it is an emotional journey for the character, which you get to guide her through since you also get to play a role in the kind of music she can create. The story is elevated by Valerie Rose Lohman’s strong lead performance (whose previous credit includes What Remains of Edith Finch). The supporting cast is also quite good, with characters voiced by Maddy Murphy, Aleks Le, Jonah Scott, and even director Conner Rush.

Visually, Project Songbird definitely has its moments of utter beauty. There are wonderful little tableaus just about everywhere you look, from the dense forests you start out in as you walk towards the cabin, to even just the interiors of the tiny little cabin itself, with all of Dakota’s instruments and recording equipment lying around. There is also plenty of visual variety on display, from dilapidated buildings to dim underground corridors. Some of the more surreal scenes have also been wonderfully directed, with one of my favorites being when I found a door to nowhere on some rocks.

The fact that it doesn’t put all of its eggs in the photorealism basket also helps. Instead, Project Songbird focuses on a more stylistic look, with a warmly saturated palette in its early hours before dipping into cooler tones as things start getting creepier.

"Visually, Project Songbird definitely has its moments of utter beauty."

Unfortunately, while its visual style is great, its technical shortcomings do reveal its small-scale indie roots and likely limited budget. For this review, I played through it on an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM, and a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU. With all the graphical settings maxed out and the resolution at 2560×1440, I was easily able to hit my display’s frame rate limit of 144 FPS. However, there were also plenty of moments where I experienced hitching and dropped frames. This seemed to happen mainly during traversal, suggesting some streaming issues as new parts of the world loaded in. There is also noticeable pop-in, especially in the foliage and some textures.

Project Songbird isn’t an overly complex game. You won’t find much in the way of complicated stealth mechanics or inventory management that survival horror games often feature as key aspects of their game design. Rather, Project Songbird likes to keep things simple. Much of the gameplay revolves around walking around the beautiful world and interacting with various objects to solve simple puzzles. Along the way, you might end up coming face to face with surreal visuals or horrifying creatures, which you will then have to deal with using your weapon of choice.

It is also an incredibly short experience, with a runtime of around 5 hours, potentially more if you have trouble with some of the game’s puzzles. While the simplicity of gameplay goes a long way in keeping you engaged with the story and world, there is unfortunately very little real depth. Even the game’s combat is simply a matter of pointing your gun at an enemy and pulling the trigger, while backpedaling to maintain distance from enemies.

"You won’t find much in the way of complicated stealth mechanics or inventory management that survival horror games often feature as key aspects of their game design."

While combat is simple, the exploration aspects of Project Songbird have more going on. Sure, you can simply ignore most of your surroundings as you rush your way through the story, only catching the major narrative beats. However, two of the tools Dakota is equipped with right from the beginning are a camera and a sound recorder. The former has more utility, allowing you to capture important scenes that you can look back at. The latter, on the other hand, is a lot more interesting. During exploration, you might hear a beep. This is an indicator that there is an interesting sound that can be recorded. Any of these recorded sounds can later be used while creating new music, adding more depth to the album that Dakota is trying to record.

All in all, Project Songbird doesn’t ask too much of its players; it’s a short experience that focuses more on slow-burn atmosphere-setting than throwing jumpscares at you all the time. Combined with the fact that combat and exploration are both fairly simple, that makes it an easy horror game to recommend to genre fans. The technical issues that do exist are minor in the grand scheme of things, and even the occasional dip in the frame rate doesn’t have much impact since this isn’t exactly a combat-centric game.

Dakota’s journey through writer’s block is handled well, and the themes of this narrative will likely resonate with many players, even if they might not be musicians themselves. Pairing this with strong performances by a phenomenal cast of voice actors and the relatively short runtime makes Project Songbird a great way to spend some time on a weekend.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Yes, I know other arcade racers have attempted such control schemes before; 2020’s Inertial Drift, for instance, already embraces twin-stick driving, but having not played it before I wasn’t primed. Shmups and other twin-stick shooters I have played copiously, but their training was no help here. No, Screamer feels a different beast entirely. The best way I can sum up its unfamiliarity is to ask you to imagine writing with your non-dominant hand: see, you know how pens work, and you might be able to grasp firm enough to put ink to paper, but the lines and squiggles that emerge aren’t your usual handwriting.

"Braking is ultra-sensitive. The slightest tap slows you enough to slide through almost any turn, whilst drifting, especially, needs only the deftest tilt of the thumbstick."

Thankfully, Screamer’s racing lines do become deliberate with practice (something that my left hand and a pen will probably never attain). Despite its unorthodox controls, Screamer shares common ground with any of your go-to arcade racers: pre-corner positioning, timing, and maintaining flow reveal themselves as you grow accustomed to your car’s particular brand of handling. Layer on boosts, perfect shifts, strikes, and other character-specific actions, and what initially felt clumsy transforms into one of the most mechanically involved racers I can recall.

Certainly, at first, Screamer’s vehicles feel heavy, powerful, and planted, like sci-fi muscle cars more than precisely tuned track weapons. This physicality only adds to the friction. Early on, I felt like machine and I were wrestling, with neither able to get a foothold over the other. But, after burning through the miles in Screamer’s numerous arcade modes I was surprised, actually, when I realised that these vehicles should be handled with finesse, not brute force.

Braking is ultra-sensitive. The slightest tap slows you enough to slide through almost any turn, whilst drifting, especially, needs only the deftest tilt of the thumbstick. Its sensitivity means that it’s often only feasible once a corner’s apex is passed, depending on your approach speed, trajectory, the width of the curve, tightness of its angle, and so on. Unwielding controls and my constant over-corrections gradually faded. Blasting through the unobstructed roads of Time Attacks and Checkpoint Challenges, eventually I found expressive driving. Drifts began to flow through sequences of corners, blending into one fluid, satisfying movement.

"Using Sync generates Entropy, which is your car’s fighting aggression and defence."

But, in Screamer, races aren’t just about clean lines. Upshifting gives driving a rhythmic pulse, where tapping the left shoulder button just as your tachometer hits the required RPM gives your engine a momentary push. Generous timing windows and clear visual cues signal the optimal moment to switch gears, alongside reinforcing controller vibration that makes it easy to keep focus on the road.

Crucially, the game avoids punishing mistakes too harshly, with early upshifts not killing your momentum outright; only denying you the micro-boost. This is a small, but important, distinction, and one I appreciated the developers for. See, while flow, fluidity, and momentum are achievable on isolated circuits, chaotic races make chasing perfection near-impossible.

Now, this isn’t a negative. I embrace the chaos. I’m just pointing out that the freneticness of Screamer’s wheel-to-wheel combat makes pre-corner positioning, apex kissing, and perfect drifts secondary to survival. In fact, upshifting became the only mechanic I was able to execute with consistently.

And that’s just as well: see, each of Screamer’s vehicles is outfitted with an Echo device, a futuristic contraption which gathers charge to be spent on two intertwined resources: Sync and Entropy. It’ll fill independently through collision-less driving and timely upshifts, with your Sync able to execute Boosts and Perfect Boosts, the latter a slightly more difficult version which relies on releasing its input command after a specific duration.

Using Sync generates Entropy, which is your car’s fighting aggression and defence. The Strike system slams you into opponents, blowing their chassis into flaming pieces. Overdrive transforms your car into a rocket ship, blasting any foe whilst keeping you momentarily invulnerable.

"Screamer’s story mode is where the game’s anime inspiration comes to the fore, where high-speed clashes within a dangerous tournament are framed within themes of revenge, rivalry, and corporate espionage."

When you’re in control of these systems, it feels great. A well-timed hit can swing momentum in your favour. The problem is that this sense of control is inconsistent. Opponent strikes can be difficult to anticipate, often arriving with little room to react, making certain collisions feel less like tactical plays and more like unavoidable setbacks.

Combined with the game’s lack of rubber banding, then falling behind can quickly become an unrecoverable struggle. Even if Sync generation increases when you’re further down the order, allowing more frequent boosts, its impact during the heat of battle is difficult to assess (on balanced difficulty, at least). The result: Screamer’s combat adds excitement and unpredictability, but occasionally at the cost of fairness, especially when you’re limping at the back of the field through no fault of your own.

Beyond the standard Arcade modes already mentioned, Score Challenge and Team Races highlight a couple of Screamer’s other imbalances. The former is one of the primary avenues for unlocking customisation options, where team “members” are pitted against “leaders”, highlighting a clear disparity between vehicle performance, where leader cars are noticeably faster and more competitive. Using member cars in this mode can feel like an uphill battle, creating a progression loop that feels needlessly punishing unless difficulty is lowered.

Team Races, meanwhile, hint at hidden strategic layers but they never quite materialise. The idea is that teammates balance aggression with track position, but the reality is too disorderly. With so much happening at once, it is difficult to influence outcomes beyond simply racing as destructively as possible and finishing highly. In practice, Team Races function the same as Free For All’s, just with more setup for the same payoff.

Screamer’s story mode is where the game’s anime inspiration comes to the fore, where high-speed clashes within a dangerous tournament are framed within themes of revenge, rivalry, and corporate espionage. Structurally, it unfolds through bitesize, episodic chapters which introduce the various teams, their motivations, and disquiet simmering within their ranks. There’s a clear attempt at building a cohesive world here, and it broadly works. The overarching narrative flows purposely, with intrigue steadily building the more each team’s backstory overlaps.

"Similarly, performance is solid, running smoothly and consistently on base PS5 amid the high-speed, effects-heavy racing."

My issue lies in its pacing. Early chapters are particularly staccato, packed with exposition and explanation with pockets of on-track action acting as punctuation rather than defining moments. Likewise, character work shows an unevenness. With the exception of fiery Róisín, whose strong motivation is elevated by memorable voice acting, each character failed to leave an impression on me. There are hints of grounded emotional arcs – Gabriel, in particular, begins to show flashes of familial burden – but much of the cast remains underdeveloped. There’s undeniable ambition here, but the presentation is too sluggish for the racing which surrounds it.

Visually, however, Screamer impressed me more than its pre-release footage suggested. Its neon-lit cityscapes, reflective surfaces, and bold contrasts give races a striking sense of atmosphere. The cars themselves range from pristine, kitted-out cyberpunk cruisers to weathered grand tourers, distinguishing the identity of each vehicle and its racer.

Similarly, performance is solid, running smoothly and consistently on base PS5 amid the high-speed, effects-heavy racing. This is something we’ve come to expect from Milestone and their prowess for optimisation. Another area the studio usually excels is sound design, yet it is a slight letdown here. Engine notes lack the raw aggression that the cars’ outlandish designs promise, creating a small but noticeable disparity between how these cars look and how they sound.

Ultimately, Screamer is defined as an arcade racer willing to take risks. Whilst initially awkward, and admittedly tiring on the hands during long sessions, its twin-stick driving is rewarding once mastered. The games supporting mechanics are deep, and while not always as strategic as they suggest, they bring an engaging loop beyond sprinting to the finish line. Issues with balance, progression, and an uneven story detract from the racing’s intensity, but overall the game’s strengths outweigh its drawbacks.

There’s something undeniably compelling here. Screamer is a racer which might not reinvent the wheel, but it stands out precisely because it dares to try.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

"On the base PS5, I didn’t encounter any of the bugs or glitches that the developer had already flagged during my time with it, and there were no game-breaking bugs to pull me out of the experience."

I say a month because this one’s massive. I’ve been amazed by just how much there is to do in Crimson Desert, and how well most of it is integrated into the gameplay and your character’s progression loop. Its systems come together to present an open world that’s able to respond to your presence well enough to make you feel like your actions are having a positive impact on the regions you’re working to assist.

Before getting into the gameplay details, I want to quickly touch on how the game performs on PS5 and PS5 Pro. Both versions offer three graphical modes: Performance, Quality, and Balanced. On the base PS5, frame rate is generally solid, though there are reports of the game struggling to maintain a stable 60 FPS in Performance mode. By comparison, Balanced mode, which targets 40 FPS, and Quality mode, which targets 30 FPS, appear to be far more consistent.

Furthermore, there is a lot of pop-in as you explore the world. On the base PS5, I didn’t encounter any of the bugs or glitches that the developer had already flagged during my time with it, and there were no game-breaking bugs to pull me out of the experience. The PS5 Pro version, however, crashed once.

On the PS5 Pro, however, the game performs strongly across all three modes. Quality mode delivers 4K visuals at a stable 30 FPS, Balanced mode runs at around 40 FPS, and Performance mode is noticeably more reliable than it is on the base PS5. Overall, the base PS5 version could still use a few performance patches, while the PS5 Pro version already feels rock solid.

"The story’s opening act requires you to just suspend your disbelief and roll with it, which is a recurring theme during my time with Crimson Desert."

Back to the game itself, Kliff initially feels like an interesting protagonist, but as the story progresses, his characterization starts to come across as a bit bland. I’m a little iffy about how the game introduces you to him, though, and that’s a detail that I’m going to elaborate on in a bit. The game starts with the Greymanes unable to fend off an ambush from the Black Bears and their leader, and Kliff ends up thrown into a river with an injury that should have been fatal.

Instead, we’re treated to a tutorial sequence in The Abyss before he’s unceremoniously thrust back into the world, seemingly hale and healthy when you think about the circumstances that put him there. He’s then free to explore Pywel, going wherever we wish to right off the bat. The story’s opening act requires you to just suspend your disbelief and roll with it, which is a recurring theme during my time with Crimson Desert.

It’s largely serviceable, but it’s simply an excuse to put Kliff in dangerous situations, or send him on yet another quest where he may or may not find even more danger along the way. It’s designed to send you off into Pywel’s vast landscapes, and the game is invariably going to have you forgetting your objectives as you go after one of many distractions that pop up along the road.

That’s Crimson Desert’s greatest strength, the world being a major draw that allows you to overlook a rather lackluster story that takes its time to get going. Its pacing isn’t helped by the fact that you’re going to be coming back to it after hours of just exploring the area around your objectives, and it often leads to a few places where its immersion breaks thanks to you discovering something that the story didn’t intend for you to find.

"The sheer amount of things to do is staggering, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find instances where things get repetitive for the most part."

For instance, rumors of a Greymane in an area had me making a beeline for their last known location. I found the individual in question, even assisting them on a mission. However, the story mission that followed had an NPC mention the same individual, only for Kliff to remain silent about the time he had just spent with them.

I’d have loved a bit of adaptability in that instance, especially since another NPC whom I helped on a separate quest later turned up at a guest house, proudly boasting of his meeting with the Greymane who had helped out its denizens. And yet, he failed to even acknowledge me, even though I positioned myself right in front of him. Details like that matter in an open world, and it did break the immersion for me a little bit.

Those are minor complaints in a gameplay loop that keeps finding new ways to surprise you as you discover new areas. It’s clear that Crimson Desert is a title that’s meant to be played at your own pace and on your own terms once you get the hang of its controls and systems. The sheer amount of things to do is staggering, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find instances where things get repetitive for the most part.

Another area where the game excels was the combat, which is clunky and annoying in the game’s early hours thanks to a limited skill set and an often overwhelming number of enemies to keep track of. You’re going to want to stock up on food before you take on an enemy stronghold, as this is a game where you take as many hits as you dish out.

"If you’re a player who’s short on time or someone who is looking for a well-written story, you’re probably going to want to sit this one out"

However, things get exponentially better once you start unlocking new abilities and learn to use them effectively. Kliff’s a versatile warrior, and he only gets deadlier the more options you give him to use in the field. The majority of the boss fights are exhilarating, but some of them are a letdown, often devolving into protracted battles where the amount of healing supplies you’re carrying matters more than the effective use of your skills. That’s a shame, considering the bosses I’ve seen are well-designed and unique enough to be interesting.

To conclude, with a world that feels tailor-made for open-world fans, strong visuals, and solid combat, Crimson Desert is easy to recommend, even if it still needs a bit more polish to truly shine. It is absolutely worth the time and effort it asks of you, and I would even place it among my favorite open-world games.

But is it the one for you? That depends on how much of its world you’re willing to engage with. If you’re a player who’s short on time or someone who is looking for a well-written story, you’re probably going to want to sit this one out. But if you’ve got time on your hands, and the patience to learn how to make the most out of the game’s many systems and mechanics, you should dive right in without a second thought.

Either way, Crimson Desert is a solid game whose quirks only make it more endearing to the players most likely to click with it. It’s one that I’m going to be talking about in the future, and is going to be a source of many fond memories for players who stay with it long enough.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

A keen eye on the numbers underlines the sport’s psychological battle, with the face-off between pitcher and batter its epicentre. So, when we say MLB The Show isn’t like other sports sims, it’s because it must do two things: simulate baseball’s moment-to-moment action with precision whilst feeding you streams of data – stats, rates, attributes; continually engaging, page after page.

MLB The Show is a gold-standard baseball sim, with this year’s entry capturing the sport’s rhythm, complexity, and tactical depth through rejuvenated stat delivery. For batters, real-world pitch usage rates yield information you can take straight to the plate, while fielder reaction times are now digestible via a suite of new attributes. Support comes from expanded match day coverage and an abundance of all-new on-field animations – over 500, to be exact. The result is a package that remains one of the most authentic sports simulations available, even if some additions feel evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

"Among the new hitting interfaces is Fixed Zone Hitting, which prevents the Plate Coverage Indicator – the PCI – from resetting after releasing the analog stick."

Still, the defining strength of MLB The Show is its ability to capture baseball’s fundamental mind game. Every at-bat is a strategic battle of prediction, timing, and patience, with MLB The Show 26 continuing to emphasise the count’s dynamic moments.

When you’re batting, CPU pitchers will mix up their throws with convincing intelligence. Fastballs often establish the early rhythm, while sliders, sinkers, and off-speed fastball variants arrive to disrupt timing. Over the course of several exhibition matches, I noticed that the CPU was able to adapt its approach, occasionally establishing patterns before swiftly subverting my expectations. On one occasion, after two pitches landed on the left-side of the zone, a third delivery appeared headed for the right. I was anticipating this, but my swing was still ill-advised. The ball broke into a slider, veering wide of the plate. A little more discipline and I could have turned the tide in that particular war. Instead, momentum didn’t shift. I was out.

This moment illustrates how MLB The Show 26 can replicate the tension at the plate, with the pitcher’s confidence gauge playing a major role. See, confident pitchers locate the strike zone with greater consistency, while struggling pitchers scatter their throws more erratically (an effect I experienced many times when, after what I believed was perfect placement, I saw my pitch curve wide of the zone through low confidence). If the batter takes these balls – as in, lets them fly past without swinging wildly – then a pitcher’s confidence noticeably drops, creating opportunities for mistakes that skilled batters can exploit.

Hitting remains the game’s most demanding aspect. Timing, pitch recognition, and placement – alongside various batter attributes – all combine to determine the quality of contact. The sharp thwack of a perfectly timed hit is joyous to hear, but those moments occur infrequently making them feel earned and deeply satisfying when they do happen.

Among the new hitting interfaces is Fixed Zone Hitting, which prevents the Plate Coverage Indicator – the PCI – from resetting after releasing the analog stick. This experience makes Zone Hitting slightly more intuitive, with the extra swing control offered by either mode keeping this interface as the game’s most effective, although newcomers may find it intimidating.

More accessible is the newly introduced Big Zone Hitting interface, existing in a middle ground between Zone Hitting and directional or timing-based systems. Instead of precise PCI placement, Big Zone divides the plate into segments, allowing me to guide my swing toward a general area while focusing more heavily on my timing. See, with the strike zone visually separated, reading pitches became easier, and my attention shifted toward the crucial split-second decision of when to swing. Successful hits became more common, while leaving difficult pitches was more manageable.

"Bare Down Pitching puts your pitcher into boost mode, heightening senses to bring greater control and velocity in the biggest moments."

Ambush Hitting – introduced last year – also returns, where contact advantages can result from pre-selecting the correct half of the strike zone. In theory, this adds another layer of strategy or, at least, gives greater opportunity to break a pitcher’s flow. Yet, in practice, I felt my choice came down to educated guesswork rather than a readable tactical system. Later in my playthrough, as my confidence grew, I defaulted to always choosing the outside half of the zone anyway. That is where I most-consistently smacked the ball to an un-manned part of the field.

Real-world pitch history information is available through menus, and there’s lots of useful information within. At a glance, you’ll see which pitches your opposition favours in a given moment, which has more likelihood to be thrown if you’re in command of a right-handed batter, or the ranking of their pitch repertoire via their player card, and so on. It’s not an exact science – a pitcher who launches spinners four-percent of the time can still lob you the occasional spinner. Useful it may be, accessing it mid-game disrupted my flow. I’d much prefer referencing this information at the plate, especially during clutch moments.

And speaking of clutch, you’ve a new weapon to deploy at the mound. Bare Down Pitching puts your pitcher into boost mode, heightening senses to bring greater control and velocity in the biggest moments. And, depending on your pitcher’s clutch rating, you can stack Bare Down Pitches to use one after another. While sharp intakes of breath and tighter framing increase the drama, I rarely found this mechanic to be over-powered. In fact, batters often still dealt with my Bare Downs, if only to knock out foul balls and maintain the count.

Elsewhere, Road to the Show returns as the series’ flagship career mode. Partially rebranded to Road to Cooperstown, this iteration sees the early stages of your career expanded to include the final stretch of a high school season, with college scouts evaluating your performance.

"You’ll favour Franchise Mode if you’re the kind of player who prefers baseball’s strategic side, where long-term control over a team’s roster, finances, and trades coincide with the regular season."

Character customisation remains incredibly deep although, with the mode placing renewed energy on your individual progression to Hall of Fame status, it didn’t feel excessive. It was part of the journey, where goal-orientated progression revolves around performance grades, completing dynamic objectives, earning tokens to boost attributes, and unlocking perks. While the structure is easy to understand, progression pacing felt uneven early on, where an abundance of college offers came rolling in – along with an unexpected Blue Jays contract – despite, admittedly, a string of average performances. Still, the act of climbing the baseballing ladder is more compelling than ever.

Diamond Dynasty continues to serve the series’ live-service centrepiece, where you build custom teams through collectible player cards, completing challenges and events to strengthen your lineup. This year introduces a new Red Diamond rarity tier and expanded Parallel XP systems to allow greater stat customisation. While these additions deepen progression, the core appeal remains unchanged: quest for cards and reap the addictive thrill of ripping packs open and assembling your dream roster. Accessibility sliders are disabled in this mode to retain competitive balance, which makes the experience noticeably more challenging than exhibition play. For newer players, this might slow progression down to a frustrating grind.

You’ll favour Franchise Mode if you’re the kind of player who prefers baseball’s strategic side, where long-term control over a team’s roster, finances, and trades coincide with the regular season. The revamped Trade Hub provides a centralised interface for managing deals, alongside improved AI logic and a rumours system which hints at other teams’ needs across the league. This mode gives another example of MLB The Show 26’s ability to present an overwhelming amount of statistical data in simple structures. The Trade Hub’s layout tracked my thought process too; whether by design or coincidence, I found navigating through the various sub-menus fluid and frictionless.

Early on, I identified a lack of squad depth in first and third base positions, and there was a list of free agents easily accessible from this screen. After a quick browse, I opted to get the season underway instead. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. occupies first base for my chosen team (again) the Toronto Blue Jays, and I figured he’d be a big injury loss whichever position he played. However, before starting the season proper, I located the “positions” tab on the Trade Hub and selected 1B and 3B as positions I’d like to prioritise for recruitment, the intention being that opportunities for trade would come my way rather than I sift through reams of 1B player stats.

"For beginners willing to embrace its difficulty, or seasoned veterans looking for a refined baseball experience, MLB The Show 26 remains the benchmark."

So, despite the managerial complexity, I was able to leverage a foothold. In Franchise Mode, evaluating roster strength and negotiating trades doesn’t demand expert baseballing knowledge, just a little patience. I only spent a couple of hours in this mode, but immediately I saw sandbox potential that would keep me satisfied throughout an entire season.

In summary, MLB The Show 26 isn’t a radical reinvention, but a continued effort to refine one of the most authentic sports simulations available. The famously steep learning curve persists, but once the mechanics click the essence of baseball reveals itself. Broadcast quality presentation, authentic, and varied, fielder animations – jump throws, slides, the odd fumble, even slowing to adjust footwork before throwing – plus hitting interfaces that bridge the gap between novice and expert, opportunities for deep, long-term experiences, and a true representation of baseball’s psychological warfare – the pitcher-batter mind game. All that’s critical is here.

Despite my usual gripes with the live-service loop (common in most modern sports sims, to be fair) MLB The Show 26 has very little superfluous fluff, and that’s including the smorgasbord of stats, abilities, gauges, attributes, form guides – numbers basically – that the game throws at you. For beginners willing to embrace its difficulty, or seasoned veterans looking for a refined baseball experience, MLB The Show 26 remains the benchmark.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

"Death Stranding 2: On the Beach continues to be a phenomenal game."

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way: the PC port of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a fantastic one. I was able to test it on a mid-range system running on an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU, and 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM, and experienced essentially no performance hitches whatsoever despite most of the graphics settings being cranked up to the max. I was able to maintain a steady frame rate of over 100 FPS for most of my time with the game at 1440p, with very rare dips to below 100, but still over 60, when things got particularly busy or I had entered a brand new area.

With performance out of the way, it is also well worth noting that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a gorgeous game. While I couldn’t make exact frame-by-frame comparisons, I thought it looked quite a bit better than it did on my base PS5. The only negative I have here is the implementation of FSR 3. There was a tendency for some environmental objects, primarily foliage, to look quite blurry due to the nature of upscaling. However, this is far from the game’s own fault, and largely comes down to how FSR 3 works.

"With performance out of the way, it is also well worth noting that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a gorgeous game."

Support for various control methods were also well implemented. While I did give keyboard and mouse a shot for some time, however, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach still feels like it was designed very much with controllers in mind. Despite this, the control layout for keyboard and mouse felt just fine, and I could find no moment where things got too awkward for me to accomplish what I was trying to do. Of course, for players who have more unique and less-supported controllers out there, Steam Input works flawlessly here, with the only caveat being that changing any keybindings will require you to do it through Steam rather than in-game. For everyone else, the in-game options will be plenty.

Generally speaking, PC is a fantastic platform to experience Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, thanks in large part to the effort Kojima Productions and Nixxes went through to ensure that it is a smooth port. Along with offering plenty of options, be it for graphics like volumetric lighting and terrain quality, or for keyboard and mouse controls, like switching between toggle and hold settings for various in-game actions, as well as fine-tuning options for camera sensitivity. If you would like to get more granular, there are also options to change the quality level of things like Volumetric Lighting, Translucency, Reflections, and Reflections, along with the usual suspects like Texture Quality and Ambient Occlusion.

As for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach as a whole, it feels like a sequel in just about every way possible. Now, don’t get me wrong. I mean this in an entirely positive way, since I loved the original Death Stranding when it first came out thanks to its unique take on the open-world genre and fun gameplay mechanics that revolved more around the simple act of walking from point to point, making essential deliveries. What I do mean by Death Stranding 2 feeling like a sequel is that it has basically built upon, and improved just about every aspect of its predecessor, from gameplay to presentation to story.

The plot of Death Stranding 2 starts off quite simple. Several months after the events of Death Stranding, protagonist Sam Bridges and his adopted daughter Lou are living off the grid, outside of the Chiral network as established by the United Cities of America. Sam is making a modest living by making simple deliveries, and generally being a good father to Lou. However, one day, an old friend manages to find him: Fragile. She tasks Sam with a major mission, to bring the Chiral network to Mexico. On doing so, Sam’s actions towards the end of the original Death Stranding will be forgiven, and he will be free to live his life wherever he wants.

"The plot of Death Stranding 2 starts off quite simple."

Along the way, Sam also learns about a mysterious new anomaly. While not too many details about this anomaly are revealed, at least for the time being, we do learn that it allows instantaneous travel to Australia. After having made the long, arduous treks back and forth to complete this delivery, however, Sam is faced with a new adversary. A month later, Sam is called on by Fragile once more to help lead an expedition to Australia, attempting to bring the continent into the Chiral network.

The prologue chapter is quite long, with the game only really opening up properly once you finally get to Australia. Despite this, however, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach never really feels like a slow game in terms of how it paces out its story. Sure, you’ll be spending several hours making dozens of deliveries between important plot beats. When you do hit those beats, however, the revelations and plot twists start coming in quite fast. This is further helped by the phenomenal cast of characters aboard your new home base, the DHV Magellan.

While several characters from the original Death Stranding return, like Fragile, we also get brand new characters like Tarman. A personal favorite of mine throughout the story was Dollman, as played by Fatih Akin and Jonathan Roumie, since his mannerisms are often quite funny, and the comedy is further compounded by the fact that his animations are always running at a slower framerate.

Beyond the minor live-action story additions, and the new nightmares Sam has to endure, PC players can look forward to a few extra touches worth mentioning. There’s full DualSense integration with haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which feels fitting, if also fairly expected for a major PlayStation release on PC, while ultrawide support extends to 21:9 during in-game cutscenes. On the content side, PC players can look forward to experiencing the “Trapped in a Strange Realm,” a new VR training area built around Sam’s battles with Neil, as well as “to the wilder” mode, a new challenge option designed to push porter skills to the limit in far more punishing conditions. As a side note, all of these updates are also coming to the PlayStation 5.

"Beyond the minor live-action story additions, and the new nightmares Sam has to endure, PC players can look forward to a few extra touches worth mentioning."

When it comes to gameplay, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach offers much of what its predecessor did: long treks through empty landscape where you have to plan out your routes to avoid steep mountains, deep rivers, and other environmental hazards. While the core gameplay hasn’t changed too much, there are some added twists thanks to the world itself. A day and night cycle can often change up the nature of deliveries altogether, bringing in major changes to visibility. There are also plenty of new environmental hazards to deal with, from earthquakes and sandstorms to wildfires and avalanches, which can further throw a wrench into your carefully-designed route across Australia’s many regions.

While the core traversal can be quite meditative at times, Death Stranding 2 also has more options than ever before for how you can deal with threats. Along with a variety of weapons that can be outfitted with non-lethal ammunition, you also have more tools to use if you would simply prefer to sneak away and avoid conflict altogether.

Death Stranding 2 offers a uniquely meditative experience for most of its runtime, punctuated by high-octane action thanks to its awesome boss fights, as well as emotional and epic moments alike with its fun story that revolves around whether or not connecting the world in the first game was altogether such a great idea.

This game was reviewed on PC.

None of this is a secret – heck, even the marketing team outright said it would be “arrogant” to ignore all those influences. And besides, inspiration is one thing – using it to create a fun new experience is ultimately what’s important. Such is the cycle of video game design dating back decades. Is Crimson Desert actually in the same league as many of the previously mentioned greats? Well, no, but there is plenty to still like about it, depending on how you approach it.

Unfortunately, the story likely isn’t one of them. You control Kliff, a member and unofficial leader of the Greymanes, a mercenary faction in Pailune. At the start, the group is recovering from an ambush by the Black Bears, having seemingly been betrayed. Their brief respite is interrupted by yet another attack, and it’s all Kliff can do to try and help his allies – Oongka, Naira and Yann – before seemingly being taken out by Myurdin, the Black Bears’ leader.

"You would think that, among the plethora of side quests and an entire base-building system, we would have more ways to get to know the Greymanes better, or at least go beyond a snippet or two from their past. Alas, this isn’t to be, and it’s a shame…"

Except that’s not the end of his journey as he awakens in the mysterious Abyss to some unknown end. Jump cut to Kliff now being in Pywel – and yes, the transition is as awkward as it sounds – where he sets off for the Duchy of Hernand to gather news on his companions. Of course, that’s only the beginning, and by now, we know that his purpose inextricably ties into the Abyss, especially with many seeking to covet the power of its Artifacts, which have begun appearing everywhere in the continent.

Amid all this is an underlying theme about how humility and kindness pave the way to virtue and wisdom, and Kliff, in typical chosen one fashion, has both in spades. Initially, I vibed with this approach, especially as a means to justify helping out townsfolk, slowly unraveling all the connections and relationships that make Pywel tick. It also easily explained how he seemingly gets involved in all these conflicts and risky endeavors – he’s just trying to do the right thing.

The problem is that, more or less, that’s it when it comes to Kliff’s characterisation. Other characters fare somewhat better, whether it’s the prickly Naira, the hilarious-one-moment-downright-awful-another Yann, or solemn Oongka. Then you have the likes of Marius, who teeters between amicable one moment and passive-aggressive the next, or Damiane with her secretive past. It’s just that their overall development feels surface-level at times, and Kliff seems like little more than their gruff babysitter. The absolute worst of the writing manifests in a scene where he does little more than grunt through a conversation, and given the significance of everything that happened prior, I just couldn’t believe it.

You would think that, among the plethora of side quests and an entire base-building system, we would have more ways to get to know the Greymanes better, or at least go beyond a snippet or two from their past. Alas, this isn’t to be, and it’s a shame, especially when it comes to some of the bit characters, like Shakatu of the Goldleaf Merchants Guild. The voice acting is top-notch all around, and it’s saying something that it often makes you forget how bland the actual story can be.

It also doesn’t help that the plot takes a while to get going. I understand the first few hours in a game like this are purely for set-up – with so many systems in place, you need to take time to explain them. Such an opportunity is sort of used to explain the bonds between the Greymanes, though, once again, it never feels like it goes beyond mere scraps (except Oongka, which makes sense because he’s playable). Again, the early requests that revolve around finding the surviving Greymanes come to mind. They involve little more than simply going to a location, meeting said Greymanes, watching a cutscene, and then returning to Camp. I know they’re not exactly the biggest players in the story, but at least spice things up with some unique objectives.

"Pywel is packed with as many nooks, crannies, ruins, caves, and the odd boss or two that is none too happy to see you, as it is massive vistas with inviting towers in the distance."

The fact that it takes about 20 hours – give or take a few due to open-world exploration – to really jump-start the core narrative, with the results being above average at best, that’s a problem. It’s serviceable storytelling, but for its exceptional visuals and top-tier voice acting talent, it could have been so much more.

With all that out of the way, let’s get to a few things that Crimson Desert actually does well: the world design. From the moment you’re left alone in Hernand, Kliff has the freedom to go wherever he wants. Yes, it would behove you to obtain elements like the Crow’s Wings, which are locked behind story progression (among other things), but if you want to trot through the territories without a care in the world from the get-go, have at it.

Pywel, to its credit, doesn’t immediately flood the player with waypoints and locations, aweing with its sheer majesty while simultaneously inviting you for a closer look. It’s to the developer’s credit that this isn’t just a collection of clean streets, as it embraces the dirt, grime and shady back alleys that define medieval fantasy.

As you navigate the cities, towns and smaller settlements, you’ll notice citizens conversing and going about their daily lives (though they don’t exactly have full-fledged schedules as one might hope). Soldiers may march through the streets as easily as they’d deny entry due to your attire. Bounty posters can be found on wooden poles, and you may even inadvertently bump into the target, who must be tackled to the ground and deposited at the constable’s. Yes, either on foot or horseback. No fast travel allowed, which isn’t as bad as it sounds when the reward amounts start scaling up. It was a bit disappointing to find the same mini-game across multiple major cities, but hey, familiarity when it comes to earning money isn’t the worst thing, especially given the wider world.

Because Pywel is packed with as many nooks, crannies, ruins, caves, and the odd boss or two that is none too happy to see you, as it is massive vistas with inviting towers in the distance. Giant question marks could point to Abyss Nexus plates for the aforementioned fast travel, and they might just as easily unearth a machination with tubes leading to an underground chamber where you need to move a giant pillar around. Another puzzle involved walking between a pair of tiles, which then expanded to three pairs as you carefully plot out routes without crossing the wires, so to speak. For all the times that I happened upon these and felt stumped, it was equally endearing to drop down into a massive, unexplored cave and find a sword with a blade reminiscent of the Abyss’s shifting blocks. Sometimes there would only be a chest with an underwhelming amount of Copper, but on other occasions, a wealth of resources awaited.

"Regardless, everything feeds back into Kliff’s own personal progression, in turn affecting combat (which we’ll discuss). It’s here that the MMO-lite options rear their head in some of the more…odd ways."

Of course, that isn’t even the tip of the spear when it comes to open-world activities. You can find broken-down wagons and return them to a medieval-style chop shop. Tame wild horses or register them with the stable, perhaps taking them for a spin later or turn them into the local butcher for some coin. Maybe you’ll run into a quarry and take on dozens of enemies before going up against a giant drill-bearing boss who loves diving underground and popping back out to nearly kill you.

It’s just as possible to enter another where the crew is stalled because their crane operator pulled his back, which means part-time bounty hunter/farmer/trader/cat rescuer Kliff gets to fill in. And that’s not even getting into the Greymanes camp, which can transform into a venerable settlement in its own right with a farm, ranch, weapon shop, and so much more. I haven’t fully dived into the separate progression trees and research projects for some locations, or combed the Abyss, which presents some great platforming challenges (even if a few can be hit or miss because of the sheer amount of falling).

For as unique and intriguing as so many of these activities can be, there are also several which are a little too straightforward, and I’m not just talking about the requests that task you with gathering X number of materials or delivering an item or following an NPC to a place where enemies suddenly pop out. Faction quests that involve liberating multiple key locations are cool, and the fact that these open up new missions for your Greymanes to net additional resources creates this interconnected economy. The world feels more alive as a result, but the actual objectives for liberation aren’t nearly as imaginative, as you’ll run in, clear out enemies, and then take on a boss.

Occasionally, high-priority targets may also emerge with their own intriguing tales, but they follow much of the same pattern – go from A to B and eventually C to take on the boss. Which is, once again, a shame because some of these characters are cool and end up feeling like wasted potential. If I’m going to follow such a straightforward path, at least add some meatier narrative content.

Regardless, everything feeds back into Kliff’s own personal progression, in turn affecting combat (which we’ll discuss). It’s here that the MMO-lite options rear their head in some of the more…odd ways. I can deal with stores refreshing 24 hours – even mining ore, which appears to take even longer to regenerate, isn’t that much of a dealbreaker, since it can encourage exploration on the surface to discover new nodes. Besides, there are more than enough vendors as you get deeper into the continent that you’ll find enough ways to obtain Copper and Iron for upgrading that snazzy new gear piece or weapon.

Problems arise with the actual acquisition activities. Cutting down trees only to receive a few pieces of Timber at best? Splitting ores and watching pieces fly everywhere, only to obtain one Iron Ore, maybe two at best if you’re using the Drillarm? It may not be much of a problem dozens of hours later as more avenues open up, but it feels tedious in the early going when trying to upgrade gear (don’t even get me started on trying to collect plants).

"Even when you’re clashing against shields, there’s a responsiveness – a feeling of power, which is all the better when you finally break through and cut them down. The fact that each weapon type feels so different yet satisfying is also a plus, and I like how they alter some moves."

Inventory space can also be a nagging issue – even when you’re completing requests for townsfolk and receiving multiple three-slot expansions or buying small bags for that precious extra slot, it just never feels enough. Blame it on the numerous resources, trading goods, armor sets, weapons, etc. Then add to the fact that Damiane and Oongka have their own separate gear (yes, all of this is a single shared inventory). Allocating Sealed Abyss Artifacts to a single slot helps, but the lack of any camp storage (outside of the production storage box, which only lets you remove loot obtained after liberation battles) is baffling. How can a game like this have such an extensive camp system with the ability to purchase furniture and decorate your own personal house, but not offer any kind of storage chest? A future update will allow players to store “certain content” via housing, but there’s currently no ETA on the same.

I’m also not a fan of Abyss Artifacts coming into play so early when upgrading gear. I can see the vision – when players have unlocked most of their desired skills, it creates some tension as you need to choose between upgrading stats or prioritizing upgrades. The problem is that the number of Abyss Artifacts isn’t exactly flowing by that point, and the presence of so much gear, even if you choose to focus on Kliff alone, stifles any experimentation. The fact that the upgrade paths are so straightforward, and you can’t roll back spent resources, is also annoying. You would also think that a game so focused on resource farming would at least let you tag them in question, thus highlighting their locations (even if it’s only the discovered points). But I digress.

Thankfully, there’s another area in which Crimson Desert excels: Combat. I’d say that it starts simple enough, but Kliff is a seasoned mercenary who forgot the “just this once” part when it comes to going all out. There are the usual light attacks and heavy attacks, but you can also press both buttons into a powerful Turning Slash, or combine a light attack with dodge for an evasive slash. Vault over enemies. Smack someone with the shield, and then immediately transition into charging through them. Heck, charge through them all to begin with. Clothesline them, RKO them, German Suplex any fleeing fools. Pump kick fools into the water. Watch them drown, and if they climb back up, pump kick them again.

Even when you’re clashing against shields, there’s a responsiveness – a feeling of power, which is all the better when you finally break through and cut them down. The fact that each weapon type feels so different yet satisfying is also a plus, and I like how they alter some moves. Wielding a spear, for example, disables your Pump Kick but replaces it with a vaulting kick that more than suffices. Not that you should underestimate enemies, especially against multiple foes, since they have their own extensive combos and Spirit techniques. But chaining several heavy attacks into a Turning Slash, and then a stab, which causes an enemy to start bleeding, feels so seamless and satisfying.

"While we’re still talking about combat, I should mention Oongka and Damiane, the other unlockable characters. It was somewhat disappointing to see them share so many skills with Kliff, but there are enough standout options to make them feel distinct."

As you gather more Abyss Artifacts and unlock new Skills, the sheer amount of options only increases, especially when factoring in elemental attacks or gear that activates specific perks when imbuing said elements. Don’t worry, though – there are plenty of perks that can augment existing techniques in more straightforward ways. I particularly liked the one-handed sword that unleashed slightly homing crows against enemies, augmenting my heavy slashes (which were already upgraded to have after-images that repeated the strikes). The shield that unleashes an explosion, either when smacking a foe or parrying despite its requirements? Another great addition.

Unlocking new skills through learning is also fun, even if they won’t always suit your purpose (like picking up the Evasive Roll from a boss in a fight that doesn’t require me to glide). The fact that elements are such a late addition irks me, but the combat system has enough going on to keep it feeling fresh throughout, and not having to invest in stats to unlock skills is a great decision. It makes the stats themselves feel more meaningful – and make no mistake, some techniques will feel better if you have more Spirit or Stamina – while still keeping options open. However, it did seem like the bow needed some help in the early to mid-game with damage, though, especially compared to the firearms.

Where Crimson Desert’s combat shines – and also occasionally baffles me – is with the boss fights. Some of these are knockdown, drag-out fights where the slightest mistake feels costly. Baiting out attacks and knowing when to back off, especially when they unleash their super moves, results in encounters that feel more like brutal dances. Except when the camera occasionally causes issues, such as breaking targeting or lagging behind a target, even when you’re hard-locked. The fact that so many bosses have invincibility phases – which is different from super armor – is also annoying. You could be reading an attack after the boss’s long combo, only for them to activate their invincibility, effectively negating your strikes. Better hope you weren’t close enough to, say, get electrocuted.

There was also a boss with an attached gimmick that was simply infuriating due to the confusing instructions. The fact that it activated after a puzzle and dying meant having to complete the latter again also didn’t help. Nevertheless, that was only one example – the boss fights are otherwise a highlight and easily elevate some of the narratively lackluster circumstances.

While we’re still talking about combat, I should mention Oongka and Damiane, the other unlockable characters. It was somewhat disappointing to see them share so many skills with Kliff, but there are enough standout options to make them feel distinct. Oongka is definitely clunkier when using two-handed weapon attacks, which is his bread and butter, so take that as you will, but at least Damiane offers a range of options (who can say no to a shield throw that bounces between enemies?).

"If there’s one thing that I can’t really fault Crimson Desert for, it’s the visuals. I touched on it briefly, but the attention to detail is simply sumptuous, especially when wandering around in the wild."

Switching to them feels seamless, especially when hopping into whatever scenario they’re embroiled in (having dedicated missions to further flesh out their stories is also a plus). But why, pray tell, do they also require separate Abyss Artifacts to unlock several skills? Maybe the idea was that players would respec after investing so much into Kliff, but that just made me less interested in spending time with either until I fully kitted out our main man. There are also occasional bugs, like Kliff sometimes not attacking despite pressing the corresponding button and having stamina, which seemed more common as I ventured deeper into the story. I’m not sure what causes it, but as you can probably imagine, it’s not ideal.

Otherwise, perhaps the only real “problem” per se is the controls. Not that they’re overtly complex, but just the sheer amount of them, and more importantly, remembering their various contextual situations. Hold down L3 to activate your grapple, but be careful not to do it near a ledge (like, say, in the Abyss) because then Kliff will either sit down or hang from the same.

Activating Blinding Flash with L1 + R1, which can then transition into Focused Light with L1 for either igniting weeds or solving puzzles, often feels easier when your weapon is sheathed as opposed to when it’s out, because the game prioritizes attacking for the latter instead. Perhaps my only other nitpick is how Kliff doesn’t immediately transition into a glide when using three Focused Palms to lift off the ground, wasting that precious altitude gained. I also don’t know why using Focused Palm usually knocks him back (both on the ground and when on a wall). Or why gliding consumes so much stamina when you’re not in the Abyss. Okay, that’s three nitpicks, but still.

If there’s one thing that I can’t really fault Crimson Desert for, it’s the visuals. I touched on it briefly, but the attention to detail is simply sumptuous, especially when wandering around in the wild. Seeing smaller woodland creatures running underfoot, the winds rustling against foliage and trees, shadows naturally lengthening and deepening as dusk draws near – it’s enough to make you want to slow down, and just take in all the beauty. The fact that the development team pulled all of this off while implementing ray tracing, that too with such incredible draw distances and level of detail, is yet another feather in its cap. Best of all, it runs exceptionally well.

"For all the times that it weighs on you with its bizarre design choices, Crimson Desert can also leave you awestruck by its world and sheer beauty. It’s only going to get better with time, but for now, if you can deal with its various quirks, Pywel is calling."

I played the game on an Intel Core i5-11400 2.6 GHz, 32 GB of RAM and an RTX 4060 with 8 GB VRAM. Performance remained very consistent at 1440p with most settings set to High and DLSS 4.5L, and DLAA enabled, with Advanced Weather off and Volumetric Fog quality set to Medium. The frame rate would definitely fall below 60 in much busier scenarios, like at night with multiple light sources, rain and NPCs around, but it never felt unplayable or like a stuttering mess. Perhaps the only downside – and this is probably more of a consequence of running in DLSS 4.5L – is the distant pop-in (not to mention some finer details materializing up close) when speeding quickly through terrain. Again, not a dealbreaker and considering it achieves all this while still providing steady performance, it should be good news for those with higher-end set-ups.

For all the criticisms, both minor and otherwise, that I have with Crimson Desert, it ultimately depends on the kind of experience that you’re after. If it’s a top-classic narrative, then sadly, you won’t find it here. If it’s an incredible open world, then you’ll find enough of it to keep you hooked, even when clearing the umpteenth bandit camp. A diverse range of skills and combat options await, but the path to getting them is fraught with some annoying early game stinginess, tiresome inventory management and questionable resource requirements. So when it’s trying to do as much as it’s doing, these issues can creep up more often than not.

Nevertheless, I can’t deny that I’ve had fun. All the moments when I veer off the beaten path to see what Pywel has to offer, even if means climbing cliffs for roughly half an hour in the Ancient Rift; all those times that I was absolutely devastated by a boss, only to slowly learn their patterns and overcome them through sheer grit (and plenty of food); entering the titular Crimson Desert for the first time and being awestruck by its machinations and impressive dust storms before being shot dead when trying to unga bunga the first blockaded location; heck, even that time that I gathered almost 240 Dried Fish since they made for great health recovery.

For all the times that it weighs on you with its bizarre design choices, Crimson Desert can also leave you awestruck by its world and sheer beauty. It’s only going to get better with time, but for now, if you can deal with its various quirks, Pywel is calling.

This game was reviewed on PC.

First and foremost, one of the most fun things about Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is its presentation. Even with its main menu, Auroch Digital has focused on recreating a fun interface where, rather than simply picking from a list of options for “New Game”, you get to click on various parts of your home base to access the appropriate sub menus. This is also where you get the first major twist of the game: there are separate modes for playing as humans and as the bugs. But we’ll get to that aspect later on.

"While ostensibly a boomer shooter, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! takes its game design cues from more recent releases."

As for the game itself, its story revolves around essentially being a work of interactive propaganda. Various cutscenes from throughout the game—fully acted out by real people—make no secret of Ultimate Bug War being an in-universe game that was released by the Federation to further boost enlistment efforts in the never-ending war against bugs. To achieve this, the main plot is structured around being like a loose parody of old-school action movies, complete with all the violence and melodrama that was endemic to the genre.

While ostensibly a boomer shooter, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! takes its game design cues from more recent releases. Its structure, while still level-based, revolves around throwing you into larger levels with a number of different objectives that you are then encouraged to tackle in just about any order you might want. All of these objectives tend to be part of a larger overarching plot about how the Federation is on the back foot thanks to the bugs being on the offensive, and culminate in a larger setpiece-styled objective that caps off the level.

The second-to-second gameplay is just about what you’d expect: fast-paced action that will keep you on your toes thanks to the tendency of the bugs to surround you from just about every direction. Since Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is a callback to an older style of shooter, there is also no regeneration for your health or shields. If you run low on either, you’ll either have to explore the map to find pickups, or call down some supplies. The combat never really gets boring thanks to enemy health being in a good spot between tanky and fragile. Most standard enemies, like warrior bugs, will go down in around 15 bullets from your full-auto gun. More specialized bugs, however, like tankers or archers, will take up more of your ammo.

Enemy variety is also decent, with the game constantly throwing a mix of warrior bugs and aphids to constantly chase you down for melee attacks, while archers will often take up vantage points at a distance to bombard you with projectiles. Every once in a while, you’ll also get to fight much more challenging enemies, like centurions or tankers, that will require more in the way of tactics. These fights can often become frantic enough to force you into using up your more powerful attacks, like an airstrike, or the last bit of ammo in your high-power sniper rifle.

"The second-to-second gameplay is just about what you’d expect: fast-paced action that will keep you on your toes thanks to the tendency of the bugs to surround you from just about every direction."

Speaking of which, there are plenty of weapons and toys to play with. Missions will throw you into a map with nothing more than a Morita Assault Rifle with an underslung shotgun for some extra support. Exploring the map, however, will often result in more choices, which can range from carbines to burst-fire rifles, sniper rifles, or my personal favorite, the shotgun. Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is one of those games where shotguns feel incredibly satisfying to use thanks to a mix of sound design, visual feedback, and the fact that they can take out most warrior bugs in a single shot. While you can only have two regular weapons equipped at any given time, you also get a third slot dedicated to special weapons. While also fun to use, the implementation of these special weapons is one of my major gripes with the gameplay.

Whenever you pick one up, you HAVE to use it. You can’t put it away for the time being and switch to your regular weapons to clear out hordes of standard enemies. Switching weapons will make you drop the special one, and while this would be fine in any other game, the sheer amount of chaos and bloodshed you experience in a typical encounter in Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! means that you’ll also ultimately misplace it. This means that either you have to spend precious time to find a good, memorable hiding place for your special weapons while hordes of warriors and aphids are at your heels, or you’ll simply have to use it up to deal with the current threat, rather than saving it for a tanker or something.

Movement is another area where Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! seems to have a mechanic in place just for the sake of being an annoyance to players. While running and jumping around as you would in a boomer shooter typically works fine, there’s also a sprint button that allows you to cover large distances more quickly. However, the sprint is tied to a stamina bar, which, when depleted, knocks you back into your regular running speed.

While far from a bad mechanic on its own, the annoying part is the fact that leaving the sprint key alone results in all of your stamina regenerating in a second or two. This means that, every ten seconds or so, you’ll simply have to stop sprinting for a quick moment before you can continue along your way. Again, this wouldn’t really be an issue in a game designed around more linear levels. However, the large, open maps of Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! means that your attempts to get to the next objective are slowed down just enough to be a minor annoyance that constantly claws at you.

"Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is one of those games where shotguns feel incredibly satisfying to use"

The bug missions, on the other hand, don’t really offer any real annoyances. However, the missions are incredibly short, often lasting for little more than ten minutes at a time, and seem to be designed around giving you a break from the more stress-inducing human missions. The bug missions put you in the role of a simulated “Assassin bug”, which can seemingly take down hordes of Federation soldiers without much effort. Missions are mostly unlocked every time you finish a few human ones, and will allow you to roam around in the same maps, albeit in an empowered form, complete with transformations that allow you to switch between Warrior, Hopper, and Tanker forms. The missions are largely just a drawn-out power fantasy, and even in terms of the story, the “Assassin bug” is hinted to be yet another form of Federation propaganda to inspire more players to enlist.

On the technical side of things, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is a well-made game, and considering its lo-fi visual style that melds 3D environments with 2D artwork depicting humans and bugs alike, I was able to maintain a solid frame rate of 144 FPS throughout my time with it. The game was tested on a PC running on an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU with 32 GB of DDR5-6000 RAM, and a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU with 16 GB of VRAM.

Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is an incredibly fun shooter that makes use of several mechanics that have been popularized by titles like Helldivers 2. The title offers a variety of difficulty options, which ensures that just about anyone can have fun with it, and the variety in missions, as well as the overall framing of the game’s story, made all the time I spent with it quite enjoyable. Even the campaign’s pacing is quite well done, breaking up the more intense human missions with power fantasy bug missions that allow you to essentially just go on a rampage through maps that you had to shoot and claw your way through.

This game was reviewed on PC.