PS5 Game Reviews
Review Cocoon (PS5) - All Killer, No Filler in This Superb Recursive World Puzzler
Marble madness
Geometric Interactive is led by alumni from Playdead, the studio behind Limbo and Inside, and you can really tell. Its debut game, Cocoon, shares a lead gameplay designer in Jeppe Carlsen, and his expertise shines through in one of this year's standout releases — indie or otherwise. With an ingenious concept fuelling its myriad...
Review Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless (PS5) - The Crazy RPG Series at Its Best
To Hell with honour
The nonsensical turn-based strategy RPG series Disgaea has always marched to the beat of its own drum. With Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless, this tradition continues, for better or worse. We can't imagine new converts will be won to the cause here, but if you've stuck with the series this long, you'll likely have a Hell of a...
Review Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (PS5) - Ada Wong Fronts More Sublime RE Action
She did it her way
This year's Resident Evil 4 is one of the greatest remakes of all time, but purists — or at least those who had already played the PS2 version — will tell you it was still missing something. When the Nintendo GameCube original was ported to Sony's second home system, it came bundled with new campaigns all about side character...
Review PAYDAY 3 (PS5) - An Outdated Co-Op Heisting Experience
Clowning around
Payday 3 is the third entry in the always online, one-to-four-player, cooperative heist FPS series from Starbreeze Studios. Returning from retirement, the Payday crew have not only moved to terrorise a new city, from Washington DC to New York, but also moved game engine from Payday 2’s Diesel into the more robust Unreal Engine 4...
Review Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (PS5) - Excellent Expansion Is Cyberpunk's Blood and Wine
Reed between the lines
CD Projekt Red has a bit of a knack for crafting DLC adventures. The Witcher 3 was blessed with two outstanding expansions, and the Polish developer can now add Phantom Liberty to its list of incredibly high quality excursions. Cyberpunk 2077's first (and last) expansion is an emotional rollercoaster, and features some of the...
Review NBA 2K24 (PS5) - Stunning Sports Game Wants You to Spend
Dunkin' dough? Nuts
Visual Concepts came to an important but necessary conclusion with NBA 2K24: it needed to dial back the superfluous aspects of the series back. For the past two years, on PS5 specifically, the release’s popular MyCAREER mode has wanted to touch upon all aspects of basketball – including the cultural stuff, like fashion and...
Review The Crew Motorfest (PS5) - Third Time's the Charm in This Vibrant, Varied Racer
Don't bring me the Horizon, actually
Ubisoft's premier racing franchise, The Crew, generally gets a bad rap. Developer Ivory Tower had very strong ambitions right from the starting grid, providing drivers with an open world approximating the entire United States of America. It's a great idea; roam the entire country from coast to coast with your...
Review Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5) - Good But Not a Flawless Victory
Baraka in the habit
Mortal Kombat 1 represents a new era for the fighting game series. However, it also marks the first time in a while that a new Mortal Kombat title has been released where worthy competitors have been present. Games like Guilty Gear Strive and Street Fighter 6 have raised the bar for fighting games significantly since Mortal...
Mini Review Ad Infinitum (PS5) - An Intriguing Horror Premise, Poorly Executed
All average on the Western Front
Ad Infinitum is a survival horror title that sees you play as a German soldier trapped in the claustrophobic trenches around No Man's Land. Sometimes. The game is split down the middle between the horrors of the Western Front and your family's mansion. While the war half of the game is a compelling and refreshing...
Review Lies of P (PS5) - No Fibs Found in This Souls-Like Great
Woodborne
Lies of P is a game that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Made by South Korean team Round8 Studio, it feels like the product of a developer taking its second or even third swing at the Souls-like formula. It puts the majority of other titles inspired by Dark Souls to shame, yet the only other game to the name of Round8 Studio is an...
Subscribe to Push Square on YouTube150k Watch on YouTube Mini Review Super Bomberman R 2 (PS5) - A Step in the Right Direction for the Series
Ellons on another planet
Super Bomberman R 2 from Konami is a sequel to 2018's franchise revival. This time around the Bomberman Brothers must protect the home planets of the squishy creatures known as Ellons from being destroyed by the evil mastermind Fusel. As with most Bomberman titles, you have the option to play both online and offline in...
Mini Review Nour: Play with Your Food (PS5) - A Tasty Snack, But Won't Fill You Up
Palette cleanser
If you've a taste for the experimental, oddball games from PlayStation Network's early days, Nour: Play with Your Food might satisfy that craving. This unusual title is a digital celebration of food, though certainly not table manners; it provides several gastronomical vignettes and lets you mess around to your heart's — and your...
Mini Review The Isle Tide Hotel (PS5) - A Criminally Tedious FMV Thriller
Hotel Hell
The Isle Tide Hotel's biggest crime is that it's not even so bad it's funny. It's just bad bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. There's no reason to play this game other than sheer morbid curiosity, and no reason to recommend this game to anybody for anything other than spite. But first, the formalities, so we can all get out of here. The Isle Tide...
Mini Review Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (PS5) - A Worthy Successor to Jet Set Radio
Team Reptile does what SEGA-don't
It's been over 20 years since fans have heard from the world of Jet Set Radio. Sure, the franchise has made small appearances, like in Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, but SEGA seems to have mostly put the franchise on ice. Enter Dutch indie studio Team Reptile, which brings us...
Review Eternights (PS5) - A Surprisingly Charming Apocalyptic Dating Sim
What's the story? Warning! Horny!
Eternights begins with your unnamed teenage protagonist setting up his Tinder profile while his best friend gives him top tips like photoshopping his picture to make himself look more heroic, and lying about who he is to be more appealing to the ladies. This, apparently, is sage advice, because almost instantly our...
Mini Review Under the Waves (PS5) - Sad, Lonely, Occasionally Wonderful Deep Sea Drama
Finding emo
No good can come from going in the sea. Even just dipping your toes runs the risk of crabs and other weird creatures rubbing up against your feet, but the further you get in the worse it gets. Sharks, jellyfish, the Kraken — it's bleak in there. Under the Waves is set almost entirely underwater, and while it's not a horror game, it is...
Review Goodbye Volcano High (PS5) - Wonderfully Written, But Stumbles on the Rhythm
Not the mama?
Canadian developer KO_OP has been away from Sony's ecosystem for quite a while. Its first game, GNOG, launched on PS4 back in 2017 and is a fun, colourful puzzler that works great in PSVR. Fast forward a number of years, and they’ve returned to PlayStation with Goodbye Volcano High, a visual novel about the hardships of discovering...
Grey area
A prequel to Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, the verbosely named Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is a fairly typical Japanese RPG. It follows the story of a young warrior named Oshtor, who, after a strange meeting with a mysterious girl, sets off on a grand adventure to uncover the secrets of his family's history. So far,...
Review Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5) - One of the Greatest RPGs of Our Time
Larian siezes the RPG crown at swords-point
If any video game truly deserves the mildly ludicrous 'AAAA' moniker, it's Baldur's Gate 3. Larian Studios' latest is a roleplaying experience of the first order, a work of vanishing beauty made in the old ways to modern specifications. This third instalment in the long-dormant series effortlessly makes...
Mini Review Tenebris Pictura (PS5) - A Supernatural World That Kicks You Down With Its Combat
We can paint over this work of art
Starting Tenebris Pictura will have you scratching your head early on. You awake in a painting world, where you learn that you have the power to jump into paintings and walk around those areas. You can also split your spirit from your body, where most of the game is focused. As you continue, you will face various...
Mini Review The Making of Karateka (PS5) - A Wonderful Interactive Documentary for Gaming Historians
Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind
The Making of Karateka is a rare treat. It's part documentary, part archive, part collection of old games, and part remaster. It's also a wonderful example of just how far we can go with game preservation if we put the work in, and the gold standard for how we should approach collections of classic games going...
Mini Review Somerville (PS5) - An Atmospheric Adventure Lacking Depth
Hello darkness, my old friend
Somerville is an atmospheric, 2.5D, narrative adventure game from indie developer Jumpship. Created partly by co-founder of Playdead, Dino Patti, it’s clear this title’s inspiration came from the likes of Limbo, Inside, and Little Nightmares. Somerville takes on silent storytelling through gorgeous environments and...
Clockwork conundrums
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is the fifth entry in the one-to-four player, puzzle platforming adventure series, from Finland based developer, Frozenbyte. After attending a celebration at Astral Academy and being framed for destroying the village, our three heroes, Amedeus the wizard, Zoya the thief, and Pontius the knight,...
Mini Review Lost Eidolons (PS5) - Solid Fire Emblem-Esque Strategy Is Rough Around the Edges
Mire Emblem
Lost Eidolons is an uncommon sight in the current RPG landscape. It's a strategy title that takes clear inspiration from games like Fire Emblem, but it forgoes a stylised art direction for realistic-looking characters who, at a glance, wouldn't appear out of place in a AAA, blockbuster production. And that's an important point to make,...
Review Firewall Ultra (PSVR2) - Flawed VR Shooter Misses the Mark
Tactical tedium
It felt a little strange booting up Firewall Ultra for the first time. It's a game that simultaneously straddles the line of reboot, remake, and sequel, all whilst selling the best features that the PSVR2 has to offer. As a result, it has steadily become synonymous with Sony’s headset, even though we knew very little about it prior...
Review Sea of Stars (PS5) - PS Plus Extra's Retro-Inspired RPG Is the Whole Package
Total eclipse of the (pixel) art
Sea of Stars aims to do for turn-based RPGs what The Messenger did for side-scrolling action platformers — modernise a classic gaming genre while honouring its traditions. From where we're sitting, that's mission accomplished for Sabotage Studio. The developer's second game pays homage to numerous classic RPGs of...
Review Madden NFL 24 (PS5) - Another Five Yards Forward for EA Sports' Football Sim
Moving the chains
It’s hard not to feel a pinch of sympathy for the Madden NFL 24 team. Despite what the most exasperated online pundits claim, you can tell EA Tiburon cares deeply about its officially licensed American football game. Unfortunately, a challenging annual release cadence – paired with an overreliance on the oft-criticised but...
Mini Review Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles (PS5) - Musical JRPG Hits a Bum Note
Doesn't quite strike a chord
Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles is the combination release of Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess and Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom. Originally released in 1999 and 2000 respectively, both games are now available for the first time in the west. Rhapsody II kicks into action by following the titular...
Mini Review The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (PS5) - A Bare Bones Asymmetrical Multiplayer Experience
Dead by chainsaw
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a third-person asymmetrical multiplayer horror title from Gun Interactive and Sumo Digital Nottingham. Based on the true story and iconic 1974 movie of the same name, you’ll take on the role of one of the Slaughter Family or one of their victims in three versus four multiplayer matchups. Similar in...
Mini Review Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate (PS5) - Roguelike Chess Is a Neat Novelty
Chekhov's Gambit
Chess with a shotgun works better than you think. While it sounds absurd on paper, Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate is a simple yet tightly designed roguelike strategy title that turns the measured, tactical board game into something novel and unique. However, just because you're given a firearm, that doesn't mean you can switch...
