From the moment High on Life 2 kicks off, Squanch Games’ sequel makes it abundantly clear that it wants to be bigger, weirder, and more audacious than its predecessor, doubling down on the franchise’s trademark absurdity while trying to knit its off-kilter humor into a more varied game structure. The narrative premise – returning you to the role of a celebrity bounty hunter dragged back into intergalactic chaos to save someone close to you – sets the stage for a road trip through some of the most bizarre backdrops in recent shooter memory. Story beats are punctuated by parodies of nerd culture and unexpected twists that keep the tone unpredictable, and while the script isn’t uniformly sharp – leaning at times on broader jokes rather than clever wit – it does an admirable job expanding the universe without merely rehashing its foundations. Continue reading “High of Life 2 review (PS5)”
MindsEye review (PS5)
MindsEye’s a great example of believing in something and going for a second chance. When it landed back in June, it became shorthand for how not to launch a AAA action-adventure. Ambition hung heavy over its dusty near-future desert city of Redrock – a place where rogue AI, corporate greed, and fractured memories promised a techno-thriller on par with the big cinematic adventures of the genre – but the reality that greeted players was far more prosaic and, frankly, broken. Build A Rocket Boy, a studio helmed by industry veterans, looked as if it had delivered a triple-A spectacle on paper, yet what slipped out the door was a product beset by stuttering performance, glitchy AI, and missions that felt lifted from a decade-old template. Critical and player sentiment was deeply negative in the weeks after release…
Indie roundup: Salmon Man, The Stairwell & Ship’s Cat
Indie games often find their strength not in scale, but in conviction – in taking a singular idea and committing to it without compromise. In this trio of recent releases, that philosophy is on full display. From the paddle-powered masochism of Salmon Man on Quest, to the quietly unnerving anomaly hunting of The Stairwell on PS5, and the offbeat feline cruise adventure of Ship’s Cat on PS5, each title carves out its own tightly focused identity. They may differ wildly in tone and mechanics, but all three demonstrate how smaller teams can leverage precision, atmosphere, and sharply defined loops to create experiences that linger. Continue reading “Indie roundup: Salmon Man, The Stairwell & Ship’s Cat”
Disciples: Domination review (PS5)
What Disciples: Domination ultimately delivers is a tapestry of familiar strategy-RPG tropes stitched together with competent execution but without the sort of ambition that would elevate it above its predecessors – or even entirely justify its standalone status. (This is a sequel to Disciples: Liberation set fifteen years later, with Queen Avyanna back at the centre of a fractured Nevendaar.) There’s a definite narrative hook behind the effort to blend political crisis with tactical battles, but the story’s pacing and impact vary wildly: at its best, the grim power struggle and faction politics are compelling, and at its worst the plot beats feel generic or underdeveloped, sometimes even undermining the protagonist’s agency – though it’s a safe choice for fans of Disciples: Liberation. Continue reading “Disciples: Domination review (PS5)”
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review (PS5)
From its earliest installments, the Yakuza saga has thrived on a delicate balance between heartfelt drama and the zaniness that has become its hallmark. With Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio returns to that duality and delivers a remake that doesn’t merely polish its predecessor but fundamentally elevates it. This is a reimagining that respects the original’s narrative core while revitalizing its systems so thoroughly that many of the original’s infamously uneven pacing issues feel like a distant memory. Continue reading “Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review (PS5)”
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