Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Well I don’t really pre-order games any more but this one felt necessary. I love Batman as any self respecting nerd would and I do love a good Lego game. It was a match made in heaven somewhat I think the only thing I’d have preferred is a new Lego Lord of the rings game. Which up until now has always been my top Lego video game and its taken what, like 14 years or around that time frame to finally be dethroned for me.

Now I would go out on a limb and immediately say that this has the best iteration of Gotham City to play around in even better then the Arkham games. I often find Lego games when released have great graphics for what they are and this game is no different. Having the constant night time of Gotham often dimly lit and in a foggy down pour all wrapped neatly in the gritty 80’s detective film where everywhere is etched with graffiti. The entire vibe just accentuates the vibe of Batman far better then it probably needs to. The game designers really hit out the park.

You really do have the freedom of Batman when playing in the city, you can run around or drive anywhere. You can use the grappling hook to reach the top of any building, launch yourself from the ledges to glide or even go through wind tunnels which act the same as they did in Spiderman 2 for slightly faster travel. You can do this with any of the 7 playable characters but you always have to have Batman as one of the two options available at the time.

This has an original story which is smashed up parts of the various films from over the years. It works more then you’d expect it too and some of the cutscenes and set pieces are faithfully recreated in Lego with the humour these games have become known for to help round out the more dark and violent parts. One of the best parts that really worked well is the Joker blowing up the hospital from the Dark Knight that is an exemplary recreation in my eyes. The game has 6 chapters to work through and its not the longest game in the world to complete. The mission lengths vary from relatively quick to about an hour and only have a few collectibles to find in each mission. The red bricks return but the lack the cheat codes or fun cosmetic changes you could do they only change costumes you can wear, a bit naff really. There’s no mini kits which is disgusting if you ask me, there’s only one set which is collected in the Batcave. Now all the collectible in mission just give you a decoration you can then see in the Batcave. I also often found myself finding this game really funny and I’m not ashamed to admit that. The way this game creates two face where Harvey Dent just repeatedly just gets hit in the same side of the face did tickle me.

The open world is set into three main areas and then into their own districts which everything you’ve found can be tracked. There isn’t a whole heap of actual side quests or missions which I find a little disappointing. It’s mostly just finding a fuck load of collectible. It is absolutely rammed full of them, from Wayne tech cases, specific villain trophies, Riddler and Cluemaster puzzles, finding missing animals. On top of that you have AR time trials for combat, traversal and racing. There’s a good chance I’m missing some but you get the point. Now if you want the Platinum you have to collect and do everything now this includes just playing every AR challenge as the traversal ones suck major ass, they are janky as anything and just don’t work.

The downside to the lack of variety somewhat is that it can be a bit repetitive as Cluemaster and Riddler mini puzzles play out the same and there is well over a 100 of them collectively and they are uneven in how easy they are to solve, mostly they are straight forward then some just are fiddly for the sake of it. I also had some major beef with the grappling hook, in that it just would grab random ledges or just not grab on to anything at all. Gliding could be a bit unresponsive on be a pain in its own right.

The Batcave can be customised to your own likings once you unlock all the extra areas, it’s a nice touch if not a bit unecessary. But I won’t ever complain about the extra miles the devs went too. You can also find Bat mite there and in shops around the city where you can but stuff for the Batcave, new costumes, red bricks etc.

You have a main skill tree which aids all characters and then one for each character which is there two useable skills. Now the main one helps in giving extra health, focus build up, combo builders, exploration and scanner for collectibles. These can be purchased via the gold bricks, and the individual ones are from the millions of wayne tech caches you find and there worth getting but if you went through the entire game without upgrading them it wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference.

I always appreciate when a game fully utilisations the haptic feedback of the dualsense and this title does that. You feel it when you hit boost in any of the vehicles or when you fire weapons but I like the feedback you get the footstep effect flipping between the R2 and L2 triggers when you run. This goes in with the detail of this game as a whole like the different handling of the cars and how you can even see the suspension rocking around in them. This is an extra mile for a standard Lego game but very welcome.

The biggest highlight of this game is the combat, now I could be wrong but I do believe Rocksteady the team the made the Arkham trilogy actually helped out with this game. As the fightings and reversal system is straight out of that series. This was an absolutely stellar choice to use here, it really sets it apart from other Lego games and makes for every combat instance fun. I’d say that it is more forgiving then the Arkham games as reaching higher combos on that took a lot longer to get the hang of and get the timings down well to keep the combo chain going. You even have the same style of stealth take downs and using ledges or gargoyles to leap on to unsuspecting adversaries. Or crawling under them from vents below. Now going forward I think having individual combat that fits each style of Lego game is the way to go. You also have the crimes you stop which constantly spawn in every district a few more in the variety of these wouldn’t have gone amiss either.

One other gripe I have with this game is the 7 playable characters don’t feel all that individual enough. I get they do fight differently and obviously have their own unique abilities, but Robin and Nightwing are basically the same, Batgirl is pretty useless outside of a few collectibles so she’s not needed often. Now there is absolutely loads of different costumes for each of them and I think it is 3 vehicles for each of them. Outside of Batman which has loads more of everything. I think it would’ve been nice if even a couple of the costumes actually affected gameplay somewhat makes them more worthwhile and to help aid in collecting them.

Overall I’d give this game a very highly Tasty 8/10.

Now 8/10 may seem a bit low considering I’m saying its now my favourite Lego game, but the lack of proper side quests and needing a few more characters stop it form being just that little bit higher for me. Also the main missions lack the sort of re-playability you get out of most Lego games as you can 100% pretty much first time round. I just think a bit more proper content then just a few hundred collectibles stops this from being an all-timer of a game. But it is very very fun to play, some of the main missions are fantastic and really showcase the detail and dedication these devs bring to the Lego games with the silly and highly detailed Lego creations. Plus the utterly fantastic combat elevating the combat heavy game. Now I just need to download and play the Mayhem DLC and see what that adds to the mix.

Released May 22nd on Sony Playstation 5.

Resident Evil 8: Village

Here we for the second and final entry in the Winters saga of Resident Evil with number 8, Village.

I jumped pretty much straight into this from 7 as I enjoyed it so much and I’m currently playing through the 2 remake so I am slowly working my way though all of this horror gaming goodness. I may have decided to start these way later then I should’ve but honestly Capcom is knocking it of the fucking park with this series.

Now this doesn’t share the same sort of atmosphere and perpetual dread that biohazard had with the nightmare Baker family. But that doesn’t mean Ethan isn’t in for a boatload of horror still. I’d argue there’s more for him to toil with as the game opens with Chris Redfield filling Mia his wife with lead you know the one you go through the whole of 7 to rescue. The story kicks off with an immediate bang a few years later as they are living in relative peace with their daughter Rose. This review will be filled with spoilers I really don’t think I can help it, but its happening so sorry I guess? The whole game resembles number 4 more then 7 which is both a very good thing with 4 being the best RE game to date and a bit of a bad thing as the extreme horror of 7 has dissipated mostly. Which was the highlight of the game really, the claustrophobia you were subjected to all the time, the extreme violence and gore the house was littered with. But on the flip side the more action heavy gameplay suits the bigger map you play round with.

Baby Rose and grown up Rose in the DLC story where shes plays the main character.

Now as the namesake of this game the story and gameplay centres around a village, a nameless village slightly stuck in the past lacking most of today’s modern technologies and is heavily designed to be of an Eastern European aesthetic but it takes place in a secluded area nestled in a snow covered mountain forming the backdrop in winter which has gotta be done purposefully due to it being Ethan’s last name. It just seems a tad on the nose don’t ya think? Overall the gameplay loop means you flitter in and out of the village a few times as you unlock new parts of the 6 winged unborn key to find new areas useful items which in turn get you items and entry to some houses or locked cupboards etc. Pretty standard RE stuff really with files, documents and the like littered around to expand the lore for the story. Each area is homed to a boss fight, whom is a child of Mother Miranda who kidnapped Ethan’s Daughter Rose and then proceeded to chunk her body up and put them in a flask so you have to essentially rebuild Rose to stop her nefarious plans. She’s a weak villain to be honest as she’s not in it all that much and she only gains some depth towards the lead up to her fight.

Some of the sights of the VIllage as you spend in game roughly one day here in the story saving as Ethan saving his daughter.

There’s far more shooting to be done in this sequel as you are hunted down by werewolves or Lycans in this. Now they are perfectly fine adversaries to gun down but for a horror game I personally found them to be kinda goofy looking rather then terrifying. There’s a few other flying enemies these kinda undead things and the Soldats which are mechanically enhanced bastards, as you have to hit them in their glowing heart like reactor. Now most of these you’ll find along with the likes of the bigger bosses like Moreau, Lady Dimitrescu, Donna and Heisenberg who are all mutated from the megamycete or parasitic mold that corrupted the Baker family in 7 and this is where it originates from. Which is why apparently in this tiny village with a relatively large castle just suddenly sprouts a whole fuckload of these mythical type creatures to ruin your day. But with the growing list of things to kill comes with a much bigger arsenal to play with and with subsequent walk-throughs it can be expanded further still. You’ve got a knife, pistols, shotguns, sub-machine guns, grenade launchers, assault rifles and even a really over powered sniper which I recommend using when you can. Most of these have more then one option available to you with their respective strengths and they can all be modded and upgraded. Better magazine capacity, damage, reload speed. Along with tighter and more responsive shooting as at times in 7 I was missing point blank then getting bodied by a gloopy mold thing.

The four main bosses you have to defeat leading up to Miranda.

Each time you return to the village the village itself will have changed slightly, opening new areas and for a few hidden boss fights. Each enemy and the stronger variants of them drop crystalized skulls or whole bodies which can be sold to the Duke. The mysterious sentient blob of meat that is this huge fucker. Now not much is ever explained about who he is or why he just rocks up ready to trade not only real money but also crystallized parts of creatures. But you’ll be glad he does as you can buy medicine, ammo, weapon mods. And if you hunt the animals and fish you come across he cooks up permanent health upgrades for you. He’s also fairly pivotal to a lot of the expose of the lore and what’s going on.

The duke and the selling of the crystalized corpses.

Now on the horror side it’s not completely gone and everything bleeds a lot especially scoring a critical hit explodes their heads usually. Ethan is always getting fucked up still, he loses a hand yet again against the tall lady of the castle who is the most interesting of the boss fights and area to work round with the castle. It’s a shame its the first real area as none of the others live up to it. However, even though I’d rank it the worst boss fight and area House Beneviento ramps up the horror and terror to 11 for about 10/15 mins. You get stuck in a house and have to figure out varying puzzles to escape, again pretty standard by the RE play book. But towards the end you are stalked by a giant slimy fetus demon for no real reason. I mean it makes sense from the psychological stand point of her bringing Ethan’s deepest fears out but its a tad unnecessary if you ask me. But there’s a few of unsightly grotesque things but most of which you shoot the shit out of collects its very pricey corpse to sell and you move on.

The feuts demon, Miranda who gets the staple horror leaky eyes and Heisenberg who transforms into this beast which you use a sort of tank to battle.

You can still collect items for combing as per normal as well, now you aren’t often that low on ammo especially once you’ve got three types of weapon on you and you can find out what you prefer to use for the play style you kinda want. Not in the sense of stealth, long ranged just if you want faster firing weapons crowd pleasers with a shotgun doling out big close range damage or if you want to try and pick them off from further afield first if you can. You can craft ammo, medicine,mines, flash bangs and a few explosive round variants. So not a lot to make but its all worthwhile a bit more then some of the few extra stuff you got in 7. On the plus each enemy has the chance to drop Lei the currency, ammo or a crafting item as well. So, ultimately you’re never running that low on the essentials. Plus the item management system which is like 4 in it’s a set grid which can be expanded so each item has its own space and can be slotted in to fit as best as you can by shifting and rotating them yourself. Allowing for a decent armoury to be kept on Ethan at all times and a healthy amount of medicine if you take damage regularly.

Some of the puzzles you find which you roll a seperate ball you have to find to unlock an tem worth a whole lot of dollar, and the Umbrella emblem making a cheeky appearance.

I’d rate the story to be stronger then in 7 and more consistent but with its flaws still and the game doesn’t drop off a bridge like it did once you hit the boat and played as Mia in 7. Its just there’s two areas namely the castle and Heisenberg’s compound which are just far better then the other areas. The overall mystery of the village is highlighted by the Duke and the part he plays in Ethan’s story and the tie in to the other games lore with Chris Redfield returning and giving you a real fun missions where you just unloaded a shit tonne of ammo into waves of Lycan’s and have a decent boss fight with the bigger variant of the goofy fuckers.

Ethan losing his hand in spectacular fashion once again.
The original source of the megamycete which gets blown to kingdom fuck at the end of the game.

Plus with the extra difficulties you have and the trophies you collect once you’ve completed the game once you earn credits for the in-game store to unlock better weapons for help to get the 100% completion if you want running all the way up to Village of Shadows difficulty. Which I’m currently trying to brave myself up to. Now the two hardest trophies to get are definitely the other game mode available to you. Mercenaries now these aren’t hard to do but to get at least a s-rank on them now that’s complete bullshit. I’ve admittedly not put a whole heap of effort into them but I got a couple A-ranks and I didn’t achieve that easily, but then again it could be that I just suck and can’t get the kill chain up high enough or fast enough to get the score multiplier you need.

Overall I’d rate this a notch above 7 and give it a full 9/10, Some Pure tasty Gaming.

The pay off for the slightly weaker characters and horror then you get in 7 is this game has a more focused story which allows for Ethan to become a much stronger character even if he does end up faceless in the end still. Along with the far superior setting which if you prefer the more action heavy entries of the series then this opens up a whole load of fun to be had as it takes the less threatening and serious tone to run through on multiple play-throughs which this game is designed to excel at making you want to play it more then once. It took me about 12 hours and I found most treasure and un-fogged the whole map, so the more you play and the better the weapons you have the faster you can rinse through this and even go for the harder trophy runs, like knife only or heal only 4 times. I’d recommend this more then its predecessor but so far I think I’d still say it’d be worth starting from 7 and working your way through both for the full experience of Ethan Winters and his families saga.

Released May 7th 2021 on Sony Playstation 5

Ball X Pit

Holy Shit what an amazing game this is. Honestly for 40 hours straight this hit me like crack directly being pumped into my veins. I haven’t being hooked on a game like this in such a long time. Its all I wanted to for the time it took me to get the platinum trophy nothing else was remotely good enough. So I can imagine you’ll already know what my overall review score will be for this indie game.

I was aware of what this game was before getting it but I wasn’t fully aware which I am so glad for. Its a real mean blend of a brick breaker game with roguelike runs that change every time you play it. But each level ends in a bullet hell style boss battle and in- between you are invited to have a light sim city base builder.

Everything in the base building is fully designed to help you on your runs through the 8 main levels, each come with their own sort of theme or biome and enemies. Which is where you get blueprints for new buildings. These buildings unlock new playable characters and stat boosts buildings like a barracks or schoolhouse. Each character starts with their own varying stats and ability but as you rinse through hordes of enemies before you, you collect exp orbs which level you up and allow for new balls to be added to your arsenal. Each of these buildings aid in stat increases per their own level and your characters boost they receive in battle.

My extremely neat and priductive little town for harvest, im aware its actually a bit of a shit fest but it did the job. I found dumoing all the fully upgraded buildings out of the way allowed for a more optimal bounce for me workers.

You harvest three resources in your little city, wheat, wood and stone, these resources can be upgraded to yield more per turn you send your characters bouncing around during the harvest time. You get one free harvest per turn but you can pay gold for more turns, as gold can be mined but each new building to be built or upgraded has to hit the scaffolding the required amount of time. And once you unlock the infinitely upgradeable versions they start taking 1000s to upgrade. With the standard building capping out at level 5 at most. The more characters you unlock the more workers you have for the harvest. They also come with their own boosts, like more harvest time on the harvest clock, double wheat or ignore stone and drill straight through it rather then bounce off it.

Just a slight insight into levelling up and what options are laid before you, plus the extensive list of what sort of damage your balls can do.

Unfortunately as previously said there is only 8 main stages, but there is 23 playable characters now I believe with the last free content update dropping recently. So there is a whole heap of replayable content to be had plus new game plus which allows you to just endlessly play each stage and worryingly for me I would. Its a small package with a shit tonne of reason to keep returning. If you are in a rush each run initially take about 15-20 mins and eventually once our loaded with boosts all over the place it become snug 10 mins. So you can pack a good chunk in if you only have like an hour of free time or just waiting to pass a little bit of time. It’s perfect for it.

The beautiful fusion process of improving the already lethal Nosferatu ball, which is the hardest fusion you need as it requires 3 specific fuion path ways. Its totally worth it though.

If you think that the game isn’t already giving enough at the end of completing the stage for the first time you are awarding with a trophy that also gives you passives stat boosts and for each character you complete the stage with that boost ups as well. Plus the characters house also comes with abilities better harvest if close to the wheat fields, better exp for characters if used, more harvest time, more gold coins. These aid in all of the other helpful buildings you get where you can set a worker to have a designated route for harvesting, auto harvest, start with more passive or special abilities, start at level 2 or 3 versions of these. Everything and I mean everything is perfectly designed to make each run as optimum as it can be.

A breakdown of what your stats start looking like once you’ve upgraded loads of the buildings and have even more passive boosts. PLus you can eventually get two characters at once to start with both of their abilities.

Now the main meat of this game is the combat. At its core it so simple but its so fucking goof. Your character will start with one ball, this could be a burn ball, a ghost ball, a bleed ball or an earthquake etc. Plus an ability that affects gameplay in some way like the balls are lobbed or start from the top of the screen. Quick side note I’d fully recommend whacking on auto fire as well saves yours trigger finger. Back to it, you then kill waves and waves of enemies and you hit 2 mini bosses who also widen the playing field for more enemies to appear. As you cut down hundreds of these fuckers, you are awarded with exp orbs with each level you get to pick another ball type from 4 options or a passive ball again of 4 options. You can also choose to pick one you already have to level it up to a maximum if level 3. Each level improves its stats from outright damage, to passive extra damage from burn damage or ball shooting speed, more baby balls so you shoot more each go. As you go along you can pick up fusion, this is where the depth comes in. You fuse two level 3’s together and they become both ball types with both lots of abilities plus a new ability. But it doesn’t stop there you can do it again with another to and then merge them together and if your lucky anf done two fusion routes correctly you then fuse them bad boys together. You end up with pure fucking carnage. You even can make special fusions like a nuclear bomb, a top tier option which I fully recommend to do as often as you can. Plus the Vampire route for Nosferatu or Satan as why not. But this also applies to some of the passive balls its oddly super engrossing and if you have your initial 4 slots filled you get annoyed you missed a better yielding fusion combo. This can be upgraded via the right buildings to 5 slots this is where the fun really kicks in for the later stages.

The very spinny neon final boss who absorbs your characters at the end and begins to transition you into new game plus.

Overall I’d rate this a solid 10/10 it’s real Fuckin’ Tasty. I can’t justifiably rate it anything lower.

This isn’t a masterpiece of gaming but it is an unreal piece of gaming. It’s one of the most fun games I have ever played and its utterly fantatsic. And at this point in my life I have legitimately played hundreds and not many have ever had me so engrossed in about an hour of play time. It’s so simple in every area whilst also being perfectly designed and balanced to make everything you do feel worthwhile. Each run is rewarding if you fail you never feel annoyed or overwhelmed. You just go back to your town do a few harvest and upgrade a few buildings. And if you need more harvest but are out of funds you can pick up another character and do an earlier stage gain some extra passive boosts from another stage completion. Its a lovely looking game for what is and everything is distinct in its own right. I have only two complaints, the first one I’d love a much more in-depth sim building aspect of the game because I fucking love me a sim management game. And number 2 there just isn’t enough of the game for as much as I have replayed it since completing it id love for more stages or eventually a sequel. The synergy in all aspects of the gameplay are only outshined by the synergy of the ball fusions themselves. This is a game I feel everyone should experince once just for the thrill it gives you if nothing else.

Released 15th October on Sony Playstation PS5

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

For some reasons unknown since Resident Evil 6 I just basically ignored this series. I think the only logical reason being was 5 wasn’t great and I distinctly remember 6 being the drizzling shits. Its one of the few games I just chose to not complete rather then forgetting about it which is usually the case. It just soured the series for me, I do have an inclining that I played the first 30 mins or so of this not long after the PS5 released but I didn’t remember any of it. And I am so glad I didn’t.

Holy shit what a game and re-entry to this horror series for me. Now I imagine considering this game will be 10 years old the beginning of next year and selling a whopping 15 million plus anyone who wanted to play this game practically has. I am exceedingly late to the party and I’m kinda glad of that fact.

The baker family in all their twisted glory.

I love horror as a genre it’s my favourite sort of film it’s just the absolute best and back in the PS2 days I loved me a bit of this series and the likes of Silent Hill. So steam rolling straight into the deep south of the swamps of Louisiana. Even if the area is fictional was a twist on the usual racoon city centric series. It’s a bit like Tatooine in Star Wars its always fucking set there for some reason. But this direct take really helps set up a whole other sense of dread. Especially once caught early on and you immediately have your hand cut clean off and then reattached by a miracle liquid. You know exactly what you’re in for over the next 12 hours.

Something that stuck out to me considering its age was the graphics. Now I know graphics don’t make a game but it does help for the immersion in a game like this I find. Having more realistic graphics and having a high level of detail which for a 10 year old game this definitely doesn’t look its age. The hair graphics are a bit dicey at times, but the rotting houses that have fallen into a complete state of decay due to the bakers possession is a highlight. It helps build the atmosphere as you are mercilessly hunted around the new and old house. Both of which are equally falling apart and loaded with bugs, dead things, piles of rot, hanging meat and what id expect to be bagged victims. The filth and decay that pervades through the residence is highlighted by the photo realism and light particles that show the peeling wallpaper and dust covered surfaces in the most horror fashion and tighten the sense of claustrophobia that really tightens its grip on Ethan as the game progresses.

Just some of the usual creepy shit you’ll stumble upon in this game.

Now I mention horror films up above because this film is nothing short of being a long brutal 18 rated horror film or whatever the top rating your residence has. The violence comes thick and fast in this game, you play as Ethan Winters who has gone looking for his missing wife Mia. Now this will have minor spoilers but considering the games age I feel I can be let off a bit here. She is corrupted by a toxic mold along with the Baker family who are the primary antagonists of this title. Jack the father of the family is the best villain of this whole game you fight him multiple times and his insanity isn’t directed just at you but his family as well and he often causes self inflicted injuries which luckily he can heal from. This can range from setting himself alight, shooting himself point blank in the head or cutting chunks out of himself. Its insane, the violence is visceral like when the police officers head is shovelled in half and it slops off. Then later on to help solve a puzzle you’re forced to put your hand down his neck stump to pull a key out. It’s utterly unforgiving and would shock any one watching a film in the cinema with such scenes. The gore is high in this game but not all the time it’s spread out as the entire game takes place in the Bakers new and old home with a bit of the surroundings where the gardens are. Outside of the last section or so the amount of enemies in this are pretty sparse.

The survival aspects of this game are pretty tight with very few items you can use for crafting and ammo is plentiful enough but still not too be wasted. You can find mods for the guns or if you get the repair kits attain better pistols and shotguns. With health upgrades and the best .44 magnum locked behind bird cages in the caravan which cost the hidden antique coins you have to find. I would’ve preferred a better knife even if it was late into the game cause that just don’t do shit even for when you are attacked by swarms of bugs. The guns which are the thing you see most hanging out in front of you due to the fist person perspective look great as do the animations when pouring a first aid kit on yourself to heal from your injuries. The screen getting more and more red which helps signal its time to med up. These all have small gameplay nods to take note of like reloading as well as how the enemies and bosses move these all help with things like ammo conservation and when to run away instead of wasting bullets. Bringing the survival aspects directly into your control as well as what the game gives you.

You’ll find a random selection of weaponry in this game as I’m sure the average person doesn’t stash a grenade launcher. You unlock the magnum via the birdcage and the old faithful of the phone going off to help you progress.

One part of the narrative I did enjoy was the story has playable flashbacks which explain later parts of the games and help you track items or hidden objects you need for later on. With the clown puzzle game in the happy birthday tape being top end fucked up. It’s a shame that the story overall isn’t the strongest. It’s held together by finding and reading the files and documents as per usually with these sort of games. I’d also argue once you end up going onto the boat and playing as Mia for a bit which does explain the story a lot more the game tails off and doesn’t fully recover steam from it. I’d also day Ethan isn’t the strongest of protagonists there’s a fleck of personality but not a whole heap and you never see his face. So the idea I’m sure is you are the main character more so as you play in first person as well.

Just some of the bosses in this game which are all totally fucked anatomically. It wouldn’t be as scary if they looked normal though would it?

I’m big enough to admit I also played this first run on the easiest mode, I ain’t got time to be playing survival horror on hard difficulties from the get go. Especially as these games are designed for multiple re-runs. The first time round you explore and take your time, learn what works best against the enemies and bosses, where all the good stuff is. Then you can do the speed runs and health limiting options etc. Now on easy I didn’t really struggle but I can imagine if you wanted to go for the platinum and play it on madhouse difficulty then that’d be nothing short of a right fucking nightmare.

Some more weird shit, an arm you fuse with the fetid thing for the serum and the poor police officer who gets shovelled early on.

There are couple of add ons for this as well with a couple more mini episodes that fill in some slight gaps of the main story, but the two meaty ones are Not a Hero where you play as Chris Redfield and its more action heavy. Far more molded to kill and is around an hour and a half or so and is self contained story that centres around the Bakers son Lucas whose a right ballbag so it’s nice when you eventually kill him. Then you have the End of Zoe where you play as Jacks brother and you have to save the daughter Zoe who helps you in the game via phones calls but doesn’t do much else outside of the pointers she gives you. But this one is way fun you just go round punching the fuck out of everything and find little voodoo dolls that increase your damage output. Whilst finding something akin to the ballistic fists in Fallout. I’d have happily taken a DLC a good twice the size of this. I had a blast playing this one and I found it a reasonable send off to the story before jumping into Village to finish the Winters saga.

Overall I’d rate this a highly Tasty 8/10.

The horror and gore are tight as can be here and the terror is right up there for the first two thirds of the game and it drops off a bit for my liking. The gun play is a bit dicey which I think is more purposeful but not great when ammo at times is fairly scarce and there isn’t a learning curve to master. The story could’ve been stronger and Ethan could’ve been highlighted a tad more. But none of this detracts from the immediate return to form for one of the best survival horror series of all time. It hooked me enough to pretty much jump straight into number 8 so it did many many things right.

Released June 13th 2022 on Sony Playstation 5.

Control Ultimate Edition

I am fully reinvesting myself into the Remedy verse this year, having already completed Alan Wake Remastered Control Ultimate Edition was next on the agenda. I would play Quantum break but I am unable to play that title with my consoles. However that’s neither here nor there and from what I can make out its only slightly relevant when you get to Alan Wake 2. Which I have every intention of getting done prior to the sequel of this game resonant dropping in September of this year.

I had already completed this back on PS4 not long after it initially dropped and I was a fan of it then, but honestly it quickly faded into the dark recesses of my mind. This isn’t the case this time round, I really enjoyed this game with round 2, far more then before.

This game is full of the floaty people who if positioned right you can levitate onto their backs and jump to hidden platfroms. Also theres just bodies and pools of blood everywhere. The staffing once the hiss are gone would be severely effected.

The game takes place solely in a maze like office tower which due to its links with the supernatural there is pockets of other dimensions that pop up for you to explore as well. The story is simple at it’s core you play as Jesse who is looking for her missing brother from an incident that happened many years prior. Where naturally she developed this symbiotic other entity known as polaris who goes everywhere with her. Upon entry to the Oldest House, she finds the director has committed suicide and when picking up the gun or service weapon as its known. She embarks on a journey of becoming the new director and repelling the hiss who have taken over the oldest house. Theres a whole heap more to it involving frequencies, giant eyeball creatures and the board of directors that call on a red phone that speaks in coded riddles. It’s horror tinged sci-fi at its best.

I’m not sure what you call this effect but I dig it, its another great stylised choice for the ambience of the game and overall tone of the setting.

The office building itself gives me Loki vibes with the setting and the objects of power or altered items which are usually everyday items such as a fridge that is possessed. With the fridge in particular being kept in check by having shifts where people have stare at it without blinking for hours at a time. Its always referred to as paranatural and theres also a mold substance you fight back at behest of Ahti the janitor who pops up at random times to help you move forward.

Your main man Ahti who talks in weird riddles.

This game is far more action heavy then Alan Wake where you fight of hundreds of Hiss the main enemy of the game who often are these red floaty creatures that are just angry all the time. They have also taken over security so you have grounded enemies with some serious fire power plus the hiss like to bum rush you and explode or launch shit at you. The firther you go into the game the harder the waves of these enemies become, which is standard practice but if you aren’t prepared or your laodout isn’t up to scratch you will be in for a much harder time then you need.

A couple of the bosses you face and the astral plain which is often used for training purposes and more of a central element in the Foundation DLC.

Your only weapon in the game is the service gun but you are able to unlock and craft alternating forms for it. The standard option is grip and honestly it’s probably one of the better forms when fully kitted out. I primarily used shatter a shotgun type weapon and the spin option for an smg type fire rate. Now they all share ammo, and ammo in this game is self replenishing so if you run out in one form you run out in the other. A weird choice you can only have 2 modes active at once but considering they share ammo it doesn’t really matter if you were able to cycle through each option. You can upgrade them twice and are able to equip up to three mods to them which can aid in damage,fire rate, area of effect, extra headshot damage, chance of ammo etc. There is a good few options. These mods also go for Jesse herself where you can increase health, effects of unlocked powers, launch damage, the energy bar recharging faster etc. Now launch is probably the best offensive play in the game. Anything that is highlighted when triggered this includes enemies, with the right skill upgrade can be pummelled at high speed into the hiss. It wrecks full powered and combined with the shield bash you can do some serious damage even without the gun.

Your skill tree and the mod section for Jesse and the Service weapon.

You don’t get any standard rpg upgrades in this game and now bumps from levelling up but you are awarded skill points for competing main missions,side missions and finding hidden areas which range from a locked room to floating up to a ledge or shooting through a plywood wall. I’d highly recommend going for health and launch primarily, melee was pretty much worthless in this game its a strange choice to upgrade it when you really don’t need it. You then have levitate which is mainly traversal outside of a cool height slam which blasts an area of damage and the recoil sends the enemies packing. The last two then are evade which I’d go for after launch is done and seize which I didn’t really use either but that allows you to temporarily control a nearly defeated enemy. But all the stat multipliers and that come from the mods which are levelled themselves and the rarer it is the better it’s effects and you can craft them yourself from a fast travel point. This is also where you can upgrade your weapons and make jukebox coins.

A couple of the few hundred collectibles you can find, plus the maps which eventually free flow into one another. Then you have board Countermeasures which are small optional objectives like go to a specific ara and kill hiss with headshots or use a specific service weapon mode.

The many sectors of the Oldest House ranges from your standard office blocks, to your underground maintenance sector which rips through into the earth itself and loops back round. Then you have the mining area which is connected via a lengthy elevator system and is littered with just enough lights so you can evade the hiss, theres a giant furnace that you have to quell just between regular corridors bridging sectors. The science sector, long sweeping staircase leading to a canteen area. It’s all over the shop and just cause theres also a massive mail sorting area. The astral plain is used to tie the worlds together and often used in aiding jumps between broken corridors. Now I did find that astral plain to be very reminiscent of Astral Chain which is a very good thing as that is a title I heartily recommend. Often at the end of these little detours you’d find yourself in a hotel room where you’d be tasked with a puzzle to active the light pull to jump back to the correct location. The best section of the game is the maze which I won’t spoil here as it’s cool as fuck. Now the best bit comes from all the destruction you can reap, blasting chunks of concrete of columns pulling up bits of floor, annihilating desks and computers littering the place with broken glass sand paper. It really aids in the immersion of the skirmishes you are often involved in. Which for the most part I felt the service weapon acted and handled very well. I was bad at aiming but I can’t fault the systems for my own shortcomings.

I’d say difficulty wise it’s not the worst game out there but I did find the further I got into the harder it became and the hiss became actively more bastardised. The hardest part of the game was definitely the main boss of the DLC for the tie into Alan Wake, where you have to fight Dr Hartman, fuck that guy and fuck that fight. I died so many times. The other DLC is the Foundation a main narrative story to sorta close of the game that I didn’t find nearly as bad. The AWE DLC was nice horror side quest though with returning aspects from Alan Wake like having to destroy the darkness with lights first and the entire area being just generally much darker to see, which I am too blind for sometimes. Gotta crank that brightness options right up.

The return of the prodigal son, Alan Wake himself, even beack with the wierd uncanny implementation of having the actor hes based on pop up behind for his inner monologues.

Overall I’d rate this game a hefty 9/10, Some Pure Tasty Gaming.

This game has a lot going on especially narrative wise, with a lot of information being packed into the letters,files and audio clips you find. With many of the main points coming from the live action videos of the Dr Darling who has gone missing and then his replacement of Emily Pope who fills all the blanks in with Jesse. It all ties in very nicely once you start reaching the climax of the game and its a great pay off especially with the branching parts linking and leading into other games. I think the mods could be better used and the skill trees tweaked a bit more with making two of them more worthwhile. The side quests which are fun could’ve been more in-depth at times as well just to help flesh out the side characters and all the nuance with the Oldest House which in it’s own right is very much one of the central characters of this world. It’s an easy platinum trophy if that floats your boat. It’s basically just do everything plus a few sidey bits and one grindy trophy with the 100 ability points. If you don’t really find any hidden ones you can only get this if you finish both DLCs and most of the side content in them as well. So its very doable but can be out of reach if you don’t want to go traipsing through the areas again or do the extra content. But its an action heavy, rpg lite with semi open areas which all link and loop into one another with a stellar art direction and story. You can’t not be in for a good time if you want play this.

Released on 2nd February 2021 on Sony Playstation 5.

Game Collection Update, June 2026

Yo, it’s been a while since I’ve done a little round up of some of my newer additions to my collection. Its been a somewhat slower year so far new games, but on the flip side I’ve slowly been making my way through the backlog of PS5 games I’ve amassed. This is currently at the detriment to any other console era though as I’ve pretty much neglected them. I’ve put a mighty amount of time in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on my Switch but other then that I’ve not strayed to far away from the PS5. However I’m not here to talk about that currently, I’m here for a small round up. So lets get stuck into that shall we?

Kicking things off is a good one if I do say so myself. For PS3 we’ve got the Metal Gear Solid HD collection. Now I am a massive fan of Kojima games and I do love me some MGS. This is a collection that I am trying to slowly amass all of them across every generation. It’ll take some time and money but I’ll get there one day. So finding this for cheap was a good day for me.

Next a couple of PS2 games, purchasing the O.G Destroy All Humans and Mortal Kombat Deception. Now both of these are replacements for me as naturally I regret trading in pretty much every game ever. And Deception is by far my favourite Mortal Kombat game, everything about this one is just spot on. In fact this is the sort of game I’d want remastering or remaking it’d be nothing short of incredible by today’s standards.

Swapping PlayStation for Xbox, in the 360 title and spin-off game of Halo 3 ODST. I never played this originally and admittedly I still haven’t its been a good while since I whirled up my original Xbox 360. I probably should at some point soon, I feel the need to run through the original Gears of War Trilogy with E-day dropping soon. Not that I have a series X to even play it, just makes me want to relive the good ol’ days.

Two for the PS4 now. Assassins Creed Origins still my favourite AC game since Brotherhood and nothings lived up to it since. I will get to Shadows sooner rather then later and I may even give Black Flag Resynced another go as my hot take is I didn’t particularly enjoy Black Flag when it initially launched but the new version does look worthwhile for another go. Then we have Killzone Shadows Fall. Now, I will never understand why Sony and Guerilla games killed this series off, it was a peak IP and in today market done correctly could steam the competition. It baffles me that it’s basically just being ignored and all but forgotten today. A waste of a top tier series.

An arcade break off here for the NEOGEO Arcade 1 Collection on the Evercade. Now if you have seen anything by before then you’ll know how much love I have for this little system and bringing back the Metal Slug games was fucking inspired. Plus you always get more then one game on these cartridges so having Sengoku and the King of Fighters 2000 as well is just the cherry on top.

A random title for the Wii is up next. I say random as for me when it comes to game collecting I only actually buy stuff I’m interested in or what to get again. I don’t personally want to buy every PS3 game ever or have every international variant of a specific title. I think that these are perfectly acceptable things to do and in most cases end up looking hella cool. But I just don’t necessarily want that. So I wouldn’t normally purchase Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. But hear me out it was a quid and still sealed. Now it is still sealed and will remain that way for as long as I keep it. It’ll probably never be worth anything but finding a sealed game whether a good or really shit game from 2008 is a weird treasure.

I think to finish this brief interlude between my actual reviews will be a 3DS title. The one in question is Hyrule Warriors Legends. What’s not to love about this game one of the best and my personal favourite series of all time in Zelda smashed with a musou game. I have actually played this a fair bit i’ve just never written anything up about it. But the typical Dynasty warriors 1 v 1000 combat here fits like a glove for the Zelda inspired spin-off. It’s fun and the levelling up plus weapon upgrading is highly in-depth and you could easily sink hundreds of hours into this game if you wanted to aiming for 100% completion. Plus if you don’t have a 3DS there is a fresher Switch version with more stuff in it. I haven’t got that version but I can imagine one day I will. As this game collecting is fully a curse well an addiction if nothing else.

That’s it for now my good people. Next will be my main reviews of Control Deluxe edition and Resident Evil 7. Plus the mighty Ball X Pit. All 3 titles are absolute belters in my humble opinion. Then we move on to Resident evil Village as I’m finally choosing to play catch up on the remakes and newer relasese. Then finally last years game of the year Clair Obscur Expedition 33. I realise I should probably play some older games and review them as well but that’s a different challenge I face but there is a heap of PS3 games I wish to get on to hopefully sooner rather then alter. Anyway as always stay frosty and take care my gaming companions.

Pokemon Legends ZA

With anything game related for the past year and half I have tried my hardest to be better and not buy games on release. I managed 2 days after this launched before cracking, I’m overall improving and slowly making a good dent in my backlog, only diverging a bit here and there. No matter how good or bad a Pokemon game is I’m just weak to them. The only reason I haven’t got Pokopia yet is because I’ve relented in buying a Switch 2, but the time for me slipping and buying that is nigh I feel.

Now I was going to try and wait for the Switch 2 version of this but honestly I’m not entirely sure the better hardware is worth it for. I can’t personally compare but it looked and played good enough for me. I’ve sat on this review for a while having actually completed it a while back and I’m waiting for a gap to play the mega dimension DLC which I’ve had since it dropped as well.

I loved Legend Arceus it’s my favourite Pokemon game in a long time it did loads of things right and a few more tweaks it could’ve been even better. I’d hoped this entry in the spin-off series from the mainline titles would build on everything Arceus did. In some regards it does but others it dropped the ball on.

The whole crew and the ceo of quartsico who is in charge of the wild and battle zones.

A big drawback is the map itself with the entire game taking place in the city of Lumiose, now being a sequel to the 3DS titles of X and Y. It makes sense. However for all the grandeur of the more fleshed out map. It needed at least another smaller area of some sort or a few outside wild areas just to help expand the world. As it does feel a bit tiny even with the freedom of running around the rooftops. There’s a few section that involve the underground of this city but again its real small. They could’ve easily made this area a lot larger and increased the amount of base Pokemon available to catch. Give it a bit of tears of the kingdom feel to it. It’s all very much crammed into the modern urban setting, even littered with scaffolding for that real life city feel where everything is pinned up with metal.

An overhead view of the map and the very cleat nod to the land of France, and a picture of a fish Pokemon just being summoned to the cold hard pavement for shits and giggles. Only slughtly cruel in a real life context.

Graphically again another step up for the usual lagging behind of Pokemon games, the Pokemon themselves look good, the textures look better. The character animations are improved less of a clunky marionette. There’s more expression to help convey stuff which would be even better if some form of voice acting made an appearance in these games. Its still a bit choppy and all over the shop with a mix of higher rendered cell shading era with some more realistic graphics for backgrounds. It needs to meld better to find its own footing still, somehow which for a series going this long is a weird statement to make. For me I enjoy a graphically technical marvel in gaming but it isn’t everything, having a far more enjoyable gameplay loop is more important and Pokemon does always scratch that itch, luckily.

One of my biggest gripes of Arceus was that there needed more variety and a large pool of mons to collect. Now this title has less, if you take away the mega evolutions which makes a triumphant return. Easily my favourite gimmick of the games. I wish however they’d figure a way out to over stat Pokemon and just let them have alternate permanent evolutions of a fourth tier. That’d properly tickle ma pickle, but I digress. There’s 232 base Pokemon and 65 megas before the DLC. It’s again not enough a cool 400 or so would be the sweet spot, and the wild zones that open up as you progress through the story to catch them is limiting. It’s a cool idea to make a living breathing cohabiting relationship in this fictional world. But when they open they take a chunk of the city away and they aren’t all that big. Some smaller areas of them can be opened up with a particular ability like burning a vine, or breaking boulders, even washing away sludge. This goes with what I’ve already said having one or two areas outside of the city could’ve expanded on the amount to catch with a better variety of explorable areas without taking from the city itself.

My starter choice in Chikorita may not have been the best starter from its inception but i’ve always had a soft spot for it.

This title is a lot more battle heavy then Arceus which preferred the capturing of Pokemon in large quantities to fill out the Pokedex. Which I really loved doing it made you feel part of the history of the series. I overall preferred the older setting and more laid back approach to that game. Now I’m all for battling and this really reminds me of Colosseum for some reason which is no bad thing as love that game. Its definitely more engaging but it’s missing the grit bags to help build up your teams personal stats. The optional battle styles for attack with agile or strong which is an odd choice to remove as it makes more sense for this game being more battle orientated. The more dynamic approach of feeling like the battles take place in real time being able to run around the battlefield and your moves having a range or chances to miss is cool, as well with the limited pp gone becoming a cool down option for the four moves that are chosen. I think that’s all a great improvement. But to launch an attack you have to hold the ZL button down at all times which doesn’t quiet hit the mark 100% of the time it should’ve been more of a toggle

.

There’s more of a story here and it’s slightly longer to complete and without going into the plots of X, Y and this its a decent way to wrap it all up. The use of Zygarde being the main legendary is well used and is merged more into the entire plot which makes a change as well. The side missions are still there even if they aren’t normally that tasking. You unlock these once you meet Emma the detective, and she gives you some quest if you’ve downloaded the free gifts to get a couple extra legendaries.

The ZA tournament is the central part of the game and is even the end game content once you’ve completed the main missions, outside of mopping up side quest and capturing everything if you wanted to. Again something that is a step back is you have trade only evolutions again rather then being able to buy the items you need to keep the entire game self contained for a solo player.

Now the tournament in the story has a big jump from rank V to F which is annoying but does help progress the story but this is kinda filled in by the end game content. With the wild zones used to capture Pokemon you get sectioned off areas where free battles take part, where these are filled with trainers all wanting to battle. They give you points per victory to aid in your rank up battles. Your main source of income comes from here as the mpre you beat the higher the multiplier is at the end. You can also pick up little battle cards which if you do the optional objective it rewards you with more coins. You can only hold three t one go however, they can be swapped out if you find a better one.

I really enjoyed the rogue mega battles, these were the boss battles of the game replacing gym leaders to some extent. The were always fun and they did pose more of a threat then a standard battle. Not having the right elemental advantage within a mega yourself would really prolong the battle especially after a couple of hits to your player you blacked out even if your team was at 100% health.

Some of the new megas, and Starmie had to be captured in all its leggy glory.

An odd choice I find id the removal of crafting which at long last had finally been added. I really enjoyed making everything I used to catch Pokemon and getting new items as I ranked up or purchased new recipes. I think that’s a real step back for this title.

I found catching Pokemon wasn’t as fun either, it’s more auto-locked then in Arceus and doesn’t feel as fluid or interesting when you miss or you score that sweet sweet head shot from a weird angle. The need to crouch and use items to help increase your chances has gone, sneaking doesn’t aid you. When these were primary functions of the initial entry I don’t get why they’ve suddenly gone.

The final form of Zygarde who you use to fight the big boss at the end of the game. I enjoyed how they just become a massive fucking cannon. Its almost like a digimon in the ebst way.

A few more quality of life features have been added, like passing time on benches which helps with filling out the Pokedex as some only come out at night etc. If your Pokeballs miss when trying to catch something, some guy stands outside of all the healing centres to give you them back. You can fast travel to any important location or wild zone from the off set.

Overall I’d rate this game a positively Tasty 7.5/10.

If you like Pokemon games the you’ll love this, it has the strong roots that we’ve all come to love and the battling this time round is more fun then it’s been for a good while. There is some lost ground here and the bits they’ve improved upon don’t make up for it. The playable world is too small including the weird choice of not being able to enter basically any of the buildings in a map designed to feel like a living,breathing city. And there needed to be at least another 50 or more Pokemon needed for variety instead of relying on new mega evolutions to pad these numbers out. Omitting crafting is an odd choice I can’t get behind either and reducing the prominence of the Pokedex once more is weird. But this is a fun,vibrant extension of the Pokemon franchise which really needs to find the ultimate middle ground between the Legend titles and the mainline ones. There is truly something special to be had here if they game freak can do that.

Released 16th October 2025 on Nintendo Switch 1/2

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.

Time for another deep dive into one of the mighty worlds from the team of Bethesda. This time returning to the mega RPG classic that is Oblivion which first released in 2006. The fact this is twenty years old already makes my hairs go that little bit greyer just writing this.

I won’t dive to much into the specifics of this game as I suspect that there’s a high chance that if you’re reading this you are well versed in the original already. However, to be called a simple remaster feels a slight on the effort that would’ve gone into this. It’s not just overhauled 4k visuals and lighting. Its new textures, overhauled assets, new models, redesigned environments in and outside of the cities. New animations for everything which is a blessing for combat with better hit boxes. Especially if you wanna play as an archer. The upgraded system has been tweaked, health regenerates out of combat which is a nice bonus. I’m sure I’m missing something. But the sheer amount of quality of life upgrades are immense. Nothing against Bethesda games, but they are normally gammy as fuck, littered with bugs and glitches. Some of which are endearing and can be fun overs not so much.

So naturally being a massive Skyrim player completing it in its entirety on 4 different consoles across 3 generations. I went Nord with my character choice along with the option of picking their area birth being the western side for higher endurance. I couldn’t be to arsed in character creation so I just hit random a couple times, a splash of ageing and some facial hair. I felt that did the trick. But you can used the enhanced character creation to do far more then me. And because I’m edgy and like to be different I went for a crusader build under the warrior star sign. Which is daring I know, but it means I can pick up a stick and beat shit out of everything out with it. What can I say and I’m an easy type of guy effort ain’t my thing. However full magic or stealth builds are completely doable from the get go, with the race you pick also aiding in your chosen play style, from Orc, Breton, Redguard or any of the Elves you can choose. You unfortunately can’t respec in the game once you leave passed the sewers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t mix and match your play style to be a hybrid of another vocation if you wish. Its more akin to the special system in fallout where you main attributes do the heavy lifting and everything around it can still aid you even if not to its full potential.

A few select pics for the Oblivion gates and the darth maul looking mother fuckers that try to run your day whilst in there.

Another bit with the skills is every 25% of filling out to level 100 you can a permanent bump and it ranges from damage boosts,stamina boosts, new abilities like dodging. Even gaining the shield bash which can be handy as you can multi hit with either hand like in skyrim, the dexterity isn’t there in the system. You can only defend, attack or cast spells which can be a tad annoying on some occasions when you’re surrounded by multiple enemies who just start to really lay into you from all angles and you can only really hit slowly, waiting for a gap in between defending and trying to heal yourself. You do have potions that replenish all these things or give you temporary boosts or scrolls that acts as one time use spells. Like fireball or summoning a one time monster.

These were my final stats and build by the end of the game.

One of the best things from Skyrim for me is crafting, it’s not the most in-depth system in the world. But I fucking love me a crafting system. Now there isn’t one in oblivion which I think limits your weapons and armours a tad. Having the option to bump it all up by a few points would go a long way here. You can if you max out your armourer with repair hammers at level 100 over repair temporarily but it dips off quickly.

The books and lore in this game far surpass Skyrim something that needs to return when 6 is eventually released at the turn of the century.

There’s a deeper enemy pool then Skyrim as well, and the dremora are more on focus as well with the closing of the Oblivion gates. However it lacks a lot of the cool shit from Skyrim you know with the dragons, giants, mammoths etc.

A few of the bosses you may enounter in this game.

I’d say there’s gotta be around 200 explorable locations in this game. So there’s much spelunking to be had if you really want to explore everything this world has to offer. I would say on average though the chests and loot in theses kinda fucking suck. It’s mostly shit potions or gold and if you sell everything like me once you hit the item weight limit you’re caked up pretty early on so it becomes a wee bit redundant. Better stuff appears on your enemies as you hit personal level miles and around 15 is where it hits it stride. This helps the rng chance of the best version of rare stuff or named items. This is where the dungeon bosses start to come in handy if you need an easy enchanted weapon or armour piece to buff you up a tad.

The continent of Cyrodiil has a real wayward wondrous nature about it as you plip plop around. It’s odd as you feel you need to do the main quests or jump into the nearest mining cave you find but simultaneously you don’t ever feel the need to rush yourself. Everything has it’s time and place and if you only wanted to do the main stuff and the bigger side quests in the guilds. So the mage, fighters, thieves, dark brotherhood and the arena. Now I’d recommend smashing out the arena as soon as due to the easy levelling up and skills you get and its not particularly difficult to rinse your way through and earn a few septim along the way. The dark brotherhood is the best side questline by a long mile, the fighters and thieves guild are a bit naff but still worth your time to explore more of what this sprawling rpg has to offer.

The two world maps with only a small chunk cut off for photo capturig but you can see how populated the map os with things to do and i’ve probably missed a good wad still.

Now this being a bethesda game it does come with its bugs and glitches. For the most part it’s just part of the charm that comes with them. Many games suffer the same sort of fate but often these come in spades with these titles. I got mostly lucky except for at one point a will-o-wisp was hunting me down like the fucking terminator on every single save option. It wouldn’t take damage and it was mercilessly cutting down the npcs. It was nearly game breaking, funny but ass-clenching as I was like 50 hours deep at this point. It eventually gave up after I ran the length of the map from one end to the other and it allowed me to finally fast travel and then I never saw it again. Hopefully it died. This was the only one that caused any real issue nothing a quick load of a quick or auto save didn’t fix if anything else appeared.

The dlc for this game even when it initially dropped was the gold standard and it still is. The two main ones are the path of the nine and Shivering Isles. The path of the nine is a fun linear experience which rewards you with some of the best armour, sword and shield. However, as previously mentioned it sorta matches with your level. I didn’t realise this and did it a bit early on my final defence and attack I got form it was a wee bit shite. Also it’s best to do it after the dark brotherhood and thieves guild quest lines as it gives you a negative morality standing with the games system. The first quest clears all this off for you and you can redo it anytime but you need to have only like 2 points max going against you else you can’t wear or use anything which you need to finish the missions.

Some of the DLC armour sets make you look fresh on the killing fields.

Now the Shivering isles is magnificent, just everything about it is amazing. The weird and wonderful dialogue especially from the Daedric Prince Sheogorath. This particular plane of oblivion does feel like an extension of the main game but with it’s own odd flair. The strange creatures you come against and the odd flora that inhabits the land. The plot is great and easily stands on par with the main story but in some regards I actually preferred it. It has more choices in it which don’t do a lot but make you feel more involved. It adds a good 20-30 hours for your playtime if you wish to explore everything and do some of the most tedious collecting side quests going. But it adds new weapons, armour types, spells to help flesh out the game more. It”s everything you’d need in an expansion which is often missed in most games nowadays. I would complain that it should be harder and feel more of an endgame expansion though whereas you can kinda just do it whenever. This could more be a complaint on my particular preference then an actual grievance.

A few more poorly taken photos to attempt and capture the essence of The Shivering Isles.

I did find lockpicking to be the absolute drizzling shits and I can’t recommend enough to do the daedric quest for Nocturne. This rewards you with the skeleton key which is an unbreakable lockpick so you can just spam the auto chance option. All the while reaping that sweet sweet skill exp. Ironically by the end of the game I was pretty decent at the very hard lockpicking an often didn’t need to use the auto chance. So perhaps its just a skill issue on my part.

Overall i’d give this a massive 9/10, some Pure Tasty Gaming.

Its not a 10/10 for me though just on the basis of the main quest feeling lacking and the oblivion gates kinda being sucky and a bit boring after a few off them. Along with the dungeons often feeling a bit rinse, repeat. However, the world is great, the variety is there in all other aspects. So for me to only rate it down for these minor things should show you how amazing this 20 year old game is. It is a masterclass in the genre still, not as in-depth as Morrowind or missing the less lore-heavy books and stories of Skyrim. All three have there merits and there is some quality of life and improvements that went into the more casual Skyrim which after replaying this I can appreciate even more. I definitely enjoyed the more rpg heavy mechanics, the clunky combat could’ve felt a bit more modern still but it fits the game perfectly. I never felt bored at any point in this game. In- fact once I had finished all the main quests and did nearly all the other quest I could find I felt sad to be finishing it. Luckily though its always there to dive head first again when I need too.

Released Aprill 22nd 2025 on Sony Playstation 5.

Alan wake Remastered

I’d like to say I vividly remember playing this on the Xbox 360 back in 2010 having fond memories of really enjoying it and always wondering if they’d ever continue it. However, it transpired I remembered I borderline nothing. This isn’t a bad thing this time round as It meant outside of gameplay the story was somewhat new again. Plus it’s nice its available on a Playstation console this time.

The game mechanics fighting off the Taken, the poor unfortunate souls who had been possessed by the Dark Presence. The overall bad of the game is what I remembered most. Blasting the poor fucks with the light of your flash light or eventual lantern beam before filling them with lead. Turn this writer into a bona fide monster killer or just serial killer depending how the denizens of the fictitious Bright Falls reacted to hundreds of their fellow neighbours disappeared into nothing. As he hunts down this malevolent force in the hopes to save his wife who was abducted by this spooky old bitch.

Aesthetically this games narrative and setting are a superb mix between the Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks. With just a dash of some of that uncanny valley weirdness. This helps give this game its own sorta special horror vibe which helps let it stand out. With the intention of the game being released in an episodic manner much akin to a limited TV series you’d watch. It breaks the story up without actually breaking it up, it’s weird but it works. It really invites you in with it’s strong narrative and constant twists and turns.

Your trusty pal and agent Barry.
The last boss of the main game, bit of an odd choice but it works.

The world that Bright Falls inhabits is a tight little area strewn together with a real sense of travelling through a part of rural America. You can tell that it was supposed to be an open world game as initially intended. I’m not entirely sure how that game would’ve felt but this more linear story driven experience was definitely the better choice.

Some of the sights of Bright falls, i’ve missed mnay but you can get the jist of it.

To give it that extra spiciness to the horror aesthetics, most of the gameplay except a few small interludes takes place at night. Fully allowing the game light mechanics to shine (i’m not sorry for the terrible pun). Using lights is the primary way you fight off the taken, possessed machinery or objects that launch at you with no wanton care. They are kinda annoying as you can’t really deal with them in an orderly manner. Nothing major but can be a bit annoying when you’ve got 5 concrete tubes launching at you around mach 10. Every time you hit a light you get a checkpoint or save plus an instant top up of your health. The constant encroaching darkness closing in allows for a claustrophobic impending doom to always linger over Alan’s head, before some farmer with a sledgehammer or something appears from behind aiming to cave it in.

I’d say for the most part the combat and dodging you can do is functional at best and feels mostly satisfying when you finish them off. But at several points you lose your entire inventory, ammo can be sparse at some points and can be a bit tedious if you aren’t near a lamp post or flood light. You can dodge which causes a bit of a time delay to help you manoeuvre the camera in your favour. But as the enemies get harder to take down and some of them hit 3 times in a row which can’t be dodged or parried if caught and you can only take 4 hits before dying. It’s a bit unforgiving for no real reason. There is no way of upgrading weapons or ammo capacity or even your health. With each of the weapons, the revolver, either of the two shotguns or the hunting rifles being ammo capacity locked as well sometimes you think you’ve saved up a good amount only for a checkpoint to rinse you of everything. So you end up back at square one. The best items by far are flash lights and the mighty flash-bangs, they fuck shit up real good along with the flare gun. Which is ideal for taking out the many flocks of demon birds that pop up to ruin your night regularly. I just think one or two more guns just to pad the armoury out a bit more wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Your weapon quick change menu, the street light savepoint and tool box for some ammo. Plus them pesky birds.

If you are aiming for the platinum trophy of this title it will take you a clean 2 runs minimum due to having to play it on the hardest difficulty and some of the collectibles are locked behind this which you have to find nearly all 291 on them. For me that was a no go, I just don’t have it in me for this particular game. It’s a bit of a cheap way to bloat gameplay for no real cause you don’t get anything for finding all of a certain thing whether it’s the manuscript pages which are narrated by Alan himself which is a nice way of reading the story for extra context. But there’s a few hidden TV shows which are fun to watch I won’t give them away to much, radio shows, can towers to shoot, signposts, some hidden chest for extra ammo or weapons and the biggest chunk the coffee thermoses. I’d probably say it’s not horrific to collect them all but without following a guide there’s a good chance you’ll miss a couple which even though each episode can be played at any point once completed. It’s always from the start with the basic set of weapons or flash lights not your previous loadout. So it’s always a bit of an annoying soft reset.

Just an example of the many collectibles to be found in this game.

I did start the DLC for it but for whatever reason they decided to up the difficulty without any real way of balancing it on your end. The waves of enemies is upped significantly and usually padded out with the harder ones to take down. It also comes with a new mechanic for the flashlight activating the floating word and its’ following action. Which I think in principle is cool but in action it kinds didn’t work all that well. When you haven’t got the time to point or waste the limited amount of battery you have whilst your about to be gang jumped by scythe wielding maniacs and exploding the bang option also inflicts damage to yourself its a bit asinine.

This a cool feature they added if you scan these in game it leads to some pre release stuff for Alan Wake 2.

The story is the strongest aspect of the game, its a nice twist from the standard sort of horror game by having an unravelling author who is trapped in his own work of fiction with his own words having a deadly effect to the real world he lives in. I’m not entirely sure how it all pans out into the expanded universe yet, I am working on that slowly. I have completed Control previously but prior to the releases of the story DLC and I’ve never played quantum break. I’m really looking forward to getting through most of these and wrap up with Alan Wake 2 soon. Hopefully before Control Resonant drops. So I can really get into the very expanded lore of this converging game universe.

Overall I’d rate this game a very high 7/10, Positively tasty.

I feel I enjoyed this more the second time round, so having very little memory of the story made for a more enjoyable time. The remaster elevates the graphics and textures a little bit more with enhanced character models but I’d probably say not enough to make it a must have if you have access to the original. The biggest highlight is having the extra DLC in one disc as well. I think if the game itself had a few more enemies and this was balanced out with a few extra weapons and 1 or 2 ways of upgrading Alan it could’ve been that little bit better. As it nots a fully fledged action shooter nor is it a full survival horror. It falls nicely in the middle but could’ve dipped its toes more in one aspect of it. But its a great story and a fairly compelling way to wrap it up, it’s a shame it took 13 years for a sequel but I feel it was worth the wait.

Released October 5th 2021 on Sony Playstation 5

Game Collection update, March 2026.

It’s that time again whilst I finish working on a couple other reviews including Pokemon Legends ZA, and the mighty Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion. After the dismal year of gaming that was 2025 for me. I’ve managed to hit the ground running this year, solidly working through my main backlog. I’ve still got a long ways to go and it will undoubtedly get worse, even in my best attempts of not buying new games. The same doesn’t apply to older games or repurchasing games I regretfully traded in many a year ago.

But until the next wave of reviews drops for now I’ll do a small collection round up as I try and get on top of this as well as the playing of many, many games.

Kicking this collection round up, is The Lord of the Rings, Battle for Middle Earth II on Xbox 360. Anything Lord of the Rings related is worth a purchase in my books. This entry into the greatest literary series of all time, I’m right on that and you can fight me about it. I’l never change my opinion. This real time strategy game is the second and last entry into this series which is a true shame as it definitely deserves a third part. However at this point i’d guess not likely at all.

Next up on the PS5 is the game of the year for me. Death Stranding 2. I got this beautiful creation on launch and it took me a fucking long ass time to complete it. By my god what a ride it was and was it worth it. I whole heartedly recommend this to everyone. And for a wee bit of self promotion, that was my last game review to see why its a 10/10.

For the Switch we have the House of the Dead remake. No I made a boo boo here. I have a bad tendency to not read things properly and I’m turbo shite at proof reading which is especially bad considering I’m doing a uni degree currently. But this was just a game code in an empty case. I mean what’s’ the fuckin’ point. I want my cartridge considering I’m paying the same price, but what’s done is done.

Something that I patiently awaited for and pre-ordered as soon as I was able to, the Soul Reaver 1 and 2 remaster. The Legacy of Kain series is one of my all time favourite gaming series. And it’s legacy has somewhat been lost in the shuffle as the years went by. Now we also have the remake of Defiance, which I can only pray for a physical edition so I may get another copy of that as well.

I got two decent charity shop finds in Bloodrayne and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for PS2. I think both for like £1 each so I helped myself to them.

Here we have an absolute classic on the PS1, the Alien trilogy. This was a happy find for me as it was a game I had when I was younger and had long since disposed of. I even got it in its Platinum cased edition which for the most part disgusts me but its how I originally had it so I had to do it for memories if nothing else.

Next up another passing random find, Naruto Ultimate Ninja for PS2. Naruto being in my top 5 Anime of all time and having completed a shit tonne of the games over the years I’d never played this entry in the earlier gaming series. So I was pretty chuffed with this one.

And finally for this round up another Switch title, in Daemon X Machina. I played the demo for this when it initially released and ad every intention of buying it. I did not. Now jump along like 6 years this was oddly hard to find. It didn’t cost a whole lot but trying to find a decent copy proved an effort.

So for now I’ll leave things here my tasty chums, as I do some actual life and some gaming for more mediocre reviews of mine which I often realise after I’ve posted that I’ve missed crucial points I wanted to include. But never come back to include because I’m that type of guy, I hope you also continue to thrive in your daily endeavours and continue to keep up the good fight against your gaming backlog. And if you feel like by all means follow me on my socials for even more updates and random nonsense. You can find me on FB, insta and threads. But fuck X, that’s a real pit of shit. But stay frosty my friends and see you soon for another one of my riveting reviews.