| The latest edition of revered UK gaming magazine EDGE is now available at all good newsagents and is purchasable online. There's a number of high-profile reviews in the latest edition including Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Cairn, Reanimal and much more. ResetEra member WadiumArcadium has published the latest scores and you are free to debate amongst yourselves whether the EDGE crew have got it wrong or right this time. Without further ado, here's the games and scores: | | Nioh 3 [8]
Platforms: PC, PS5 (tested) | | Nioh 3 is ultimately less of a leap from its predecessor than Elden Ring was from Dark Souls 3, but that's to be expected from a direct sequel versus the introductory act of a new franchise. Some of the series' fundamental characteristics may be feeling a little tired at this point, but setting everything out on a broader canvas, delivered with Team Ninja's customarily slick production values, gives enough of a lift next to the many alternatives that now swamp the genre. | | Cairn [7]
Platforms: PC, PS5 (tested) | | Cairn then, is an awe-inspiring journey and a careful character study that captures the thrill and torment of climbing. Yet its flaws are central to that core act. While assist modes and optional visual aids help, the complexities behind the intuitive surface can grind together with unpredictable results. In creating such intricate systems, the developers gave themselves a mountain to climb, and almost reached the peak. | | Romeo Is A Dead Man [7]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series | | Conversely, the game's reliable constant, its combat mechanics, begin to petrify through repetition…in the closing hours it becomes more formulaic, lacking the variety that's essential to compensate for the mildness of systemic depth…The highlight of the final third, in fact, is an extraordinary animation sequence-cum-music video. It's a magical reminder of that contract drawn up at the start – a winningly imaginative non-sequitur, of a kind that feels unique to Grasshopper. And this is precisely why we assented to its terms; not for consistency, but for the joy of not knowing what's coming next. | | Reanimal [8]
Platforms: PC, PS5 (tested), Switch 2, Xbox Series | | Overall, it's barely a stretch to say that Tarsier has pushed this form of choreographed horror to its limit, visually, thematically and structurally. Arguably only the sheer invention of Inside still tops it. Flaws remain, but perhaps they're baked into the formula, surmountable only by making something quite different. While born from the stuff of Little Nightmares, Reanimal transcends the confines of another sequel, leaving a uniquely devilish stain behind. | | 2XKO [7]
Platforms: PC, PS5 (tested), Xbox Series | | Assuming 2XKO can retain a playerbase, some of these issues may soften with time and revision. Riot has long shown a willingness to absorb the lessons of older games and re-express them in forms better suited to contemporary habits, and it is practised at listening to feedback. But there are limits to what can be reshaped within this area. For all its simplified inputs and friendly onboarding, 2XKO may fail to convert those who already harbour scepticism towards fighting games, or indeed toward League of Legends itself. | | Highguard [5]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series | | Wildlight has already published a roughly 12-month roadmap for updating and expanding Highguard, and perhaps with bigger team sizes, a more active first phase and some major revisions to the feel of the weapons, this could become a more coherent game that rewards both strategy and skill. For the moment, however, the original ideas in the details of its design are suffocated by bigger problems in its structure and pacing. A year from now, Highguard could even become something special. But a year is a long time in the arena of free-to-play shooters. | | Mewgenics [8]
Platform: PC | | Embellished with delightfully grotesque aesthetics and accompanied by some wonderful tunes, Mewgenics air of mystique and mutability both differentiate it from similar efforts and link it to Isaac's legacy – the penchant for finding ever-more-extreme ways to shock you while making you grateful for the privilege. | | Crisol: Theater of Idols [7]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series | | But if you can forgive the over reliance on certain tropes and endure some short spells of tedium, this is a genuinely grisly, surprisingly deep hybrid of surreal horror and FPS. There are a lot of frightening mysteries in Tormentosa, and they're worth spilling blood over, in both the literal and abstract sense. | | Pathologic 3 [8]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Xbox Series | | As we play, we realise that Pathologic 3 is rich in a large variety of relatively shallow systems. But we also realise this is precisely the point; it encourages you to rush between tasks, trying to keep control. Taken as a whole, Pathologic 3 delivers a remarkable clarity of vision. It is designed entirely in service of a rounded, complex character study against the backdrop of compelling worldbuilding and beautiful prose. | | Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined [6]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series | | The repetitive, fragmented narrative and blandily heroic cast means Reimagined is best approached as a series of fairytales in which a troupe of figurine actors present their humble drama for an hour or so at a time. There are pleasures in these moments, and plenty of charm, but the adventure itself never quite satisfies our wanderlust. | | MIO: Memories In Orbit [8]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series | | The only real false note is the equipment system, where you manage a limited amount of space for ability modifiers…As familiar as MIO: Memories In Orbit may be, then, it occasionally uses those worn tools to achieve something profound. | | I Hate This Place [4]
Platforms: PC (tested), PS5, Switch, Xbox Series | | Every element of I Hate This Place is perfectly functional, but nothing stands out, and it ends up feeling like a slasher with no blood, a haunted house with no ghosts, a zombie with no teeth. | | Ratcheteer DX [7]
Platforms: PC (tested), Switch | | it's a lesson too, in economical storyelling, in how to deliver an engaging narrative without getting bogged down in text boxes. Even here you play an active role: there's a bit of cryptography to go along with the cartography, the process of deciphering an unfamiliar language all the more engaging when you're missing several translator runes. Here you uncover illuminating clues and context: shafts of light to brighten a gloomy world. Whether or not it warrants that DX suffix, Ratcheteer feels just as much at home away from home. | | | | |
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