Crystal Dynamics’ Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered is, at its core, a love letter to a cult classic that spent nearly a quarter of a century languishing in technical purgatory. Where the original 2003 release was hampered by fixed cameras, dated controls and a pacing more rooted in the early 2000s than in 2026, this remaster aims – and largely succeeds – at reconciling the game’s ambitious narrative and gothic world with a modern console sensibility without betraying what made it distinctive in the first place. Continue reading “Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered review (PS5)”
Category: New
City Hunter review (PS5)
Three and a half decades after its original release, City Hunter’s return on modern hardware feels less like a triumphant rebirth and more like an invitation to an era that no longer exists. Anchored in the familiar milieu of Ryo Saeba – the self-styled “sweeper” of Shinjuku – the game places players squarely into a retro run-and-gun framework with light narrative dressing. Its premise, while faithful to the spirit of the manga and anime, hardly evolves beyond a sequence of text-driven vignettes that set up each of the four core cases Ryo tackles. There’s an earnestness in seeing familiar characters like Kaori and Umibozu appear, but the storytelling rarely goes deeper than functional exposition. For players who grew up with the franchise, these moments evoke nostalgia; for new players, they can feel perfunctory at best. Continue reading “City Hunter review (PS5)”
Resident Evil Requiem review (PS5)
Resident Evil Requiem arrives on PlayStation 5 not as a mere continuation of Capcom’s long-running horror saga but as a statement piece – one that attempts to reconcile the franchise’s distinct pasts and push its survival-horror DNA into a new era. At its core, Requiem is a dual-threaded narrative experience: one strand sees FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft unravel a personal mystery in the shadows of an abandoned medical facility, while the other returns Leon S. Kennedy to the ruins of Raccoon City to confront bioterrorism’s bitter legacies. This structural choice pays dividends when the disparate threads intersect in mood and theme, though the balance isn’t always flawless. Some plot beats feel over-wrought or too reliant on franchise lore for emotional weight, and pacing varies between tense investigation and action-heavy set pieces. Continue reading “Resident Evil Requiem review (PS5)”
Raiden Fighters Remix Collection review (PS5)
Nearly three decades after their original arcade outings, the Raiden Fighters trilogy returns on modern consoles in Raiden Fighters Remix Collection, a celebration of Seibu Kaihatsu’s blisteringly paced vertical shooters that lands somewhere between reverent homage and a touch of frustrating missed potential. On PlayStation 5 this collection brings Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2, and Raiden Fighters Jet together – each in both Japanese and international variants – alongside a suite of quality-of-life features and a remixed soundtrack intended to modernize the experience without drowning out its arcade DNA. Continue reading “Raiden Fighters Remix Collection review (PS5)”
God of War: Sons of Sparta review (PS5)
God of War: Sons of Sparta is an unusual detour for a franchise synonymous with cinematic bombast and mythological spectacle. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Mega Cat Studios, this 2D action-adventure prequel rewinds the clock to Kratos’ youth, pairing him with his brother Deimos during their Spartan training years. Framed as a smaller, more intimate chapter in the saga, the game trades widescreen theatrics for pixel art and metroidvania structure. It’s a bold reinterpretation that will likely clearly divide players: some will admire it for its ambition and retro charm, other will question whether it captures the ferocity and mechanical depth expected from the name it carries. Continue reading “God of War: Sons of Sparta review (PS5)”
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