007 First Light (PS5)

As a fan of the Hitman games, the idea of IO Interactive tackling a James Bond game sounded like a match made in heaven. Although Bond himself isn’t a mercenary, his status as a secret agent lends itself well to a gameplay style emphasizing infiltration and stealth without undercutting his license to kill. Although IOI made it clear that such a game wouldn’t play exactly like the World of Assassination trilogy, I still felt excited for what they could do with the property, currently under the ownership of Amazon MGM (there’s even an exclusive skin for buying the game through Amazon, naturally). The final game, 007 First Light (First Light), managed to live up to my expectations, capturing the world of James Bond in a new and exciting way. Its cinematic direction, however, is a double-edged sword in places.

River City Girls 2 (PS5)

Three years after the release of River City Girls (RCG), a game that I really enjoyed once I finally tried it out, WayForward released a direct sequel, simply titled River City Girls 2 (RCG2). The lead-up to it felt exciting, with some hype centered around the six playable characters and, later, the ability to play as Jimmy and Billy Lee from the Double Dragon series. There was even a Gallery Nucleus event that I attended where some of the people involved, including artist REM, talked about some of the choices they made for the game. However, my own enthusiasm waned as I had made the mistake of ordering the game from Limited Run (the version with the soundtrack), so I didn’t get around to finally playing it until recently due to other game releases and events coming up in the meantime. Now that I finally have, it feels bad for me to say that, in spite of the general improvements and positive reception the game received overall, it still felt like a letdown compared to the original in the places where it mattered.

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.

Once Upon a Katamari (PS5)

Following Touch My Katamari on the PS Vita in 2011 (2012 in the US), the Katamari series went dormant for years aside from mobile games, until the release of Katamari Damacy Reroll (Reroll) in 2018, as part of a series of remakes from Bandai Namco, showed a willingness to revisit the series. The success of Reroll led to a follow-up, We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie in 2023, the success of which created the possibility of further installments. This would come to fruition with the announcement of a proper new game earlier this year, the first in 14 years, titled Once Upon a Katamari. As a fan of the Katamari series who had actually been waiting for such an announcement the whole time, the news and initial trailer was enough to excite me, albeit with cautious optimism. Thankfully, this optimism paid off, as it feels like the spirit of Katamari is alive and well in this installment.

Silent Hill f (PS5)

Back in 2022, Konami announced a full revival of the Silent Hill IP that included a number of video game projects, including a teaser for Silent Hill f (SHf), developed by NeoBards Entertainment. Even back then, SHf stood out for its distinct Japanese flair, which came from a desire to bring the series back to its roots after worry that the series had grown too “Western” following the Team Silent era (games that they clarified were influenced by Western media, but filtered through a Japanese lens, creating a unique blend of both sensibilities). To this end, they brought on famed horror game writer Ryukishi07, known for the When They Cry series of visual novels, and set the game in 1960s Japan. When this entry finally released in 2025, it not only received critical praise, but became the fastest-selling game in the series, with one million copies sold in only three days.

From the outset, the concept of SHf intrigued me as someone open to exploring other aspects of Silent Hill that developers hadn’t yet tapped into and as someone used to legacy media experimenting with their format once in a while. As such, it was a day one buy for me and I started playing it as soon as I got the chance. Thanks to a combination of personal health factors, however, as well as my prior reviews locking myself into viewing every single ending, it did take me a bit longer than I had initially thought to truly complete the game. Although I found the final product flawed like any other Silent Hill game, I can confidently say that trying out a new direction paid off spectacularly.

Little Nightmares III (PS5)

Following the success of Little Nightmares II in 2021, it was inevitable that publisher Bandai Namco would want to continue capitalizing on the series, with Little Nightmares III in development under Supermassive Games after original developer Tarsier was purchased by Embracer. Despite the change in hands, I wanted to continue supporting the Little Nightmares IP due to its more unique approach to horror. After waiting patiently for the long-awaited third entry, I found myself enjoying it at first, only to end up getting gated enough by the game’s own mechanics to put it down before getting the chance to finish it.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Note: This review contains spoilers for Death Stranding.

Although Death Stranding (DS1) originally launched to mixed reception, Hideo Kojima considered creating a sequel to further establish the “Strand” genre. As it turned out, development had started when Kojima had written the story prior to 2020, but the way the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the world made him decide on a rewrite. Since then, he rewrote parts of the story again in response to positive reception from test audiences, fearing that he had created something too mainstream. The final game launched in June 2025 on the PS5, this time to more positive reception, with the name Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (DS2).

When DS1 came out, I felt like I was in a minority that liked the game in spite of its flaws, but I could still recognize the issues that had turned so many away during its initial release. As such, I liked that more people eventually came around on the game following its PC port, then more excited when I learned about the development of DS2. It should be no surprise, then, that I had been playing the game whenever I could since launch day, pouring as much time as I did before (about 50 hours) until I reached the credits. Where I found the original a flawed, but solid step forward for Kojima Productions, DS2 manages to go above and beyond as an example of a sequel outshining the original in almost every conceivable way.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

With the success of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 (THPS1+2) in 2020, a remake of the third (THPS3) and fourth (THPS4) entries in the series seemed like the next logical step. However, this wouldn’t be the case, as despite said success, developer Vicarious Visions was folded into the Blizzard portion of Activision Blizzard King. Tony Hawk himself would later confirm that not only was said remake in the works at the time, but moving the developer around led to the project being canceled, leaving its fate up in the air. Fortunately, the project eventually resumed under developer Iron Galaxy, finally delivering Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 (THPS3+4) five years later. This remake, however, wouldn't be without controversy due to changes made to the soundtrack and the THPS4 half of the game, but I got a copy anyway due to having waited for it for so long and wanting to see the extent of the changes for myself. While I did end up agreeing with some criticisms of the final product, I still had a fun time with it for what it was regardless.

to a T

I will admiT I haven’T kepT ThaT close aTTention to Keita Takahashi’s career since The original Katamari Damacy, so I hadn’T heard much abouT his oTher non-Katamari projecTs aside from Noby Noby Boy and Wattam. His mosT recenT game, to a T, was someThing I had noT heard anyThing abouT unTil The YouTube channel Mega64 released a sponsored video promoTing iT, aT which poinT I boughT and played The PS5 version as soon as iT was made available. While The game is an unconvenTional experience by The sTandards of Takahashi’s past work ThaT I had played, I still ThoughT he delivered while keeping his whimsical Touch.

Sonic Superstars (PS5)

Sonic Mania’s success in 2017 convinced Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, that fans wanted more “Classic Sonic” content. However, he wanted another angle to help attract a wider audience rather than rehash Mania, a game created for hardcore fans, with a direct sequel. However, the idea of another 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game wouldn’t come to fruition until 2021, when Sonic Team would collaborate with Arzest, a studio created by Sonic co-creator Naoto Oshima. After about a year-and-a-half in development, the final product, Sonic Superstars (Superstars), would release to mixed reception from critics and fans.

Although the idea of another “Classic Sonic” game intrigued me, since I loved Mania in spite of its flaws, I didn’t play it on release for one reason or another (including a previously-mentioned medical condition). However, the hype for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (the movie), put me in the right mood for more Sonic content, which would include Frontiers and Superstars. Unfortunately, for every interesting and novel thing that Superstars does in exploring the potential of the 2D games, it does another that makes it an experience so infuriating that I couldn’t bring myself to finish it.

Sonic Frontiers (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Frontiers.

Following the divisive Sonic Forces (Forces) in 2017, Sonic Team started exploring options for advancing the design space for 3D Sonic games, as producer Takashi Iizuka felt that they had reached the limits of the design philosophy established by Sonic Adventure (SA1). Director Morio Kishimoto felt inspired to go in an open-world direction, allowing players a greater sense of freedom than the previous linear style would allow. As development on Sonic Frontiers (Frontiers) progressed, the team also brought on writer Ian Flynn due to his work on the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comics in an effort to bring out the emotional aspect of the story while downplaying the humor that had driven some prior games. Although the game would miss its intended 30th Anniversary launch, it would still receive an announcement in 2021, followed by a release in 2022, with mixed reception from critics but more enthusiastic response from fans.

While we did get this game shortly after it first came out on 11/8/2022, the existence of an update roadmap led to some waiting before actually playing it. Since Sega had already scheduled the final update for 9/28/2023, we considered that the “Play Date” (“the day you can actually bask in the glory of a working game”, per Mega64) and felt more confident once that day had finally come and gone. After playing through SA1 and Sonic Adventure 2 (SA2), Frontiers felt like a natural next step and while we enjoyed our time with it and appreciated how it advanced the Sonic design space, it still holds itself back from achieving its full potential.

It's almost like they're telling you when it will be fun.

Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (PS5)

After Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and its companion game, Power of Illusion, failed to meets sales expectations in 2012, the Epic Mickey franchise was shelved, cancelling the in-development Epic Donald along with it. This development also led to the character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was reacquired from Universal just for this series and reintroduced to a new generation of fans, to be relegated mostly to cameos in other Disney works, including a cancelled Disney+ series, until the company suddenly started paying more attention to him around his entry into the public domain. 12 years later, both the Epic Mickey franchise and Oswald were given a second chance with the announcement of a remake of the original game for modern platforms, dubbed Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Rebrushed). As someone who enjoyed the original, this announcement got me excited, and I had faith in Purple Lamp as the developer due to their work on SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. As someone who became an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit fan as a result of the original game, I was further surprised when I noticed that, according to the back of the box, Rebrushed is an official Oswald the Lucky Rabbit product.

 

A small, but interesting bit of branding.

Due to the proximity of its release to my birthday, I received the PS5 version of Rebrushed as a gift, at which point I felt hyped enough to play it as soon as possible, and found it to meet my expectations and more.

Silent Hill 2 (2024)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Silent Hill 2.

In the decades since its release in 2001, Silent Hill 2 (SH2) has earned and maintained a reputation as one of the greatest survival horror games ever made thanks to its powerful storyline that tackled taboo subjects in a mature way. Fast forward to today and ten years after the 2012 release of Silent Hill: Downpour, Konami announced a full series revival, which included two SH2 projects: a remake also called Silent Hill 2 (SH2R), developed by Bloober Team, and a film adaptation, Return to Silent Hill, directed by Christophe Gans, who had previously directed the original Silent Hill film adaptation. Despite involving former Team Silent members Masahiro Ito and Akira Yamaoka throughout development, SH2R fought an uphill battle. Although Bloober Team had experience with horror titles like Layers of Fear, Observer, Blair Witch and The Medium, these titles usually had a mixed reception at best. Add to that the lack of pre-order bonuses for physical copies and the negative reception to early trailers, which included some differences in presentation and character models. Fortunately, confidence grew as the October 8, 2024 release date grew closer and the game released on PS5 and Steam to positive reception, as well as selling 1 million copies within the first three days.

Personally, I had faith in SH2R from the moment of its announcement, as I could sense the team’s passion behind the project, though I followed the development with more cautious optimism. When it released, I also had a hard time finding a physical copy on day one, but I fortunately found a store that still had a number of them left. Throughout the following playthrough, I felt impressed by what Bloober Team had accomplished and, when it ended, I took a little time to process my full opinion before writing this review. As of this post, I can confidently say that while SH2R isn’t a flawless masterpiece, and neither is the original, I think Bloober Team knocked it out of the park and made me even more excited about the series' future.

Second Look - Resident Evil Village (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village.

It should go without saying that the strong reviews and sales numbers of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7) led to a sequel in 2021, also the latest game in the series, Resident Evil Village (RE8). At least, that would be the typical story. In reality, RE8 entered development at the tail end of RE7’s production with the idea of continuing the previous game’s story and style. Early on, the development team came up with the concept of the village setting, as well as drawing influence from Resident Evil 4 (RE4) in making it a central game element. They also developed the game with more of a mixture of action and horror after observing reactions to RE7’s horror and deciding that dialing back and spreading out the scares would make it more approachable for newcomers. For accessibility, the title also emphasized the “village” aspect rather than officially designate it as Resident Evil 8 (even though that’s exactly what it is). Despite the change in approach, the end result garnered strong critical reception and sales over time.

As someone who started with the Winters storyline, I enjoyed RE8 when it came out, in spite of its flaws, and coming back to this game in my journey through the Resident Evil (RE) franchise didn’t change my opinion that much. Like my replay of RE7, however, what really changed was my perspective on its gameplay and how the story fit in with the overall timeline. Not only did I better appreciate some of its improvements over certain gameplay systems from its predecessor, but also its influence from RE4 and one specific twist that prompted all of these RE reviews in the first place.

Second Look - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

Following the mixed reception of Resident Evil 6 (RE6), in spite of its high sales, Capcom realized it needed a change in direction going forward with the franchise, which included cancelling a sequel meant to continue in RE6’s footsteps. Jun Takeuchi, who had experience with the series since the original Resident Evil (RE1) and produced Resident Evil 5, took over the project and helped brainstorm ideas for the next game, which led him to an isolated setting in the vein of both RE1 and The Evil Dead. As development proceeded with this concept in mind and under the direction of Koshi Nakanishi, which included a first-person viewpoint, the team created the RE Engine (“Reach for the Moon” Engine) for smoother next-gen game development and later made the game VR-friendly. Despite some misgivings from fans based on the Beginning Hour demo, the final 2017 release, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7), received near-universal praise and sold well enough to warrant a sequel of its own, Resident Evil Village.

As I’ve mentioned in other Resident Evil (RE) reviews, RE7 was my formal introduction to the series after a couple false starts. Despite some flaws and my general aversion to horror games, I loved it and played it multiple times across both the original release and the later Gold Edition release, which has all of the DLC on the disc (sans Not A Hero). My journey through all of the pre-Winters RE games inevitably led me to another replay of RE7, this time through the free PS5 upgrade. I had always viewed RE7 as one of my favorite survival horror games and, perhaps as expected, this latest playthrough didn’t really change that. What did change, however, was my appreciation for this entry’s accomplishments in light of the rest of the series’ ups and downs. As a consequence, however, some of its flaws did stick out a little more.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Note: This review contains spoilers for Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake

Ever since the success of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the idea of remaking the original Final Fantasy VII (FF7) with the movie’s visuals had floated around at Square Enix. Fifteen years later, this idea manifested with Final Fantasy VII Remake (Remake), the first in a trilogy of games that would bring FF7 into the modern day. While the game received a mixed reception from fans, mainly due to its story changes, it nevertheless proved successful enough that Square Enix would release the second part of this project, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Rebirth) in February 2024 on the PS5, skipping the PS4 for the first time.

As someone who ended up loving most of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and felt cautious optimism after playing Remake twice, I wasted no time hopping onboard with Rebirth so I could see where they would take the story (I even played the demo beforehand for the unique bonus of skipping the first segment in the full game). However, the time it took for me to reach the end point grew exponentially, both in calendar days and in-game time, due to juggling other games and biting off more than I could chew with the in-game content. Finally finishing the game months later left me curious how the third game would handle the rest of the original FF7’s story, though the new twists in Rebirth’s narrative and gameplay left me confused and a little worried about the project’s current trajectory.

Silent Hill: The Short Message

For nearly a decade, Silent Hill was considered a dead franchise following the cancellation of Silent Hills and subsequent delisting of P.T. While I was already upset with Konami’s actions after their treatment of Hideo Kojima (who would have directed Silent Hills with Guillermo del Toro) came to light, the idea that the series would remain dormant didn’t affect me as much until I actually played through every main game back-to-back, as well as multiple times each. In a very timely coincidence, however, Konami would announce a full-on series revival in late 2022, which would include a new movie as well as multiple new video game projects. The official start of this revival would start with Silent Hill: The Short Message (TSM), a short experimental concept game that received a surprise release after Sony’s State of Play on January 31, 2024, the 25th anniversary of the original Silent Hill’s release (according to Konami, at least). Naturally, as someone excited at the prospect of more Silent Hill content, I downloaded TSM the instant I learned of its surprise release and played through it shortly after. While it’s not a perfect experience, and not as good as some of the series’ highs, TSM still felt like a step in the right direction and gave me confidence about the future of the revival.

God of War: Ragnarök - Valhalla (DLC)

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

In celebration of the anniversary of God of War: Ragnarök (Ragnarök­), a piece of free DLC, known as Valhalla, was announced at The Game Awards 2023, for release later in the month. Not only does this DLC contain new story content, it also provides a unique gameplay experience different from the base game, constructed more like a rougelite and with a separate menu option so you can freely jump into it. Having overall enjoyed the base game, I downloaded and played the DLC as soon as I could, finding the story direction intriguing and the gameplay loop well-executed.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 4 (2005) and Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Since 2019, Capcom has released remakes of the Resident Evil games, going beyond the remake of the original Resident Evil from 2002 (RE1), which had until then been the only game in the series with a substantial update. While this has produced some mixed results so far, with critical praise towards Resident Evil 2 (2019) (RE2) and mixed response towards Resident Evil 3 (2020) (RE3), it was inevitable that they would apply the same treatment to 2005’s Resident Evil 4 (RE4), which gradually gained (and earned) a reputation as one of the series’ best games. Although fans naturally had their reservations with the announcement of Resident Evil 4 (2023) (RE4R), it released to critical acclaim and became one of the fastest-selling games in the series.

Due to the timing of RE4R’s release, I had the unique opportunity to play both the original and the remake back-to-back, which I did for the sake of an easier comparison between the two in terms of both gameplay and story. Although that inevitably leads to the question of “Which one is better?”, I would instead say that although not perfect, RE4R manages to improve on many aspects of the original to the point that it’s overall a fantastic game in its own right.

Resident Evil 3 (2020) (PS5)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil 2 (1999) and Resident Evil 3 (2020).

Following the success of the original Resident Evil 2, Capcom put a number of Resident Evil projects in development to capitalize on its success. One of these projects was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which was developed as a standalone expansion to the story to the story of Resident Evil 2 and, after a rough development period that saw a number of concepts altered or scrapped, launched the very next year in 1999 (incidentally, this also led to Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami leaving Capcom). Later, in 2019, Capcom would officially announce a remake simply titled Resident Evil 3, though it was developed at the same time as the remake of Resident Evil 2. Like its predecessor, the remake launched to critical acclaim in 2020, but not without criticisms for its length and the extent of the changes made from the original.

After playing the remake of Resident Evil 2, the next natural step was playing Resident Evil 3. Like with Resident Evil 2, I did so through the 2020 remake, specifically the free PS5 upgrade, out of cost and accessibility. As such, I have no experience with the original release and can’t personally attest to the impact of any of the noted changes. That said, while flawed, I still had a blast from start to finish.