Forspoken is genuinely a decent game and I'm really struggling to see what people as a whole are disliking about it.

At no point did I find the dialogue nor story 'cringe' as everyone else seems to, infact, it's just the same as most open-world RPG's - which is baffling to me.

I actually quite enjoyed the story, and my major criticism for the game is that it was a little bit too short.

Graphically, yes, it's been downgraded from the initial teasers and announcement - which, as a title built for the PS5 is disappointing, but it's still not the worst looking game I've ever played.

The open-world is pretty much the same as most modern open-world games, littered with locations to explore and 'complete' - and hundreds of chests to collect.

There's a surprising lack of side quests though, which is annoying given the story's length.

The combat, however, is the main draw for this game. It's something different and is incredibly engaging, once you've gotten the hang of how the spells work and using them combined with Forspoken's parkour system becomes just delightful to experience.

I will absolutely be spending the next 30 hours collecting everything in this game - and would not be mad at a sequel.

Watch Dogs 2 manages, somehow, to be both better than the first and Legion.

It has, unlike both others, a strong cast of characters that help to carry the ‘just-okay’ plotline.

I’m slightly disappointed about the lack of use of the ‘main’ antagonist, limited to just a few (maybe 3 at the max) cutscenes spread throughout the game which left the finale feeling quite underwhelming.

I also took issue with the combat. I kinda expected as a hacker to be able to take multiple routes to complete a mission, rather than 9/10 ending up having to go in guns blazing or knocking out enemies - let me use my remote gadgets / camera hacking to do the work damn it!

The driving, also, isn’t the best experience ever. Ubisoft have yet to impress me with any kind of driving experience in their games.

I will say though, the rest of the game makes up, somewhat, for these faults and if they do make a fourth I hope to god it’s like this one.

(Also, bring back Marcus as he, along with Wrench, are the best characters this series has to offer)

In an era defined by large and mostly bland open-world games, rpg’s, souls-like’s, and FPS’s - Evil West decided to go completely against that and create a straight from 2005 PS2 era Action-Shooter game that feels completely enjoyable start to finish.

Now, it has its issues (lack of enemy variety, short length, levels tend to blend into one after a while - as well as a distinct lack of visual/gameplay polish) BUT it’s still an incredibly fun time. The story is nothing to write home about, vampire hunter hunts down vampires and spoils plot to overthrow the USA etc etc.

But there’s something that was so fun about mixing a western with quick-draw style moments with a fast-paced action game. I really do, however, wish there was more use to half of the upgrades and abilities you get as half of them were pretty pointless and I’d only unlocked maybe half by the time I reached the final boss.

If this ever gets a sequel, I absolutely will be buying day 1.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy might genuinely be my favourite entry in the franchise. And while it’s one of the - if not the shortest in the series, it’s certainly unparalleled.

The reasoning for it being my favourite is down to one thing - the writing and characterisation of Chloe and Nadine. I’ve genuinely no idea how Naughty Dog made such excellent choices to make these characters have completely natural arcs and incredibly witty dialogue.

The back and forth banter between the two just works.

In all honesty this game is the sole reason I picked up the Legacy of Thieves Collection and if you haven’t played it, you absolutely must.

(Now please, Naughty Dog, give me an entire series based off of Chloe and Nadine’s adventures..)

Anti-Bullying PSA the game.

Lost Judgment did what I was hoping it would do - it took the core foundations of Judgment and improved on them tenfold. The combat feels more refined, with a new style focusing on speed and deflection of attacks, as are the detective moments - it also adds in a few new brief ‘minigame’ like scenarios with stealth and parkour - though, the stealth could have been left out.

The story this time around felt way more realistic and grounded (even if some aspects stick to the standard Yakuza/Like A Dragon over-dramatics) and had me so hooked I barely touched upon the side content - which, I will be completing - centring around murders as a result of bullying in school(s).

The addition of Ijincho as an explorable area really helps to expand more past the typical Kamurocho setting (though, I’m aware it’s yet another repeat location from a Yakuza/Like A Dragon game).

The skateboard as a method of getting around the cities is an absolutely welcomed method making it so much faster to traverse both.

Hands down my favourite Ryu Ga Gotoku studio game to date of which I’ve played and I’m so hoping a third one will be developed.

Far Cry Primal tells you it’s sending you back to 10,000 BCE but feels more like it’s placed you down in a wildlife reserve with a couple of mammoths, sabretooth tigers and only some neanderthal looking npc’s.

Now, I know it’ll make some Far Cry fans hate me - but this genuinely out of the three Far Cry games I’ve played (and the two I’ve completed) is probably the most enjoyable time I’ve had in the franchise yet.

Maybe it’s because theres no cars with the weird feeling of controlling them? Maybe it’s the lack of guns and focus on melee weapons and bows / spears?

I did find the tamed animals could be irritating and get in the way all the damn time, especially when trying to loot bodies - and why do they all seem to have no health whatsoever? Every single time I was in combat they’d be dead within seconds.

However, I found the smaller world less overwhelming and made me actually want to explore it - knowing I wouldnt spend 40 hours doing the same things over and over.

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I was skeptical going into Like a Dragon - how would I feel about a series suddenly switching up its lead character on the 7th entry?

The first 5 or so hours also didn’t have me convinced - the Yakuza series always leant into the more “silly” side of things but had its lead be stoic and serious to balance things out. Like a Dragon takes the lead and also makes him a person who also sits more on the “unserious” side of things.

This is however, as I got more into it, actually enjoyable. It lends itself to the new turn-based combat instead of the beat-em-up type from the previous entries by making it a character trait. Ichiban sees the world and his “fighting” like his favourite video game - Dragon Quest, helping to allow for those quirky and weird enemies to fit into the world.

Ichiban does also have that emotional depth to balance out the character so it’s not all just crazy 24/7 (the ending may have gotten a tear out of me).

Not only did they swap out the lead and the combat but Ryu Ga Gotoku also switched out the main locale from series mainstay of Kamurocho to Isezaki Ijincho (Also featured in Lost Judgment), which is a decent size larger than Kamurocho.

Yet again, the story is just as good as the previous titles and really the main drawing factor for myself to play through these games, bringing in the fun and dramatic elements to truly create this video game “soap opera”.

The game also is littered, as expected, with hours upon hours of side activities and quests - from being a “Part-Time Hero” where you go around town saving people from trouble or providing them with items they’ve requested, to go-karting around the streets. Oh, and of course, sega arcades to play classic sega games.

Despite my initial scepticism of the drastic change of the series it’s certainly welcomed and needed to keep it fresh and engaging.

The Outer Worlds is a good RPG, however, there's something about it that feels... off? I can't ever put my finger on what exactly it is that just doesn't feel right about it - but I felt the same when I played through it on PS4.

There's not a whole lot of 'side content' and not a whole lot of main quests either, the areas you can explore are pretty small too - being just portions of certain planets and sure these are nicely 'detailed' areas that aren't expansive for the sake of expansive but they still feel quite empty.

You can't explore a vast majority of the 'ruined' or 'abandoned' houses which isn't exactly a big deal but when you have your playable world(s) split into smaller areas you'd expect to be able to explore pretty much all of it.

I do however, like the fact that if you put enough points into the right kinda build of character you can pretty much just walk through the game talking your way out of most all trouble put towards you - for example I pretty much finished the game by passing a persuasion check allowing me to just walk right on through the final area without the big onslaught of fighting.

It is a genuinely enjoyable game, despite how negative I appear to be on it. It has good characters and of the 'smaller' than average availability of quests most of them are well written and enjoyable. There's also 6 companions, 5 of which have pretty enjoyable questlines. It's also nice to be able to have 'skills' for your companions too.

This was also my first time playing the DLC for The Outer Worlds - I really enjoyed 'Murder on Eridanos' which changed things up to task the player with solving a murder. Meanwhile with 'Peril on Gorgon' I just didn't care for it much, it felt kinda like the rest of the game and with playing Murder on Eridanos first it was like going back to the main game after being presented something fresh.

Tears of the Kingdom continues the open-world, freeform - freedom driven gameplay by taking what Breath of the Wild started and expanding upon it tenfold. It makes its predecessor look like a tech demo with just how refined it is.

Nintendo listened to the feedback from the fans and finally added in varied dungeons and boss fights, and, most importantly, a final boss that rivals even the very best of the franchise and isn't just a complete underwhelming moment compared to what BotW presented.

Sure, it uses the same Hyrule and at first glance appears to be 'More of the same' but when you really begin to play it, it's more than just 'BotW with sky islands' it's BotW with sky islands, a whole underground map, caves, wells, dungeons, challenging combat that forces you to use your new tools, towns that have changed and/or expanded to fit the 'Upheaval', new enemies and a much more expanded story.

On top of these changes you then have the sheer amount of side content Nintendo have thrown into this - with over 60 'Side Adventures' and over 130 'Side Quests', not to mention the 120+ shrines that now primarily focus on puzzles to make use of the new abilities, more so than BotW did.

Everything just feels incredibly more refined here and it's a pleasure to see. There's absolutely some framerate issues here and there, mostly noticeable when using the Ultrahand ability and/or there's a lot going on on screen - however, it's not 'Pokemon Scarlet/Violet' levels of every movement causes lag. It also, graphically, has not changed since BotW 6 years ago.

Normally this lack of visual refinement would bug me, but, the gameplay itself with just how addicting and engaging it is makes up for any minor issue tenfold.

It's so hard to write about a game with this kind of scope, there's absolutely so much more I want to mention but, to try keep it """brief""" I've left out a decent chunk of what I'm wanting to say, but this is absolutely my Game of the Year.

How Nintendo will ever manage to top this - something said about BotW - I will be excited to see.

What bugs me about Pokemon Scarlet is there's a good game in there, a very decent Pokemon game just screaming in there under just a mess of technical issues.

I didn't go into this expecting anything great, after seeing everyone's reactions to it - all the videos of the bugs, etc, etc. What I didn't expect was how frustrating they are.

Every few seconds, from turning to loading into a battle is just frame drops, the graphics (while ugly environmentally, but not for the pokemon/humans) could be absolutely excused if it performed well, but, it doesn't. There's so many other games on the switch that have open worlds with enemies in the field that have very very minor frame drops (Xenoblade, for instance) and to see this just struggle to run is mind blowing.

Every time a new weather effect happened I had to brace for the inevitable moving at 5fps until I could get clear of whatever condition had just started.

Now, another thing - the gyms. Is it too much to ask to just have a 'heres a gym with 5 trainers and then the leader' back? I didn't much care for the gimmicks each had - I didn't hate them, but i just wanted to ... battle? with my pokemon? like you expect from a pokemon game ( The team star bases did this very well though at least).

And then we get onto the 'Open World' - good in concept, not so well executed. It felt small yet somehow empty and big? There's also the 'allowing you to do things in any order' - whilst still somehow having an order in mind but not telling you this order so you'll end up going to the fifth gym thinking its the next one.

I just really wanted to love/enjoy this and it just has so much that's punching you constantly rather than letting you enjoy it.

I've had PowerWash Simulator since its early access release, and let me tell you, this game. this game. It will drain your life from you with how addicting it is.

I found myself so often being like 'eh, I'm bored of this now but I just have this one little bit left to clean so I'll just do that.' cut to 4 more hours passing by.

I'm honestly impressed by how much it changed for the better, too, from its initial early access release to its full release. There's an interesting, if unnecessary, story woven throughout it all just to provide you with something to read while blasting dirt off of a multitude of different things - from houses to cars to boats to ancient statues.

I do feel like there needs to be some form of 'wider' nozzle with better strength though, as I got to the final two levels and felt myself feeling like it was taking forever, even with the three pronged nozzle.

Absolutely buy this game but note it will drain your life.

Death Stranding: Directors Cut marks my third playthrough of the game, having played the original PS4 release and then the PC port of the original.

The directors cut adds in additional features and quirks that makes the replay a little more exiting but not anything that makes the game any easier or anything substantial to differentiate it from the initial release (besides the buddy bot).

That being said, Death Stranding still has such an interesting integration of storytelling and gameplay - the idea of being so alone but connected to other players through shared structures to make the ultimate ‘delivering from a-b’ mechanic much easier.

This reflects the story as a whole - a world divided by solitude due to the ‘Death Stranding’ and your goal to reconnect it all and earn the trust of the now separated ‘settlements’ (and just for good measure of reinforcing this being the story the main character - portrayed by Norman Reedus - has ‘Asphenphosmphobia’ - the fear of being touched)

While the game doesn’t have a whole lot of action and reflects closer to that of a ‘walking simulator’ there’s something so charming about it that I’m absolutely fine with the few encounters it does have with combat, infact, I’d have actually preferred it to have no combat at all just pure focus on the core heart of the story - this connectivity emboldened by isolation.

Also, just a last minute shout out to the performances by Léa seydoux, Margaret Qualley, Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkleson, Troy Baker and Tommie Earl Jenkins who were absolutely incredible.

Starfield is Bethesda’s most ambitious game yet. Did you think Fallout 76 was too barren? Too devoid of life? Well…. Starfield is still that. How about other space games though, No Man’s Sky? Remember how they made it so you could fly not only around planets and land anywhere but directly up into space, and down onto another planet - no loading screen! Well…. Starfield doesn’t do that either.

Starfield’s main focus(es) both exploration and space travel are both incredibly pointless. For the majority of the game space travel is just menus, selecting where you want to go and then a loading screen. You’re really only using the ship when you have the very few enemy encounters to fight and/or to be an in-between stage of landing on a planet, because you need to be in orbit to then go to a menu to select the landing point on the planet if you’ve not been there before.

Now onto the planets - do you like walking and/or running with an incredibly limited stamina bar across vaste open empty spaces that boil down to ‘it either has trees or just rocks’ with a couple of randomly generated structures that are a very very long distance away from you and contain pretty much nothing? No? Well that’s all there is.

There are a few main cities, which do have their own unique aesthetic and design but with no minimap and no actual map to show you around (that isn’t just a planetary height map represented by blue dots on a darker blue background), it’s pretty easy to either get lost or not know what shops exist and where they are.

The game would’ve heavily benefited from being one or two systems with densely populated planets (a couple empty, sure, for resources, I’ll allow it) and the ability to actually use your ship for more than a ‘staging’ method for fast travel.

Now, weirdly enough, I did find some enjoyment amongst the soulless game design. Despite the main story being pretty bad and having an… interesting ending. I’m unsure what it was though, maybe it’s because of how it played exactly like Fallout that I couldn’t put it down. Maybe it’s because I can see the potential there that just never really got hit. Who knows.

All I know is, I’m so glad I played via gamepass and didn’t feel heavy regret at £60 spent on something that just doesn’t live up to what it tries to do in any aspect.

Infinite Wealth continues off with new main character Ichiban Kasuga's second outing in the formerly named 'Yakuza' franchise this time with returning icon and legend Kazuma Kiryu in tow.

Now, I'm someone who relishes in the series' old combat style and tone - with a silent and stoic protagonist, beat-em-up combat and then the quirky and stupid relegated to the side quests and supporting cast. However, I've begun to really warm to this shift of embracing the kooky, whilst allowing the main character to have their serious side (as shown throughout both LaD7 and Infinite Wealth).

What helps this time, especially in terms of the combat, is the much needed improvements to the turn based style. No longer are you constrained to a single spot - you can walk around freely in a small circle area which provides proximity bonuses if coming close to an enemy - or - combo bonuses if close to a party member with whom you have a good relationship with. Eventually, it ends up being a massive help - managing to get combos going and then follow-up attacks from other party members can really shift how a battle is going.

The story I don't need to comment on. It's a Like a Dragon/Yakuza game after all. It's got heart, it's got comedy, it's pure soap opera goodness and worth every single minute of lengthy cutscenes that the series is known for.

As expected from this series there's a whole host of side content and by a whole host I mean a l o t of side content. This time Ryu Ga Gotoku decided to spoof off a bunch of popular Nintendo IP's from a Pokemon Snap "clone", where you explore Hawaii on a tram and take pictures of muscle men in tight undies being lewd across the island to a full-blown Animal Crossing moment of having "your own" island resort to build up to a 5 star resort (of course, with it being Like a Dragon, it's got a campy and zany twist to it). I could honestly go on for hours about just how good of a job they did with Dondoko island and how unnecessarily in-depth they went with it or how I spent a good 10-15 hours of the total 50 I played of this game just building my resort but, I think it's best to just experience it.

God I can't wait to see what they do next with the series.