With a controversial creator, a struggling movie spin-off and a miserable Broadway production it becomes very easy to question ones love for the Wizarding World. Now here comes Hogwarts Legacy. While it absolutely feels late to the party it is here to try and live up to the expectations of those asking for it over the last decade. Consider me surprised that a title that released to such thunderous controversy is actually one of the most creatively bankrupt games of 2023.

It is hard not to compare what is here to Rockstar's "Bully" as it is the gold star example of how to properly do a school time setting. Balancing open world activities on a living schedule while providing incentives through gameplay bonuses for attending classes. Rather than work off of that already excellent concept we have an adventure that provides you with a long and tedious checklist of tasks that will keep you busy, but not entertained.

This is because there is a strong artificial presence while traversing Hogwarts and its surrounding region. It feels less like you are exploring the lived in world from the famed books/movies, and more like you are walking the halls of a diorama. Don't get me wrong it looks rather nice and the first time you see your house common room is a real treat. But interacting with students isn't possible. The same looped animation and sound effects repeat throughout the halls. The entire map is filled with these scroll collectibles that further make the world feel like we are on some guided tour through a museum. That outside region of Hogwarts could have been any generic fantasy setting because there isn't anything out there to truly make it feel worth exploring. It's really dull.

That same dullness is in the story as well. There are so many unremarkable and undeveloped characters in this adventure. Only a handful of the side quests feel worth your time and the main plot absolutely has a pacing problem. I think this issue stems from the fact that the game is clearly trying to have its cake and eat it too. Trying to simultaneously tell an original story while also trying to provide all the moments potter heads have wanted to experience in their dream scenario. It is a struggle to get through.

It's also pretty buggy. You're mileage may vary but there were certainly some standout bugs in my playthrough and there were two that really got to me. One where I died as I was killing a boss. Rather than giving me a game over my lifeless body just laid there and my character continued to speak as if his legs still worked. The other was a really horrible audio issue that triggered in the final boss room. Absolute tone killer and left me with a headache.

Finally combat, which is just fine I guess. It never amounts to more than just spamming your abilities on cooldown but I would be lying if I said I didn't find some moves to be pretty satisfying. I actually think some of the bugs contributed to my enjoyment in the combat as there were some hilarious glitched enemy deaths.

Honestly the most annoying thing is me explaining why I have this game marked as Abandoned and not Complete. I beat the main story. I got a "congrats" screen. But I only got 33% of the content done and I gave up on completing the final main quest as it required me to level up 8 more times just to watch a cutscene trigger. Yeah, no thanks. I don't own this game, I borrowed it from my brother and would rather get this returned to him so I could play literally anything else.

I'm not shocked this game sucks. I was planning on rating it a little bit higher but in the process of writing my thoughts out I settled on the conclusion that this game is bad and you shouldn't play it. The Wizarding World IP will need to try a bit harder next time as this adventure suffers from a surprising lack of magic.

TLDR: Much like J.K. Rowling's Disgusting rhetoric, this adventure feels uninspired.

Originally I was planning on making a joke about how this game is basically the unofficial Toree 3. The similarities are strong even without the knowledge that Toree is a playable guest character. But I think calling it "Toree 3" does injustice to what was made here. Not because Toree is a bad series, (far from it), but because studio "A Grumpy Fox" made a title that stands on its own.

What we have here is a solid 3D "Platform Runner" that takes heavy inspiration from 90s console era and is basically given away at a steal when looking at its low price.

It has a killer soundtrack and varied level themes while keeping with the ps1/dreamcast aesthetic. The platforming is on point and all three playable characters are different enough to warrant multiple playthroughs.

It is a short adventure clocking in at around 3 hours, but this is a game I will likely keep installed just to play a quick level every once in a while. I really enjoyed my time with this one and I think most others will too if they give it a chance.

Ironically the intended audience for this games feels to be the iPad parents who just want to shut their kid up for a few hours. The ones who don't care what their kid watches/plays and that is the same audience the show never pandered too.

With Australia being such a quality hub for developers it is a shame that a team with real passion and talent wasn't given the chance to make something special. The show is really charming and the thought of a Bluey game capitalizing on all the fun and wacky moments sounds great for the whole family.

But unfortunately we are left with this buggy husk of a title. Repetitive tasks, audio and an insultingly short run time make this a contender for worst of the year in 2023. Don't waste your time/money and skip it.

A whole new region to explore brings exciting fights, memorable characters and without a doubt the best villain seen in the Horizon series so far.

The biggest thing that does hold it back is that it mostly revolves around the Quen. They are arguably the least interesting tribe especially when compared to the Banuk who were introduced in the Frozen Wilds. That combined with a laughably low new machine count may leave some feeling disappointed with what this take on Hollywood has to offer.

But beyond those shortcomings is more of what made the base game such a standout. Providing us with a more compelling final boss and story moments that leave room for the third game to expand upon.

If you liked Forbidden West this is a must play and for whoever decided to give Sam Witwer a mustache....Gold Star perfection.

I believe that despite some woes Guerrilla Games really did make something special here. They may not be winning any awards for release timing, but they provided a beautiful world to explore, filled with deep lore and great enemy design

At the time of writing, only 62% of players on PS5 have made it past the opening questline. That kind of makes me sad. While the pacing is better than Zero Dawn it does still take a bit for the main plot to move forward. And I am certainly not going to pretend that all of the writing works here.

But between the incredible voice cast with the likes of Ashly Burch and the late great Lance Riddick, I think its more high sci-fi ideas are more interesting than people give it credit for. Both Horizon games are filled with unique tribes, internal myths and ideas that really do make this world feel like its own.

Traversing that world is even better. Whether swimming through the flooded remains of a sunken casino, walking across a vast desert or gliding through an icy tundra. The visual spectacle here is impressive and just walking through it is a sight to behold.

And of course the machine combat is just absolutely incredible. At one moment you'll be fighting a giant turtle that tends to burrow underground for surprise attacks. The next you will be jumped by a pack of kangaroos, wielding elemental yo-yos. New weapon types add to this experience with some tools that feel ripped right from a Ratchet and Clank game. Machine combat was the biggest strength in Zero Dawn and it is only improved here.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that every element of this game is completely unique but its highs more than make up for its lows. If you have the stomach for another open world adventure I would say give this a go. It might surprise you.

At the time of writing if you back track my progress by about 20 minutes I was fully prepared to gives this little DLC chapter a higher rating. I think it starts off incredibly strong with tight icy corridor design, a chilling atmosphere and an aggressively hungry walrus right on your toes.

But unfortunately this adventures ends shortly after it begins. Rather abruptly I earned the trophy for completing the main quest and was very puzzled. The new tools you earn aren't all that useful, one of them being something you would only use in the Pale Reach. On top of that there isn't a new colorful quest giver unique to this region either. A character appears for a brief moment with the tease of a possible photography quest....but no she just kind of leaves. Abruptly.

I guess I shouldn't be upset? It's reasonably priced, and as a huge fan of the base game I was happy to catch new fish and sail my little boat around. But the package feels like wasted potential. What started off with a region as captivating as the Stellar Basin, eventually became just as acceptable as Devil's Spine.

I think if you are hungry for more Dredge like I was you won't regret this purchase, but lets hope Black Salt Games does a little more with the next one...

Filled with quite a few surprises from its excellent puzzles to its gripping setting. Here you will be taken through a world where the only constants are its immense cruelty and somber atmosphere.

It wears its inspirations on its sleeve but don't mistake it for being played out. Signalis stands on its own as an incredible title in the survival horror genre.

If you told me this was your favorite game of all time, I wouldn't argue.