Eight months after its August 28, 2025 release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater stands tall as one of the best ways to experience Hideo Kojima’s 2004 masterpiece. Built in Unreal Engine 5, this isn’t a radical reimagining—it’s a loving, high-fidelity recreation that modernizes visuals, controls, and quality-of-life while keeping every iconic moment intact.

Graphics & Atmosphere: 9.5/10

The Tselinoyarsk jungle has never felt more alive. Dense foliage sways realistically, volumetric lighting pierces the canopy with god rays, and dynamic weather (rain, fog, night cycles) actually impacts camouflage and gameplay. Character models are stunningly detailed—faces, scars, fabric physics—and cutscenes look like interactive movies. Post-launch photo mode is the cherry on top for capturing your stealth masterpieces.

METAL GEAR SOLID DELTA SNAKE EATER New Gameplay Demo 4K

Gameplay & Controls: 9/10

The timeless stealth-survival loop shines brighter than ever. Blend into the environment with the camouflage index, hunt and cook animals to survive, treat injuries in real-time, and take down guards with fluid Close Quarters Combat. You can toggle between classic top-down or modern over-the-shoulder camera, quick-select camo, and improved aiming. Boss fights (The End’s epic sniper duel, The Fury’s blazing inferno) still deliver tension and creativity. Minor cutscene hitching pops up occasionally, but 60 fps gameplay feels buttery smooth on current hardware.

Story & Characters: 10/10

Naked Snake’s tragic origin story during the Cold War remains gaming’s gold standard—betrayal, loyalty, philosophy, and heartbreak all wrapped in a spy-thriller masterpiece. The Boss, Ocelot, Volgin, and the Cobra Unit hit even harder with upgraded visuals and preserved (or enhanced) voice performances. That ladder climb, that final flower field… they still deliver the emotional gut-punch.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater - The Boss Final Boss Fight (PS5 Pro 4K 60FPS)

Audio: 9.5/10

Cynthia Harrell’s “Snake Eater” theme song sounds richer than ever. Jungle ambience (insects, rustling leaves, distant patrols) immerses you completely, and the radio codec banter is as charming and informative as 2004. New surround mixes make every gunshot and explosion pop.

Overall Score: 9/10 – Excellent

Pros:

• Breathtaking Unreal Engine 5 visuals that respect the original’s art direction

• Faithful story and gameplay with smart modern controls

• Timeless stealth-survival mechanics that still feel fresh

• Emotional masterpiece that new and veteran players will adore

Cons:

• Occasional minor technical hiccups in cutscenes

• Some old-school quirks (sparse enemies, deliberate pacing) remain unchanged

• Veterans hoping for major new content may want a bit more

Whether you’re a first-timer discovering Big Boss’s tragic beginnings or a longtime fan revisiting an old friend with a fresh coat of paint, Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater is the definitive version of one of gaming’s greatest stories. In a year full of remakes, this one actually earns the hype.

Highly recommended. Grab your cardboard box, head into the jungle, and remember: this snake’s still got bite. What a thrill!

Just 24 hours after its February 27, 2026 launch, Resident Evil Requiem (the ninth mainline entry) already feels like the series' victory lap after three decades of evolution. Directed by Koshi Nakanishi and built on the RE Engine, this is Capcom at the absolute peak of its powers—blending the raw, claustrophobic terror of Resident Evil 7 and Village with the slick, over-the-top action of the RE4 remake into one cohesive, heart-pounding package. It's not just another zombie game; it's the emotional, gory, and ridiculously fun culmination of everything that makes Resident Evil legendary.

Story & Characters (No Major Spoilers)

The narrative centers on two protagonists whose lives collide in the irradiated ruins of Raccoon City decades after its nuclear "cleanup." New heroine Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst still haunted by her mother's mysterious death, gets pulled into a fresh outbreak investigation that drags her back to a derelict hotel and the zombie-infested Rhodes Hill Care Center. She's vulnerable, resourceful, and grounded—exactly the kind of everyperson protagonist the series does best.

Then there's Leon S. Kennedy, older, wiser, and still delivering those signature one-liners while racing against time for a cure. Their alternating campaigns weave together beautifully: Grace's personal stakes add genuine heart and dread, while Leon's sections deliver classic heroic flair and callbacks that long-time fans will eat up. The story respects the franchise's wild lore without feeling like homework, and the "zombies retain memories" twist is genius—it turns shambling hordes into tragic, purposeful threats (think doctors still wielding scalpels or soldiers on eternal patrol). Emotional, campy, sincere, and surprisingly moving—exactly what we've come to love.

Gameplay: Two Styles, One Masterpiece

This is where Requiem shines brightest. The game smartly switches perspectives and playstyles to keep things fresh:

• Grace's sections (first-person default) are pure survival horror. Limited inventory, tense stealth, throwing objects to distract enemies, crafting on the fly, and heart-stopping chases through dimly lit hallways. The hotel and care center sequences had me holding my breath—shaky cam, muffled footsteps, and grotesque enemies like a hulking chef with a machete-sized knife or that nightmare-inducing giant woman with the popping eyes. Resource scarcity is brutal, and the tension never lets up.

• Leon's sections (third-person) crank the action to 11. Fluid gunplay, satisfying melee (hello, hatchet executions and roundhouse kicks), physics-defying motorcycle chases, mortar-firing zombie swarms, and massive boss fights. The chainsaw finally feels as satisfying as it always should have.

The back-and-forth pacing is masterful—Grace's dread never overstays its welcome before Leon blasts in with spectacle. New mechanics like memory-retaining zombies and clever environmental puzzles (sparkling gems, detonator hunts) keep encounters feeling fresh. Playtime clocks in around 10-12 hours for the main story, but the post-game unlocks and replay incentives (S-ranks, new routes) scream "multiple playthroughs."

Minor nitpicks: The back half leans heavier into action (which some might love), and there's no Mercenaries-style extra mode at launch—slightly disappointing but not a dealbreaker.

Presentation

Stunning. The RE Engine has never looked better—gore is next-level stomach-churning, lighting and shadows are oppressive, and creature design is grotesque perfection. Sound design is elite (those distant moans will haunt your dreams), and the score flips between melancholy piano and pulse-pounding orchestral chaos flawlessly. It runs buttery smooth on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and even the Nintendo Switch 2 (with gyro support!).

Final Verdict

Resident Evil Requiem isn't just good—it's one of the best in the series and an easy contender for Game of the Year 2026. It respects the past, refines the formula, and delivers the scares, spectacle, and heart fans have been craving. Whether you're a veteran who remembers the original Raccoon City or a newcomer jumping in with Leon's return, this is essential playing.

Score: 9.5/10 Buy it. Play it. Survive it. Requiem for the dead... nightmare for the living. Capcom, you did it again.

For nearly three decades, Final Fantasy Tactics has sat on the strategy RPG throne, often imitated but rarely equaled. With the release of The Ivalice Chronicles late last year, Square Enix has finally brought Ramza Beoulve’s war-torn journey to modern hardware. After spending 60+ hours with the game (and another 10 tinkering with the "Classic" mode), I can confidently say this is the definitive way to play the masterpiece—though it comes with a few baffling omissions that keep it from absolute perfection.

The Presentation: A Painting Come to Life

The standout feature of The Ivalice Chronicles is the dual-mode presentation.

• Enhanced Mode: This is the default modernization. The character sprites have been smoothed, which I initially feared would look like a cheap mobile filter. Surprisingly, it works. The game applies a subtle "canvas" texture to the world, making the environments look like hand-painted dioramas. The spell effects are gorgeous, retaining their punchy PS1 feel but with modern particle lighting.

• Classic Mode: For purists, this mode emulates the CRT scanlines and original pixel sharpness of the 1997 release, but renders it at a crisp 4K. It’s a love letter to the original hardware.

The audio, however, is the real headline. The script—based on the War of the Lions translation—is now fully voiced. The performances are incredible, grounding the Shakespearean drama in genuine emotion. Hearing Ramza (voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana in JP, and an excellent English equivalent) and Delita verbally spar adds a layer of tragedy that text boxes simply couldn't convey. The re-orchestrated soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakimoto remains sweeping and majestic, sounding better than ever.

Gameplay & Quality of Life

The core gameplay remains the addictive, job-changing chess match we all love, but the friction has been sanded down.

• UI Overhaul: The new user interface is a godsend. You can finally see the turn order dynamically on the left side of the screen (no more guessing when the enemy Lancer will jump!).

• Camera Controls: Full 360-degree rotation is smooth and responsive, eliminating those awkward "hidden behind a wall" movement errors.

• Speed Up: The "Fast Forward" toggle is essential for grinding Job Points, making the mid-game slog breeze by.

The new "Tactical" difficulty is no joke. It remixes enemy compositions and improves their AI. I watched an enemy Archer explicitly target my White Mage to bait my Knight out of position—it was brutal and brilliant.

The Controversy: Where are the Lions?

The elephant in the room is the content omission. The Ivalice Chronicles is largely based on the original PS1 release, not the PSP's War of the Lions.

• Missing Content: The Dark Knight and Onion Knight jobs are absent in the base game. Balthier and Luso are also missing.

• The "Purist" Defense: Square Enix has stated they wanted to balance the game around the original 1997 vision (hence why the genji equipment stealing exploit is back!).

• The Fix: Thankfully, if you are on PC, the modding community has already added these jobs back in, but console players on Switch 2 and PS5 are left with the "vanilla" job roster. It’s a disappointing choice for a package labeled "Chronicles."

The Verdict: 9/10

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - The Ivalice Chronicles is a triumph of preservation and modernization. The story of class warfare, religious conspiracy, and lost history feels more relevant today than it did in 1997. While the exclusion of the War of the Lions bonus content is a stinging negative, the quality-of-life improvements, voice acting, and beautiful visual update make this the best version of the best strategy RPG ever made.

Pros:

• Gripping, mature story elevated by stellar voice acting.

• "Tactical" difficulty breathes new life into the combat.

• Quality of life features (Turn Order, Speed Up) respect your time.

• Beautiful "diorama" visual style.

Cons:

• Missing War of the Lions content (Dark Knight, Onion Knight, extra characters).

• Some graphical smoothing on sprites might annoy pixel-art purists.

Look, Black Ops 7 is the latest in Treyarch's Black Ops saga—a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 set in 2035, where you're chasing ghosts from the past (literally, with fear toxins and nightmare realms) as David "Section" Mason and his squad take on some evil tech corp called The Guild. Critics gave it a middling 65-66 on Metacritic, calling it "mixed." Users? A brutal 1.6—"Overwhelming Dislike"—the lowest ever for a Call of Duty game. Steam's at 35% positive. Why the Grand Canyon of a review gap? Critics played the polished multiplayer demo. Players got the full launch slop: always-online campaign bugs, sweat-lord lobbies, and a game that feels like a $70 DLC pack for Black Ops 6.

If you're a multiplayer masochist or Zombies diehard, grab it on sale. Casual fans? Wait for patches. Here's the breakdown.

Campaign: Co-Op Experiment Gone Wrong (6/10)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 - 18 Minutes of Solo Campaign Gameplay

This 5-hour co-op shooter promises high-stakes psy-ops across Tokyo rooftops, Mediterranean coasts, and hallucinatory hellscapes. Gunplay is snappy, movement (grapple, wingsuit, super jumps) feels fresh, and boss fights with weak-point weak sauce can be a blast with friends. But solo? It's a tedious nightmare. Always-online means no pausing, AI teammates are AWOL, and you're stuck repeating fetch quests like placing C4 solo while swarms overwhelm you. Story's a confusing mess of exposition dumps and Menendez callbacks—fine for BO vets, impenetrable for newbies.

The "Endgame" tacked-on horde mode has progression (skill points, combat ratings), but it's repetitive extraction shooter slop with dumb AI. Users rage about crashes, unskippable slop, and it feeling like "Skibidi Toilet." Skip unless squaded up.

Multiplayer: The Savior (8/10)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer finds the fun in its chaos

This is where BO7 shines. 18 launch maps (now 30+ with seasons) like Retrieval (glacier chaos), Hijacked remake, and Fringe (wall-jump heaven) are expertly designed—no camper heaven, all movement-friendly. Omnimovement evolves with wall runs/jumps—fluid, vertical, bunny-hop legit. Guns feel premium (MK.78 LMG shreds, Shadow SK sniper pops heads), except meh SMGs.

Big W: Toggle SBMM on/off. Non-SBMM default means wild lobbies—gods or stomps—but leavers ruin it. Modes like Overload (EMP CTF chaos) slap; camo grind and Prestige system keep you hooked. Downside? Sweaty as hell—meta slaves, fast TTK, head glitches. Users call it a "tournament simulator" despite the toggle.

Zombies: Big Map, Bigger Frustration (6/10)

Black Ops 7 Zombies Ashes of the Damned: Full Map Overview ...

Ashes of the Damned is the biggest round-based map ever—a massive figure-8 with truck travel (Ol’ Tessie, Pack-a-Punch on wheels). Gunplay pops, Mystery Box thrills, Easter Eggs are goofy (axe zombie feet?). But the EE quest? Hours of steps, one death = full restart (bye upgrades). Randos suck; it's punishing casuals into paying for Gobblegums. Fun in bursts, but feels like BO6 leftovers.

The Verdict: 7/10 – MP Carries, Rest Drags

Black Ops 7 nails multiplayer chaos and progression (XP everywhere, shared camos). But launch bugs, always-online BS, and "AI slop" cosmetics tank it. Users aren't wrong—it's sweaty, grindy, cash-grabby. Patches could fix servers/leavers. For now: MP gods eat it up; story chasers, look elsewhere.

Buy if: You're a multiplayer fiend. Skip if: You want a real campaign or chill vibes.

For decades, Silent Hill was defined by rust, industrial decay, and the fog-drenched streets of an American town. Silent Hill f shatters that mold violently and beautifully. By transporting the franchise to 1960s rural Japan, the game doesn't just refresh the scenery; it redefines what "Silent Hill" means as a concept, proving that the town's curse is not geographical—it is psychological.

The Setting: The Horror of the Higanbana

The most striking aspect of Silent Hill f is its visual identity. Gone is the chain-link fence and peeling paint. In its place is a creeping, organic corruption.

The game leans heavily into the symbolism of the Red Spider Lily (Higanbana), a flower associated with death and the afterlife in Japanese folklore. The way the environment shifts from a serene, sun-drenched Japanese village into a trypophobic nightmare of holes, red weeds, and blooming flesh is technically stunning. It is "beautiful horror" in the truest sense—you want to look away, yet you can't stop staring at the intricate, floral gore.

The Narrative: The Ryukishi07 Touch

The involvement of Ryukishi07 (creator of Higurashi: When They Cry) was the game's wildcard, and it pays off immensely.

• Psychological Depth: The story moves away from the "guilt" trope of Silent Hill 2 and leans into themes of repression, societal pressure, and ancient curses.

• The "Slow Burn": Much like Ryukishi07’s visual novels, the game begins with an eerie sense of normalcy that slowly rots away. The dialogue is sharp, unsettling, and filled with the kind of paranoia that makes you question if the monsters are real or if the protagonist is losing their mind.

• The Ending: Without spoiling it, the conclusion is as devastating as it is inevitable, leaving players with questions that linger long after the credits roll.

Gameplay: Tension Over Action

Silent Hill f returns to the franchise's roots of disempowerment. You are not a soldier; you are a victim.

• Combat: Resources are scarce. Melee combat feels desperate and clumsy, encouraging flight rather than fight.

• Puzzles: The puzzles are context-appropriate for the 1960s setting, utilizing analogue technology and shrine rituals, feeling organic to the world rather than "gamey."

The Verdict

Silent Hill f is the boldest entry in the franchise since The Room. It successfully decouples the series from the American Midwest while keeping the core identity: the manifestation of inner darkness. It is disturbing, tragic, and visually unparalleled.

Score: 9/10

Key Takeaways (Real-World Context)

If you are looking forward to the actual release, here is why this game is currently generating so much hype:

When Square Enix released the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake last year, they set a high bar for modernizing classic JRPGs. It was vast, customizable, and breathtaking. Now, with the release of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, the "Erdrick Trilogy" is finally complete.

While these two titles are simpler and undeniably older than DQIII, Team Asano has performed a minor miracle here. They haven’t just slapped a coat of paint on these 8-bit relics; they have fundamentally rebalanced them to be playable—and genuinely enjoyable—in 2025.

The HD-2D Treatment: Still the Gold Standard

By now, we know what to expect from the HD-2D engine, but it rarely fails to impress. The water effects, the tilt-shift lighting in dungeons, and the reimagined sprites are gorgeous. Hearing the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra’s swelling renditions of the Alefgard overworld theme adds a gravity to the experience that the NES beeps and boops only hinted at.

The visual continuity between this and DQIII is the real treat. Seeing the world of Alefgard "age" between the timeline of III and I adds a narrative texture that wasn't there in the 8-bit originals.

Dragon Quest I: Short, Sweet, and Solitary

The first half of the package is the original 1986 classic. You are the descendant of Erdrick. There is a Dragonlord. Go get him.

The Good:

• Respect for Time: The game remains a tight 8–10 hour adventure. Square Enix didn't bloat it with unnecessary fetch quests, though they did add new story cutscenes to flesh out the lore.

• The "Lonely" Vibe: The HD-2D lighting emphasizes the isolation of a solo hero wandering dark caverns. It’s a unique mood that modern party-based RPGs rarely capture.

The Bad:

• Simplicity: There is no getting around the fact that this is a game with one party member and limited commands (Attack, Spell, Item, Run). Even with the beautiful visuals, the combat loop can feel repetitive.

• The "Ye Olde" Dialogue: The localization returns to the heavy "Thee/Thou" archaic English. While nostalgic for NES Dragon Warrior veterans, it can feel a bit stifling compared to the charming, pun-heavy scripts of modern entries like DQXI.

Dragon Quest II: The Crown Jewel

This is where the collection shines. Dragon Quest II was historically infamous for its brutal difficulty spikes and obscure progression. This remake fixes almost all of it.

The Improvements:

• Princess of Cannock: Previously a minor character, she is now a fully fleshed-out party member with expanded dialogue and a stronger presence in the story. The banter between the three cousins (Midenhall, Cannock, and Moonbrooke) gives the journey a heart that was missing in 1987.

• Rebalanced Combat: The "Prince of Cannock" is no longer a liability who dies if an enemy looks at him wrong. The team has smoothed out the difficulty curve, making the late-game snowy plateau (Rondarxia) challenging but fair, rather than broken.

• Guidance: Subtle objective markers and the "Recall" feature (which memorizes NPC dialogue) eliminate the need to wander aimlessly wondering where the Silver Key is.

Quality of Life Updates

The best additions are the system-level changes shared across both titles:

• Battle Speed: You can crank combat speed up to "Ultra-Fast," making grinding painless.

• Auto-Battle: For trash mobs, setting the tactics to "Fight Wisely" lets you breeze through dungeons.

• Quick Save: The ability to save anywhere (outside of battle) is a godsend for portable play on the Switch or Steam Deck.

DRAGON QUEST I & II HD-2D Remake – Story Trailer

The Verdict

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a vital piece of gaming preservation. It doesn't try to hide the simplicity of its source material, but it polishes the friction points until they gleam.

If you played Dragon Quest III last year, this is the mandatory epilogue. Dragon Quest I is a charming, brief appetizer, but Dragon Quest II is a surprisingly robust adventure that finally gets the respect it deserves.

Score: 8/10

Recommendation: Play them in chronological order of the lore (Start with DQ III, then DQ I, then DQ II) for the maximum emotional payoff regarding the Erdrick lineage.

The Verdict at a Glance

Score: 7.5/10 Genre: 2D Run-and-Gun / Platformer Perfect for: Retro enthusiasts, Metal Slug/Contra fans, and Terminator 2 diehards who crave 16-bit nostalgia.

Overview: A Lost Relic from 1991

Terminator 2D: No Fate is a "lost tape" style game that commits fully to its premise: What if the perfect Terminator 2 tie-in game had actually been released on the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis in the 90s?

Developed by Bitmap Bureau (known for Xeno Crisis), this is a side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter that ignores modern gaming conveniences in favor of an authentic, coin-op arcade experience. It is grueling, gorgeous, and incredibly faithful to the source material—sometimes to a fault.

The Good

• Aesthetic Perfection: The pixel art is the standout feature. It uses a rich 16-bit color palette, chunky sprites, and smooth animations that look like the best of the SNES era, but with modern frame rates. The optional CRT filters are some of the best in the business, giving the image that warm, glowing fuzz of a 90s TV.

• The Soundtrack: The music is a driving, synth-heavy tribute to Brad Fiedel’s iconic score. It pulses with industrial dread and high-octane energy. The inclusion of licensed tracks like "Bad to the Bone" during the biker bar beat-'em-up section is a delightful touch.

• Faithful (mostly) Adaptation: You play through key beats of the film—the Pescadero Hospital escape, the Cyberdyne raid, and the steel mill showdown. However, the game also wisely expands the lore, letting you play as a future-war John Connor and a pre-incarceration Sarah Connor, adding context that the movie only hinted at.

• Branching Paths: Unlike most linear shooters of the past, your choices (often regarding who lives or dies) can trigger different endings and levels, adding much-needed replay value to a short campaign.

The Bad

• Punishing Difficulty: This is "Nintendo Hard." The game relies on limited continues and arcade-style difficulty spikes. The final level, in particular, is a massive hurdle that may frustrate players used to modern checkpoints.

• Short Runtime: A successful run can take less than 90 minutes. While this is accurate to the arcade era it emulates, the $25-$30 price tag might feel steep for a game you can beat in an afternoon.

• Not Enough Arnold: Due to what appears to be licensing costs, the T-800's facial likeness is a bit generic compared to Sarah or John. More importantly, you spend a significant chunk of the game playing as Sarah or John Connor. While they control well, many players will buy this game specifically to play as the Terminator, and might feel short-changed by how often they are stuck as the humans.

Gameplay Breakdown

The core loop is pure Contra or Metal Slug. You run left-to-right, locking your aim in 8 directions to mow down T-800 endoskeletons and SWAT teams.

• Combat: Weapons feel punchy, but you can't carry an arsenal; you rely on temporary power-ups.

• Variety: The game breaks up the shooting with vehicle chase levels (top-down driving) and a melee-focused bar fight. These are fun diversions, though the shooting mechanics are clearly the most polished part of the package.

Final Thoughts

Terminator 2D: No Fate is a labor of love that succeeds as a time capsule. It erases the memory of the terrible LJN Terminator games of the past and delivers the tie-in we deserved 30 years ago. If you can accept the short runtime and the bruising difficulty, it is a blast to play.

Recommendation: Wait for a slight sale if you are a casual fan, but grab it immediately if you have a soft spot for 16-bit action games.

For fans who have spent the last decade waiting for a true successor to the Looking Glass Studios classics, Legacy of Shadow is a complicated gift. It is not the hardcore immersive sim of the late 90s, but it is also far better than the infamous 2014 reboot. It sits somewhere in the middle: a genuinely atmospheric VR stealth game that nails the feeling of being a master thief, even if it sometimes stumbles on the mechanics.

The Gist

You don’t play as Garrett this time. Instead, you step into the boots of Magpie, a street-smart protégé. However, the legendary Master Thief (voiced again by the iconic Stephen Russell) is present as a "construct"—a spirit guiding you through a mechanical eye.

The game is built from the ground up for VR, meaning the focus is on tactile interactions: physically reaching out to snatch loot, manually picking locks, and drawing your bowstring.

The Good

• The Atmosphere is Back: The "City" feels right. The steampunk-meets-medieval aesthetic is heavy with fog, gloom, and gear-turning machinery. Hearing Stephen Russell’s gravelly voice in your ear instantly triggers nostalgia.

• Tactile Thievery: This is where the game shines.

  • Looting: You don't just press 'X' to steal. You physically reach out, grab a goblet, and toss it over your shoulder into your backpack. It’s incredibly satisfying.

  • Lockpicking: You insert picks with one hand and apply tension with the other, listening for the tumbler clicks. It’s tense and immersive.

  • The Bow: Nocking a water arrow to douse a torch from across a courtyard feels fantastic.

• The Light Gem: A clever UI adaptation places the classic visibility gem on the back of your hand. A quick glance tells you if you are hidden in shadow or exposed in the light.

• Comfort: The game offers a robust suite of comfort options (vignetting, snap turning, teleport vs. smooth walk) making it accessible even if you don't have strong "VR legs."

The Bad

• Artificial Intelligence: The guards are... dim. They often struggle to spot you even when you feel exposed, and their patrol routes are rigid. If you are looking for the hyper-intelligent AI of Metal Gear Solid or the original Thief, you will find this too easy.

• Binary Stealth: The shadow mechanic can feel "on/off." You are often completely invisible in a shadow that realistically shouldn't hide you, which can break immersion.

• Length: The campaign runs about 6–8 hours. It is a tight experience, but it lacks the sprawling, labyrinthine maps of the original games.

• Quest Visuals: On standalone headsets (Quest 2/3), the textures can look muddy and flat compared to the PCVR or PSVR 2 versions, which feature dynamic shadows and much sharper lighting.

The Verdict: 7/10

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is a "vibe" game. If you want to inhabit that world, physically sneak through dark corridors, and listen to Garrett begrudgingly mentor you, it is a delight. However, hardcore stealth purists may find the gameplay loops a bit too casual and the AI too forgiving.

Recommended for:

• VR owners looking for a slower-paced, atmospheric game.

• Thief fans desperate for any new content (hearing Stephen Russell is worth the price of admission alone).

Skip if:

• You require highly complex AI opponents.

• You are looking for a 20+ hour RPG.

Between the brilliant TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, retro beat-‘em-ups are enjoying a bit of renaissance.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is perhaps the highest profile effort yet, a sublimely presented four-player pixel art tribute to the arcade glory years, when smoky pool halls were ruled by the likes of Capcom’s The Punisher and, perhaps more pertinently here, Konami’s X-Men.

In that sense, this outing harbors few surprises: you select from a roster of 15 superheroes and punch your way through 15 stages, each inspired by locations from across the larger Marvel Universe.

Your ultimate objective? To take down insectoid Annihilus and his Cosmic Control Rod, in a plot that’s partly based on the Annihilation Wave storyline from the comic books.

While the gameplay remains fairly familiar for the genre, its biggest twist is how it requires each player to select two superheroes, adding tag mechanics to the traditional button mashing mix.

You can toggle freely between your characters at any time, or trigger team-ups which allow you to really lay the smackdown on your foes. This means, in a full four-player setup, there can be as many as eight superheroes on the screen.

To support this, dev Tribute Games has prepared a fairly stacked launch day roster, which blends familiar faces like Spider-Man and Wolverine with lesser-known additions like Beta-Ray Bill and Cosmic Ghost Rider.

While all of the characters ultimately have access to the same basic set of abilities, they handle pretty differently.

She-Hulk is slower and more powerful than some of her peers, for example, while Storm and Silver Surfer have more potent aerial abilities.

Each character has his or her own special moves, like Black Panther who can lob Vibranium spears at his opponents or Rocket Raccoon who wields an arsenal of explosives.

You also build up Focus through landing attacks, which allows you to trigger a screen-clearing super move. Again, each of these is unique, like Captain America throwing his shield in a 360-degree circle or Phoenix filling the screen with flames.

The animation work on some of the characters is exceptional, with Venom’s symbiote transformations particularly standing out, occasionally revealing a glimpse of conduit Eddie Brock behind his suit.

And many of the levels are filled with Easter Eggs, whether it’s New York City and its various references to the Daily Bugle or the Savage Land with its pre-historic backdrops.

We don’t want to spoil too much, but this is a whistle-stop tour through the Marvel universe, and there are some brilliant cameos which even the most casual of fans will appreciate.

While the game is perfectly enjoyable in single player, it is built around online and local multiplayer first and foremost. Fortunately, in all formats it’s a drop-in/drop-out experience, so your friends and family can dip in and out as they please.

Playing in a pre-release environment we haven’t been able to test out the online just yet, but we did spend time in local co-op and found the action more intense and over-the-top in this format.

There are definite difficulty spikes in single player which you should be aware of, and while they’re not insurmountable, the whole game becomes much more manageable when you’ve got two or three partners by your side.

We should also mention that you will also level up your superheroes the more you use them in the main campaign mode, and this adds additional HP and various other abilities and passives to their arsenal.

In some instances, we found we were being punished for experimenting with new characters we hadn’t levelled up, but the game absolutely encourages replayability and its difficulty isn’t so high that you can’t beat levels with superheroes you’ve never tried before.

Our biggest criticism of the game is how depth perception – a common issue for side-scrolling brawlers – is made more difficult by the increased emphasis on enemies who can fly here.

Without referring to shadows – which can be difficult to pay attention to given the chaotic nature of what’s happening on the screen – we often found we would whiff on aerial attacks because we were either too shallow or deep into the stage.

It’s not a major issue, but it can become frustrating when you air ball an enemy you thought you were perfectly lined up alongside, and it happened to us a lot across almost all of the game’s stages.

Still, it’ll take you roughly three hours to beat the campaign on your first playthrough, but you are encouraged to replay all of the levels to fulfil challenge requirements which encourage you to use specific characters or play in a particular way.

Once you’ve done this, you can invest any resources you’ve earned into the NAME HERE to unlock various character bios, color palette swaps, and even arcade modifiers.

And yes, the latter pertains to a more traditional arcade mode, which actually condenses the runtime and sees you selecting between stages at key moments on your path towards the final face off with Annihilus.

Conclusion

Marvel Cosmic Invasion does little to surprise, but it executes excellently on its retro beat-‘em-up ambitions. Depth perception can be a problem, but we like how the tag-team format gives the game a bit more of a chaotic feel, especially during local and online co-op sessions. And we also appreciate how each superhero handles slightly differently, adding a lot of replay value to a brawler that already has a relatively robust content offering.

POOLS is more of an experience than a game. You can technically see it through to completion in about an hour. But amid the brevity of our time with it, there's a palpable sense of atmosphere that'll leave you on edge.

POOLS is an off-kilter horror walking simulator where you must navigate complex mazes of tiled hallways, pools, and slides.

There are no enemies. There’s no time limit. There are no mechanics beyond walking or running around these hallways.

But the game taps into the niche liminal horror of the "Backrooms" concept, oscillating between tight dark corridors and abnormally large spaces, with bright water slides almost acting as jump scares.

There’s something incredibly unnerving about the game’s six levels, which expertly manage to scare the crap out of you without any form of traditional "scary" stuff. It's purely vibes, and they'll soak into your skin.

Visually, it's a real looker on the PS5 and PS5 Pro, emphasised by a brilliant use of lighting. The sound design, too, though minimal, can really raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

We scoffed at the game’s approach when we first booted it up, but within 20 minutes, we were twitching at the nearby sounds of sloshing water, and nervously approaching giant inflatable ducks as they bobbed around. There's no score here, so you almost start to think you're hearing things as you wade through the water.

It’s a creepy experience on PS5, but it’s taken to a new level on PSVR2. Mechanically, there isn’t much difference other than the ability to physically climb up ladders with the use of the Sense controllers.

However, Sony’s headset really lends itself to the scale of the game. We peered down seemingly endless pits, and twitched around to the sight of ladders being tucked into vents by unseen beings. And there's next to no visual disparity between PSVR2 and the flat screen version, making this one of the best visual showcases on Sony's headset.

Similar to some other PSVR2 titles, like Kayak VR: Mirage, POOLS is a thin gameplay experience, but you aren’t there for that. You’re there to be transported somewhere else. In Kayak VR, it's beautiful vistas. In POOLS, it’s creepy tiled hallways.

So while it’s a short-lived experience, it’s one we couldn’t help but admire. It certainly caters to a niche audience, but it quickly creates a unique and tense atmosphere that plays with your head, even more so when you have the PSVR2 strapped to it.

Morsels is one of those roguelike action games that feels impenetrable at first, but once you start learning its obscure language, it becomes more and more rewarding.

You play as a mouse trying to fight back against the tyranny of feline overlords, and you do so with mysterious cards that transform you into various strange creatures.

Based on trash and scraps of food, the titular Morsels each have unique attacks and abilities, and you can swap between up to three of them as you play through a run. They can level up to a more powerful form, but when they level up again, they perish, so your strongest Morsels won't last forever.

Mostly playing out like a twin-stick shooter, you explore each randomly-generated stage, defeating enemies and searching for benefits, like XP, cheese, and useful items.

Between levels are random events that have (mostly) positive effects; some of these are novel mini-games that completely change the art style and gameplay.

The game is fast-paced and quite demanding. You can't be too precious with your Morsels, as they'll die anyway, but reckless play is punished thanks to combat rooms that border on bullet hell, requiring precision and a knowledge of how to play your current character.

If you're able to push through the initial difficulty, there's a gratifying sense of progression as you gradually get further, discover more perks, and beat more bosses.

With the right combination of Morsels, buffs, and items, you can become literally unstoppable, though getting to that point is rare thanks to a somewhat uneven challenge level and some characters feeling much weaker than others.

In some ways it reminds us of older roguelikes, such as Spelunky or The Binding of Isaac, in terms of how tough it can feel at first, but rewards knowledge and skill. Mastering the game will take time, but it has just enough depth to make it a satisfying endeavour.

Layered on top of the game itself is an extremely stylish look; it's purposely gross and grimy, but with that comes lots of charm and personality. Add on top a super catchy soundtrack, and you have a game that looks and sounds like few others.

If you're a fan of roguelikes that push back, rewarding skilful play and understanding of its barely-explained layers, Morsels is definitely worth sampling. Some might be frustrated by its refusal to hold your hand, but those who stick with it will have a fun and singular experience.

Rally Arcade Classics is a £15.99 game that, at the very least, looks strikingly similar to Sega's seminal off-road racer, Sega Rally. With a gorgeous 90s Aesthetic dialled in, 40+ cars to unlock from across the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s and 48 stages to plough through now thanks to the 1.27 Chase & Precision update, there is a lot of bang for your buck here, but is it worth your time?

Gorgeous scenery, great-looking cars

Beginning the game, you have five modes ahead of you, including the initial requirement of working your way through a licensing area. With some 60 licenses to bag and 180 stars to earn, there is a mammoth task ahead of you before you even set foot in the tour, rally, chrono, arcade or events sections.

The early licenses require you to hit checkpoints as fast as possible to gain bronze (one star), silver (two stars), or gold (three stars) status against the clock. Alternatively, you might need to drift or perform some rally-related escapade to grab those stars. Each license stands on the shoulders of the previous, so gaining enough stars in C grade will unlock B, then A1, A2, and then ultimately S1 and S2 for the top-tier drivers.

There are a total of 508 in-game trophies (19 PSN ones too) and 1280 stars to collect throughout your journey, and those collectable stars can be used to unlock new difficulties and tracks or purchase new cars, which, although unlicensed and with no liveries, look recognisable as their real-life counterparts. There are a staggering 44 cars in total, ranging from small-engined front-wheel-drive runabouts to flat-out all-wheel-drive supercars; there is something for everyone, and the progression cycle is tough but exceedingly rewarding.

Starting in Finland, you have the cool, crisp, fresh environments composed of forests and lakes. Catalunya in Spain is a more mountainous region, with lush greenery and wetter, muddier conditions, whereas Greece is far drier, more of an arid and harsh environment with open vistas and dry surfaces to skid around. Lastly, Monte Carlo offers the most heavily varied and curated tracks with the tightest turns and hairpin-like corners.

Time of day and weather also play into how your races fare, with some really nice sunny and nighttime variations, slippery thunderstorms, and my most hated: foggy weather. The lighting and scenery are consistently nice-looking, but I noticed that your headlights don't cast shadows on anything other than solid brick walls, so a little bit of the realism feels lost when fanging it around courses at night.

Graphically hits the brief & is very challenging too

Rally Arcade Classics' arcade, tour, chronos and event modes are where the meat of the game resides once you have earned your stripes and gotten through the licensing phases.

Arcade alone contains 16 challenges that are dependent on your licensing situation and the cars or stars obtained, and gradually puts you through challenges with the level of car you have unlocked, going from the slowest beginner models up to the most rapid pro spec cars.

Tour mode contains six chapters, each packed with time attack, drift and versus challenges, and "rally" opens up the four main locales, each with six difficulty levels for pitting yourself in either regular cars or rally-specific models. 

Chrono is a great mode to sink your teeth into and get to grips with all of the cars without needing to unlock any. I really enjoyed feeling the difference between the "Startos" (Stratos) and the "Kopper" (Cooper), "Wolf" (WV Golf), or "Paigot" (come on now), you get to toy with at the start. The faster cars include the Seilka, Collora, Esworld, Suforc and the wonderfully titled "Mr Bang Sti", which is plainly a Subaru Impreza.

Everything can seem quite daunting at first, but practice really does make perfect, as you punch it and keep trying to skim off those seconds across each stage. There is a handy bar at the top of the screen that indicates your progress against the clock, with a silver depleting bar showing you're total progress, green that you're ahead of time, or red that you're trailing behind.

One mistake can cost you the entire race, so you need to be in control of your vehicle and know the basics of drifting, and how to brake to take every type of corner or hazard that you'll encounter. Luckily, you have your trusty co-pilot barking out "easy left" or "hard right" for example. I found that generally you can floor it and take easy corners without breaking, medium corners require a single brake pump, and hard corners can be taken by either a series of feathered braking, or one swift handbrake turn. Using these basic rules, I managed to fire on all cylinders and conquer a lot of courses with ease, that was until I got to Monte Carlo, where the tight turns absolutely rocked me, and I had to strategise a lot more.

In one event, I remember finding myself 8 seconds behind the leader with just one last stage to go, so I floored it and made sure I paid attention to the split times given to me all the way around. I gradually clawed back "-2" per quarter and scraped through just 300ths of a second ahead of the previous leader. It's tense and engaging, especially if you have something to lose, so cranking up the difficulty and challenging yourself is where the endorphins really flow!

Weekly and monthly events also add a layer of freshness at regular intervals, pitting you against the world with a specific track, condition and car for you to compete with. I really like this as it gives players something to look forward to each week. It's unbelievable that this game is only £15.99, really.

No splitscreen or real multiplayer modes

Rally Arcade Classics contains so much content and offers enough real, engaging challenges that it's hard not to recommend. On top of all this, you also have an online leaderboard with really serves to ramp up your explosive passion when it comes to besting those other faceless players online. I repeatedly hit retry so that I could put my best times up against the world, and honestly, I managed to go from 1400-ish down to the top 200-300 within a matter of 3-4 attempts, but getting any better than the top 200's I found extremely challenging; there are some really good players out there already!

On that note, I would also have loved to see a proper online versus mode, or even split screen.

Sure, rally car races in real life only pit one car against another's time, and when it comes to video games, I would imagine this format makes for an easier, quicker project to design, create, and deploy because there is no need for fancy netcode or optimisation for multiple cars on track, but it's something that could have been fantastic.

Without multiplayer, it essentially boils down to ghost racing with no official liveries and notably no damage system either, which puts an extremely small dampener on things when we look at the bigger picture. We have to remember that this is not a £60 game, it's not even a £30 game, it's a steal at £15.99 with weekly/monthly updates to boot!

Some games embrace their inspirations in an obvious display of affection, which is exactly what developer Zenovia Interactive has done with Neon Inferno.

This 2D run-and-gun platformer has a ton of similarities to classics such as Contra, yet manages to achieve its own identity with an interesting narrative and engaging gameplay mechanics.

At first glance, the game makes a strong impression with its gorgeous, retro-inspired, cyberpunk art style. A lot of effort has been put into character design and the overall aesthetic, which carries through the entire game.

Neon Inferno boasts two playable characters, Angelo and Mariana, assassins who are set on eliminating their syndicate’s rivals. There aren’t many differences between them, aside from slightly altered cutscenes depending on who you pick.

However, with two characters available, you can pair up with a second player for some couch co-op action.

The game follows a familiar arcade-style formula: you select a target and complete a stage, culminating in a boss fight. Each stage has detailed backgrounds and foregrounds, which are essential to the core gameplay.

As you run and gun throughout stages, you can shoot enemies in both the foreground and background.

Although this seems nifty at first, you will soon find yourself becoming incredibly frustrated by the sheer number of elements present on screen. Whether that be projectiles or additional enemies, some stages simply have too much going on, which quickly becomes overwhelming and tedious.

Early on you are introduced to a bullet-time mechanic, an ability that allows you to deflect green bullets or bombs. When you combine this with sluggish character speed and the abundance of enemies to keep an eye on, it can be monotonous.

Despite this, Neon Inferno features three difficulty options, ranging from Novice to Hard. On the easier difficulty, enemy attack patterns are toned down, whereas Hard mode amplifies the chaos on screen.

Neon Inferno has nice visuals and is a solid throwback to classic arcade titles, though you may find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the high volume of enemies, projectiles, and more present on both parts of the screen.

Biped initially launched in March 2020 as a cooperative adventure title that focused on moment-to-moment teamwork between two players and racked up glowing 85% average scores across review aggregate sites. Biped 2 is the next evolution in the series and offers one to four player action, with an expanded co-op experience and 2v2 modes to boot!

Interesting Mechanics, Cute Storyline

Having never played the original game, Biped 2 has a similar visual appeal to it as something like AstroBot or Tearaway, albeit with a more simplified aesthetic and more mobile-friendly-feeling controls and UI.

The story goes that, having completed their mission on Earth (Biped), Aku and Sila embark on a new quest after picking up a distress beacon in another galaxy. Heading to planet Tau, the pair immediately strive to save those in need. It's super cute, but ultimately superficial, serving as an extremely loose narrative that joins together a series of mini-games and puzzles to solve.

The core gameplay comes from how you control your biped. While it's an extremely clever physics-based approach, it can get very confusing. Using the left and right analogue sticks, you must lift your limb and plant it down, rhythmically timing your movements to perform basic walking and running.

Tilting and turning the stick pirouettes your character around to spin and collect coins, holding one leg against an object will interact with it, and lastly, holding both sticks in a direction will allow you to skate around, avoiding the necessity to produce locomotion.

It sounds simple, but it is deviously tricky to coordinate some of these things in one fell swoop. Even the early tutorial stages tripped me up a few times, because I didn't realise that you could skate on virtually any surface, so I awkwardly attempted to gallop past fast-moving platforms and obstacles, only to fail numerous times.

Skating is your friend, across almost every surface. Keep in mind that it's possible to skate on sand, wood, gravel and more, and you will succeed faster than I!

Tricky Puzzles, Cosy Quests

Throughout your intergalactic adventure, you will come across flying sections, rolling floors, pushing obstacles, switches and tasks to complete to save the inhabitants of planet Tau and bring rebalance to the elements. The majority of the game is spent exploring for coins and avoiding objects, which, while fun and allowing you to buy cosmetics for your bot, is not the main attraction of this title.

The puzzles and Quests are the meat of this game, with it adapting depending on the number of players. For example, simple traversal of the opening levels requires you to shift your weight on a rolling barrel-type platform. Moving to the right of it sets it spinning, and you therefore have to counter the rotation to see what's on the underside, or navigate a twisty path.

With two players, this becomes a strategic operation, cooperating in coordinating your weight distribution and pace so that you can both pass the challenge at hand. It's extremely smart, and the level of frustration juxtaposed with adulation you have for your player 2 is immense. The dynamic flip flops constantly, with a satisfying endorphin rush at the crescendo of solving a particularly tricky area.

Some challenges involve being lashed together or one of you pushing buttons while the other navigates platforms, others are like races with vehicles like hang gliders or rafts, or you need to flip tiles in order, or in succession, to progress.

Everything usually descends into sheer chaos, but that's the beauty of this type of game!

Incredibly fun with friends

While I had a blast playing this solo, collecting the coins and stars and beating my best times, I found it far more fun with friends. 

The cooperative mode is essentially a teambuilding exercise, and the 2v2 modes are trash-talking expeditions into new tests of friendship. Ultimately, Biped 2 is a fantastic physics-driven puzzler that has the power to entice hardcore puzzle fans as well as casual gamers for a cosy yet emotionally fluctuating experience that I heartily recommend trying as a team!

With this in mind, I'm also going to pick up the original Biped game to get another fix of multiplayer puzzling goodness!