The single-player first-person shooter has become somewhat of a lost art. Risky trends have pushed the genre into multiplayer territory where they all fight to the death to be the last one standing. It's a battle royale of battle royales. Bethesda Softworks has been almost the sole arbiter of the bigger budget solo shooter, a club that Ascendant Studios is joining with its first title, Immortals of Aveum. Trading AK-47s for mystical gauntlets has not forfeited its identity as a first-person shooter, as this clever swap has allowed it to become one of the freshest debuts the genre has seen.

Read the full review here:
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/889984-immortals-of-aveum-review-ps5-worth-buying/

Food acts as a portal to another culture that transcends language barriers. You don’t have to be fluent in Farsi to eat fesenjān or speak Spanish to enjoy paella. Venba is a cooking-based puzzle game that uses food as a means of giving players a peek into the specific experience of emigrating from India to Canada in the 1980s. It’s not a perspective many have, but even though it can lack depth and be a little too on the nose, Venba uses the multifaceted power of food to serve players a helping of humanity.

Read the full review here:
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/887911-venba-review-ps5-worth-buying/

A photo can capture victory, defeat, love, hate, a dog at the beach, or a sassy cat stretching in the sunlight. It’s a medium that speaks simply but can have a strong effect. Viewfinder makes that effect literal as its photos shift and warp the real world in all sorts of ways, which the game uses as the basis for its puzzles. And even though it’s an impressive mechanic, the rest of the experience is almost as two-dimensional as an actual photo.

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https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/887036-viewfinder-review-ps5-worth-buying/

Synapse throws platoons of standard soldiers, behemoths with couch-sized miniguns, a conga line of exploding goons, and Psycho Mantis-esque flying freaks at players at a relentless pace. It’s a constant barrage of gunfire, explosions, flying debris, and — in some cases — lasers from the sky. But despite those odds, they’re still no match for the player in Synapse — an engrossing power fantasy built around PlayStation VR2‘s intricacies.

Read the full review here:
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/886162-synapse-review-psvr2-ps5-worth-buying/

The Callisto Protocol was a tragic misfire that fell well short of its potential. Tedious combat, a predictable story, and a frightening lack of scares all coalesced to form a lackluster debut from Striking Distance Studios. But like a patch, post-launch DLC is an opportunity to right wrongs and address criticism. (And there are plenty to choose from.) Final Transmission could have been the expansion to set things right for the fledgling horror title. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same problems as the base game and calcifies how fundamentally flawed The Callisto Protocol is.

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https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/886124-the-callisto-protocol-final-transmission-dlc-review-ps5-worth-buying/

It roams the claustrophobic halls around you. Relentless. Bloodthirsty. Eager to eviscerate any living being it hasn’t already disemboweled or decapitated. Fueled by malice and warped by eldritch sorcery, the fanged monstrosity took more of your men than the enemy combatants. The German soldiers were predictable, mortal. But this thing isn’t human. It’s something more — something worse. And it’s after you.

Tense unpredictability defines Amnesia: The Bunker. Paranoia lurks in each pocket of shadow, as the unspeakable terror stalks and torments players into submission. This atmosphere of distrust and fear elevates the sequel to must-play survival horror.

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https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/885023-amnesia-the-bunker-review-ps4-worth-buying/

Street Fighter 5 was one of Capcom’s many missteps in the previous generation that saw the infamous publisher at one of its historic lows. It was seemingly a hell of a learning experience since those hard times led to Resident Evil’s resurgence, one of the best Mega Man games, a bunch of well-made retro collections, and, now, Street Fighter 6. Capcom has emphasized the “Street” part of the title to great effect, giving it a distinct personality to go alongside its tight and traditional fighting mechanics that restore this franchise to some of its former glory.

Read the full review here:
https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/940651-street-fighter-6-review-ps5-worth-buying

Dogs are often said to be man’s best friend, but the one in tha and Enhance’s Humanity is more than that. This bizarre puzzler stars a lone and ethereal Shiba Inu as they guide humanity to the light, serving as a godlike figure who also undoubtedly enjoys the occasional belly rub. It’s a premise that seems like it would almost solely rely on its quirkiness to the detriment of its gameplay, but while its goofy charm is endearing, it’s a mostly engaging puzzle game full of brain-bending yet easy-to-grasp mechanics.

Read the full review here:
https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/review/882775-humanity-review-ps5-worth-playing-buying/

Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wilds built upon what made that first outing so special by expanding the story, setting up what was coming next, and adding just enough new gameplay aspects to liven up the core mechanics. Guerrilla Games showed that it knew how to make worthy DLC once and has proved it yet again with Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores. This expansion is comparatively even better than Frozen Wilds with a new setting, villain, and gameplay adjustments that are even more thorough and make for an excellent way to cap off the studio’s best game.

Read the full review here:
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1283262-horizon-forbidden-west-burning-shores-review-dlc-ps5-worth-buying

Electronic Arts’ tragic mishandling of the Star Wars license did at least result in one thoroughly great game: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It was a well-paced action title and far cry from the other Star Wars games at the time that also left plenty of room for improvement. Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall was a similarly solid idea that was able to flourish with its impeccable sequel. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor does expand upon Fallen Order‘s base by adding more open spaces and a bigger suite of companions, but also stumbles in many of the same ways and fails to be the significantly better second entry it deserves to be.

Read the full review here:
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1283261-star-wars-jedi-survivor-review-ps5-worth-buying

Dambuster Studios was formed to finish Homefront: The Revolution, a terrible and buggy shooter that undershot the low bar set by its aggressively mediocre predecessor, after financial woes forced Crytek off the project. Dambuster has been tasked once again to pick up the pieces of another game with Dead Island 2, a title that infamously ran through multiple studios in the nine or so years since its announcement. Although instead of once again buckling under the weight of expectations and messy development cycles, Dambuster has created an appropriately scoped zombie-slaying RPG with silly, yet rewarding physics that highlight its impressive gore technology.

Read the full review here:
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1280345-dead-island-2-review-ps4-ps5-worth-buying

After a long yet relaxing day of catching cod and tracking mackerel, you reel in the latest catch only to see that one gilled monstrosity has fanged teeth and three heads. It’s an otherwise normal catch, but this aquatic perversion sticks out. Although before this abnormality and the grim implications it might have can sink in, the moon rises and the peaceful ocean sights turn into a waking hallucinogenic nightmare. This half-calm, half-stressful scenario is what playing Dredge is like, as it mixes the tranquility of fishing with the tension of horror. And as strange as that mix is, it’s quite a great hook.

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https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1278641-dredge-review-ps5-worth-buying

Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 were from another time. Resident Evil 3 was anemic and disappointing yet deserving of a second chance. But Resident Evil 4 is the classic that reinvented a whole genre and revitalized a series with a gameplay loop so endlessly rewarding that it still warrants a replay every few years even almost two decades later. Those first three made cases for their remakes — ones rooted in their age — but Resident Evil 4 can’t claim to be geriatric when it still suplexes most of its competition into submission. The Resident Evil 4 remake, however, is a carefully considered reimagining that more than justifies its existence by keeping the skeleton of the original and thoughtfully improving it without sacrificing the brilliant Las Plagas-ridden heart at the center of it.

Read the full review here:
https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1274282-resident-evil-4-remake-review-ps5-worth-buying-re4