Comprehensive Game Reviews

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From AAA titles to indie games, we cover it all. Our comprehensive reviews provide detailed insights to help you find your next favorite game.

Hollow Knight: Silksong ReviewAn unapologetically challenging sequel packed full of sharp platforming, enticing exploration, and nail-biting combat.

IGN PC ReviewsSep 14

Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim Firefly Village is a farming life sim along the lines of Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons , but with the goal of making things much simpler. As in everything is shorter, streamlined, and less involved than others in the genre. While it’s a novel experiment to see how much you can cut back and still leave a satisfying sim behind, it also results in things feeling unbalanced and quality of life features being abandoned in the process. In Firefly Village , we’re a newcomer who moves into town to take up residence in an empty shack with some farmland. Only a handful of folks live in the area and there are only a few screens worth of spaces to explore. Each season lasts only seven days, with a day being four minutes, so it eventually comes down to just handling our 54 plots for crops, handful of animals, and basically five folks living in the area. Upgrades? They’re minimal and involve things like a kitchen and deck. Animals? You probably only end up with six chickens. Your goal is to enjoy effective days that pass quickly and don’t feature a lot of busywork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1HCNx1blw It’s interesting. Firefly Village is absolutely every element of a farming life sim distilled down to the most critical parts, so technically a lot of what we’d expect from Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley is here. We can become best friends with the five villagers. There are eventually supplemental activities like cooking, fishing, and mining. We can collect items like scarecrows. There are festivals to celebrate occasions like Halloween. The things we expect are here, and Josh Koenig Games does show we can accomplish the full farming experience in truncated days days and seasons, still accomplishing things. However, a big part of playing Firefly Village makes me realize how much I miss some of the things that naturally come from larger farming life sim games like Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons . There’s the absence of quality of life features. Want to harvest things or do some gathering? You can hold 12 items, and they don’t stack. Want a cow? That will be 5,000g, and it honestly can take quite a bit of time to earn that money. Tools? Aside from your initial farming equipment, you need to wait until they randomly appear in the store and you can stock them. Need to water or gather? Sometimes your character won’t face the right direction you need to perform an action and you need to fiddle around with things. Images via Josh Koenig Games Also, while farming life sims like Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley can have days that sometimes feel long or like we’re “grinding” through a schedule, playing Firefly Village made me realize that time wasn’t wasted. Going through those routines could be calming. I liked waiting around while fishing. Or the deeper connections that came from its socialization that weren’t present with the three-heart-level friendships here. The fact that some things did happen so quickly here made it feel less satisfying when I’d harvest crops, care for animals, or reach a relationship milestone. Yes, there’s no bloat here. But there were times I wish there were to make things feel a bit more fulfilling. I do appreciate that the simplicity in Firefly Village also extends to the appearance. The design is minimalistic, but still incredibly effective. It calls to mind the older Story of Seasons games on, say, the Game Boy or SNES. There’s a charm to it, and I also really appreciated the artistic direction for character portraits that make them feel rustic. I appreciate Firefly Village as an experiment into how much you can cut from a Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons style farming game while presenting a cohesive experience. It is interesting. Succinct too! It looks great as well, with some adept spritework. But at the same time, things go so quickly that I didn’t feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from taking my time and watching my virtual farm and life blossom over time. It’s a charming way to pass the time, but you might not get as much out of it as one of the more robust, larger games. Firefly Village is available on PCs . The post Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraSep 13

Hollow Knight: Silksong review – A sharp sequel that skillfully threads the hype needle When Hollow Knight originally dropped on the Switch, I bought it immediately as I had heard good things. I played it for a few hours, struggled to find anything around the map, got killed multiple times, found the lack of objective agonizing, and ended up having a horrible time. I don’t remember when I picked it up again, but I know why. I had gone down a YouTube rabbit hole (I didn’t spoil myself, don’t worry), learning about mechanics, game design, and the incredible feeling of discovery in the game. Curious, I dove back in better equipped and determined to find the diamond in the rough, and I learned the difficulty and that purposeful feeling of being lost was the point. Now, Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games of all time. It lives up to the hype Image via Team Cherry The wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong has been agonizing. It was originally planned as DLC, and it shows, because this is a game clearly designed for people who have beaten the original. Silksong is tough, and occasionally it delights in trolling you. Yet it respects your time better than the original Hollow Knight , and works harder to give the player purpose and the tools to survive. For the newcomers, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a metroidvania and a sequel to Hollow Knight . Both entries in the series feature punishing difficulty with fast action and challenging 2D platforming. But they offer intricate mixtures of powers and mechanics so you can fight back in your own style. All coupled with an oppressively dark world littered with enemies, intriguing lore, and a simplistic but somber art style that accentuates the beautiful things, from flies to fountains and beyond. Crucially, both games are about getting lost. Image via Team Cherry Make no mistake, Team Cherry’s second outing is just as bewildering as its first. But it’s clear they have honed some of the difficult elements of Hollow Knight and produced a sequel more provocatively challenging, but ultimately more satisfying. Compared to the original, Silksong makes it easier to map the world, it lays out a much clearer objective, and Hornet feels like she's driving the story. Where the Knight was passive, Hornet is active, both in narrative when talking to the amazing NPCS like Sherma, and mechanics. Silksong has an urgency to it, and it helps that Hornet feels incredible to control after the first couple of powers are unlocked. Hornet is much more nimble than the Knight, making you feel like a deadly dancer as you chain attacks and dashes while lacerating your foes with dozens of Needle strikes. A song of slice and ire Image via Team Cherry You move through Pharloom very fast, and every time Hornet gets another tool to aid that movement, the game feels even smoother. The world of Hollow Knight: Silksong can feel overwhelming at times, but that size is also one of its greatest assets, almost begging you to sprint across the map and uncover secrets. On several occasions, I have either broken into a hidden room or been literally kidnapped and ended up in areas I had no idea existed. What I thought was the boundary of the map was just a teaser. Combining exhilarating movement with the snappy combat creates a flow state that's hard to snap out of. This rare sort of satisfying gameplay is the result of a painstaking attention to both agency and feedback, and ensuring that both are perfected. Nowhere is this more evident than in the delicate dance of boss fights, where these brutish enemies smash you into pieces with their rhythmic combinations, only for you to come back swinging moments later. Image via Team Cherry Well, however long it takes you to run back to that arena. While I love the bosses in Silksong , dying to a boss can feel gut-wrenching, thanks to the occasional ridiculous trek back from bench to the boss, the loss of shell shards, and the loss of rosaries. If you reach the location where you died, you can retrieve some of your Silk and your rosaries, but it's the loss of Shell Shards that can be the worst element, as they're needed for many projectiles and tools. Silksong has some amazing combinations of equipment, with great tools like the pin projectiles, which you can augment with things like poison to attack from a distance. Plus, some crests completely change the way Hornet controls. Whether changing the direction of her downward attack, changing other elements, the crests offer a really fun way to make sure each player is strategizing in their very own way. I recommend unlocking as many tools and crests as you can, and playing around with combinations until you're happy. Threads the difficulty needle perfectly Image via Team Cherry Some of the bosses in Silksong are among the best boss fights in recent memory, perhaps ever. If you enjoy the dance of fights like Metroid Dread' s gruelling Ravenbeak, Silksong has that in spades, with over 40 different bosses waiting to challenge your abilities and test your resolve. Occasionally, bosses spawn one too many other enemies, and fights can feel unfair or possibly random. But, again, it's up to you to find a solution or an attack style that works. One slight letdown is when it comes to powers, S ilksong plays it safe. While this title is the zenith of world-building and immediate gameplay, there's nothing here quite as revolutionary (at the time) as Axiom Verge 's many weapons, or Ori & The Will of the Wisps ' Bash mechanic, which let you slingshot through enemies. Or even the Shadow of the Simurgh from Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown . In fact, the screenshot mechanic from The Lost Crown 's map also would have been amazing here. This isn't to say Silksong doesn't do impressive, or even quite similar, things with abilities and combat; I just don't think I ever had a moment that felt entirely new to the Metroidvania genre. Very, very good? Yes. New? Not quite. Image via Team Cherry Over all of this are breathtaking visuals and music. Silksong has the same simplistic but cleverly complex art as Hollow Knight taken even further. Enemies occasionally look like simple doodles, but it's the way lighting and effects flitter across the screen that gives these things life. Running across the stage shows parallax scrolling, imbuing these dank caves a depth despite the crudeness of their detail. Silksong jumps off the screen, and the beautiful visuals work in tandem with smart lighting and particle effects, and phenomenal sound design, to create a living and breathing world more enrapturing than many AAA games working to make photo-realistic copies of real-world locations. This is also supported by another stellar score from Christopher Larkin, who gives this entry's soundtrack a different energy and a renewed sense of excitement and drive that matches Hornet herself. Image via Team Cherry Over around 40 hours of gameplay, Silksong delivers a Metroidvania that towers over the original, and stands tall among genre classics like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night . It delivers on all of the promises of its predecessor, but makes smart choices to deliver a leaner and meaner game that dares you to get better. Moment-to-moment gameplay just feels phenomenal, and over every minute of this grand adventure, thrill-seekers will feel rewarded for their continued perseverance with well-hidden secrets and an incredible story that similarly begs to be discovered instead of simply being told. The only things holding it back are occasionally grueling runs back to bosses, a painful economy, and a slight lack of truly original mechanics. The post Hollow Knight: Silksong review – A sharp sequel that skillfully threads the hype needle appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidSep 12

Review: Illusion of Itehari Features Some Major Worldbuilding Otome games that involve the creation of a whole new world and society end up needing to walk a delicate line between really “selling” the space we inhabit while also ensuring the characters and romance remain at the forefront. It’s a challenge a lot of games face! It’s happened with games like Norn9, Olympia Soiree, Piofiore, Steam Prison, and Virche Evermore . Fortunately for Illusion of Itehari , known in Japan as Utakata no Uchronia , it’s generally pretty good at maintaining a balance between establishing things and keeping things interesting. However, there are a few routes in this new Aksys title that suffer from some pacing and storytelling issues as a result. Like Steam Prison , Illusion of Itehari is an otome game that takes place in a separated society. People live in a floating city that is supposedly perfect, safe, and comfortable for everyone, with a masked “god” known as The Great Taiju ruling it. Hinagiku is a member of the nobility, responsible for guiding, advocating, and governing people. As you can probably imagine, things are anything but. She’s always wondered about things outside the idealized bubble and, after going for a walk one day is nearly attacked. A man named Yashiro steps in to defend and save her life, but loses his memories in the process. However, this altercation opens up Hinagiku to learning more about her society and its secrets and getting involved with people she would normally never meet. Screenshot by Siliconera Since this is an otome game that will also involve learning about the city’s secrets, naturally many of the people who can be love interests are involved with how things run and exposing Hinagiku to difference facets of society. Naturally, Yashiro is part of that, and his route ends up being one of the most informative for insights into things due to his role in the story. However, we also have a member of what is basically the Itehari military (Yori), the Entertainment District head (Tobari), and Hinagiku’s personal assistant (Awayuki). Even Tsuyukusa, who is Hinagiku’s childhood friend, ends up being meaningful on multiple levels. I appreciate how everyone does somehow tie into things in ways. The downside is because Illusion of Itehari is very focused on also going through its mysteries and exposing elements of society, with Hinagiku being an active and involved heroine, it can mean pacing and plotlines vary between routes. I think Yashiro, Yori, and Tsuyukusa all have routes that are generally excellent overall, but the execution of ones for Awayuki and Tobari don’t feel as strong. I enjoyed them, to be clear. But there are some that come across as being stronger and more critical to events in ways that better balance information and relationships. Couple that with routes that can be longer than runs in typical otome games, and I felt like at least two of the main love interest storylines feel dragged out. Which is a shame, as the characters themselves are really compelling and well-written. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulngh0iBr5M At least while you’re spending hours with these folks, they’ll all look great. Illusion of Itehari is a gorgeous game. Both the standard character sprites for folks are beautiful, as are all the CGs. I do think the eyes seem a little big for everyone, Hinagiku especially, in a way that can be off-putting, but I got used to it. However, there is no character portrait sprite for Hinagiku for her lines, which is disappointing. I always like that option. Illusion of Itehari is one of those otome games that prioritizes building up not only interesting characters and relationships, but a whole world. The lore can be quite interesting, and the resulting motivations and backstories for everything fascinating. I do think this can be to the detriment of some routes however, as the pacing and execution mean that some are incredibly eventful with great revelations and others plod along and don’t add much even if the love interest is wonderful. If you’re fortunate enough to connect with one of the bachelors who is also tied to critical, major events on Itehari, then I think you’ll have a great time with this Switch otome game. The otome game Illusion of Itehari will be available for the Switch on September 18, 2025. The post Review: Illusion of Itehari Features Some Major Worldbuilding appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraSep 12

Review: Super Robot Wars Y Can Feel Like More of a Challenge Super Robot Wars is one of those series that I love even if the actual stages aren’t great and line-ups aren’t ideal. I love the interactions and potential for silliness when all these series are dumped into the same pot. (It’s one of the reasons why games like Project X Zone are so much fun too!) Thankfully, Super Robot Wars Y isn’t an installment carried by the notion that “Hey, isn’t it funny when Bandai Namco forced Gauma from SSSS.Dynazenon to interact with Getter Robo Arc characters like Takuma and Baku ?” While we are seeing some reused assets and I wish the UI was clearer, it features silly situations and some genuinely difficult stages. Super Robot Wars Y seems to begin with another conflict on the verge of happening. It looks like the Earthnoids, under Lelouch vi Britannia ( Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection) , might be pressured into another fight with Spacenoids potentially uniting under Char Aznable ( Gundam: Char’s Counterattack ). Except on the day Lelouch is going to be inaugurated as First Emperor of Earth, all of the crossover folks watch as he’s assassinated. Everyone basically decides, “Okay, that’s enough.” The New Earth Federation acknowledged the space colonies, and things seem okay. Seem being the keyword. On her fourteenth birthday, Echika Y Franburnett gets one of the player avatar NINJAs as her new bodyguard and learns that Yagami City, which her father founded, and Ayanashi City are actually part of the A. Advent emigration fleet ship. It’s being targeted by foes like Logos, and it becomes our mission to once again fight back against enemies alongside characters from many, many different anime mech series. Screenshots by Siliconera Progression in Super Robot Wars Y is identical to past entries. We go through a mission, which usually involves wiping out all enemies. We can select Spirits abilities to assist and enhance our characters. Depending on things like proximity, ammo, and energy, different attacks at different ranges and strengths are possible. The Assist Link feature involves additional Assist Crew characters to offer active and passive effects. Units are deployed and move on a grid. All of our units move. When our turn ends, the enemy turn begins. When a foe initiates a fight, we can choose the response method. There are also various options to speed things up to keep things moving at a lively pace. After a battle is done, we can adjust equipment, shop, adjust assists, build up characters, go through the skill tree to apply enhancements to our squad, and see story-based segments. It’s the sort of situation where if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Things work well, and battles move at a good clip. While I would say the overall story is generally fine, the interactions between characters from different series remains fantastic and fun. It’s great to watch people interact, and I also loved the introductions to characters from series I wasn’t familiar with in the game. They’re handled really well, and I think I am going to end up watching SSSS. Dynazenon because of this title. There can be some fun moments, and I felt like it was more challenging than Super Robot Wars 30 at times. However, it definitely does pull ideas and concepts from that installment, with some assets looking like they came from there, the auto-battle option, us getting to select our next missions, and the DLC series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgYi233lr74 Speaking of series, I’m generally pretty pleased with the choices Bandai Namco made for Super Robot Wars Y . I do miss Magic Knight Rayearth , since I’m a huge CLAMP fan. SSSS.Dynazenon fits in very well. Gundam and Code Geass are always great, though I’m disappointed only The Witch from Mercury season one is represented. Godzilla Singular Point is an absolute thrill, and I’m excited by the prospect of DLC series like The Big O and Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull . But what I’m not pleased by is the UI. It’s so bad that it almost feels a bit lazy. The main menus look like something I’d see in a mobile game I’m playing. When you get into the Customization section or start looking up characters, there are so many details crammed into each page in some areas that it can be difficult to parse until you get accustomed to things. It doesn’t look good and, in some ways, isn’t user-friendly, which is a bad combination! Screenshots by Siliconera While I wish it looked better at times, Super Robot Wars Y gets a lot of things right and can offer a substantial challenge. There are some stages that will involve actually thinking about unit placement to ensure you handle all those foes and keep from being wiped out. It can look dated sometimes though, as some assets look familiar, and the UI is pretty bad. I’m also personally sad that Magic Knight Rayearth didn’t return and that we don’t see all of Gundam: The Witch from Mercury represented. While I did like some elements of Super Robot Wars 30 a little more, this is definitely another enjoyable entry in the series. Super Robot Wars Y is available for the Switch, PS5, and PC . The post Review: Super Robot Wars Y Can Feel Like More of a Challenge appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraSep 11

Borderlands 4 Review - Too Much Of An OvercorrectionA direct sequel to Borderlands 3 , Borderlands 4 aims to rectify the various issues of its predecessor--namely, the overreliance on cringe jokes, overly talkative main villains, and bullet-sponge boss battles. And while these issues are addressed, it may have been an overcorrection as Borderlands 4 is cranked so far in the other direction that the resulting game feels like a strange imitation of the series. The core bread and butter of the franchise--rewarding looting and satisfying shooting--remains the same, delivering hours of solid first-person shooter gameplay. The narrative elements, however, are weaker than ever. Like its predecessors, Borderlands 4 sees you embody one of four playable Vault Hunters, outlaw mercenaries willing to do pretty much whatever, whenever, for money and a chance to uncover one of the many treasure-filled Vaults left behind by a long-dead civilization. Each Vault Hunter possesses unique skill trees and abilities, allowing you to flavor your approach to the game the way you want. Vex the Siren is a summoner who can create ghostly visages of either herself or a fanged beast to attract enemy fire away from her, for example, while Amon the Forgeknight uses advanced tech to create elemental axes, whips, or a shield so he can wade into melee combat. This feels like Borderlands' strongest assortment of Vault Hunters to date. While no past Vault Hunter has been a truly bad choice, this is the first time that each Vault Hunter feels incredibly useful in all aspects of play, whether it's dealing with groups of everyday enemies, cutting away at larger bosses, or aiding allies in co-op while they focus on doing most of the damage. While I played as Vex in my main playthrough, I didn't dislike my time with other Vault Hunters on new save files. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsSep 11

Borderlands 4 Review

IGN PC ReviewsSep 11

Borderlands 4 review – The looter shooter crown has been reclaimed Six years between Borderlands games may have been exactly what the franchise needed to reinvent and reinvigorate itself. After many (myself included) felt disappointed by Borderlands 3 for a variety of reasons, the iconic looter shooter series is back with vastly improved gameplay, a darker tone, and a whole new world to explore in Borderlands 4 . Hampered by a few very minor setbacks and worrisome PC performance in the pre-release build, this could still easily be remembered as the best Borderlands game ever made with some well-executed updates and post-launch support. It just feels so good Image via 2K Games Borderlands 4 sets a new benchmark for core gameplay in the franchise. I can't express enough how fun BL4 is to play, at a base level, and it's far and away the best the series has ever had to offer. New movement tech includes gliding, double-jumping, sliding, dashing front to back or side to side à la DOOM , and ziplining to traverse the battlefield, all while raining hell on a variety of foes. It's addictive and refined, and the main reason I will keep coming back to the game, in both co-op and solo play. It all just feels so good to play. The guns, the movement, and the action skills all work together in harmony to create the most fluid and exciting core gameplay loop that the series has ever seen. Players choose from four unique playable Vault Hunters–Vex, Harlowe, Amon, and Rafa (my pick for my first journey)–and customize their skills as they level up and pick their builds, which now have more flexibility than ever. Utilizing the different characters, abilities, weapons, class mods, grenades, and other loadout options, you can truly craft the playstyle and experience you want with what feels like endless possibilities. And when it comes to being truly "endless," that's also how it feels when chasing down different weapon rolls. Weapons in BL4 can roll with unique perks and traits, but also borrow characteristics from other weapon manufacturers. Borderlands fans will remember such names as Tediore, Maliwan, and Torgue, all offering different styles. A few new manufacturers join the fray, too, creating an RNG bonanza where your weapon will either be overpowered and ridiculous or borderline useless. And that's where a lot of the fun comes into play for a game in this genre. Screenshot by Destructoid There's potential for countless hours of farming specific weapons and rolls, and it's now easier than ever to target-farm certain guns dropped by bosses with the ability to replay boss fights to your heart's content until you get what you're looking for. I suspect many gamers will play through the storyline and maybe dabble in some endgame material before moving on. But for the true grinders, there does seem to be a good amount of potential for playing BL4 for months on end, especially with new content in the pipeline. This game also adds the ability to skip the story and begin at level 30 on a new character, which is instantly more inviting for multiple playthroughs and variety. More down-to-earth (or Kairos) than ever Image via 2K The upped stakes of BL4's plot on its new location of Kairos make for a more serious-feeling game than before, which is a good thing. One of the main complaints about the Borderlands series has been its increasing reliance on toilet humor and dumb jokes. Kairo has a bit more of a darker tone than the previous planet of Pandora, and it makes for a more muted experience when it comes to humor. Make no mistake, though. This is Borderlands. Side quests galore are filled with silly references and jokes, and they range from flat and cringy to genuinely kind of funny. One quest I found was inspired by Pokémon , and tasked me with using tech to catch runaway mini bipedal Tediore guns like pocket monsters. The quest giver, Bash, could only look on in horror as I was assaulted by Team Rocket lampoons named Bomb Squad Jake and Josey. There's another side quest where a Kairos resident named Crack MaBacky wanted me to crack his back several times. Seriously. It's the kind of stuff you roll your eyes at and get your XP and money from, but it's a reminder that you are indeed still playing a Borderlands game. This time around, it's more ancillary and less egregious than before, so it works. One of my main issues with BL4 was that the game's storyline takes quite a while to get going. It wasn't until after entering the map's third biome that the events really hooked me and made me want to play the storyline to its completion. Before that, I felt myself trudging through the map, exploring and learning the combat more than engaging with the growing plot—early on, it's all about world-building, and it felt like a slog before I locked in to the events. Screenshot by Destructoid It doesn't help that Kairos's tone creates some more realistic, albeit bland-feeling, new NPCs when compared to the previous game's outrageous characters like Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, or Claptrap (the bot takes a big backseat in this game), but returning characters and the storyline's crescendo in its second half made everything feel satisfying in the end, even if the main villain ended up falling flat by the time the credits roll. Still, basically every voiced character in the game is brought to life with immaculate care and professional execution, from the Vault Hunters to random Psychos screaming in pain as they get targeted by my auto-aiming grenades. Coupled with appropriate combat music and ambience matching the flora and fauna, the game sounds as good as it plays. All of these things help Kairos feel like a joy to explore while finishing out the map by finding collectibles, clearing multi-step side missions and quests, and stumbling across randomly-spawned events or world bosses that drop high-tier loot. This process is only enhanced with the new Digirunner personal vehicle always at your disposal, instead of having to use a Catch-A-Ride somewhere. Optimize THIS! Image via 2K Games I reviewed BL4 on PC, and the pre-release build was less than stellar when it comes to optimization on my rig, which is admittedly aging at about four years old. Hitching while moving between areas of the map, freezing during gunfights, framerate drops, and a handful of game crashes mired my experience and took what could have been an instant classic and made it more of a frustrating experience than I would've hoped for. Thankfully (for the game, not for me), it appears that an issue with my dying power supply was causing the bulk of my worst problems. Gearbox says the day one patch for BL4 will fix many of these issues, like hitching when moving between areas of the large open world map, and I have faith that things should feel better, but I can only speak on my own personal time with the game thus far. A lot of my hours early on were spent tweaking settings on my PC, which fit within the game's minimum specifications, but I still had a hard time getting it to play smoothly, even on the absolute lowest settings. Eventually, I did find a sweet spot of Low settings with some exceptions trickled in to land at a relatively stable 60 FPS with less frequent drops and hitches, thanks to help from 2K and Gearbox figuring out what was best for my machine. If you're like me with an aging rig and comparable specs (i7-12700K, NVIDIA RTX 3070, 16 GB RAM), then beware that this could hamper your experience. And if you're like me, it may be time for some upgrades. I hope the incoming optimization updates help bring BL4 to its max potential, which is to say, absolutely in the discussion for the best overall game in the franchise at its launch. For now, I'd maybe suggest picking this one up on console if you're worried about how it may play on your own PC, or wait for an optimization patch if these potential issues bug you. Screenshot by Destructoid For clarity, here are my PC specs and game settings: OS: Windows 11 CPU: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700K (3.60 GHz) GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 RAM: 16 GB RAM Borderlands 4 video settings: Low preset, 1080p resolution And here are the recommended and minimum specs for BL4 on Steam: Screenshot by Destructoid The post Borderlands 4 review – The looter shooter crown has been reclaimed appeared first on Destructoid .

Reviews Archive – DestructoidSep 11

Borderlands 4 Review - Cathartic Chaos Reviewed on: PC Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Gearbox Software Rating: Mature Following Borderlands 3, I had a hard question to ask: Has one of my favorite series passed me by? That 2019 release made me realize that the last Borderlands game I truly enjoyed – outside of Telltale’s excellent Tales from the Borderlands – was Borderlands 2 in 2012. I initially approached Borderlands 4 with skepticism for that reason. However, Gearbox evidently agreed with my criticisms, as Borderlands 4 introduces and recalibrates myriad elements to deliver what could very well be my new favorite in the series. Watch Game Informer's Borderlands 4 Video Review:   Borderlands 4 plays all the familiar refrains for which the franchise is known: You control one of four Vault Hunters as you gun down thousands of masked maniacs and mutated monsters. Taking down these hordes of enemies not only grants you valuable experience for leveling your character, but also millions of guns to loot. True to its pedigree, these weapons are a highlight; every encounter holds the potential to yield your new favorite weapon, a rush I never grew tired of during my 50-plus-hour playthrough. Though upgrades to my existing loadout were ultimately rare, I lived for when I got something unique, like a sticky-bomb sniper rifle or a singularity-spawning throwing knife. I always looked forward to the loot each battle would deliver, but Borderlands 4’s gunfights are as chaotic and fun as ever. Though some drag on longer than my liking, wide ranges of enemies from disparate factions elevate the variety of foes in any given fight, and I often caught myself leaning in to focus when the dynamic music shift signaled the arrival of a strong “Badass” enemy variant. I loved picking off foes with my single-shot assault rifle before storming in with my corrosive shotgun. Throwing a knife to deliver the final blow while trying to reload never ceased to make me feel like an action star. The world of Kairos is under the oppressive thumb of the Timekeeper, who values order above all else. Gearbox has crafted an appropriately intimidating antagonist that shines distinctly from the series’ past villains, and in the process delivers my favorite big bad since Borderlands 2’s Handsome Jack. If you want the more unhinged villain type for which the franchise is known, you’ll find plenty of that through his supporting cast. To combat the Timekeeper, this entry delivers arguably the strongest class of Vault Hunters yet, each with multiple distinct skill trees to develop, as well as character-specific Action Skills. Rafa’s an agile damage-dealer; Harlowe can apply a status ailment that spreads damage across multiple targets; Vex can summon support phantoms; and my personal favorite, Amon, can throw elemental axes or call upon a fiery barrier. Thanks to wider skill trees and a ton of unlockable cosmetics, you can customize your characters more than ever before. Each character has access to all-new traversal mechanics like gliding and grappling. I always enjoyed gliding onto the battlefield, ground-slamming an enemy from above, and sprinting into a sliding shotgun blast before zipping out of danger. These improved movement mechanics add a ton to each combat encounter, and I genuinely think it would be difficult to go back to older Borderlands games where you don't have these moves at your disposal. However, having the same button perform dodge, ground-pound, and crouch caused me more than a few upsetting deaths. These traversal elements come in handy as you make your way through the largest world in franchise history. Kairos, which is fast to explore thanks to a summonable Digirunner vehicle, is full of fun diversions like safe houses, world bosses, and compelling side missions. You can also discover Vaults, which house wave-based combat punctuated by intense boss battles, but it’s disappointing to have some of the most fun content hidden behind a cryptic “hot/cold” meter that doesn’t work well with so many layers in the world. Though the most rewarding moments of my playthrough came during exploration, the open world can be laborious, as I sometimes struggled to find the best route to my destination. Thankfully, the new Echo-4 robot companion can help navigate to your waypoint, but its guidance can be hit or miss.   Borderlands 4 generally scales with your level the entire game, which makes the steep level spike in the final stretch jarring and frustrating. That skyrocketing difficulty deflated the momentum I had going into the final act, but the story as a whole is much more even than prior entries. Borderlands 4 better balances the comedic elements and offers more memorable gags, characters, and set-piece moments. In fact, the worst thing I can say about Borderlands 4 is that some things just go on for too long. Some fights are too prolonged, some missions feature too many chaining objectives, and some bosses have way too much health. When those bullet-sponge bosses have multiple forms, they become exercises in tedium and frustration rather than the adrenaline-fueled encounters they’re designed to be. But when the game is this much fun to play, that’s only a minor annoyance and is often alleviated through the series’ excellent co-op, which is even better in this entry, thanks to easy-to-join sessions, enhanced fast travel, and replayable boss encounters. However, by the time I reached the final boss, it was evident that some parts of the game are not appropriately tuned for single-player action. Though many of the series’ core elements remain intact, Gearbox has refined and reconfigured them in such ways that Borderlands 4 rises beyond anything the series has accomplished to this point, making for a chaotic looter-shooter worthy of the series’ sterling early-2010s reputation. It’s simultaneously a poster child for excess and restraint, which sounds paradoxical, but for a series named for existing on the border of seemingly opposed concepts, it feels right at home. Score: 8.5 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsSep 11

Review: Pastel Parade Wants to Be a Cutesy Rhythm Heaven Nintendo’s Rhythm Heaven series involves a collection of masterpiece games that perfectly blend Tsunku compositions with tons of memorable minigames that typically only require a single button to play. Pastel Parade Project is very obviously trying to mimic that with its short adventure Pastel Parade , which involves a handful of stages with a few colorful minigames that involve minimal inputs in time with brief tracks. The problem is that the game is so uneven and limited that even if you’re looking for absolutely anything to fill the space between now and Rhythm Heaven Groove in 2026, you’ll be disappointed. Rather than acting like Rhythm Heaven games and offering a list of minigames to go through, Pastel Parade plops its handful of stages into a loosely told adventure about a high school band. Nagisa is reading a book about a local mystery when a new exchange student named Amane interrupts her. Amane convinces her to go to a cafe with her, which leads to her meeting classmates named Kohaku and Morn when subbing in for volleyball practice. The quartet soon decides to form a band, and that leads to them eventually traveling to different places and exploring various mysteries. It makes very little sense. But since the goal is to find an excuse to go to a handful of different maps to play through a few types of stages, I get it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brf2gn55shU The issue with Pastel Parade is while the art direction, design, and sometimes even controls can feel like a Rhythm Heaven game, the actual execution just does not hold up for some of these minigames. Given how many of them repeat throughout the handful of worlds and the fact it will probably only take someone under two hours to beat it the first time, maybe less, it makes those failings stand out. When it keeps it extremely simple, it is at its best, but even then timing issues can muck things up. For example, the fishing, fizzy water spraying, and submarine pedaling are all generally solid. This is because each one features clear visuals that work alongside the audio cute patterns for their games, while typically avoiding the trap of involving so many inputs that the background song becomes indiscernible due to sound effects from prompts. There can be a call and return type of pattern or following the leader situations along the lines of Rhythm Heaven games staples like Double Date, Flipper-Flop, or Monkey Watch. Of course, the Pastel Parade minigames aren’t as memorable and don’t sound as good as any of those examples. But the spirit seems similar, which helps. But then there are Pastel Parade stages where the input timings are so awkward, imprecise, convoluted, or even frantically paced that it all falls apart. While the volleyball one is good when it first appears, the return of it means inputs come so fast that you can’t even hear the music properly for audio triggers. There is one involving playing hopscotch in the rain that is okay for the hopping parts, but falls apart when you need to hold the umbrella to keep a car from spraying water from a puddle on you. The actual band segment is the worst offender. It involves playing certain guitar riffs at a certain pace when various visual cues appear. The tutorial involves going through the multi-input “sun” rift, the multi-input “moon” one, the multi-input bridge, and then a fourth that can appear between the sun and moon segments. But when the song begins, the transition between periods moves so quickly that hearing the actual background track becomes impossible. Images via Pastel Parade Project Another point is it would help if the actual original songs in Pastel Parade were really good, catchy, and memorable, but they aren’t compared to tracks in Rhythm Heaven games. The music fades into the background, due to it being often overshadowed. Which is a shame! Sometimes it can sound cute and pleasant, and it definitely is designed to fit the identity. I just can’t honestly remember any of them, meanwhile Rhythm Heaven Fever ’s Tambourine and Air Rally live rent-free in my head to this day. Pastel Parade is such a hit-and-miss game. It’s clear Pastel Parade Project wanted to make a game along the lines of Rhythm Heaven and the aesthetics are there, but there are so many moments and minigames that prove it just doesn’t get some of the biggest takeaways. The repetition, execution of some challenges, and way the actual music doesn’t seem to matter means that, while it looks cute, it never compares to Nintendo’s series. Pastel Parade is available on PCs . The post Review: Pastel Parade Wants to Be a Cutesy Rhythm Heaven appeared first on Siliconera .

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