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There was understandably a degree of scepticism coming into this game from two fronts. The Indiana Jones IP across all mediums hasn’t had a release that has lit the world on fire since 1989, with there only being a handful of video games like the Fate of Atlantis and the LEGO adaptation that have broken the franchise’s streak of mediocrity. And on a second front, Machine Games have not released a good title since 2017, the misfire of Youngblood being so massive that a huge fan of the preceding games like myself has refused to touch it to this day. Yet, if there was any developer on the planet who had the best possible CV to be put to task on an Indy game, it had to be the guys that have made their name out of killing Nazis for a living. And against all odds, they nailed it. Simply put, The Great Circle is a perfect adaptation of this beloved adventure IP to a big-budget video game.

Set in the year between Raiders and the Last Crusade, the Great Circle sees the ever-charming, passionate and resourceful Dr Jones thrust into a globetrotting adventure to stop the power contained within the eponymous theory from falling into the wrong hands. Like the films, it’s a plot that’s simple to understand, yet grounded in enough existing history to make the Great Circle’s power both interesting and believable, even with potential supernatural forces in play.

But what drives this plot the most are the exceptional performances and writing from the entire cast. The legendary Troy Baker had big shoes to fill when taking on the face of Harrison Ford, but he absolutely killed it, nailing Indy’s mannerisms via impeccable speech intonation, his well-timed wit and drive for adventure, and body movements within the game’s many lengthy cutscenes. Gini Lombardi, an Italian reporter on the hunt for her missing sister, is his companion this time around, and she makes a strong impression by trying to challenge Indy to keep up with her, as if the world’s greatest archaeologist needed any reminder. The Nazi villains are truly excellent as well, displaying an impeccable balance of eccentricity, threat, and respect for Indy’s skill, even when he has them on the back foot.

Various supporting characters also assist Indy at each stop on his journey, but these largely serve to keep the plot moving and play off the main cast. The game’s focus on a condensed number of characters is one of its greatest assets, avoiding potentially filler subplots to allow the tonally perfect writing, conflict and humour to remain in the spotlight. This even applies to side activities, as the majority of them serve to flesh out the background and key players of the overarching narrative. So despite a considerable percentage of this game being dedicated to cutscenes, I was engaged in every single one of them, and never felt any rush to get back to the gameplay, in spite of its excellence in that department as well.

The Great Circle is a mix between more linear, set-piece-driven environments, and larger, fully explorable open spaces with plentiful side quests to complete, puzzles to solve, tombs to raid, artifacts to obtain, and Nazis to whip, punch and shoot. So while the main quest will cleanly drive you through these smaller environments with relative speed, it is likely to become the secondary attraction when you enter the larger areas of the Vatican, Giza and Sukhothai.

The design of these spaces is surprisingly most reminiscent of the latest Hitman games, in that they are relatively small in size yet remain incredibly dense, with the indoor areas having lots to discover, and the outdoor spaces providing multiple valid pathways to complete objectives. One of my favourite features concerns various unmarked mini-quests, where you overhear someone looking for help, and giving them what they want will result in a small reward, thus adding much additional life to each area. The maps are worth a shoutout too, in that you navigate them in the same way as looking down at a real-life map, and the objective marker is only visible in this mode, thus really encouraging you to traverse these spaces without a guide. Each area is so crammed with content that a single one offers someone more to do than what the entire runtime of your average modern shooter campaign tends to deliver. They are impeccably designed levels and are truly some of the best in the industry.

Combat is very much secondary to the adventuring, but it too is excellent when you get into a scrap. Fist fights are simple but satisfying, offering left and right hooks, blocking, dodging and parrying, with great audio and visual feedback across the board. In many encounters, it would be advantageous to be improvisational with various environmental objects that can further serve to beat down your foes, where everything from a broomstick to a bottle acts as a viable weapon. The whip has its offensive functions too, either forcing an enemy into a grapple, stealing their weapon, or knocking them off their feet for a satisfying kick down. Gun combat is solid albeit used sparingly; ammo is very limited, and Indy is most certainly not BJ Blazkowicz, and will struggle to survive in an outmatched gunfight. The singular complaint I have about this game is that combat is generally quite easy even on hard difficulty, though I don’t think a Mein Leben challenge level would have been the most appropriate for this type of experience.

The Great Circle is a pretty demanding game, being one of the first out there to require a GPU that has hardware ray-tracing built in for you to be able to launch it. But thankfully, the technical sorcery of the id Tech engine has ensured performance remains solid in spite of this requirement. Running at largely medium to high settings at 1080p, I was consistently achieving around 80-90fps minimum in every part of the game outside of the third open area, whose jungle and river setting’s greater complexity of lighting understandably brought my hardware below 60fps during traversal.

Unsurprisingly, the game looks absolutely stunning in every department. The intro sequence is the perfect reference point to see just how impressively it captures the various real-world details that would be necessary for an authentic and immersive Indy experience. And these details are maintained in the larger segments of the package as well, with the population hubs of each open area and the character models being further highlights in the game’s excellent presentation.

And in terms of overall content, it really depends on your spirit of adventure. If you only want to do the exploration necessary for the main campaign, then you could probably wrap it up in about 15 hours. But if you want to fully embody Indiana and explore every nook and cranny of these environments, you’re looking at around double the playtime. I would say the latter approach gives you the ideal length for this experience, as all of it is excellent, with pretty much zero filer present in the entire package.

The Great Circle is a case study of what happens when you match the right developer with the right IP; you get arguably the best piece of media to release in this franchise since The Last Crusade. The performances are impeccable from all of the cast, most notably the villains and Troy Baker, the gameplay loop captures every aspect of the character, and the high quality of both of these elements means you’re getting an incredible Indiana Jones film to watch alongside a truly remarkable game to play. Machine Games knocked it out of the park, proving that they are the best to call when you need someone to make a fantastic Nazi-beating simulator.

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This review contains spoilers regarding the roles certain characters play and specific gameplay additions, but does not spoil any major end-game surprises.

The God of War reboot was easily my most anticipated port from Sony’s recent push towards PC releases, and it did not disappoint when I finally got my hands on it. It’s a great point of entry into the franchise that has the utmost respect for what came before, whilst also forging an incredible path forward with a confident shift in gameplay perspective and more nuanced storytelling. In part due to booming development costs, Santa Monica had a commendable aim to satisfyingly wrap up this Norse saga within two games, and BOY, they sure did so with style. Ragnarök is a near-perfect follow-up, showing that Sony’s brand of third-person action adventure can equally balance a compelling narrative and satisfying gameplay to deliver an unmissable video game experience.

The sequel starts at the end of Fimbulwinter, a long, harsh winter set in motion after the events of the previous game. This period is prophesied to precede the start of Ragnarök, an event that would destroy the Nine Realms and all life, including the Gods, within them. The ever-stoic Kratos and his matured son Atreus are hence thrust across a sprawling journey to all of the realms to figure out if they can defy fate and stop this catastrophe, crossing paths with many new and familiar faces along the way. The narrative is grand in scale, with numerous bombastic set pieces, distinct locations, and shocking surprises making up its beefy runtime.

But what pleased me the most was how much time was dedicated to the nuanced development of much of its ensemble cast. Kratos remains the highlight, stealing many of the emotional and drama-centric scenes he’s in, but Atreus is brilliant as well, far more so than before now that he’s largely moved past his predictable phase of godly arrogance. The supporting cast is given plenty of time to shine as well: Freya has a compelling arc after the death of her son, much is revealed about Brok and Sindri that adds layers of depth to their relationship, and this universe’s versions of Thor and Odin are completely unique yet still faithful to mythology. Aside from a couple of the newer cast members that don’t add much to the experience, this is some of the best character work I’ve ever seen in a AAA title.

These characters would not be as strong without the various themes which add surprising relatability to their journeys. The 2018 game was quite focused on commenting about fatherhood and coming to terms with one’s past whilst building a better future, and Ragnarök expands on these ideas and also presents plenty of new ones. The father-son relationship here depicts the difficulties a parent may have as their child longs for independence, and stresses the importance of trusting them at the right moments despite their differing backgrounds. Grief and the ability to forgive are at the forefront of many of these character journeys, each of them having completely different but valid responses to some difficult emotions. It even touches on the idea of the unknown, how little we truly know about the world, and whether it’d actually be beneficial to find the answers to those questions one day. The game has much to ponder over if you’re willing to lend an ear.

Ragnarök’s combat is more iterative than innovative, but that’s not a bad thing, as it allowed Santa Monica to address its criticisms whilst also making worthwhile expansions. All of the attacking options and combos of the Axe and Blades return, but now it is possible to charge both weapons up for some extra hard-hitting attacks, typically doing additional elemental damage that can snowball quite quickly if you consistently switch between them. There are also multiple shield types which can allow Kratos to either tank projectiles to charge a smash attack, or adopt aggressive parrying, which I found super satisfying after learning the ideal timings.

Later in the game, Kratos obtains a spear which is a very welcome addition to his arsenal, with its thrusting and sweeping attacks and explosive projectile stacks having distinct uses. However, I often found that it was not as consistently reliable as the blades and axe in dispatching foes quickly and in larger numbers. This is especially the case with the game’s greatly expanded enemy and boss variety, which demands much more of the player than the 2018 game. Few encounters really test your capabilities using a specific weapon, so the spear mostly acted as a cooldown dumper while I continued to clean house with his other classic weapons. Atreus is also fully playable at numerous segments throughout the story, and while he certainly lacks the combat flexibility of Kratos, his 50/50 mix of ranged and melee attacks felt like a great change of pace, and there were many suitably designed combat encounters to test the limits of his unique gear set.

The other improved element of gameplay comes in the form of more diverse and rewarding side exploration. There are multiple open-ended segments in the style of Midgard from the first game, each having many interesting side stories to tell, visually rewarding vistas to uncover, special rewards to obtain, and unique bosses to overcome. I diverted from the main path at every opportunity to see what was out there, and almost all of it is killer. Plus, the dialogue from Midir, Atreus and Freya you’ll get while roaming about these spaces is always interesting to listen to.

After wrapping up the main story, I’d recommend jumping straight into the Valhalla mode, a roguelite epilogue to the Norse Saga that is one of those rare cases of the gameplay genre having complete congruence with the narrative and themes on display here. Kratos seeks to master himself as he is now and everything he has been, and in doing so, encourages the player to use every corner of his arsenal to speed up progression towards his peak form. By the end, you’ll likely end up more powerful than he ever was in the main campaign, and there are many worthwhile rewards to earn and take into New Game+ if you so choose.

In terms of performance, this is without a doubt one of the best PC ports I’ve ever seen. Through the use of FSR 3.1 and frame generation, I was consistently hitting over 100fps on Ultra settings at 1080p, with only the occasional drop below this level. It’s even more impressive considering how stunning the game looks across every visually distinct realm; from the lush semi-abandoned jungles of Vanaheim to the transformed frozen wasteland of Midgard, each of these realms makes a case to have individual games based on their jaw-dropping visual identities. It is therefore a genuine shame that a PSN requirement has been unceremoniously forced onto this entirely single-player release, preventing numerous countries from experiencing its greatness, for absolutely no good reason.

With a nuanced cast of memorable characters, a refined and expanded combat sandbox, and a consistently rewarding exploration loop, Ragnarök is an excellent improvement on its exceptional predecessor in almost every way. Santa Monica are arguably Sony’s best developer right now, and I cannot wait to see what they do next, whether a new era for Kratos or a fresh IP. But more than anything, I hope those rumours about a Greek Saga remaster are true; an easily accessible look into the franchise’s past will pave the way towards its exciting future.

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I’m sure each of us has at least one franchise out there where you’re consistently reminded of its existence, but continuously avoid it through the years for one reason or another. I can’t tell you exactly what kept me from getting into Warhammer, but my awareness of its quantity-over-quality approach to video games was probably the main demotivator. But even I stood up when they announced a sequel to Space Marine, widely regarded as one of the best games in the franchise. After getting the opportunity to review this sequel, I went to play the original for the first time, and loved its aggressive ranged and melee combat alongside a basic but interesting story which ended on a surprisingly dark note for lead character Titus. Despite being made by a different developer, Space Marine 2 feels like the natural evolution of that experience, boasting deeper combat, top-tier presentation, and a solid selection of modes, though its lean amount of content currently makes it a ‘greater than the sum of its parts’ type of situation.

Let’s start with the game’s unifying elements, namely the combat and visuals. Space Marine 2’s combat is unique in the sense that melee is as valuable and persistent as a tool for dispatching threats as your guns, where left-clicking fires the latter, and right-clicking switches you to the former instantaneously. This will be necessary when you start dealing with large enemy swarms, as your melee weapon can be a reliable tool for parrying anything that dares to get too close, and your gun is the fastest way of earning back contested health and hence keep you in the fight for longer. Dealing enough damage will open enemies up for executions to restore both health and armour, and timing this correctly is the difference between a marine that’s down and out, or one that’s alive and angry. This creates a visceral combat loop where aggression is necessary for survival, and the right tool for the job is always available. Backed up by solid weapon variety and meaty gun sounds across the board, the combat is the power fantasy of a Space Marine fully realised.

Visually, this is undoubtedly one of the best-looking games on the market. Character and enemy models are highly detailed, insinuating the war history of your brothers and the deadliness of your foes, environments feel larger than life, and the technology used to deliver these massive enemy swarms is incredibly impressive. Looking out into the battlefield and seeing hundreds of enemies consistently left me in awe; games have rarely been able to capture that sense of scale, yet Space Marine 2 rose to this challenge and triumphed.

Space Marine 2 offers three distinct modes, being the Campaign, PvE, and PvP. The Campaign continues the story of Demetrian Titus, an Ultramarine accused of heresy, brought back into the fray after years of service to the Deathwatch to assist in fighting a Tyranid invasion and the forces of Chaos. While it is simple and competent enough to stand on its own, the narrative works best if you’ve experienced the original. There are plot elements and conversations that carry substantial weight if you know Titus’ history, while the plot developments outside of this, especially the ending, were largely underwhelming.

The structure and progression of the campaign has me feeling mixed overall. Each mission is surprisingly long, taking you through multiple different locations and large combat sequences, really immersing you in these high-stakes operations. This helps as the campaign is oppressively linear and not very replayable, with no substantial side paths, identical enemy spawn patterns, and zero character progression, ultimately making it feel a bit repetitive by the midway point. Indeed, the PvE mode is arguably the strongest element of the package because of its character-building possibilities, and where the combat really started to click for me. You’ll select one of six classes to tackle shorter but still diverse missions which take place adjacent to the main campaign, gaining exp and currency to improve your abilities and weapons to ultimately tackle the highest difficulties. Every class feels distinct yet equally powerful, helped by active abilities which double down on their specialities. The Bulwark gets a banner that can regenerate armour, the Tactical has a marking tool which temporarily provides a major damage boost to the target, and my personal favourite, the Assault, has a permanent jump pack that opens up considerable offensive and defensive options. However, there are only six missions, and no amount of changing up enemy placements is going to make moving through these same environments any less repetitive.

My sole criticism for the PvP is nearly identical, as there are currently only three modes and maps, an incredibly low number that gives the impression it was tacked on like the good old early 2010s days. Which is a shame, as this combat model built for large hordes is seamlessly converted into one that is equally satisfying when staring down the barrel of other Space Marines. All of the practice you gained in PvE with each class ability can be put to great use in either the deathmatch or objective modes, though this different context allows some of them to take on new uses, such as allowing the Vanguard or Sniper to flank behind the enemy with their grapple hook and cloak abilities respectively.

While Space Marine 2 is undoubtedly a next-gen title, I did not experience the consistent 60fps that was promised by the recommended requirements. This game is quite CPU demanding due to the enemy density, though despite upgrading my CPU mid-review period to one that should clear the recommended requirements, hectic combat sequences would still consistently drop below 60fps, even on medium settings. These drops were worse and more consistent before the upgrade (from a Ryzen 7 3700X to a Ryzen 9 5900X if you’re curious), though PvP and less dense arenas have few issues maintaining stability. If you possess a very high-end build, you will probably run this game fine, but anything less and you should be prepared to tolerate a consistently sub-par frame rate in some areas.

Outside of performance issues, the game is very polished. I experienced a single crash and no major bugs, though the squad AI could use some adjustments as their pathing is occasionally very illogical, sometimes failing to revive a teammate even when they’re only 10 metres away, for instance. Matchmaking was also inconsistent, particularly with PvP where there were long periods when I was unable to get into any match. PvE matchmaking has been largely solid, although the omission of Day 1 private lobbies is a very disappointing decision. This frustration was compounded after I consistently got put into groups where the host was playing my class, forcing me to back out due to the one-per-class limit. Filtering options and general online stability improvements are needed.

Space Marine 2 is a visually stunning third-person combat masterclass, which shines brightest if you delve deeply into every mode. In isolation, its linear campaign and content-deficient online modes would bring down a less complete game, but the fact that all of these elements are present under one banner means it currently offers a great package which will almost certainly become exceptional with time. I’ll definitely be revisiting it at every major update for a long while to come.

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A key was provided by the publisher for this review.

You’re looking at the hours played and the ‘not recommended’ verdict and probably thinking ‘Here’s another in those series of reviews of someone whining about a game they could’ve stopped playing 80 hours ago’, and yeah, you’d be right to an extent. But my overall goal for this review/rant is to offer a first-timer's perspective into a franchise and genre that I’ve generally not paid any attention to until recently, in spite of this being the yearly obsession of much of my friend group.

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the UK makes football their sole personality trait. I tend to tune in for the international events where England are playing, and that’s about it. And after their unfathomably lucky run to their second consecutive Euros final, I decided to give the latest FIFA a go after seeing it for an 80% off sale. And honestly, I had a lot more fun than I was expecting, though I admittedly have no other entries to compare my experience to. The gameplay is fast-paced and deep, and there are plenty of different modes to keep the experience fresh. But for a yearly franchise that should generally be aiming to improve with each iteration, EA FC 24 is a pretty embarrassing showing from most people’s favourite industry punching bag.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the core of FIFA is fun, but what surprised me the most is how well this was translated into options for the player on and off the pitch. The training mode helps you understand this pretty quickly; it’s not just passing, shooting, tackling and defending, it’s many types of short and long passes, different shots which prioritize either power, speed or finesse, varying mechanisms for getting the ball back with your player or bringing in an AI teammate to assist, and a staggering number of skill moves for those who really wish to master the game. It’s very easy to learn FIFA, but I wasn’t anywhere near close to fully understanding it by the end of my playtime.

The above does not consider the additional layer of strategy that comes with the formations and player instructions, giving each squad you build a far more noticeably distinct identity than I was expecting. Finding the ideal formation for your playstyle will already promote a lot of experimentation, and adding defensive and offensive tactics on top of this will change its feel even further. What’s great about this system is you can build multiple custom tactics and switch them on the fly during a game. Player instructions are probably the most noticeable tactic you can manipulate, as telling your forwards to either run behind the opposition if they’re particularly pacey, or stand outside of the box if they have good long-range shot capabilities, can completely change how effective their best attributes are. So, understanding your team on an individual and group level is interesting to navigate and exploit.

And I am also pleased with the number of different modes on offer, which helps add plentiful value and replayability. Ultimate Team is the reason most people buy into this, and I’m happy to report that building up a strong squad for free is quite doable in good time nowadays. Player and Manager Career mode gives you two different perspectives on a longer-term football journey, Clubs are the more skill-based PVP experience, and Volta is completely different to any of the above, with a smaller team size, faster pace and skill moves being the primary changes here. This was probably the mode where I had the most consistent fun since it encourages team play on a small scale, and I scored and assisted many great goals when I was matched with collaborative teammates.

Now we get onto the numerous parts of FC 24 that irritated me. There’s no ‘Bad’ section here as these issues affect fundamental aspects of the experience which really should not be an issue considering we are more than 20 versions deep into this franchise. So areas like bugs really should not be an issue, especially when it comes to menus, of which there were surprisingly numerous. Simply navigating these would softlock me on average once per day, forcing me to restart and wait for EA’s launcher to actually boot up the game again, as there were some cases where it just forgot to do so. I even managed to find a ‘Debug’ menu option on one occasion, and I could not tell you what I was doing that allowed me to get there in the first place. I also experienced many visual UI bugs particularly when viewing my Ultimate Team Squads, and certain UI elements would appear and disappear seemingly at random when in-game.

Focusing more on Ultimate Team, I am staggered that there were consistent server problems even during off-peak times. I’ve had zero issues with online multiplayer after upgrading my internet, and FC 24 is the only game since then where I would be randomly put on high ping or even disconnected from my opponent for no good reason. And of course, being kicked out or losing a match due to poor latency will affect both your Rivals progress and expend your team’s contracts, so it’s a gigantic waste of time that you can’t do anything about. There were also many occasions where the command I gave to a player would either not connect with the power or direction that I intended, or would simply not respond to any command at all, typically leading to possession loss during a crucial moment. This never once happened when I played offline, so I suspect EA’s netcode is in dire need of reconstruction, as a game demanding consistent accuracy from the player needs to respond perfectly on every occasion.

You know how I praised all of the tactical options the game gives you? Throw all of that out of the window for Rivals as there are a few meta combinations which are guaranteed to wipe the floor with your squad if you aren’t also using a meta setup. It was really lame to have match after match with my opponent running a single forward who the ball would be lobbed to while my defence was a decent way up the pitch, leading to them scoring before I could do anything about it. The saying goes to not hate the player but the game, and so the fact that EA has allowed such tactics to work when they would never fly in a real match is really odd.

And finally, the grind was particularly grim for both the Ultimate Team season and Volta cosmetic unlocks. Progression is largely built around being time-gated, where playing outside of periods when there aren’t specific challenges available will result in essentially meagre exp gain, meaning the game largely discourages you from playing it much of the time. And even when there are challenges available, the most reliable way to earn them is in squad battles, and they get very repetitive since the AI there is not challenging to play against. As for Volta, earning a single cosmetic takes dozens upon dozens of successful matches to get a simple reskin, and so earning those 50 vanity items for one achievement is a gigantic pain. But obviously, you can pay to skip the grind if you wish…

Nah. Or at least, definitely not at full price. I will give EA credit that this was an interesting diversion from the type of games I’m used to playing, and the 100% achievements journey I went on was pretty entertaining for the most part. But after dealing with numerous UI and server issues, inconsistent controls, unbalanced multiplayer and some incredibly grindy progression, I can’t see myself putting 100 more hours in to knock out another 100% without getting frustrated or bored along the way. The earliest I can see myself checking back is in two summers’ time at an 80% discount when the next World Cup rolls around; but only if England get anywhere, of course.

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The genre I played the most during my pre-teen years was the 3D platformer. From the legends of Spyro and Crash, to cash-grab movie tie-ins for Madagascar and Chicken Little, putting a platformer with a recognizable face in front of me was enough to keep me happy on the PS2 for many hours. There’ve been great modern platformers since then of course, but there’s just something about the simplicity of the PS2-era platformer that most developers have moved away from. The people behind Evil Raptor are not alone in this sentiment, as after the success of one of their team member’s solo MedEvil-inspired platformer ‘Pumpkin Jack’, they formed the studio that would deliver Akimbot. This debut team effort is a resounding success, nailing the platforming and combat fundamentals, whilst also delivering genre-leading production values. It may not be highly replayable, but this riveting robotic rollercoaster is undoubtedly worth experiencing for that first rapturous run-through.

What starts as a simple prison break for edgy mercenary bot Exe and his loud-mouthed, botcoin-hungry sidekick Shipset soon escalates into a crucial mission for this unlikely duo, where they are tasked to save the galaxy from a bot with some evil software, charmingly named Evilware. At the surface level, this synopsis will likely sound familiar, but I think it does enough to divert from the expected tropes of these plotlines. While the duo of Exe and Shipset starts as that typical team-up story of two reluctant, conflicting personalities, they definitely do not become best friends by the end of their journey, instead learning to tolerate each other’s tendencies. And while Evilware is a generic ‘mwahaha’ type of bad guy, he works better later in the story where he is allowed to have a back-and-forth with a secondary antagonist whose evil nature doesn’t necessarily align with his own. None of this is very deep, but it is engaging enough, with some solid humour sprinkled throughout to keep you moving between levels.

What really helps sell Akimbot’s world is the surprisingly high production value on display. The graphics, which aim to strike a midpoint between cartoon and realism, are truly stunning; whether it’s a colourful beach, a war-torn battlefield, a large-scale space battle, or an off-kilter dreamscape, Evil Raptor’s artistic vision for these spaces is fully realised and cohesive. Colour plays a major role here, with most planets having a distinct palette that portrays either a welcoming or dilapidated environment, though the browns and greens of the latter are never less interesting to witness than the blues and reds of the former. Production value is also helped by the cutscenes which are equally visually impressive, and far more abundant than I anticipated, appearing a few times on average in every level. While the writing of these may not rope you in, the quality of their presentation should do more than enough to keep you around. Simply put, the way the game presents itself is genuinely not far off from what I would expect out of a AAA release, yet is achieved by a team of under ten people; it’s seriously impressive.

However, the visuals of these levels are much more interesting than their structure, which is very linear across the board, with side areas only existing as spaces to place the game’s collectables. While this does swiftly chaperone the player along their way, it hampers Akimbot’s potential replayability, as there are few alternate pathways to explore on future playthroughs. Even a few levels with elements of non-linearity would go a long way to encourage a second look.

In terms of gameplay, this is split into three areas: platforming, combat, and setpieces. Exe is an incredibly smooth character to control, helped by a speedy rate of movement, alongside double jumping and dashing capabilities. These two simple abilities have much to offer, as you can combine them in any order to rapidly yet assertively move a solid distance horizontally or vertically depending on what the situation entails. One jump followed by a dash and a second jump will be your bread-and-butter combo to avoid projectiles during arena fights, whilst the double jump followed by the dash will be crucial to cross large gaps. All of this flows together beautifully and never feels clunky.

Combat-wise, Akimbot functions a bit like an arena shooter; standing still is suicide, and smart projectile avoidance and good aim are a must if you hope to clear a room unscathed. Your arsenal is focused around four archetypes, being an assault rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher and minigun. They have unlimited ammo, but can be overloaded if you fire too much too quickly, so weapon switching is necessary to keep on the offensive, whilst also to exploit a couple of specific enemy weaknesses. They aren’t the most inherently interesting weapons to use, but scoring kills nonetheless provides great audiovisual feedback. Dispatching enemies charges your special weapon of which there are four on offer; these function as the more exotic weapons you’d find in a Ratchet and Clank game, including an acid thrower and a plasma sniper, and can be upgraded via currency earned by destroying boxes. Designing combat around limiting the use of your unconventional weapons is an interesting idea that I quite enjoy, though one I anticipate not everyone will be a fan of. Nonetheless, I think this combat model would have greatly benefitted from more weapon and enemy variety, though it does lay a great foundation for future iterations.

As for setpieces, I categorise this as anything that has nothing to do with the standard platforming-combat loop, as there is a fair bit of variety here, ranging from land and space vehicle segments, to giving the player brief control of Shipset, alongside a few neat turret sequences and others that I’ll leave as a surprise. These rarely outstay their welcome, and at least one is present in almost every level, so there’s always something small to keep them feeling fresh. My sole criticism here relates to the awkward handling of the ground vehicles, which either felt far too tight or far too loose, greatly contrasting with the smoothness of the on-foot movement.

Akimbot took me about 10 hours to complete on the hardest difficulty, and I spent another 90 minutes clearing up a few missing collectables and miscellaneous achievements. It’s a very pleasant 100% experience due to the variety of challenges on offer, ranging from taking no damage in a particular area to achieving a certain goal during the game’s many setpieces, alongside the approach to collectables being quality over quantity.

In terms of technical content, Akimbot is undoubtedly one of the most polished games I have played in a while. The game ran nearly flawlessly on my setup, clocking in at 100-120fps on maxed-out settings in every area of the game outside of a couple of the later levels, though even these never went below 60fps. And aside from a hard crash that was promptly fixed in the pre-release period, I encountered zero issues which negatively impacted my experience.

Akimbot delivered exactly what I was hoping it would; a throwback PS2-era platformer with all the modern bells and whistles. Movement is smooth, gunplay is satisfying, setpieces are varied, and its visuals are stunning. It may not boast the dense combat sandbox or enticing exploration of its competition, but it is nevertheless a consistently great experience across its 10–12-hour runtime. I hope Evil Raptor continue to develop fantastic platformers like this, as the genre deserves many more bigger budget attempts than we’re currently seeing.

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A key was provided by the publisher for this review.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice remains one of my favourite experiences in gaming to this day. It doesn’t have the most compelling gameplay, and it’s not something you can enjoy for dozens of hours, but I love it because it offers an experience that is only possible through the medium of video games, faithfully depicting the condition of psychosis to help the player understand how people suffering from it may experience the world around them differently to the rest of us. I never felt like Hellblade needed a sequel, but I’m ultimately happy that we received one, as Senua’s Saga continues the protagonist’s unique journey with jaw-dropping visuals and a more nuanced depiction of psychosis, whilst still offering some solid combat and puzzle-solving along the way. While I don’t think it fully capitalizes on its status as a ‘next-gen’ experience, fans of the original game should find plenty to enjoy here.

After coming to terms with her demons at the end of the first game, Senua journeys to Iceland to take the fight against her people to its source, meeting various faces along the way whilst continuing to navigate psychosis in a less isolated context. While this narrative lacks the element of surprise and consistent paranoia of the original, it instead offers a more thematically dense tale, where Senua has to motivate herself to push forward and find solutions to protect those around her, whilst her perception of reality understandably remains very different to anyone else’s. The plot has many elements you’ve seen before on the surface, but it’s how these chain of events are reached and navigated, and the ever-brilliant cast backing this material up, that makes Saga’s story one worth experiencing first-hand.

My praise is narrative-centric, however, as aside from exceptions relating to combat and fast environment switching, the setpieces that depict the plot and explore its themes are surprisingly conservative, largely lacking the mechanical uniqueness that made all parts of Hellblade 1 so memorable to me even many years since playing it. There are no blindness puzzles or tense chase sequences here, and what we get instead are some oppressively linear segments which aren’t super engaging to play through, and ultimately feel like a regression in terms of design.

Visually and sonically though, Hellblade 2 is absolutely flawless. This is the game you want to test your latest GPUs on, as the graphical detail throughout every aspect of the experience, from character models and skyboxes, to props and geographical detail, is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. If you put images of these landscapes side-by-side with real pictures of the Earth, it would actually be difficult to tell the difference without looking hard enough. You will be constantly in awe of what Ninja Theory was able to pull off here; I really don’t think it gets much better than this. And in terms of audio, the binaural sound that defined the original is just as impressive here, really helping to sell the psychosis experience whilst immersing you in its environments with dense sonic soundscapes and an incredible level of spatial accuracy.

Performance and optimization are equally impressive. With my setup, using 1080p, Intel XeSS Ultra Quality Plus Upscaling and Medium settings, I averaged 60-70fps throughout the vast majority of the game. Bear in mind that this game’s definition of ‘medium’ is what some games would probably call high or even ultra settings. Loading times were practically non-existent on my external SSD, and the only bugs I experienced were the occasional graphical glitch; it is a very polished experience from start to finish. The only option I’d like to see is to remove the forced letterboxing; I know this is an artistic choice, but I personally think it adds nothing to the experience, and feels especially out of place when compared to the first game.

When you’re not walking forward to focus on Saga’s visuals, you’ll either be engaging in combat or light puzzle-solving. The former is largely the same but refined to its best possible iteration, focusing on intense one-on-one duels where every single attack feels brutal to pull off and receive. It’s mechanically simplistic, with your standard light and heavy attacks, blocking, parrying and evade options, but Ninja Theory pushed these to their limits with various unique enemy types, distinctly memorable combat scenarios, and astoundingly dense motion capture performances which have provided so many life-like animations that effortlessly flow between each other.

This game has some of the best feedback I’ve ever seen when achieving a perfect parry, where Senua catches and pushes the other blade away with her own, in some cases allowing you to backstab and one-shot the foe if you’re lucky. The combat scenarios with large numbers of enemies really need to be seen to be believed, as the elements I’ve described above combine into some truly mesmerizing sequences which I never wanted to end.

As for the puzzle-solving sections, they’ve only changed in the sense that it’s a bit more intuitive to work through them. The pattern-finding activity is the same but used sparingly, and it’s much easier to identify when you’re close to the right angle this time around. There are also some unique puzzle variations limited to the third and fourth chapters, requiring you to figure out how to reach an objective whilst manipulating the environment to your advantage. None of them are anything to write home about, but they don’t last too long and help add some nice variety to the experience.

Hellblade 2 is about as long as the original, and due to its linear nature, does not offer much replay value. It is therefore worth obtaining the collectables which come in two different variations this time: the lorestones make their return with the same narrator, offering a series of audio logs telling a shorter but still compelling tale that has thematic similarities to Senua’s current journey, and investigating stone faces in the environment will reveal paths to small trees which have their own bite-sized myths to tell. Completing the game and obtaining every lorestone will unlock new narrators, each with their own insight and storytelling habits which provide some variety when replaying chapters. While this is a unique feature, it stands alone in terms of options to diversify the experience, so I expect this will not be enough to incentivize anyone but the most hardcore fans to begin their journey anew.

While I don’t think Hellblade 2 has the emotional highs and consistently memorable setpieces that defined the original, it is nonetheless a great follow-up to one of the most unique experiences in gaming. Its graphics are industry-leading, its depiction of psychosis is consistently interesting and insightful, and its refined mechanics remain simple yet enjoyable to engage with. If you did not like the first game, you will probably dislike its sequel even more, but for those who enjoy this type of slower-paced narrative experience, Hellblade 2 has much to offer within its short runtime. And if you’re at all sceptical, check it out on Gamepass, or wait for it to be discounted to the level of the original. Personally, despite it costing a bit more in my region than I was expecting, I feel satisfied with what Ninja Theory offered as their first next-gen experience, and I hope they will continue to champion their unique thematic expertise and fascinating technology in future titles, whether through Hellblade 3 or a new IP entirely.

My Review Scores

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I downvoted the game for similar reasons to what everyone else did, so it's only fair that I do the opposite since that change is now reversed, if only to play the tiniest part in showing Sony that this is what PC gamers want to see if they want to receive continuous support from that playerbase. Just make sure the game is relisted in every country again!

This review will discuss the wider perception surrounding Cyberpunk alongside its 2.0 update, and is therefore not strictly focused on the Phantom Liberty expansion.

I seem to have a lucky track record of having good experiences with single-player games that have a dodgy launch at large. Watch_Dogs ran well on my weak 2012 AMD GPU while NVIDIA cards struggled. My GTX 760 managed to play Arkham Knight on launch even though more powerful GPUs barely made it past the intro. And Cyberpunk 2077, despite its many launch issues, still ended up as one of the best games I’d played in 2020, specifically third after DOOM Eternal and Half-Life Alyx.

I gave it a lengthy review [docs.google.com] where I praised its diverse combat and interesting side content, and gushed over its fantastic, nuanced cast of characters, its thought-provoking ending sequences, its usage of the first-person perspective to deliver an unparalleled sense of immersion, and all-timer original and licensed soundtrack. I was admittedly mixed on its AI, skill trees and RPG elements, or rather lack thereof, but these did little to detract from my experience. And shockingly, I dealt with few major bugs, the only one sticking in my memory was a single broken side quest. Frankly, when I returned to the game after some patches, it felt buggier in those brief return trips than throughout my 90-hour initial stint in Night City. So, I uninstalled and waited for a good reason to return, and that reason finally came via Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 update.

To start with the 2.0 update, there are a few reworked systems and great quality-of-life improvements that make the game feel less clunky and progression feel more rewarding. The reworked skill trees have a lot of cool ideas, and combined with the updated cyberware and armour systems, pave the way to plenty of interesting synergies and distinctly rewarding playstyles. I continued to adopt a mantis blade/quick hack/stealth hybrid build, and while this felt great to use in 2020, the addition of melee finishers, the ability to consistently reflect projectiles, stackable quick hacks, and improved stealth and movement mechanics make every combat scenario feel better than ever to complete. Other changes like grenades and health items now working on a cooldown, a rebalanced loot system resulting in a consistently rewarding economy, more intelligent AI and meatier boss fights are very noticeable and welcome improvements. They’ve even added content related to the exceptional Edgerunners anime, alongside some neat arcade games which bring further life to Night City’s bustling interiors.

However, I can’t help but feel that few of these additions and changes have had a transformative effect on my opinions surrounding this game. Everything I loved about Cyberpunk in 2020 is still here, just polished to a brilliant shine and expanded to provide more options, challenges and rewards to the player. Naturally, its exceptional world-building and characters are the same, and while combat is certainly better than it used to be, it’s not so much better to the point where I could claim to love it infinitely more than I did on launch. Because when you get past the bugs, technical issues and a few missing features, Cyberpunk 2077 becomes a best-in-class experience, just maybe not the one CDPR had originally envisioned. And I don’t think I’m alone in that, as despite the controversy following its launch, Cyberpunk remained strongly in the mostly positive review bracket on Steam, and that positivity only grew with time as the updates started rolling in.

As for Phantom Liberty, this expansion delivers more of everything I loved about the base game with a distinct spy thriller flavour. Cyberpunk once again delivers an exceptionally personal narrative for V yet one with substantial stakes relating to the world at large. What begins as a simple rescue mission and a potential lifeline for V quickly turns morally and motivationally complicated, with a new and small yet highly nuanced cast of characters driving the narrative forward via great performances and interesting dialogue across the board. There are multiple new setpieces and endings that stand toe-to-toe with the quality present in the base game, even surpassing them for memorability in some instances, with the new ‘final choice’ ending for V being a particularly gut-wrenching highlight.

The new distinct of Dogtown feels simultaneously familiar yet fresh, combining the feel of a corpo-infested high-rise distinct and dilapidated borough on the outskirts of Night City into a singular area, small in land mass yet high in density and detail. The approach to side quest design for this expansion is similar, where even the shortest and simplest of gigs had a memorable moment that was on the quality of the core questlines. Choice and consequence is a particular highlight for both these side activities and the main quest, with numerous decisions causing me to stop and carefully consider between multiple equally compelling courses of action.

The new Relic skill tree is small but useful, in particular with the options that give the stealth camo greater utility within standard combat encounters, and highlighting weak points on enemies for crucial bonus damage. There are plenty of new weapons and vehicles to obtain, with my favourites being a new silenced pistol and sniper rifle that are obtained quite close to each other in the main quest. And finally, the quality of Cyberpunk’s soundtrack is further reinforced by new battle tracks, radio songs, and a staggeringly beautiful Bond-esque theme tune and accompanying visuals which is better than most of what that franchise has delivered so far.

When all was said and done, it took me just over 32 hours to wrap up all the content I had missed since launch, and I loved pretty much all of it. Every addition or change from 2020 is an upgrade, and Phantom Liberty is an expansion of the very highest quality that puts many full-priced AAA titles to shame. Put together, Cyberpunk is one of the handful of games which have breached that 100-hour mark in my library, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I don’t want to discount the valid experiences of those who were burned by Cyberpunk’s launch, whether due to bugs or broken promises. Particularly for last-gen console users, the damage caused by that launch is understandably irreconcilable, turning CDPR from one of the most beloved developers to one of the dodgiest in the industry overnight. But I also don’t want to shy away from giving it the praise I believe it deserves based on my personal experiences with the game. Aside from a few criticisms and technical issues here and there, I have nothing but positive things to say about Cyberpunk 2077, in particular regarding its storytelling, immersion levels and combat which are some of the best I’ve ever experienced.

As I look to the future and think about what games I’m looking forward to, the sequel to Cyberpunk is very high up there, so distant yet incredibly exciting if Phantom Liberty is but a small taste of what a full-fledged follow-up could be. While it may be many years until I return to Night City or the Cyberpunk universe in general, there are numerous memories I forged within it that aren’t going to fade away anytime soon, and there are not many games I can point to which have had that level of lasting impact on me. So, if you’ve got the time, do yourself a favour and experience everything Cyberpunk has to offer; I think it’s unlikely you will regret it.

Originally released in 2013, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons was the first game helmed by the now legendary Josef Fares, who would go on to make the fantastic A Way Out and the even more prestigious It Takes Two. Before Fares and company formed the studio that made those titles, they ended up making Brothers, which is widely regarded as a significant release for the early mainstream indie scene. I played the original for the first time last year on the Steam Deck, and loved the evening I spent with it. Its visuals, gameplay and narrative held up perfectly ten years later, and its simplistic yet brief nature ensured no moment outstayed its welcome. While I never reviewed that version, I’ll link you the brilliant writeup my curator colleague SolaireBro completed for that last year.

Reviewing this remake in isolation of the original is tricky. The core experience is essentially the same game, with increased graphical fidelity and quality-of-life features headlining the differences for this version. And while that means it is equally as enjoyable to experience as it was in 2013, it equally doesn’t do much to justify its existence.

The remake has the same narrative as the original. Two brothers head on a journey to save their father from a deadly illness by collecting water from the Tree of Life, and encounter various friendly faces, hostile threats, and traumatising hardships along the way. The beauty of Brothers is that its story can be universally resonated with, as it is delivered largely wordlessly. You can feel the joy and pain of the Brothers just by their facial expressions and body movements, and these are areas that the remake’s improved animations really help to spotlight. I thought much about my own brother and family whilst experiencing this narrative, and those thoughts really hit deeply when you see how the game wraps up.

While the original release was built on Unreal Engine 3, this remake used Unreal Engine 5, and so the leap in visual fidelity between the two is quite dramatic. Many environments are far lusher and more life-like, character models, even for those with a minor role, are packed with neat details and personality, and certain areas, especially Chapters 3 and 7, have visual additions resulting in a much improved presentation compared with what was seen before. There are plenty of cool changes that fans of the original are likely to greatly appreciate.

Unfortunately, this fidelity comes at the cost of worsened performance. Despite exceeding the recommended system requirements and lowering the graphical settings to High, my frame rate was very inconsistent; some areas ran at a perfect 60fps, but it would drop to as low as 35fps in places that appeared equally as demanding, and cutscenes were strangely locked to 30fps which was not the case for the original. This isn’t a dealbreaker since Brothers is a slow-paced game, but further optimization is certainly needed.

Furthermore, I don’t consider these visuals to be a blanket improvement on the original. I feel the fairy-tale nature of the experience fits the more cartoony art style better, and there are many areas where the subdued colour choices make some backgrounds appear blander than they previously did. As it stands, this is one of the first renowned indie games to receive the remake treatment, and I can’t help but feel that going down this route in the first place misses the point of a core pillar of the indie scene. Few would argue that early successful indie games like Journey or Limbo need the remake treatment because their strong art direction makes their visuals truly timeless. I never took issue with the original’s art design, so seeing it remade in this manner feels deeply unnecessary. Ultimately, I’d recommend watching a side-by-side comparison so you can make your own judgement, as they both contain aspects that set themselves apart.

The unique ‘single-player co-operative’ gameplay of Brothers is fully retained in this remake. Through the simultaneous control of the two Brothers, you’ll solve various puzzles, complete platforming challenges, and defeat or avoid the occasional foe or two. It uses its short runtime to its full advantage, consistently delivering interesting gameplay scenarios like the hang-glider sequence and boat traversal, before tossing them away for other equally compelling ideas like getting to ride a mountain goat and climbing up a cliff with the help of a troll. The controls do require some getting used to, but shouldn’t take that long as each Brother only requires inputs from the sticks and a single trigger. Nonetheless, if you still find this tricky, one nice addition is the ability to play Brothers in co-op either locally or via Remote Play. While this wasn’t the intended way to experience Brothers and will certainly change how certain segments of the game feel, it is a welcome option to have.

The remake also advertised improved gameplay and boss fights alongside better enemy AI, but I feel that these changes were drastically oversold, as I couldn’t notice a difference in how any sequence played out. The same applies to the rerecorded soundtrack, which at first glance, did not have any perceptible differences from the original score. I also question what the developers meant by ‘new secrets to be uncovered’, as I found no interactions or easter eggs that weren’t already present in the original. The only ‘additions’ I identified were two achievements which are nothing but extensions of existing ones in the base game. Finally, there are some neat extras that you unlock after completing the story, namely an art gallery showcasing the character and environment redesigns, and the original’s developer commentary. Overall, fans looking for new gameplay reasons to re-experience Brothers will not find much on offer here.

It would be disingenuous of me to rate the Brothers remake negatively because of the existence of the original. A lot of effort and polish went into recreating this classic indie title, and I found it equally enjoyable to re-experience on my beefy main computer as it was to play the original for the first time on the humble Steam Deck.

Yet, it would be equally disingenuous of me to recommend it simply because it is shinier and newer. Personally, I am baffled that this remake exists in the first place. At least a couple of years of effort was put into rebuilding a 3–4-hour game in a new engine, completely redoing all of its assets, rerecording its soundtrack, and advertising its release. Meanwhile, the original exists on essentially every platform known to man including mobile, and still looks good and plays well to this day; why couldn’t they have pushed and advertised updates for that version in a similar vein to what Valve did to Half-Life last year?

Ultimately, I could only recommend this remake if you meet at least two of the following criteria: A – You haven’t played the original, B – You prefer how this version approaches its visuals, and/or C – You want to play the game in co-op. Outside of that, the remake is just not worth it unless via a deep sale. While there are some neat changes, nothing is substantially improved to the point where I’d say this is the definitive way to play Brothers. I have no hesitation in saying it is the most unnecessary video game remake ever made, and I don’t think much would have been lost if the original was the only version that existed.

My Review Scores

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The Ace Attorney franchise quickly became one of my personal favourites the moment I wrapped up the first few cases of that initial game. Its iconic presentation, smart scripts and nuanced characters made binging the re-issued franchise utterly effortless from start to finish. Needless to say, my expectations for this third collection were very high, and I hoped I would find plenty to love in spite of the fanbase’s more mixed reception of these titles. Thankfully, I found much of this trilogy to be a great continuation for the series; while this is the most inconsistent collection, it offers plenty of intriguing cases and characters to make these games worth experiencing. As this collection consists of the 4th to 6th mainline entries, I’m going to assume you know the gist of what to expect from an Ace Attorney game, as there’s nothing here that significantly deviates from its established formula.

Let’s start by looking at the trilogy as a whole. While the other two collections deliver a more singular overarching narrative, this trilogy largely opts for standalone narratives with three major plotlines that carry through each game: the development and backstory of the eponymous Apollo Justice, the disbarment and resurgence of Phoenix Wright, and this idea of “The dark age of the law”, which paints the picture of a murky legal world where the finding the truth is secondary to conviction. I think these latter two plotlines are handled well; Phoenix has compelling reasons to be present past his initial development, and the dark age of the law is used to derive distinctly fresh character motives and plot elements, even to a satirical degree. With Apollo Justice, I unfortunately think that this loud yet unwaveringly passionate character is largely mishandled. He never steps out of the spotlight of Phoenix at any point during the game named after him, he mostly takes a backseat in Dual Destinies to focus more on Phoenix’s return and the character of Athena, and it’s because of these two games that his development in Spirit of Justice is quite rushed, even though I love where he ends up.

The underdeveloped nature of Apollo’s character is a large part of why I feel his eponymous game, the last mainline entry released for the Nintendo DS, is the weakest in the franchise by a good margin. Despite it being angled as a soft reboot to the series, Apollo and his new partner Trucy are largely overshadowed during crucial plot moments. Which is a shame, as this new pairing has great chemistry that only improves as the story progresses, but they don’t get much of a chance to prove their abilities unassisted in the courtroom. I also find the four cases on offer to be rather average; their writing largely lacks the punch and tension that the other collections consistently delivered so well, and I was ultimately left underwhelmed for most of their runtime.

However, this writing style does not apply to Klavier Gavin, who is a breath of fresh air amongst the prosecutors for being surprisingly likeable, to the point where his presence carried much of the trial segments for me. Separately, I also really enjoyed the expanded gameplay offerings; most evidence can be thoroughly examined in three dimensions, the forensic minigames offer a nice change of pace during the investigation segments, and Apollo’s perceive mechanic, which allows you to zoom in and identify nervous habits of the witnesses, leads to some varied progression in the trial segments. Ultimately, there’s a good amount to enjoy here, but it’s the only game in the series I cannot see myself coming back to.

Then we have Dual Destinies, the first 3D entry in the franchise, that thankfully survives the transition from 2D graphics quite well. While some of the models of the returning characters take a bit to get used to, all of the new ones look fantastic, and their animations ooze even more personality than ever before. Of the six cases on offer, I’d say all but the second one are consistently intriguing, ranging from a murder surrounding a detonated bomb, to a stabbing amidst the launch of a rocket, to…defending an Orca? It’s all as over the top as you’d expect, yet somehow feels more grounded than the original trilogy, steering around spirit channelling as a plot device to explain the killings in more ‘realistic’ terms.

Athena Cykes makes her debut in this game in style. She’s the rookiest of the lawyer trio yet sets herself apart with a bubbling personality, a shockingly dark backstory, and is the source of the new gameplay mechanic of Mood Matrices, where a witnesses’ emotions are questioned to help draw out further testimony. While I think there is untapped potential with having more segments that require you to decide between assessing emotions or testimony, the presentation and theming of this mechanic easily makes it my favourite addition to the formula. Separately, Blackquill and Fulbright, the new prosecutor and detective respectively, are brilliant additions, in part due to their personalities being polar opposites, and the returning characters are handled excellently. Overall, it’s a really solid entry from the get-go, allowing me to get over that disappointing first game rather quickly.

That leads us to Spirit of Justice, the most recent mainline entry to date. Taking place primarily in the fictional kingdom of Khura’in, this title seems Phoenix take on quite literally his most vulnerable cases yet, as the Defence Culpability Act threatens to make him face the same fate as the accused, should his arguments fall through. Matters are further complicated with the addition of Divination Seances, which allows the courtroom to have a glimpse at the victim’s final moments, ultimately damning the accused very easily if this evidence is not questioned further. It’s the most complicated mechanic in the series, but once you understand how the contradictions are usually found, it leads to some very satisfying revelations.

Part of the game also takes place back home, largely serving to give Apollo and Athena more time in the spotlight. While Apollo gets one of the best standalone cases in the series, Athena is given arguably the most boring case in the whole collection, killing the great pacing up to that point. Thankfully, all of the cases in Khura’in are excellent, alongside the epilogue case which is a nice throwback to the original trilogy. However, this game undoubtedly stars the worst prosecutor in the series, who very quickly becomes an irritating catchphrase machine that is not deviated from until the end of his final appearance. Despite this gripe, Spirit of Justice is my favourite entry in the trilogy because of how well it executes its intriguing premise and develops most of its characters.

I really enjoyed this trilogy overall. While it never reaches the consistent heights of the other collections, it nonetheless has plenty of great stories to tell, nuanced characters to meet, and satisfying objections to obtain. Clocking in at a beefy 80 hours, with a few nice art and music bonuses in the extras menu to boot, it’s hard to argue against the value for money on display, even if some cases fall flat for you. I can see myself fondly revisiting a large portion of the 3D entries, and I hope that the next mainline entry doubles down on everything these games do well, whilst also not forgetting why the original trilogy is still highly revered. But while we wait for that, an Investigations 1+2 collection needs to happen, and I hope to not be lying coldly on that for too long.

My Review Scores

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