Releasing 3 years after 2016’s successful first game. This sequel sees you step into the shoes of a Hollywood actor who heeds the call of an intense and perfectionist director (voiced by the Candyman himself: Tony Todd) to take on the lead role in a film shot aboard an ocean liner. I thoroughly enjoyed the first game. The thick creepy gothic atmosphere and disturbing yet cryptic unraveling of the plot overshadowed the admittedly repetitive and basic nature of the gameplay. The sequel however doesn’t get away with this. Though featuring more dynamic set pieces and a smattering of genuine ‘boss’ encounters, this sequel largely rehashes the majority of the first game’s scare techniques, level structuring and cryptic storyline, to an unfortunately lesser effect. The core rhythm set by the first game is welcome. Beginning in your own private cabin on the ship. Each ‘Act’ begins after stepping out of the room, and each time you return something has changed, that only grows more apparent as the game progresses.Storytelling is largely up to the player to piece together through finding notes, objects and the myriad of musings from the Director, as well as the various characters seen in hallucinations and/or flashbacks. It’s just a shame that it is largely cliched and essentially is almost the same as the first game’s. Gameplay is essentially just moving the analogue stick with the occasional interaction with the triggers to sprint or open up doors, chests etc. It works for the ‘ghost train’ style of the game, however it certainly drags at points, especially due to the lack of frequent genuine frights. The sound design excels, especially with headphones. At its best the game crafts a genuinely unnerving, with a couple of hairraising chase sequences. At its worst it's simply dull and either wastes or squanders several scare tactic opportunities. The enemies are generic fodder and have zero presence. You can die (usually due to how dark the game is or picking a locked door), but death is instantaneous, as are the checkpoints and load times, so there is no real problem or large scale consequence to death. Graphically the game is impressive and there are a variety of different locales that all fit into the tone and story of the game. As a fan of noir and classic cinema, the aesthetic choices throughout were very welcome. The most simultaneously bizarre and intriguing element was the double hit of the game, outright copying scenes from Psycho and The Shining, as well as a whole section of a level serving as a walking tour through John Doe’s Se7en crimes.Tony Todd brings his usual menacing drawl as the Director to great success. The rest of the voice cast are fine and get the job done. Layers of Fear 2 is a decent albeit disappointing sequel. It certainly has its moments of chilling tension and creative imagery. However the repetitive gameplay, story beats, level design and presentation which almost completely copies the first game let it down. Worth the £3 I paid for it on sale.

While on vacation in the small town of Bright Falls, a struggling writer must investigate the mysterious disappearance of his wife while events from his latest manuscript, which he can't remember writing, begin to come true. A game that I really should have gotten to playing through sooner, as it ticks off many of my personal favourite elements of the horror and mystery genres, especially how they are presented through the medium of a video game. When this remaster was announced there was no hesitation in picking it up as soon as possible and luckily it lived up to my expectations. With a play time of around 8 hours (give or take), the game efficiently tells its psychological and supernatural mystery, with the help of excellently written dialogue for all the main characters. Alan himself (voiced brilliantly by Matthew Poretta) provides narration throughout and adds a layer of engaging emotional and relatability to the story. Dividing the game into chapters/episodes, gives it a novel-like structure and keeps the tension high when those episode cliff-hangers hit. The atmosphere and tone is nailed perfectly, with heavy nods to genre legends and inspirations like Alfred Hitchcock & Stephen King scattered throughout and a suitable balance of traditional jump scares, alongside the looming sense of dread. Visually the remaster certainly bolsters the environments especially. Layers of mist, impenetrable fog, spectacularly epic and chaotic set pieces and the always welcome humming glow of a light or lantern. The facial animations and designs have also been substantially tweaked and improved, with Alan looking far more expressive and like his real life voice actor. Gameplay is a very solid blend of third person shooting and a smattering of basic puzzles.The feedback from the guns feels excellent through the PS5 DualSense and the satisfying yet simplistic shotgun, rifle, pistol, torch and on-hand gadgets such as flashbangs and flares allows for a decent rotation. However combat encounters do fall into a repetitive and predictable structure, and though the challenge does ramp up at times, the sense of fear and unpredictability is lost, especially when some combat encounters do outstay their welcome. Most frustratingly is the mapping of the dodge mechanic button being the same as the sprint button. This frequently left me slightly sprinting forward at a different angle instead of dodging to the left or right. Some of the animations and character models could possibly have been smoothed out a bit more to really emphasise the remaster quality, because from an environmental perspective it is genuinely fantastic. Alan Wake is an immersive, engaging and very well paced action packed horror mystery. Led by a brilliant protagonist, featuring solid gameplay and a well designed world. Occasional clunky animations, an irritating dodge mechanic and repetitive encounters are noticeable, but are largely overshadowed by the prior mentioned positives.

After the largely negative reception to the live service model and alleged (I haven’t played it myself) generic and repetitive gameplay of Marvel’s Avengers last year, Square Enix’s announcement that they would be releasing a game paced on Marvel’s most popular misfits earlier this year at E3 was met with an understandably cautious and mixed response, despite no sign of any microtransactions and a commitment to a self-contained single player experience. Thankfully (just like the Guardians themselves), the underdog proves victorious, as this space adventure romp is an absolute blast to play through and is packed to the brim with heart, humour, a solid combat loop and many an Easter Egg for fans of Marvel’s cosmic output from the past.

One of the main criticisms aimed at the game pre-launch was the fact that you would only be able to play as Star-Lord, and the rest of the team would be A.I. controlled, with input provided from the player to execute a myriad of special attacks. However, within the opening sequence of the game, it is clear that this is Star-Lord’s journey. Starting the game as a young Peter Quill on Earth, before transitioning to the present day Star-Lord: “leader” of a ragtag bunch of the galaxy’s outcasts. Over the course of 12 or so hours, what starts off as the “simple” task of getting the bounty, pay the Nova Corps, turns into a potentially galaxy ending face-off against a maniacal space church cult. At the core of this bombastic sci-fi epic are themes of family (obviously) and most effectively conveyed: learning to accept and live with loss. I won’t go into too much detail due to spoilers, but the quieter moments of team interaction feature some incredibly satisfying and genuinely touching emotional weight at times. Contrasted with the fist in the air moments of teamwork pay-off during battles. The story itself does tick off a lot of familiar beats and certainly doesn’t rework the rule book, but the galaxy hopping structure and fan pleasing deep cuts keep it consistently engaging.

Gameplay-wise the game is very solid and simplistic As previously mentioned you control Star-Lord and largely blast your way through the enemy hordes with your laser guns. As you progress different elements will unlock for Star-Lord to use during puzzles, clear pathways and do significant damage to specific enemy types. Each Guardian (including Star-Lord) has four special attacks mapped to a different button that can be executed throughout combat encounters. These are satisfying to pull off and never feel too over or underpowered. Probably the most interesting and fun gameplay implementation is the ‘Team Huddle’ mechanic, where Star-Lord will pause combat to listen to the team’s thoughts on the battle in progress and you, the player, will have to choose the right option to motivate them, which in turn triggers a combat boost and kick-starts a tune. When not utilising their attacks the A.I. is consistently strong and I didn’t have any issues with them not responding, glitching etc. Admittedly combat encounters can get repetitive and messy, with the same selection of enemies (albeit with varying appearances) thrown at you in the same rhythm. Though scale-wise the boss fights are impressive, they do largely come down to the same approach for each encounter. Occasionally the game will have you piloting the Milano in dogfight style combat. These are fine, however the handling could have been tweaked, and they do feel a little like padding. Levels have branching and hidden pathways that can be explored to find outfits, collectables and scrap to upgrade Peter’s health, shield and moveset. Graphically the game is superb and frequently treads the line between photorealistic emotion for the character’s faces and vibrant comic book bombast and colour splashes for the different locations and costumes. Also the soundtrack is just as banger-filled as the films. There are countless satisfying song usages from a host of artists including: Iron Maiden, Kiss, Blondie, Gary Numan, Joan Jett and many more. The game also has its own in-universe band called Star-Lord who provide many shredding tracks (and accompanied a substantial amount of background music for me when typing up this review).

One of my main concerns going into this, was how much I would be comparing these particular versions of these characters with their MCU counterparts. Thankfully this barely happened, and thanks to tremendous voice acting and character work, Square’s Guardians stand tall and are very much their own personalities. The time spent hanging out between missions on the Milano and interacting with them, hearing their bickering, thoughts and history, really flesh them out and make it near impossible not to be interested and invested in them. A host of supporting players including Cosmo, Mantis, Adam Warlock and a few “deep cut” surprises certainly will please fans. The humour is on point throughout. Drax’s brazen and blunt observations, Rocket and Gamora’s frequent Snark and Peter and Groot’s chilled out optimism are captured perfectly. At times obviously not everything lands and both “Flark(ing)” and “Skut” are used to the point of oblivion.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy shoots to the top echelon of my favourite games of this year and is easily one of the best adaptations of these characters. Fast, fun and simple, yet effective gameplay. Brilliant voice acting, character work and world building, all work together to balance genuine heart and explosive extravaganza. At times the combat can get repetitive (as well as some of the dialogue beats) and the overarching blockbuster story certainly will be familiar to those who have seen/played a lot of the genre. However, it's undeniable how much fun I had with this and I really hope we get a sequel to carry on the adventures of this loveable, attitude filled team.

A timed exclusive that was originally released on the Xbox Series X & PC at the beginning of the year, before finally arriving on the PS5 earlier this month. The Medium follows Marianne (featuring a standout performance by Kelly Burke), a medium, who becomes wrapped up in a dark mystery that could potentially unlock the mysteries of her past, as well as exploring another potentially dangerous realm that also hides lethal and shocking secrets. Developed by Bloober Team (of Layers of Fear and Observer fame), the game delivers a frequently intriguing, creative and immersive experience that will have fans of the older Silent Hill titles and other third person horror adventures immediately on board. However a short playtime, repetitive gameplay and typical convoluted and unnecessary Bloober story beats hold it back. The story deals with many traumatic and disturbing themes, be it supernatural or grounded in reality. This sets a bleak tone for the proceedings and with the help of the score, sound design and location design, really helps craft an enrapturing atmosphere, especially during the game’s first half. Unfortunately there are a couple of sections dedicated to another character that, whilst visually impressive and deranged, do overstay their welcome and take away from Marianne, who is far more of an interesting protagonist. World building comes in the form of listening to past memories, helping lost souls back to their resting place and the ever reliable notes, diary entries etc. The main gameplay hook and unique selling point is the split screen implementation, which sees Marianne’s physical and otherworldly forms be utilised to solve puzzles and open up a whole other gameplay dynamic. This is seamlessly integrated and provides some fun puzzles and tense chase encounters (the highlight being a forest sequence which switches between both realities in real time). The main threat of the game is the twisted Maw (brilliantly voiced by Troy Baker), whose encounters switch between intense chases and largely simplistic stealth sections. Aside from him, you quickly realise the game doesn’t provide any other dangers to Marianne, which does unfortunately neuter the tension throughout. Graphically the game is genuinely stunning at certain points. The forest section is incredibly photorealistic and the contrast between the dulled down grounded real life sequences and the rusty, orange and spectral spirit realm. Obviously Bloober Team were still under some budgetary limitations, however this is by far their biggest and best looking game. Had it been longer and with a larger variety of enemy encounters The Medium could really have been something special, especially with its already unique and very solid main gameplay hook. The visual style, eeriness, world building and engaging lead character do make it worth a play overall.

Boasting a unique premise, an immersive morbid and off-kilter tone certainly helps carry the repetitive, simplistic gameplay, which admittedly is very much a product of 2014, when compared to the investigation methods seen in later releases in the genre. Though it may be fairly dated in terms of its character animations and graphics, the game undeniably still cuts a gloriously stylistic and gothic noir edge. The mystery, protagonist presentation and mood of the game all bleed noir, which for me is huge positive. A worthy and decent revisit to the game that was actually my first foray into the previous XONE/PS4 generation.

It's a shame that my first experience with this fan favourite spin-off was with this recently re-released PS5 port. The personality of the game thankfully still manages to shine through. With its frequent self-referential and borderline fourth wall breaking humour, coupled with the excellent retro-stylistic art style. However, even though it isn't completely unplayable, the fast paced gunplay is nearly tarnished, due to the incredibly clunky movement speed, input lag and choppy framerate, that is outright unacceptable in this generation.

A welcome return to form from Frogwares, after 2019's wasted potential of The Sinking City. Taking the open world, side investigations and unique map navigation approach that the aforementioned Cthulhu centric game delivered on, but this time bolstered by the studio's committed passion to this source material. Having improved character animations, voice acting as well crafting a genuinely intriguing, investing overarching story focusing on Sherlock's past (and the smart inclusion of Jon) makes this my personal favourite entry in the series so far from a narrative standpoint. The investigation process and approach to cases should please fans of the prior instalments, though the inclusion of clunky and unnecessary combat will certainly turn some off. The game does suffer from the familiar open world trappings and a couple of frustrating dialogue phrase repetition. Overall, I look forward to see what the developers do next with this character and world.

The third (main) season of Telltale's most popular interactive storytelling series may be a step down from its two predecessors, but it still delivers a strong family centric story. Clementine takes more of a backseat here (with brief flashback sections), which allows new player character Javier to become an engaging protagonist. The relationship drama, tension and moments of levity between the group and though not as consistently shocking as the previous two instalments, there are some genuinely jaw-dropping reveals and plot developments that occur. The reliable gameplay mechanics, tense time limits and improved HD PS4 visuals also excel as expected.

A ridiculously short (my playthrough total was around 90 minutes) horror puzzler, that has plenty of potential lore and world building to explore, as well as delivering some truly spine tingling sound effects, creeping dread and sharp jump scares. Unfortunately it is frequently squandered by a frustratingly thin story with a shockingly abrupt ending. Clunky movement, repetition in both its story and scare tactics are also certainly noticeable. You will begin to realise fairly soon when not to worry about the creaking and shuffling oddities behind you. Graphically the game is solid and there is some fun and creative horror imagery on display, but it is fleeting due to the pacing. For its cheap price I would say it is worth a peek for horror fans, but only if you have a gap in the schedule, as it certainly isn't essential.

Campaign Review

Finally arriving after the largely mediocre Halo 5: Guardians back in 2015. Infinite revels in nostalgic imagery, luscious, beautiful graphics and excels in its gunplay. However, it is hindered by autopilot inducing level engagement due to its busy work filled plot and gameplay loop. Countless 'find the power source to open a door or bridge (all in very samey locales), 'rules of three' (whether it is enemy hordes or targeting machinery to destroy). The open-world may look fantastic, but it simply is a mission in itself to traverse, with wide open spaces and a sparseness of vehicular options. New antagonists the Banished are largely generic and their leader's constant one note screaming becomes grating. Admittedly Chief's interactions with the 'Weapon' and Echo-216 do add a layer of humanity to the proceedings. Overall though Infinite is merely just fine. Its gunplay feels phenomenal and it is consistently immersive to look at, but it is severely lacking story and structure variety.

Having played the excellent remaster of the cult favourite survival horror actioner last year, I was intrigued to check out this divisive semi-sequel/spin-off. What immediately captivated me was the Twilight Zone inspired presentation and immersive, quirky and eerie isolated tone of the game. The graphics are still solid and the grindhouse-cinematic aesthetic and performance of the game is bolstered on the Series X. The third person shooting gameplay is very solid and surprisingly I found the dodge mechanic far more responsive and effective here than on the remaster. The time loop structure admittedly can be the subject of repetition (especially as the game never proves to be outright challenging playing on Normal difficulty) and even though the short playtime means that it never get's dull, you do wish that there was just more to it overall in terms of story substance and variety. Still certainly worth checking out for fans of Wake and to build up excitement for the direct sequel.