Mass Effect 1 – Mako Segments

Mass Effect’s first outing laid the foundation for what would end up becoming one of the most beloved sci-fi RPG trilogies of all time, but even those who swear by the franchise will tell you that the Mako segments are easily the game’s most off-putting mandatory sections. On paper, cruising across alien planets in a six-wheeled all-terrain tank sounds like a thrilling opportunity to explore strange landscapes and uncover hidden secrets. But in execution, the driving experience turns into a bumpy nightmare in the face of weird controls and awkward handling. The Mako handles like a bouncy toy through and through, ricocheting off the slightest hill and sliding around at every slope. It also doesn’t help that most planets you explore are barren with little variety between them and the enemy encounters presnet within. And when mission objectives force you into these segments repeatedly, it becomes painfully clear they were more ambitious than polished. They can break the narrative flow, drag the pacing down, and leave anyone dreading the next time the game says, “Time to deploy the Mako.”

15. Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2

Sure, the opening title crawl may be pretty standard and expected, but dang does it execute on the cinematic front. The bone-chilling music and slow letterbox transition to Tyranid hordes landing on the planet Kataku is just perfect and that classic green font just oozes grimdark from a mile away. After the cinematic sequence, you’re immediately met with waves of Tyranids and a handy Chainsword to mow them down with. The prologue isn’t a one-off either. The entire game continues that cinematic action fusion all the way to the end.

14. Forza Horizon 5

The Forza Horizon series has always been consistent about jumping right into the good stuff, and in Horizon 5’s case that includes supercars falling out of the sky, apparently. New and familiar players alike get something nice out of the prologue, whether it’s an early taste of hypercar speed or just a quick sampling of the controls and Mexican terrain you’ll be encountering. There’s no gritty plot being used as an excuse for the festive racing either. The Horizon series focuses solely on celebrating cars, and this opener succeeds brilliantly at that.

13. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor

The opening of Jedi Survivor immediately captures Star Wars fans’ attention because it takes place within the capital of the galaxy: the seedy underbelly of Coruscant itself. Not only is there oodles of environmental worldbuilding and ambience, but the level design is supurb from the get-go. Cal is a more experienced Jedi at this point, so wall running, force pushing billboards, and chopping up baddies comes quick and often in the opening hours. The thrilling escape from Coruscant highlights some of the best cinematography I’ve seen from any Star Wars media in a while too.

12. Batman: Arkham Knight

What better way to begin an Arkham game than with Scarecrow and his fear toxin? Your first moments are spent casually ordering food in a Gotham diner. You’re given an ordinary glimpse into Gotham when villains aren’t wrecking the place; well, until Scarecrow’s fear toxin twists everything into a horror show. What follows is the Bat-Signal transitioning to you gliding around the Gotham skyline in search of Scarecrow, touring the best-realized version of Gotham we’ve ever seen in a game.

11. Resident Evil Village

Here’s another game with a subversive opener. Your first foray into Resident Evil Village is met with a Tim Burton-esque fairy tale animation, a very well-done one at that. You’re then placed in the perspective of a mother finishing telling the tale to her child, which dovetails beautifully into a first-person exploration segment around the family home. It’s a necessary little sequence that motivates the main characters and sets the stakes. Besides introducing exploration and controls, this clever opening sets the twisted fairy tale horror tone that Resident Evil Village executes so frighteningly well.

10. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

It may be a full-on remake, but MGS Delta: Snake Eater follows the original to a tee, and what a beauty it is. That cinematic shot of the USAF aircraft flying over Soviet territory, followed by the rising sun shimmering off Snake’s goggles as he parachutes down is simply stunning in its remade form. And the Virtuous Mission itself is so well paced and filled with character-driven tutorials that it gets us excited to play through the classic with a new lens. It’s a tone-setting prologue that does its job perfectly, and it’s never looked better.

9. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

There are few games that establish a character’s friendship and revenge as well as Uncharted 4. You play through a series of high-octane flashback sequences—one with Drake and Sam drifting through bullets on a motorboat, and another with young Drake and Sam on an adventure through town. The flash-forward to an older Drake with a Sam-sized chip on his shoulder sets the impetus for the rest of the game. And the high-action moments and twists that follow match that rollercoaster of an opener.

8. Final Fantasy 16

Like Uncharted 4, Final Fantasy 16 opens with a flashback; one of the most intense and electric flashbacks we’ve seen in a game. Two God-like Eikons battle it out in an almost Lord of the Rings-esque sequence, with you controlling the fire-breathing Phoenix. This battle transitions forward in time to when the main characters are much older, yet Eikons still shake the foundations of the world. This is perhaps the most mature and gritty Final Fantasy yet and the prologue quickly demonstrates that. It’s also in the prologue where you go through Clive’s childhood and see the formation of the tale to come. Even though you don’t get full access to your  DMC-like combat repertoire until much later in the game, the prologue does a good job giving a taste of power with that initial Eikon battle.

7. Ghost of Yotei

I may be getting fatigued by Sony’s obsession with revenge stories, but Ghost of Yotei introduces its particular revenge story in such a simple and gameplay-centric way that I can overlook it this time. The mercenary protagonist, Atzu, gets left for dead by a gang called the Yotei Six. A flashforward to an older Atzu sees her finally exacting revenge on one of the six as she rides to him for a one-on-one duel. I love the video gamey concept of outlining all the bad guys right from the get-go and Ghost of Yotei establishes as clear as a katani slice right in the intro. You can’t help but want to go for immediately to each one, when you’re not distracted by the wealth of side content and beautiful vistas, that is.

6. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Purists and progressives alike get the royal treatment with Rebirth’s top-notch prologue. Rebirth tries (and largely succeeds) to follow the main plot faithfully while also reimagining elements of it. This is immediately made clear with Zack Fair’s placement in the narrative at the start. But OG fans also get the most faithful and thorough portrayal of Cloud’s Nibelheim flashback right after. These two distinct sequences feature plenty of the freshly iterated hybrid ATB combat to top things off. It’s here in the opening where we finally get to control Sephiroth at the height of his SOLDIER career. Pulling off his synergy skills (new to Rebirth) with Cloud is an awesome treat.

5. Silent Hill f

Mystery and suspense? Check. Eerie and haunted atmosphere? Check. Bizarre mutated monsters? Double check. Silent Hill f’s opener establishes everything a Silent Hill game should. You explore a quiet, fog-laden village for answers and only get deeper into the haunted nightmare rabbit hole the further you go. The village is suddenly populated by spider lilies and mask-wearing monstrosities despite hanging out with friends and arguing with family mere moments ago. It may not be set in the traditional location we’re used to, and it may not be numbered, but Silent Hill f still captures all the tension and uneasiness the series has been known for.

4. Hogwarts Legacy

Anyone wishing to virtually attend Hogwarts owes it to themselves to play Hogwarts Legacy at some point. The opener has all the staples from the films—magical flying coaches, Portkey teleportation, the Sorting Hat ceremony, and more. You can even choose which of the four houses to join, each with distinct characters and arcs that reflect your decision. The opener doesn’t start slow either, rushing you off to the Scottish Hylands in an encounter with some nasty cave goblins and a dragon before getting enrolled at Hogwarts proper. It’s the perfect prologue for the aspiring wizard.

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

This sequel does what surprisingly few entries on this list do: recap the previous game. I can’t fault it for doing a straightforward recap of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales though because it’s so well voiced and captured. This recap immediately cuts to a Venom foreshadow, and who wouldn’t be excited about that? Peter and Miles’ relationship also gets some good screen time here as they go after the notorious Sandman for an awesome boss fight.

2. Dead Space (Remake)

There’s still hardly any game better at capturing classic Aliens-style horror than Dead Space. You’re just one man with a plasma cutter exploring a derelict ship out in space. With quarantine broken, the monstrous Necromorphs stalk the many hallways of the dark ship. But it’s the diagetic HUD displays that particularly stand out when you first walk around. The dark and brooding atmosphere is amplified tenfold since every display and menu is shown via holo projection on Isaac’s own suit and arm.  The creaking Ishimura ship and its Necromorph monstrosities need to be experienced by every horror fan at least once, and the remake is the best way to do that today.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild starts off with an anime cliche. Link awakes with amnesia with no idea of where he is or what he was doing. But it’s okay because the rest of the prologue, and game by extension, was as revolutionary as it comes. You’re left to explore the huge starting zone at your leisure, playing around with all of the systems and objects in front of you. What’s remarkable is that The Great Plateau is just the tutorial of the game. Considering how much content and freedom you have at your disposal in the first handful of hours, it’s probably the greatest tutorial ever conceived for a video game.

Ghost of Yōtei

Everything about Sucker Punch’s sequel is a step up from Ghost of Tsushima. The exploration feels more organic as Ezo is brimming with interesting stories, Mythic Tales, and activities (with far fewer restrictions on where to go). Combat is more visceral than ever, with the different weapons mixing up the formula in fun ways. All in all, a fantastic sequel and a stellar open-world game in its own right, which brings us to…

]]> 629864 https://gamingbolt.com/batman-arkham-knight-is-absolutely-worth-playing-in-2025 Wed, 02 Jul 2025 11:49:31 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=623150 The Batman. It’s impressive how, after all these decades – all the reboots, spin-offs, changing identities (poor Commissioner Gordon) and crossovers – the name still inspires some reverence and awe. Matching that is difficult, but when Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009 and followed it up with the even more incredible Arkham City in 2011, it became a franchise to reckon with. One which guaranteed a certain caliber of gaming that few other titles could replicate, simply because they understood the essence of what made Batman, The Batman.

And then Batman: Arkham Knight came along.

Launching on June 23rd, 2015, after extensive hype, it would seemingly offer a thunderous conclusion to the trilogy (and yes, trilogy because, for better or worse, Arkham Origins never gets its due). Previous titles exposed Batman’s never-say-die attitude and incredible detective skills, but this one stacked the gauntlet in a way that exposed his desperation. Maybe the Dark Knight wouldn’t come out of this in one piece. Maybe this really was the Knight’s End.

It seemed like the perfect recipe for a finale, especially with the Arkham Knight providing a suitable counter to Batman’s prowess. Gotham City presented a slick new open-world playground to explore, one teeming with new Riddler challenges, villains to nab, and unsuspecting crooks to divebomb on mid-dialogue. There was also the Batmobile, and who wouldn’t love tearing through the streets, targeting enemy vehicles and wrecking them (non-lethally) before engaging in some friendly interrogation? Did we mention how incredible everything looked? Even by today’s standards (and by those of more recent DC games, which we’ll get to), it looks absolutely phenomenal in pretty much every aspect.

In its endeavor to go a little too large with the sequel, Rocksteady introduced some rather annoying wrinkles. Which we’ll get into but ten years on, Batman: Arkham Knight is still an incredible open-world experience and one of the better superhero games out there, even if it kind of fumbled the climax. No major story spoilers, so don’t worry if you’ve never played it.

The events of Arkham City would make Gotham City much safer, but it’s not long before Scarecrow, missing since Arkham Asylum, would unleash a new spread of Fear Toxin. Batman quickly enters the fray, venturing to where it all began – Ace Chemicals. And then his world is turned upside down. Confronted by a new villain, the Arkham Knight, leading a group of mercenaries and working with Scarecrow, Batman has to deal with the kidnapping of Barbara Gordon, aka Oracle and a larger plan to infect the city. Then there’s the matter of the Joker, whose infected blood is turning a small group of patients into his successors.

There are some pretty high stakes, and Rocksteady offers up some pretty cool set pieces, but the overall narrative sags in places, especially when it comes to the Arkham Knight. Given the circumstances of his history with Batman, you would think that a proper battle would be in the offing, but it’s an anticlimactic series of takedowns while sneaking past his shots.

Then there’s the other elephant in the room – the Batmobile. Yes, it was cool when engaging in high-speed chases and even in some puzzles, but there were also the annoying tank missions, where you had to take down waves and waves of enemy vehicles. It was repetitive, and even if you still had missions where Batman stealthily took down a base’s opposition, destroying 20 militia checkpoints was simply too much to ask.

With those negatives out of the way, let’s talk about the many positives. The Free Flow Combat is still as robust as ever – countering and dodging is still fluid and responsive; finishers are hard-hitting and crunchy. Building up your combo and systematically dismantling a group of enemies never gets old, even if the variety of threats isn’t massively expanded over the previous games. One of the cooler new additions is Dual Play – it allowed for temporarily controlling the likes of Robin, Catwoman and Nightwing. You could even perform stylish dual takedowns. The only downside is that it’s only available in select points, and they’re not nearly as plentiful throughout the story. Stealth also remained as excellent as ever, with new options like imitating Harley Quinn’s voice with the Voice Synthesizer to lure enemies and pounce on them.

Regardless, it’s such a refined and well-done combat system that WB Games Montreal’s Gotham Knights looks downright sickening in comparison. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League incorporated a counter-shot mechanic but still leaned heavily on looter mechanics, “traversal skills” and unimaginative live-service objectives.

While there’s plenty to dislike about certain open-world activities in Arkham Knight, the Most Wanted system did open up a fresh variety of cases and villains for Batman to hunt down. The Perfect Crime is investigation-heavy and leads to a battle with one of the Dark Knight’s more disturbing villains. There are Riddler challenges to complete and Trophies to earn, and though it was an excuse to shoehorn more Batmobile segments, at least these were more focused on racing than combat. Other notable villains – and antiheroes – from the franchise also make their debut, presenting some interesting new stories and challenges.

The traversal also remained as incredible as ever – chaining grapples and glides just felt so intuitive and right, making the Batmobile stick out like a sore thumb all the more. Perhaps the biggest point of contention for most players is having to achieve 100 percent for the true ending, which only raises more questions than answers. Then again, with how Kill the Justice League followed up, I would have preferred if they went unanswered.

As good as the base game could be, the DLC didn’t quite hit the mark. Playing as Batgirl in a story set before Arkham Asylum? Good, save for the crashing issues. Controlling Harley Quinn as she battles against Blüdhaven’s cops? Decent if it didn’t last 30 minutes (and the Red Hood Story Pack is even shorter). Catwoman’s Revenge? A Flip of a Coin, which saw Robin taking on Two-Face? Bad, plain and simple. At least the Season of Infamy added multiple new missions and villains like Mr. Freeze, The Mad Hatter, and Killer Croc, each with their own stories.

Batman: Arkham Knight was no stranger to controversy at launch. While the Xbox One and PS4 versions ran flawlessly, delivering a consistent 30 frames per second even with such detailed weather effects, character models, and environments, the PC version was an unmitigated disaster. Performance issues, crashes, bugs, a capped frame rate (which still dropped extensively) – the whole works. It was so bad that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment suspended sales a day after launch and even offered refunds. Months would pass, and even with significant patches, the PC version still had issues, but it would eventually get much better.

Even with all these caveats – the Batmobile, some of the story beats, the finale, etc – Batman: Arkham Knight is still an essential experience. There’s something about Rocksteady exploring all these different avenues for the iconic hero, attempting to expand on his mythos and journey while following up on its successor, one of the greatest games ever made. It may not nail everything perfectly – I would probably rate it an eight out of ten, all things considered – but it’s still incredibly fun. Together with Arkham Asylum and Arkham Knight, this is one of the greatest video game trilogies out there.

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

Mass Effect 3

Bring up the topic of video game endings, and Mass Effect 3 will undoubtedly be mentioned. As the grand finale of a trilogy that honored hundreds of player decisions, Mass Effect 3’s outro felt incredibly lackluster and underwhelming. Heck, many 10-hour games contain more branching conclusions than ME3. But ME3 has a heart of gold that can get overlooked. Some of the most memorable highlights in the entire saga take place within the third game. Mordin has perhaps the most heroic moment of the series, and a hefty amount of story threads get a satisfying resolution. For players who were appalled by the simplistic ‘crayola coloring’ endings, it really is the journey and not the destination that makes Mass Effect 3 so spectacularly special.

THE LAST OF US PART 2

We had to start with this one, because it’s hard to think of many games that have ever been as divisive as The Last of Us Part 2. From a gameplay and design perspective, there’s little to dislike about this stealth horror action-adventure gem, but its story was one that continues to provoke strong reactions one way or another to this day. With half-true spoilers leaking out before the game came out, The Last of Us Part 2 seemed like it was on this path even before launch.

METAL GEAR SOLID 5: THE PHANTOM PAIN

Hideo Kojima has a knack for directing games that people are either going to love or hate (except, of course, when he creates ones that everyone just universally loves), and MGS5 is surely one of those divisive works, which is putting it mildly. From not being a finished product to controversial narrative decisions, there was plenty about The Phantom Pain that rubbed many the wrong way. At the same time, gameplay-wise, it was nothing short of a revelation, so you’re also going to get plenty of people telling you that it’s one of the best stealth games ever made.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

You know a trilogy is an all-timer when its weakest instalment is supposedly Arkham Knight, but compared to just how ubiquitous the love for Arkham Asylum and City was, Knight definitely had way more detractors. From predictable twists and revelations related to the central villain, to a bloated open world with an excess of repeated side activities, to, of course, is controversial implementation of the Batmobile, Arkham Knight stumbled in enough areas for many to take issue with it.

FALLOUT 4

For about a decade or so, Bethesda consistently delivered genre-defining open world RPGs with the likes of Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim, but Fallout 4 was definitely a step down from that. It was, of course, still a great game in its own right, thanks in large part to its compelling world, but there were many who felt that it shed too much of what made Bethesda RPGs great, from the simplified progression mechanics to the poorly implemented dialogue wheel.

STARFIELD

In hindsight, the consensus on Fallout 4 has grown a lot stronger with time, and it’s fair to say that Starfield has contributed to that by being significantly more divisive. With renewed emphasis on player choice and role playing mechanics and a rich sci-fi setting, there’s a lot to love about Bethesda’s space-faring epic. At the same time, it’s also got its fair share of detractors, drawing criticism for the segmented structure of its world, how much emphasis it places on procedural generation, its technical issues, and more.

GRAND THEFT AUTO 4

Even Grand Theft Auto 4, one of the highest-rated and best-selling games of all time, can end up being a divisive game- which, in fact, became clear within weeks of its release back in 2008. Its move to a new engine, its compelling story, and its obsessively detailed open world drew widespread praise, but GTA 4 also represented a shift in tone for the franchise, with a larger focus on grittier storytelling, in sharp contrast to the goofier, over-the-top style of its predecessors (and its successor). For many, that felt antithetical to the whole point of the franchise.

DAYS GONE

Days Gone’s fandom has continued to grow in the time since its release. Its systemic open world is one that constantly encourages players to engage with the plethora of content it has on offer, and from its bike-related survival-lite mechanics to the Freaker hordes, it uses its post-apocalyptic setting in some really interesting ways. It was, however, a technically rough game, and that roughness translated to some gameplay and storytelling areas as well, which meant there were many that it just failed to stick the landing for.

RISE OF THE RONIN

Team Ninja’s first crack at the open world genre hasn’t enjoyed the sort of widespread acclaim that the developer saw with, say, the Nioh games. Rise of the Ronin launched recently for PS5, and was on the receiving end of criticism directed at its generic open world, rough storytelling, and technical deficiencies. It does, however, have plenty of staunch defenders, thanks in large part to its excellent combat (typically enough for a Team Ninja game) and the consistently enjoyable traversal mechanics.

DARK SOULS 2

Probably the weirdest and most experimental of all FromSoftware Soulslikes, Dark Souls 2 is considered by many to be the legendary studio’s black sheep. It’s received plenty of criticism for everything from larger issues like its level design and inconsistent difficulty balancing, to relatively smaller one, to frequently unreliable hit detection. It is, however, also one of the more mechanically interesting games in the series. Is it rougher around the edges than its peers? Perhaps- but to many, that’s what makes it stand out more.

RESIDENT EVIL 3 REMAKE

After 2019’s RE2 remake, expectations from Resident Evil 3’s own remake were sky-high, but the game ended up falling short of many of them. Nemesis wasn’t at all the terrifying pursuer enemy many had hoped he would be, significant portions of the original game had been cut out, and for many, the game was just too short. At the end of the day, it was still a fun, well-produced, polished survival horror game in its own right, but by not hitting the level of quality that most other Resident Evil games have in recent years, it became a notable low spot in the series a fair few that played it.

THE ORDER: 1886

Sony’s first-party output was firing on all cylinders in the second half of the PS4’s lifecycle, but is early efforts were much more hit-and-miss. The Order: 1886 was a perfect example of that. Ready at Dawn’s third-person shooter was an absolutely gorgeous looking game, on top of boasting a fascinating setting and solid, cinematic storytelling. That endeared it to many, but it was also deemed by a large section of its player base to be not only too short, but also bland and unimaginative from a gameplay perspective.

FINAL FANTASY 16

Final Fantasy games are pretty much guaranteed to always be divisive, and Final Fantasy 16 continued that tradition. Are you going to find a large number of fans who’ll swear by its stylish combat, stellar production values, and standard-setting boss fights? Absolutely, you will. You will, however, also find just as many people who’ll call out the game’s complete lack of that tradamark Final Fantasy goofiness, its extreme streamlining of role playing mechanics, and how bland many of its side quests were.

SILENT HILL 4: THE ROOM

Silent Hill 2 was the last time we got a Silent Hill game that was universally liked (unless you want to count P.T.), but Silent Hill 4: The Room is perhaps the most divisive of them all. It’s a game of incredibly high highs, but also depressingly low lows. It’s got weirdly designed puzzles, frustrating design choices, and key narrative beats that just don’t hit at all, but it balances the scale with some genuinely chilling psychological horror, top notch visuals (especially for the time), and memorable story moments.

MASS EFFECT 3

Mass Effect 3 is surely an obvious pick for a list such as this one, to the point of being unavoidable. After the incredible heights BioWare touched with Mass Effect 2, expectations from the trilogy’s conclusion were in the stratosphere, but thanks to a controversial ending and much less emphasis being placed on choice-and-consequence mechanics than expected, the backlash against the RPG shooter was strong. Mass Effect 3’s fans, however (of which there are a fair few) will tell you that, in spite of those issues, thanks to its tight shooting mechanics, thrilling set pieces and combat encounters, and an excellent cast of characters, it was still one hell of a game.

DEATH STRANDING

It makes sense to sign off with another Hideo Kojima game. With Death Stranding, Kojima and his team once again ended up delivering the sort of game not many had expected them to, and that once again proved to split opinion. To many, Death Stranding’s surreal post-apocalyptic world, its collaborative and asynchronous multiplayer, and its zen gameplay loop make it an unforgettable experience. Then again, there are those who, simply put, just find it a bit… boring. With Death Stranding 2 coming up, it should be interesting to see how Kojima Productions builds on the first game’s foundations.

CUPHEAD

Let’s start with one that’s actually always been cheap. Studio MDHR’s Cuphead is a modern run ‘n gun classic, boasting stellar art and animations, devilishly punishing yet brilliantly designed boss fights, and a healthy amount of content, with the entire package setting you back just $20. Throw in another $8, and you can also purchase its excellent expansion, The Delicious Last Course.

MONSTER HUNTER WORLD

Capcom sells its back catalog titles better than most other companies out there, and just as responsible for that as their enduring quality is the prices they drop down to. Monster Hunter World, Capcom’s highest selling game of all time, is currently prices at $20, which, for a game as good as it is and as much content it has, is a ridiculously good price.

RESIDENT EVIL 7

Another relatively older Capcom title that has lost none of its luster in the years since its launch, Resident Evil 7 is a game that also keeps on selling, and looking at its price, it’s easy to see why. Sure, it may not be the hundred-hour romp that Monster Hunter World is, but can you really turn your nose up at one of the best survival horror games of all time being sold for just $20?

THE EVIL WITHIN

We’ll stick with the survival horror genre here, and turn our attention to a nearly-decade old game that perhaps doesn’t get the sort of love it deserves. For fans of the over-the-shoulder Resident Evil formula, The Evil Within is an absolute must-play, thanks to its incredible atmosphere and relentlessly tense combat. At just $20, the game’s an absolute bargain, and one that any genre fan should be pouncing on.

STARDEW VALLEY

Indie darling Stardew Valley has never really been a costly game, given the fact that it’s, well, an indie game, which means it’s always been an absolute steel. Being sold at $15, this is a game that you can pour literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours into. Want to manage and expand your farm? Want to hang out with cool characters and deepen your bonds with them? Want to go exploring caves? In Stardew Valley, you can do all of this and more.

HOLLOW KNIGHT

You may have heard Hollow Knight being called one of the greatest games ever made by many, and trust us, that’s not an exaggeration in the slightest. This grueling Metroidvania masterpiece is an astounding piece of art, representing game design, music, art, and everything else in between at their absolute zenith. Again, by virtue of being an indie game, Hollow Knight has always offered incredible value for money, as it does right now for a price of just $15.

UNCHARTED: THE NATHAN DRAKE COLLECTION

The original Uncharted trilogy is pretty old at this point (he said while setting down his walking cane), but Naughty Dog’s action-adventure games are still worth going back to, not least because of the excellent remastering work that Bluepoint Games did with The Nathan Drake Collection on PS4. The collection can be bought for the price of just $20, which gives you access to not one, but three riotously enjoyable games, making it a pretty sweet deal all in all.

THE LAST OF US REMASTERED

Naughty Dog loves going back to The Last of Us, but even though we do have a full-fledged remake as an option on PS5, the PS4 remaster that launched in 2014 is still an excellent deal. It looks excellent and still plays great (not to mention the fact that it runs at 60 FPS), and can be purchased for $20. For that price, you also get access to the widely beloved Factions multiplayer mode, so in many ways, it’s actually a better option than the PS5 remake for those looking to go back to this modern classic.

GOD OF WAR

A much more recent entry than some of the other games we’ve spoken about on this list, 2018’s God of War is a game that people are going to keep going back to for years- something that is price is only bound to make easier. For a price of $20, you can dive into the action-adventure game’s rollercoaster, emotional journey, which combines narrative and action gameplay in one of the best PS4 experiences ever.

HORIZON ZERO DAWN

Speaking of landmark first party PS4 titles, Horizon Zero Dawn is another stellar game that you can dive into for a surprisingly low price right now. Guerrilla’s post-apocalyptic open world action RPG is retailing for a price of just $20 on PS4 right now, which is more than a reasonable price for a game that you can clock dozens of hours in. On PC, however, it’s priced at $50, so there’s definitely some disparity in its cross-platform pricing.

GEARS OF WAR 3

Yes, Gears of War 3 is more than a decade old, but it still remains one of the best third person shooters we’ve ever played, to the extent that even many much more recent ones can’t hold a candle to it. With an excellent campaign and addictive multiplayer offerings, at a price of just $12, the Xbox 360 title is almost unreasonably cheap right now. On Xbox Series X, in fact, it even benefits from visual and technical boosts, so if you haven’t played this masterpiece, now is the time to jump in.

GRAND THEFT AUTO 5

Nearly eleven years on from launch, Grand Theft Auto 5 keeps selling better than most games do instantly upon release, and doubtless, its reasonable pricing has had a hand to play in that. Currently being sold for a price of $20 on Xbox and PlayStation, the open world game is one that you can pour countless hours into without even the hint of boredom. We’re about a year away (and hopefully no more than that) from Grand Theft Auto 6, so if somehow you still haven’t played GTA 5, now’s the time.

BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League might not be what so many wanted the studio’s next game to be, but you can always go back to its older releases to remind yourself of why the studio is as beloved as it is. Batman: Arkham Knight has had some pretty rough luck with its platform-specific versions on PC and Nintendo Switch, but on PlayStation and Xbox, it’s still an incredible game to go back to- not least because you can do so for just $20 right now.

BLOODBORNE

Whether or not we’ll ever get a Bloodborne remaster, port, or even 60 FPS patch (much less a sequel) is anyone’s guess (though signs point to a big, fat no), but thankfully, FromSoftware’s eldritch horror action RPG is a stellar game even in its original form, even today. Like a number of other first party PlayStation titles we’ve mentioned here, it can be purchased for just $20, which, for what’s irrefutably one of the greatest games ever made, is a shockingly good price.

METAL GEAR SOLID 5

Metal Gear Solid 5’s legacy will always be a complicated one for so many reasons, but one thing that’s hard to dispute is that, for all its flaws (of which it has many), it’s somehow still an absolute masterpiece in more ways than one, from its timeless emergent stealth gameplay to the incredible design it sports across its many missions. Diving into all of that and more for a price of just $20 is more than a fair deal, to say the very least.

There were legitimate reasons for not liking it, from the Batmobile sections and tank battles to some underwhelming boss fights. The less said about the PC port, which led to an unprecedented suspension of sales and widespread refunds, or the shockingly short Red Hood and Harley Quinn DLC packs, sold separately, if you didn’t pre-order, the better.

However, it’s all the more interesting to look back on in hindsight, especially after the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The latter has received mixed reviews for its boring mission objectives, a short story that falls off heavily past the few hours, underwhelming boss fights, etc. The fact that it’s a live-service title, which will slowly drip-feed content over seasons while pushing microtransactions (cosmetic-only, but still), is all the more disappointing.

What happened to Rocksteady? How did it go from delivering a trio of excellent superhero titles, setting the bar for the genre and arguably video game trilogies, to floundering so badly?

Think back to Batman: Arkham Asylum’s launch in 2009. Rocksteady wasn’t well known back then, but it knew what it wanted to do. It took inspiration from Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, crafting a darker version of the prison than most have known while presenting an original story.

Batman wasn’t treated as tacked on – the game revolved around his ethics, emphasizing hand-to-hand combat when necessary and stealth when possible. Everything, from the Metroid-like exploration and gadgets to the rhythmic combat and direction, is pitch-perfect. It’s almost difficult to believe that it was developed in 21 months with a small development team and looked as incredible as it does.

Within three weeks, Batman: Arkham Asylum sold almost two million units. A sequel was already planned before its launch, with a secret for Arkham City cleverly hidden away. In 2011, Batman: Arkham City launched and went even bigger. This time, the goal was to incorporate Batman in Gotham or a cityscape close enough to allow encountering familiar villains. Rocksteady also wanted to focus on grappling and gliding for traversal while ensuring the Dark Knight had his gadgets from the previous game ready to go.

Arkham City also allowed for a scenario where Batman was effectively isolated from the Batcave and thus had to rely on his wits (and some supply drops) to survive while uncovering the mystery of Protocol 10. With the location serving as a city-wide prison, it made sense for familiar villains like Two-Face, Clayface, Mr Freeze and of course, The Joker to appear. Investigations into different cases, stopping random crimes, collecting Ridder Trophies and much more all fit seamlessly within the setting’s context.

Couple this with the addition of new moves, further refinements to the combat, even better-looking visuals and tons of things to do, and Batman: Arkham City achieved even greater heights than the original. Sure, some of the boss fights could have been better, but when everything else was this great, it was a small blemish (which is ironic, now that you think about it).

The sales reflected fans’ enthusiasm towards the title, with two million sold within a week. It was the 10th best-selling game of 2011, which is worth noting when the competition includes blockbusters like Gears of War 3 and The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Over 12.5 million copies were reportedly sold by 2020, which is insane.

From that perspective, it’s easy to understand the disappointment some had with Arkham Knight. This time, Batman was in Gotham City, which allowed for the Batmobile. There was no fast travel like in Batman: Arkham Origins, and the story focused more on Batman’s psyche, especially after being confronted by the resurgent Scarecrow and the (laughably) mysterious Arkham Knight. Criticism aside, many still agreed that the combat and overall gameplay remained incredible.

Gotham City and the characters also looked fantastic, while the added power of that console generation allowed for more enemies on screen, and real-time cutscenes. Then you had features like Dual Play for switching between Robin, Nightwing and Catwoman in some situations. Less than four months after its launch, it sold over five million copies – slightly less than Arkham City, no doubt due to the problematic PC version, but it was still the fastest-selling game in the franchise and the second-best-selling title of the year.

Which brings us now to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

It’s no secret that Rocksteady wasn’t meant to develop the title. WB Games Montreal had that role, following the launch of Batman: Arkham Origins (and hinted at in a post-credits cutscene). Following a reportedly underwhelming reception to the title, it was allegedly cancelled in 2016. Rocksteady was tasked with development and reportedly began working on it in 2017. The rumor that the developer pitched a Superman title was false, but at that point, it was unknown whether the Suicide Squad title even existed.

When 2020 rolled around, rumors suddenly emerged of the title (with Gotham Knights also cropping up). Both titles were officially announced at DC FanDome 2020, and the rest is history, but while little is known about the development of Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad is a somewhat different story.

Around the time that the latest previews for the title dropped in January 2023, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier revealed that Rocksteady was working on an unannounced multiplayer title that was also an original franchise and a Batman VR title. After being assigned to Suicide Squad, it allegedly had “several false starts” and multiple delays because the studio was transitioning into an unfamiliar genre.

In 2022, Rocksteady’s co-founders, Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker, left the company. With Hill serving as a director on the title, his departure caused some concern. Axel Rydby, who worked at Massive Entertainment from 2006 to 2016 and helped create teams for projects like Tom Clancy’s The Division, would take over as game director.

Two other directors, Rasmus Hoejengaard and Adam Doherty, also worked on the project, and considering the sheer length of time since Rocksteady’s last game, some assumed that the development team had changed completely. Clearly, Suicide Squad isn’t good, because many of the people who made the Arkham series great are gone. Right?

A brief comparison of staff between the releases somewhat says otherwise. Martin Lancaster and Ian Ball, who worked as writers on Arkham Knight, are still around. So are designer Ian Ball, programmer Ben Wyatt and artist David Hego. Granted, these are a handful of names from a studio with 250 employees, but they’re those who had major roles on Rocksteady’s best titles. Was the departure of Hill (who also contributed to the writing) really enough to cause such a drop in quality?

Even if WB Games decided to shift to a live service approach, causing Hill and Walker to leave in October 2022, the controversial gameplay reveal occurred in January 2023, confirming the existence of a battle pass, store, microtransactions and whatnot. These elements would have been in place for a long time prior, along with the barebones endgame, lackluster writing and underwhelming mission types.

We may never know what happened behind the scenes, but Rocksteady may have been out of its depth for this type of game. Going from a beat ’em up style game with stealth to a looter shooter isn’t easy, especially one that needs more content over time.

It’s not the first time that a studio skilled in single-player titles failed when working on co-op centric titles with live-service models or leanings – see Arkane Austin with Redfall and BioWare with Anthem. Even Bungie’s Destiny suffered many issues at launch (and again with Destiny 2) before rebuilding into something successful, and it still struggles to stay relevant.

While it’s not entirely accurate to say that the Rocksteady of old is dead, it currently faces an uphill battle to support a title with extensive time and money sunk into it. Hopefully, one day, it can return to what it does best with its soul intact.

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

#15. GRAND THEFT AUTO 5

Rockstar is known for always pushing the technical envelope with its games, and back in 2013, when Grand Theft Auto 5 first released, it was nothing short of a revelation. Even now, in fact, ten years on from its release, it stands as one of the most visually impressive and detailed worlds we’ve ever seen, especially if you’re playing it on a PC or current-gen consoles.

#14. ELDEN RING

From a purely technical perspective, Elden Ring (like most other FromSoftware titles) perhaps isn’t at the level that many would hope, but it more than makes up for it with its astounding art design. There’s an abundance of breathtaking sights and vistas scattered throughout its world, all of it brought to life in spectacular fashion. The fact that it does that so consistently in spite of how mind-bogglingly large its world is also deserves a great deal of credit.

#13. INFAMOUS: SECOND SON

Back in the early days of the PS4, inFamous: Second Sons was a proper showcase for the console, and though it has of course been outdone by many open world titles in the years since then, it still looks really damn good. Second Son brings the city of Seattle to life in excellent fashion, and crams its world full of brilliant little visual flourishes that help it stand out even now, nearly a decade since it came out.

#12. FAR CRY 6

Say what you will about Ubisoft’s open world formula, but the one thing where the company’s open world titles never fail to impress is with their visuals. Far Cry 6 is an excellent example of that. Yara is a vast map, but every inch and pixel of it is rendered in stunning detail. From its dense forests to its more urban locations to how explosive the combat looks, the game deserves a lot of credit for its technical accomplishments.

#11. MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s incredible utilization of the PS5’s SSD might be its biggest technical highlight, but even if you’re looking at the pure and simple quality of its graphics, there’s so much to be impressed by. The fact that the city of New York feels as dense and alive as it does is praiseworthy in and of itself, but add to that the fact that it maintains that level of quality without having to make cutbacks in crucial areas like the speed of traversal, and those strengths become even more impressive.

#11. DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT

A game coming from Kojima Productions (both pre- and post-Konami split) is always bound to be a graphical showcase, and that’s very much the case for Death Stranding as well. And though it is, of course, a technically impressive and visually sharp game, what really stands out about it is its artistic sensibilities. From the gorgeous natural beauty of its world to the striking visual imagery the entire game is teeming with, Death Stranding never runs out of ways to leave you absolutely floored.

#9. THE DIVISION 2

Massive Entertainment is probably one of the most technically gifted teams in the entire industry, and just as its predecessor did, The Division 2 exhibits that perfectly. On top of recreating Washington D.C. in thoroughly convincing and authentic fashion, the game also proudly boasts a level of obsessive attention to detail that’s very rare to see. On paper, The Division 2’s post-apocalyptic setting might not seem too unique, but the dedication with which the game brings it to life is truly commendable.

#8. DAYS GONE

Days Gone may have been a diamond in the rough, but where its visuals are concerned, the game deserves unequivocal praise. A lot of the heavy lifting is obviously done by its Pacific Northwest setting, which naturally lends itself to a smattering of visual splendour in the environments in the open world, but make no mistake- even viewed purely on its technical merits, Days Gone is an absolute beast. Experiencing even a single Freaker horde encounter should be enough to sell you on that fact.

#7. THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT

When The Witcher 3 launched in 2015, it was easily one of the best-looking games ever made, and somehow, more than eight years since its release, it still merits that sort of praise. The entirety of its vast world is stunning to behold, no matter where in the map you find yourselves, and little details like the way the light shines through a forest’s canopy, or the way the blood squirts out of someone’s arm after you chop it off in combat, only sell its technical vision that much more convincingly.

#6. BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

Speaking of older games that have aged with surprising grace, calling Batman: Arkham Knight one of the best-looking games of all time, even now, more than eight years since its release, wouldn’t be an exaggeration in the slightest. The fact that it still looks better than the overwhelming majority of open world games out there probably doesn’t get recognized as much as it should. It helps, of course, that it’s also one of the most authentic and atmospheric takes on the Batman universe we’ve ever seen.

#5. CYBERPUNK 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 may have been an absolute mess when it first came out (especially on last-gen consoles), but even then, you could see it had the makings of a graphical showpiece. In its current form, that’s exactly what it is. Night City is a dense, vibrant, and intricately designed map, and every area you visit just visually pops in a way that sears itself into you memory. When played on the right hardware, this is easily one of the most impressive open world experiences out there.

#4. FORZA HORIZON 5

The Forza franchise has never failed to amaze and wow the masses with how it pushes visual and technical boundaries with each new entry, but even in the might company of its many predecessors, Forza Horizon 5 stands out. Even on an Xbox One, this is an absolutely gorgeous game, but played on an Xbox Series X or suitably powerful PC, it’s nothing short of mind-bogglingly gorgeous.

#3. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA DIRECTOR’S CUT

There was absolutely no way we weren’t going to give Ghost of Tsushima the recognition it deserves in a list such as this one, and it deserves truckloads of it. It’s no secret that Sucker Punch’s samurai epic is as gorgeous as it is for its stellar art design (though it’s no technical slouch either), but no matter how much you praise that aspect of the game, it never quite seems like it’s enough. The stunning natural beauty of its environments and the way the game brings them to life make it easily one of the best-looking gaming experiences of all time.

#2. HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST

Pushing the limits of what games can achieve in a technical sense is something that Guerrilla has been doing for pretty much as long as it’s been around, but with Horizon Forbidden West, the developer touched entirely new heights. We cannot speak highly enough for how stunning this game looks (especially on a PS5, but even on a PS4), with a strong technical foundation and boundless artistic creativity coming together in perfect harmony. In fact, its expansion, the PS5-exclusive Burning Shores, somehow manages to be even more of an impressive accomplishment.

#1. RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is not only the best-looking open world game ever made, it may even be the best-looking game of all time, period. Even by Rockstar’s ridiculously high standards, the things that it achieves on a technical front can leave you gobsmacked, even five years on from the game’s launch (and even without any current-gen upgrades). From the astonishing fidelity, sharpness, and attention to detail it manages to achieve, to the overwhelming scale across it which manages to achieve it with such consistency, it’s truly an unparalleled experience.

Of the three games included in the Switch collection (sadly, WB Games Montreal’s Arkham Origins is overlooked once again), it’s no surprise that Arkham Knight fares the worst. When it first launched on 2015, it was already pushing the limits of the PS4 and Xbox One hardware, so significant compromises were bound to be made to get it running on the significantly weaker hardware of the Nintendo Switch. We have, however, seen in the past how something like The Witcher 3 made the jump over to Nintendo’s platform, and even though it was very clearly a significant step back from a visuals and technical perspective, it was still a perfectly serviceable and surprisingly playable version of the game. Arkham Knight, however, is far less successful in its attempts to make that jump. It is, in fact, an unsalvageable mess.

"Of the three games included in the Switch collection, it’s no surprise that Arkham Knight fares the worst."

The game barely runs. It’s plagued by constant frame rate drops, which range from being consistently annoying to rendering the game downright unplayable. During combat, the performance stutters frequently, which ruins the whole rhythm-esque flow of Arkham Knight’s action, while the frame rate drops are even more prevalent when you’re gliding around in Gotham City, which means two of the game’s best aspects have been heavily compromised. Meanwhile, when you’re in the Batmobile, things are somehow even worse, to the point where the performance issues can be legitimately nauseating. At times, the game can even freeze entirely for several seconds, and though there are times where it does recover to finally start running again, sometimes it just crashes altogether.

Beyond its performance foibles, Arkham Knight takes a massive visual hit on the Switch as well. Draw distances are laughably bad, and distant details of the city’s iconic skyline have been replaced by ugly looking generic blocks, while up close, details in the environments have been replaced by shockingly bland and muddy textures that would have looked out of place even on a PS3 or Xbox 360. Animations are often stiff and jerky, character faces frequently look horrifyingly bad, and all of it comes together to rob Arkham Knight of so much of its very distinct visual identity.

Given the obvious limitations of the Switch hardware, I absolutely wasn’t expecting the game to look anywhere close to as good as it still does on last-gen consoles even now, but even with low expectations, the drastic drop off in quality is astounding, which is exacerbated by the fact that even with all of those many significant compromises, the game still barely manages to function the way it should. That WB Games looked at this port and thought it was in any fit state to be released, let alone be sold for money, is shocking, to say the very least.

"Given the obvious limitations of the Switch hardware, I absolutely wasn’t expecting Arkham Knight to look anywhere close to as good as it still does on last-gen consoles even now, but even with low expectations, the drastic drop off in quality is astounding, which is exacerbated by the fact that even with all of those many significant compromises, the game still barely manages to function the way it should."

It’s particularly disappointing to see because, really, viewed on its own merits, Arkham Knight is a legitimately great game. Sure, it is probably the weakest entry in Rocksteady’s trilogy, but with its stellar combat, stealth, and traversal mechanics (among other things), it has more than enough going for it to overcome its weaknesses in areas like its narrative stumbles and its overreliance on the Batmobile. None of those strengths are able to shine through on the Switch, however, because that’s just how disastrous of a port this is. Sadly, Arkham Knight is no stranger to being let down by technical problems, and just as it infamously did on PC back when it first launched, it has buckled under those issues yet again.

Thankfully, Arkham Asylum and City fare much better, which was to be expected, seeing as both of them were made for the Xbox 360 and PS3’s hardware, something the Switch is more than capable of handling. That’s not to say they’re perfectly spotless ports- for instance, both of them also have notable and not-infrequent frame rate drops, though thankfully, they’re nowhere close to being as significant as they are in Arkham Knight. Asylum and City both still look good on the Switch, and ultimately, both are still pretty playable, while their inherent strengths also make it much easier to push through the technical problems they do run into.

And obviously, there are plenty of inherent strengths to speak of here. Personally, I’ve always felt that Asylum was the best game in the series, thanks to its linear, more focused approach and its excellent Metroidvania-esque design sensibilities, but Arkham City obviously has its own unique appeal with its open world structure, which is also much less bloated than Arkham Knights. Meanwhile, regardless of how they’re structured, both games also feature excellent combat and stealth mechanics, compelling characters and storytelling, and authentic portrayals of the Batman universe that fans of the IP simply cannot miss.

"Asylum and City both still look good on the Switch, and ultimately, both are still pretty playable, while their inherent strengths also make it much easier to push through the technical problems they do run into."

Ultimately, however, Batman: Arkham Trilogy is a bit hard to recommend. Asylum and City are definitely worth playing on the Switch, but there are better versions of both games available on multiple platforms. Arkham Knight, meanwhile, is a broken mess, to the point where it’s hard not to be shocked by WB Games’ audacity to actually let it release in the state that it is in (not that the company has any issues with releasing hilariously terrible Switch ports- we got Mortal Kombat 1 just a few months ago, after all). Given all of those caveats, in spite of the fact that Asylum and City are essentially still the same excellent games on the Switch that they always have been, I find it hard to recommend the trilogy to Switch owners, especially when it costs $60. Yes, the package combines all three of Rocksteady’s games and all of their DLC together in a single package, but when the package stumbles in as many ways and as significantly as Batman: Arkham Trilogy does, it’s hard to afford it any sort of respect- which is a shame, because these games respect all the respect in the world when they’re allowed to exist in the form they should exist in.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.