PS5 games

The Iron Fist of Level Gating: The Curated "Open World" Frustration Once again, I'd like to start with my greatest grievance, which is the excessive and complex level gating. Orchestrating players through a story, preventing them from encountering exposition that might spoil the story, or facing significant hurdles too soon is an attempt that I appreciate. It severely constrains the ability to roam around the world, however. The stunning and spellbinding views of soaring castles are completely wasted as getting anywhere near them would result in 'instant death'. This interrupts all momentum because the phrase "I can go anywhere" has turned into "I can go anywhere in the world, but only after I complete enough side quests to unlock an arbitrary cap." This creates a sub-optimal narrative-driven gameplay loop where the exploration is no longer free form, limits emergent interplay of challenges, and fosters frustration among players who prefer ...

A New Tone, At Last Borderlands 4 finally outgrows its adolescence. The franchise has always swung between two extremes: the stark, Western-flavored nihilism of the first game and the clownish carnival of memes that consumed the third. This new entry threads a middle line with sharper intent. The humor is still irreverent, but it no longer stumbles over itself to tell a joke every five seconds. The writing shows restraint, which paradoxically makes the humor land harder. There are moments when the narrative breathes, moments of silence or solemnity, and in those beats the game earns the gravitas it had been pretending to hold for years. Borderlands 4 understands what its predecessors didn’t: humor without contrast is noise, and noise quickly dulls. The story feels more carefully woven, less like a string of gags stapled to a quest log. Set on the new planet of Kairos, the tale explores themes of legacy, survival, and self-delusion. Where Borderlands 3 leaned on spectacle, 4 builds ...

Every Assassin’s Creed franchise player has their favourite gameplay style; mine is stealth, and I use combat as a last resort when a plan collapses. Combat has never been the main attraction, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows does not change that. While combat is well executed, clean, mechanically competent, and polished, it lacks that intangible zest and exuberance that makes it come alive. For a game that brilliantly integrates atmosphere with movement and stealth, the combat design feels puzzlingly unsatisfactory. Naoe, the agile shinobi, and Yasuke, the disciplined samurai. On paper, this should deliver a rich and diverse contrast in playstyle: Naoe is quick and precise, while Yasuke wields his control with strength. As it is, both characters complain of the same monotonous combat style that Assassin's Creed has employed since the series transitioned into RPGs. Whether it's a katana or a dagger, the same mechanics that have haunted us since Origins ...

I consider Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to be one of the most beautiful surprises from an indie developer this year, a title that can easily stay with big names (like Final Fantasy, for example) with significantly higher budgets among the top action role-playing games . Rather than overwhelming the audience, Clair Obscur strategically tries to haunt. For instance, a half-burnt mural is haunting, evoking feelings and capturing the attention of an unspeakable yearning. Dungeons feel like memory spaces, filled with forgotten color and broken symmetry. Each scene is an entire world, and the subtle and thoughtful lighting enhances the mood while also feeling like a painting, capturing the essence rather than clarity. Every exchange is given an added dose of warmth by the animations, most importantly, the face and hands. You feel a layer of humanity in the stillness before the words and the delicate glance. It serves the game subtly as it mournfully weaves through the tra...

Some games tend to collapse under the expectations set by their own buzz. In the case of ARC Raiders, the opposite seems to be the case as they handle the wild buzz with calm assurance. Since the moment of the launch, Embark Studios has managed what few live service titles ever do, which is an incredibly smooth debut. With well over 350,000 Steam players in the first three days, this post-collapse sci-fi shooter seems to have really resonated. Even better, the servers managed to hold up over the entire span. There were no major outages, no endless login queues, no early meltdowns, just a stable, functioning world that felt prepared for the floods of players who buy PC games joining in. This is important to focus on because ARC Raiders is built around rhythm: a steady weave of tension, collection, and return. Its central core does not revolve around chaos, but unification. Thanks to that smooth launch, players were able to lose themselves in the world without distraction. The outc...