God of War: Sons of Sparta

Note: The review contains spoilers for God of War: Sons of Sparta and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. 

The God of War series is no stranger to having canon installments developed by other studios outside of Santa Monica Studio, but not a full original console game. Such is the case with God of War: Sons of Sparta (Sons of Sparta), a PS5 exclusive co-developed by Mega Cat Studios, the studio behind Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into the Pit. Unusually for the series, let alone for its high profile, the game was shadow-dropped on the PlayStation Store during the February 2026 PlayStation State of Play. Although the release was sudden, I still got the game on release day, though it took a while to finish due to my own personal endurance. Upon completing it and reaching the post-game, I thought it was a worthy entry in the series, but not without some questionable design choices.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution (GBA)

Before the original Shantae had a sequel in the form of 2010’s Risky’s Revenge, WayForward started development on a demo for an alternate sequel for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). Due to Shantae’s low sales, however, prospective publishers wouldn’t pick it up and the project went on hold, with different story and gameplay elements recycled for other entries. In 2023, however, WayForward announced that development on the original demo would resume and they would release the finished game as Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution on physical Game Boy Advance cartridges, with modern console ports to follow, as part of their partnership with Limited Run Games. The long-awaited final game would receive mixed reviews from critics, though that’s par for the course with the series.

As a Shantae fan who loves physical media, I bought a copy of the GBA version and later a copy of the modern console port (pre-order still unfulfilled as of this writing). Although I received my GBA copy in a timely fashion, I wouldn’t get to it as quickly as I would have liked for different reasons, but when I did, I locked in and made steady progress in short bursts whenever I could. By the time I got to the end, I enjoyed myself and felt glad that Risky Revolution finally saw the light of day. However, either due to its prolonged development or other limitations, it’s sadly not without some jank.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens (PS4)

Three years after the release of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, WayForward released the fifth Shantae game, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, as a two-part iOS game for Apple devices and later as a complete release for other platforms. When the game released on PS4, I eagerly bought the Limited Run release, knowing I’d have to wait a few months to actually play it. Once I finally got my hands on it, I spent a couple days playing it to see if they had learned anything from the faults of Half-Genie Hero. While I can tell that WayForward is improving with the series and I like the new spins they put on the core gameplay elements, they have one big problem they still need to work on.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero (PS4)

In 2013, developer WayForward had a successful Kickstarter campaign for the fourth Shantae Game, Half-Genie Hero, which finally saw a proper release in 2016. This would also serve as my formal introduction to the series, as I found the Risky Beats Edition at a Best Buy and, somewhat aware of the series at the time, decided to give it a try. As later purchases of the rest of the series from Limited Run would show, I got hooked. However, I never gave this entry a proper review, so I decided to rectify that with a second playthrough. Though I still enjoyed the game and found it improved over Pirate’s Curse in some aspects, I now believe it needed a little more development time, or at least more of a concrete plan.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

Four years after the release of Shantae: Risky's Revenge, WayForward Technologies released their third Shantae game, Shantae and the Pirate's Curse, in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, marking the first home console release for the series. While I was aware of this entry for the longest time, including its growing legacy as a modern classic, I wouldn't actually get a chance to play it until the release of the physical Nintendo Switch port through Limited Run Games, which I played while waiting for the delivery of my Limited Run copy of Shantae and the Seven Sirens. In the time between when I first wrote and posted this review, the price of this particular release of the game rocketed to hundreds of dollars on the second-hand market, literally at least ten times that of the original 3DS cartridge. While the game is nowhere near worth paying that kind of money, I still agreed with the hype around Pirate's Curse after about 11 hours of play.

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut (Switch)

When the original Shantae released back in 2002, it didn’t sell very well, partly due to its low print run and poor distribution. However, that didn’t stop WayForward from envisioning a sequel, which wouldn’t see the light of day until it finally released in October 2010 for, of all things, the Nintendo DSi. This game, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge would then receive an iOS port the following year with a new Magic Mode, followed by a Windows port in 2014, now called Shantae: Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut, featuring a new Warp system and the iOS version’s Magic Mode. Following my playthrough of Shantae, I naturally went to Risky’s Revenge – Director’s Cut, but much like the original game, I opted for the physical Switch port from Limited Run Games instead of any of the downloadable versions. While perhaps not as fleshed out as later entries, Risky’s Revenge still proved itself a great step up from the original.

Shantae (Switch)

While Shantae is one of the more well-known indie game series now, to the point of getting a Mii costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it didn’t start out that way. Back when the series debuted on the Game Boy Color with Shantae in 2002, it immediately fell into obscurity, due in part to releasing one year after the Game Boy Advance and its initial low print run of 20-25,000 copies. As interest in the franchise grew, starting with Risky’s Revenge in 2010, prices on the original cartridge went up, though a digital release would thankfully alleviate the issue of accessibility. After I started the series much later, with Half-Genie Hero, I wanted to experience the rest of the games and eyed the digital release of Shantae, but instead went through a physical copy of the Nintendo Switch port from Limited Run Games. While the half-genie’s original adventure is worth seeking out, even digitally, it has certainly shown its age the most.

Second Look - Batman: Arkham Asylum

When I originally reviewed Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum ten years ago, I admittedly didn’t put much substance into it, partly due to my lack of experience with reviewing video games. After I did some research on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for a review, however, I felt motivated to replay Arkham Asylum with the context that it originated this game’s famous Freeflow combat system. However, it also felt appropriate to replay the game in honor of Batman Month and give it the coverage it really deserved. It helps, of course, that Arkham Asylum has aged surprisingly well and even felt refreshing.

The Mummy Demastered (PS4)

Only a few months after Universal’s critically-panned 2017 take on The Mummy, which also failed spectacularly at kickstarting yet another cinematic universe, WayForward Technologies released a retro-styled video game tie-in, The Mummy Demastered. Unlike many other movie tie-in games, this one released to critical praise, with fans and critics considering it a major improvement over the actual movie. Though I haven’t seen The Mummy (2017) myself, I did hear all the praise and eventually got a physical copy through Limited Run when I had the chance. As I’ve grown more familiar with WayForward’s library, and found an opportunity to play the game myself, it definitely lives up to the hype.

DuckTales: Remastered (PS3)

Back in 1989, Capcom released the NES game DuckTales, a highly-acclaimed platformer based on the 1987 animated series of the same name. Although I had no nostalgia for the game, or the series for that matter, I figured that WayForward’s 2013 remake of the game, DuckTales: Remastered, could help enlighten me on why people liked it so much. However, I waited for a disc-based physical copy of the game, as opposed to a retail copy with a download code and pin, before actually playing it. While I played this back in 2013, I didn’t review it then, so I recently went back a replayed it for review purposes and still liked it, despite its rather short length.

Minit

Sometimes you’re aware of a game, but don’t actually get around to playing it until much later. Such was the case for me with Minit, a game distributed by Devolver Digital, until I read the premise, which reminded me of the lesser-known Half-Minute Hero, which I loved back when I played it. While not the same experience as Half-Minute Hero, and likely under the developer’s radar, Minit still captured the core essence of that game and took it in its own uniquely enjoyable, creative and hilarious direction.

Carrion (Switch)

Of the titles revealed during Devolver Digital’s Devolver Direct during E3 2019, Carrion stuck out. The concept of a reverse-horror game intrigued me and the gameplay that I saw explored that in an interesting way. Such was my interest that I pre-ordered a physical Switch copy through Limited Run Games on release day. To my surprise, however, pre-ordering this game also gave me a digital code, meaning that I wouldn’t actually need to wait a few months to play it, which enabled a quicker turnaround time for this review. Though the experience itself is pretty short, I fully enjoyed my time with this unique indie title.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

While I have not formally reviewed Ori and the Blind Forest (Blind Forest) as of this writing, I wholly enjoyed the experience due to its gameplay and art direction. When a follow-up game, Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Will of the Wisps), was announced at E3 2017, I was immediately eager to play it to see where developer Moon Studios would take Ori’s story next. Overall, I found Will of the Wisps to be a worthy successor to the previous game, though not without some minor frustrations along the way.