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There’s a lot to be said for style over substance. Obviously, a complete lack of substance is bad, but the same is often true for a complete lack of style. Call of Duty: Warzone attempts to balance the two. 

The battle royale genre started with fairly drab beginnings in PUBG, or at least that was the first one to get noticed, but quickly found a style thanks to Fortnite. This pervasive and somewhat overwhelming difference in style has been a factor in every battle royale game since. 

Just look at Apex Legends, one of the first to take the battle royale formula and put a big budget spin on it. It looks and plays well, but it’s also got an innate sense of character. Part of this is thanks to the colourful cast of heroes; whether you’re playing as an overly-helpful robot or a wise-cracking trickster, you’re always aware of the personalities. The same can be said of the map, especially the newer of the two battlegrounds. You can’t go anywhere without feeling a mild sense of the uncanny thanks to the mishmash of the map, but that’s what you want in a BR game, easy to define areas and a bit of variety. 

It’s here that Call of Duty: Warzone most shows an unwillingness to take some risks. That’s not to say there’s nothing new in this most triple-A of battle royale games, there is. Take the questionably named Gulag, for example. It’s here that, assuming you die during a match, you get a chance to fight for your freedom. See, when you die in Warzone, you don’t really die, at least not initially. Instead, you’re captured as a Prisoner of Warzone (yikes) and dragged into a prison to fight for your freedom. 

Related: Best Battle Royale Games

In the Gulag, you have to square off against one other enemy, and whoever doesn’t die gets sent back to the map. It’s a really interesting way of doing things, and I adore the concept. The idea that you can fight for your chance to fight again adds this incredible tension, the kind that you only normally get when it’s only yourself and a handful of other people in the final circle. Well, it does most of the time. 

Warzone also adds in Buy Stations, which are basically shops. It’s here that you can call in a Loadout Drop, to equip your normal multiplayer gear and perks by spending the Cash you’ve accumulated. It’s also here that you can choose to respawn a teammate. These options allow for a little more tactical thinking and application, and they can allow a more resourceful player to become a powerhouse if they play it right. It’s also nice to see respawning in more battle royale games after Apex Legends introduced it so well. 

Back to the Cash, which has a capital C in all in-game nods to it. You collect Cash by opening loot boxes, killing enemies with Cash, finding it in the back of trucks sometimes, and also by completing Contracts. 

Now, Contracts are the other really interesting addition to the battle royale formula. Contracts give you timed objectives to complete. These can be things like killing a specific player or securing an area. They help to liven up the incredibly large map of Warzone by giving a bit of meaning. The main thing they add, aside from something to do other than shoot at each other, is the ability for less exceptional FPS players to contribute to a team. It’s not quite a support role, but it’s always good to have the option to drag someone less familiar through a battle royale match without them feeling useless. 

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Of course, you could conceivably wonder through the Warzone map without ever seeing anyone anyway. The player limit here is 150, which is an awful lot of people, but the map you all get dropped on is gargantuan. It makes every other battle royale feel tiny in comparison, and it also makes you miss those smaller worlds. 

For all of the interesting brutalist architecture you can visit and loot in Warzone, nothing has much of a personality. Well, it has personality, but that of a middle manager who counts the staples in their draw to double-check nobody is taking them home. If this personality had a name, I think it’d be Leonard. 

There’s something inherently soulless in Verdansk, the name of the map. It always feels flat, especially when compared to the flamboyant and wonderfully charming style of Apex Legends. Hell, it even feels flat when compared to the only other Call of Duty battle royale game, Blackout. 

Blackout was loud, colourful, and covered in zombies. Call of Duty: Warzone is loud, brown, and covered in storage containers. 

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I like that the guns feel wonderfully different, and you can always find a favourite weapon amongst the ones that you can come across. I really like how the weapons feel and how they’re differentiated. Taking a light machine gun into a fight is excellent as you force enemies to take cover or die, right up until the moment you have to reload and realise you’re a sitting duck. 

The ability to redeploy your parachute with ease allows you to mess around with the verticality in the map with reckless abandon. You’ve no need for fear when you can simply sail to the ground. Assuming nobody notices you, of course. 

I even love something about the vast and somewhat empty-feeling map. Despite how isolating it can feel as numbers dwindle, it allows the game to shout its combat encounters at you through an otherwise whispered gameplay experience. You don’t get that kind of shock in every battle royale game, and it’s worth paying attention to, but good lord I hope people don’t think this is the way forward.

Verdict

Call of Duty: Warzone is a fine example of how you can iterate on a formula and improve it, but remove the heart of something by playing it a little too safe. Blackout covered up the surgical cleanliness at its core with zombies and over-the-top items. Warzone has no such crutch, leaving it fighting the good fight, but for no real reason. Overall, it’s fun but it lacks the style of its contenders. Given a choice, I’d go for the wise-cracking idiot over the well-dressed business person every single time, and Warzone is definitely the latter. Classic Leonard. 

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It’s almost cathartic to be playing Half-Life again. After a frankly agonising cliffhanger at the end of Episode Two way back in 2007, the franchise had fallen into obscurity. It remains a cultural phenomenon with fan projects, memes and discussion being omnipresent, but Valve had seemingly forgotten its existence, making the arrival of Half-Life: Alyx all the more palpable.

Half-Life: Alyx is a complete experience, yet takes the series to a medium its creators are determined to prove themselves in – virtual reality.

Throwing the fate of its biggest franchise into a polarising medium could’ve been a recipe for disaster, but Valve has proven naysayers wrong, and I count myself in that cabal. Half-Life: Alyx is a new benchmark for virtual reality, showing that experiences needn’t be hamstrung by half-baked mechanics and strange omissions to compete with their traditional siblings.

It’s quite the opposite, with Alyx transcending what came before it and rewriting the foundations of this franchise both mechanically and narratively. I can confidently say that Half-Life is back and isn’t going anywhere, and as a consequence will never be the same again; and I’m happily going along for the ride.

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Half-Life: Alyx is built entirely with virtual reality in mind, with Valve pushing it as a “flagship title” for its Index headset. As a consequence, this plays unlike anything the franchise has seen before, but it’s surprising how much of the core ethos remains. The mixture of exploration, combat and puzzle-solving is untouched, as is the deep focus on narrative as you explore the dystopian confines of City 17. However, there are a few changes that elevate Alyx above what came before it.

The highlight of Half-Life: Alyx is the titular character herself, who brings new dynamics to a series which has only ever featured silent protagonists. Gordon Freeman was a mysterious badass, but his silent demeanour meant he was a vessel for players instead of a genuine character we could grow attached to. In Half-Life 2, Alyx Vance was his foil, bouncing off him in a way that made the world feel real. She was essentially talking to a wall, but her personality was awash with such charm that it hardly mattered.

She’s an exquisite lead, showing a passionate enthusiasm that’s reflective of my own as I returned to this franchise for the first time in 13 years, and it feels so damn good to be back. In a way, it’s like I never left as I spent the opening moments overlooking City 17, a city still under totalitarian siege from an oppressive alien regime. Despite taking place several years before the events of Half-Life 2, Alyx expects prior knowledge and you’re better off having it.

I won’t delve into the narrative weeds too much, since the finest surprises are best left untouched, with some moments leaving my mouth agape as I stared in disbelief. Valve is shaking the foundations of a series so acclaimed, a move which requires tremendous courage since one wrong step could incite outrage. But they’ve pulled it off, with every reference and plot curveball executed with perfection.

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From a gameplay perspective, Half-Life: Alyx doesn’t escape all the design pitfalls we’d come to expect from virtual reality. Floating hands, teleportation movement and perspective issues are all present and accounted for, but Valve has introduced some innovative counter-measures to alleviate them. Alyx being a spoken protagonist is one such revelation. She grounds you in the world, ensuring you don’t feel like a floating spectre murdering everything in your path. Alyx has a mission, and you’re here to help.

You can select from several control schemes, all of which accommodate a certain level of familiarity with virtual reality. The level of flexibility afforded to the player is appreciated, although I quickly got to grips with the default method and never changed it up. The real game-changer is Gravity Gloves, gauntlets worn by Alyx that allow her to interact with the environment in some fantastic ways.

With the press of a trigger and a flick of my wrist, I can pull the majority of objects towards me with ease, catching them in a way that always feels satisfying. I’m still astounded by how packed full of details the environments are. Almost every object no matter how insignificant has been rendered with the utmost attention. You can shatter a plate on the floor and inspect individual shards, or smash a hole into cover offering you an opening to slot your pistol into before firing upon enemies.

Gravity Gloves are also used to solve a variety of puzzles. You’ll follow glowing lines emanating from fuse boxes to open gates and lower force fields, leading you to explore rooms searching for a pesky port or two. Moving objects out of the way to access such things help the work feel alive. You aren’t just existing in a static space designed as little more than a shooting gallery. It’s a marvel, and something if not seen accomplished in virtual reality before.

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Other puzzles involve precariously disarming mines by running your multitool through electronic hoops, or connecting nodes across a spherical globe you can hold in your hands. All of them are a delight to solve, but pop up too frequently when trying to unlock chests filled with precious ammunition and health items. They can feel like padding at the worst of times, but for the most part, they’re a fascinating treat.

Firefights are often short and sweet – designed to challenge but never overwhelm the player. Soldiers wield a mixture of shotguns, rifles and long-ranged weapons that will pin you down, forcing to use the surrounding area to your advantage. I found myself crouching in real life as I precariously hugged a wall, peeking out to take shots at encroaching foes. They aren’t afraid to approach you, so sometimes the best strategy is to wait things out.

The campaign has a melodic, thoughtful pace and always gives you room to breathe. Horrifying encounters into apartment buildings infested with headcrabs are bookended by light puzzle sequences where you’re free to get your bearings, with each chapter short enough that you’re easily able to take a break. Even when things occasionally grow repetitive, the stellar writing and dialogue pulls you through. You care for the small selection of characters on this journey, many of which fans will already recognise.

Russell is the sole newcomer, an eccentric scientist who communicates with Alyx through the entirety of her adventure. He’s witty, sarcastic and caring, possessing some of the funniest quips I’ve seen since Portal 2. Russell names Alyx’s Gravity Gloves “The Russells” – after himself – proudly boasting about how they’ll become a worldwide hit once humanity returns to normality. He’s a sobering reminder that despite the alien occupation, people are still holding out hope for something better.

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Light progression makes itself known with upgrade stations throughout the campaign where Alyx can enhance her small arsenal of weapons with attachments. They’re appreciated tactical bonuses, but those who love realistic firefights can get by with skill and wits alone. Playing by the rules of Half-Life: Alyx makes the experience so much better, as you sink into its systems and roleplay your existence in its world. This is the most convincing setting I’ve ever seen in virtual reality, setting a new benchmark for the medium I struggle to see others beating.

One of my only significant qualms is the final act does conclude quite suddenly, as is franchise tradition. I’m pulled through a sequence of jaw-dropping plot revelations before the ends credits are thrust upon me. I’m breathless, astounded and in desperate need of answers – but those will sadly have to wait. However, I can see myself return for repeat playthroughs if only to master mechanics and spend more time in this battered, broken world.

Verdict

Valve has surpassed impossible expectations with Half-Life: Alyx, bringing a series long thought buried back into the limelight with extraordinary impact. While some might find it unfortunate that such an experience is housed inside virtual reality, I feel it’s an innovative step forward for the series.

A book has been opened that will seemingly stay as such for years to come, and words are still being written as we speak. If this prequel is anything to go by, Valve might have finally learned to count to three. If you have the means to play it, Half-Life: Alyx is absolutely essential.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is everything I wanted it to be. This also means it’s hardly changed at all, maintaining the charmingly simple formula that made previous games so iconic.

It’s an adorable experience that constantly surprises, euphoric in the satisfaction it provides with each mechanic, no matter how big or small.

The second I arrived on Tom Nook’s deserted island I was positively enraptured, smiling widely as hours melted away in what felt like an instant. New Horizons expands what came before it, taking cues from the likes of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon while leaving the simplistic core intact. My favourite part of the whole adventure is that things are only just beginning, with the bulk of New Horizons set to emerge across it’s long, prosperous life. 

Nintendo has crafted one of the best games on Nintendo Switch, or perhaps any platform in the past several years, truly proving it is the master of first-party blockbusters that aren’t in dire need of fancy graphics or overblown features to shine. It’s a pure, unfiltered delight that surprises at every turn. 

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While Animal Crossing: New Leaf saw you accidentally stumble into the governmental position of a fledgeling town, New Horizons turns the tables in some wonderfully unexpected ways. Raccoon Capitalist Tom Nook has become unsatisfied with bleeding villagers dry with obsessive loans and has now settled on a new venture – luring poor souls to a deserted island where there is no escape from his deceptive schemes. 

Before arriving on the island with little more than a sleeping bag to my name, it was time to design my character. New Horizons’ approach to avatar creation is beautifully inclusive. There are no traditional gender options, so whether you’re male, female or non-binary, you can design a virtual island representative who perfectly fits your appearance. Options for hairstyles and skin tones have also been vastly expanded, and you can change things with ease whenever you like. 

After I felt sufficiently adorable, I started my first day of island life. With Animal Crossing: New Horizons playing out in real-time, the first week is relatively slow and relaxing. You’ll get to grips with mechanics as the island slowly populates with museums, shops and additional islanders hoping to start a new life away from civilization. While these tasks all sound rather boring from a distance, how you’re involved makes them anything but. 

Every islander is unique, boasting a bespoke appearance and dialogue that perfectly fits their charming traits. A green koala obsessed with body-building would constantly compliment me on my clothes and how they helped my muscles pop, or boast about the epic new exercise bench pitched in his tent. While another islander was a self-proclaimed popstar, boasting about her lofty ambitions as I passed by. 

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is all about personality, and it’s gushing from every conceivable place. Every snippet of dialogue is exquisite, precision-engineered to mine a smile out of even the most cynical of players. My personal favourite is a Dodo working at the airport who speaks in overblown military jargon – treating a gentle island retreat like you’re touching down in a warzone. It’s hilarious and had me grinning like a fool. 

The general gameplay loop remains largely unchanged from previous entries, but it’s far deeper and more refined in nearly every respect. Nintendo has clearly been playing Stardew Valley since many of New Horizons’ more ambitious elements mirror what made that game so wonderful. While many feared the crafting system would add needless complexity to affairs, it does anything but. 

Introduced in the opening moments, crafting is the foundation to almost everything you do in New Horizons. It is performed to craft tools, furniture, medicine and structures like bridges and housing kits which will help your island grow over a vast number of hours. DIY Recipes are obtained daily, so you’ve always got a creative endeavour to strive for while hoovering up your usual laundry list of tasks. New Horizons is the ultimate carrot on a stick, with even the most monotonous of actions proving to be an absolute joy. 

I lost my mind after climbing a ladder for the first time, a new mechanic which feels small, but changes the game in so many ways. Resources such as wood, stone and weeds are normally gathered while you’re doing other things, so the act of collecting ingredients never feels like a temporary obstacle to progress. 

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While chopping down trees for wood I’d find myself constantly distracted by fellow islanders or creepy crawlies simply begging to be bought and sold. There’s always something to do, and the most exciting part is that the true meat of New Horizons is yet to even show its face. Much like previous games in the series, New Horizons is split into seasons which abide by a real-world calendar. So right now, it’s spring – coming with all the weather, wildlife and events you’d expect. 

Summer will bring forth festivals as we party into the evening, while autumn will chronicle the falling of leaves from trees, all culminating in the winter where the building of snowmen becomes commonplace as Christmas approaches. Nintendo has confirmed that special events will be held regularly, providing you with an incentive to keep playing beyond the opening weeks. I can’t wait to see where this leads since even after only a couple of weeks with the game, I’m itching to discover what else is on the horizon.

Nintendo is aware that all the new features that come packaged with New Horizons might feel overwhelming, so it’s devised a mechanic to make things simple – The Nookphone. It’s a smart device which houses all the information you’ll ever need concerning the island, and it even comes fitted with a customisable case. Once again, it imbues an unexpected yet eternally welcome level of charm that had me smiling each time my adorable avatar pulled it out to check their quests or receive a rare call.

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Your phone incorporates a new form of currency with Nook Miles. These are earned by completing a constantly evolving list of quests that reward you for the obvious achievements of catching certain fish and bugs to surprise foils like shooting a present down from the sky only to have it land in a river. There’s also a neverending list of rotating missions, ensuring you’ve always got something pushing you forward once a day’s activities have dried up.

Since Animal Crossing is designed to be played over an entire year or more, growing bored after a handful of hours can leave you desperate for more, but there’s often no choice but to wait it out. Quests alleviate this problem to a certain degree, but my impatience is more a testament to the game’s overall brilliance than a distinguishable flaw.

Every new day in New Horizons brings with it a thrilling development or adorable surprise, pushing you to poke and prod at every little thing with the glee of a child. There’s a sense of wonder throughout Animal Crossing that is unmatched – there’s simply nothing like it. Purists will be happy to learn that iconic characters like Blathers, Isabelle and The Able Sisters return, slotting into island life with ease. I refuse to spoil how they come to arrive and what their purposes are since that’s something I want you discovering for yourself.

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When you aren’t greeting villagers, completing quests or growing the island’s infrastructure – New Horizons is all about crafting your own identity. Home is where the heart is, and you’re expected to pour everything into how your living arrangements reflect who you are. I did this by wearing frilly dresses and prancing about the island like the fabulous princess I am or filling my house with furniture I customised with different colours until it gelled perfectly with my aesthetic.

I’ve probably seen less than 10% of what Animal Crossing: New Horizons has to offer across all its systems, and even after 20 hours I’m so, so entranced that I cannot wait to see more. It’s infectiously brilliant, having me waking up at 6am to fit in a solid handful of hours before work. Island life combats the stress of reality, acting as a comfy blanket you can sink into whenever you want. It’s also something you can share with friends by visiting their islands of inviting them to your own, which is surprisingly easy despite Nintendo’s infamous reputation for online functionality.

Getting a handful of characters together for an impromptu photography session is brilliant, and there’s even a special island you can visit with a Photo Studio. Here you can spawn several props and characters, the latter of which appear once you’ve scanned the relevant amiibo. It’s a cool bonus, but not one I see myself returning to much. Outside of my island, I had the most fun with Nook Miles Vouchers.

Once given to the airport, they whisk you away to a randomly generated island ripe with loot to scoop up and characters to meet. Animals found here can even be coaxed to become permanent residents of your island. Because I’m evil, I left the mingers hanging while inviting all the cutest animals to live with me. It’s a far cry from New Leaf’s Vacation Island, which grew repetitive after only a handful of visits. Here, every excursion is a new adventure.

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Verdict

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the best game I’ve played this year, and immediately cements itself as one of the generation’s defining experiences. Fans will be playing it for years, watching as the seasons roll by and unveil the true potential of what has been created here.

Alongside the implementation of future updates and content created by players themselves, it’s only going to evolve into something greater, which is a triumphant achievement given the foundations are already that of a masterpiece. If you own a Switch, what are you waiting for?

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Editor’s note: Due to performance issues for the Xbox One S version, we will not be giving Ori and the Will of a Wisps a final score until we test it with the day one patch. 

Ori and the Will of the Wisps could have easily played it safe and stuck ardently to the blueprint of its acclaimed predecessor. But while the roots of this 2D platformer Metroidvania remain intact, there have been enough tweaks to ensure a distinctly new adventure. 

The biggest change is the combat. You’re given a litany of weapons and attacks in Will of the Wisps, from a spirit blade for slicing and dicing your way through monster hordes, to a bow that excels at striking airborne beasts from a safe distance. 

This is a big deviation from its predecessor, Ori and the Blind Forest, where your best strategy of attack was almost always hurling enemy projectiles right back at them, resulting in slow but calculating skirmishes where timing and accuracy was king. 

In Will of the Wisps, combat encounters are a lot more fast-paced and frantic. You can have multiple enemies on screen at the same time now, as Ori dances across the forest like an acrobatic ninja, cutting down monsters before they’ve had a chance to react. 

Hands on: Bleeding Edge review

You can even purchase new attacks and upgrade existing ones with in-game collectables, although I personally didn’t see a need to ever deviate from the standard blade, bow and bash attacks.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this new combat-heavy approach, as it awkwardly contradicts the peaceful nature of Ori which is a core driving force of the story. On the other hand, combat is a lot more fun now, allowing for epic-scale boss battles and more frequent fighting to add diversity to the platforming. 

It’s the breathless platforming set pieces where Will of the Wisps truly shines, where Ori must escape a giant rampaging monster or collapsing building by jumping, dodging and swinging to freedom. These spectacles provide the ultimate test for a newly attained ability, proving to be a hugely enjoyable crescendo for each of the five major zones, reaching the same sort of adrenaline-packed heights as Uncharted and Rayman Legends. 

Unfortunately, enemy encounters and chase sequences are often plagued by technical issues, frequently freezing Ori and its surroundings in place for several frustrating seconds. Microsoft is aware of the issue – confirming that it’s working on “making further final optimisations” for the Xbox One S version that will be included in a day one patch. To see so many technical problems so close to launch isn’t very reassuring though. 

Another major change for Will of the Wisps includes the new autosave feature. In Ori and the Blind Forest, you had to create your own checkpoints, which used up your precious magic meter. This encouraged caution for every obstacle, especially since enemies and environmental hazards dealt so much damage. 

Will of the Wisps throws this feature on the scrap heap, with frequent auto-saving allowing you to be more reckless and experimental. An early health-replenishing power up contributes towards this free-spirited play, as does the new shard system – plucked right of Hollow Knight – which sees equipped collectables greatly reduce enemy damage or improve your effectiveness against airborne villains. 

This inevitably results in a gentler difficulty curve when compared to Blind Forest. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I still saw the Game Over screen on numerous occasions – plus there’s always the ‘Expert’ difficulty for those craving a challenge – but this Ori entry does feel more like a friendly Nintendo platformer opposed to ruthless side-scrollers like Super Meat Boy and Dead Cells. 

I personally think this a good move, syncing up better with the children’s story book vibe prevalent in both the gorgeous cartoon animations and endearing plot. Will of the Wisps picks up right where Blind Forest ended, as Ori and his family of woodland critters raise an orphaned baby owl called Ku. After a flying lesson goes terribly wrong, Ori and Ku end up separated in an unfamiliar forest, which is suffering a steady decline due to the mysterious Decay. 

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The story itself is pretty simple, following an almost identical template as before. The stakes feel more personal this time round though, as Ori sets off to find its friend and save the forest in the meantime. Still, Will of the Wisps carries a bounty of emotional resonance, and is a deeply charming tale with an ultra-satisfying conclusion.

Despite an impending sense of doom, the forest feels very much alive and is rife with various charming characters that can reward you with gifts for completing side quests or even sell you maps or special attacks when trading in collectibles. It also feels more diverse than before, with each section of the forest differing greatly in terms of both aesthetics and atmosphere. 

These range from unsettlingly dark caverns filled with spiders and skeletons, to a luscious lagoon featuring underwater tunnels teeming with fish and carnivorous plants. The map in Will of the Wisps isn’t quite as mysterious or enticing to explore as those found in other Metroidvania titles, such as Hollow Knight, but it still provided a joyfully memorable experience all the same. 

Unfortunately, there are so many technical issues nibbling away here that it’s difficult to come away with a positive impression. Not only did I have to suffer consistent, immersion-shattering frame drops, but there were also times when textures and music would fail to load and saved progress would be deleted – I lost nearly an hour in total, forcing me to tediously retread the same path and overcome the same obstacles. 

Microsoft has confirmed a day one patch update is on the way, so these problems may well disappear at launch, but it’s still worrying to see so many bugs plaguing Will of the Wisps only a couple of days before official release. Another writer played a few hours on Xbox One X and came away with minimal performance issues and technical problems, but given the majority of players will be on a base console, we hope the forthcoming day-one patch will address the issues we saw.

Initial Verdict

Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes close to being the perfect sequel. While the new combat focus admittedly doesn’t fit well with the story, it’s still a tonne of fun, and coupled with the new autosave feature, ensures a more fast-paced and fluid style of play.

Combined with the endearing story book vibe and jaw-dropping platforming spectacles, Will of the Wisps should have everything needed to become one of the best titles in Xbox’s first-party library. Unfortunately, there are so many technical issues on the Xbox One S right now that it’s difficult to recommend. We will revisit this review and give a final score once the day one patch arrives. 

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It’s hard to look at Bleeding Edge without immediately drawing comparisons to the likes of Overwatch. Both of them take place in a bright, colourful universe where each playable character is a distinctive misfit with their own lovable personality.

What makes Bleeding Edge stand out is the esteemed studio behind it. Ninja Theory has built a reputation on tight, responsive single-player experiences that focus on impactful melee combat, and it’s that very blueprint that’s been slapped onto Bleeding Edge, albeit with more than a few design liberties. 

Compared to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, this couldn’t be further away in terms of tone and execution, but the beating heart still consists of a fast, satisfying combination of movement and combat which feels fantastic. While there’s still a few kinks to work out, Bleeding Edge is an exciting new experiment from the studio.

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Bleeding Edge pits two teams of four players against one another as they seek to complete a handful of objectives across lengthy matches. I sampled two of them. The first involved collecting a bunch of power cells located on the map, taking them to constantly shifting points and cashing them in. The first team to reach a specific number will win, while individual kills also count towards your score. 

The second mode involved holding a point for a long as possible, accruing points as you try desperately to defend it from enemies. Obviously it’s not that simple, with the objective shifting and becoming a hazard in itself with the right environmental cues. For example, hitting a nearby gong will engulf it in flames, pushing any foes away in fear of death. It’s a familiar yet novel spin on established ideas, brought to life thanks to dynamic, unpredictable combat. 

While its modes are nothing new, the way in which you approach them is altered depending on which hero you decide to play as. Split into Tank, Assault and Support classes, the character each player picks is absolutely vital. You’ll need a balanced selection to emerge victorious, supporting one another with vital abilities to take points and survive along enough to make a dent in the scoreboard. 

Bleeding Edge boasts an exceeding amount of variety in its cast of characters, all expressed with bright, colourful and somewhat chaotic visual aesthetics. Nidhoggr is a stereotypical punk rocker, wielding a guitar-shaped axe capable of bashing foes over the head with devastating impact. He can also burst forward in a trail of fire before unleashing a duo of ultimate abilities, one of which stuns adversaries in place with an area-of-effect musical performance. 

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Buttercup is a heavyset tank, wielding makeshift motorcycle limbs and is capable of riding onto objectives at obscene speeds with a brutal set of skills. She can swirl her mace-like weapons in a circle, or create a circular field, slowing down everyone caught within its perimeter. She’s excellent at forcing the opposing team off objectives or slowing them down at the perfect moment. She doesn’t deal an obscene amount of damage, but is great at keeping foes busy while others focus on bolstering your score. 

While the majority of heroes are melee-focused, some possess ranged attacks and healing abilities so they can support allies from a distance. Gizmo is a hybrid of sorts. This young Australian girl fires upon foes with an oversized bolt gun, before activating her ultimate and transforming into a giant mech. With this, she marches into the field of battle wiping out everything in her path. There’s a synergy to many of the characters which feels brilliant, especially once a well formulated strategy comes together. 

Maps are surprisingly large, although Ninja Theory has tackled this by providing each player with a mountable board for traversing each environment. These gnarly means of transportation are fluid to control and can be customised to your liking with epic designs and beautiful trails ranging from rainbows to endless streams of bank notes.

The tongue-in-cheek nature of Bleeding Edge is prevalent through everything it does, and it’s easy to fall for. It’s a shame that matches can sometimes feel a bit too long, although it will be easy for Ninja Theory to adjust ahead of release.

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Bleeding Edge has an energy I can see players gravitating towards, bolstered further by a seemingly robust progression system, including unlockable cards which improve certain facets of each character’s arsenal. You can equip three at any one moment, switching between loadouts which might work better for specific game modes.

Their effects might seem minimal, adding small percentage boosts to overall damage and armour, but when combined in the right way they’re incredibly useful. I can see a system like this really transforming the meta of a hero shooter like this if evolved correctly, allowing players to find their own favourites after a few hours play. Updates with news mods would be a great way to keep things fresh too.

Each hero will have a bunch of unlockable emotes and skins, although I didn’t see any of the latter during my time with the game. The nature of Bleeding Edge as a living, breathing multiplayer experience will determine whether it floats or sinks after release, but its identity as an Xbox Game Pass title gives it an automatic advantage. I’m keen to see how the community takes to it, since there’s so much potential here.

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Bleeding Edge – First Impressions

Bleeding Edge is a lot of fun and it’s exciting to see Ninja Theory branch out into something more experimental and light-hearted after Hellblade. Varied and satisfying combat mechanics combine with a compelling cast of heroes to create something that honestly stands a chance of rising above the competition.

A few teething issues remain with its pacing and overall execution, but there’s a tantalising core here that really shines, Ninja Theory just needs to keep chipping away until its charming potential is clear to all. On a platform seemingly devoid of first-party experiences at the moment, Microsoft could be onto something with this one.

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For many, the name Granblue Fantasy won’t mean much. Overseas, though, the series has gathered an incredible fanbase, stemming from the mobile game that was originally released in 2014 yet never saw the light of day in the UK or US.

Now the series is looking to branch out with various Granblue-related projects in the works. The first spin-off from the original to be released is Granblue Fantasy Versus, a traditional 2D fighter made by pedigreed fighting game experts Arc System Works – the minds behind classics such as Guilty Gear, Dragonball FighterZ and BlazBlue. It’s goes without saying, this studio knows exactly what it’s doing. 

Not wanting to stray too far from its origins, in addition to the traditional Arcade, Versus and Online modes, Granblue Fantasy Versus also has a fully featured RPG campaign. You take control of central character Gran, as he makes his way through the story of the original game. With a mission-based structure, these “RPG levels” have you making your way through hordes of nameless foes, as they face the mighty wrath of Gran’s extremely overpowered boot.

Outside of missions, you’re able to craft and equip different weapons and unlock recoloured costumes to customise your experience as you see fit. While this is a very nice distraction from getting beaten senseless online, it does feel like a slight bolt-on. There’s simply not much substance to it. 

Missions can get pretty tricky, introducing interesting mechanics to ensure you don’t get bored as you make your way through the campaign’s myriad encounters. Enemies will occasionally require you to combo them to be beaten, and navigating your way through the decidedly small stages can present much senseless fun – but it all feels just a little bit hollow. 

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This is down to the fact that it can feel pretty stripped-down at times, making the “RPG mode” moniker a little bit misleading. With Granblue Fantasy Versus’ eye-catching graphics, the RPG mode sails on its in-engine cutscenes for key moments. Most of the time, however, you’ll be seeing static characters and text-boxes pop up as if it were more a visual novel than a fully fledged RPG – which is disappointing, to say the least. 

Aside from RPG mode, Granblue Fantasy Versus also has an Arcade mode, where you face-off against the cast of characters as well as taking part in a special boss battle at the end. This uses Arc System Works’ classic dynamic difficulty, where if you clear a stage and find it too easy or too hard, you’re able to switch up the difficulty after the battle. 

You’re also able to face-off against your friends or the computer in the traditional Versus mode, with all of the standard round/timer options and the ability to select the side you want to play on. It’s something nearly every fighting game has, so it’s a welcome addition here. 

Training mode is also well-featured, and you’ll be able to drill combos or inputs without problems. One interesting feature of this mode in Granblue Fantasy Versus is that you can also play with an “input delay” timer, if you’re wanting to adjust your play for online latency.  

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In the traditional 2D battles, Granblue Fantasy Versus does pick up the slack where it matters. With 11 characters to play as, the game leaves nothing to the imagination – they can vary wildly in style. Ladiva is a hulking grappler, similar to Zangief in Street Fighter, for example; others, such as Lowain, bring their own unique take to the fight. 

There’s something here for everyone, with almost all of the traditional fighting game archetypes covered. While this is fine and dandy, we’d love to see Arc System Works try something different when it comes to the DLC characters, as the game can come across as pretty vanilla in comparison to Dragonball FighterZ, for example, which just increased in complexity with a new patch, two years after its original release. 

It’s pretty clear that Granblue Fantasy Versus is trying to rope in players who may not have played any fighters before, and this is further exemplified through the use of auto-combos, where you’re just able to mash a button, and your character will do a basic combo. The same goes for cooldown-based special moves, which can be executed through trivial inputs, but that have a longer cooldown and are less potent than if you were to execute them traditionally. 

These efforts to appeal to new players are admirable, but if you hop into one of Granblue Fantasy Versus’ well-presented online lobbies – which are fashioned with a chibi character running through a cute airship with little arcade setups – then you’ll quickly be beaten down. These auto-combos and easy inputs will not get you too far when it comes to facing off against other players. 

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Tutorialisation has always been difficult for fighting games, but titles such as Killer Instinct managed to pull them off well. The end result of things like easier (but nerfed) inputs and auto-combos is that many new players will fall into bad habits. Without the learning tools to support them, they will bounce off of the game if they do not seek external resources in the fighting game community. 

Should you buy Granblue Fantasy Versus?

With a lengthy story mode, a host of characters to play as, and online modes to fight your way through, Granblue Fantasy Versus definitely won’t leave you wanting in terms of content. Learning the game through playing people locally and online is distinctly better than relying on the game’s own resources.

But if you’re looking for a casual, relatively simple fighter to play then this game definitely fits the bill. Character designs may turn off a few – they can be pretty gratuitous or eccentric – but existing Granblue-series fans will definitely want to see their favourites brought to life through Arc System Works’ fantastic engine. 

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Pokemon is no stranger to spin-off experiences. Outside of the main series, developers around the world have found ample reasons to explore this franchise beyond its turn-based origins, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is one such excursion.

Acting as a remake of 2005’s Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, Nintendo has done a commendable job adapting them for the modern age, enhanced by a gorgeous new aesthetic and additional mechanics which do a decent job of trimming the mundane fat which can dominate a lot of tasks you’ll be tackling throughout.

While enjoyable, Mystery Dungeon does leave something to be desired in the end, feeling slow-paced and archaic fifteen years after its initial inception. 

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Mystery Dungeon DX begins with a quiz. You’re asked a series of innocent questions, culminating in the game presenting a Pokemon which it believes best fits with your personality. My result was Machop, which is not at all accurate, and given there was no Vulpix to be seen, I instead opted for Pikachu. After all, you can’t go wrong with the classics. 

From here, you discover you’re a human who has been mysteriously transformed into a Pokemon, forced to forge a new life in the wilderness. It’s a compelling premise, and being the fish out of water in a world full of talking monsters allows you to discover and appreciate how they exist, and what ecosystems are so important to Pokemon that decide against living alongside humans. 

It turns out Pokemon prosper by helping each other out, and this is made possible by forming a Rescue Team with your partner. After helping a Pokemon of your choosing out of a scrape, your partner suggests you form a Rescue Team – an organisation which exists to help fellow creatures in a bind. Whether they’re after a specific resource or looking to help a friend trapped on a mountain’s peak, you’re always there to help. 

Starting off with just two Pokemon, your Rescue Team will eventually evolve into a sprawling community of different members existing across a variety of habitats. After a handful of hours, you’ll be diving into dungeons with a legion of friends by your side, wiping out enemies with no trouble at all, while hoovering up resources and completing quests. It’s an enjoyable time, but one that proved far too easy throughout my playthrough. 

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Mystery Dungeon DX is a roguelite where the majority of your time will be spent exploring dungeons with multiple floors, completing quests that often involve obtaining specific items or rescuing fellow Pokemon. Once all missions are completed, you can automatically teleport to safety. For the opening handful of hours, this formula is rinsed and repeated several times alongside some cute yet conventional story quests.

The battle system takes a lot of inspiration from Game Freak’s RPG series, with each Pokemon capable of performing four moves at any given time. Many of these are positional, possible depending on where you’re placed on the tile-based layout of each dungeon. You’d think some meaningful strategy would be implemented, but most battles are steamrolled by your allies or completed by mashing the ‘A’ button, where I watched Pikachu beat most foes to a pulp with minimal effort.

Such a lack of challenge is disheartening at first, but Mystery Dungeon DX feels designed to be played in short bursts, with you hacking through a handful of quests and story missions before calling it a day. In this context, it’s a charming delight, but treat it any more seriously and you’ll likely come away underwhelmed. There simply isn’t enough here for hardcore RPG lovers, acting instead as a great starting point for young gamers obsessed with Pokemon or curious about the genre.

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Outside of dungeons you have a small town to explore, which expands alongside the main story with a handful of useful shops to peruse. There’s a bank to store hard-earned money so it’s not lost in dungeons, or a dojo which can be used to power level specific members of your party. Among other places, there’s also a post offfice which is essentially a portal for accessing other players and delving into dungeons alongside them.

The element that kept me coming back was my Rescue Team’s rank, which slowly but surely increased with each completed quest. It can be slow going sometimes, but each new level brings with it some truly meaningful changes.

Increased inventory space, party size and other bonuses make the overall experience more enjoyable, superseding the tedium that dominates the game’s early stages. There’s nothing worse than running out of item space at the start of a dungeon, turning once precious loot into useless dregs.

Dialogue is also achingly cute, complimented by an aesthetic which feels like a moving watercolour painting. It’s beautiful, executed in a way that’s perfectly fitting of the game’s overall tone. I loved every little morsel of dialogue and tongue-in-cheek character development, especially the “evil” rescue teams who think the ultimate bad deed is helping people before you have a chance to.

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You can customise the movesets of each individual Pokemon, who earn new moves as you level up, but this can become a chore as your party grows larger and larger, where you’ll likely settle on a preferred squad and seldom touch anyone else. Such a granular level of management is a lovely touch, yet it clashes against the simplistic nature of dungeon exploration and battling. Some players will love it though, especially hardcore completionists that the series is renown for attracting.

Verdict

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is an excellent remake which improves upon the original duo of games in myriad ways, yet still remains woefully underbaked when it comes to meaningful mechanics with enough depth to keep you going. As a roguelite dungeon crawler for young players it’s really impressive, but genre purists might be let down. Beyond that, this is yet another delightful game which works a treat on Nintendo Switch.

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Back when it was first announced, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake felt like a miracle; a dream project that would never find its feet in the modern landscape.

Reimagining such an iconic, beloved and recognisable staple of gaming history felt impossible, too ambitious in its vision to ever live up to expectations. Now, it’s become a reality, with Square Enix keenly aware of the weight placed upon its shoulders. 

Planned as an episodic project, this first chapter will still be a vast, all-encompassing epic that follows Cloud and company on their journey across Midgar and beyond. Even after a few short hours with it, it’s clear Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura’s vision for the adventure is astronomical.

I was invited to an event by Square Enix to play the game’s opening and a few later chapters, gaining a solid idea of how the game looks, plays and compares to the 1997 original. Having such a beloved passion for it, I ventured into the remake with utmost scepticism, and came away more smitten than I ever expected. There’s a few archaic design choices to take issue with, but everything else is curated with such dedication to the source material that it’s impossible not to be impressed. 

Scenes and battles once rendered by only a handful of polygons are now beautifully gargantuan, towering over the player with both literal and symbolic significance. It’s a nostalgic sight to behold, yet it supersedes that emotional constraint, carving its own identity as an experience for the new generation.

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The story follows Cloud Strife, a young mercenary who finds himself joining the infamous terrorist group known as Avalanche. Together, they’re tasked with taking down an evil corporation that’s draining the planet of its life force in order to fuel its corrupt, power-hungry society. 

The RPG begins with a gorgeous reimagining of the opening cutscene, enhanced with additional locales, booming music and a greater focus on building up this world as something truly formidable. It’s absurd how well it adapts the music and overall atmosphere of the original. This is the Final Fantasy 7 you remember from all those years ago, ready and waiting to tackle a whole new audience. 

I’m thrown into the action within seconds, given only moments to breathe as a gaggle of soldiers rush towards me. It’s immediately clear the battle system is fast and nuanced, setting itself apart from everything that came before it. You attack with a single button, slicing enemies to pieces with Cloud’s sword as their health bars whittle away in seconds. At first, it feels strikingly similar to Kingdom Hearts 3, but establishes far more depth than the overly trivial Disney crossover. 

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While combat play out in real-time as you run around foes, attacking them from multiple angles while aiming for a weakness, the original’s turn-based origins are still alive and well. At any time, you can press a button to slow time to crawl, bringing up a menu which allows you to pick from spells, abilities, items and other commands. This means it’s easy to escape the action and analyse your surroundings, nailing the best strategy for emerging victorious with minimal scratches. 

It’s the best of both worlds, adapting the combat system with modern sensibilities while blending in classic turn-based mechanics which have aged wonderfully. As a result, battles feel oddly reminiscent of the original, while simultaneously incorporating a refreshing modern take. One of my only qualms with combat is the camera, which doesn’t play nicely when you find yourself in tight spaces. Your perspective often feels too confined, and I’d love an option to draw the camera out, gaining a better look at all my party members simultaneously as I dished out orders. 

You can switch between characters at any moment once they’ve joined your party, offering a vast array of combat options to experiment with. Sometimes its necessary to make the jump, with Barrett capable of dispatching foes from a distance while Tifa can break shields with her iron fists. Alternatively, you can slow down time and dish out orders remotely if folks are in desperate need of healing or activating their limit breaks. 

Square Enix has broken down the body of Final Fantasy with this remake, but has bottled up the spirit and sprinkled it onto something completely new. It’s so exciting to witness, and see what mechanics have changed and evolved over 23 years. Limit Breaks and Summons return, although the latter appear much earlier in the game than before, acting as mythical beings that fight alongside the player before exploding into a stupendously deadly finishing move.

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I’ve been asked not to delve into some of the deeper upgrade systems that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will offer; you’ll have to discover those for yourself. However, hardcore fans will be happy to learn that the Materia system has returned, and remains largely untouched. For the uninitiated, Materia is Final Fantasy 7’s equivalent of magic.

Elemental properties like fire and lightning can be applied to weapons, which proved crucial in the opening duo of reactors I infiltrated. While in the premiere battle you could dismiss this as a flashy button masher, it quickly grows into a challenging RPG with a multitude of features making it tick, many of which I came to learn over the course of three hours, and that I can only see growing more rewarding as the adventure progresses. Nailing the battle system is arguably Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s biggest hurdle, and Square Enix cleared it without issue. 

The world of Midgar is a treat to explore, although I was sadly confined to mostly linear sections during my time with the game. The demo opens with Avalanche’s iconic raid on the Sector 1 Reactor. I battled through subway stations, guard-ridden tunnels and precarious walkways before finally arriving at the Reactor Core. Here, you face off against the Scorpion Sentinel, which utterly transforms an encounter I once thought irreplaceable in my memory. 

Once static boss fights have been morphed into multi-faceted set pieces which transition seamlessly before your eyes. The Scorpion Sentinel springs about the environment, climbing on walls and firing from above before slamming to the ground in an explosion of lightning fissures and homing missiles. It’s a visual marvel, and forced me to stay on toes throughout the long, unpredictable battle. As the game’s debut boss encounter, it puts up a good fight, taking the better part of 15 minutes to take down.

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Stages are explorable, no longer pre-rendered backgrounds adding flavour to a static skirmish. It brings to life a vision that existed in my imagination as a teenager, depicting my internal ideas for these characters so accurately that it’s almost frightening.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake won’t be a strictly open-world affair, but will include locations where players can take on side quests and partake in optional activities. I’ve caught glimpses of these in trailers and screenshots, but didn’t see any during my time with the game.

The narrative is more relevant than ever, following the younger generation as they seek to overthrow a maniacal corporation that is slowly but surely killing the planet for monetary gain. It’s a thinly veiled metaphor for global warming and the dangers of capitalism, highlighting how a single elite class hoarding the world’s resources and leaving everyone else behind is a recipe for disaster. The world’s imagery is awash with the consequences of profound industrialism and corporate greed, expressed by a modernist steampunk aesthetic that puts technological advancement ahead of humanity’s basic needs.

It’s a powerful message, and Square Enix is using the remake’s evident ambition to expand on characters, themes and events that felt simplistic in the original. Events and dialogue that were once housed in supplemental material are now front and centre, while other moments have been reworked entirely. Context that couldn’t be shown in the original because of limited hardware is made perfectly clear here, such as Avalanche’s status as a terrorist group being televised, with Shinra controlling the narrative as you try desperately to free citizens from their clutches.

It echoes the “fake news” phenomenon we see in our media landscape, adding another feather to Final Fantasy 7’s hauntingly relatable cap. New flashback sequences and further refinement to existing sequences mean that characters that were already fan favourites feel even more alive. This should make eventual moments in this episode and further ones even more heartbreaking, especially since millions already know what’s coming. Despite all this, I’m keeping my lips firmly closed to avoid spoilers. Yes, the sequence where Cloud wears a dress is untouched.

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Many players are afraid that because this first episode will only cover the first of three discs from the original, there simply won’t be much content, although it seems steps are being taken to address that.

Square has said it will be equivalent to a mainline Final Fantasy title, with players able to explore a living, breathing world with plenty to do outside of the main story. The proof will be in the pudding, but I’m fairly confident this Remake will offer more than enough to keep players enthralled for 20+ hours, or even more if some endgame opportunities are introduced.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake – Latest Impressions

After spending three hours with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, it’s genuinely everything I wanted it to be. It changed me from an excitable sceptic to a full-blown convert in a matter of moments once it became clearly how dedicated Square Enix is to pulling this off. I’m not sure it’s impossible to surpass the original’s place in the cultural zeitgeist, but this new experience is more than ready to proudly sit alongside it.

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