Rockstar

Capcom has announced a new sales milestone for its fan favourite action RPG, Dragon's Dogma 2. As revealed on its official social channels, the cult hit sequel has now surpassed 4 million copies sold: Dragon's Dogma 2 launched in March 2024, meaning it's taken around 20 months for it to reach the milestone. The first 3 million sales were within the game's first few months. While fans are happy to celebrate the news, many responses are asking after some sort of DLC. The original Dragon's Dogma eventually received the Dark Arisen expansion, and players are hopeful that the sequel will get the same treatment. However, it's not clear that any such extra content is coming; Capcom has made no allusions to an expansion for Dragon's Dogma 2, though it's of course still possible. As it stands, though, the game itself received a very positive reception despite some rough edges, and has been getting updates as recently as April of this year.

Today's Xbox Game Pass roundup has delivered some lovely upcoming additions - which we're very grateful to see given that the post-Black Ops 7 XGP lineup was looking a little thin. One game that's really standing out to us here is The Crew Motorfest; Ubisoft's 2023 racer set in open-world Hawaii. At the time of its release, we said that a true Forza Horizon competitor had come to market, and today, we're doubling down on that. Motorfest is a really good open world racing game, and one that's absolutely worth your time on Xbox Game Pass. If you've played any of the more recent Forza Horizon titles you'll pretty much know what to expect here. Rather than The Crew 1 & 2 which focused on incredible scale and more RPG-like sensibilities, Motorfest strips things back towards something that more closely resembles the Playground Games series. In fact, this The Crew experience even revolves around its own in-game festival (the clue's in the name), and yeah, even the overall vibe is very Forza Horizon. Having said that, Motorfest does have a few issues. We'd argue that the game's progression isn't as satisfying as it is in Horizon - Playground just has that gameplay loop nailed down. The Crew focuses largely on 'playlists' that are quite similar to Horizon Stories in Forza, and when you have plenty of them dotted around on the map, they're fantastic fun. Down the road though, the amount you can hop into dries up (DLC aside), and then the game becomes a bit more laborious progression-wise. Thankfully just driving around the open world is good fun, and the game is gorgeous too. Xbox Series X players can experience Ivory Tower's open-world rendition of Hawaii at up to 60FPS, while Series S players are stuck at just 30FPS. However you play though, this is one very good looking racer - it maybe even beats Horizon 5 in the looks department if you ask me. Speaking of Horizon 5, if Xbox's most recent Horizon game feels a bit long in the tooth now, The Crew Motorfest is simply a great alternative, especially before FH6 rolls around in 2026. So, yeah, The Crew Motorfest is a really good addition to Game Pass Ultimate, we reckon. It's not exactly original as an open-world racer, but it's the closest you'll get to a proper Forza Horizon alternative right now, and its addition to the library later this week (November 20th) will be well worth exploring. For everything else included in today's fresh Xbox Game Pass roundup, check out our coverage on that down below - and we'll chuck our original The Crew Motorfest review underneath that as well.

Kirby Air Ride, I think it's fair to say, didn't receive all that warm a welcome when it launched back in 2003. With lucky GameCubers already marinating in the delicious driving juices of Mario Kart: Double Dash and F-Zero GX, Kirby's cute and chaotic style of racing just didn't seem to stick with the mainstream, and, as a result, it's become known as one of those Marmite efforts. You either gelled with its new approach to slinging yourself around tracks or you didn't. For me personally, I've always enjoyed Air Ride's novel take on track racing. I also think it's a game that sings especially strongly in multiplayer, once everyone who's racing fully knows what they're doing. Indeed, this was the first GameCube title that allowed for LAN setups via broadband adapters, so the multiplayer was 100% where the gravy was at. Taking everything into account, though, and despite my love for the OG, a sequel in the form of Kirby Air Riders was an unexpected announcement during the run-up to Switch 2. I certainly didn't have it on my Switch 2 bingo card. So it's lucky, then, given that it's a bit of curveball, that it's actually very good. If I had to guess the two main issues people had with Kirby Air Ride back in the day, it's a fairly even split between a lack of meaningful single-player content and how messy the game can seem to the uninitiated as races (and minigames) play out. Nintendo has obviously taken note of the first issue here, and as a result, we've got a sprawling story mode with multiple paths and endings and a metric ton of collectible content to keep you busy. It's also got a very gritty and serious sci-fi tone, which is so at odds with the style of the actual racing that you can't help but love it. However, on the second problem, well, you'll have to suck eggs and learn to play the game, I'm afraid. It all makes sense when you get into the sweet Air Ridin' groove. It also wasn't broken in the first place, so bravo to Masahiro Sakurai for sticking to his guns and keeping the soul of it all intact. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) On that note: Air Riding. It's not karting. This style of racing is a different beast entirely, and there's a learning curve in getting a hang of the basics. In Air Riders, you take control of a rider from an ever-growing roster of Kirby and his pals, each of whom has an impressive variety of stats relating to their driving abilities, along with their own specials and tricks to pull off mid-race. Stuff like turbo boosts, area of effect attacks, and lots of other stuff I won't spoil the fun of unlocking. Once you've chosen Waddle De— I mean...whoever your favourite is, you then pick a machine. These aren't just different for the sake of being different, nor do they simply have varying degrees of speed, boost, handling, and so on. No, in Air Riders, there's depth. Proper depth. And it comes in the form of an impressive menagerie of unique machines that work in fundamentally different ways. We've all seen the default Warp Star that gives you a nice balance of ground and air speed, but then you've got other options like the incredibly fast but terribly fragile Paper Star, the charging Tank Star, the slippery Slick Star, and even a few that transform or straight-up blink like electricity from point to point on a track as they slow then boost. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) There's a lot more to take in than you may expect at first blush, and especially if you've listened to naysayers over the years who say it's shallow. Get a few seasoned riders into a race and things can get hugely intense. With rider and machine chosen and on the track, you then get down to slinging yourself around. Movement forwards is automatic, the number one mental hurdle for newcomers. Your job as pilot is to make sure you utilise every opportunity on the track as it presents itself; to gain maximum forward momentum, by spinning, shifting around the course to hit boosts and jumps, and hammering enemies for mini-boosts or copy abilities to whale on your opponents with. Once you 'get' it, it's incredibly moreish, and almost zen-like in the focus that's required to take down another rider who knows what they are doing. Feels too automated? You're not trying hard enough. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) Also at the core of the racing, beyond the automatic nature of travelling forward, you have the all-important boost/brake button. Holding down 'B' will slow your machine right down until it eventually stops. It also, at the same time, charges up your turbo boost. So there's a strategy at the heart of everything here, and it's a pleasing one in how it relates to some very nicely designed tracks. You want to know these tracks well to target the best jumps, to know the best opportunities to slow right down for a full boost (tight corners are the most obvious example) or overtake, and to find these opportunities on any given course, whilst also battling a constant stream of other riders and NPC enemies, makes for an addictive and satisfying thing to settle into. It's manic in all the right ways. This sequel, too, is made all the more satisfying by some visually spectacular race sequences spliced throughout tracks. There's a mix of sections composed of proper, tight-corner racing alongside flashy on-rails sequences where you whip between rails to collect/dodge and set yourself up to boost into whatever comes next. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Nintendo has gone to town on these rail sequences, with some elaborately cool parts where riders tumble and spin through all sorts of wild scenarios, and the game does well to give you just enough control at all times, and enough ways to steal a lead or damage your opponents, that even when you're not fully in control of your machine, and even when weapons are auto-fire on proximity for a lot of the time, it still feels like you're needing to think quickly and know the rules, tracks and machines inside out to make an impact, especially in the online mode. The story mode is the real big addition, and it makes a good impression. I won't ruin the narrative (and it's not much to write home about), but the setup, where you race through 11 chapters composed of levels full of races and minigames, works well. Between each race and challenge, you're returned to your vehicle as it blasts along a road through each stage, and this gives you three options at all times on how to proceed, so there's variety along the way, until you hit a mini-boss or boss race battle. It also gives solo players lots to unlock, there's replayability in returning for alternate endings, and it acts as a fantastic training mode for the delights of online. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) Before I touch on the online, though, you've also got the returning City Trial, Air Ride, and Top Down racing modes. These generally remain largely unchanged from what was offered up in the original game. City Trial gives you five minutes to gather as many collectibles as you can whilst blasting other racers before being dropped into a minigame for a grand finale, and it's as chaotically frenzied as ever. Top Down mode is honestly addictive as all hell when you get into it (think Codemasters' Grand Prix Sim on the Commodore 64 but with crazy courses and you're 90% of the way there). It's the online, though, that's the real king. I had limited time with it for this review, but I luckily found matches in Air Ride and City Trial modes against a few ferocious competitors and I couldn't be happier with the performance. No input lag, no issues connecting, and in races it was buttery smooth, as it is across all modes. The City Trial and Air Ride races really do come alive here, and I implore you to dig in, learn how to drive the machine of your choice well and reap the benefits of some surprisingly fierce competition - alongside all the jumping into targets, gliding competitions, and events where you try to eat more than everyone else. I mean, Kirby gonna Kirby. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked) As a solo game, Kirby Air Riders is a step up, then. Each of its modes brings over 100 collectible bits and bobs to unlock and create a picture scene from the story, so there's plenty to work towards. The campaign itself also does a suitably Kirby-esque job in starting out relatively normal on the narrative front before ending up in some far-out sci-fi states. The whole thing also looks and plays as good as anything I've played on Switch 2 thus far, so you're in for a treat on that front, my friends. I've also got to make a special point here to mention the surprisingly deep machine customisation on offer. I was actually a little shocked! There are loads of textures, icons, unlockable pixel art, and all manner of ways to truly make all of your machines your own. It's a lot, and it's very, very welcome for solo fans. Onto niggles, and I will say that the chaos — all of the huge icons and speeding around amidst groups of riders, especially in City Trials — can feel aimless at times. And it's still every bit the Marmite experience. The story is silly, and most of the side games, which see you hit air targets, make long jumps, and so on, well, they're not exactly riveting. Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked) And in local multiplayer, whilst playing on the same system, we spotted that you lose the ability to see the stats for your chosen rider and machines, which sort of takes away the ability to inspect and learn on the fly. Let's hope a little tweak can be patched in on that one. Overall, then, I know it can be hard to make Kirby converts, but I genuinely believe Kirby Air Riders deserves them. This is a huge big colourful beast of a sequel. It's jam-packed to the rafters with stuff to find, to unlock, and collect, and it has proper depth. There's a ton of machines, loads of riders and courses, and — should you get stuck in and learn and "git gud" — you'll find an alternative to the usual kart-racer style of business that absolutely deserves its place on any podium. ConclusionKirby Air Riders is a cracking sequel that gives solo players much more to dig into with its story campaign, whilst also bringing all-new levels of shiny graphics, bells and whistles to its returning City Trial, Air Ride, and Top Down Racing modes. This is a chaotic and frenzied racer, there's no doubt, but it's got depth for those who wish to learn and plenty of competition to be had both online and at harder difficulties for diehards. With lots of excellent tracks, riders and machines to unlock, sat alongside some surprisingly deep machine customisation, Kirby's latest air riding adventure is off to a strong start. Oh, and that soundtrack!

Right now, it's a pretty good time to be a fan of shoot 'em ups! Not only did Polygon Bird's Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga-esque shooter Birdcage recently release on Steam, earning some incredible early reactions from players. But we also have a ton of other exciting indie shoot 'em ups on the horizon to look forward to, with the latest of these to be added to our own personal wishlist being the promising 2D sidescroller, AGGRESTA. The promising shoot 'em up first came to our attention earlier this week, thanks to the regular Time Extension collaborator, Ashley Day, and is an independent game from the Japanese developer named Tetsu (てつ), who has been sharing updates of the game since the project first began back in 2020. It mixes Gradius-style arcade shooting with sword-based combat and looks set to include some impressively detailed levels, ranging from verdant cities to underwater stages and enemy strongholds located in the middle of a densely-packed asteroid field. Right now, details about the game are scant, with Tetsu (てつ) writing online that the reason for this is that they want players to be surprised and to go in with fresh eyes when playing. As a result, we're not even entirely sure of the platform yet, though PC would probably be a safe bet. Regardless of that, though, the project looks phenomenal from all that the developer has shown so far, with the stages featuring a nice mix of 2D and 3D elements, and some brilliant mechanics such as the ability to flip the ship horizontally to fire backwards at enemies who have managed to slip past you. We'll be keeping an eye on this one in the future for sure. But you can also stay up to date on the game's progress by following Tetsu (てつ) directly on Twitter/X or checking out the #AGGRESTA tag.

Your latest mission as an Earth Directorate agent is to investigate the source of certain perilous rifts. However, the sabotage of this investigation leaves you drifting unconscious through space for a decade. The galaxy you wake up in is both familiar and different: factions have splintered, emerged or even merged, while the forces of capitalism are as rampant as ever. For you, the objective is clear: track down the one who wronged you and decide on their fate. A return to Obsidian's corporate satireDespite being a sequel, The Outer Worlds 2 shares little in terms of story with the first game. It’s set in a new colony with a new cast. You don’t need to have played the first one to get into this one. But if you’ve played the first installment, you will have a pretty good idea of what’s on offer: a space opera that leans on corporate satire (the irony is not lost here with Obsidian being under the umbrella of a giant corp itself). Unlike the first game in this series, The Outer Worlds 2’s plot is less on the nose with its “capitalism=bad” message. The narrative is more nuanced while carrying similar overarching themes. Being an Obsidian game, you can expect the same wittiness in exploring relatable issues that come to be expected from its titles. Characters also have depth to their personalities. As you interact with the main cast, you get to learn about their backstories and motivations, helping better relate to them. While it is not as well-implemented in every NPC - the main antagonist, for one, doesn’t immediately come off as particularly interesting - it helps in fleshing out its universe. The conversations you engage in with your expanding crew or NPCs who will inevitably throw side quests at you are memorable as you actively engage in tasks (and, sometimes, combat) that aid them (or not). The Outer Worlds 2’s environments are varied and detailed. Whether you are exploring your spaceship the Incognito or venturing on a new planet, the world building remains strong. For the inquisitive gamer, notes and conversation logs reveal details about the world and its inhabitants. Doing so might also provide hints or leads that can be used in conversations and side quests. Venturing off the beaten track often offers some of the game’s best moments: inventive, surprising and often hilarious encounters and discoveries. This encourages and rewards exploration, and the game doesn’t offer a dull moment in indulging in such practices. Assemble your crew, embrace your flaws and embark on adventures!As an immersive simulation, The Outer Worlds 2 offers an extensive level of player agency. From the moment you boot the game, you can customise your character’s appearance and attributes. Your in-game choices further influence your progress. Should you side with this authoritarian faction to get easier access to where you need to be? Or should you aid the one under attack, despite their questionable practices? Whatever your choice, the intrigue of alternative scenarios persists, encouraging replays. More often than not, there are multiple ways to tackle quests. The game offers a freedom of play style, allowing you to mix and match stealth, frontal assault or other approaches based on the situation you find yourself in. Other pathways can also open up based on information you find by exploring. Conversations will indicate that you might be missing some key information, encouraging you to comb your area for additional clues. Such levels of experimentation contributes to player agency while making your playthrough unique. As an RPG, The Outer Worlds 2 comes with the expected gamut of character customisation from upskilling to equipment management. One of the freshest additions is the way choices can mould your character beyond a morality system. Right from the character creation stage, you have to pick positive and negative traits. This balances out your character’s attributes, offering a fair challenge in the game. Furthermore, when leveling up, you will often be offered flaws. These are additional traits that you can choose to accept or reject, and are based on your character’s actions leading up to that point. For example, if you’ve been on a buying spree at vendors, you might get the ‘Consumerism’ flaw. It reduces vendor prices but also the value of items you sell. It’s a smart design that integrates with the game’s themes around consequence and corporate hubris. Obsidian’s latest magnum opusIt’s been a busy year for Obsidian, with the launch of Avowed, Grounded 2 (Early Access) and, now, The Outer Worlds 2. Each of these titles are recommended in their own right, and The Outer Worlds 2 is the company’s latest hit, until the next one, if this year’s trend is any indication. This sequel rarely feels boring with the levels of player-driven choices, rich world-building and freedom of playstyles. That said, there are some areas where it falters, even if slightly so. Some narrative beats occasionally slow down and take a detour that feel like layers of fluff added to stretch a map. The restrictions of certain actions or conversation options that require specific skills that you didn't opt for can get on your nerves. It’s as if the game is gently waving you away from accessing all of what it has to offer. But this is a purposeful design that nudges towards replayability where different builds unlock different doors, further hammering in the aspect of player-driven choices. My main gripe has to do with the narrative exposition. The game all too often takes a hand-holding approach to sinking you in its lore, from your preset objectives to the faction-led universe. This limits self-discovery of the intricacies of the world, as if the developers don’t trust the player in doing so. There is plenty of exploration and lore to flesh out by checking logs and talking to NPCs, but the main gist feels like it’s presented to you so that you can’t miss it. It’s not a bad approach for a narrative-driven game, but can feel odd for those who have experienced other titles in the genre. Nevertheless, The Outer Worlds 2 remains an engaging and entertaining game. If you are into sci-fi RPGs, you’ll want to try this one out. If you’ve played the first title, this one will feel like an improvement. The writing remains a high point with its wittiness and satire that defines this universe. Obsidian might have found its own Fallout franchise and I hope to see more installments in the future.

It appears Rockstar Games have introduced some GTA 6 assets into GTA Online before the new game has come out. That’s according to a couple of dataminers who have delved into the game’s files from the Money Fronts update. Last week, Rockstar launched a series of new mansion teaser missions called the New Listing missions. As part of it, it led dataminer Lucas7yoshi_RS to examine how the missions work. He found some interesting things such as how the pool cover at Devin’s mansion is actually a bunch of fences with tarp, which are existing assets, placed horizontally. This is a neat trick by the developers at Rockstar to avoid making a brand new asset for this one area. Another dataminer, rollschuh2282, at first thought this was a new asset but could not find it in the game’s files. This led him down a rabbit hole and the discovery of asset textures using the naming convention Rockstar is using for GTA VI and and not GTA V. GTA 6 Assets In GTA Online ExplainedLucas explains that both GTA VI and Red Dead Redemption 2 use PBR (physically based rendering) and a new character system called “metapeds” unlike GTA V. Due to this, the file naming scheme is quite different from GTA V to RDR2 and now GTA VI. The names are far longer and include extra suffixes. You can see an example of GTA V, RDR2 and the apparent GTA 6 asset name in GTA Online provided by Lucas below. The assets in GTA Online with GTA VI’s naming convention are a pair of chinos, love heart underwear and a bra. They are found when exiting a laundry bin during the second Mr Faber mission. One thing to note is that we do have “Love Heart Boxer Shorts” already in GTA Online. These came as part of the Valentine’s Day Massacre Special update in 2014. It’s possible they were remade for GTA 6 or the naming convention has changed because they will be in GTA 6 and this was a bit of a small mistake. Lucas thinks an artist could be making the assets using the wrong workflow. There are some GTA Online assets that “inexplicably have pbr texturing, but that could be assets destined for gta 5”. Regardless, these specific boxers now have a new naming scheme. The dataminer continues by saying “The metaped naming is the most explicit confirmation this was intended for GTA 6, as this isn’t even proper clothing its used for”. Rockstar Have Done This For Quite Some TimeThis is not the first time assets that showed up in a GTA VI trailer were added in GTA Online updates. Various clothing items in Trailer 1 and Trailer 2 can be found in GTA Online. There has also been speculation vehicles have been backported. It was explained to us that backporting does not make much sense and rather the assets are improved for GTA VI. So the chances of someone using the wrong workflow as mentioned above for these assets is plausible.

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 carsBeginning 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 tooRally 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 modesRally 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!

After the Celestial Collapse, the runes' energy dwindles and ceases to flow throughout the Eastern lands of Azuma, stagnating nature and its inhabitants. As either Kaguya (Female) or Subaru (Male), you awaken from a dream of dragons fighting in the sky. To absolutely nobody's surprise, you have amnesia—a fairly common gaming trope at this point. As a glorified shrine maiden, you're tasked with keeping a shrine to an unknown god clean and to offer prayer, until one day when you're approached by a flying wooly with horns and are inevitably tasked with finding a way to restore the village and remove the corruption set upon it by the Collapse. The story is of the classic "Save the Four Elements" variety, but the characters and environments help keep everything fresh in this ~33 hour Rune Factory spin-off. There are no twists or turns to be found here with pretty much every major story event being either heavily foreshadowed or completely spelled out for the player. A certain un-marry-able mom from Rune Factory 5's child, now grown, makes an appearance and is sure to be a fan favorite pick for marriage candidate, along with 13 others in the base game and two from the "Seasons of Love" DLC pack. There is roughly double that number of other important NPCs to interact with daily and complete tasks for spread out across the four different villages in the game. Technically Speaking...Let's address the elephant right away—the Switch as a console is weak tea. Even when overclocked, Rune Factory 5 chugged in the Unity engine and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Luckily, the team behind Guardians of Azuma used the Unreal Engine which has a much better performance track record on the console. Even on stock clockspeeds Guardians plays perfectly fine, though this isn't without sacrifices when looking at the draw distance and larger texture quality. It appears the developers opted to crunch down textures to a bare minimum and employ both billboarding and distance rendering techniques, which cause a lot of pop-ins for the environment, while keeping the character models loaded in full detail. I feel this tradeoff was probably the best of the limited options they had to try and get the game running smoothly on the previous gen hardware right before the launch of the Switch 2. Luckily, the Eastern (Japanese) style of the environments and villages along with the higher detailed enemies and people really help the eye gloss over the muddy textures while playing, and it stopped bothering me after I stopped looking for it. Using large particle effect attacks do cause some slowdown and frame loss, but it never got to the point where it bothered me the way Rune Factory 5 did. Kairosoft? In MY farming sim!?The main character is gifted with a magical multi-tool (Farming Life in Another World, anyone?) that completely removes the need to swap tools, refill your water pale, or even upgrade it and it doesn't use even a single RP to swing. It sits in a weapon wheel with your other mystical treasures, but doesn't need to be selected as all the gardening plots, rocks, and trees are context sensitive and your character will automatically use the appropriate transformation when available. Anyone familiar with Kairosoft games will instantly pick-up on the village building mechanics of Guardians of Azuma. Each village has abandoned sections of plots ripe for development by yours truly. When entering edit mode, you can change the camera to a God's Eye view to place, remove, rotate, and do just about anything else you want to while organizing shops, decorations, and monster pens. Different buildings and decorations can have "collection" types that, when placed together in the same region, boost the effects of the pieces. The villagers themselves don't seem to care what their town looks like, so you're free to cram everything in a corner if you aren't that great at public design (me) and just want to collect the stat bonuses that they give. Crops can also be interacted with in this way, completely removing the need to walk to each plot individually to plant seeds or water... not that you'll be doing much farming in this game. Each town has its own set of residents that need to be assigned to different jobs based on their inherent skills and perks: Farmer, Miner, Arborist, Shopkeep, and Animal Handler. While at first glance, the town management may seem overwhelming, the game doesn't ask a lot of the player and everyone in town will be perfectly happy with a rating of 100 without any interaction on your part once the few basic buildings are placed. Any rabble-rousers with the Lazy and Heavy Eater traits, for example, can simply be kicked out of the village without so much as a 30-day notice and someone will come to take their place the very next day. In a new twist on the series, every farmed crop drops a seed of the same type which means, essentially, infinite crops with no up-front costs. Your farmers will automatically harvest and replant the appropriate plants for the season at the highest level available and place them in the shipping box, where you can retrieve them for personal use or let them be sold off for income. Long gone is soil or runey management, in favor of a mystical relic (unlocked eventually) that can burn away the crops and leave you with a pocket full of (potentially) higher level seeds. Relationships are a cinch with many ways to increase your rating level each day. Along with the standard "speak" option, there is a "Hang Out" option that takes a set number of minutes out of the very generous daily timer. You can choose to give a plain ol' gift or take the lucky guy/gal on one of the many activities in an attempt to find their favorite activity for a large boost to their meter. By the time you reach the end of the game, even if you're rushing, you should have at least a couple of friends close to max as they also gain points from helping you in combat, which leads to unlocking more combat prowess and powers as their relationship level increases. The strongest part of Guardians is all of the charming characters and how they travel between each of the towns as you unlock them, making the entire world feel connected as they stop by to shop, grab a snack, or hit up the onsen for a quick bath. Never before have I felt a farming/life sim that had such an interconnected relationship between the different areas and cast. Luckily, the map provides a list of all the important NPCs in that village, so you don't have to wander around trying to find a particular person and waste time on loading screens. Combat and SpoilsThe itemization and skill tree is probably the weakest aspect of Guardians of Azuma. While the mainstay sub-jobs of Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Cooking, etc. exist, they are extremely watered down and, in my opinion, completely useless. The amount of weapons, armor, and accessories is extremely truncated and all come to you in order with a well-metered power creep. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it's great for newcomers to the series in not overwhelming with the massive amount of random stat/enchantment/elemental options seen in other Rune Factory games. While there are no more skill orbs, and all magic uses the same animation and attack style, it doesn't really matter a whole lot because the best weapon in the game is given to you early on and it scales with you. Swords, bows, and magic are free to use and no longer cost RP. Your RP bar is entirely reserved for your Relics you acquire as the story progresses. The entire combat system was simplified and, because of this, you're never going to come across a wild randomly generated weapon in a chest. In fact, all of the treasure littered throughout the world kind of sucks. I was never once excited to open a chest as they all only contained mundane items. Long gone are recipe breads, replaced by frog statues and shrines that dole out recipes in prescribed order as you visit new areas and run around on the incredibly dense maps, filled to the brim with landmarks to visit and things to collect. Different actions acquire unique experience points for that action, as per Rune Factory modus operandi, but now those points can be spent on their respective skill trees. While most of the major nodes can add some crit, elemental damage, or other effects to other weapons outside that tree, all of the minor stat nodes are absolutely useless, no matter how you look at it. Adding one to three points to your strength means nothing when you can run back to down and build a statue of an Oni that grants you several hundred points of strength with no special resources required. The combat is also so laughably easy that you'll never find yourself crafting new armor or weapons out of necessity. Seriously, the Fan is so broken (at least in version 1.0) you'll just decimate enemies with one or two waves. Equipped with an item that slowly regenerates RP, not even the post-game dungeons stand any chance of killing you. My recommendation? If you've played any Rune Factory before, crank the difficulty up to the max. Boss fights include a stagger meter which, when filled, knock down the boss and allow you to deal bonus damage. When using the correct elemental weakness, it's possible to remove 90% of a given boss' health with a well-timed ultimate move and the correct relic equipped. The perfect dodge mechanic also feels really good and gives you plenty of frames to execute, negating the entire attack's damage (including all other projectiles that were a part of it) and slowing down time just long enough to deliver two charged attacks with your favorite weapon or magic. I really hope we get to see these just as fleshed out in Rune Factory 6. So where does this leave the game in terms of balance? I think Guardians of Azuma fits nicely into a package that lets new players explore the different crafting systems typically found in Rune Factory without requiring a PhD and 12 tabs open to a wiki page. The combat is easy enough for casual game players to not get frustrated and the town building is simple, but also fun and rewarding. The social interactions are cute and engaging with lots of events and sub-stories to immerse yourself in. If you want an entry to the franchise that's easy to digest, this is it. Grab it to prepare yourself for the next mainline entry. The long-time Rune Factory player may get frustrated and completely abandon the crafting, as you won't really need any of the items to complete the main and post-game story because of how easy it is. In fact, I was able to complete the game in just the first season/month and had plenty of time to explore every map completely and do most of the side tasks and finished with an overwhelming amount of resources while never once came close to dying. These folks may want to hold off, or catch this title when it goes on sale (including the DLC containing the best marriage candidate, Pilika).

Marvelous' star farming series is one I hold somewhat dear. Starting all the way back in 2003 with Friends of Mineral Town, I've experienced the highs and lows, with some of my best memories coming from the DS era in particular. Originally releasing in 2008, Grand Bazaar was one such positive memory; having not returned to the game in more than 10 years, I was excited to see this familiar landscape in an entirely new light. Starting OutKicking off with a brief cutscene, Grand Bazaar is happy to slowly introduce you to the larger world of farming that is to come. Once you’ve created your character and named your farm, you get an introduction to the town and its current situation from its mayor, Felix. It’s not terribly far off most other farming games you’ve seen before, and naturally with it being a remake, it’ll be familiar to some out of the gate regardless. Zephyr Town used to be known for its bazaar, but when the previous farmer left interest started to wane. Only getting a handful of visitors now, the mayor hopes that your arrival and taking over of the nearby farm will help breathe new life both into the town and the game’s titular bazaar. It’s a simple setup that’s kept relatively short; regardless it does a good job of pulling you in and gives you enough to work with. The first week of the game is probably the slowest, with a character from the town visiting you each day to introduce a new tool and bit by bit expand what you can do. It threw me off a little that I couldn’t even gather flowers at the start, this requiring a sickle. With each new tool a matching tutorial is offered, going over the basics of farming, foraging, fishing, and more. Something that stood out to me with these tutorials is that notable aspects do still get a quick mention even if you opt to skip them. This might sound like a bad thing, but I can certainly imagine most people who have played a Story of Seasons game in the past would opt to skip over things like farming basics. I really appreciated that the game recognises this and shines a quick spotlight on an aspect that’s entirely unique to this game, this being the idea of jumping before using tools to enhance their effects. I’ll take a moment here to say that I really do like this concept as a whole, removing a good bit of tedium that used to come with standing in the same spot for a few seconds to charge up a tool. It speeds up the farming part of the game without necessarily relegating its importance, compared to something like the mouse-controlled farming we saw in the latest Rune Factory title. This introductory week culminates in your first real shift at the bazaar, with the bazaar opening to the public every Saturday. Selling at the bazaar is split into two shifts, one starting in the morning, and one starting in the afternoon. Before your shift starts you can load up your stall with whatever stock you have to hand. Each season there will be hot products that will attract more attention, but as a whole you tend to find people are interested in just about anything you put on your storefront. With your stock loaded up, your shift can begin. I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy the bazaar part of the game at first, which is something I admit sounds odd for a game with the bazaar as its titular selling point. It’s easy to see it as arbitrary extra steps for selling your farm’s produce, and in some ways it’s exactly that. The basic premise sees you stood behind a table as people walk past your stall. If you ring your bell you’ll get their attention, and they’ll either spot something on your stall to buy, stop and think “I hope they have X item”, with said item being in your stock but not currently on display, or just walk away. The minigame sees you constantly running between ringing your bell to get attention, tending to the people stood in front of items they want to buy, and putting out the stock for people who are stood waiting. It’s surprisingly engaging, with further complexity being introduced later to keep you interested and active. Daily LifeWith most of the tutorials out of the way early on, the game largely leaves you to settle into your daily farm life. There’s a decent amount to fit into each day, with stamina management being one of the key considerations early on; you burn through it much faster than I'm used to. I didn't necessarily hate it though, which did surprise me. The first few days it's common to be low on stamina, with tilling the fields and sewing your seeds being an added burden on top of the daily watering of the crops. Subsequent days you'll have more stamina to work with, only needing to repeat that final step of watering. That much does remain true here, but I did find myself struggling regardless. You can do very little for free in this game. Watering your crops will burn through maybe a quarter of your stamina bar, but from there you've got multiple daily-respawning resources to collect. As you might expect from previous titles this includes using a tool to break ores for minerals and chopping wood for lumber, but on top of this you've also got cutting weeds and flowers. Foraging really stands out here, with it usually being an action that doesn't require stamina. It's not like you need to do everything in a day, but as somebody who likes to, it becomes a lot to juggle. If Grand Bazaar does one thing better than any Story of Seasons game before it, it's in pushing you to engage with everything it has to offer. This idea of pushing a fuller experience onto you is felt throughout, and goes beyond a somewhat limiting stamina bar. Stamina can be restored as you play; a few times a day you can use the bath to recover a significant chunk, but beyond that you can also cook meals and eat them to do the same. These meals can also confer bonuses like a movement speed increase, or even a modifier to how much stamina is used as you're going about your various activities. I've never felt the need to engage with cooking in previous titles, but in wanting to forage to my fullest, I was pushed towards it. And it was a mechanic I ended up enjoying. Cooking itself is naturally supported by both farming and fishing, keeping you in a cycle that really does a good job of filling out your days. I'd go so far as to say that if you want a faming game just for the farming, that this one might not be for you. You definitely can skip over certain parts that aren't to your fancy to some degree, but where it gets challenging is in fulfilling the requests of the townsfolk. Some of these are optional, sure, but it's incredibly likely you'll hit a wall when trying to woo your character of choice, with the relationship level locked at certain points behind one such request. So much of the game is connected, and as a larger package it feels really well thought through, if a little constraining early on as you're just getting going. Unlike the majority of classic titles in the series, crafting plays a large part in this game. Beyond cooking, which is ultimately just another form of combining items for something new, we also see windmills come into play. Unlocked fairly early on, the windmills are like blending Minecraft's crafting table and furnace into one. The essence here is that you put set items in and, after a certain amount of in-game time, will get an item out the other end. Through this you can refine your materials, upgrade your tools, and even make decorations for your bazaar stand. Of all the systems in the game this was the one you really have no choice but to engage with, and it's designed well enough to just slot into the background of your days. You might set a few things going in the morning and come back before you sleep to them being complete. The speed of crafting is also affected by the weather, which is a nice touch; it makes sense that stronger winds would make the sails go faster. As you upgrade your tools you gain access to new materials, and in turn new things to make. Where the game really surprised me was just how easily I was able to keep on top of the various events happening around town while still keeping up a daily routine. What I'm used to doing is looking up guides to figure out the often specific combination of being in a certain place at a certain time with certain weather after doing a laundry list of activities beforehand. You don't quite get everything spelled out here, but what you do get is a map that'll tell you when there's something happening, and where to go if you want to be a part of it. It's more than enough for me, and encourages variation in my routine from day to day to go see what's going down. A Slower Life in Zephyr TownAs a whole Grand Bazaar feels like a much slower game than I'm used to. It's not necessarily a positive or negative thing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if you're considering picking the game up. Both starting out and going into the larger day to day cycle it's difficult to avoid moments of waiting, be it for an item to finish crafting in the windmills, which takes a set amount of in-game time, for materials to respawn day by day, for the weekly bazaar to come to sell your goods. You're rarely idle in these windows of waiting, but it can often feel like it gets in the way of progression. Grand Bazaar was a great game when it first released, and I feel like this is the definitive way to experience it. Refreshed and renewed while maintaining much of the original charm, this release serves as a fantastic entry to the series, and one I can very much recommend jumping into. Whether you're coming back to Zephyr Town after all these years or visiting for the first time, there's a lot to do and a lot to enjoy. It's not one to skip for the enjoyers of farming, foraging, and everything else that's on offer.

Nacon’s RIG R5 Spear PRO HS recently launched in Europe and will soon be available in the US. This officially licensed PlayStation headset presents itself as an affordable audio companion with customisable hardware that does not compromise on sound quality. We’ll take a closer look at it in this review. Contents and specsThe Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is priced at US$69.99 / EU€79.99 / £69.99 and comes with the following items: Specs of the headset are as follows: Official PlayStation licensed wired headset 40 mm graphene drivers for ultra-precise, high-quality sound (<0.5% THD) Optimized for Tempest 3D AudioTech on PlayStation Flip-to-mute microphone for crystal-clear voice chat (50 Hz – 15 kHz) On-ear volume controls for quick adjustments Snap+Lock magnetic customization: swap plates & cushions instantly Memory foam comfort on headband and ear cushions Lightweight, fold-flat earcups for portability Universal 3.5 mm jack — PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC & mobile ready RIG R5 Spear PRO HS hardware impressionsNacon has a solid track record when it comes to the build of its headsets, and the company doesn’t disappoint with the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS. Despite packing a plastic frame, it doesn’t feel cheap. In fact, it is very sturdy and features Nacon’s iconic highly bendable (unbreakable?) headband. It’s also remarkably comfortable to use. This is thanks to it being lightweight and the memory foam-padded ear cushions and headband. A nice touch is the flat-folding earcups, which make resting the headset around the neck more comfortable, especially if you are taking it on the go. With the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS, Nacon introduces its magnetic Snap+Lock system. This is a magnetic mechanism that lets you instantly swap out modular plates and ear cushions. The company has currently released modular plates and plans for future ear cushions. The modular plates are mostly nice-to-haves as a customisation option (they also made the STL files available), but aren’t that functional. The swappable, magnetic ear cushions, on the other hand, make them more easily replaceable and washable. For its cost, the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is well built. However, it lacks a few premium touches you’d find on higher-tier (and pricier) headsets. For instance, the cable and mic are not detachable, and there is no wireless option. These nagging limitations, especially with the microphone and cable being fixed, impact its versatility and longevity. Being a wired headset, it would be handy to have more physical controls on the device itself. The RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is limited in this regard as it only has an inline volume slider. But I am not a fan of this option as the controls are not as granular as a dial or volume rocker. The latter would be more intuitive options, and I wouldn’t have to rely on my system’s volume controls as much. The RIG R5 Spear PRO HS audio performanceWhile the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS is affordably priced for an entry-level gaming headset, the audio quality is more than entry-level. The 40 mm graphene drivers deliver extremely clear sound with minimal distortion. The audio fidelity stands out whether it’s for playing single-player games or multiplayer ones. Being custom-tuned for first-person shooters and benefiting from PlayStation Tempest 3D AudioTech optimisation, I found it to be a great companion for games like The Outer Worlds 2. Footsteps, reloads and subtle ambient cues are well defined. I could gauge direction and distance of movement better than I expected in this price range. The 6mm flip-to-mute boom mic, with its 50Hz–15kHz frequency range, captures voice clearly. This is enhanced by the “bendy” mic arm that you can position closer to your mouth so that it picks up your voice better over ambient noise. As a wired headset, it is also compatible with other systems. It fleshes out atmospheric soundtracks in games like Keeper. And you can also put the quality audio output to good use with your Spotify playlist. At its price point, some concessions have been made on the audio side. The main one is that there is no companion software for the RIG R5 Spear PRO HS. This means that you don’t have granular EQ control and are stuck with it being custom-tuned for first-person shooters. It can be a benefit if you prefer a plug-and-play experience, but audiophiles looking for more audio-level customisation, this headset will leave them wanting. Closing thoughtsIn its price range, the Nacon RIG R5 Spear PRO HS delivers some of the best audio value out there. If you prioritise sound clarity, comfort for extended gaming sessions, and a plug-and-play experience, this headset is a strong contender for your next audio accessory. But don’t expect features and versatility of higher-end headsets, as some concessions have been made to keep the price affordable.

After all of the Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension DLC news earlier this month, The Pokémon Company announced that another trailer drop would be heading our way on 19th November (that’s tomorrow, if you were wondering). Well, with the day almost upon us, we’ve got some more specific details about when we can expect things to get underway. As brought to our attention by Serebii.net, tomorrow’s new trailer will debut on the official Pokémon Company YouTube channel at 2pm GMT / 9am ET / 6am PT / 3pm CET. Much like the last news drop, this announcement will only be a trailer, but we’re sure that there will be plenty of reveals in store. You’ll find the precise time that the trailer will drop in your region below: North America: 6am PST / 7am MST / 8am CST / 9am EST UK/Ire: 2pm GMT Europe: 3pm CET / 4pm EET Asia/Oceania: 11pm JST / 10pm AWST / 1am (Thu) AEDT Your Local Time: 7am, Wed 19th Nov 2025 Mountain Standard Time The Mega Dimension DLC will arrive on Switch and Switch 2 on 10th December, adding a new dimension-hopping story expansion, fresh Mega evolutions, a boosted level cap, and more. The last trailer left us feeling slightly underwhelmed by the whole thing, so let’s hope that things are looking brighter tomorrow. https://x.com/Pokemon_cojp/status/1990791394881941560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1990791394881941560%7Ctwgr%5E60ff1c31732fc85045ffd388ea7957c740b77e91%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintendolife.com%2Fnews%2F2025%2F11%2Ficymi-more-pokemon-legends-z-a-dlc-news-is-coming-our-way-tomorrow

EA Sports and Codemasters have been churning out yearly Formula One games for a while now, and it looks like it's time for a shake up. The publisher has announced its plans for the next couple of years of the franchise, and in a nutshell, it's skipping a new, standalone game in 2026, instead opting to overhaul the series for a big return in 2027. The 2026 season won't go completely unrepresented, however, as a paid expansion for F1 25 will be released in lieu of a full new game. "Today, EA SPORTS confirms future plans for F1 25, with the game set to represent both the 2025 and 2026 FIA Formula One World Championships," reads the update on the official website. "This news drops alongside an announcement for the future of EA SPORTS F1 as 2027 will see the series return and mark the start of a new and more expansive F1 experience." The expansion will bring the 2026 season's "new cars, sporting regulations, teams, and drivers" to F1 25. It's not known at this point how much the expansion pack will cost. "The decision to offer a premium content update for F1 25 is part of a strategic reset for the F1 Franchise," reads the update. "In 2027, a new game will be released that looks, feels, and plays differently, delivering more gameplay choices." The 2027 game "reimagines the F1 experience [...] to deliver even more for players at every level around the world," says Lee Mather, senior creative director at Codemasters. Though there have been changes over the years, the F1 games under Codemasters have been broadly the same for a long time, perhaps leading to this decision to spend an extra year revamping the experience. It's an interesting update, and while some fans might be disappointed by the lack of new game next year, hopefully the 2027 title will make up for it. What do you think of this? Tell us in the comments section below.

EA has confirmed a free trial for Battlefield 6 will go live for one week on 25th November 2025, allowing anyone access to five multiplayer modes and three maps until 2nd December. While the Battle Royale mode Redsec is free-to-play, the main game is a full-priced title. Through the free trial, you could get a taste for the action before committing to a purchase if you like what you play. In addition to the free trial, today marks the second content update for Season 1. There's another new map called Eastwood, a time-limited mode in Sabotage, and an assortment of new weapons, vehicles, and features to try. Then, over in Redsec, you have a fresh Gauntlet mission named Rodeo to test. If you grab the free trial during the week of access, you'll be able to experience a portion of a game we called "the best Battlefield in over a decade". We awarded Battlefield 6 an 8/10 and said: "Battlefield 6 is a phenomenal multiplayer experience that immerses and impresses with its chaotic mix of tight gunplay, best-in-class audio design, and the cinematic flair that made us love the series in the first place."

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.